The Ringworld Throne

The river and the snow-crested mountains glittered in patchy sunlight. Close in, two squat black manshapes stood against the glitter. Vala and the others waved. Reassured, Rooballabl and Fudghabladl sank beneath the water.

But she could see all of the factory complex. Tegger had left lights burning everywhere. A broken line of green ran down Stair Street. Green showed nowhere else; none near the chimney. What would a webspi

The flat tops of warehouses and factories, the curved tops of tanks, were all a glittery gray. The only exceptions were the houses along Stair Street, where the flat places were soil and pools, and the stairs were glittery gray.

Paroom asked, “Valavirgillin? See those gray roofs?”

“Well?”

“I wondered why the lights still work. Everything that’s flat-on to the sun is that same glittery gray. That stuff must be storing sunlight.”

Tegger said, “Yes!”

Paroom smiled. “Bothered you?”

“Yes, but it’s obvious once you—Let’s see, they can’t have been getting much light through these clouds, but none of the power was used before I got here. Hundreds of falans. That means—”

“Could run out. We’d better turn the lights off in the daytime.”

“The hauler plate was that color, before I tore the cab loose. That’s why it could still lift. So lightning is sunlight … turn them off? Paroom, what are we saving power for?”

“I don’t know,” the Grass Giant said, “but I don’t like waste. Leave the lights on around the dock, though, where the vampires come up. That’s my thought.”

Tegger shrugged. Suddenly he looked exhausted. Warvia led him away, murmuring in his ear.

The rest of the party weren’t finding anything noteworthy. Presently, like tourists on holiday, they trickled back to the cruisers. Most of them were ready to fall over.

Gleaners had to sleep at night. All four looked alert enough now, at midday, the only members of the foray team who did. Vala set Manack and Coriack on guard. Then she crawled under an awning.

Forn was there, fast asleep, not just from exhaustion, poor girl, but loss of blood, too. She looked peaceful, though. Vala dipped a towel in fuel and washed the angry-looking wounds on Forn’s neck. Then she spread a blanket and lay down.

When Beedj came in she only closed her eyes against the light.

Beedj spread a double armful of fresh-cut grass in what space was left, and curled himself into it. He murmured, “Clever, what Red Tegger did.”

“Yub,” said Vala.

“Maybe we can go further with that.”

“Mm?”

“Boss, we can collect more water. Bash holes in the roofs of all those factories, storage tanks, whatever. Anything that isn’t a roof, seal it so water doesn’t run out. Spread cloth for fu

Could he be right? Vala was too tired to think …

“No.”

“Who speaks?”

“Foranayeedli. It isn’t flat under here, Beedj. There’s a structure as big as Administration in Center City.”

“Oh flup, that’s right, you were living down there. What kind of thing is it, Forn? Like a statue or like a building? Something we could crush?”

Forn began to answer. Vala crept out into daylight, pulling her blanket along, and into the darkness of the payload shell. She spread her blanket and—

A voice said, “Valavirgillin, this is a good time to look into the Shadow Nest.”

Harpster. “I don’t smell you.”

“We explored before we slept. There’s a row of houses—you saw?—and pools. Delightful. And grass to roll ourselves dry.”

“Appreciate it. Harpster, this is a good time to sleep.”

“Night People sleep, too, Boss. In daylight. I’d rather sleep.” One sharp claw pricked her side for emphasis. “So do vampires. They’ll be torpid. We can just push them off the ramp. What I’m really after is the light conditions. Shall I take some Gleaners and go down?”

Vala tried to think. “I put two on guard. Take Silack and Perilack. Take Kaywerbrimmis,” because he’d had some sleep, and they’d want a variety of viewpoints. “Ask Beedj.” The Thurl’s heir would volunteer for anything. Flup! Vala sat up and reached for a gun and alcohol flamer. “And me.”

They were eight: two Machine People, Beedj, two Gleaners, Warvia, and the Ghouls. The Ghouls moved ahead of the circle of torchlight cast by Vala’s throttled-back flamer. The rest followed, masked and half blind.

Vala was looking at four vampire dead. She should have been watching where she stepped. She stumbled … on a handful of vampire teeth, pointed like a Red’s teeth. Sure enough, the one woman was toothless, just as Paroom had described her, and … not just hacked. Vala shuddered.

Grieving Tube bounded out of sight. Vala drew breath to shout, and Harpster was gone, too. Vala ran instead, flamer held high, and found the Ghouls standing over a male vampire still twitching.

They moved on. Rich and corrupt scents were working their way through the pepperleek she breathed. But her sight was coming back.

The party halted three loops down, two and a half loops above the vampire-infested floor.

A broken circle of daylight lit the Shadow Nest bright enough to hurt.

There was dark soil on either side of the Homeflow, patches each the size of a lord’s farm. That was off to port-and-antispin, where the river entered the shadow. Huge mushrooms grew in those plots, and vampires lived under them. Shadow farms. A hundred varieties of fungus might have grown here before the vampires moved in. The monster mushrooms must have been too big to trample.

Directly below was paving similar to the stuff the Machine People used for roads.

“You see, there’s quite a lot of light,” Grieving Tube said cheerfully.

“I wanted to wait for a wind,” Harpster complained.

A wind, yes. Vala felt madness bubbling in her blood. The rich smell of pepperleek had become no more than a spice for the rutting scent. Wind would have blown that away. There must be tens of thousands of them down there, she thought, and they were starting to look up.

Warvia was breathing through her mouth in great gasps. Warvia knew her will could be broken. Kay was edging away from Vala: no distractions needed now. The others looked all right. Try to concentrate! That center structure …

The fountain was many things. There were windows in the side that faced the ramp, and small balconies without railings, and outside stairways: probably offices rather than domiciles.

Partway around, a flat space faced rising concentric arcs, something like the steps in the feeding dome. Seats. That had to be a stage! Piles of rotting stuff at the corners might have been a curtain; collapsing flat structures must be props; a flimsy wall, fallen, showed a honeycomb of backstage structure. Valavirgillin wondered if others would recognize it for what it was.

Water poured from above, a waterfall surrounded by shadowy giants, and wound through and around every part of the structure. Standing statues of City Builder Folk poured water from great bowls. Water flowed down the back of the stage, a permanent backdrop. Thus watered, vividly hued mushrooms still grew behind the office structures. It all flowed down through a maze of pipes and cha

Forn was right. That mountain of masonry was as big as a civic center. It wouldn’t support the mass of a floating factory, maybe, but it would stand against any mass of water this group could collect.

“All right. All right. We can’t lower the factory on them,” Perilack said. “What if we move it sideways? Something’s holding it here. What if we could set it loose? Let it slide away with the vampires all ru

Grieving Tube said, “She’s at least partly right. Something holds it here, some—” She went off into her own language, and so did Harpster. Vala turned back. Even the Ghouls might not be able to set a floating city adrift.