Read "Star Surgeon" by Alan Edward Nourse online for free on Textopian. Full text with search, annotations, highlights, and AI-powered reading aids.
Slowly and patiently they drew the story from the emissary from the seventh planet of 31 Brucker.
The small, monkey-like creature was painfully shy; he required constant reassurance that the doctors did not mind being called, that they wanted to help, and that a contract was not necessary in an emergency. Even at that the spokesman was reluctant to give details about the plague and about his stricken people. Every bit of information had to be extracted with patient questioning.