Quarantine World

This is a more compact version of _The Med Service Omnibus_ (1983), which originally contained _The Mutant Weapon_(1959),_S.O.S. From Three Worlds_(1967), and _This World is Taboo_(1961). The third volumn has been omitted from this collection, but any book keeping Murray Leinster's Med Service stories in print should be commended. _The Mutant Weapon_ is an expanded version of the second story in the series, "Med Service"(_Astounding_,1957). _S.O.S. From Three Worlds_ is a collection of three novelets: "Plague on Kryder II" (_Astounding_,1964), "Ribbon in the Sky" (_Astounding_, 1957), and "Quarantine World" (_Astounding_,1966). All of the stories are workmanlike science fiction adventure tales using a similar plot formula: Doctor Calhoun and his alien sidekick Murgatroyd, stumble onto a planet where there is a conspiracy intended to conceal a plague or epidemic. After several setbacks, Calhoun solves both the medical and social problems. He then moves on. Things return to normal on the problem planet. In spite of this common formula, there are some differences between the stories. The earlier stories, _The Mutant Weapon_ and "Ribbon in the Sky," are constucted around a theme. The theme is emphasized by chapter quotations from an imaginary author named Fitzgerald (actually Leinster's middle name) on the topic. These two stories have solidity, a moderate amount of weight and complexity. The theme of _The Mutant Weapon_ doesn't quite mesh with the background of the story. On the one hand, we are told that criminal actions are both rare and unlikely to succeed, because there are too many random factors that interfere with criminal plots. But what is the source of this interference? Not the government, for we are told that solar systems are so numerous and far apart that "there could be no galactic government as such"(6), only a few interplanetary services that cannot intervene in planetary affairs without permission from the local government. It seems unlikely that this laissez-faire system will promote a society that is conformist, placid, and noncompetative. In fact, the villains almost succeed in committing planetary genocide. The thesis that criminal actions are a minor ripple in the greater scheme of things is comforting but not convincing. The theme of "Ribbon in the Sky" dovetails more with the setting. It is that accidents and errors can serve to create and to solve problems. Accidents abound in the story. Calhoun is sent to the wrong planet by mistake. He discovers several xenophobic cities with a pattern of behavior that originated from a chance medical emergency. Chance factors help Calhoun to solve the colonial xenophobia. The story wryly closes with a final accident at Med Service Headquarters. "Plague on Kryder II" and "Quarantine World" don't have chapter quotations. They are a bit more streamlined and fast paced, but they lack the weight of the other two stories. Interest in these stories comes from a plot twist introduced