Ringworld's Children

humans. In practice what they got was a few statistical flukes, like Teela Brown. She… Louis! Did you have a child with Teela Brown?'

Louis said nothing.

'Where is your child?'

Louis said nothing. Among protectors, a poker face is easy; body language is hard.

He waited until he saw motion. Proserpina left her chair in a long jump. Tunesmith jumped in a different direction. Hanuman looked uncertain; he remained at the visible stepping disk, the far one. As soon as the protectors were committed, Louis jumped toward Tunesmiths chair.

One of these chairs had to be a stepping disk. It was a natural hiding place. Two would be redundant, though all three had been made too thick and too wide — and Tunesmith would have claimed the right one. But other stepping disks in this room had to be guarded. If Louis was right — and he was, because Hanuman instantly launched himself toward the same chair.

Hanuman got there first. The chair started to swing aside, but Louis was there. Hanuman caught Louis with a powerful kick, but Louis had the mass. He slammed Hanuman into the stepping disk and reached around the dazed hominid to pop the rim and turn the disk on. They both flicked out.

Heel of the hand, a blow to Hanumans head. Hanuman went limp. Louis pushed, sent him flying. Grinding pain in his hip: Hanumans kick had broken something.

They were underground, somewhere beneath Mars. He popped the disks rim and tapped controls, fast.

Louis flicked in, popped the rim. If Tunesmith tracked him to this sandy, barren island — or Hanuman signaled him a minute or two from now — hed find Louiss footprints, hours old. He might even find scent traces of Wembleth and Roxanny.

And if Teelas genes were lucky, Wembleth and Roxanny and their child would be well out of Tunesmiths reach by now. But every surviving gene pattern is insanely lucky, and Teelas luck didnt matter a tanj to Tunesmith. What mattered was this:

Louis Wu could never give a dispassionate, trustworthy answer to Tunesmiths questions while he could shade his answers to favor his bloodline.

One more move. Louis tapped controls, then hit #, and flicked out.

In the crew quarters aboard Hot Needle of Inquiry, Louis rapidly typed up a bleu cheese and mushroom omelet and a salad. He stripped off his pressure suit, then his clothes. He dialed up a falling jumper and put it on. He turned on the shower just long enough to wet the bag. He half-expected to hear the Puppeteers Voice, but it didnt come.

He flicked into the cargo bay. A flycycle would have been too big, but he typed up a flying belt modified for magnetic lift. He ate most of his salad and omelet while he waited, a hairy four minutes, for the flying belt to be built. Put it on, flicked back to crew quarters.

Now, where would a puppeteer hide a stepping disk? An escape hatch had to be here: the Hindmost might find himself trapped in crew quarters by a man and a Kzin. The toilet seat? Too small. The shower?

The shower ceiling. It was the right size. The code would be puppeteer music: Louis could never sing it. Maybe he could hack it, but first -

He set his hands against the shower ceiling and said, 'Hindmosts Voice, put me through.'

He was in the control room. He used the stepping disk there.

Neither Hanuman nor Louis were where the first flick had taken them. The second flick put Tunesmith and Proserpina on a barren island. They found Hanuman groggy, trying to sit up. Proserpina examined him. He didnt seem badly hurt.

Tunesmith asked, 'How are you?'

'Injured, not badly. He held my life and released it,' Hanuman said.

'That shows good self-control. Proserpina, see if you can find traces of your escaped guests. Hanuman, rest.' Tunesmith went to work on the stepping-disk controls.

'I find their scent,' Proserpina called. 'Falans old. In rut.'

'This changes all,' Hanuman said. 'I must warn my people.'

'Your people are tree dwellers! How can they hide from what must come?'

'Stet. I know what to do.'

'Do it after were gone,' Tunesmith said. 'Then rejoin us in Meteor Defense.' He and Proserpina flicked out.

Launch Room. Little Hanging People protectors were all lying prone about the cavern below Mons Olympus. The Hindmost was working on a laser projector. 'How are you doing?' Louis called.

'Im still disconnecting instruments. Its hard to tell where its safe.'

Louis began disconnecting laser and cable attachments, pacifying Tunesmiths instruments where necessary. He wished he could move faster. Something with sharp edges was loose in his hip; the flesh was badly swollen. 'Youre not safe on the Ringworld,' he said. 'How are you going to move the doc components?'

'I hadnt decided.'

'I was hoping youd think of something. Stet. This next part is risky.' Louis finished disconnecting sensors. The docs components were still connected to each other. Louis left them that way. 'Ill be gone at least an hour. Get this stuff ready to be lifted with magnetic fields. Leave the roof open.'

'Wait. What are you about to do?'

'No time.'

'Where are the protectors were robbing? What can I accomplish when death may find me in a moment? Tell me what youve done!'

Better if he knew, and Louis had already cost himself an hour at least. Give the Hindmost a minute. He said, 'I tried to tell Tunesmith that the Fringe War is about to blow up—'

'Eee!' A raucous chord of dismay.

' — Just as Im telling you. If you tuck your heads under you, you will die in that position. Do you believe me?'

'Yah.'

'I let Tunesmith guess I had a child — yes, a boy with Teelas genes. Congratulations, they survived. Your breeding program is still in force—'

'What of later inbreeding?'

'Oh, Hindmost, there must have been other ships crashed on the Ringworld. Wembleths children will find mates.'

'Stet.'

'I flicked out to a few places, ended where Tunesmith can find traces of Wembleth. Then I used my block on the stepping disk and went to Needle. It wont take Tunesmith long to get around the block. When he does, hell find out I went to Hot Needle of Inquiry, took my sweet time there, and didnt leave.

'I must be still aboard. I went to get Wembleth, right? It follows that were trying to leave the Ringworld. The Fringe War balance must be ready to fall apart right now. No protector would otherwise risk his childs life this way, in a ship that can be shot down by Fringe War ships or blocked as easily as Tunesmith can block Needle.

'If Tunesmith and Proserpina followed that line of logic, then theyre getting ready to end the Fringe War, and they will not disturb us here, as long as you keep these protectors asleep and take care to shut down these cameras. Can do?'

'Trust me,' the Hindmost said.

Louis took a moment to think that over. The Hindmost knew how to open the roof into Mons Olympus. Long Shot was too big to launch using the linear cannon, so the ship would rise slowly,