The story opens with a girl genius named Xenia who lives in a laboratory, with Harry the robot as her only companion. Her mother Doctor Loveless appears to her only via hologram. The dialogue from the first five pages is:
“Xenia? Wake up, honey. You're going to be late for practice.”
“What time is it?”
“Almost seven.”
“Yowzers! It's really late!”
“Come on, lazy girl! Breakfast is ready.”
“Mmm.. it looks delicious! I'm going now.”
“One moment, missy. Haven't you forgotten something?”
“How silly! I love you, Mom. When can I hug you for real?”
“Soon, my little one. I promise.”
This is part of a dozen pages depicting Xenia’s solitary life. The next dozen pages show Nathan Never riding in a flyer, escorting a dangerous criminal to prison. The flyer encounters an unexpected electromagnetic storm and crashes. Nathan survives, awakening in the quarantine chamber of Xenia's subterranean home. But there's a problem preventing his release. Here's the dialogue of pages 22-26 as Nathan regains consciousness:
“Ah! But where….”
“Be calm. Everything is OK.”
“Who are you? Where am I?”
“My name is Xenia. And this is an underground medical center: the Habitat.”
“I... remember the collapse... the fall... Were you the one who treated me?”
“No, it was Harry.”
“Harry?”
“Yes, that's the name I gave that robot. Terrible company, but an excellent nurse. And what's your name?”
“Nathan Never. I'm an Alfa agent. We were on a flyer that was transporting a prisoner, when... we had an accident.’
“You did? Where are the others?”
“I think they're dead. Let me out, Xenia. I need to alert my colleagues to what happened, give them my location, organize a recovery operation for the aircraft.”
“I'm sorry, Nathan, but I can't.”
“What? Open this door immediately, girl.”
“Don't take it personally. I'm doing this for your own benefit: If I let you leave the isolation chamber, I would probably kill you.”
