Overview
Books in the 'Sector General' series
Links to Sector General-related
pages
Back to Alan Chick's home page
The series is set on a huge space station which is a hospital for many intelligent species. It also includes trips by spaceship, into space and to other planets, to rescue or treat patients.
The story follows the experiences of Dr Conway, faced with the task of treating patients of many different species. Some of the patients belong to species he has never seen before, which presents him with the problem of how to determine what is wrong with a being when you don't know what is normal for it. This requires a certain amount of detective work and intuition. In between cases, Conway attempts to pursue his romance with Nurse Murchison.
Conway and Murchison eventually marry. Murchison is promoted to Pathologist, and continues to be an important character is the series, both on the hospital station and in the ambulance ship.
One influential character at the hospital is Major O'Mara, the Chief Psychologist. With his sarcastic and bullying manner, he ensures the mental health of the staff, and proper working relationships between them, which can be quite a job with the large number of medical staff at the hospital of all different species, and the types of stress they can be under.
One of Conway's colleagues, who features significantly in the story, is Prilicla, an insect-like being with iridescent wings, from the planet Cinruss, who has empathic abilities.
In the later books, the focus moves away from Conway to other characters, although Conway and his colleagues continue to appear in the story.
Because of the many languages spoken at the hospital, all staff have translator units, which are linked into the main computer. Spaceships have similar less sophisticated computers. One of the stories tells of the chaos when the computer breaks down.
The wards in the hospital are set up with the appropriate environment for the patients. The temperature, artificial gravity, and atmosphere (including underwater) are different in different wards, and the doctors often have to change into protective suits between wards.
Medical staff must learn a four-letter classification system, which is used to describe beings of all different species, and must be able to classify any being on sight. For example, Earth-humans are classified as DBDG. Prilicla's species is classified as GLNO.
Doctors make use of Educator Tapes - especially for critical treatments such as operations. These tapes are recorded from the minds of experts to provide information on the treatment of beings of their own species. The doctor has the contents of the tape loaded into his mind, so he 'remembers' the information required for the treatment. A peculiar side-effect of this is that the doctor experiences the expert's thoughts and feelings as well, including that being's likes and dislikes for food and environment.
I found this a fascinating series, in quite a unique setting.
Hospital Station (1962)
The first story occurs during the construction of the
hospital. O'Mara is forced to look after a Hudlar child - a
creature the size of an elephant - in his living quarters, with
all the problems of feeding and cleaning it while it proceeds to
wreck the place.
In the other stories, Conway is presented with several unusual cases. A spaceship crashes into the hospital, and Conway must immobilise the occupant who is playing havoc with the artificial gravity equipment. A shapechanging visitor to the hospital becomes scared, and runs amok. Conway assists a non-human medical researcher in its telepathic experiments with a dinosaur. On another occasion he is presented with a patient in the shape of a doughnut, with its tail in its mouth.
Star Surgeon (1963)
The hospital becomes the centre of an interstellar war.
Conway is in charge of the evacuation, and then finds himself
extremely busy treating casualties, and coping with the chaos of
missiles destroying parts of the hospital.
The Aliens Among Us (1969)
This book has a collection of stories, most of which are
not related to Sector General.
In 'Countercharm', as Senior Physician, Conway is
required to take an Educator tape to treat a female patient of
the Melfan species. Unfortunately this has the side-effect of
making the patient physically attractive to him.
'Tableau', which describes the events which stopped the
war between Earth and Orligia, has no obvious connection to
Sector General, but is the forerunner to 'Accident', in
the book 'Sector General'.
Major Operation (1971)
Conway and the Monitor Corps (the Galactic Federation's
police/military force) investigate the indigenous life on the
planet Meatball, which includes rolling doughnut-shaped beings,
and huge carpet creatures covering vast areas of land.
Ambulance Ship (1979)
Conway and some of his colleagues are assigned as the
medical crew of a spaceship fitted out as an ambulance, answering
distress calls from spaceships. In one story they return a
patient to the hospital, only to have several of the operating
staff collapse. This results in the operating theatre being
quarantined, and Conway must find the cause before their life-support
fails.
Futures Past (1982)
Another collection of stories, only one of which is
related to Sector General.
In 'Spacebird', the Monitor Corps finds a large bird-like
creature in space, and brings it to the hospital. Apparently
lifeless, there are some indications it is not quite dead. Was
this someone's patient, given up as a hopeless case, and dumped
in space?
Sector General (1983)
The first story, 'Accident', is set in a time
before the hospital is built. It tells how Earth-human MacEwan,
and Orligian Grawlya-Ki rescue beings of several species in
spaceport accident, which inspires the eventual building of
Sector General.
The remainder of the book continues the adventures of
Conway and the ambulance ship. In one story they discover the
segments of a large spacecraft scattered through an area of
space, each of which appears to contain a dormant creature inside
- or are they all parts of a large creature something like the
Midgard Serpent?
Star Healer (1985)
Conway is provisionally promoted to Diagnostician, which
includes the dubious privilege of retaining several Educator
tapes in his mind for long periods of time. He also attempts to
solve the long-standing problems of several species. This
includes the Gogleskans, who, when they are threatened, group
together in a mindless mass, and destroy everything in sight.
Code Blue - Emergency (1987)
Cha Thrat, from the planet Sommaradva, takes an
appointment at Sector General - but finds it very confusing
compared to her own highly stratified society. She makes a number
of mistakes: talking to an unbalanced patient, who proceeds to
wreck the ward; and when asked to amputate another patient's
limb, follows it by cutting off one of her own - which would be
required by the medical ethics of her own society. (Luckily there
were surgeons on hand to sew it back on.) As a result she is
transferred to Maintenance. However a trip on the ambulance ship
soon results in more strife. What is the hospital to do with her?
The Genocidal Healer (1992)
Surgeon-Captain Lioren is stricken with guilt when his
attempts to treat the inhabitants of the planet Cromsag wipe out
nearly all the population, and he asks to receive the death-penalty.
Instead he is transferred to O'Mara's Psychology Department as a
trainee psychologist. In this role he interviews several
patients, including the massively huge Groalterri, which
eventually enables him to come to terms with his past.
The Galactic Gourmet (1996)
Gurronsevas is a galaxy-famous chef, but when he hears
of the blandness of the food at Sector General, he takes this a
challenge, and joins the hospital to help improve the meals. He
seems to be making good progress, until a series of accidents
puts him out of favour with the hospital management. To avoid
being expelled outright, he joins the crew of the ambulance ship.
Their mission takes them to a planet whose population are
starving. Gurronsevas will turn out to play a more important role
than expected.
Final Diagnosis (1997)
Earth-human Hewlitt has had a history of weird allergies
at various odd times, with perfect health the rest. His doctors
finally send him as a patient to Sector General, to see if they
can work out his problem. The secret seems to relate to a
childhood incident on the planet Etla the Sick. This former
plague planet was part of the Etlan empire, at one time at war
with the Federation, as described in the book 'Star Surgeon'.
Mind Changer (1998)
O'Mara is promoted to hospital administrator, as well as
retaining his duties as chief psychologist. However, this is only
a temporary arrangement, as O'Mara must recruit a replacement for
the combined position before he retires. As he considers
candidates, he thinks back to his early days in the hospital. On
his first leave from the hospital he played an important part in
a crisis on a spaceship cruise. Also an Educator tape from a
Kelgian doctor, which he loaded into his mind, was to have a
significant effect on the rest of his life.
Double Contact (1999)
Sector General receives a distress signal, and the
ambulance ship is dispatched with Prilicla head of the medical
team, which also includes Murchison. They find a damaged alien
spacecraft in orbit around a planet, and the Federation rescue
ship, which reached the scene first, disabled from contact with
it. Their attempt to help the Federation ship results in its
crashlanding on the planet. While the medical team are helping
the Federation crew, Prilicla and the ambulance ship's crew
investigate the alien craft. But the planet, which seems so
idyllic, has hostile inhabitants, and Murchison finds herself
captured.
Susan
Stepney's SF Reviews: James White
SFWA
Obituaries: James White, 1928-1999
Critical
Mass (Odyssey series) 1
Back to Alan Chick's home page
Last revised: 12 April 2001.
Hits since 30 November 2000: