"If it hurts, just let us know. Is that understood?"

"Yes, sir."

"You don't have to call me sir."

"Yes, sir, thank you, sir."

Take him to C-4," Edwards said to the corpsman. "Tell Sergeant Dorsey I'll be right there. And David . . ."

"Yes, sir."

"Burns look and feel a lot worse than they are. You're going to get better."

"Yes, sir."

Edwards watched the corpsman wheel the boy out of the evac area, and then left the area himself to go to the neurosurgey ward. It was a long walk. Like all army hospitals, Kishine is fantastically spread out, its buildings and wards acres apart so that no one shell or bomb can get it all. By the time he got to the ward, the neurosurgeon was already in the treatment room. The patient, partially hidden by the nurse and doctor, was lying naked on the treatment table. There were blood-soaked clothes and bandages all over the floor. Cramer turned his head for a moment, looked at Edwards and went back to work.

"His frontal lobe is torn up," Cramer said. "I'm going to have to take him up to the operating room and have what I can. What do you think about his burns?"

Looking over Cramer's shoulder Edwards saw that the surgeon's fingers were deep inside the half shell of the boy's skull. "Don't worry about the burns," he said, turning to leave.

"Oh, Edwards," Cramer said as he reached the door. "I know how close you two 'd become. I'm sorry."

"Regardless of the branch of service: The emblem of the Infantry, crossed rifles, will be carried on every coffin. The deceased, where the remains are viewable, will be buried in full military uniform. The emblems on his uniform will be that of the service to which he was attached at the time of his death."

He walked down the corridor to the elevator. Leaning wearily against the wall, he pressed the button, and without looking stepped in even as the door was opening, almost colliding with one of the patients. "Sorry," he said, moving over to the other side of the elevator. The patient, his bathrobe slung over his good shoulder-the other was wrapped in a plaster cast-smiled politely, and was about to look away when he saw the doctor's name plate on his uniform.

"Excuse me, sir."