Lieutenant Mandella, 2024-2389 A.D. Summary

Leading their platoons, Mandella and Marygay climb into their new, upgraded fighting suits. After making sure everyone had taken their "happy pill," a drug designed to relax the user without impeding reasoning ability, they clamber aboard the assault ship. Mandella notes how efficient the army has become. The ship they are boarding is meant for one use only in case the mission is a failure, but the ship that picks up survivors is much nicer. Before they can reach their target Tauran base, the ship and many of the people inside, are blown apart. Mandella notices that his leg has been crushed by debris and then amputated by the fighting suit. Thanks to the pill, before he passes out he thinks, "This is not so bad..."

Mandella comes to in the infirmary, which is overflowing...