Nothing stands still at Sector General, the huge hospital station in space. Now, Dr Prilicla, an empath, and veteran of the hospital, is put in command of an expedition answering three distress beacons. What he finds is two previously unknown intelligent species, one of which has nearly wiped out the other.

But that's not all. There is also evidence of a botched First Contact attempt, along with a rare opportunity to set matters right. Assuming, of course, that Prilicla can make the right diagnosis.

**'**The tales of the Sector General series are consistently entertaining, combining the best features of First Contact SF with the 'human' interest of hospital stories' Locus