by Larry Niven
"How long?"
"A few days. You'll have to tow me. We'll need water and food."
"There's water at the tree-of-life farm," Tunesmith said. "Food --" He and Acolyte moved toward Bram's body, and stopped. Tunesmith said, "I was taught that others should not see me eat."
"He's not yet carrion," Acolyte said.
"My teacher's friend, few there are who will discuss cuisine with the Night People, but I see you have an interest. We can eat the freshly dead. We often prefer it, but some are too tough at first, and this was a protector. I could put him on a second cargo plate and pull him along with a longer rope --"
"I'm hungry now, Tunesmith. I would not offend you by eating in your presence."
"Take what you need."
Louis turned his back on what happened next, but he couldn't help grinning. The sounds told the story. A kzinti kitten must have to fight for his food. Now Acolyte was trying to wrench his hard-won portion from Bram's body. Now he used his wtsai, *thuk!* and retreated with whatever that got him.
Tunesmith approached and settled cross-legged. "A child's habits aren't easily broken. Will Acolyte listen to me after this?"
"It's a good start."
"There is food for you, too, Louis Wu. I see no risk in your eating boiled tree-of-life root."
The thought made him flinch, but, "Yams and sweet potatoes are nearly the same species. We roast them."
"It means?"
"Build a fire. Put the roots in the coals where it's not too hot."
"We'll find something to burn in the tree-of-life farm." Tunesmith called toward sounds of grinding teeth and yowling rage. The Kzin was still trying to chew nourishment from the corpse of a protector. "Acolyte, there is prey in the tree-of-life farm. Little animals, and quick. I don't think anyone but a Night People protector will ever eat Bram, and then not today."
"Well, let me hunt, then!"
"You'll need me to get back." Tunesmith fluted, and they flicked away.
***
Tunesmith come back with an armful of yellow roots. "Acolyte hunts alone. I whistled in the return flick to use when he wants it." He set the roots in the fire. "How do you like your water?"
"Clean. Any temperature, really."
"Cold, too?"
"Sure."
Tunesmith flicked out, and back again with a slab of ice. "Easier than choosing an appropriate container."
"Where did you get that?"
"Miles above us, where air is thin and cold." He soaked a swatch of cloth in dripping ice water and draped it around Louis's neck. "How long do you cook tree-of-life?"
"An hour," Louis said, and he showed Tunesmith the timepiece in the skin of his hand. "This tells tides, too. Not much use here. This makes it a calculator. This is a game, you move the numbers around like -- tanj, you're fast."
Acolyte flicked in, his mouth bloody, something dripping from his hand. He set to work with the wtsai. "I looked for anything from the Map of Earth. Nothing quite fit, but this is much like a rabbit, don't you think?" He cleaned the beast and skinned and splayed it butterfly fashion, and perched it above the coals to roast.
Louis said, "Some fun, huh?"
Acolyte thought it over. "Yes. But I'm not wounded."
Acolyte's forehead was swollen and the yellow fur was soaked with blood. Louis said, "We're all wounded. Victors don't have to pay attention to that. Acolyte, tell us a story."
"You first. You fought the lucky protector, Teela Brown."
"I'm not quite proud of that. Let me tell you how I boiled a sea."
He did. Then Acolyte told his father's tale: his arrival at the Map of Earth with a kzinti assault boat and puppeteer tools. The war. Friends and enemies, the deaths, the matings arranged to bind allies. Learning to talk to females.
Chmeee had sired three children in his few weeks on the Map of Kzin. A local lord had contracted to raise them. When he could, Chmeee had retrieved his eldest son from Kathakt -- amicably -- and brought him to the Map of Earth. Acolyte had seen his first human being at twelve falans.
The eldest son of a lord trained hard. Enemies and friends, whom to watch, whom to almost trust, how to talk to possible mates. *Don't* talk to female diplomats, they'll have your hide --
"This grows boring," Tunesmith said.
Acolyte said, "Yes, it grew boring until I wanted to scream. One day I screamed challenge and fought my father. He let me go. I've been injured and I've starved and I was slaved to a vampire protector, but that diplomatic flup is out of my life. Tell us a tale, Tunesmith."
"I'll sing it. Then we should sleep, and after, Louis can lead us to safety."
Tunesmith sang of a thing of fiery magic abandoned by Louis Wu, who boiled a sea. Five Night People, greatly daring, had dismounted a magical door. They didn't know where it led and they couldn't make it work.
One night Chime was gone.
The rest promised to hold his son from following, and Tunesmith went through the door alone. A scent pulled him toward what he could only perceive as the promise of Paradise.
He woke in the garden of tree-of-life. The woman who had gone through ahead lay dead beside him. Chime had been too old.
He explored. He found the Meteor Defense and the telescope. He created a physics to explain what he was seeing. He and Louis discussed that, with Acolyte listening. Tunesmith had deduced not just worlds, but black holes, too. He had guessed at the existence and nature of other protectors.
"What did you eat? Dead rabbits?"
"Well, Chime, of course, but I haven't been awake long enough to get very hungry."
Louis tried to talk about what a protector needed to know immediately. Invader ships: it was time to take some prisoners, see what their policy actually was. Hidden Patriarch and its crew: there must be City Builders everywhere, easily found. The children would need mates in not many years. The Web Dweller --
"A contract is an unambiguous promise, stet, Louis? But why should the Web Dweller offer me such a thing?"
Acolyte said, "Through fear, but he often reacts badly to fear."
"Better if you have something he wants," said Louis. "Tunesmith, what if you offered him the four hundred and first rim wall ramjet?"
His own dinner was ready by now. He explained while he ate. Bussard ramjet, attitude jet, hydrogen fusion. Tunesmith already understood the law of reaction and the Ringworld's instability.
"There are only four hundred mountings. When you build the four hundred and first motor, we'll mount Hot Needle of Inquiry at the axis. It's a General Products hull; radiation can't touch it. At sublight speed it'll take the Hindmost a thousand years or so to match with the Fleet of Worlds ..."
Acolyte stalked away from the smell of politics.
Louis said, "I don't expect that'll bother him. The Conservatives are in power in the Fleet of Worlds. Nothing will change. They may even want him back. Anyway, we can offer."
"He likes power games, does he?"
"Stet."
"Let him play. If he gains more power, we'll offer him the two hundredth ramjet. It's clear we don't need them all. Acolyte! Do you wonder how you lived?"
Acolyte stalked back. Tunesmith sang of finding the skeleton and weapons of Cronus. Clues there told him that he was challenged. He chose his lurking spot and waked.
A monstrous shape of orange hair flicked in and surged away. Tunesmith stalked it, but he sensed no harm in it. "It may be my kind hasn't grown up frightened of your kind's smell."
Acolyte thought that over. Tunesmith said, "But now I knew my enemy would use others for bait. When two hominids appeared and one threw the other flying --"
The Hindmost flicked in.
He squeaked like a smashed piano and was instantly gone, but Tunesmith was faster than that. He went through with the
Kzin on his heels and Louis screaming, "Wait! What if it's Mons Olympus?"
He'd reached his feet, but they were gone. Louis said, "Idiots," and limped to the stepping disk and flicked through anyway.
***
Tunesmith was in some kind of weird weaving defense pose. Acolyte was not quite a safe distance away, trying to talk him down. Tunesmith ignored the Kzin. "I want to talk to your leader," he said firmly.
Thousands of three-legged, two-headed creatures were watching them through the forward wall.
"We say 'Hindmost,'" one of them said. "I'm the Hindmost. Speak your desire."
"Teach me."
The granite block had been set aside.
Louis limped past Kzin and protector. The pain in his shoulder was a part of his anger. He asked the Hindmost, "Now how did you do that?"
"I braced my forequarters against the wall and pushed with my hind leg. Bram felt the strength in my leg. He should have known."
"Lucky for us --"
"Where is Bram?"
"Dead at our hands. Tunesmith, the teaching aids are all here aboard Hot Needle of Inquiry. Those pictures especially. They're made by bronze webs like the one on the cliff at WeaverTown."
Tunesmith said, "I follow Bram's advice. Web Dweller, teach me. I am not to trust you until we have a contract."
"I'll print out my people's standard contract for service."
"Only for my amusement, I hope. Louis, my son needs ..." Tunesmith looked again. "You, into the 'doc, now. Is that it?"
Acolyte was lifting him.
He was in the big box and Tunesmith was examining the readouts doubtfully. "How long?" the Ghoul protector asked.
The puppeteer said, "Three days, maybe less."
Louis talked in haste. "Don't anyone sign anything. Hindmost, I don't know how to feed a Night Person. Try aged beef. Try cheese. Tunesmith, I hope you won't destroy that last ARM spacecraft unless they do something dreadful --"
"Nearest possible mates in this universe?"
"Well ... that, too. Now, the High Point protectors hold the rim wall, and at this point they may be scared out of their minds. Talk to them through that window, with the black sky and the big strange shapes? Ghouls stole that web from a vampire nest, carried it maybe two hundred thousand miles plus two miles straight up --"
"The sunlight network told us about it."
"Tell the spill mountain protectors they're in charge of the rim. *Mean* it."
Acolyte was closing the lid on the big box. Louis laughed suddenly. "Hey. Remind you of anything?"
He heard the voice of Louis Wu telling a hairless face with red skin, "We'd like to talk to a protector, please. We want to propose a contract."
And the lid closed and he could rest.
THE END
Glossary
ARM: once the Amalgamated Regional Militia, now the United Nations armed forces.
ANTISPIN: direction opposite the Ringworld's direction of spin.
COLLIER: 1. A ship used to carry coal. 2. A merchant who transports or sells coal.
CZILTANG BRONE: alleged to be a device to allow solid objects to penetrate scrith.
CRUISER: a Machine People vehicle.
ELBOW ROOT: ubiquitous Ringworld plant, a kind of natural fence.
DAYWALK: varies by species, but usually means a serious effort consistent with foraging and health. One daywalk for Machine People is about ten miles; for a Grass Giant, less, but they can keep it up forever. Gleaners can do one and a half Machine People daywalks for a couple of hours.
FLEET OF WORLDS: the homeworld of the Pierson's puppeteers, and four worlds sequestered for farming.
FLUP: seabottom ooze.
OUTSIDER HYPERDRIVE OR HYPERDRIVE: a means of faster-than-light travel, common in known space.
PATRIARCHY: the kzinti empire.
REPAIR CENTER: ancient center of Ringworld maintenance and control housed beneath the Map of Mars.
PAYLOAD SHELL: the locked iron housing on a Machine People cruiser.
RISHATHRA (RESHTRA): sexual practice outside one's own species but within the intelligent hominids. Not a useful term beyond the Ringworld.
SCRITH: Ringworld structural material. Scrith underlies all of the terraformed and contoured inner surface of the Ringworld. The rim walls are also of scrith. Very dense, with a tensile strength on the order of the force that holds an atomic nucleus together.
SPILL MOUNTAINS: mountains standing against the rim wall, the outflow of the rim spillpipes. One stage in the circulation of flup. The spill mountains have their own ecology.
SPIN OR SPINWARD: in the direction of rotation of the Ringworld (against the rotation of the sky).
STAR OR STARBOARD: to the right as one faces spinward.
STET: leave it alone, no change, that's exactly right.
TANJ: an expletive. Initial slang for "There Ain't No Justice."
THRUSTER: reactionless drive. In known space, thrusters have generally replaced fusion rockets on all spacecraft save warcraft.
VISHNISHTEE / VASHNESHT: wizard or protector.
WEENIE PLANT: ubiquitous Ringworld plant. Edible. Grows in damp areas.
WEBEYE: puppeteer technology, a multisensory probe.
Ringworld Parameters
30 hours = 1 Ringworld "day."
1 turn = 7.5 thirty-hour days = 1 Ringworld rotation.
1 falan = 10 turns = 75 days
Mass = 2 x 10^30 grams
Radius = 0.95 x 10^8 miles
Circumference = 5.97 x 10^8 miles
Width = 997,000 miles
Surface area = 6 x 10^14 square miles = 3 x 10^6 times the surface area of the Earth (approx)
Surface gravity = 31.7 feet/second/second = .992 gee
Rim walls rise inward, 1,000 miles
Repair Center = 40 miles high by 0.56 x 10^8 square miles area = 2.24 x 10^9 cubic miles
Near Great Ocean = 600x surface area of Earth
Star: G1 or G2, barely smaller and cooler than Sol
Cast of Characters
MACHINE PEOPLE
Valavirgillin (Vala, "Boss") -- hired the caravan. Represents Farsight Trading
Foranayeedli (Forn) -- Barok's daughter. Kaywerbrimmis's crew
Sabarokaresh (Barok) -- biggest male. Kaywerbrimmis's crew
Kaywerbrimmis (Kay) -- Valavirgillin's Wagonmaster
Anthrantillin (Anth) -- wagonmaster
Taratarafasht (Tarfa) -- female, Anth's crew
Whandernothtee (Whand) -- wagonmaster
Chitakumishad (Chit) -- Whandernothtee's crew
Sopashintay (Spash) -- Whand's crew
Himapertharee (Himp) -- Anthrantillin's crew
High Rangers Trading Group -- died but for Valavirgillin, forty-three falans ago
Tarablilliast (Tarb) -- Valavirgillin's mate, taking care of their children, far to starboard
GRASS GIANTS
Paroom -- male sentry
Thurl -- alpha male, the Bull
Moonwa -- female, the Thurl's primary wife
Beedj -- male, the Thurl's probable heir
Tarun -- male
Wemb -- female
Makee -- male, Wemb's son
Heerst -- male
Twuk -- small Grass Giant female
GLEANERS
Perilack -- female
Silack -- beta male
Manack -- alpha male, hairi
er
Coriack -- female
REDS
Tegger hooki-Thandarthal -- ambassador
Warvia hooki-Murf Thandarthal -- ambassador
Anakrin hooki-Whanhurhur -- messenger
Chaychind hooki-Karashk -- messenger
RIVER PEOPLE
Wurblychoog -- female
Borubble -- male
Rooballabl -- speaks trade language
Fudghabladl -- old one, remembers
BALL PEOPLE
Louis Wu
The Hindmost (the Web Dweller)
Chmeee
WEAVING PEOPLE
Parald
Strill
Sawur
Kidada
FISHERS
Shans Serpentstrangler
Hishthare Rockdiver
SAILOR
Wheek
NIGHT PEOPLE
Kazarp
Tunesmith
Harpster
Grieving Tube
KZINTI
Acolyte -- Chmeee's eldest son
Kathakt -- a lord of the Map of Kzin
SPILL MOUNTAIN PEOPLE
Saron -- older woman
Deb -- middle-aged woman
Skreepu -- bird, belongs to Deb
Harreed -- Deb's younger son
Barraye -- Deb's older son
Jennawil -- younger woman mated to Barraye
PROTECTORS
Cronus
Bram
Anne
Lovecraft
Collier
King
... and others, nameless.
