kids, who are also major reasons for me to not get killed or captured. I don't expect you to understand this yet, but when a woman marries you, it changes everything. Hugely." He checked the time. "We need to get going, gentlemen," he said. He bent down to put his boots on, and the others followed suit.
"Renzo, just try to work with us, and it will be all right. We rather like you. Even if we didn't, we don't like hurting people. We will if we have to, but we'd rather not," Trevin said.
"I'll do peek duty," Joel said, as he headed up the ladder. He got the hatch open, and looked around. He crawled out. "Hand the packs up," he said.
Renzo and Trevin sent the packs through the hole and climbed out after. Joel closed the hatch, and kicked dirt and twigs back over it. He looked around carefully to make sure he had his bearings, then led off.
Trevin motioned Renzo into second place, and brought up the rear. To his surprise, Joel trotted them to the ruins of a farmhouse, and ducked in.
"What's wrong?" Trevin asked.
"Nothing," Joel said. "Sorry if I scared you, but I wanted to take a better look around, and wanted better cover first."
"Oh, but nothing is wrong, he says," Trevin said, under his breath, but purposely loud enough for Joel to hear.
"Don't be angry, please. And promise me you won't tell the other troops. But…" Joel said.
"But what?" Trevin asked.
"Look out there. Just look. We hit the proverbial one day in a thousand, or maybe the one day in a million," Joel said. "It must have rained just the right amount of time ago, during just the right time of year, with just the right temperatures. Look!"
Trevin looked. The landscape was heavily dotted with wildflowers, mostly yellow, but with purple and white, and even some red, mixed in. "What? The flowers?"
"Yes, the flowers. I guess you don't know it, but around here you can go a lifetime and never see this many flowers at once. Two days from now, three maybe, most of these will be gone."
"He's right," Renzo said. "This is highly unusual." He hesitated, as if he might say more, but was afraid to do so.
"All right, guys. I'm sorry you're not blown over with the beauty of it like I am, but I thought I'd bring it to your attention anyway," Joel said. "I'm ready to move, anytime you are."
Trevin motioned for him to stay put.
"What's wrong?" Joel whispered.
Trevin shook his head. "I owe you an apology. I was so intent on getting through the flowers that I hadn't really seen them. Thanks. And, Joel?"
"Yeah?"
"Look out there and tell me there's not a God. Just try," Trevin said. He smiled, ear to ear.
"I'd have to lie through my teeth, and I don't want to," Joel said. "Ready to go now?"
Trevin nodded.
"Renzo? You ready?" Joel asked him.
Renzo nodded. As they walked away, he tried to wipe tears from his eyes without the others seeing him.
Trevin caught the action, and smiled. "Yes, sir, a promising lad, our Renzo," he said to himself.
"Don't you ever get to go home to see your husband?" Harvey asked Nurse Chan.
"Not yet. He's dead. I'm not in any rush," she replied.
"You may now call me stupid, for not picking that up before now," Harvey said.
"On the bright side, it proves you're lousy at gossip. I can live with that," she said, smiling.
He smiled back. "For what it's worth, I'm not sure I know your first name, either."
"Clara."
"Pleased to meet you, Clara. Switching back to business, when do I get to do pushups?"
She laughed. "Whenever you want to try, hot shot. The nerve fuses are nice and solid now, and so's the spine chip. But you're going to find it pretty miserable business at first. You probably don't have any idea how many muscles you use doing pushups, or how many of those are mush right now."
"All the more reason to start sooner rather than later, if you think I won't be asking for permanent paralysis if I mess up?"
"According to the charts, we're all right. According to the tests, we're all right. Hooray for nerve and bone fusers. You can thank Leo for that, by the way. He helped pioneer the things, and the ones we have on hand are ones he brought in to study, with an idea of improving them if he could. Between that, and being able to get an exoskeleton in your size soon enough, we dodged what could have been a very bad situation."
"But?"
"But if you fall hard enough, most bets are off."
"I'll try to fall smarter, then. Tuck and roll. Tuck and roll. And all that rot."
She gave him an overpatient look.
"All right," he said. "I don't have the physical capacity to either tuck or roll. Not reliably. Yet. How about I promise to be careful? Relatively careful, anyway?"
"I can't ask for more," she said.
"New subject, while I'm thinking about it. Is Gills still here?"
"Yes."
"How far down the tunnel?"
"It doesn't matter. Ott issued orders that he's not to be told anything about you. I presume that means that he's not to see you, either, which would let him draw his own conclusions. I presume you were going to ask if you could try to lurch down the hall to see him?"
"I was. Why the info ban?"
"I'm not sure. I think there's concern he might be thinking of impersonating you, and not for fun."
"I wouldn't put it past him, I guess. At least not the Gills I knew."
Nurse Chan gave Harvey a look he couldn't decipher. It was like she wondered if she should say something.
"Out with it, woman, whatever it is," he said.
"Going back a subject or two, speaking of Leo, he'd like to show off the reassembled helicopter. But he's afraid you'll be upset to see a bird when you're grounded."
"She's back together?"
"Yes, sir, and freshly painted, from what I hear."
"You haven't seen her yet, then?"
"No."
"Would you like to?"
"I'd be happy to wheel you down."
"I'm not sure that answered my question."
"Yes, I'd like to see her."
"Whenever you're ready, then."
"Now?"
"Why not?"
She handed him a comb and told him to make himself more presentable, so she wouldn't look like a nurse who couldn't keep her patients groomed. He complied, and after a bit more fuss, with fixing up blankets and checking to make sure water bottles were full, etc., they headed to the new hole-cum-hanger. Servicemen they encountered en route felt gallant enough to take over for the nurse, in relays. Harvey was hard pressed to not mind being the object of such multiplied charity, but it was strangely reassuring, too. Besides, as they all made plain, they were being more kind to the nurse than to the patient. That helped.
When they got to their destination, a crew of men, including Leo, was up on scaffolding, chipping away at upper reaches of the dirt walls surrounding the helicopter. The first man who saw Harvey let loose a cheer, which caused a bit of chaos, not a good thing up on scaffolding. There were wobbles, which were offset by grabs.
Leo beat the best of them down to ground level, and went to greet a man he considered his honored guest.
"Here to see the bird?" he asked, with undisguised pride in the said bird.
"Yes. She's a sight for sore eyes," Harvey said. "Roll me closer, somebody."
Leo took over wheelchair propulsion. As he walked, he said, "If you're in this sort of contraption for a while, I can rig it up so you can zoom around without a helper."
"Thanks, but no thanks," Harvey said, as they came to a stop. "It's not that I don't think you could do it. I know you could. But…" He reached under the lap blanket and pulled out a folding cane he'd secreted under a thigh. He unbent the cane, locked the joints, and asked for a little help getting out of the chair. Men held their breath as he stood, and cheered him when he was fully on his feet. This made Harvey blush, which both embarrassed and delighted the men.
"One good surprise deserves a
nother," Leo quipped. He opened the pilot's door, and pointed into the cockpit.
Harvey limped gingerly over, being studiously careful to avoid falling or tripping. He looked in, trying to figure out what was 'surprising.' Everything had been prettied up, with a spit and polish this helicopter hadn't known since she first came off the manufacturing line, if then. But that would hardly get Leo excited like this. Then he saw controls he didn't remember. He let his eyes go up and down, and around. They went back to the new controls.
"Hand controls. You can turn them on or off, so you should be able to fly this baby whether or not your legs are cooperating," Leo whispered. "That's assuming your upper body can manage it. Nurse says you've been doing some light weight lifting and such, so we're hoping it won't be long."
Harvey turned to look at Nurse Chan. She smiled in a way that let him know she had happily been in on a conspiracy to insure that his physical rehab was long on what was needed to use the hand controls. It was all he could do to keep from telling her "I could kiss you." He turned back to the bird, soaking in how good she looked.
Leo turned to the nurse. "How long until he's sealed together well enough that we might try lifting him in, to see if the new set-up fits him?" he asked.
"Whenever he feels ready," she said.
"Oh, lads, help me get in," Harvey said. Before he knew it, he'd been placed into the pilot's seat, in what struck him as a well-practiced maneuver. He looked suspiciously at Leo.
"Robinson's your height and weight. He's been your double during practice drills. How'd we do?" Leo said.
"Suspiciously well, thanks," Harvey said. He turned his eyes to the panel. He ran his hands over the controls, both the familiar ones and the new ones. His hands trembled. Even with the