"It was ... the pill. I'm sure it was the pill," Manson said. He shook his head and the glaze partly left his eyes. "I only took half a pill, like I used to on Mars; I couldn't help it.... I was getting sick. I felt it almost at once, then it really hit me after about two minutes."
"What pill? The Uneasy pill?" Grimes couldn't believe in so simple an explanation. "They've been checked at home for years."
"Must be a slip somewhere. They weren't designed for Primus. I'll bet my life it was the pill."
"Never mind betting your life any more now. You get some rest."
He snapped to his feet. "Give him something," he told the doctor. "And take care of him. We'll analyze those pills ourselves. There's going to be hell to pay if he's right, and just this minute I'm betting that he is."
"Betting your life, Captain?"
Grimes spun to find Lieutenant Ramsey rubbing his jaw and eyeing him bitterly.
"Yes, Lieutenant, betting my life." He ran to a wall cabinet and jerked out a Mars kit and suit. He tore open the kit and threw out the Uneasy pills, then he hurriedly donned the suit. Maybe that was the answer after all, he mused grimly. Something in the atmosphere reacted with the pill. They had never been declared official for Primus. No time to worry about that now however.
He dropped to the surface of the planet and ran to the UN building. He flung himself inside and ran wildly up and down the stair, shouting like a vacation-crazed schoolboy. From the first building he went on to the others, and then into the city, stopping to be sick when he felt the urge and actually enjoying the pain.
Hours later an exhausted Captain Grimes returned to his spaceship to be greeted by an apologetic and happier crew.