BLOODHYPE

Reviewed 10/02/2011

Bloodhype, by Alan Dean Foster
Cover by Darryl K. Sweet

BLOODHYPE
Alan Dean Foster
New York: Ballantine Books, January 1973

Rating:

5.0

High

ISBN-13 978-0-345-31021-?
ISBN-10 0-345-31021-7 249pp. SC $2.75

In E. E. "Doc" Smith's Lensmen series, from the Golden Age of science fiction, there was the drug thiolin. It was bad. But bloodhype is even worse. It attacks, not just the brain, but any nerve cell it touches. Whether inhaled, swallowed, or absorbed through the skin, it brings instant addiction. No sentient is known to be immune, and there is no antidote; once exposed, death is inevitable.

A product of the Hyperion forests on Annubis, bloodhype was thought to be eradicated when the forests were sterilized. But recently traffic in it had appeared again on the planet Repler. Two agents from the United Church have been assigned to track down the supplier.

Meanwhile, in a part of the galaxy far, far away, a courier ship of the Aann touches down on a barren planet. The crew discover there a strange creature called the Vom, resembling a mobile oil slick. But it was definitely not oil; their strongest energy weapons do not harm it. However, it flees from their touch, so they are able to herd its considerable bulk into a specially constructed shell and take it for study. Who knew what they would learn — perhaps even a way to overcome their great enemy the Humanx Commonwealth? They ferry it to the nearest planet where they have a facility, which happens to be Repler.

Readers at this point will probably be able to anticipate what's in store for the Aann. Foster makes it explicit: the Vom was confined to that remote planet, after scourging many others, by an ancient powerful race. There it devoured all life, down to the microbe level. Deprived of sustenance, the Vom weakened over millennia to a shadow of its former power, losing the ability to cross space on its own. But it retained a modicum of intelligence, enough to tell it to play along with the Aann so as to escape its prison.

Then there's a freighter captain named Malcolm Hammurabi, a rough-and-ready but honest fellow. He stumbles upon a shipment of bloodhype and other drugs and, disgusted, determines to deal with its shipper, whose identity he knows.

Foster weaves these elements, plus two others, into a gripping story. While the ultimate outcome is not in doubt, the way it's achieved holds the reader's attention throughout. This is one of his best efforts. The only thing that really mars it is the following sort of cosmic hyperbole,1 which Foster throws in as part of the struggle between the Vom and... other entities.

"On some parts of Repler, iron changed unnoticed into gold. And on at least one island, to copper. Then back again. Fish of a hundred different varieties schooled, forming unnatural association."

A small, peaceful crustacean reeled under the impact of an intelligence boost of a hundred thousand times. It was immediately gobbled by a torpid bottom feeder.

The second moon, which continued to spin counter-clockwise, abruptly lowered its orbit a hundred kilometers.

Repler VI and VII were both gas giants. They began to break up, responding to titanic internal convulsions. Great clouds of ammonia and methane flew off like cotton into space.

– Page 223

Oh, and I was a little disappointed in the way that young fellow with the mini-dragon on his shoulder appeared midway through the tale in the employ of the bloodhype supplier, conveniently positioned to help Hammurabi and the two United Church agents escape. You'll recognize him, no doubt, even if he goes by the name of Philip.

1 It sure was lucky for our heroes that the planet they were standing on didn't break up. In fairness, it's hard to dramatize a purely mental conflict, which is what this is. But it's better done with a minimum of extraneous hubbub. I'm reminded of the battle in the first Highlander film, where, after Connor defeated his immortal adversary, rows of windows in the surrounding factories blew out. It was excessive and totally unnecessary. (And not one of those factories had an alarm system.)
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