Bloodhype

Bloodhype (1973) is a science fiction novel written by Alan Dean Foster. The book is eleventh chronologically in the Pip and Flinx series, though it was written second, and it is an oddity for the characters since they only appear in the last third of the book. Foster originally started the novel as a stand-alone work, but was encouraged by his publishers to include the characters from his previous novel. Although it was written as a second novel, it logically falls -after- Orphan Star, where he meets the aliens who build him his ship, the Teacher.

The novel takes its title from a deadly and addictive drug, for which there is no known antidote, which causes instant addiction followed by a long, slow, painful death unless the user continues to take increasingly greater doses.

Plot

The Vom is an intergalactic intelligence described as a large black blob not unlike a gigantic amoeba, impervious to almost all energy and physical attack. Following years of battle with the Tar-Aiym it has sheltered on a planet where it has gone dormant for 500,000 years, waiting for an opportunity to escape the Tar-Aiym Guardian orbiting in space above it. Carmot MMYM a commander in the AAnn Empire discovers the Vom and brings it to the planet Repler for study at a concealed AAnn base.