This is the way I heard it.

She was an orphan, living on the cold streets of a hard town, doing what she had to to get

by.

Unlike most runaways, she made no attempt to resist.

In fact, she greeted them with a friendly smile, and regarded the government vehicle without

the usual suspicion.

It seemed a warm place on a cold evening, which in fact it was.

So she got in.

Now it's hardly a secret.

Orphans make great protagonists.

Huck Finn and Harry Potter, Pip and Pollyanna, Dorothy Gale and Daenerys Targaryen.

These are characters who stick with us, but their adventures were rooted in fiction.

This one is not.

And this particular orphan from these particular streets would help change the world as we

know it.

Twenty minutes after she was picked up, our protagonist was enjoying a hardy meal and

a warm bath, both of which she needed.

Then she slept.

For the first time in memory she slumbered uninterrupted.

When she finally awakened, they fed her again and brought her to the classroom, where

she joined a handful of other recruits in various stages of the program.

Here the training began in earnest.

...