Plague Ship

Step aboard the Solar Queen, a Free Trader starship whose latest mission—a seemingly innocuous trade of catnip to the feline Salariki of Sargol—takes a terrifying turn. When a mysterious, incapacitating illness sweeps through the crew, only Dane Thorson and a handful of other junior officers remain unaffected. Stranded in the vast emptiness of space, these few survivors, perhaps aided by the Captain's enigmatic pet Hoobat, must race against time to unravel the contagion's secret before their vessel is forever branded a 'plague ship' and left to drift, an outcast from every starport. Andre Norton, writing as Andrew North, plunges readers into a classic mid-century space adventure that masterfully blends alien encounters with a gripping medical mystery. This second installment in the beloved Solar Queen series showcases Norton's knack for crafting resourceful protagonists and richly imagined extraterrestrial cultures, all while exploring themes of isolation, ingenuity, and the chilling vulnerability of humanity far from home. It's a testament to the enduring appeal of pulp sci-fi, delivering thrills and a surprisingly complex narrative that holds up decades later.