Toys

Chapter 31

Why did I feel responsible for this girl? Why should I?

Still, I rushed down the hallway, hoping it wasn’t Betas attacking or, worse, the city police looking for me.

But it was just Shanna-in labor. The baby was coming already, probably prematurely.

The others had dragged her rag mattress next to an old iron storage rack. Her small bare feet were braced against the uprights.

Some delivery room. Filthy, no proper instruments, no drugs to ease the girl’s pain.

Corliss, looking nervous and worried, was kneeling between Shanna’s thighs.

“Good, we need someone strong,” Corliss said as she saw me enter the room. “Hold her hands.” Then she added, “Do you have a name?”

“It’s Hays,” I said.

“All right, Hays, hold this poor girl down. Hold her good! She’s in for a world of pain.”

So I crouched behind Shanna’s head and took hold of her. The girl’s fingers tightened around my wrists, her nails digging in, drawing blood. And then she began to scream again-and to curse Corliss, then me, and, finally, life itself.

Corliss patiently soothed and coaxed the girl. “You have to push like a madwoman, hon,” she kept saying. “I know how bad it hurts, but you have to push so hard. Come on. Push hard, dear. It’ll be over soon. I promise. Push.”

“You’re lying! You’re all liars! Assholes!”

On and on like that.

Finally, though, the human baby’s head started to appear. This was unbelievable to me. It almost seemed like a miracle.

“Push!” Corliss urged. “The baby’s crowning! Push! You’re almost there. I promise you, Shanna. I’m not lying this time!”

The girl’s screams and grunts continued-until quite suddenly, a little boy, slick with blood, slipped out into Corliss’s waiting hands.

Corliss raised and examined the infant carefully, even lovingly. He was small, but seemed perfectly formed as he kicked his tiny feet and started to wail.

Except for the blood and the umbilical cord running into his belly, he looked just like April and Chloe had when Lizbeth and I had first seen them, fresh from the incubator.

Tiny. Perfect. Heart-stopping.

I let go of Shanna’s wrists and stood up. I was sweating, rattled worse than I’d ever been in the line of duty.

My God, that was something-helping in a human birth.

I got another unexpected jolt when Corliss brought the baby’s belly up close to her face-and bit off the umbilical cord.

Smiling, Corliss settled the tiny tyke on Shanna’s breasts and kissed the new mom’s forehead. “Congratulations, darling,” she said. “You did so well. You were brave and you were strong.”

There was no reason for me to stay any longer, and I started toward the room’s exit.

“Please stay,” Shanna said. “You saved me. You saved the baby.”

I was startled-not just by her words, but by the intense feelings that rose up in me. I’d never cared about humans. Far from it. But now it struck me that maybe I’d never considered their plight fairly. Why hadn’t it seemed possible that there was more to them than what the Cybernet said? Why had I been content to study and enjoy their colorful history, literature, art-their music especially-but dismiss humans themselves as self-destructive animals?

Shanna’s imploring eyes brought me back to the moment.

“Look, I have to keep moving,” I said. “But”-I hesitated, realizing that I was about to make an insane promise-“I’ll come back. I want to see your baby again.”

She nodded slowly, and so did Corliss.

Then I did something truly amazing.

I reached down and touched the baby’s soft cheek. His eyes were still closed, but his little mouth smiled at me.

“I have to go now,” I said. “But thank you-for letting me be part of this.”