5)

"Jas," Zeta spoke, interrupting the boy's question. He laid a hand on Jas's plump, rounded shoulder, squeezing. "Ro's in trouble."
"Ro? How do you know?"
Zeta knew there was no time to answer, no time to do anything but run downstream to Ro. He dashed along the shore, between rocks, pools and sinking sand, transforming as he ran, back into his normal synthoid form. Before he knew it, he was standing at the spot where Ro had fallen. He scanned the rock for evidence. Finding nothing, he made his way beyond the boulder, heading toward the rapids.
Jasper was hot on the synthoid's heels. He could make out the top of the Infiltration Unit's gangly metal head; it glinted in the sunlight between the leafy boughs of trees. "Zee!" he shouted.
Zeta turned, but was not dismayed at Jas's sudden presence. He let out a cautionary hand. "Stay there, Jasper. Don't come closer. I must find Ro." Without a doubt, he knew the kid would follow the instructions. Zeta began to wade through the water, then ran again along the shoreline of the river, past the delta where the river and stream met. The rapids began without warning. The sound of rushing water was tremendous, and Zeta's audio module accounted for it, toning down the background volume, and upped power to the human voice locator.
"Ro!" he called, as loud as he could. He saw no sign of her fair hair in the water, no sign of her black shirt, no sign of her faded blue jeans. Out in the middle of the rapids, strong enough to stand against the force of the water, Zeta ducked his head under. The water was cloudy and murky, and even with his light adjustments he could still barely see. He searched in infrared. Finding nothing in the electromagnetic spectrum, he switched the search to thermal reading. This finally yielded the result he was looking for. A warm spot in his senses was not far ahead, to the left. It could be Ro. He swam toward it, carried along so quickly by the swift current. But the spot of heat kept moving, ever so slightly, just out of his reach. He sprouted out of the water once, to make sure he hadn't passed her, and she wasn't lying limply along the shore, battered and drowned. But seeing no signs of her, he went under again, even more determined. Ro would not be getting away.
When he found her, she was downstream another half-mile, flattened against a rock in the middle, at the deepest portion of the river. The rapids had calmed considerably, and the sound of the trickling was almost soothing. Zeta made sure she was alive, and she was, barely.
"Ro? Can you hear me?"
She was unconscious, having swallowed and inhaled an excessive amount water. Zeta pressed his hand against her chest, and pushed down, to expel from her lungs some of the liquid lodged there. A cascade of droplets fell from her lips, but not enough.
"Ro?"
No response. Instead of letting his mind wander into what might have happened, he returned to his human shape and crawled beside her on the rock. He tilted back her neck to open the passageway to her lungs, pried apart the stiff, cold jaws, and tried his best to suck out as much of the river water as he could from her lungs. A flood of it suddenly entered her mouth, he gathered it, turned away and spit. He believed it was the most horrifying thing he ever had to do to someone, let alone Ro. Undaunted, heroic as any devoted robot would be, he leaned over her again, plugged up her snub nose with his hand, and blew in air.
Ro coughed immediately, the sensation of being awake and alive taking over her five senses. She felt tired, forlorn, about two inches tall. Was it worth opening her eyes to such an unforgiving world? At first she squinted, for everything outside the darkness of her lids seemed bright, like she had landed in the middle of the sun. Then a fellow human's shape formed in the blinding whiteness. She lifted her limp, pale hand to block out the rays of the sun to perceive who stood over her. "Zeta, is that you? Please say it is. I couldn't stand anyone else doing something like that but you."
"It's me." Knowing what aches and ailments she was dealing with, Zeta refrained from asking questions.
She groaned while attempting to move. A wasted effort. "Thank God synthoids don't have germ-ridden mouths full of gross things. You taste kinda like a--a battery, tin man." Allowing the hand to stay over her eyes while they were open, adjusting to the light, she just lied there, shaking and recovering. "Where are we? What happened?"
"We're two-point-three miles from where you and Jas were fishing. It appears as though you fell in. The current carried you. This is where I found you. I did search, but your journey ended here."
"I'll have to kiss the rock later to thank it for its divine presence." Suddenly she remembered why she ended up in the water. It was horrifying to recall it, and a rush of emotional pain swept to her every crevice. "Oh no."
"What is it? "
"Zeta, I'm in big trouble."
Zee didn't understand. "How?"
"I'm losing my mind." She extended her hand to him so she could be helped to her feet, but he declined.
"I'd better carry you, Ro. You're in no shape to walk. Besides," he said, titling his head sympathetically to her, "the water in this spot would be fourteen inches over the top of your head. And you really are losing your mind if you think I'll let you swim to shore."
"Fine," she said complacently. Zeta plucked her gingerly from the rock and carried her to the western shore across the wide river. He was reluctant, however, to let her on her feet. She felt small, unstable, and he doubted she would be able to carry herself.
"I have never seen you more fragile," he noted and gave her a second and closer inspection. Ro wasn't listening. Zee smiled. Ro was asleep.

--

Note

Zeta . . . breathes?
This unoriginal synthoid application is explained more in Erasure Attempt:
His imitation of breathing was only a result of light construction and modification work he'd done to himself, partly a result of sheer boredom, and a fascination for the act of breathing Zeta couldn't stifle. He fondly recalled the first time he could sigh, and he went about doing it all day, to Ro's annoyance, to his amusement.