History Literature / Protector

It introduces one of the most important but rarely seen races in the ''Literature/KnownSpace'' series: the Pak, who are [[spoiler:distant ancestors of humanity, as well as the creators of the Literature/{{Ringworld}}]]. The first half of the novel deals with a badly botched FirstContact, and the second with the adventures of the titular Protector, the [[SuperStrength Super Strong]], [[SuperIntelligence hyper-intelligent]] adult form of the Pak.

The first part of the novel is an expansion and partial re-write of the short story "The Adults" that was first published in 1967. The second part is a reworking of "Down in Flames", an un-used outline for a Beowulf Shaeffer story that would have served as a grand finale for Known Space and would have destroyed much of the setting. [[note]]Niven wrote ''Ringworld'' and decided he wasn't quite done with Known Space yet after all, so the second part of ''Protector'' is not quite as destructive to the setting as "Down in Flames" would have been.[[/note]]

''Protector'' is a hard, hard sci-fi novel by Creator/LarryNiven.

* SyntheticPlague: Common weapons in the chronic wars between Pak Protectors as they don't damage farmland. [[spoiler: Brennan creates an aerosolized version of the Tree of Life virus that kills everyone too young to transform on Home.]]

* TheUnfettered: Protectors do not care about anything except the protection of their bloodlines. Nothing else matters.

** Turesdale [[spoiler:kills Brennen trying to prevent him from infecting the inhabitants of Home with Tree-of-life virus, but once he transitions to protector himself he immediately decides Brennen was right and starts spreading the virus.]]

* TransHumanTreachery: Any Human that becomes a Protector acquires the inability to harm members of their own bloodlines, but they have little consideration for the welfare of any other humans. [[spoiler:Some of the new protectors on Home try to save their families by protecting them from the Tree-of-life virus. Truesdale says it's only necessary for his group to confine them while ensuring their families are exposed. Once all of the family members are dead or transitioning to protector they let the protectors free and they willingly join Truesdale's group.]]

* TheUnfettered: Protectors do not care about anything except the protection of their bloodlines. Nothing else matters.

* BlueAndOrangeMorality: The Pak Protectors have one moral code, and one moral code alone; protect their family at any cost. If they need to nuke a planet to save one of their bloodline, they will. If their bloodline is gone, they just [[GracefulLoser peacefully let themselves die.]] It's for this reason that the ForeverWar on their homeworld hasn't killed them yet, because they ''all'' realize that extinction of the symbiotic root that gives them their intelligence will doom their entire species, and thus their bloodlines.

* DownerEnding: After working tirelessly in solitude for the betterment of Mankind for nearly two hundred years, [[spoiler:Brennan]] realizes that the only way to save humanity from the Pak colony fleet is to [[spoiler:infect the colony world Home with a strain of the Pak virus that will kill everyone too old or too young to become a protector, and cause the change in everyone else, so that he will have an army of childless Protectors to]] fight the Pak. Horrified at this plan - which [[spoiler:Brennan]] has kept secret from him, Truesdale [[spoiler:kills Brennan, who can't fight back effectively against a breeder-stage human who is one of his descendants. In fact, Brennan's last act before dying of his injuries is to administer the first aid that]] saves Truesdale's life. Shortly afterwards, Truesdale, [[spoiler:who was already infected with the virus, transitions to Protector, and immediately understands that Brennan's plan was the only feasible one - meaning that Brennan]] died for nothing. The Home colony [[spoiler: becomes extinct, and the new army of childless protectors]] heads off to war, but the last page reveals that [[spoiler: the reader will have this story in his hands only if Truesdale's army has been defeated, and Truesdale himself is dead.]]

* HumansAreSmelly: The Pak Protectors maintain their racial purity by smell. Homo Sapiens just smell ''wrong'' to them.

* ObstructiveCodeOfConduct: The Pak Protectors are so adept at logic that they can instantly see the best way to protect their descendants, and they're unable to do otherwise. The [[spoiler: human]] protector claims it doesn't apply to him, but he's not convincing anyone.

** Phssthpok has an OhCrap when his native Valley of Pitchok is nuked and his life expectancy is now tied to that of his youngest granddaughter.

** Alice Jordan and Nate La Pan have OhCrap moments with [[spoiler:Nillson's ever-worsening condition and ultimate death]].

** Brennan has one years later when he realizes [[spoiler:the Pak have evacuated their homeworld and are coming here]].

* SchizoTech: Due to the Pak's uneven interest in technology, their ship is far ahead of human development in some respects -- most notably, the gravity polarizer resists reverse-engineering attempts for two centuries -- but behind it in others, such a very inefficient fusion reactor. It doesn't help that the ship is pretty much a prototype. [[spoiler:The second Pak fleet has much improved tech]].

* MohsScaleOfScienceFictionHardness:
** With the science of the time, nearly 4, or OneBigLie. Niven did buy into some romantic notions about the surface of Mars, but the space travel in the novel is a well thought-out aversion of ArtisticLicenseSpace.
** The evolutionary biology holds up well. There are a few exceptions, though: A [[spoiler:hominid,]] intelligent species evolving symbiotically with a ''virus that inhabits sweet potatoes?'' Ridiculous, even back then. Also, the fact that [[spoiler: all Earth primates evolved or devolved from the Pak.]] That means that [[spoiler:even the most primitive lemurs and prosimians are descended from the species we call Homo Habilis.]]

* MohsScaleOfScienceFictionHardness: with the science of the time, nearly 4, or OneBigLie. Niven did buy into some romantic notions about the surface of Mars, but the space travel in the novel is a well thought-out aversion of SpaceDoesNotWorkThatWay.

It introduces one of the most important but rarely seen races in the ''Literature/KnownSpace'' series: the Pak, who are [[spoiler:distant ancestors of humanity, as well as the creators of the Literature/{{Ringworld}}]]. The first half of the novel deals with a badly botched FirstContact, and the second with the adventures of the titular Protector, the SuperStrong, [[SuperIntelligence hyper-intelligent]] adult form of the Pak.

It introduces one of the most important but rarely seen races in the ''Literature/KnownSpace'' series: the Pak, who are [[spoiler:distant ancestors of humanity, as well as the creators of the Literature/{{Ringworld}}. The first half of the novel deals with a badly botched FirstContact, and the second with the adventures of the titular Protector, the SuperStrong, [[SuperIntelligence hyper-intelligent]] adult form of the Pak.

It introduces one of the most important but rarely seen races in the ''Literature/KnownSpace'' series: the Pak, who are [[spoiler:distant ancestors of humanity, as well as the creators of the [[Literature/{{Ringworld}}]] The first half of the novel deals with a badly botched FirstContact, and the second with the adventures of the titular Protector, the SuperStrong, [[SuperIntelligence hyper-intelligent]] adult form of the Pak.

It introduces one of the most important but rarely seen races in the ''Literature/KnownSpace'' series: the Pak, who are [[spoiler:distant ancestors of humanity, as well as the creators of the Ringworld]] The first half of the novel deals with a badly botched FirstContact, and the second with the adventures of the titular Protector, the SuperStrong, [[SuperIntelligence hyper-intelligent]] adult form of the Pak.

* SuperIntelligence: Pak Protectors are smarter than humans can ever hope to be [[spoiler:unless they become Protectors themselves]]. [[spoiler:Human protectors]] are likely to be even smarter, since [[spoiler:their original form is smarter to begin with]].

* ArtificialGravity: The first Pak ship has a gravity ''polarizer'', which cannot really create gravity but can somewhat "redirect" existing gravitational fields, acting as a hang glider. [[spoiler:The human Protector]] reverse-engineers it and creates ArtificialGravity proper.

* DoUntoOthersBeforeTheyDoUntoUs: A staple of Pak Protector psychology (see ObstructiveCodeOfConduct below), which is why their planet is a constant battleground (see ForeverWar). It's not out of cynicism, either: Pak protectors have very limited free will, despite -- or better, ''beacause of'' -- their great intelligence.

* DoUntoOthersBeforeTheyDoUntoUs: A staple of Pak Protector psychology (see ObstructiveCodeOfConduct below), which is why their planet is a constant battleground (see ForeverWar). It's not out of cynicism, either: Pak protectors have very limited free will, in spite -- or better, ''beacause of'' -- their great intelligence.

* GreatBigLibraryOfEverything: There's one on the Pak Homeworld.