“Today’s lesson, then,” Boro announced. He took his place behind the control podium. The class fell silent, recent drama forgotten. Lights dimmed to utter blackness and the atmoseal engaged. Alice heard the hiss of hypnogas, and dreaded the bitter taste that would linger in the back of her throat. She leaned back into the desk’s cradle and felt the wire snake into the back of her head. She breathed in sharply. For a moment, total nothingness.

Suddenly, the room sparkled like the inside of a geode. None of the students could be seen. They were all being fed the same vision. The room erupted into activity, showing a 3d motif—historical images of the Quest for Energy. Boro’s voice could be heard over it all, like the voice of God. “Before leaving Earth, we used the Ring of Fire to provide energy while Hydrogen Fusion was being developed. Once HF became commonplace, 300 years ago, the amount of energy available to us was no longer an issue. It was the rate we began to use energy that became a problem.”