While I surfed towards the forest, Galatea was scrambling the various drones, focusing on those equipped with long range infrared cameras. And we would need those. Just from the time the girl had since she had been last seen and an estimation of her maximum speed, it was easy to get an idea of the distance she might have travelled, limiting the area. That was assuming that nobody had changed the parameters, which would change the whole thing from ‘lost child’ to ‘kidnapping’. What made the searching harder was that most of the search-area were forested mountains, with a few meadows and fields at the edges of the area.

Someone had to put out the good word, or I would certainly have drawn the ire of one or more patrol cars before I got to the forest. Once there, I took up a position close to the point the child had been last seen and focused on the drone-data.

The amount of data quickly pouring in proved too big, even for Galatea, to analyse in real time, forcing us to use simpler algorithms to pre-sort the data and only deal with parts of it. So, there was a three-step system, first a simple algorithm filtered out everything without any heat-sources warmer than thirty-five degrees celsius, by virtue of the conclusion that, if she was that cold, she was dead. Once those were excluded, Galatea analysed the images and gave possible hits to me, just in case my human perspective saw something she did not.

I did something different, used a topographic map and slightly changed the drone flight-paths, they had been in an optimised grid-pattern for maximum terrain coverage, I thought it better to focus on the area she had been last seen in and radiate outwards, using multiple angles to take into account possible obstructions, shielding her from overhead discovery. That would greatly reduce the amount of terrain covered but greatly increased the chances to discover her, if she was obscured. As with most things in life, it was a trade-off.

The footage I got was rather varied, there were a few animals, people I believed to be adults searching for Eliana and even a couple getting… busy in the bushes. Part of me wanted to make them get a room, but in the end, it was not worth demonstrating the exact capabilities of my drones just for that.

There was one image that stood out to me, almost completely by accident. The infrared had detected a small, warm form, mostly obscured by terrain and Galatea had moved the drone to get a clear image of the form. I checked the image and saw a doe lying in a small depression on the slope, sleeping the day away. But what stood out, were drag or slide-marks at the edge of the picture, suddenly vanishing from sight. The slope was quite steep in that area, making it hard to explore on foot. There was a nagging feeling in my stomach, telling me to look closer, that what I had seen was relevant.

The drones were still in the area and showed me that the marks ended at an almost vertical drop into a narrow ravine, hidden from view. Without lowering a drone into the forest and the ravine, it would be impossible to get a better image, so I made the decision to check it out myself while Galatea continued the data-analysis.

Moving down the slope was not easy, especially for my armoured self, there was just very little secure footing, everything might slide out from under you, dropping you on your backside and the weight of my armour exacerbated the problem. In addition, trying to grab a small tree to stabilize my footing, might result in me, ripping said small tree out or breaking it off.

It took me some time, but I managed to get to the ravine and look down, but even from that perspective I was unable to see everything in it. The slide-marks might have told someone with better tracking skills than me what had happened, but for me, the only thing I knew was that something had slid towards the ravine and most likely dropped down. While that was no evidence that it had been today, or that it had been Eliana, I felt it was due diligence to make sure that she was not down there, meaning I had to get down there. By a simple estimation, I guessed to floor of the ravine roughly five meters below me, so I simply jumped down after charging my hover-boots to absorb part of the impact and hopefully allow me to keep my footing. It would be the peak of embarrassment if I needed rescue myself, due to losing my footing and hurting myself.

Down in the ravine, I looked around and discovered that my gut had been right. I was not sure how the girl had managed to end up where she was, obscured in a small ditch, but she was here.

The blood oozing from her skull and the wrong angle of her leg made me wary to simply pick her up, there could be a lot of possible, hidden injuries that could cause grave damage if I did so. The first thing I did, was asking Galatea to find out the phone-number of Kira Mathis, the girl’s mother. It would take a few moments in which I started to make her transportable.

My biggest worry was spinal injury, and I could only see small parts of her neck, due to her position. The backpack ambulance would get a thorough field-test on this one. Extending a thin arm, I sneaked a nozzle filled with fast and solid-curing foam beneath her clothing and back, spraying it onto her and creating an impromptu-bracing. Without moving her more than a single centimeter, her spine, from her tailbone to the crown of her head, was immobilised by the hardened foam, making sure that nothing in there shifted and caused more damage.

The imaging-capabilities of my backpack were limited to simple X-Rays and Ultrasound-images, but that was good enough to get an accurate picture of her broken leg. Sadly, it was not a simple, clean break but messy with shards broken off, to the point that I decided that setting it would have to wait until she was in the hospital. Just from the capabilities of my backpack I could have set it, even operated on it to bring the small pieces back into position, but there was simply no need to risk anything by doing something that foolish. So, more foam it was, keeping that part of her from moving as well.

“Metis, I have the number you asked for.” Galatea told me.

“Good, can you set my filter to a mature, natural voice and dial?” I asked and shortly after, I heard the dial-tone.

“Yes?” a female voice answered, sounding worried and just like the woman I had spoken to earlier.

“Miss Mathis. This is Metis, we have spoken earlier. I have found your daughter and am currently facilitating her transport to Saint Raphael's Hospital.” I said, trying to project reassuring confidence.

“Oh god, my baby! Is she alright?” The voice turned frantic.

“Ma’am, that is not something I can accurately describe. You should get someone to drive you to the hospital, there your daughter can be taken care of.”

While I spoke with the mother, I had made sure that there were no more pressing injuries by getting more imaging. The hospital would check my work, but it was a lot better than what she would get with a normal ambulance or even a rescue-flight.

Once I had managed to assure the mother that I was doing everything I could, I made the decision to simply link the two foam-bracings together, giving her almost a full-body cast. That way, I could use the additional arms of my backpack to make essentially a stretcher and carry her that way. Luckily, I did not need to get back up the mountain, I could simply move down and jump down the wall onto the road next to the river. It were only a few meters after all, not enough to overwhelm my shock absorbers.

Moving down the hill with a small child held before me was even harder than I thought, but with the slow and steady-approach, I managed to get down to the wall, separating the sloped, earthen hill from the road a few meters down. After waiting that no car was approaching, so I wouldn’t cause an accident, I jumped down, landing lightly thanks to the hover-field.

Surfing to the hospital was not easy, I had to take great care not to mess up my balance due to the change in my center of gravity, thanks to the small child.

Once there, I directly made my way to the emergency entrance, pushing a petrified security guard aside and presenting a surprised nurse with my cargo before helping her to place the child onto an hospital approved stretcher.

The guard was just coming out of his petrification and wanted to make a fuss when a tall doctor approached and stopped the guard with a look and a single raised eyebrow. He was radiating authority and confidence, making me think of my father.

“What do we have here, Nurse Stuart?” he asked the nurse who had helped me.

“I don’t know yet, Doctor Jordan. Maybe you should ask her.”

The doctor turned his gaze to me, pinning me in place.

“Female, five years old, fell down roughly six meters onto a mix of soft and hard ground. Unsure how long between fall and rescue. She has a broken leg and a bleeding head-wound, her leg and spine are fully immobilized to prevent further damage.” I handed him the display-screen from my backpack and let Galatea display the images I had taken and the data I had gathered. Seeing the amount of data I had already compiled, both eyebrows went up in surprise. I handed him a spray-can with the solution to dissolve the foam-bracing, turning it into a gritty dust, easily brushed aside. He would need it to take care of the child, and I explained as much.

We were interrupted by a scream of “My baby!” and I had to stop the child’s mother from throwing herself onto the stretcher,

“Ma’am, your daughter is in good hands, let the good doctor do his job.”

The slightly embarrassed guard took over for me, when the doctor glared at him again. Normally, it was his job to make sure that hysterical relatives did not interfere in the necessary treatment.

“Can I have these images and the additional data?” the doctor asked me.

“Yes, sure, can you show me on what system you want it?”

The doctor had another nurse guide me to a workstation and I linked with it, with Galatea making sure that the data was compatible with their system. I normally used my own system-architecture which was mostly incompatible with anything else, as it relied on Galatea. I also left the footage of the actions I had taken to stabilize the girl, just in case they needed that as well and made sure that the nurse was aware of it.

With that done, I decided that the best course of action would be to leave. When I had stopped the hysterical mother, I had seen the camera-crew arrive as well. Going down and telling the story of my heroic actions would send the wrong message, I wanted others to toot my horn.

When I asked the nurse if there was a back-way out, she grinned and showed me to it and I took off. A little mystery made for a better story.