Meet Minerva Rosi
A graduate of the Woman’s Medical College of Pennsylvania, Minerva Rosi is a brilliant clinician dedicated to the sciences and the pursuit of knowledge.
A contemporary of Charles Darwin, Dmitri Ivanovsky, and William James, Ms. Rosi sees a world where discovery is the solution to the world’s ills.
Curious, hopeful, optimistic at best, Minerva is an idealist who believes a brighter future can be built on the backs of innovation. At her worst, however, Minerva could be accused of being naive and far-sighted; unable to recognize the toxicity of her privilege and un-attuned to the struggles of real people.
That is, until a fateful night on October 8th, 1871.
Minerva was visiting Illinois to attend an exhibition at the Chicago Academy of Sciences when the fires began.
It started with smoke. Then, screams. But when others around her began to panic, Minerva felt an uneasy calm.
At first, the loss of the vast treasures held at the Academy was her primary concern — thousands of pieces of work, untold volumes of knowledge held in books, all soon to be lost to the flames. But, as she witnessed the chaos that spread with the fire and the incivility it fostered, she knew she could not sit idly by and watch as innocent people suffered.
Instead, she took charge and began to mobilize people toward the safety of the river. Along the way, she and her followers took pains to locate wounded and lead them away from the untouched parts of the city. Knowing that the wind could push the fires north and east, she moved with the survivors to the south, hoping to save as many as she could.
But soon, she was overwhelmed and became lost in the smoke and confusion. It was here that she encountered a dark force — some shadow that seemed to overtake her. She believed it was the smoke, blurring her vision and choking the air from her lungs. She passed out.
Minerva could not tell how long she’d been unconscious. But, when she came to, she noticed that whatever had afflicted her seemed to enhance her senses, allowing her to find more and more by the sounds of their heartbeats and the smell of their blood. To see them in the darkness and know they were there.
Too distracted by her mission to be overwhelmed by her new transformation, she kept returning to the evacuation efforts until the fire brigade came.
In the weeks to come, Minerva began to notice changes to her physical appearance. Her eyes turned pale blue like the sky on a clear winter’s day when, in fact, she’d always known her eyes had been hazel since birth. Her skin seemed to tighten around her face, upper body, and legs. Her hair, always rather dull and limp, had grown vibrant and curled.
And then, there was the hunger.
Food and drink lost all taste. They became like ashes to her tongue. She barely mourned the loss.
She grew averse toward seawater for reasons she could not explain.
Then, the thoughts came.
Like lightning, her mind began to explore metaphysics, complex equations, human behavior as an algorithm. In that moment, she could see the endless possibilities of her ideas.
But first, she needed to learn what transformations were occurring within her. She began to test and test, trying to learn as much as she could about her new state.
And still while she worked, she could feel the shadows outside her home, calling out to her. Calling her home.
