Chapter 10.

Gabriela sat her rifle down quickly and rushed to the woman, who held out an outstretched arm to her and begged.

"Help us, please."

"I don't know what all of this is," Gabriela admitted as she frantically followed the tubes that ran from the woman to flasks that contained the various implants. They were wet gear. She knew that. The woman was being used as a support system to keep the implants viable.

Gabriela noticed that the woman's blood pressure was dropping, but she could not see any evidence of external bleeding.

The woman groaned and clutched her belly as a contraction caused her pale face to contort.

"She's in labor," Geraldo noted as he helped Gabriela examine the rats nest of tubes and wires. "We need a medical evac ASAP, Gabriela. We need to find the comms jammer and fast."

The sound of equipment clattering further in the darkroom caused the two of them to pause and look at each other.

"Stay here," Geraldo warned as he drew his pistol.

"I'll go. Your tact gear is compromised.” Gabriela reminded him yet again. She grabbed her rifle. “Stay here with her. Do what you can. I will find the comms jammer."

"Okay. Make sure you shoot first. Ask questions later."

"I intend to." Gabriela shouldered her rifle once more. She moved the plastic drapes away with the tip of the barrel before she moved further into the dark room. At the room's end was a large walk-in freezer door, cracked open. Pale light pooled from the entrance. Slowly, Gabriela reached out and pulled the door open.

Augmented limbs hung from chains on the ceiling, their chipped and worn paint covered in a haze of frost. A bank of monitors lined the far wall, their glow silhouetting a figure hunched over the input board, a rapid "click, click, click" echoed through the freezer.

"Stop," Gabriela instructed. Her finger pressed against the trigger of her rifle. "Slowly put your hands up and back away from the terminal."

The silhouette did as it was told. Slowly it backed away with its arms in the air.

"Turn around," Gabriela demanded.

She couldn't tell the figure’s gender. A thick, fur-lined jacket obscured most of its body, and its face was entirely augmented. Gabriela could see medical scrubs where the coat was unbuttoned. She had found her chop doc.

"Turn off the comms jammer."

"No." The chop doc's voice was fully synthesized.

"I'm not going to ask you again!" She shouted and took a menacing step toward the doc.

"Do you believe in a god?" It asked. Its arms still raised above its head.

Gabriela frowned at the absurd question. As the doc continued its monologue, her finger relaxed, just a bit.

"I used to believe in one. I believed in the words of the scriptures. Genesis 1:27. So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them."

"What the fuck are you talking about?"

"If God made us in His image, and God is perfect, then how can that woman out there be the image of God, how can I be the image of God? And you, you were made from men, built in an image of their liking in a lab. Which means you are not the image of God. So, if God made men in his own image, then what does that say about God?"

"You're under arrest. Get down on the ground, now!" Gabrial tipped the barrel of her gun towards the floor.

"There is something you should know, detective Fohren."

"How the fuck?" Gabriela's mind raced as she thought about how this person in front of her could possibly know who she was. "How do you know my name?”

"The system says that there is a probability that you will take me alive, but doing so will lead to the child's death."

"Shut the fuck up and get on your knees."

"So, you have a choice. Kill me, and you will save the child. Or, you can arrest me like the good girl it wants you to be. What will you choose?"

Gabriela had had enough. She had warned it twice, and she had promised she would not give it another warning. Gabriela kept that promise. Her finger squeezed the trigger until her rifle bucked against her shoulder. The chop doc jerked and fell back, the bullets passing through it into the bank of computing equipment. They popped and fizzed in a shower of sparks.

Quickly she closed the distance between her and the fallen doc. Its body jerked and spasmed in a pool of white lubricant that spilled from the many holes Gabriela had littered it with. She quickly opened the jacket with the toe of her boot. The doc was not human. It was a machine. "Shit."

"Gabriela, talk to me!" Geraldo called out to her.

"I'm fine!" Gabriela took a step back. The machine still twitched, and its voice buzzed and crackled.

"The comms are up. Get on the line and get a med unit and backup here ASAP!"

Gabriela reached into her pocket and pulled the earpiece out, she quickly looped it over her ear before she used her palm terminal to connect her to medical support.

"This is MedSuport. What is the nature of your call?" An apathetic voice answered.

"This Gabriela Fohren. Taurus officer 9951, I need immediate medical support."

"Is this support for you, officer?"

"No. I got a citizen in need of medical attention."

"What's the citizen's name?" The dull voice asked

Gabriela shook her head. And ground her teeth. "I don't know her name."

"We will need to identify her before support can be dispatched. If you hold your terminal up to the citizen's eye, I can initiate a retinal scan."

"Fuck." Gabriela pushed Geraldo to the side and held her terminal to the Woman's eye. Her skin was cold and clammy, and her breathing labored.

"Thank you, Officer. A medical unit has been dispatched. It should arrive in forty-five minutes."

"No!" Gabriela shouted. "She will be dead by then."

"I do apologize, but the citizen is only covered by basic health. Therefore, those calls are responded to in the order they are received."

"Fuck. Then send it for me."

"Ma'am. Misuse of Omnisystem resources is a punishable offense."

"She's flatlining, Gabriela. Hang up on them and help me."

"If there is nothing else I can help you with, then I will disconnect the call. A short survey will be available to better help us in assisting you in the future."

"Go fuck yourself," Gabriela growled as she disconnected the call.

"Chest compressions, now." Geraldo directed.

Gabriela pressed on the woman's chest over and over while Geraldo tilted her head back, pinched her nose, and breathed into her mouth.

Again and again, she pressed. Harder and harder, as if she could force the woman's life back in her. Something caught Gabriela's eye. A faint movement from the woman's belly, a small bump appeared faintly.

"Kill me, and you will save the child." The chop doc had said. Gabriela stopped, turned around, and quickly rummaged through the medical tools on the tray.

"Gab?" Geraldo called out. He quickly took over the compressions.

Metal clattered to the cold concrete, Gabriela gasped when she found what she was looking for. She held up a scalpel, its blade gleamed in the faint light. "Move." She motioned for Geraldo to step aside. "We lost her, but we can still save the baby."

Gabriela plunged the scalpel into the woman's lower belly and pulled it, crossing her cold skin. A red gash opened up and followed the blade, quickly pooling with blood. Geraldo found an aspirator and drained the lake of blood as Gabriela kept cutting, gently, deeper and deeper, until she saw a small hand in the wound.

"Grab one side," Geraldo said as he sank his hands into the woman's belly. Gabriela did as she was told, and together they pulled, opening the dead woman's belly. She reached in and pulled the baby from its mother. The child immediately began to scream and cry.

The sound was the most joyful thing Gabriela had ever heard. She quickly swaddled the baby in her jacket. It was a boy. Both of his lower legs were missing. Only little nubs kicked at the air as he cried.

His face was red and angry. Gabriela couldn't hold her tears back as she let out a laugh that turned into a sob. "He's alive."