This semester started out as a rather depressing one.  I thought I was going to get all this time to write over the Christmas break and I don't think I wrote more than a sticky note's worth.  However, this semester I've actually had some inspiration.  Thanks to Jernae, I decided that I would just start writing a scene that I've been wanting to write.  So, that's what I did.  In the process I've had another realization: I'm a slow writer.  I've tried to forget about my perfectionism while I write so I could simply get the story on paper and tweak later.  But, I always find myself thinking too carefully about every word.  I've just decided that's going to have to be okay for now.  Someday I will learn to write faster.  Because that piece is still in progress I'm not going to post anything about it yet.  Not to worry though, here's the prologue.  :)

Prologue

Isaac walked into the dark room where his mother stood in front of a large, glass projection screen.  She stood with her arms folded and hip cocked to one side.  The heels on her four-inch stilettos looked more like knives than shoes, but people seemed to pay more attention to her fitted lab coat than what she wore on her feet.    By her stance, he knew that she had discovered something.

Images and videos of a young woman illuminated the screen.  She couldn’t have been more than seventeen.  She and another boy with the same emerald eyes and dark hair laughed while they played cards.  In another she was young and had been crying.  One image showed her gazing out at something he couldn’t see.  Her eyes concentrated on something distant, while the curve of her jaw was relaxed.

On a video screen labeled September 19, 2057, today’s date, she was running through a forest.  The forest looked wet and challenging, but her slender frame gracefully moved between the trees, avoiding branches and rocks.  Her eyes always looked forward in unwavering determination.

He stood next to his mother to watch the screen more closely.  “Are you sure she’s the one?” he asked.

“Yes,” she said, still looking at the screen.

“But how can you be sure?” 

“I suppose there’s really no way to tell.”  Still, somehow he knew that she’d found the right girl.

She’s beautiful, he thought.  “Who is she?”

“She’s the one that will try to overthrow us.  We must make sure that she succeeds.”

“Succeeds?”

“Isaac,” his mother said condescendingly, “we must make her think that she will succeed.”

“What do you want me for?”

She turned to look at him directly.  Her eyes flashed as a smile crept up the side of her face.  “We have a mission for you.”