"We would like to talk to Chiron," Oliver said. "Where may we find him?"

Acolyte said, "Chiron has told us most explicitly that we must not tell anyone how to find him."

To Roxanny Oliver said, "Long Shot was in the hands of Kzinti. Puppeteers might find that distressing, dont you think? A puppeteer might act to get it back." He asked Louis, "Did Chirons ship have a name?"

"Paranoia," Louis said without cracking a smile.

"How is it armed?"

"Paranoia has no armaments at all," Louis said, "barring tools which may be turned to that end. Were not to speak of those."

"Where on the Ringworld did your Paranoia land? Was it near the Great Ocean, where the first expedition left Teela Brown?"

Louis hadnt decided that either. "Cant say."

"Boy, you dont seem to have anything at all to trade," Roxanny Gauthier said. "What would you like to know from us? Did Chiron tell you what questions to ask?"

"He wants to know if the Ringworld is going to heal. I can see that the ruptures sealing itself. Even so, what can you tell us about the Fringe War? Is it about to go away?"

"I doubt it," Roxanny said.

"Or is it going to get so big and violent that it shatters everything?"

"That doesnt have to happen," she said firmly.

Oliver laughed. Roxanny looked around in annoyance, and Oliver said, "Just a passing thought. How old are you, Luis?"

Louis had planned to be in his thirties, but both ARMs seemed to think he was just past puberty. For some reason this delighted him. Tanj, why not? He said, "Eighty falans and a bit."

"And a falan would be?"

"Ten rotations of the sky."

"About seventy-five days? Thirty-hour Ringworld days?" Oliver was whispering to a pocket computer, bigger than a civilian version. "Youre about twenty years old, Earth time. Im forty-six. Roxanny?"

"Im fifty-one," she said without hesitation.

"We take boosterspice, of course. It keeps us from getting old. What crossed my mind," Oliver Forrestier said, "is that this is the first human woman youve ever seen other than your mother, Luis."

Roxanny was smiling, a reluctant smile. And Louis was flushing, suddenly aware that his eyes had lingered too long on Roxanny Gauthier; that hed edged closer to her than the cramped quarters demanded; that he couldnt look at her and talk coherently. The close air must be alive with pheromones… Roxannys and Olivers too. And as Oliver was the first human male hed seen or sniffed in twenty-odd years — and no room for a shower aboard Snail Darter — it wasnt surprising if Louis felt both horny and threatened.

"Sorry," he said, and eased back by an inch.

It crossed his mind that intimidation could take many forms. They wanted something from Luis: information Louis Wu would have to make up, but still -

Roxanny laughed lightly. "Never mind. Luis, would you like to see Snail Darter? Acolyte, we cant take you aboard. Its too cramped. Luis can tell you about it afterward."

Hanumans eyes met Louiss, but he said nothing. Wembleth and Acolyte had begun a halting conversation. Wembleth found the Kzin fascinating. Louis closed his faceplate and followed the ARMs out.

The ship was awesomely cramped.

Three seats faced away from each other around a central pillar. One seat was occupied. There was a pucker next to the airlock door for the now-detached tent. A hole in the floor led to a cavity the size of a man: the Weapons and Mission Room.

Roxanny entered first. She slid into the second seat. "LE Luis Tamasan, meet Tec-Two Claus Raschid. Claus, Luis," she said. "Not quite a native."

Claus turned around and offered a hand. He was darker than Roxanny, taller than Oliver, and his arm had a long reach. "Luis, Im the pilot. Sit there."

Louis had hoped to talk to Roxanny alone, or even Oliver alone. Theyd both come along, a little too closely agreed for Louiss comfort, leaving Acolyte and Wembleth (and Hanuman) alone in the tent.

Louis slid into the third seat. He felt planes shifting, adjusting to his height and weight and the bulk of his pressure suit. Basic seating: it fit him imperfectly.

Roxanny Gauthier tapped an instruction into her chair arms, using both hands. A crash web held Louis before he could move.

The force field in a crash web would protect a passenger in a collision; it was also useful for police work.

Louis didnt react right away. How would Luis react? Frozen in panic, at least long enough for Louis to think. And then what?

"For your protection. You did say you wanted to see Earth," Roxanny said, smiling like a cat.

Oliver slid in through the airlock and then down through the hatch, into the fourth chair. The Mission and Weapons Room fitted Oliver like a tight suit.

Louis wriggled a bit; the field permitted that much. He asked, "Are we going to Earth?"

"Back to Gray Nurse, anyway," the third crewman said. "Well be there in an hour. Wed better be. Roxanny, you left the kitchen doc behind."

"We had to," she said.

"Stet, but if anything goes wrong — stet. Luis, the carrier Gray Nurse is our first stop, and people other than us will decide where you go from there. I expect thats Earth, or at least Sol system. And hey, you can tell us some things while were on route. Chiron cant stop you now. Youll be the second Ringworlder to reach human space."

"Dont go through this hole," Louis said.

All three ARMs turned their heads to look at him. Roxanny asked, "Why not?"

That was a tough one. Louis Wu was certain that Tunesmith wouldnt allow an ARM spacecraft to escape this easily. Something would block them… but why would Luis Tamasan say something so out of character?

He said, "Chmeee says he left the world through Fist-of-God. My father came through a different puncture. Neither of them saw anything like this… shimmer. Fist-of-God Mountain isnt repairing itself, is it? But this hole is."

Claus said, "So is Fist-of-God. The crater closed itself weeks ago, before we noticed. We were hoping you could tell us about that."

Tunesmith must have tested his reweaving system, Louis guessed. Luis said nothing.

Claus Raschid had something on a virtual screen. "Here we are. Luis, try to follow this. The nearest puncture we know of is a million miles away. Too far. Theyll track us across the surface. Every tanj species in the Fringe War will want us as bad as we want you, because of what we might know. But we might escape if we go through immediately, right here, and with our motors off." The ship lifted. "Here is where Gray Nurse is waiting, our mother ship, in the dark, up against the Ringworld floor—"

Below them Oliver was yelling, "Raschid! What are you playing at?"

Louis tried to yell louder. Being immobilized was driving him frantic. "Drop something first! See what happens to it!"

"Im getting us home," Raschid told Oliver. The ship eased sideways. Now it was above the puncture. "All power sources off. Luis, if we had the auxiliary fuel tank Id drop that, but I dont."

They were falling. Louis glimpsed the tent sitting alone on the scrith. Theyd be all right, he told himself; they had Hanuman to guide them. The hole expanded. It was full of stars.

Snail Darter smashed down into something that gave.

Crash webs caught his captors recoiling upward. Louis felt his brain bounce in his skull. Already in a crash web, he recovered first… still immobilized. He could hear Oliver screaming below him.

Claus shouted, "What did we hit?"

"Get us out! Get us out!" Roxanny screamed.

Reweaving system, Tunesmith had said. How strong would threads made of scrith be? Strong enough to stop a falling spacecraft? But theyd cut through the hull. The hole must be laced with them.