The life of a Merin Regan consists of six jumps. From birth until puberty is the first . This jump is fairly predictable and safe. The average Merin jumps sometime between twelve and fourteen cycles. After that the jumps are as variable as the individuals on this God forsaken planet.
When I first came here to document our discovery of the place,I was so young and terribly naive. I stepped out of the Time Warp right into a domestic conflict.That was before we learned to focus the warp definer's circle.Before that ,a researcher could land anywhere on the planet with no control at all.When I first looked around,I saw a male and female locked in the throes of battle.
I didn't want to interfere for fear that the continuum would be totally disrupted in some way. In Training they had always toaught us that even the slightest intervention could do so. It got more and more difficult to stand there and do nothing but observe. These two souls needed peace between them if their future was going to work.
Before I could do anything to help, the female brandished some kind of weapon and fired it at the male. They were so intertwined
that the explosion blew them both to pieces.
I was stunned . I could not move or speak for what seemed like a long time until a shrill keening sound roused me out of my stupor. Looking around to find the source of the cry,I came upon an infant who had just arrived.
"That first jump's a killer," I muttered and gently lifted the infant into my arms.
