He caught her as she slumped, but could not hold up her weight, and sank to the floor beside her. His eyes blinked a couple of times. Then knowledge and sensation vanished together.
VII
Tom Watkins awoke slowly. He had a cramp in one arm from sleeping on it, but otherwise he was conscious of a comfortable, healthy feeling, which told him he'd slept well and long. He stretched and brushed a few pieces of straw from his face.
Straw?
He suddenly remembered sitting down on their platform, very sleepy and worried because of the abruptness of it.
He sat up. Summersby had just stood, yawning. "Did you carry me in here?" he asked the big man.
"I was going to ask you that."
"Christ! What happened?" He was wholly awake now. "Did you drop off out in the lab?"
"Yeah."