Altaira Morbius ( Alta for short) was born on the planet Altair IV in the year 2203. Her mother died not long after her birth, following the mysterious mass deaths of nearly all of her co-workers aboard the Bellerophon. She was raised by her father, Edward Morbius, a reclusive philologist whose IQ had been boosted by alien technology, and Robbie the Robot, a unique invention of her father's. Until she reached the age of nineteen, she had never seen another talking being, although she was close friends with many of the animals that the colonists had brought with them, including a Bengal tiger and a deer.When the United Planets Cruiser C57D arrived on Altair IV, Altaira had her first opportunity to meet other humans - all men (or, as their commander puts it: super-perfect physical specimens with an average age of 24.6 ). While excited by the opportunity to put her biological theory into practice, Altaira is unresponsive to most of the romantic overtures of the men until Commander John J. Adams, captain of the vessel, takes an interest in her.For Altaira, this created an unfortunate generational gap between herself and her father, who could not bear to part with her or share her with others. Unfortunate because, as a result of his experiments with Krel technology, Professor Morbius was now capable of unconsciously summoning up an id monster that would destroy anyone who prevented him having his way. Ultimately, Alta and her new lover did escape the monster and the planet, but only after the Professor sacrificed his own life to save them.