Plague Ship

The Solar Queen crew has done the impossible: they've landed on forbidden Sargol, outmaneuvered the ruthless Inter-Solar Company, and secured a deal with the planet's proud feline natives. But moments after takeoff, a mysterious plague begins to sweep through the ship. Now the Queen is quarantined, banned from every port in known space. The crew faces an impossible choice: identify what they brought aboard and find a cure, or drift forever through the void as the universe locks them out. This is Andre Norton at her finest, combining the thrill of interplanetary commerce with genuine human tension. The feline civilization of Sargol is rendered with care and specificity, while the plague sequence builds with real dread. Norton understood what makes adventure work: competent people facing real stakes, adapting with intelligence, and holding onto their humanity when everything goes wrong. The corporate rivalry adds edge, but the heart of the story is a crew that must trust each other completely or perish together. A lean, propulsive read that never lets up.