only stopped most of the heat and light. But the pods vaporized in the blast. CJ still got a bit of the flash."
Jessica stared at the left side of CJ's face, then back at the General. "A little bit of the flash? The whole left side of her face is gone!" She continued the inspection. "Along with the whole left side of her body!"
The General came around the bed. He folded his hands on her shoulders. "Just the skin. Her left side is covered with synthaskin for the moment; the doctors assure me growing and grafting replacement skin will be straightforward compared to other measures already taken." A low guttural sound came from the General's chest. "We have no way of replacing her eye as yet, however."
Jessica frowned. "Missing both legs, an arm and an eye. She'd be better off dead."
Anger clouded the General's expression. "Oh, really, Jessica? You sure? Think CJ would agree?"
Jessica rocked back on her heels. She'd never heard the General angry before. He could be really scary when he wanted to be.
And to be fair, he was right. CJ wouldn't think of dying. CJ would not see the three-quarters-empty glass of her own body. She would pronounce it one-quarter full. "When's she going to be able to answer the question on her own, General?"
Another shrug accompanied the response. "The doctors say she's pretty much fixed now. The only thing she still needs is the will to fight it through."
"CJ? The will to fight?" Jessica howled in laughter. She laughed and laughed, until the tears ran down her cheeks. "I suppose I'd better stop in tomorrow. I expect she'll be up and around by then. If we don't put her to work right away, she'll drive the nurses crazy." She thought about all CJ's eccentricities, all the ways C. J. Kinsman would try to drive her crazy, and her laughter changed pitch. It was going to be a long five years till the next Shiva. "Do the people in this hospital know how to make a chocolate malt? They'd better get cracking."
Appendix
by Reggie Oxenford
First of all, I