Double Contact — James White

SECTOR GENERAL

It's the massive hospital space station out on the Rim, where human and alien medicine meet.

It's also "one of the few places in SF that one would really, really like to exist" (David Langford).

Now, in the latest adventure, the empathic Dr. Prilista, a veteran of Sector General for years, is put in command of an expedition answering three distress beacons. What he finds is two hitherto-unknown intelligent species, one of which has nearly wiped out the other. And he also finds evidence of a botched first contact--along with a rare opportunity to set matters right.

Assuming, as always, that he can make an accurate diagnosis....