Bloodhype

Blurb

Bloodhype 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.