the same question of CJ, she held out her right arm, with a ring of purple bruised flesh where the minitank had grabbed her. As she clenched and unclenched her hand, she explained, "You know, it hurts a lot less than your blasted electroshocks in the sims."
Nutcases. The 'castpoint gave CJ roughly even odds on having a hairline fracture to the ulna in her forearm.
Roni had a puncture wound in his left thigh, but you couldn't tell when he walked. Of course, he was being careful not to run.
She heard General Samuels' voice, soft and concerned. "Jessica. How're you holding up?"
She looked up; he was on the screen to her left. "Okay, I guess. But I don't think I could have told Akira to take on those minitanks to protect Roni."
Samuels glanced offscreen, no doubt at a recording of earlier events. "But you predicted correctly that Morgan would tell him to do so."
Jessica nodded. "Yeah. But telling him to do it myself . . ." She shuddered.
Samuels nodded sympathetically. "Nonetheless, things are going pretty well so far."
Jessica shuddered again. "I know. That may be the most terrifying thing of all, that this is what it's like when it's going well."
* * *
CJ held the fractured axle of what had recently been Axel's bike, staring at it forlornly. Shiva's robots went after the bikes and trailers with a methodical determination, as if they considered