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From: godwin@uci-icse
Newsgroups: net.sf-lovers
Subject: Protectors
Message-ID: <3352@topaz.RUTGERS.EDU>
Date: Mon, 19-Aug-85 21:40:47 EDT
Article-I.D.: topaz.3352
Posted: Mon Aug 19 21:40:47 1985
Date-Received: Sat, 24-Aug-85 15:21:53 EDT
Sender: daemon@topaz.RUTGERS.EDU
Organization: Rutgers Univ., New Brunswick, N.J.
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From: Dave Godwin 


	OK, boys and girls, here's the current synopsis ( after I ran off 
and re-read Protector and the pertenant sections of Ringworld Engineers. ).

1.  Brennan invented a breed of Tree-Of-Life variant that would live in a free
	atmosphere.  This is how Roy Treusdale got turned into a Protector.

2.  The virus got all over the Home colony.  The entire elligible population
	changed into Protectors.  The rest died.  Home was then used as a 
	staging area to fight the incoming Pak.  First, the Home boys ( sorry )
	built fake cities and stuff all over the planet to sucker in the
	Pak scout ships.  The scouts were destroyed, and the Home team ( real 
        sorry ) left this part of space to fight of the main Pak fleet.  No 
	more word is ever heard from Truesdale or his followers.

3.  Treusdale's pregnant wife, who knows all about Brennan and the incoming
	Pak colony fleet supposedly makes it back to the Belt, and the Human
	governments at least should know what she knows.

4.  Lots and lots of centuries later, we have Louis Wu.  In 'Engineers', he 
	reminices that he's lived on lot's of worlds.  Lots of years spent
	on Earth, and enough years on various colony world to make him feel
	like a native.  On of these he mentions is Home.  So apparently
	Home is resettled.

	So, questions that I don't see clear answers to:

1.  How were the Home Protectors able to clean up the atmosphere of Home ?
    And did they also remove all trace of their presence ( fake cities, etc )
    from same ?  I guess they had to have, but this is a bit heavy on my
    suspension of disbelief.

2.  The Home Protectors beat off the Pak Protectors.  If they hadn't, humans
    would know.  So what happened to the winners ?  Did everybody die ?
    They aren't in known space or on the Ringworld.  Somebody ( Outsiders,
    Grog telepaths, Teela Brown ) would notice something after all those
    years.  Where are they hiding ( and what are they doing ? ) ?
    Maybe they did all die.  None of them but Truesdale had decendants left
    anywhere at all, so after the Pak were destroyed, there would have
    been no reason to live on.  Poor guys.  It's too bad they never stuck
    around for the Man-Kzin wars.  There would only have been one war.  And
    no more Kzinti.

3.  Small detail question.  The stl Ramships found on the starport docks
    on the Ringworld were built from modified Ringworld attitude jets,
    right ?  Built by Ringworld natives ( City Builders ? ), millenia
    after all the Ringworld Pak died off.  So whose Pak style vacsuit did 
    Loius and Chmeee find on that one intact starship ?  Vacsuits are form 
    fitting.  Teela Brown's ?

	Also, wasn't 'Down In Flames' a satire by Niven on Niven ?  I can't
see Bea Sheaffer as a Protector.  Protectors shouldn't oughta be 7 + feet
tall.  ( Imagine a basketball team of We Made It descended Protectors. )
	So lets clutter up the net with more Niven talk.  What other holes
in continuity do you folks see ?  

			Dave