“OK,” Ledford nodded to the anesthesiologist, David Foley, an irreverent Canadian from Ottawa. “Let’s put the kid to sleep so we can move her on down the assembly line. We’ve got a lot of other customers waiting. Raining like hell and the drinking water is filthy because we can’t store it. No excuse for waterborne diseases here.”

There was a soft hiss in a plastic mask over the baby’s mouth and nose, and she immediately began to calm. “Hey, Joey?” asked the gas-passer.

“What, David?”

“Five years from now you will be doing nip-and-tucks for rich ladies in your own fancy clinic. I will be driving a red convertible. We will tweet and play Fantasy Football and date supermodels.” He looked at his instruments. All good. “OK. She’s down.”

Ledford let his fingers gently probe the left arm of the infant and explore the fracture. “Stay focused, Dr. Foley.”

“Joey?”

“Be quiet. I’m trying to concentrate.” He found the break and tried to picture in his mind how it looked. With luck and a few years, if the child beat the odds and lived that long, her limbs might one day be strong again. Babies are resilient.

“Doc Yao says we can have some time off. Sort of.”

Ledford’s hands were working smoothly now, and the nurse stayed with him, putting another damaged little human being back together. He let her do as much of the work as possible to improve her skills. “What’s the catch?”

“We go up north and visit some of the flooded villages where the water is receding. Pick a site for a new UN facility upcountry. I think we can carve out some serious downtime in the process. Actually get some rest. We about done with this kid?”

“Just a few more minutes.” As the nurse finished the bandaging, he gave the rest of the body a quick examination. No other breaks, but she was malnourished from being sick and unable to feed.