The Integral Trees

SUN-A G0 star orbits the neutron star at 2.5 X 10' kilometers, supplying the sunlight that feeds the Smoke Ring's water-oxygen-DNA ecology.

TREEFODDER-Used as a curse. Treefodder is anything that might feed the tree: excrement, or garbage, or a corpse.

TUYRBERRIES-Fruiting bodies growing in the tuft of an integral tree. They fruit and scatter seed only at the tuft closest to the Smoke Ring median.

VOY-See LEVOY'S STAR.

YEAR-Half of a complete circuit of the sun around Levoy's Star, equal to 1.3 Earth years.

Directions

OUT-Away from Levoy's Star.

IN-Toward Levoy's Star.

EAST-In the orbital direction of the gas torus.

WEST-Against the orbital direction of the gas torus. The way the sun moves.

WINDWARD-Into the wind.

LEEWARD-The direction toward which the wind blows.

PORT-To the left if your head is out and you're facing west, or if your head is in and you're facing east, and so forth. Direction of the Ghost Child.

STARBOARD-Opposite port. Toward the Blue Ghost.

DOWN and UP-Usually applied only where tides or thrust operate. The general rule as known to all tribes is "East takes you out. Out takes you west. West takes you in. In takes you east. Port and starboard bring you back." Even those tribes who no longer can maneuver within the Smoke Ring know the saying.

About the Author

Larry Niven was born on April 30, 1938, in Los Angeles, California. In 1956, he entered the California Institute of Technology, only to flunk out a year and a half later after discovering a bookstore jammed with used science-fiction magazines. He graduated with a B.A. in mathematics (minor in psychology) from Washburn University, Kansas, in 1962, and completed one year of graduate work in mathematics at UCLA before dropping out to write. His first published story, "The Coldest Place," appeared in the December 1964 issue of Worlds of If.

Larry Niven's interests include backpacking with the Boy Scouts, science-fiction conventions, supporting the conquest of space, and AAAS meetings and other gatherings of people at the cutting edge of the sciences.

He won the Hugo Award for Best Short Story in 1966 for "Neutron Star," and in 1974 for "The Hole Man." The 1975 Hugo Award for Best Novelette was given to "The Borderland of Sol." His novel Ringworld won the 1970 Hugo Award for Best Novel, the 1970 Nebula Award for Best Novel, and the 1972 Ditmars, an Australian award for Best International Science Fiction.