Ringworld's Children

while her joints and brain case expanded, gender disappeared, gums and lips fused to horseshoes of sharp bone, skin thickened and wrinkled into armor… while she became a protector.

Nessus led us, and I led Teela, to the biggest, gaudiest toy in the universe. How could she not want to make it her own? But only a protectors intelligence could hold the Ringworld safe. And when the Ringworld was endangered, Teela Brown the protector saw that she must die.

Death isnt bad luck to a protector. Its just another tool.

Acolyte returned with his mouth bloody. 'Good hunting here. My father is missing another fine adventure.'

Hanuman asked, 'Louis, can you pass for crew on an ARM ship?'

'Theres a notion.' Louis thought about it. Did he really remember enough…? 'What I cant pass for is a local. Im Homo sapiens, Earth origin. Why do I want to be a crewman, Hanuman? Crew of what?'

Hanuman said, 'We must not be servants of a protector. So, I must be a tree-dwelling animal, and you must be a wanderer unless you serve some greater force. If you serve, it must be some aspect of the Fringe War —'

'The ARM, of course. But I dont know ARM protocol, and Im not in their records.'

'Isnt there a way you could have been missed?'

'…No. Lets try something else.'

He munched on a handmeal while he thought. Drop the previous story; start over. Tell something simple. Something Louis Wu can keep straight, and Acolyte also.

He said, 'Lets try to guess what a random ARM fighter has in its computer records.

'They know that we came home — that Chmeee and Louis Wu came home with Nessus injured and no Teela Brown. Suppose Teela lived? She never finds the Repair Center and tree-of-life.

'They might know that the Hindmost landed on Canyon twenty-three years later, and Louis Wu disappeared then. They might have tracked Chmeee too, from one of the Kzin worlds up to where the Hindmost collected him.

'So the Hindmost brings us both back to the Ringworld as crew. Thats the way it happened, but lets say he planned to rendezvous with Teela. She and Louis Wu have been living together ever since.' It could have been that way. Should have been! Even though the Ringworld would have been torn apart a year later. Still daydreaming, Louis said, 'They had a child after her implant wore off, and thats me.'

Hanuman said, 'Hypothesis diverges from ARM records.'

Tanj! 'How?'

'When would these events take place? Louis Wu returned here thirteen years ago. Does the ARM know that?'

'…Yes, they do. ARM found me on Canyon just before the Hindmost collected me.' Louis had killed two agents. 'Tanj! That would make Louis Wus son twelve years old at best.'

'Can you pass for twelve?' Hanuman asked.

'Hah hah.'

'Could you, Louis Eldest, have left Teela with a child? The child would be aged a hundred and sixty falans.'

'Almost forty years old. Couldnt happen. Teela must have had her five-year infertility shots. Theyd have had to wear off. We never had the time.'

Acolyte asked, 'Can you be a child of Teela and Seeker?'

'Hah! No. Different species.'

Hanuman and Acolyte waited.

Start over. 'At the end of the first expedition, thirty-eight years ago, Chmeee and I came back to known space and the Patriarchy. We turned over Long Shot and some information about the Ringworld. We were debriefed by a joint commission, then the ARM asked me a lot more questions. They didnt learn much, because we didnt explore much. Our second expedition was twenty-three years later. What if there was an expedition in between?'

Hanuman asked, 'Who sent it?'

'The Hindmost sent it. Expedition number one-and-a-half. I can fake that. I met a puppeteer named Chiron on the Fleet of Worlds. He was pure white, perfectly coiffed with a wonderful array of classic gems, and a little smaller than Nessus—' His companions had never met Nessus. 'Thirty pounds lighter than the Hindmost. He sounded just like the Hindmost; I suppose they all had the same training.

'So now we can all describe him, stet? The Hindmost puts Chiron in charge. Chiron leaves not long after Chmeee, and I came back to human space. That brings him here… mmm… at least thirty years ago. He finds Teela. Her infertility shot has worn off. Teela takes up living with one of Chirons crew. Im the child.'

'What is your name, child?'

'Luis.' Acolyte might forget, but hed still sound right: Looiss, Luis. 'Luis Tamasan,' the first Oriental name he could think of, to account for the epicanthic folds in his eyes. 'Chiron had his records erased. The ARM already knows that puppeteers meddle with their records. Theres no Fertility Board record either, because my father… mmm. Horace Tamasan was born to a freemother, an illegal birth. Lots of bastards go to space.'

Hanuman said, 'A consistent tale. Have we the acting knack to tell it?'

Tunesmiths voice broke in without warning. 'Hanuman, you surmise that an ARM fighter has dropped its add-on tank and gone off to battle. I scan an area bigger than worlds, and I find nothing to fight. My neutrino scan shows no power sources. Battery-powered ships would not register, I assume. Must I watch until they fire lasers or antimatter bullets?'

Louis said, 'That half hour delay is going to drive us nuts sooner or later.'

'Small ships might escape Tunesmiths instruments, but he wouldnt miss a weapons laser or antimatter flash,' said Hanuman. 'Would they fight while refusing to use such weapons? No. I surmise there is no fight at all, Luis.'

Louis mulled that. If the ARMs hadnt been expecting a fight, where had the ARM ship gone? Why had they dropped their tank first?

'The tank might be empty,' Hanuman suggested. 'They wanted greater range. They wont be back.'

Louis said, 'All right, lets rethink. Spinward of us, theres a lot of fog to hide in. Ships could be hunting each other. Ah, flup, never mind.' Both aliens were looking at him. 'If theres nothing to fight, theyve gone off to look at the puncture! What else is there? The Ringworld is dying. They need to tell their mother ship whats happening here, and they might want to run away fast, so they dropped their tank.'

Hanuman thought it over; nodded. 'Don your pressure suits.'

CHAPTER 11 The Wounded Land

Most of the Mouse Eaters were dozing underground after a morning meal.

This wasnt Wembleths custom. Wembleth was a traveler; he adapted his behavior to his hosts. Hed been living with these nocturnal hunters for several turns of the sky, sharing their meals and their women, teaching them how to make and use tools hed learned of elsewhere.

Most of the villagers were inside their burrow houses. Older children and elders were cleaning up after the feast, with Wembleths help, while shadow withdrew from the sun. For him it was a good choice; he needed some sunlight to stay healthy. In a minute theyd all go in -

And the day lit up.

Children began screaming.

Mouse Eaters couldnt deal with mere daylight; what would this glare do to them? His own eyes