To Kill or Cure

'To Kill or Cure' (11000 words.)

The low pressure off the Hebrides was lashing the coasts of North-West Ireland and Scotland with rain squalls of nearly gale force when Trans-Ocean Airways Flight 317, while radioing her periodic positions check, reported engine trouble.
John Carnell once wrote that James White ". . . lays no claim to originality of plot, but he does strive to present his stories in a pattern different to most of his contemporaries, and in that lies his success" (The Best of NEW WORLDS, Boardman, 1955).  I must say that 'To Kill or Cure' -- apart from its Northern Irish locale and punch-line ending -- is quite a routine first-contact story.  All the same, Jim nimbly bridged the gap between having an idea and then working it into dramatic shape.

Synopsis by Graham Andrews

•  The Aliens Among Us (see under Books).