Ringworld's Children

But the vampire nest wasnt a secret to be kept. It was a futzy good story. Breeders — Ringworld hominids — had evolved into an ecological slot elsewhere occupied by vampire bats. Louis Wu had interfered with the weather over a world-sized area. His intentions had been good — hed ruined the environment for some dangerous plants — but over the next few years, vampires moved under the permanent cloud deck established by Louis Wu, and took over a floating industrial park.

That happened far around the Ringworlds arc from where Louis was dwelling with a Weaver species. Hed watched through the Hindmosts webeye camera. Louis described it for Proserpina, and the Weaver village, and that led him back and back. Floating buildings gathered to form a city, and the shadow farm beneath, that grew a hundred kinds of fungus. The Ringworld slid off center, near to brushing against its sun. Back and back, until he was telling her how hed come to the Ringworld, lured into an expedition to explore something strange beyond the worlds he knew.

She knew what questions to ask, when to keep silent, when to break and feed him fruit. "Here, this machine makes a nutrient fluid too. Would you eat that?"

He tried it. It was basic stuff to feed an injured soldier. "Not bad."

"You eat meat too, dont you? Fresh killed? Ill hunt you up a sampling tomorrow. Im more of a scavenger than you are, I think. How did you return to the stars? Through an eyestorm?"

"Something like that."

He spoke of Halrloprillalar, the City Builder who claimed that her kind had built the Ringworld. "She was joking with me, but she had it backward. She and her species nearly destroyed it."

"How?"

"They dismounted the attitude jets on the rim wall and built them into their spacecraft. Proserpina, why did you let that happen?"

Poker face. "We made attitude jets to be easily dismounted so that they can be easily replaced. We expected them to wear out in time. Was this a part of the Fringe War?"

"No. Earlier."

"Well speak of this again. When did the Fringe War start?"

"Tanj, I dont know. The first ships may have got here ahead of the Hindmost, a hundred falans ago. You stole Gray Nurses library, didnt you? Have you got it ru

"Ill do that," said the protector.

Louis called after her. "Check on the others, will you?"

"Theyre safe here, but I will. Sleep."

It was night, and hed talked himself hoarse. He slept.

He woke to find Roxa

Roxa

She and Wembleth had spent yesterday exploring while Louis lay in his ICC. "These elbow trees are easy to climb. Its even somewhat safe, once I found some rope. We got a wonderful view. Its all flat, the horizon never curves out of sight, and I had these." Mag specs. "Luis, did you notice one big central mountain, coming in?"

"Yah, inland."

"Its windows top to bottom, but there are only a few picture windows. The rest looks like a spray of glitter everywhere. Id call that structure an arcology, but big, and built by military, or maybe paranoid crazies. Straight highways with towers at the end, wonderful fields of fire. Big helipads. I didnt see any guns; I just saw where they should be mounted.

"Theres only that one huge palace. Over the rest of the island — I keep saying island, just because I can see so much of it, even though most of it dwindles into what looks like fog. Continent. The buildings nearby are all very basic, and theres nothing big further out. Wembleth thinks its all housing for breeders, Homo habilis. We didnt see any, they could all have died off, but Luis, if this was a protectors home, thered be defenses and research labs and libraries, wouldnt there?"

"Well, theres the arcology," Louis said.

She gri

"Big building."

"Well… yah. I dont think shes using it. It was left by the previous tenant. I think Proserpina has a base, maybe on the little continents, maybe on another Map. She wouldnt have turned us loose where she works. This place is… remember I said garden? Suppose you had to turn the whole Earth into a garden? Earth is a closed ecology, but it changes. It drifts." She looked deep into his eyes, seeking understanding. "Gardeners dont like weeds. Theyd do something about deserts… wouldnt have to worry about tundra because theres no winter… but a gardener might have to control the weather."

"Weathers chaotic. It cant be controlled," Louis said.

"What if you had huge air masses to work with? An area of a thousand Earths, and no hurricane patterns to foul you up because youre not on a spi

Louis laughed. "Stet. Maybe."

"We wont actually see other maps," she said, suddenly depressed. "No boats for guests. What do you think, Luis? One whole supercontinent for a garden, and breeders are an integral part of the garden. Defenses on the islands. Telescopes and research facilities. Mines… you dont get mines on the Ringworld, do you?"

"If you could reach the spill mountains," Louis said. "Materials might layer out according to density. Otherwise, no mining rights. You dig for oil, you hit scrith, then vacuum."

"Proserpina can reach the spill mountains."

Louis shrugged. "I cant help you explore. Be cautious. Every culture has fairy tales about someone finding something he shouldnt."

"Even so," Roxa

Wembleth and Roxa

Proserpina was back at midday. She asked, "What are stepping disks?"

"Where did you find those?"

"Your own report to the ARM, Louis Wu. You didnt tell enough. What if I had to make stepping disks? Is the Ghoul protector doing that?"

"You first. How are my companions?"

"Exploring. Hanuman went off alone, Wembleth and Roxa

She hoisted a miniature deer nearly her own weight. It dangled, its neck broken. Big insects buzzed it. "I use this animal for food myself. Can you eat it?"

"Maybe—"

"Treat it with heat?"

"Yah. Clean out the body cavity. Shall I — ?"

"You may exercise your upper body, but otherwise rest. Your bones are pi

Barbecue smells made him hungry. In an hour she was back with a roasted carcass. She stripped off pieces of meat for him. He found it pleasant to be waited on.

" But always at my back I hear Times winged footsteps hurrying near," she said. "No, eat. I need to know how urgent this matter of the Fringe War is. Does Tunesmith have it under control?"

"More or less," he said.

"Eat. Is it more, or less?" She scowled at what she saw in his face. "Less. Hanuman tells me of the blast that tore a hole into space. I saw it from a distance, and knew I must act. Antimatter. Could it have killed all life? Did Tunesmith really prevent that?"

"Yes."

"What did you see?"

"Wembleth and Roxa

The protector met his eyes for a long heartbeat. "Ill fetch them," she said. She set a great slab of meat in his reach, and departed.

Daylight was fading when they returned. Proserpina and the others cooked di