Code Blue – Emergency — Mediated Wiki

{{Short description|1987 novel by James White}} {{Use British English|date=January 2014}} {{Use dmy dates|date=January 2014}} {{Infobox book | author = James White | image = CodeBlueEmergency.jpg | caption = First edition cover (publ.Del Rey)<br>Cover art by David B. Mattingly | series = Sector General | isbn = 978-0-345-34172-3 | pub_date = June 12, 1987 | publisher = Del Rey Books }}

'''''Code Blue – Emergency''''' is a 1987 science fiction novel by Northern Irish writer James White, part of his Sector General series.<ref name="SectorgeneralBiobiblio">{{cite web |author=Andrews |first=G. |title=A Bio-bibliography of James White |url=http://www.sectorgeneral.com/biobiblio.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090218011203/http://sectorgeneral.com/biobiblio.html |archive-date=18 February 2009 |accessdate=17 December 2008}}</ref><ref name="Stableford2004HistDictJamesWhite">{{citation |author=Stableford |first=Brian M. |title=Historical Dictionary of Science Fiction Literature |pages=385–386 |year=2004 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nzmIPZg5xicC&pg=PA249&dq=%22james+white%22+biography+science+fiction#PPA386,M1 |contribution=James White |publisher=Scarecrow Press |isbn=0-8108-4938-0 |accessdate=18 December 2008}}</ref>

White said in an interview that originally he intended to end the series with ''Star Healer'' (1985), by which time the central characters had reached the top levels in their careers. However Ballantine Books persuaded him to continue, and he extended the stories' range by introducing new central characters beginning with ''Code Blue – Emergency''.<ref name="White1993FullTimeHobbyist">{{citation |author=White |first=James |title=Full Time Hobbyist (interview) |date=March 1993 |newspaper=Locus |url=http://www.sectorgeneral.com/articleslocusinterview.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080706091908/http://www.sectorgeneral.com/articleslocusinterview.html |archive-date=6 July 2008 |url-status=dead |author-link=James White (author) |accessdate=18 December 2008}}</ref>

== Plot == The protagonist of the story is Sommaradvan healer Cha Thrat. She bravely saved a human pilot who crashlanded on her planet, despite a complete lack of knowledge about his physiology. Contact with her species was established by the accident, so knowledge of their social customs is still virtually non-existent. However, she is invited to join the Sector General staff.

Cha Thrat innocently wreaks havoc by following her instincts and social customs. First she befriends a hypochondriac Chalder. Next, she is invited to assist at a therapeutic surgery operation to amputate the limb of a Hudlar, which will prolong its life (following events depicted in the previous novel in the series, ''Star Healer''). When given the honour of cutting the limb, she obliges – and then deliberately cuts her own arm off as well, in accordance with the custom of her people. Next she saves the untouchable patient Khone (see ''Star Healer''), and then finds a weird parasite species on a derelict spaceship. Due to the chaos she causes, every department in the hospital now refuses to allow her near their patients. O'Mara values her unusual approaches, and decides to add her to his staff.

==References== {{reflist}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Code Blue - Emergency}} Category:1987 British novels Category:1987 English-language novels Category:1987 science fiction novels Category:Novels by James White (author) Category:Sector General Category:Del Rey books Category:Books with cover art by David Burroughs Mattingly