They caught perhaps one mild illness a year.
They had no native venomous creatures larger than an insect.
They did not need to be strong.
They had never needed to be.
She sat back in her chair in the empty archive room and looked out the viewport at the gas giant turning slowly below the station, banded in orange and cream.
Every one of them, she said quietly to no one.
Every single one of them is like this.
On the morning of the third day, administrator Hravak came to the medical bay with two security officers and asked very politely whether the human could be placed in isolation.
Sepha met him at the door.
Why?
She asked.
Hravak shifted his great weight uncomfortably.
Doctor, I have read your report.
I have read the reply from the medical council.
The council says your readings are wrong, but if your readings are right, then this human has survived something that kills every other species in the galaxy.
Some of the station residents are frightened.
They say that a being who can do that must be carrying something inside him, some disease, some contagion.
They say he should be sealed off until we know what he is.
Behind Sepha from the treatment bed came Hamish’s voice.
Fair enough, mate.
I’d be nervous, too.
Sepha turned.
Hamish was sitting up, eating an apple from the commissary, his swollen arm resting on a pillow.
He did not look offended.
He looked thoughtful.
If it makes folk feel better, I’ll stay put, he said.
I’m not going anywhere anyway.
Doc’s got me on bed rest.
No, said Sepha.
Both Hravak and Hamish looked at her.
No, she said again more firmly.
Her head fins had risen to their full height, which in Liran body language meant something close to anger.
Administrator, I have spent the last two nights studying human biology.
There is nothing in Mr. Doyle’s blood that poses any risk to anyone on this station.
He is not a danger.
He is a patient and he is recovering and he is the single most important medical case I have ever seen.
I will not have him locked in a room because people are afraid of what they do not understand.
Ravec studied her for a long moment, then he nodded slowly.
Very well, doctor, he said.
I trust your judgment.
The alarm went off 40 minutes later.
Sepha heard it in her office and her blood went cold before she even read the message.
