For kids in the year 2054 turning 17 means they re ripe for Global Alliance work assignments that range from backbreaking drudgery to deadly canal labor. Three s teeners from very different backgrounds think they ve gotten lucky. Jaym Reya and D Shay are chosen to help repopulate Africa after a solar flare left its people sterile. In the year 2069 turning seventeen means mandatory Global Alliance work assignments that range from backbreaking drudgery to deadly canal labor. Trying to survive in a world that s been ravaged by plagues and environmental disasters three s teeners from the harshest backgrounds think they ve gotten lucky. Jaym Reya and D Shay are chosen to be among thousands of blenders whose task is to help repopulate and rebuild Africa after a devastating solar flare. But the continent itself--roiling with civil war and mercenaries intent on crushing the blending program at any cost--poses the gravest danger. Separated the three friends struggle to escape the violence and chaos and somehow reunite. But will following rumors of a mountain hideout lead them to sanctuary or cost them their lives?