The Witling — Vernor Vinge

THE PRINCE WAS A HALFWIT...

Oh, he was intelligent enough, no doubt about that. But he couldn't teleport --in fact, he couldn't even seng. Maybe that's why he took such a liking to the two shipwrecked travelers from Earth. Imagine: a whole planet of witlings!

But others of the ruling class on the planet Giri don't like halfwits of any kind--especially if they represent a starfaring civilization whose very existence upsets the social order on a class-conscious world.

And the human-haters have all their wits about them: they can thought-scan, they can teleport...they can kill from any distance. If the halfwit prince is to keep his newfound friends, he's going to have to do some very fast thinking.