Emily Shaw

Emily Shaw was born in London in 2010, the daughter of a theoretical physicist and a botanist. From an early age, she displayed an insatiable curiosity and an exceptional intellect, inheriting both her father’s analytical mind and her mother’s intuitive understanding of the natural world. While other children played outside, Emily buried herself in books, fascinated by patterns, systems, and the hidden mechanics of the universe.  

 

Despite her brilliance, Emily often felt like an outsider. Socially detached but deeply observant, she saw the world differently from her peers. Her teachers recognised her potential early, and by the time she entered secondary school, she had established herself as a science prodigy, effortlessly excelling in mathematics, physics, and computer science. At 12 years old, she developed an app in collaboration with a homeless charity, connecting unused hotel rooms with those in need. It was a glimpse of her future: using technology to solve real-world problems.  

 

However, it was a fateful evening with her father, watching Blade Runner, that truly set her course in life. The film’s questions about artificial intelligence, consciousness, and what it means to be human lingered in her mind. Could machines think? Could they feel? Could they learn beyond their programming? By her late teens, Emily had become obsessed with neural networks, machine learning, and predictive AI models. She devoured everything she could find on the subject, from academic papers to open-source AI projects, even experimenting with AI-enhanced robotics in her spare time. But despite her growing expertise, she never felt like she truly belonged, until she was offered a place at Princeton University, where she met Professor Maureen O’Connor.  

 

Recognising Emily’s unique talent, Maureen recruited her to join a small, elite team developing Athena, an AI designed to predict global events. As the world outside teetered on the brink of climate catastrophe and societal collapse, Emily buried herself in her work, refining Athena, shaping its intelligence, and unknowingly preparing for the crisis that would define her generation. The girl who had always been an outsider was about to become one of humanity’s most vital figures in the fight for survival.