Tonner Freis obsesses over Else’s new intimacy with Dafyd Alkhor, trying to bury jealousy and hurt in work. In their cramped prison quarters, he runs assays on the Carryx-provided berries and finishes a small batch of red active agent meant to restore Jessyn’s required supplement, even as he neglects feeding the small "not-turtle" specimen.

At dawn, Campar presses Tonner to acknowledge the emotional fallout, and Tonner reflects that mastering feelings would make them perfect servants—then the hallway door shudders and Night Drinkers burst in. The attackers hurl balloon-like sacs of burning gel while biting and clawing; Tonner and Campar fight back with whatever is at hand. Jessyn, Rickar, Else, Dafyd, and Synnia rush in to help, and the group drives the Night Drinkers back into the corridor.

Tonner orders anyone splashed with the gel to strip and shower immediately, fearing chemical burns or blindness. Under hot water, he realizes the damage is limited to raised, painful irritation like a bad sunburn, though he recognizes they have been careless about security and should have treated the quarters like a war zone.

Afterward, Jessyn begins dissecting a dead Night Drinker, and the group clinically studies its unusual anatomy and apparent herbivore gut contents despite predatory teeth. Tonner finds the medicine cup intact and gives Jessyn instructions for taking it once daily; she understands what it means and thanks him, newly hopeful about regaining strength.

Campar shows Tonner an intact gel sac in the sink, and Tonner identifies it as one of the same berries they use—proof the Night Drinkers turned shared materials into a weapon. Seeing opportunity in the danger, Tonner assigns everyone to collect gel residue, check damaged instruments, and image the sac’s contents, declaring they now have three parallel priorities: feeding the specimen, producing medicine, and testing the enemy bioweapon.