There was a sharp, momentary pain in his arm as the needle was expertly inserted. Then a sensation of well-being, flooded the Earthman. A warmth flowed through his veins, and pounded a flush into his face. There was nothing else.
The Martian went back to the cabinet, came again toward Barry. This time he extended his hand, in the palm of which lay two white tablets. The look on the Martian's face was clear. Barry Williams must take them, of his free will or forcibly.
Again Barry accepted graciously, and saw the Martians smile in approval. He gulped down the tablets. It was only brief seconds later that he sagged toward the ground. There was no sensation save a weariness, a heaviness of his limbs and eyes. Darkness rolled over him, soft and deep and comfortable blackness.
Barry Williams' will tugged at his eyelids, as his consciousness returned. They responded sluggishly, reluctantly. His muscles, too, resisted, with a numbness that revealed he'd slept a long time. Beneath him, the red sand of the Martian desert was his couch.
When, finally, his blue eyes focused, he saw nothing; nothing save a white blanket that folded about him on every side—the mist! Struggling to his feet, he moved stiffly a few steps, to the right, the left, forward, back.
There was nothing anywhere except that blanket of mist. No stars, no bright moons! The sand at his feet was almost obscured by the silvery curtain.
Barry's mind was clearing, and he stopped short with a sudden realization. Yesterday—or had it been yesterday, there was no telling if it was night or day—the mist had oppressed his senses, brought him to his knees paralyzed and helpless! Yet, now, it had no effect.
He breathed deeply, remembering how his lungs had labored and his mind reeled the last time. But the mist was refreshing as the purest air, and his mind remained clear.
The hypodermic they'd given him! It must be an antidote to the drug that was in the mist—for Barry was now sure the mist was a depressive drug, meant to paralyze and terrify. The dead Earthmen had not died from the mist itself, but from some power that struck under cover of that terror!