Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10.3 4.3bsd-beta 6/6/85; site topaz.ARPA Path: utzoo!linus!philabs!cmcl2!seismo!columbia!topaz!godwin From: godwin@uci-icse Newsgroups: net.sf-lovers Subject: Niven's Protectors Message-ID: <3147@topaz.ARPA> Date: Tue, 6-Aug-85 14:49:45 EDT Article-I.D.: topaz.3147 Posted: Tue Aug 6 14:49:45 1985 Date-Received: Thu, 8-Aug-85 00:37:29 EDT Sender: daemon@topaz.ARPA Organization: Rutgers Univ., New Brunswick, N.J. Lines: 23 From: Dave GodwinThere is one reason I can think of that will explain the differences in thought pattern between the Protectors of Home and Teela Brown as a Protector. If Teela does not use the Star Drive to get the Ring back on axis, OK so lots of billions of hominids get toasty all over. The race as a whole will continue. If the Protectors on Home had not busted out of the hospitals to make more of their own kind, the Pak would have swept in and destroyed the entire human race. The modern Earth-type human is a mutated abomination in the eyes of a Pak. Brennan and the rest of the Protectors were doing their duty as a whole to the human race. Bigger question, though. This one has always bothered me about Niven's universe. What the heck happens to Home after the Protectors left to beat off the Pak ? Obviously, our guys win, because even by Louis Wu's time, Pak were unknown. But whathappens to Home itself, with all that Tree-Of-Life virus floating in the atmosphere ? It bugs me. Dave Godwin UC Irvine