Ringworld's Children

Forrestier asked, "Is this normal?"

"Ive never looked into a rip in the floor of the world," Louis said. "Its scary." It was barely a lie. Hed seen Fist-of-God crater… but "Luis" hadnt.

Gauthier said, "Well, it looks like its repairing itself. Does it always do that? Over the years weve seen some of those hourglass storms die out. We think those are punctures and air leakage."

Louis frowned, projecting Dont understand. He remembered a word from far away, used as if it meant magicians, but it meant protector. "Vashneesht," he said. "There are secrets we never learn."

Tec-One Gauthier said, "Oliver, get back from there! Luis, Acolyte, shall we set up a tent?"

Roxa

Oliver saw what she was doing and exploded. "LE Gauthier, are you schitzy? We cant lose that!"

"We can live without for a few hours."

"Why did you try to give away Wembleth? A Ringworld native! Hes a wonderful find!"

"Wembleth is a prize, all right. I wish we could take them both, but hes still just a local. He doesnt know enough. I want Luis Tamasan! Id take the Kzin if I could fit him in the ship, but I cant, so well question him first."

"Roxa

"Youre afraid? Hes a kid. Theyre both teen children. Both their parents were on the Ringworld before the Fleet, and the kids must have been hearing about it all their lives."

Oliver considered. "What would their parents do to get them back?"

"Maybe well find that out too, after we know everything they do." She gri

Oliver had, and his voice showed his resentment. "Like he never saw a woman before. All right, Roxa

The ARMs were involved with erecting the tent. Nobody was looking at Louis when Tunesmiths miniature bust popped up on his dash.

The protector said, "I urgently need to know whether my reweaving system is working. Is the hole getting smaller? How drastically must I act to save something? I need hardly warn you not to fall into the puncture."

Was Snail Darter or its mother ship eavesdropping? Even if this line were private, little glowing hologram heads would be seen. Louis said quickly, "The hole is closing. Its closing. We have company." He turned the holoscreen off.

Now Tunesmith could do no more than listen.

The tent had inflated into a tube with a big airlock, an alcove for vacuum gear, a living space, and silver walls that must hide a toilet. Gauthier inside, and Forrestier outside, assisted the rest to enter.

Acolyte carried Hanuman, but left him in his pressure suit. "The suit takes care of sanitary matters," Acolyte said. Hanuman ooked.

Gauthier had thrown back her helmet, though she didnt move to strip off her suit. Oliver had done the same. The ARMs didnt seem to be excessively distrustful. Louis and Acolyte opened their own helmets. The varying species settled themselves around a small kitchen box.

Wembleth spoke syllables Louis had never heard. A translator voice spoke from one of his pockets: "Good, this is much more room." The hairy man zipped his rescue pod open and wriggled out with a sigh of contentment.

"Wembleth makes number four in a three man ship," Forrestier explained. "We found him surrounded by the dead of some larger, hairier species, gasping like a beached fish, but on his feet and pulling himself toward us by any ruined wall the storm hadnt flung away. We had to stuff him in Mission and Weapons and shut it all off. Weve questioned him — he knows things we need — but we cant fly like that, LE Luis. We need to defend ourselves."

"Well take him someplace he can live," Louis said.

"Well find a way to moor his rescue pod to your flying thing. We dont have a suit thatll fit him."

Tec Gauthier was handing out dole bricks from the little kitchen. She made adjustments to give Acolyte a brick of drippy red, then something fruity for Hanuman. "Its the only kitchen weve got, and its the doc too. In flight, in peacetime, this tent buds out from the hull. If we cant deploy it, we barely have room to wiggle. War is hell," she said lightly. "Can I give you something to drink?"

"Surprise me," Louis said. "Tea? Juice?"

"Beer?"

"Better not. And Acolytes too young."

Acolyte growled.

Roxa

She thought he was a child! He said, "Yes, LE."

She passed out squeezebulbs: something cranberry-flavored for Louis, boullion for Acolyte and Wembleth. "You both grew up on the Ringworld. Did your fathers tell you about planets?"

"We learned physics that way," Acolyte said. "Father — Chmeee — tried to show me what a Coriolis storm is, a hurricane. Im not sure I understand."

"Id love to see Earth," Louis said. A working spacecraft! His first chance to defect since the abominable Bram had found him… no, since before that. Since hed sliced up Needles hyperdrive motor!

There had to be a way to speak to Roxa

Her suit wasnt quite a skintight: it only hinted at a shape that made his heart turn over. A strong woman, an athlete. Her face was severe, with a square chin and a straight-edged nose. Shed be in her fifties, Louis judged, based on body language and the way Forrestier deferred to her… unless she ranked him. Her hair was a sparse black puffball; she must depilate or shave her scalp periodically.

It took Louis by surprise, after all the hominids hed met, how much he longed for the sight of a woman.

But she was asking something. "Do you know anything about a big transparent ship?"

Louis shook his head. Acolyte was less cautious. "Like a General Products ship? What would we see, a glass bubble?"

"Yah, a big glass bubble. What do you know about General Products hulls?"

"Luiss father came here in a Number Two," Acolyte said. He was giving too much detail. Hed be caught in inconsistencies, Louis feared… but Chmeee must have described Liar, which had been a Number Two, when he told his son of the first expedition.

And Acolyte was enjoying himself.

"A huge glass bubble filled with gear. Massive machines inside," Gauthier said.

Forrestier said, "Or four flames moving across the sky. Its got four fusion motors. It was stolen, maybe by your Chiron."

Louis said, "Chiron doesnt tell us everything. Or anything."

Roxa

"Tell us about the Chiron expedition," Oliver ordered.

Louis improvised. "Dad says it took two years, and it was way cramped." Stick to what you know where possible — "My mother came on the first expedition. She says Lying Bastard started as a Number Two and just grew out of all proportion, bigger every time a puppeteer thought of another safety feature. In the end Lying Bastard was a big flying wing with the General Products cylinder stuck into it. The stasis field enclosed the cylinder, but they lost everything that was on the wing." All of that would be in ARM records, including Louis Wus own speculations. Theyd find Louiss description of Chiron there too.

"So when Chiron built his ship, he wedged everything inside the hull. Ive been in it, but not since I was this high, and it was already cramped—"