He grinned then, taking both Jerries by surprise. “As for you two—you did very well out there.
Lieutenant Zenawi said in his debrief that you saved a lot of lives. If that tower had been in operation when our floaters came, it would have cost us dearly.”
Esau nodded. “We could see that, Jael and me. No ride home probably.”
Hawkins got casually to his feet, as if nothing heavier had been talked about than 2nd Platoon’s fishing trip. “Well, I’ve got more wounded to visit. You two get well quick. Especially you, Esau, because a platoon leader’s nothing without a good platoon sergeant to pass all the hard work to.”
Then he was gone. Jael got up from her inflatable chair, knelt beside her husband and kissed him. “I’m proud of you, Esau,” she said. Then she too grinned. “We’ve got to get well quick, so’s we can slip off together behind a thicket.”
He half grinned back at her. “You sure know what to say to a man. That’ll about cut my healing time in half.”
Before supper, Isaiah Vernon stopped to visit. He was wearing a new servo. The old one’s cooling system had needed work, and they’d decided to install his bottle in an improved model.
“Division got hundreds of them before we left Lüneburger’s,” he said. “In case enough people signed Page 257
agreements and were injured badly enough to qualify. And for replacements like mine.
“From the beginning my old one hadn’t worked as well as it should,” he went on. “The robotics tech said I should have complained then, but I didn’t know. I thought that’s just the way they were. Then, when we ambushed the Wyzhñyñy patrol, I took some slammer hits, and coming back in, I started to heat up pretty badly. Lieutenant Koshi told me to lie down, and radioed for an AG sled to come get me. Me and two others with damage.