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“An infection?” Ash said. “I thought this was a poison.”

“It is. We checked all the samples, and you’re all showing the same levels of inflammation. Dallin ran the same samples through the toxicology analyzer. Traces of the Siblet poison have been found in your systems.”

No one spoke for an uncomfortable amount of time.

“I feel fine.” Wren shuffled about in her seat. “Are you sure everyone has been poisoned?”

“Yes. Somehow, you’ve all been given a dose,” Dallin said. “This differs from anything we’ve seen before. There are commonalities with the poison found in the mutated animals the Siblet have been creating, and also the poison that made Georgia so sick.”

“I’m feeling good now.” Georgia rolled her shoulders. “Although I’ve had a headache for the last couple of days. Is that a symptom?”

“We’re not sure yet,” Dallin said.

Angel leaned forward in her seat. “The crew members who’ve been coming to see me have been experiencing sickness, tiredness, and some hallucinations. A few of them have had headaches, too.”

“You’ve had more come to see you?” Sloane said.

Angel nodded. “Five more since we took the samples. Everyone is jumpy.”

“We’ve got a good reason to be jumpy,” Rexx growled. “Those stupid bastards have gotten to us.”

“You’re sure about these results?” Cleo glanced at her tablet. “This is definitely the Siblet poison?”

“There is no doubt,” Dallin said. “It’s too similar to be anything else.”

Striker thumped his hand on the table. “How the hell did they get to us?”

“They’ve found a way to distribute their poison that doesn’t require their animals to bite or scratch us,” Dallin said.

“It can’t be as potent as the poison that got me.” Georgia shrugged. “It was only a few hours after I was scratched by that creature that I became sick.”

“This is more discreet. And it’s slower acting. The Siblet could have manufactured it so it creeps up on its victims and they don’t realize how ill they are until it’s too late to save them,” Dallin said.

“Star damned Siblet.” Blaze settled his arm around Eden’s shoulders.

“We have caught it in time, though?” Cleo said to Dallin. “There’s a solution?”

“There will be a solution. There’s an antidote to any poison.”

“Not this one,” Rexx growled out. “You haven’t been able to crack this.”

“It’s only a matter of time before I do,” Dallin said.

“We’ll beat this.” Sloane bit her bottom lip. “Dallin’s never let you down before.”

“It would help if we could find out how the Siblet got the poison onto the ship,” Dallin said.

“Through the air filtration system is an obvious route,” Daisy said.

“Or the water supply,” Georgia said.

“It could have come in through our food,” Cleo said.

Striker tapped the table. “What about the animals we’re bringing on board?”

Dallin frowned. “Any of those routes could have brought you into contact with this poison. I think we can discount the water or food. It would be too diffuse to make people ill. Or you’d need lots of small doses over a long time period before it had a significant effect.”

“So it’s the air or the animals?” Cleo said.