The Ringworld Throne (48 page)

The granite block had been set aside.

Louis limped past Kzin and protector. The pain in his shoulder was a part of his anger. He asked the Hindmost, “Now how did you do that?”

“I braced my forequarters against the wall and pushed with my hind leg. Bram felt the strength in my leg. He should have known.”

“Lucky for us—“

“Where is Bram?”

“Dead at our hands. Tunesmith, the teaching aids are all here aboard Hot Needle of Inquiry. Those pictures especially. They’re made by bronze webs like the one on the cliff at Weaver Town.”

Tunesmith said, “I follow Bram’s advice. Web Dweller, teach me. I am not to trust you until we have a contract.”

“I’ll print out my people’s standard contract for service.”

“Only for my amusement, I hope. Louis, my son needs ...” Tunesmith looked again. “You, into the ‘doc, now. Is that it?”

Acolyte was lifting him.

He was in the big box and Tunesmith was examining the readouts doubtfully. “How long?” the Ghoul protector asked.

The puppeteer said, “Three days, maybe less.”

Louis talked in haste. “Don’t anyone sign anything. Hindmost, I don’t know how to feed a Night Person. Try aged beef. Try cheese. Tunesmith, I hope you won’t destroy that last ARM spacecraft unless they do something dreadful—“

“Nearest possible mates in this universe?”

“Well ... that, too. Now, the High Point protectors hold the rim wall, and at this point they may be scared out of their minds. Talk to them through that window, with the black sky and the big strange shapes? Ghouls stole that web from a vampire nest, carried it maybe two hundred thousand miles plus two miles straight up—“

“The sunlight network told us about it.”

“Tell the spill mountain protectors they’re in charge of the rim.
Mean
it.”

Acolyte was closing the lid on the big box. Louis laughed suddenly. “Hey. Remind you of anything?”

He heard the voice of Louis Wu telling a hairless face with red skin, “We’d like to talk to a protector, please. We want to propose a contract.”

And the lid closed and he could rest.

THE END

GLOSSARY

ARM: once the Amalgamated Regional Militia, now the United Nations armed forces.

antispin: direction opposite the Ringworld’s direction of spin.

collier: 1. A ship used to carry coal. 2. A merchant who transports or sells coal.

cziltang brone: alleged to be a device to allow solid objects to penetrate scrith.

cruiser: a Machine People vehicle.

elbow root: ubiquitous Ringworld plant, a kind of natural fence.

daywalk: varies by species, but usually means a serious effort consistent with foraging and health. One daywalk for Machine People is about ten miles; for a Grass Giant, less, but they can keep it up forever. Gleaners can do one and a half Machine People daywalks for a couple of hours.

Fleet of Worlds: the homeworld of the Pierson’s puppeteers, and four worlds sequestered for farming.

flup: seabottom ooze.

Outsider hyperdrive or hyperdrive: a means of faster-than-light travel, common in known space.

Patriarchy: the kzinti empire.

Repair Center: ancient center of Ringworld maintenance and control housed beneath the Map of Mars.

payload shell: the locked iron housing on a Machine People cruiser.

rishathra (reshtra): sexual practice outside one’s own species but within the intelligent hominids. Not a useful term beyond the Ringworld.

scrith: Ringworld structural material. Scrith underlies all of the terraformed and contoured inner surface of the Ringworld. The rim walls are also of scrith. Very dense, with a tensile strength on the order of the force that holds an atomic nucleus together.

spill mountains: mountains standing against the rim wall, the outflow of the rim spillpipes. One stage in the circulation of flup. The spill mountains have their own ecology.

spin or spinward: in the direction of rotation of the Ringworld (against the rotation of the sky).

star or starboard: to the right as one faces spinward.

stet: leave it alone, no change, that’s exactly right.

tanj: an expletive. Initial slang for “There Ain’t No Justice.”

thruster: reactionless drive. In known space, thrusters have generally replaced fusion rockets on all spacecraft save warcraft.

vishnishtee / vashnesht: wizard or protector.

weenie plant: ubiquitous Ringworld plant. Edible. Grows in damp areas.

webeye: puppeteer technology, a multisensory probe.

RINGWORLD PARAMETERS

30 hours = 1 Ringworld “day.”

1 turn = 7.5 thirty-hour days = 1 Ringworld rotation.

1 falan = 10 turns = 75 days

Mass = 2 x 10^30 grams

Radius = 0.95 x 10^8 miles

Circumference = 5.97 x 10^8 miles

Width = 997,000 miles

Surface area = 6 x 10^14 square miles = 3 x 10^6 times the surface area of the Earth (approx)

Surface gravity = 31.7 feet/second/second = .992 gee

Rim walls rise inward, 1,000 miles

Repair Center = 40 miles high by 0.56 x 10^8 square miles area = 2.24 x 10^9 cubic miles

Near Great Ocean = 600x surface area of Earth

Star: G1 or G2, barely smaller and cooler than Sol

CAST OF CHARACTERS

MACHINE PEOPLE

Valavirgillin (Vala, “Boss”) -- hired the caravan. Represents Farsight Trading

Foranayeedli (Forn) -- Barok’s daughter. Kaywerbrimmis’s crew

Sabarokaresh (Barok) -- biggest male. Kaywerbrimmis’s crew

Kaywerbrimmis (Kay) -- Valavirgillin’s Wagonmaster

Anthrantillin (Anth) -- wagonmaster

Taratarafasht (Tarfa) -- female, Anth’s crew

Whandernothtee (Whand) -- wagonmaster

Chitakumishad (Chit) -- Whandernothtee’s crew

Sopashintay (Spash) -- Whand’s crew

Himapertharee (Himp) -- Anthrantillin’s crew

High Rangers Trading Group—died but for Valavirgillin, forty-three falans ago

Tarablilliast (Tarb) -- Valavirgillin’s mate, taking care of their children, far to starboard

GRASS GIANTS

Paroom—male sentry

Thurl—alpha male, the Bull

Moonwa—female, the Thurl’s primary wife

Beedj—male, the Thurl’s probable heir

Tarun—male

Wemb—female

Makee—male, Wemb’s son

Heerst—male

Twuk—small Grass Giant female

GLEANERS

Perilack—female

Silack—beta male

Manack—alpha male, hairier

Coriack—female

REDS

Tegger hooki-Thandarthal—ambassador

Warvia hooki-Murf Thandarthal—ambassador

Anakrin hooki-Whanhurhur—messenger

Chaychind hooki-Karashk—messenger

RIVER PEOPLE

Wurblychoog—female

Borubble—male

Rooballabl—speaks trade language

Fudghabladl—old one, remembers

BALL PEOPLE

Louis Wu

The Hindmost (the Web Dweller)

Chmeee

WEAVING PEOPLE

Parald

Strill

Sawur

Kidada

FISHERS

Shans Serpentstrangler

Hishthare Rockdiver

SAILOR

Wheek

NIGHT PEOPLE

Kazarp

Tunesmith

Harpster

Grieving Tube

KZINTI

Acolyte—Chmeee’s eldest son

Kathakt—a lord of the Map of Kzin

SPILL MOUNTAIN PEOPLE

Saron—older woman

Deb—middle-aged woman

Skreepu—bird, belongs to Deb

Harreed—Deb’s younger son

Barraye—Deb’s older son

Jennawil—younger woman mated to Barraye

PROTECTORS

Cronus

Bram

Anne

Lovecraft

Collier

King

... and others, nameless.