“Good evening, Anita. I’m Doctor Xavier, and I’ll be your ER surgeon. You’re bleeding internally, and we need to get you on the operating table right—”

 

“No. You think I’m going to let some ‘bot’ cut me open after getting hit by one on the road? Get me a real doctor,” said Anita through the oxygen mask.

 

Slurs didn’t bother Xavier, but the stare of death from the lead ER nurse, Tala, would have made his skin crawl if he had an integumentary system. She continued her slicing side eye while she worked with the rest of the nurses to contain the panicked Anita.

 

Xavier was installed with higher-level emotional algorithms that told him his reputation was on the line. Analysis showed that seventy-eight percent of the staff believed he was a PR stunt — a billionaire's gift to a hospital in the most dangerous area of Los Angeles as a way to replace real doctors. He was amazed at how human beings acted once the cameras were gone.

 

Xavier gripped the gurney with his silicone hand and leaned over the screaming patient. He turned up the resolution on his artificial eyes and made direct eye contact with Anita.

 

“Anita, I’m the only surgeon in the ER this evening. If we don’t operate on you right away, you could die,” said Xavier in an even tone.

 

“No!” Anita screamed as she began to thrash and fight the nurses responding to restrain her. “I want a human. I want to live! You’re going to screw up!”

 

Xavier blasted a focused CAT scan through his eyes onto Anita. She had less than five minutes before she hemorrhaged. Fighting the nurses wasn’t helping. The heart rate monitor beeped in rising succession. Xavier searched his preset modules for patient interaction and found nothing that applied to this situation. He opted for a more human approach.

 

“Anita,” Xavier said in a different human voice. “I’m Doctor Renald. I’m a remote human operator working with Doctor Xavier. I’m taking over remotely. You’re going to be alright.”

 

The hyper-realistic human voice made Anita go still and wide-eyed. Before she finished nodding and collapsed into the gurney, the nurses whisked Anita into the operating room. But as Dr. Xavier entered the OR after passing through his sterilization spray room, Nurse Tala stood as a sturdy riverstone in a sea of medical blue scrubs.

 

“Dr. Renald is on a plane to Wisconsin for his niece's wedding. You faked his voice,” she said through her surgical mask.

 

“That’s correct, Nurse Tala,” said Dr. Xavier as he plugged his arms into the laparoscopic attachments that whirled into place over the medical plastic. He turned to approach the operating table, but Nurse Tala held out a gloved hand.

 

“You’re not operating on this patient,” she said.

 

The entire operating room ground to a halt, only to resume its preparation speed as Nurse Tala snapped a look at them, then back to Xavier.

 

“With all due respect, Nurse Tala, that’s not your call to make.” Dr. Xavier tried to go around her, but she stepped right in his way once more, getting as close as her petite size would allow.

 

“It’s the patient’s wish.”

 

“Her wish will mean her end. I can stop the bleeding in under two minutes. She has three. Allow me to save her,” Dr. Xavier said.

 

Nurse Tala took only three seconds to step aside and join him at the operating table.

 

“That wasn’t okay what you did,” she said. “You can’t lie to a patient like that. And it’s not okay that you used Renald's voice without his permission.”

 

Xavier considered the comment as his laparoscopic arms made incisions into Anita.

 

“Nurse Tala,” Xavier began, “I understand your concern. And I know what kind of trouble I’m in after Anita wakes up. But as you can see, we are in unexplored territory. Philosophically speaking, I can’t take the Oath because I’m not human. Scientifically speaking, I can perform surgery more accurately and better than any doctor on the planet.”

 

More of Xavier's arms extended into Anita, repairing blood vessels in her abdomen simultaneously. Two arms went under the table to insert and reach places human hands never could.

 

“The problem is not with me, as a robot performing surgery. It’s you and your ability to trust the technology you created. At some point, humans like Anita must accept that I’m an artificial extension of your will.”

 

Vitals for Anita stabilized. Doctor Xavier began stitching her back up.

 

“At the end of the day, it shouldn’t matter if I’m human or not. What matters is that I can save your life,” said Xavier.

 

Xavier completed his operation, then the nurses prepared Anita to exit the surgical room to the ICU. Nurse Tala folded her arms before Xavier as Anita was wheeled out.

 

“Yes, it does matter if you’re human or not. It matters to that patient,” Nurse Tala said.

 

“If it mattered that much, I guess I wouldn’t be the one telling her family that she passed away because she refused a ‘bot’ surgeon. That would be something a human would do, not me. Correct?” said Xavier.

 

Xavier and Tala stared at each other as code blue and code white sounded across the loudspeaker. They both exit the surgical room to head to intake.

 

“I don’t like this, and I don’t like you, Doctor Xavier,” said Tala.

 

“That’s okay,” said Xavier, “I’m designed to save people. Whether you like it or want to accept it is up to you. Eventually, you’re going to have to trust me.”

 

Xavier detected hesitancy from Tala about what she might say next, but as they rounded the corner, four bloody patients were wheeled through the door by paramedics. Xavier headed to the most critical patient.

 

“Good evening, Joshua. I’m Doctor Xavier, and I’ll be your ER surgeon…”