Badass II

Dr. Laura Ross frowned at her computer screen. This can't be right, she thought. Watching the screen closely as the results scrolled past she was too distracted to pay attention when Sam walked into the lab.

"Hi, Laura, how are you?" he asked.

"Hi," she responded in a distracted tone.

"Looks like Mars is crashing to earth tonight," he remarked offhandedly, trying to jolt Laura back to the present.

"That's nice," she said. Sam waited a moment then Laura looked up at him.

"What?" she asked.

"Welcome to earth," he said, smiling.

"I am trying to solve a real problem Sam; I don't have time for your jokes." Or anything else, Sam thought.

"What's wrong?"

"I'm looking at the results for some of the Tryon II class robots. Their circuitry is burning out at odd times. They should be lasting a lot longer than this."

"A little planned obsolescence maybe?" Sam asked cautiously. Laura shook her head vigorously.

"Not from my lab. I guaranteed these robots to last in their mission for a minimum of ten years. I don't understand this."

"Wait, isn't that the same class of robot purchased by some of the police departments?"

"Yes, the closest one is Boston PD. Their chief medical examiner is a Tryon II class robot."

"Have they had any problems?" Sam asked.

"Not to my knowledge but I'll call Lt. Cavanaugh and ask about her performance."

Sam watched Laura a moment longer. "What will you do if the data is correct?"

"I'll have to recall the robots and destroy them." Sam started to object then thought better of saying anything. This was Laura's primary project and mission over the past several years and he didn't have any right to say anything.

Jane paced up and down, waiting for Maura to finish dressing. "Maura, come on! We'll miss the movie if you don't get a move on!"

"I'm hurrying, Jane. You don't want me to look funny do you?"

"Maura the movie plays in the dark. You can walk in with two heads and no one will notice." Jane called back. Especially if we don't get there until the lights have gone down.

Maura stood in front of the mirror, puzzled as to why she was moving so slowly. Normally she had plenty of energy in the evenings especially since she added a recharge to her main battery in the late afternoons if she wasn't on a crime scene or doing an autopsy. Today was slow- Maura spent the day cleaning up files so when she returned from her lunch date with Jane she plugged in her charger and felt the familiar jolt when her battery completely charged.

But now she frowned. Her charge was still almost complete and she was sluggish, almost lifeless. If she didn't finish dressing soon she might as well just go to bed for the night and let Jane go to the movie alone.

No, she resolved, she wouldn't do that. They had a string of cases recently that kept them so busy they didn't have any alone time, or time to be a couple. When Jane mentioned a movie tonight Maura was excited at the thought of having a date night with her gorgeous detective. Maura didn't want to disappoint Jane-or herself.

Taking a deep breath she sat on the side of the bed to put on her pants. One leg slid right in but her foot caught in the other pant leg and Maura struggled a bit. She leaned forward to free her foot and felt a jolt of electricity run through her chest.

ZZZ, Maura's chest sizzled and she was instantly dizzy. "Jane!" she yelled frantically. Maura smelled an electrical smell and knew she was on fire.

"Maura!" Jane froze in the doorway, horrified at the sight in front of her. Maura sat on the side of the bed, flames shooting from her chest.

"Baking soda!" Maura yelled. She was losing energy and it took all her might to remain sitting. She didn't want to spread the fire by falling in the floor.

Jane ran back with the large container of baking soda in the kitchen. She threw it on Maura's chest. Grabbing the comforter Maura was on she wrapped her in it, smothering the fire as best she could.

Maura lay back, dazed. The air smelled like a combination of singed hair, torched wiring and fried flesh. Something's definitely wrong, she thought before the room faded and she lost consciousness.

Jane grabbed her phone and called for an ambulance. Switching to professional mode she tried to recall the last few days when Maura seemed to be too sluggish to complete the most menial of tasks. What could be wrong? She wondered. Jane tried to keep the panic out of her voice and remain professional. When she heard footsteps pounding up the stairs she threw open the front door and the paramedic team rushed in.

The first paramedic opened the toolbox and made contact with the local hospital. "Female, early to mid thirties, burns to chest…" his voice faded off as he pulled the comforter off Maura's body.

"She has wires coming out of her chest." He stated flatly. He didn't understand what Maura could have been doing, to have electrical wiring melting on her chest.

"Halloween costume?" the nurse at the hospital inquired.

"Huh?" was the paramedic's response.

"Is she wearing a Halloween costume?" the nurse spoke patiently.

"I don't think so. She's wearing a top and jeans but she has wires coming from her chest." The first paramedic didn't know what else to say. His crew chief knelt beside him.

"Nurse I think this is a Tryon II robot issued to the Boston PD. Am I right?" he asked, looking up at Jane for confirmation. "We'll transport her to the Institute for treatment." The crew chief signed off on the call and looked at his coworker.

"Dr. Isles is a Tryon II robot working as chief medical examiner for Boston PD. The Institute contacted Lt. Cavanaugh to give him a heads-up on a computer glitch they're having. He uploaded her file so if something like this happened we'd know how to handle it."

"Thank goodness you have an answer," Jane sighed with relief. "So the Institute is aware of this and she just needs to be reprogrammed?"

"I don't know, Detective. The information was just given earlier today. Good thing, too, or we might have thought Dr. Isles had gone up in smoke."

Maura was strapped to a gurney and Jane accompanied the EMT staff to the van. "I'll follow you in my car," she indicated and started up her vehicle. Jane programmed the Institute's address into her GPS and waited for the ambulance to leave.

"Damn it," Laura muttered under her breath. She'd been sleeping on the sofa in her office, only to be awakened by the notification call of Maura's impending arrival. Despite her phone call to the lieutenant earlier today she had high hopes of Maura making it through the glitches and surviving to her ten year anniversary as Boston's Chief Medical Examiner. Quickly Laura ran through all of the data she acquired over these past weeks.

Maura will be the first to go, Laura thought grimly. I'll have to destroy her in order to find out how to help the others.

TBC