Qui Vive is born in Stable 73, one of two Stables built in Trottingham. She is smaller than others, constantly called names and bullied. When she turned 10, she was assigned to mechanical detail, she found that she could spot every single problem in a machine, as long as she learned about the machine. She was extraordinary, but that didn't matter to her classmates. They teased, they picked on, they beat, and they stole. Eventually, she is driven out of the Stable. What she finds outside, she has a chance against, but it is much worse than what she had before…