It is sometime in the future, and childbirth is becoming a thing of the past, along with many other old-fashioned practices. Who wants to go through that pain, and hasve a child that could be weak, sick, or unintelligent? Instead, why not get a child... that is perfect. The children have been a work in progress for many decades. The rich were starting to get perfect children ordered in advance. The children in testing, beta children if you will, were treated to a perfect life as they were carefully tested, to make the next batch of children better. Some children were messed up, completely past any point of worth, but they were kept: Not in perfect conditions, but good enough, and they were to tested, to see why they were so messed up. Lucy is just one of the thousands of children made.