He was lying on his back. Cold water was dripping on his face. A flash and a shattering clap of thunder shocked him to clearer awareness.

But he wasn’t in any tunnel. Terror drew his fists to his chest: Had the bomb not exploded after all? Failure of mission was the greatest fear that he knew.

There were waves of rain, there was fog, he was in a woods, and he hurt. He hurt all over, in ways that he had not known possible, pain deep inside, dull and insistent, pain on the surface, full of fire. He looked down at his hands emerging from his shredded cuffs. They were withered and gray. So … was he still conscious, but in a dead body? Could that happen? Maybe the machine part would simply continue on, trapped in the dead biology.

He surveyed his surroundings. To his left, shadowy beyond the trees, was some sort of enormous structure. The quality of light ahead suggested the end of the woods, and through the storm he could hear breakers sounding.

He’d been in the tunnel, he’d lost control of the bomb, he’d been hit by a silver flash … and now he was here on his back and he was cold and he hurt. This body of his could take major punishment, that he certainly knew. But it could not survive a nuclear explosion, so whatever had happened, it was not as he remembered.

As he moved to rise, severe pain shot up from his lower back, his head wobbled, and dizziness made him stop trying.

The world spun slowly, his shoulders ached, and his right hand hurt so much it was difficult to move.

He checked his body, moving his attention from pain to pain. A fracture line was in the opensens follicis of the right hand. Closing his eyes for a moment, he shifted from right to left dexterity. Instinct would now favor the left hand until this was tended to medically or it healed on its own. Also, a hairline fracture in the parietal bone just above the lambdoid suture was causing the dizziness. He directed more blood to the area, then moved his attention to his inner ears, which he oxygenated, causing them to function more efficiently. He waited as the dizziness faded and his vision stabilized.

Next, he moved his attention to his lower back. The anterior longitudinal ligament was ruptured, but self-diagnosis indicated that this would heal on its own. There would be severe pain, but no reduction in operational efficiency. Therefore, this injury could wait.

All of his organs had received impact stress, with significant internal damage. His liver was grossly enlarged, his heart had sustained valve damage and muscular tears, and his lungs were burned. There was extensive bruising, facial lacerations, and flash burns, the ones on his face deep. Plus, he had absorbed radiation, which made his skin tingle and a deep sense of sickness swirl within him.