Protector

Blurb

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; the second half is titled Vandervecken. The novel Destroyer of Worlds serves as a semi-sequel to Protector.