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Sophia Lestari is one of the primary protagonists of the Staarusverse novels, secondary only to Abigail Shurn. She has so far appeared in every novel and short story set in this universe aside from Chickpicking, The Incursion and A Discussion on Key Safety Regulations of Combined Entry-Exit Spacecraft Orbital Dynamics, and she is the primary POV character in the anthology novel Some of the Travels of Sophie as well as co-lead with Abigail in Werayne and Do I Dare Disturb the Universe?.

Biography

Sophie was born on Earth. She has two younger siblings, twins Kris and Rachel. When she was nine years old, her father departed on an expedition on a Science Instituion spaceship known as the Eridanus. Not long after her mother was diagnosed with a cell blasting disease, and passed away when she was thirteen. Following her death, social workers informed Sophie that she would be moved to a separate foster home to her siblings, and so she decided to abscond to the Science Institution in order to enquire about her father's whereabouts, upon which she met Louise and was informed that the Eridanus expedition was missing in action. Louise took pity on Sophie's situation and offered her a job working with her in the records room of the Science Institution as well as a place to live. ² A month later, Sophie encountered Aldred working on a cross spatial particle transmitter, which she dubbed the teleport watch, that was able to transport the wearer across through transdimensional space. Sophie grew excited and suggested that they could use the teleport watch to search for the missing expedition. The two submitted the idea for approval.³ Once it was approved Sophie and Aldred undertook training and test trips with the teleport watch before embarking on their first research trip, to the planet Neptune, confirming the Eridanus' visit there before working backwards from its last known locations.⁴ A year later they were still working their way through confirmed locations the Eridanus had visited. They arrived on the planet Shalron and while trying to find information about the Eridanus visiting there learnt about the monsters plaguing the town. When an attack occurred, Aldred joined the locals in going to fight the mutated creatures, telling Sophie to stay in safety. Sophie soon heard anguished noises and ran to find Aldred being impaled by one of the monsters. She picked a fight with it to lure it away from Aldred but was quickly overpowered. Aldred recovered his strength and got the monster's attention, and was subsequently ripped apart. Sophie, devastated by witnessing his death, was emboldened to defeat the monster, and in the aftermath, she returned to Earth alone.⁵ She did not cope well with Aldred's death, and took a few months to return to her search, becoming more impulsive upon her first solo trip which culminated in her stealing information about the Eridanus that she was being denied access to. She was frightened by the way she had been changed by her experiences.⁶ Two months after her fifteenth birthday the teleport watch malfunctioned on a trip to the planet Zegrafa, and she was detained by the local monarchy. The prince of that region took an interest in her and arranged for the two to be wed. Sophie was forced to work on the teleport watch in secret and managed to finish the repairs shortly before the wedding, which she escaped from and teleported to freedom.⁷

Trivia

Citations

1. Do I Dare Disturb The Universe?
2. SOTTOS - Beginnings
3. SOTTOS - Sophie & The Scientists
4. SOTTOS - First Trip
5. SOTTOS - The Monster Planet
6. SOTTOS - Travelling Alone
7. SOTTOS - Zegrafa