Before the Dark

"How do you like it?" her mother asked, as she sat. "The workers are not done yet, but they soon will be. And we can have a Hugh of our own."

She was obviously very excited about the prospect. Sera again, could not generate any enthusiasm. She was too into her studies to worry about such things. One day she figured she would be one of the pioneers of such technology.

Looking toward the door, her mother followed her gaze.

"That’s the activation control," she informed Sera, pointing to the keypad next to the door. "You should have seen them put some of the stuff in. All the wires and--" She then trailed off, becoming thoughtful. "And just where were you all that time?"

"On the roof, watching the sun set."

"Now, now, young lady." Her mother lightly scolded her. "How many times do I have to tell you? The roof is no place for little girls."

"I’m sorry, mama, I won’t do it again," she replied, with her most solemn face and puppy-dog eyes.

"See to it you don’t. So how’s my little genius? Was school fun?"

When her mother said genius she meant it. At the age of ten, Sera was already in her third year of college. To her, learning was easy. It was almost as if she already knew the material before she studied it. Also her mother was very adamant about Sera’s following in her footsteps and becoming a biochemist. "For the future," she always said.

And coincidentally, biochemistry was Sera’s passion as well. Because she zoomed through classes, she was working on five degrees at once: general science, microbiology, astronomy, botany and of course biochemistry. She also possessed amazing physical and mental attributes. She could see at least three hundred times better than the average person. And the capacity of her memory was phenomenal. She could remember anything word for word at just a glance. Much like a human photocopier, in short, she was a child prodigy.

This made her somewhat of a local celebrity. But alas, she did not have many friends and her father had left her mother when Sera was very young. But sometimes she thought to herself, I’m sure he wished he stayed around now.

"Yes, it was," Sera replied to her mother’s question. "We learned a little bit about how to mend our dying ecosystem."

"And how are you going to do that?"

"By refertilizing our dead soil to grow life-nurturing plants."