'The Surgeon' (Story Code 'B509') by Barry Oringer

When the three fugitives come under fire from a gorilla patrol, Virdon is shot and badly wounded. Galen and Burke decide to risk taking him to an ape hospital just outside Central City, where a surgeon named Doctor Kira works; Galen was once engaged to Kira, and, disguised as a provincial doctor, he manages to visit her and elicit her help. But as Virdon’s condition deteriorates, Kira tells Galen and Burke that she will be unable to operate because she has not surgical references for human anatomy. Recalling that Doctor Zaius has such a book in his collection, Galen and Burke sneak into the ape leader’s home and steal the volume. When the theft is later discovered, Urko becomes suspicious, and begins a search of the hospitals in the hope of finding the astronauts. Meanwhile, despite the information in the medical book, Kira is still reluctant to operate because Virdon will almost certainly suffer a massive blood loss, and ape experiments into blood transfusions have never been successful; not only that, but Virdon has a particularly rare blood type. With time running out, Burke must find a suitable donor amongst the local humans, otherwise his friend will soon die…

Roddy McDowall (Galen), Ron Harper (Alan Virdon), James Naughton (Pete Burke), Booth Colman (Zaius), Mark Lenard (Urko), Jacqueline Scott (Kira), Michael Strong (Travin), Martin Brooks (Leander), Jamie Smith Jackson (Girl), David Naughton (Doctor Stole), Raymond Mayo (Human), Diana Hale (Brigid), Phil Montgomery (Jordo)

Directed by Arnold Lavin
Produced by Stanley Hough
Executive Producer Herbert Hirschman

TX (US): 25th October, 1974

Notes:
*Featuring Alan Virdon, Pete Burke, Galen, Doctor Zaius and General Urko