Sector General
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Sector General is a series of science fiction books, created and written by Irish SF author James White. The series derives its name from the setting of the majority of the books, Sector 12 General Hospital, a 384-level hospital station located in deep space, designed to treat a wide variety of xenobiological life forms, and to house its equally diverse staff.
The structure can replicate the living conditions for any species in the series' larger universe, from beings who breathe superheated steam, to crystalline methane beings who find temperatures warmer than 18 Kelvin (−427 degrees Fahrenheit, −255 degrees Celsius) to be fatal, to beings which gain sustenance from the direct conversion of hard radiation, to common oxygen-breathing Earth humans. In addition, the hospital's infrastructure can be reconfigured to produce environments for previously unknown species.
The series itself is a manifestation of White's pacifistic philosophy, which developed as a consequence of growing up amid the violence of Belfast. White wanted to create gripping, suspenseful science fiction stories where the conflicts did not revolve around violence or war. Thus, in the Sector General universe, war is seen as a massive racial psychosis occasionally exhibited by insufficiently advanced cultures, and violence of a more personal nature is considered almost as much of an aberration. In place of the swashbuckling and derring-do featured in more adventure-oriented SF, the central plot conflicts of the Sector General series invariably revolve around xenobiological medical mysteries, often requiring the hospital staff to diagnose (and subsequently cure) medical maladies of a completely unknown species.
The series is remarkable in unusually diverse and believable non-humanoid aliens. It is also possibly the only sci-fi story where the most sympathetic character closely resembles a giant wasp.
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[edit] Sector General's physiological classification system
The hospital has a classification system, based on the Earth-human English alphabet, which allows easily classification of incoming patients according to size and shape and environmental and dietary requirements. The system uses 4 letters, with the first letter denoting the general environmental requirements (water breather, oxygen breather, chlorine breather, etc) of the entity in question. The second, third, and fourth letters, in combination, reveal information about the entity's metabolism, number of limbs, diet, and so on.
Letters A, B, and C in the first position indicate an aquatic species, letters D, E, and F in the first position indicate an oxygen-breathing life form, and so on. There are numerous exceptions and special case rules scattered throughout the system, such as the vegetable-metabolism-based AACP life form (which, while not being a water-breathing lifeform, is nonetheless given a classification beginning with A). And any species with functional psi ability is given a V as their first letter, regardless of any other factors. Humans from Earth are classified as DBDG, as are at least three other bipedal, warm-blooded, oxygen-breathing species.
The complete list of physiological classifications mentioned in the series is as follows:
| AACP | (Not Given) |
| ASML | Creppelian |
| AUGL | Chalder |
| BLSU | Groalterri |
| BRLH | Tarlan |
| CHLI | Trolanni |
| CLHG | Drambon (Roller) |
| CPSD | "Blind Ones" |
| DBDG | Earth-human |
| DBDG | Eltan |
| DBDG | Nidian |
| DBDG | Orligian |
| DBKR | Cemmeccan |
| DBLF | Kelgian |
| DCNF | Sommaradvan |
| DCSL | Cromsaggar |
| DPBK | Dwerlan |
| DSVJ | (Not Given) |
| EGCL | Duwetz |
| ELNT | Melfan |
| ELPH | (Not Given) |
| FGLI | Tralthan |
| FOKT | Gogleskan |
| FROB | Huldarian |
| FSOJ | Protectors of the Unborn |
| GKNM | Ian |
| GKSD | Crextic |
| GLNO | Cinrusskin |
| LSVO | Nallajim |
| MSVK | Euril |
| OTSB | (Not Given, symbiotic with Tralthan) |
| PVSJ | Illensan |
| QCQL | (Not Given) |
| SNLU | (Not Given) |
| SRJH | Drambon |
| SRTT | (Not Given) |
| TLTU | (from) Therecald 5 |
| TOBS | (from) Fotawn |
| TRLH | (Not Given) |
| VBGM | Kermi |
| VTXM | Telfi |
| VUXG | (Not Given) |
[edit] Educator tapes
One of the functions of Sector General is to allow species of widely (and wildly) varying physiologies to interact with each other. To that end, all members of the medical staff are expected to routinely provide medical care to members of other species. Doctors and surgeons, in particular, are expected to diagnose extra-species illnesses and treat them. In order to provide a doctor with the medical knowledge necessary to operate on patients outside of his own species, educator tapes are used.
Educator tapes are mental recordings of a great medical mind of a particular species. However, in addition to simple medical knowledge, the educator tapes also capture the essence of the personality of the medical expert who was recorded to make the tape. Thus, having an educator tape active provides the recipient with a mild form of multiple personality disorder. To make matters worse, the new personality is from a vastly different species, and things which would not ordinarily trouble the recipient of the tape (e.g. food) can suddenly take on a repulsive cast when seen through the eyes of the alien personality provided by the educator tape. Human doctors experiencing their first educator tape (which are usually left active for 24 hours or so) are often seen in Sector General's cafeteria, eating a bland-looking sandwich with their eyes closed.
As a doctor rises up through the hospital hierarchy, and if his mind proves to be sufficiently stable, he may find himself the permanent recipient of one or more tapes. Diagnosticians, the lofty medical elite of Sector General, can have as many as ten different tapes active at one time.
The exclusive use of the masculine pronoun above is intentional. One of White's fictional conceits is that Earth-human females are psychologically incapable of allowing their psyche to be violated to the extent required by the educator tapes. White did not extend this rule to other species: the Sommaradvan Cha Thrat accidentally shares minds with the Gogleskan Khone, who previously shared minds with Conway. This gives her the equivalent of two Educator tapes. Also, O'Mara carries an Educator tape from a female Kelgian.
The genders of characters other than the species of the protagonist of a given story are rarely mentioned, with third-person pronouns being replaced by 'it'. This is explained as a linguistic convience for 'species that have more than two genders or change sex during their lifespan'.
[edit] Regular characters
- Dr. Conway - An Earth-human DBDG, Dr. Conway is the main character of most of the stories and novels. He starts off as a junior intern and, over the course of the series, works his way up to Chief Surgeon and eventually Diagnostician in Charge of Surgery. For the majority of the series, his first name was never provided. It was only late in the series when his first name was revealed to be Peter. His physical appearance is never described in detail.
- Nurse Murchinson - An Earth-human DBDG senior nurse in the Pathology department. Eventually a Pathologist herself, and Conway's wife. Described as being very attractive and quite buxom.
- Dr. Prilicla - An insectile lifeform from the planet Cinruss, classification GLNO. Prilicla looks like a giant insect, with iridescent wings, multifaceted eyes, antennae, and a fragile, tubular exoskeleton. Cinruss is a world with only 1/8th the gravity of Earth, so Prilicla wears a redundant array of gravity nullifiers while offworld. Prilicla is also an empath, and can sense emotions in other entities. He (his gender is revealed in the last volume) is known as the least offensive individual in the hospital.
- Major O'Mara - Head of the hospital's psychology department, his job is to ensure that the various (and multitudinous) species of the hospital co-exist in something vaguely resembling harmony. Noted for his deep sarcasm and utter lack of pretense, O'Mara is a very irascible Earth-human DBDG. This is eventually revealed to be due to his having absorbed a Kelgian Educator tape.
- Charge Nurse Naydrad - A member of the Kelgian DBLF species, Naydrad looks like a giant furry caterpillar. The fur of a DBLF is in constant motion and accurately (and unconsciously) provides a complete roadmap to the true feelings of the DBLF in question to any other DBLFs in the area. As a consequence, lying is completely unheard of among DBLFs and they are considered incapable of tact.
- Thornnastor - A Tralthan FGLI, Thornnastor has a body like a six-legged elephant, mounted by a cluster of sensory apparatuses. Thornnastor is the Diagnostician in Charge of Pathology for Sector General and carries ten Educator tapes. Its fascination with the gossip of the cryogenic methane wards is a running gag in the series.
[edit] Books
- Hospital Station (1962: collection of stories from New Worlds science fiction ca. 1958-1961)
- Star Surgeon (1963)
- Major Operation (1971)
- Ambulance Ship (1979)
- Sector General (1983)
- Star Healer (1985)
- Code Blue - Emergency (1987)
- The Genocidal Healer (1992)
- The Galactic Gourmet (1996)
- Final Diagnosis (1997)
- Mind Changer (1998)
- Double Contact (1999)
In addition to these books, several related stories ('Countercharm', 'Tableau', 'Occupation: Warrior', 'Custom Fitting') appear in other works by White.
