Double Contact

Sector General #12

by James White

A Sector General veteran, Dr. Prilicla leads an expedition to answer several near-simultaneous distress beacons and discovers two alien species, one of which has nearly wiped out the other in a botched first contact

Genres: Science Fiction, Fiction, Science Fiction Fantasy, Space Opera, Medical, Adventure, Speculative Fiction

300 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1999

About the author

Librarian Note:
There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.

James White was a Northern Irish author of science fiction novellas, short stories and novels. He was born in Belfast and returned there after spending some early years in Canada. He became a fan of science fiction in 1941 and co-wrote two fan magazines, from 1948 to 1953 and 1952 to 1965. Encouraged by other fans, White began publishing short stories in 1953, and his first novel was published in 1957. His best-known novels were the twelve of the Sector General series, the first published in 1962 and the last after his death. White also published nine other novels, two of which were nominated for major awards, unsuccessfully.

White abhorred violence, and medical and other emergencies were the sources of dramatic tension in his stories. The "Sector General" series is regarded as defining the genre of medical science fiction, and as introducing a memorable crew of aliens. Although missing winning the most prestigious honours four times, White gained other awards for specific works and for contributions to science fiction. He was also Guest-of-Honour of several conventions.

Reviews

[Michael Battaglia · Rating 5 out of 5]

It's probably fitting that the last Sector General book doesn't feel like the last Sector General book. I'm not sure if it was ever intended to be. By this point in his life White wasn't in the best of health but none of that really comes through in the novel itself, which lacks anything resembling an elegiac feel. For the alien doctors, it's just another day at the office. However, it was published after his death in 1999, ending one of the most unique runs in SF, a pacifist medically based setting where human beings are just one of many supporting characters.

For the last time around, "another day in the office" lets us focus on probably one of the most enjoyable characters to grace the series, the insect-shaped empath Prilicla. The only one of his species at the hospital, he's notable for being extremely sensitive and utterly fragile, but he's so good at being personable that no one ever wants to hurt him or hurt his feelings. He's the best at detecting feelings and while he's no telepath (as he continually reminds us) most of the time he can gauge pretty well what you're thinking about. One of the benefits of White gradually pushing the original main cast to the background was the emergence of Prilicla to the fore, where he revealed himself to be fairly awesome after being put in charge of the roaming ambulance ship. And while he never starred in the late period novels, generally the action took the real protagonist to the ambulance at least once, giving Prilicla a good chunk of face-time. Or however you want to describe his face.

Here, with most of the cast basically winnowed away (O'Mara departure in the last novel being our last solid link to the early stories), everyone's favorite flying feeling detector gets to helm the proceedings as he leads a team that goes out to answer several distress beacons. They find a human crew in bad shape but also a new alien species who as it turns out is fleeing their homeworld for another . . . except that the world they want to land on may have its own intelligent natives who are a bit hostile to visitors. It becomes up to Prilicla to navigate the various layers of hostilities and misunderstandings before people either blow each other up or slaughter each other. All the while seeming to have to nap every five minutes.

Putting the little empath in charge of his own book seems to have made his personality a bit more dominant and while previous appearances characterized him as unfailingly polite and unable to give offense, he's much more forceful here, sometimes arguing or bluffing for time. White also takes time to work more on the nuances of his character, portraying him as crazy by the standards of his own race, who are often unfailingly cautious and a bit cowardly due to their fragility (not unlike Nessus the Pierson's Puppeteer from Larry Niven's "Ringworld" series, although Prilicla is much less unbalanced). He also highlights the empath's lack of stamina, which conveniently allows for frequent chapter breaks as he flutters off to take a nap.

This is one of White's few Sector General novels that feels like it was conceived as a novel and not a collection of medically related events that feature the same basic cast. There's no overarching plot as such except where a problem turns into another problem but it all feels rather seamless even if by the end we're nowhere near where we started. But considering what a throwback it is and how close to end of White's career we are, it's remarkably assured in its tone. An old fashioned tale like this should have been a clunky artifact in 1999, almost fifteen years later it could run the risk of coming across as unbearably retro. But White is so sincere and has such a good handle on the cast and situation that it reads it could have been published in the 60s or 70s, only with some of the awkward edges sanded off. With most of the cast gone, most of the tics and quirks that characterized the early novels are gone, leaving only the problem and the solution. Sometimes that works against the book's favor . . . there isn't a huge amount of character growth and thus no real surprises, although he is able to pull out some nice moments (a conversation between Murchinson and Doctor Shapeshifter on a beach is particularly well-done), it chugs along pleasantly until it's over. It also veers toward the edge of "quaint", where most of the drama comes from the plot requiring the aliens to not act like rational people for a while until they start to see reason.

But these people are so much fun to spend time with that you don't always notice quirks like that right away (like how a computer virus subplot seems to just be dropped) and after twelve books they definitely feel like old friends. But there aren't many series that could take a scenario like this, a multiple first contact where the biggest problems are medical and the lead character is a meek dragonfly looking thing that still manages to successfully assert its authority at every turn in the face of both hostile alien life and a military that wants to be quick on the trigger at times. We probably won't ever see its like again, so keyed as it was to White's personality. What strikes me here is how much White didn't want to say goodbye and even though we get a happy ending with a promotion for our hero (which still makes me wonder, why would you subject the most emotionally sensitive member of the cast to multiple personality disorder . . . why would he even want that?) the vibe is definitely that this is just another day in the life of Sector General and even if we wouldn't see anymore stories, the cases would still come rolling in as everyone scrambled about to do their jobs and make things right again, perhaps taking a little time in between to hover in place and eat spaghetti in a room where the most important thing is that no one looks the same and it doesn't stop them from working together.

[Leslie · Rating 4 out of 5]

This final book in the Sector General series features Dr. Prilicla, which was fun as he had been a favorite secondary character in many of the earlier books. Prilicla and the crew from the ambulance ship Rhabwar in responding to a distress beacon find themselves in a first contact situation with what appears to be a robotic race! In time, first contact with a second race becomes unavoidable when members of that race kidnap Murchison.

I was a tad disappointed that this final book didn't have Dr. Conway in it...

[C.C. Yager · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Sector General novels are favorite sci fi -- I love the way James White has created a hospital out in space that specializes in treating whoever shows up at their ER, no matter what kind of sentient being. The hospital has an ambulance space ship, the Rhabwar, that it sends out when they receive a distress signal. Double Contact is about just such a rescue mission led by Dr. Prilicla, the Cinrusskin senior doctor. His description reminds me a lot of a cross between a dragonfly and a butterfly. He is also an empath, and uses this ability during treatment of physical trauma victims.

The Rhabwar arrives at the location of the 3 distress beacons whose signals Sector General had picked up. They find two ships in distress, one a Monitor Corps ship that had come to the rescue of the other ship of unknown origin. As Prilicla, Captain Fletcher and the crew of the Rhabwar work to rescue the Monitor Corps ship, the behavior of the crew on that ship puzzles them -- they respond as if they don't want to be rescued. They end up on an island on the nearby planet where they are able to effect their rescue and find out what happened. What the Monitor Corps reveals only deepens the mystery. Who are the beings in the other ship? Are they in trouble? Did they attack the Monitor Corps ship that was trying to help them? And will this rescue mission turn into a first contact mission?

White treats all characters equally, even when he gives one character a more prominent role as he does with Prilicla here. He describes alien physiology clearly and matter-of-factly. But just when one small mystery is solved, two more mysteries become known. I found this novel irresistible and wanted to read it through to the end in one sitting, but I had to go to work.

It is a shame White's novels are not better known and more available. His idea to set sci fi stories in a hospital or an ambulance ship gives his sci fi a deeply humane grounding. This novel is the last in the series. I hope to track down others in the series that I haven't yet read. I'd love to be able to say I'd read and enjoyed the whole series.

I recommend this novel to sci fi readers looking for something different -- different approach to aliens, to medicine, to the human experience and space travel. And if you're a medical nerd like I am, this series is perfect!

[Georgann · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have enjoyed this series, and this is one of the best it offers. Dr Prilicla is a favorite character, and here, it is the star. In this age of so much conflict, these books of peacemaking are good for my soul.

[Rob · Rating 3 out of 5]

I did like this book, but this is probably the first time I have read a book and doubted it was written by the proclaimed author. This book was published the year james white died and there are some inaccuracies which he was very careful of during the first 12 books. Whenever aliens are referred to it is as an 'it' as opposed to 'he' or 'she' unless there is medical reason to have to refer to the beings gender. One of the main characters Pricilla, an empathic insect who is a major character in many of the books, was referred to as he all throughout this book, which is out of style of the rest of the books in addition to the fact that in one of the previous books Pricilla was specifically identified as a female during a conversion about how to refer to beings of another species. Either this book was pulled together from notes left by the deceased or james white was loosing some of his faculties near the end of his life.

As a series I had never read before, the sector general series was a fun, set of easy light reads which I would recommend.

[Caitlin · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the last Sector General book, published after James White's death. It follows a previously established character, Prilicla, a physically weak doctor, with a brief pov section from Murchinson. As with previous stories, there are parallels both within and without in regards to this double first contact situation. Miscommunication due to vast differences in culture is at the center of the conflict, which the empathic Prilicla is slightly better equipped to resolve.

[Valerie]

I'll get to this in more detail later. For now, I'll just note that it's the last of the Sector General books.

In fact, it may be the last thing White published. But it doesn't feel like it. There had been many technological changes in our world since the early Sector General stories in the 1960s, but most of them didn't cause any real inconvenience to White, since his stories were very rarely dependent on technology to drive the plot. He changed a few phrases, and was done. Some of the biggest changes were a reduced dependence on metabolism-altering drugs. Although Gurronsevas arranges for a potion which is 'contraindicated for all warm-blooded oxygen-breathers' for the retirement parties in Mind Changers, there's no indication that any of the patients or staff become addicted to such drugs--so evidently they stopped in time.

One technology which hasn't yet materialized (leaving aside things like hyperdrive) is a scanner that can view the innards of living things without harmful radiation. Still looking forward to that'n.

Though this is labeled as a 'Sector General' book, very little of it is set at Sector General. It starts, in fact, on an alien, non-Federation planet--a hopelessly poisoned planet whose inhabitants are planning to flee, if they can.

Again, I have to say that I don't believe in the reported characteristics of the 'druul'. And this isn't just because they resemble DBDGs, either. People who are not DBDGs find them just as incredible in the course of the story. They tend to argue that the CHLI inhabitants just didn't know how to negotiate with the druul, and that the Federation, with more experience in that sort of thing, will probably succeed--or if they can't, they'll be able to confine the druul to their homeworld, or some other world where they can survive without endangering others.

As for the CHLI insectoid sapients, there's one point that White gets wrong from the start, and persists in right through. It's only in vertebrates that males are commonly larger and more robust than females. In arthropods particularly, females are often MUCH larger than males. The CHLI may be different--but if so, wouldn't you think more fuss would be made about the difference?

In Mind Changer, Prilicla is informed that he ('it' in that book, but 'he' in the present volume, because much of the story is told from Prilicla's point of view) will soon be promoted to Diagnostician. It's because Prilicla has been assigned his mind partners, and will be distracted and perhaps more reckless than his properly cowardly norm (the Cinrusskins count cowardice as one of their primary survival characteristics) that the new Administrator, Braithwaite, suggests that Prilicla not volunteer for what's likely to be an unusually dangerous mission, even for Rhabwar. Prilicla appreciates the offer, but insists that wherever his crew goes, he's going too.

The first task is to figure out why three separate beacons (at least one clearly a Federation distress beacon, but the other two of unknown origin) have gone on in one small area, and what help Rhabwar can offer.

Attempting to rescue the Monitor Corps Ship is complicated by the fact that the ship tries to avoid physical contact--and accidentally ends up landing on a planet (with Rhabwar's help). In the process, all of the crew of the Terragar are injured (one fatally) by overheating on entry. So a temporary aid station is set up on the planet, because there's a necessity that Rhabwar have no physical contact with the damaged Terragar.

In investigating why there can't be any physical contact, an expedition from Rhabwar discovers that Terragar has been infected with a computer virus, which renders useless all the electronic equipment aboard. This seems to have been acquired when Terragar took aboard a destroyed robot from the alien ship--or when they made physical contact with the ship. It's not clear which.

This means that contact with the alien ship must be made with highly insulated spacesuits--and that other Federation ships mustn't come too near.

There's one assumption here that doesn't seem to be merited. Why WOULDN'T robots have emotions? In organic beings, emotions originate in hormonal secretions, true. But there's no particular reasons not to have the equivalent of hormones, as well. It might be beneficial, in fact, since hormones are used to regulate various biological functions, and might work as well for (bio)mechanical functions. And anyway, in organic beings the control mechanism is neural-->hormonal-->reaction, though there are some feedback effects. Why wouldn't the same things apply with mechanical life? Nor is it necessary for organic life to develop improvements in robotic life past a certain point. White and others tend to argue that this point is only after the development of self-awareness on the part of the robots, but that may not be necessary, IF the robots are supplied with programs to enable them to learn and to repair themselves...as seems to be the case here.

Prilicla has to keep withdrawing to take a nap. He envies the more robust species the fact that they don't need to rest as often, but the fact is, he seems to do some of his best thinking in those rest periods. And speaking of his legendary low stamina, I note that it doesn't seem to result in a substantially shorter lifespan than more robust creatures. Possibly the periodic retreats to rest restore functioning to the point that long-term endurance is quite adequate.

Before the Trolanni can be medically treated, they have to be extricated from their 'searchsuit'. This is only possible at all because the skin of the searchsuit was damaged in the failed launch of their beacons, so there are dead areas on the skin, where the computer virus can't infect intruders' computerized equipment. But it also requires making successful contact with Keet and Jasam, the female and male Trolanni, a process complicated by the Trolanni's hysterical fear of anything remotely resembling the druul.

It's this hysteria that helps convince me that the intransigence is not all on the druul side. There may be reasonable fears, but there's no such thing as reasonable hatred--particularly when that hatred is so inflexible that it wouldn't even consider accepting help from a member of the despised group--or from any creature that even RESEMBLES a druul. This is speciesism at its worst--and that's a pretty low bar to begin with. One has to wonder if this contempt preexisted any real conflict--and, perhaps, helped create and foster the conflict. The fact that the Trolanni refuse to even consider any solution that doesn't involve genocide against the druul indicates that the violence is not unilateral, at the very least.

While the repair and extrication process is going on aboard the searchsuit, treatment of the casualties in the aid station on the planet is going smoothly--until Murchison gets bored and starts exploring. This is, I would say, the only part in the whole series that is told from the point of view of Murchison. The display of the qualities which have made her a successful pathologist from the inside reveals that they can easily become reckless through impatience. Murchison tries to reject Danalta's services as a bodyguard, but Danalta insists on accompanying her on her explorations of the island they've landed on.

This assiduous attendance turns out to be necessary when Murchison is unexpectedly abducted by spider pirates (who, it turns out, are terribly afraid of getting wet--a serious hazard for seafarers). Why didn't either the Monitors or the Trolanni realize that there was a sapient indigenous species? Because the spiders make their technology mostly out of their own bodies. This apparently means that both males and females are capable of spinning web--but it also means that they must be capable of quite prodigious output. Even if the ships are the result of a great deal of labor by whole communities, it still involves a LOT of webbing. Other materials besides web go into the ships, but even so...

Because Rhabwar has less translation capacity than Sector General, there's a lot more pointing and grunting and actual learning of different languages in this book than in the earlier ones. And Murchison points out that the argument that only with the Educator tapes can comparative anatomy be done is not necessarily valid. The Educator tapes make the process simpler technically (but more complex in their impact on the Diagnosticians' lives), but it IS possible to plan surgery on members of hitherto unknown species by analogy with other species.

Maybe so--if the species involved are oxygen breathers. But I think Murchison is underrating the variances, as much as she argues that others are overrating them. One problem is the one I've noted before. The insectoid species are almost certainly not all 'warm-blooded'. White's prejudice in favor of homeothermy is apparently unconscious, and I've seen no sign that he ever questioned it.

The Kritikukik assumption that any interlopers are the precursors of an invasion force leads to a siege, which will have to be resolved. But the obvious resolution (that everybody climb on board Rhabwar and go back to Sector General, and leave the cultural contact to the professionals) is not viable, because, for one thing, a rapid takeoff would kill a lot of the spiders. Some sort of diplomatic resolution has to be developed--while treating the existing patients surgically--and incidentally, fixing the environmentally damaged reproductive systems of the Trolanni.

The refusal of the Kritikukik to even negotiate is a serious danger--to the people at the aid station and aboard Rhabwar, but also to the people of the world they have accidentally invaded. It's not just the danger to the besiegers. The Kritikukik have no fear of the superior technology of the Federation, because they don't believe that Rhabwar is deliberately reducing its own offensive capacity to avoid injuring the attackers. But they've also made another miscalculation. They've seriously underrate the sheer numbers of the potential invaders.

The fact that the Federation has no intention of invading is hard to explain to them, because they won't listen. So it's going to be necessary to establish communications before any truce can be arranged.

Just as a matter of interest, I wonder what their crossbow bolts are made from. It might be wood--but wooden crossbow bolts are not particularly penetrating. Maybe bone? And what are they fletched with, on a planet with no known birds?

Anyway, in order to talk to the Crextic (Kritikukik turns out to be a title, not the name of the people), it's necessary to get past their anger and refusal to talk to people they blame for what they think the newcomers are doing. What the Crextic THINK the Federation ships are doing is, of course, not even close to what they are doing--but that can't be explained to people who won't listen.

It's an accident based on a misinterpretation of the nature of the meteor shield that gives them their chance. You'd think that seafarers with roofs on their ships would realize that the meteor shield would be spherical, rather than a wall. But they don't--which brings three of the Crextic inside the wall, in serious need of medical care--and makes an opening for conversation.

There's one thing left out of the final resolution--what happens to the ruins of Terragar? The Crextic have already been mining it for metals even before the parley begins--so will part of the deal be that they have to give it back? Some of it, after all, might be dangerous to untrained users.

[Orca_de_wils · Rating 4 out of 5]

Das ist es nun, das allerletzte "Orbit Hospital" (bzw. "Sector General")-Buch. Es war aber nicht als solches geplant (James White verstarb kurz vor der Veröffentlichung unerwartet an einem Schlaganfall) und fühlt sich deshalb auch gar nicht als solches an (interessanterweise kam das Buch davor, mit dem Abschied von O'Mara, einem Endpunkt deutlich näher.) Was es auf jeden Fall ist, ist oldskool, auch wenn es tatsächlich aus dem Jahr 1999 stammt und lässt mich halb zufrieden und halb mehr wünschend zurück.
Sehr gefreut hat mich, dass Dr. Prilicla die Hauptrolle spielt. Der fragile Empath war schon immer mein absoluter Liebling. Äußerst interessant dabei ihn die meiste Zeit als point-of-view-Charakter zu haben ist auch, dass das neutrale "it" für Aliens jeden Geschlechts nun freilich auch für die Menschen Anwendung findet. Clever und hier tatsächlich gar nicht mal so oldskool.
Und natürlich lebt "Double Contact", wie alle "Orbit Hospital"-Romane, von seinem festen Glauben, dass Hilfsbereitschaft sich letztlich auszahlt und Kommunikation immer über Aggression stehen muss. Ein positiver Ausblick, den ich nach wie vor sehr schätze.
Allerdings muss ich sagen, dass mich die Darstellung der neuen Aliens doch etwas enttäuscht hat. Es beginnt viel versprechend, mit einer Rasse, die in ihrer inzwischen feindlichen Umwelt darauf angewiesen ist sich in schützende Multifunktionsanzüge zu hüllen, mit denen die zwei zur Auffindung einer alternativen Heimat losgeschickten  Astronauten fast völlig verschmolzen und auf mechanische Avatare angewiesen sind. Doch leider wird mit der Idee nicht viel angestellt und man erfährt zu wenig über sie direkt und auch nie, ob es eine andere Seite der Medaille zu denen von ihnen verhassten Mitbewohnern ihres Planeten gibt, die nach ihren Aussagen für die Umweltzerstörung verantwortlich sind und ihnen allen ganz unmittelbar nach dem Leben trachten. Zufälligerweise sehen diese Menschen sehr ähnlich, was den Hauptkonflikt zwischen den Ärzten und ihren havarierten Patienten ausmacht, was keine schlechte Idee ist, aber ohne grosse Überraschungen behandelt wird. Genauso geht es mit dem später entdeckten Spinnenvolk, das eine faszinierende Kultur erahnen lässt, diese aber nur kurz anreist bevor das Buch auch schon mit einem etwas abrupten "und so wurde alles gut" zuende geht.
Vielleicht hätte es damit ja doch noch in einem neuen Buch weiter gehen sollen. Aber alas, es sollte nicht sein!
Ein weiteres kleines Ärgernis ist für mich das Übersetzungsprogramm zur Kommunikation mit bis dato unbekannten Aliens. Zuerst wird sich grosse Mühe gegeben es glaubhaft zu präsentieren mit dem Zusammentragen einzelner Wörter und Phrasen und dann reichen plötzlich gefühlte fünf Begriffe um von da an alles perfekt zu übersetzen. Das kann so nicht funktionieren! Dann lieber gleich die "Star Trek"-Lösung mit "übermächtigen" Translator. (Wahrscheinlich ist das schon die ganze Reihe so, ich kann mich nur nicht erinnern.) Dann krieg ich wenigstens nicht die Karotte des "hier wird es richtig behandelt" vor die Nase gehängt.
Fazit: Ich möchte meinen letzten Besuch bei den Ärzten des Orbit Hospitals nicht missen, auch wenn hier sicher noch mehr gegangen wäre. (Hey, wie wäre es mit einer upgedateten Netflix-Serie! ;-)

[Raj · Rating 4 out of 5]

Without necessarily meaning to be, this is the last Sector General novel. White was ill when he was writing it, and its publication ended up being posthumous. This novel sees Senior Physician Prilicla and the crew of the Rhabwar answering multiple distress calls from the same location and finding a botched first contact operation. Prilicla and his comrades have to not just save their patients, but undo the damage that's been done.

Like the rest of the series, this is a peaceful, one might say pacifist, space opera (although there is a "misunderstanding" that leads to a siege at one point). White was passionate about non-violence and uses his characters to repeatedly make the point that peaceful contact and co-operation is best for everyone. There's a wonderful quote towards the end of the book:

"War, he thought sadly as he looked down at the terrified casualty, was composed mostly of hatred and heroism, both of them misplaced."

There's a nod back to Star Surgeon as Prilicla deliberately puts hostile patients in the same ward as other patients to show that they mean them no harm, and the constant correction of the "Etlan war" to the "Etlan police action" amused me.

And Prilicla finally gets promoted to Diagnostician! As the last act of the last book in the series, it feels really fitting. And the last sentence in the book hammers home White's philosophy one more time: "One does not give orders to a Sector General Diagnostician." - spoken by a senior marshal of the Monitor Corps, again making the point that the military (sorry, police) is subservient to the healers.

Sector General itself, alas, only gets a cameo at the start of the book. Goodbye you "shining beacon in space", you've been an inspiration to us all.

[Al Onia · Rating 4 out of 5]

James White's last entry in his Sector General series about medical staff caring for aliens of all classifications and complications. I read a lot of White's 'hard SF' back in the 1970's and '80's but somehow missed this one when published in 1999.
This novel doesn't take place in his usual setting of the vast hospital in space but is on a planet, dealing with not one but two, first contacts with previously unknown species, one indigenous and one seeking a new planet for their beleaguered race to settle. As always, White's aliens, both doctors and patients, are believable and likeable. Most of the story is told from an insect-like empath and its amusing impressions of human colleagues.
White's plotting and setting aren't the only skills on display. His dialogue is refreshing and impactful (without having to rely on using the f-word in every sentence, or at all – something sadly lacking in too much new SF written by lazy authors pandering to even lazier readers).
An easy 4 stars. If you're a fan of Hal Clement, the oft-referenced 'dean of hard SF writers', you'll appreciate this even more.

[Judy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another good one landed

This Sector General hospital story takes place in the field not in the hospital. The
ambulance ship answers a distress call and makes contact with a couple of new species. There is much distrust among the new people as they have an enemy that resembles an earth human. Empathy holds the key to understanding.

[Annette McIntyre · Rating 4 out of 5]

Prilicla is from a species that is empathic and he is the head doctor on the Ambulance Ship Rabwar when the Monitor Corps recieves a distress call. Rabwar is sent out to sort out the emergency and the crew comes across not one but two intelligent species.

[E. Kahn · Rating 4 out of 5]

What a wonderful series this is. I'm sad to have read the last of it.

[Kiya · Rating 5 out of 5]

Don’t start none, won’t be none.

I want more SG books, and I’m sad this is the end.

Also, why is Priscilla given he/him pronouns all through this book??

[Wayne's · Rating 5 out of 5]

I started this series many years ago but never got to finishing it. It is truly an original and positive ScFi series well worth reading.

[Valerie]

Editions for this book are tricky. This book was published the year White died. In the precat (back of the title page); there is a note "Edited by Teresa Nielsen Hayden"; which implies that; by the end; White was no longer well enough to proofread and otherwise polish his own work. There's some indication that there were also other writers assisting White in the last few volumes.

The edition I originally reviewed was (I believe) actually the hardback edition. But whether the book was released simultaneously in hardback and paperback I don't know: I'm not ever sure there WAS a hardback edition of this volume.

Reading the Sector General series in alphabetical order is (with a few exceptions) to read them almost exactly in reverse chronological order. Which is more than a little disorienting for a newcomer; but for rereading is fairly amusing.

Doctor Prilicla is one of the most popular characters in the series. But it (he; in this book; because most is from Prilicla's point of view--though there are several chapters from Murchison's point of view as well--in which chapters Prilicla becomes 'it' and Murchison 'she') is a hard character to inhabit from the inside. Earth-humans have been so strongly socialized to devalue cowardice (a primary survival characteristic; especially for Cinrusskins) that even when depicting the internal monologues of someone who (for a Cinrusskin) is extraordinarily courageous and energetic (and; to paraphrase Super-Grover; 'he is cute; too!') it's hard to keep from depicting him as self-critical for not being MORE foolhardy and hyperactive.

Prilicla has always been pushing himself to superCinrusskin lengths. For an empath; being in a hospital must be even more stressful than almost any other place (with the possible exception of a disaster scene: but Prilicla goes to them; as well). After all; people rarely go to a hospital when they're feeling well. What's amazing is not that Prilicla is often pushed past the limits of exhaustion. The amazing thing is how rarely it DOES happen--and that Prilicla's assistants often find themselves having to warn the good doctor that he may be able to leap a 40-story building with a running start (and with two antigravity harnesses); but that he CANNOT do it in a single bound.

The monstrae ex machina in this book are offstage; and so it's necessary to take the word of the Trolanni about the characteristics of the druul--which Fletcher; for one is unwilling to do sight unseen. So likewise am I. If the druul are unreachable by the methods of the Trolanni; that's one thing--but there are other things which have proved intractable to the Trolanni (such as remedying their declining fecundity) which ARE achievable by the Federation. While the crew(s) of the Rhabwar are quite capable of handling some cultural contact situations; the situation on Trolann should probably be left to the more experienced (if sadly not overworked) nonmedical cultural contact specialists of the Federation. Once the CHLI Trolanni are evacuated from Trolann; the Federation experts can concentrate on the DBDG druul--and they may be able to succeed where others have failed.

And who knows? Maybe the Federation will even be able to restore Trolann to something like livable conditions again. It'd be just the sort of long-term project they like to undertake.

In the meantime; the accidental double contact situation (with all its medical and nonmedical complications) is the purview of the crew of Rhabwar. And as always in a medical emergency; the head of the medical team (In this case; Prilicla) is in charge in medical emergencies. A respectable practicum for a Diagnostician candidate; to say the least.

[Joy · Rating 3 out of 5]

At last Senior Physician Prilicla, the most lovable character of the Sector General universe, has a story of his own. His very fragile species has had to develop cowardice as a survival characteristic, with empathy to warn them of dangerous emotions in the people around them. When Prilicla's ambulance ship is called to rescue a space-going species at war, and lands them for healing on a planet that turns out to be also hostile, Prilicla's mission will fail if he can't find his courage.

I gave DOUBLE CONTACT only three stars because it is strongly tilted toward adventure, less so toward character development. The death of James White after this book was a real loss to sci fi readers.

[Pat · Rating 4 out of 5]

What a great read! Characters who care about each other and the universe, solving problems that really matter. Two first contacts with paranoid beings collide with a mission to rescue injured members of the Federation. Characters are interesting and believable, and I enjoyed reading about them.

Despite a couple bits where a female character is the object of some suggestive remarks, female characters are presented quite well. Style is straightforward, with no look-at-me-I'm-a-poet. White wants to tell an interesting story without a lot of fluff; to me, he delivered. I really enjoyed reading this and plan to find the other Sector General books.

[Karen-Leigh · Rating 3 out of 5]

An added bonus in the series that actually would have done better with O'Mara still as administrator so it was not the last book but the second last but that is nitpicking. It was an enjoyable book with an odd twist. However, it was edited by someone who had not read the previous books. Chapter Two starts with saying Doctor Prilicia is a he and him and Captain Fletcher is an it. Captain Fletcher calls Prilicia an it. Braithwaite is an it. Inconsistencies exist but I was pleased to have another Sector General story.

[Jilly Paddock · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the last of the Sector General books and I'm honestly sad to leave the series. This one centres on Prilicla, one of my favourite aliens, and the part where Murchison is captured by spider pirates is great fun.
Why has nobody filmed these books? With our current level of CGI the multi-species hospital could be brilliantly realised.

[Taldragon · Rating 5 out of 5]

i love the Sector General series, and this is a splendid addition!

[Matt Velasco · Rating 4 out of 5]

Always good to read James White's Sector General series--this one is no exception. Dr Prilicla is in the lead role, which in and of itself is interesting, simply because of its fragile nature.

[Marisa · Rating 4 out of 5]

4,5 / 5

[Beverly · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoy these books!