The traveler was born in a time of logic and rationality, when others knew that there was no such thing as magic, and fantasy was thought of as worthless. There was no room for imagination in this world, except for that which could be thoroughly supported by scientific and mathematical reasoning. Into this world, the traveler entered unnoticed. There were portents of course, but no one saw them. They had forgotten the old stories, dismissing them as worn out myths.

In a cold white box, a woman lay on a bed, trying to sleep. The light in the ceiling was dimmed for the night, and everything was silent. A table beside the bed held only a digital clock reading 1:17 am. The top left corner read 8:45 am, when the clock’s alarm would go off. Until then, the woman could sleep.

Except she couldn’t. She had already taken the maximum dosage of the sleeping pill that the doctors had guaranteed to make her sleep, but she didn’t feel sleepy at all. Her stomach was uneasy, thinking about the next day. She didn’t know why. After all, the doctors did c-sections every day. The timing of hers had been chosen carefully, so the baby wouldn’t be premature, but she wouldn’t need to worry about going into labor before the c-section either.

The baby. That was one thing that was worrying her. Not the boy or the girl, the baby. The doctors had used their most advanced equipment, but they hadn’t been able to determine the sex of the baby beforehand. She had tried to make certain that it was a boy, but for the first time ever that she knew of, the DNA manipulation machine had failed. Nothing was working out right.

Now, to add to everything else, she felt a pain in her stomach. At first she believed that it was a result of her worrying, that she had made herself sick. Then it become stronger and she knew what it was.

“Doctors!” She screamed out the word. She was breathing quickly and beginning to panic. How could this have happened! They swore to her that she would be okay, that her c-section would be well before the time that her baby would naturally be born. With all their so-called amazing equipment, how could they have not predicted this? And why was everything happening to her?

The doctors rushed into the room, their faces pale. There was no time for a c-section; they would have to deliver the baby naturally for the first time in twenty-two years. The clock read 1:22 am.

Family Name: Salis

Given Name(s): Astraia Isme

Date of Birth: August 13th, 2659

Time of Birth: 1:53:08 am

Gender: Female

Other: Green eyes

Brown hair

Orphan