Fate of Worlds: Return From the Ringworld

“I suited up to jet over. On my way…”

“Go on,” Sigmund said, gently.

“Alice radioed. She said, ‘I have no choice. Sorry.’ A second later she was gone. I mean, Endurance was gone.”

Gone to hyperspace and bound for Earth. Sigmund understood that much from the original anguished message. The women had been arguing, but Julia planned to obey their recall order. And the last telecon, that charade about needing two more days … had Alice given herself two days to change Julia’s mind?

“And then?” Sigmund asked.

“I continued to Koala and convinced them to hail Endurance nonstop. There was still a chance.” She looked down. “Until there wasn’t.”

“What do you mean?” Sigmund asked.

“Since discovering the rival forces here, my priority has been making sure no hostile group can backtrack us to New Terra. First and foremost, that meant making sure no one could take control of Endurance.”

“An autodestruct cycle on the main fusion reactor,” Norquist-Ng explained brusquely. “My orders. The captain had to reset it daily.”

“Alice didn’t know,” Julia said. “If I had reached her, I would have warned her. She could have returned, surrendered the ship, let me reset the autodestruct.”

“All alone, vaporized, in the less-than-nothingness of hyperspace…” Sigmund shuddered. “It wasn’t your fault.”

Lips pressed thin, Julia just stared.

Sigmund felt himself staring, too, but not at Julia …

Two lifetimes ago, he had hidden a bomb aboard a starship. But he had warned its pilot — the whole point being to make sure Shaeffer knew he couldn’t steal the ship, knew that he had to complete his assignment.

Uh-huh. An assignment Puppeteers had coerced Shaeffer into taking, with Sigmund’s advice and blessing. And not just any Puppeteer, but futzy Achilles. But Sigmund had been an ARM, protecting Earth against alien menaces. The job required making hard choices.

Did he want ARMs factoring New Terra into their plans? Sigmund had a moment of doubt. But the Kzinti were out there. And Pak hordes. One bunch of those had passed, but who was to say more Pak weren’t out there? And the cone-ship people, who seemed as aggressive as Kzinti. In a dangerous galaxy there were far worse things than the ARM, and most of the time the ARM left Earth’s onetime colonies alone.

“Ausfaller?”

Norquist-Ng had caught Sigmund with his mind wandering. Stay on task, old man. Julia was far from home, on an ARM vessel. Alice, bitter until the end, was dead. The road to Earth tantalized. So what came next?

Sigmund thought about Hermes and Amelia. I can’t say felt emptier than ever.

“It wasn’t her fault,” Sigmund said.

Julia said, “Minister, I have new information.”

“Go on,” Norquist-Ng said.

“Yes, Minister. Soon after the Kzinti left, another faction took off. Trinocs. That’s the species with the conical ships.”

Sigmund said, “I’m unfamiliar with that name. First contact with them must have happened after I left Known Space.”

Julia did something below the view of the distant camera.

The creature in the new foreground image was bipedal, but that was almost its only similarity to a human. Most of the alien’s height was in its legs. Fat rolls separated head and torso, with no indication of a neck. Its skin was chrome-yellow. It had three deep-set eyes — Trinoc was likely an Interworld nickname, and Sigmund wondered what the aliens called themselves — and a triangular mouth. Teeth like serrated knives peeked out from behind yellow lips.

“One more detail, Minister,” Julia said. “My ARM friends call Trinocs racially paranoid.”

Wonderful new neighbors for mankind, Sigmund thought.

“The speculation here is that the Trinocs also set out for the Fleet of Worlds. They wouldn’t want the Kzinti to take over the place.”

“Nor will the ARM,” Sigmund said. “What are their plans?”

“They won’t tell me. Need to know.” Julia smiled sadly. “What I need to know is how I’m getting home.”

Norquist-Ng tore his gaze away from the Trinoc. “Contact Nessus. Get a ride home from his friend.”

“I tried. No answer. If I had gotten through, the friend is from the Fleet. That’s where they’ll be going.”

Abandoning his shipmates without a word? That didn’t sound like Nessus. Something else was involved. Something Julia didn’t feel free to discuss. Sigmund said, “The Fleet of Worlds is about to become a war zone. It makes no tanj sense to go there, even if you can hitch a ride.”

She nodded. “That brings me to the offer that’s on the table.”

“Take down that hideous image,” Norquist-Ng said.

“Yes, Minister.” Julia did something else out of camera range, and the Trinoc vanished. “This ship, Koala, heads soon for Earth. They’ve offered to bring me.”

Sigmund turned to Norquist-Ng. “From what Julia has already learned, New Terra is more or less on their way. They can swing by, bring Julia home.”

“I’m not prepared to invite foreign warships here,” Norquist-Ng snapped.

“Then the captain goes to Earth.” Where, most likely, Julia will reveal — be made to reveal? — New Terra’s location.

Let her go to Earth or invite the ARM to New Terra? To judge from his sour expression, Norquist-Ng hated both his choices.

“Koala is a supply ship,” Julia said. “Unarmed.”

Norquist-Ng said, “Captain, can you transfer to another ARM ship, one remaining in your present vicinity? I’ll send a ship to get you.”

“Hold on, please.” She froze the image.

Sigmund tried to work through what the various militaries would be doing. It beat thinking about Julia stranded for the more-than-a-month a rescue ship would need to reach her. It beat wondering what he would have to do if Norquist-Ng thought to abandon one of his own people. That won’t happen, Julia. I won’t allow it.

The Kzinti had leapt first — no surprise there — but wouldn’t the ARM forces also head for the Fleet? They would have no difficulty finding an excuse: to share in the spoils, perhaps. Or to ally with the Puppeteers and cut out the other aliens. Or to avenge past Puppeteer meddling in human affairs. Sigmund guessed even the admirals didn’t know — beyond that they needed something to show for the blood and treasure already squandered at the Ringworld.

ARM, Patriarchy, Trinocs … every side was in the same bind. Things were looking bleak for the Puppeteers. Maybe that explained Nessus’ abrupt silence.

Then Julia was back. “No one will explain, but waiting here isn’t an option. I either go to Earth, or come home if you’ll welcome an ARM ship.”

“Aren’t Outsiders still nearby?” Norquist-Ng asked. “They must be. They don’t use hyperdrive. Maybe you can stay on an Outsider ship until I can get a ship to you.”

“They’re creatures of liquid helium, living near absolute zero. What kind of guest quarters do you suppose they’ll have?” Turning from the holo, Sigmund locked eyes with Norquist-Ng. Do the right thing, Minister.

“A supply ship,” Norquist-Ng said at last, turning away. “Not a warship.”

“Correct, Minister.”