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Protector (novel)
Encyclopedia
Protector is a 1973
science fiction
novel by Larry Niven
, set in his Known Space
universe. It was nominated for the Hugo
in 1974, and placed fourth in the annual Locus poll
for that year.
The work fleshes out a species called the Pak
, originally introduced in a 1967 story called "The Adults", which forms the first half of the novel (there titled "Phssthpok"); the second half is titled "Vandervecken." The novel Destroyer of Worlds
serves as a semi-sequel to Protector.
is that humans evolved from the juvenile stage of the Pak, a species with a distinct adult form ("protectors") that have superhuman strength and intelligence and care only about younger Pak of their bloodline. A key plot point is that transition to the protector stage is mediated by consumption of the root of a particular plant called Tree-of-Life
, which cannot be effectively cultivated on Earth. The species is described in greater detail below. The implication, never explicitly stated, is that the Tree of Life
in Paradise
, mentioned in the Bible's Book of Genesis, represents a vague memory of that plant.
The first half of the book follows the path of a Pak named Phssthpok
who has travelled from the Pak homeworld in search of a colony of Pak in the distant system of Sol
(our solar system). Upon his arrival, he captures a Belter
(a worker from the asteroid belt) named Jack Brennan, who is infected by Phssthpok's store of tree-of-life root and is transformed into a protector (or at least a human variant). They land on Mars
where Brennan kills Phssthpok and is rescued by two humans, Nick Sohl
and Lucas Garner
, who had set out to meet the alien. The first half of the novel ends with Brennan telling his story to the humans before he heads for the outer reaches of the solar system.
The second half of the book follows the path of a human named Roy Truesdale who has been abducted with no memory of the event. While searching for his abductor, he befriends a Belter named Alice Jordan
who helps him figure out that the man he has sought is none other than Jack Brennan. Truesdale and Jordan find Brennan in the outer solar system on a fabricated world of Brennan's design called Kobold. Brennan discovers that a Pak invasion fleet is headed towards human space and takes Truesdale to a human outpost colony called Home in an effort to divert attention away from Earth. During their journey they battle with scout ships from the Pak fleet. Brennan and Truesdale arrive at Home only to have Truesdale realize that Brennan plans to convert the colony into a defensive Human Protector army. Truesdale kills Brennan and lands on Home, but is himself infected with a mutated strain of the Tree-of-Life
virus that quickly spreads to a number of other colonists, thus carrying out Brennan's plan despite Truesdale's initial attempts to thwart it. Upon his conversion to protector form, Truesdale immediately understands the necessity of Brennan's plan and completes it by breaking out of hospital confinement and infecting the entire population of Home. The modified virus either kills or converts the remaining inhabitants, resulting in an army of childless protectors. The new protectors know that they absolutely must act quickly to save the rest of humanity, and start preparing for battle with the Pak invasion fleet.
As an aside, it is mentioned that during his sojourn in the outer Solar System Brennan had engineered a genocide
on Mars, sending a large ice asteroid to crash into the planet in order to raise the water content of its atmosphere. Water is lethal to the Martians' metabolism, thus this effectively wiped out the species. This incident serves to underscore the Pak Protectors' inherent xenophobia and utter ruthlessness in pursuing their ultimate goal of protecting their descendants.
The events which impelled Brennan to this action are those narrated in How the Heroes Die and At the Bottom of a Hole, two short 1966 stories which Niven originally published in Galaxy Science Fiction
and later collected in Inconstant Moon
.
Origin of Humanity : Two and a half million years ago, a group of Protectors hollowed out an asteroid, turned it into a ship, and set sail for the galactic arms. They eventually settled on Earth, but discovered that the Tree-of-Life root would not grow, meaning that no Breeders would turn into Protectors, and the Protectors would die without the root. The Protectors spent their time building a laser strong enough to send a message for help back to the Pak homeworld. Eventually, the Breeders, known to us as Homo habilis
, evolved into present-day forms, including humans.
Phssthpok : Phssthpok had lost all of his children in a war on the Pak homeworld, and needed to find meaning for his life, or he would die. After spending much time in the homeworld's library, he found the story of the Pak expedition to find a habitable planet
in the galactic arms. He worked out that the soil of Earth lacked thallium oxide, and mounted a rescue mission aboard a ramship
33,000 years ago, arriving in the Solar System in 2125 AD.
Persephone : According to the novel, Persephone is the tenth planet (a Planet X
) of our solar system. While actually proposed in the 1970s to account for perturbations for the orbit of Neptune
, Niven gives it additional qualities such as retrograde motion
, an orbit tilted 61 degree
s to the ecliptic
, and a mass slightly less than that of Saturn
.
Neutronium : Brennan created an 8 ft diameter sphere of neutronium
, a material consisting of densely packed neutron
s. The sphere had a surface gravity of 8 million g
and was maintained within a stasis field at his world of Kobold.
Kobold : Kobold is the manmade world that Jack Brennan, as a protector, bubble-formed from an asteroid and maintained an ecosystem in. Kobold was Brennan's home for over 200 years. It was destroyed at the departure of Brennan and Roy Truesdale from Kobold. Kobold would appear to be named after the Kobold
s of German folklore, spirits that people believed to be mischievous tricksters at times, and at other times prayed to for protection. This role fits Jack Brennan's dual nature as a trickster (using his superior intellect to baffle humans on Earth) and as a self-appointed Protector of humanity.
reviewed the novel favorably in F&SF; although describing it as really "two long novelettes passing as a novel," he noted that "both halves of the book are permeated with the ingenuity that has been the driving energy of Niven's stories since his earliest work."
1973 in literature
The year 1973 in literature involved several significant events and the writing of many notable books.-Events:*September 25 - The funeral of Chilean poet Pablo Neruda becomes a focus for protests against the new government of Augusto Pinochet...
science fiction
Science fiction
Science fiction is a genre of fiction dealing with imaginary but more or less plausible content such as future settings, futuristic science and technology, space travel, aliens, and paranormal abilities...
novel by Larry Niven
Larry Niven
Laurence van Cott Niven / ˈlæri ˈnɪvən/ is an American science fiction author. His best-known work is Ringworld , which received Hugo, Locus, Ditmar, and Nebula awards. His work is primarily hard science fiction, using big science concepts and theoretical physics...
, set in his Known Space
Known Space
Known Space is the fictional setting of some dozen science fiction novels and several collections of short stories written by author Larry Niven. It has also in part been used as a shared universe in the Man-Kzin Wars spin-off anthologies sub-series....
universe. It was nominated for the Hugo
Hugo Award
The Hugo Awards are given annually for the best science fiction or fantasy works and achievements of the previous year. The award is named after Hugo Gernsback, the founder of the pioneering science fiction magazine Amazing Stories, and was officially named the Science Fiction Achievement Awards...
in 1974, and placed fourth in the annual Locus poll
Locus Award
The Locus Award is a literary award established in 1971 and presented to winners of Locus magazine's annual readers' poll. Currently, the Locus Awards are presented at an annual banquet...
for that year.
The work fleshes out a species called the Pak
Pak Protector
Pak Breeders and Pak Protectors are two forms of fictional life in Larry Niven's Known Space universe. The Pak first appeared in "The Adults," which appeared in Galaxy in 1967; this story was expanded into the novel Protector by Larry Niven...
, originally introduced in a 1967 story called "The Adults", which forms the first half of the novel (there titled "Phssthpok"); the second half is titled "Vandervecken." The novel Destroyer of Worlds
Destroyer of Worlds (novel)
Destroyer of Worlds is a novel set in the Known Space series, by Larry Niven and Edward M. Lerner. It is a sequel to their previous novels, Fleet of Worlds and Juggler of Worlds...
serves as a semi-sequel to Protector.
Plot summary
The novel comprises two phases in the same space that are separated by 220 years of time. Its central conceitCentral conceit
In drama and other art forms, the central conceit of a work of fiction is the underlying fictitious assumption which must be accepted by the audience with suspension of disbelief so the plot may be seen as plausible...
is that humans evolved from the juvenile stage of the Pak, a species with a distinct adult form ("protectors") that have superhuman strength and intelligence and care only about younger Pak of their bloodline. A key plot point is that transition to the protector stage is mediated by consumption of the root of a particular plant called Tree-of-Life
Tree-of-Life
The Tree-of-Life is a fictional plant in Larry Niven's Known Space universe, for which all Hominids have a built-in genetic craving...
, which cannot be effectively cultivated on Earth. The species is described in greater detail below. The implication, never explicitly stated, is that the Tree of Life
Tree of Life
The tree of life in the Book of Genesis is a tree planted by God in midst of the Garden of Eden , whose fruit gives everlasting life, i.e. immortality. Together with the tree of life, God planted the tree of the knowledge of good and evil . According to some scholars, however, these are in fact...
in Paradise
Paradise
Paradise is a place in which existence is positive, harmonious and timeless. It is conceptually a counter-image of the miseries of human civilization, and in paradise there is only peace, prosperity, and happiness. Paradise is a place of contentment, but it is not necessarily a land of luxury and...
, mentioned in the Bible's Book of Genesis, represents a vague memory of that plant.
The first half of the book follows the path of a Pak named Phssthpok
Pak Protector
Pak Breeders and Pak Protectors are two forms of fictional life in Larry Niven's Known Space universe. The Pak first appeared in "The Adults," which appeared in Galaxy in 1967; this story was expanded into the novel Protector by Larry Niven...
who has travelled from the Pak homeworld in search of a colony of Pak in the distant system of Sol
Sun
The Sun is the star at the center of the Solar System. It is almost perfectly spherical and consists of hot plasma interwoven with magnetic fields...
(our solar system). Upon his arrival, he captures a Belter
Belter (Niven)
In Larry Niven's fictional Known Space universe, a Belter refers to a resident of the Asteroid Belt around Sol, sometimes known as the Sol Belt to differentiate it from Alpha Centauri's Serpent Swarm....
(a worker from the asteroid belt) named Jack Brennan, who is infected by Phssthpok's store of tree-of-life root and is transformed into a protector (or at least a human variant). They land on Mars
Mars
Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun in the Solar System. The planet is named after the Roman god of war, Mars. It is often described as the "Red Planet", as the iron oxide prevalent on its surface gives it a reddish appearance...
where Brennan kills Phssthpok and is rescued by two humans, Nick Sohl
Nick Sohl
Nicholas Brewster Sohl is a fictional character in Larry Niven's Known Space universe.A Belter, born in the mid 21st century, he is First Speaker for the Belt Political Section when Phssthpok the Pak Protector arrives in the Solar System in the early 22nd century.Together with Lucas Garner they...
and Lucas Garner
Lucas Garner
Lucas Launcelot Garner is a fictional character in Larry Niven's Known Space Universe.Born in 1939, he lived well into the 22nd century. This was because advances in medical science kept pushing his life expectancy ahead of his age...
, who had set out to meet the alien. The first half of the novel ends with Brennan telling his story to the humans before he heads for the outer reaches of the solar system.
The second half of the book follows the path of a human named Roy Truesdale who has been abducted with no memory of the event. While searching for his abductor, he befriends a Belter named Alice Jordan
Alice Jordan
Alice Jordan is a fictional character in the Known Space universe created by Larry Niven.A Belter, she is a Goldskin, a member of the Belt Police in the mid-twenty-fourth century...
who helps him figure out that the man he has sought is none other than Jack Brennan. Truesdale and Jordan find Brennan in the outer solar system on a fabricated world of Brennan's design called Kobold. Brennan discovers that a Pak invasion fleet is headed towards human space and takes Truesdale to a human outpost colony called Home in an effort to divert attention away from Earth. During their journey they battle with scout ships from the Pak fleet. Brennan and Truesdale arrive at Home only to have Truesdale realize that Brennan plans to convert the colony into a defensive Human Protector army. Truesdale kills Brennan and lands on Home, but is himself infected with a mutated strain of the Tree-of-Life
Tree-of-Life
The Tree-of-Life is a fictional plant in Larry Niven's Known Space universe, for which all Hominids have a built-in genetic craving...
virus that quickly spreads to a number of other colonists, thus carrying out Brennan's plan despite Truesdale's initial attempts to thwart it. Upon his conversion to protector form, Truesdale immediately understands the necessity of Brennan's plan and completes it by breaking out of hospital confinement and infecting the entire population of Home. The modified virus either kills or converts the remaining inhabitants, resulting in an army of childless protectors. The new protectors know that they absolutely must act quickly to save the rest of humanity, and start preparing for battle with the Pak invasion fleet.
As an aside, it is mentioned that during his sojourn in the outer Solar System Brennan had engineered a genocide
Genocide
Genocide is defined as "the deliberate and systematic destruction, in whole or in part, of an ethnic, racial, religious, or national group", though what constitutes enough of a "part" to qualify as genocide has been subject to much debate by legal scholars...
on Mars, sending a large ice asteroid to crash into the planet in order to raise the water content of its atmosphere. Water is lethal to the Martians' metabolism, thus this effectively wiped out the species. This incident serves to underscore the Pak Protectors' inherent xenophobia and utter ruthlessness in pursuing their ultimate goal of protecting their descendants.
The events which impelled Brennan to this action are those narrated in How the Heroes Die and At the Bottom of a Hole, two short 1966 stories which Niven originally published in Galaxy Science Fiction
Galaxy Science Fiction
Galaxy Science Fiction was an American digest-size science fiction magazine, published from 1950 to 1980. It was founded by an Italian company, World Editions, which was looking to break in to the American market. World Editions hired as editor H. L...
and later collected in Inconstant Moon
Inconstant Moon
Inconstant Moon is a science fiction short story collection by American author Larry Niven that was published in 1973. "Inconstant Moon" is also a 1971 short story that is included in the collection. The title is a quote from the balcony scene in William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet...
.
Concepts
Pak- A species called Pak lives on a planet near the Milky Way core. The species has three main stages of development: Child, Breeder, Protector. A Pak is born, and matures into a Breeder, at which point he and she may bear children. Breeders are not particularly intelligent. Around 40 years of age, the root of the Tree-of-Life plant begins to smell delicious to all Breeders, and they eat it and metamorphose into the Protector stage via a virus that lives in the plant. A Protector's joints expand to give his muscles a greater moment arm, his skin wrinkles into a tough armor, and his nails turn into retractile claws. A second heart develops near the groin, the mouth fuses into a beak, and all sexual characteristics disappear. The most important change is that the brain expands, giving a Protector a tremendous intellect. A Protector has no motivation other than the preservation of his bloodline, and to that end the Pak homeworld is never free from war, since all Protectors are constantly trying to ensure their progeny's survival at the expense of everyone else. If a Protector has no children left, he no longer feels the urge to eat and dies unless he can adopt the entire Pak race and work towards their benefit.
Origin of Humanity : Two and a half million years ago, a group of Protectors hollowed out an asteroid, turned it into a ship, and set sail for the galactic arms. They eventually settled on Earth, but discovered that the Tree-of-Life root would not grow, meaning that no Breeders would turn into Protectors, and the Protectors would die without the root. The Protectors spent their time building a laser strong enough to send a message for help back to the Pak homeworld. Eventually, the Breeders, known to us as Homo habilis
Homo habilis
Homo habilis is a species of the genus Homo, which lived from approximately at the beginning of the Pleistocene period. The discovery and description of this species is credited to both Mary and Louis Leakey, who found fossils in Tanzania, East Africa, between 1962 and 1964. Homo habilis Homo...
, evolved into present-day forms, including humans.
Phssthpok : Phssthpok had lost all of his children in a war on the Pak homeworld, and needed to find meaning for his life, or he would die. After spending much time in the homeworld's library, he found the story of the Pak expedition to find a habitable planet
Planetary habitability
Planetary habitability is the measure of a planet's or a natural satellite's potential to sustain life. Life may develop directly on a planet or satellite or be transferred to it from another body, a theoretical process known as panspermia...
in the galactic arms. He worked out that the soil of Earth lacked thallium oxide, and mounted a rescue mission aboard a ramship
Bussard ramjet
The Bussard ramjet is a theoretical method of spacecraft propulsion proposed in 1960 by the physicist Robert W. Bussard, popularized by Larry Niven in his Known Space series of books, and referred to by Carl Sagan in the television series and book Cosmos....
33,000 years ago, arriving in the Solar System in 2125 AD.
Persephone : According to the novel, Persephone is the tenth planet (a Planet X
Planet X
Following the discovery of the planet Neptune in 1846, there was considerable speculation that another planet might exist beyond its orbit. The search began in the mid-19th century but culminated at the start of the 20th with Percival Lowell's quest for Planet X...
) of our solar system. While actually proposed in the 1970s to account for perturbations for the orbit of Neptune
Neptune
Neptune is the eighth and farthest planet from the Sun in the Solar System. Named for the Roman god of the sea, it is the fourth-largest planet by diameter and the third largest by mass. Neptune is 17 times the mass of Earth and is slightly more massive than its near-twin Uranus, which is 15 times...
, Niven gives it additional qualities such as retrograde motion
Retrograde motion
Retrograde motion is motion in the direction opposite to the movement of something else, and is the contrary of direct or prograde motion. This motion can be the orbit of one body about another body or about some other point, or the rotation of a single body about its axis, or other phenomena such...
, an orbit tilted 61 degree
Degree (angle)
A degree , usually denoted by ° , is a measurement of plane angle, representing 1⁄360 of a full rotation; one degree is equivalent to π/180 radians...
s to the ecliptic
Ecliptic
The ecliptic is the plane of the earth's orbit around the sun. In more accurate terms, it is the intersection of the celestial sphere with the ecliptic plane, which is the geometric plane containing the mean orbit of the Earth around the Sun...
, and a mass slightly less than that of Saturn
Saturn
Saturn is the sixth planet from the Sun and the second largest planet in the Solar System, after Jupiter. Saturn is named after the Roman god Saturn, equated to the Greek Cronus , the Babylonian Ninurta and the Hindu Shani. Saturn's astronomical symbol represents the Roman god's sickle.Saturn,...
.
Neutronium : Brennan created an 8 ft diameter sphere of neutronium
Neutronium
Neutronium is a proposed name for a substance composed purely of neutrons. The word was coined by scientist Andreas von Antropoff in 1926 for the conjectured "element of atomic number zero" that he placed at the head of the periodic table...
, a material consisting of densely packed neutron
Neutron
The neutron is a subatomic hadron particle which has the symbol or , no net electric charge and a mass slightly larger than that of a proton. With the exception of hydrogen, nuclei of atoms consist of protons and neutrons, which are therefore collectively referred to as nucleons. The number of...
s. The sphere had a surface gravity of 8 million g
G force
The g-force associated with an object is its acceleration relative to free-fall.It may also refer to:* G-Force , a 2009 film by Disney** G-Force , a 2009 video game based on the film...
and was maintained within a stasis field at his world of Kobold.
Kobold : Kobold is the manmade world that Jack Brennan, as a protector, bubble-formed from an asteroid and maintained an ecosystem in. Kobold was Brennan's home for over 200 years. It was destroyed at the departure of Brennan and Roy Truesdale from Kobold. Kobold would appear to be named after the Kobold
Kobold
The kobold is a sprite stemming from Germanic mythology and surviving into modern times in German folklore. Although usually invisible, a kobold can materialise in the form of an animal, fire, a human being, and a candle. The most common depictions of kobolds show them as humanlike figures the size...
s of German folklore, spirits that people believed to be mischievous tricksters at times, and at other times prayed to for protection. This role fits Jack Brennan's dual nature as a trickster (using his superior intellect to baffle humans on Earth) and as a self-appointed Protector of humanity.
Timeline of events
- 2.5 m.y.a. — Settlement of Earth by Pak colonists.
- 33,000 BC — Phssthpok departs Pak homeworld.
- 32,800 BC — First emigration wave departs Pak homeworld.
- 32,500 BC — Second emigration wave departs Pak homeworld.
- 32,500- BC — Pak scouts depart Pak homeworld.
- 2125 AD — Phssthpok arrives at Sol. Brennan turns protector.
- 2340 AD — Kidnap of Truesdale.
- 2341 AD — Discovery of Pak fleet. Departure of Flying Dutchman. Destruction of Kobold.
- 2346 AD — Discovery of Phssthpok's Star.
- 2350 AD — Arrival at Home.
Reception
Sidney ColemanSidney Coleman
Sidney Richard Coleman was an American theoretical physicist who studied under Murray Gell-Mann.- Life and work :Sidney Coleman grew up on the Far North Side of Chicago...
reviewed the novel favorably in F&SF; although describing it as really "two long novelettes passing as a novel," he noted that "both halves of the book are permeated with the ingenuity that has been the driving energy of Niven's stories since his earliest work."
External links
- Protector at Worlds Without End
- Fictional Diseases in Science Fiction