What's the Name of That Book??? discussion
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Protector
SOLVED: Adult Fiction
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SOLVED. Science fiction with aliens. Mostly occurs in space [s]
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This is Protector by Larry Niven Protector. The alien is named Pssthpok, and the species is the Pak.
yep, definitely protector, part of the Known Space collection. All really good books.
Hah! I've even recently read the first two Ringworlds, and I didn't make the connection. It all makes so much more sense now. Thank you both: Andy and Rafi. You came through for me!
What reading level is it aimed at: Adults. It was something teenagers could have picked up and enjoyed as well. It isn't particularly crude or XXX, but it may have had foul language and sex.
What the story is about: I think the science fiction world begins in our solar system. An unidentified spacecraft or object is detected, but before space authorities can reach it some space trucker/shuttle driver/general worker encounters it. That space worker has a space suit that is flamboyantly decorated with the image of a naked woman. The alien aboard the extraterrestrial object ponders the suit and decides that the colors must make it easier for others to spot (he/it is oblivious to the lewdness). Most of the book scenes have an extremely limited number of characters, perhaps 1-3. I think the space worker who encounters the alien initially is infected or fertilized or in some way is changed into another alien of the same species. That species name, by the way, is unpronounceable: something with discordant consonants and too few vowels (like pth'thich maybe). There are then two aliens on the ship but the human-transformed-to-alien kills the original alien. He still proceeds along with the mission (or to prevent it maybe). Somehow another man and woman become involved with the alien. They are captured and taken to some artificial world with a really short horizon. They are dumped naked on the artificial planet/satellite, and I think I remember an exotic waterfall. There's a space battle somewhere near the end. I think other aliens of the species come and the human-turned-alien, along with his human captive are trying to stop them. They're light years apart and the battle is distinctive in that when they fire weapons, it is days (or perhaps months or years) before the weapons impact. I think the alien invasion plan was to seed or infect Earth (or the home human planet) and turn everyone into aliens. I'm pretty sure the few advancing aliens are stopped but the reader is left with the possibility that the human-turned-alien may not have been able to control his alien-instincts and the Earth may have been compromised anyway.
What the genre is: science fiction, aliens, space travel
What format: I listened to it on audiobook. I assume it wasn't exclusively on audiobook and had a print predecessor. It definitely was not a long book, but neither was it a novella. A short novel.