They could screen the station’s reserves immediately.
They could send the procedure to every independent clinic willing to receive it.
And they could tell patients exactly what was known, exactly what was not known, and exactly what they were doing about the difference.
A nurse asked whether Hravik had authorized a public warning.
Sepha replied that he had not.
Another nurse asked whether she would issue the warning anyway.
Sepha looked through the glass wall at Vela sitting alone with the empty carrying case.
She remembered the image of a girl placing a case across an advertisement that promised universal safety.
Yes, she said.
She would.
The public message went out on the station’s medical network before the end of the shift.
It described the affected batch numbers, the screening method, and the immediate precautions that patients and doctors should take.
It did not accuse Helix of crimes that had not yet been established.
It did not promise that everyone could be protected.
It told the truth as far as the evidence allowed.
Sepha finished the message and prepared to accept disciplinary action.
Instead, the first response came from a clinic on a remote mining moon.
The physician thanked her and reported that nine altered cartridges had been removed from use.
A second response arrived from a hospital ship.
Then a third came from a frontier trading post where an elderly Dravik had been scheduled to receive treatment the following morning.
By midnight, sixty-three clinics had started testing their supplies.
The information was spreading faster than Helix could suppress it.
Hamish found Sepha alone after the last consultation.
She was staring at the rows of messages and wondering whether the warning had gone far enough.
He placed a cup of hot tea beside her.
Sepha asked where he had found human tea on a Liran station.
He said Brask had been experimenting again and that everyone should be grateful the chef had stopped experimenting with human desserts.
She took the cup and asked whether she had made a mistake.
Hamish considered the question seriously.
Perhaps the notice should have gone out sooner, he said.
She looked down at the tea.
But you sent it when you knew enough to help, he added.
That’s what matters now.
He asked if she was prepared to visit Bluehaven Cold Storage.
Sepha replied that it was not a medical facility and that she had no authority to enter it.
