Roxanny shook her head. "Shed have had a five-year patch."

"She must have decided she wanted my child. Shed have to have had her sterility treatment reversed before we left Earth. It would have taken both of her birthrights. She never told me."

Wembleth said, "Wait. You mean it? Youre my father?" He seemed horrified.

"Yah—"

"Why did you leave us?"

"Teela left me. I thought then that she left me for Seeker—"

"But what did you do?"

"I didnt protect her." How could he, against her own luck? "She went into an eyestorm and we lost her. When we found her again, she was with Seeker. Shed have been carrying you when I left them near the Great Ocean, and as for what she did after that, Id be guessing."

"You are Vashneesht," Wembleth said. "Youre good at guessing. Ive never understood. Why did mother leave us?"

Louis knew he should be going. Every second might be precious. Once upon a time Proserpinas people had cleaned the Ringworld system of every menacing rock. Now it was infested with ships…

But in the presence of his son and growing grandchild, Louis was inclined to stay; and Wembleth needed reassurance.

He said, "I left Teela near the Great Ocean. There werent any stepping disks on the Ringworld then. Seeker — the man she left me for — he might have known how to use the transport that runs along the rim wall. Its a magnetic levitation system, Roxanny. They found something to get them there; theres enough Builder technology lying around. They took the maglev system all the way around to the Other Ocean.

"Youd call that crazy unless they were running from something fearsome. Not from me, I think, but maybe it was what she thought Id bring. The Fringe War. Teela might have been afraid of puppeteers. Nessus meddled in her life, pretty well destroyed it, and she didnt want that to happen again. She knew any of us would look where we last saw her.

"So they found a place halfway around the arc, and she settled down and made a life with Seeker and you. I hope she was happy."

"Mother was happy," Wembleth said, "but restless too. She never had any more children—"

"Course not. Seeker wasnt her species."

"She and — Seeker — my father," with a bit of a glare, "took turns exploring. I never knew what they were looking for. One of them had to stay with me. They did more of that after I was older. I was near eighty falans when she disappeared."

"And never came back?"

"Never did," Wembleth said.

"She found tree-of-life." Teelas luck, Louis thought. Poor Teela. If anything, it was her genes that were lucky. He said, "I dont know just how it happened, but that tuber grows on every one of these maps of the Pak world, and most maps once held a protector prisoner. A few prisoners must have found some way to infect roots with tree-of-life virus, just as Proserpina did. I think Teela found the Penultimates garden. It would have got Seeker too if she hadnt been exploring alone. She woke up as a protector. Wembleth, she wouldnt ever leave you unless it was to protect you from some greater danger."

Wembleth scowled.

"No, really. She saw what we all saw. She must have guessed what was under the Map of Mars. Roxanny, its a huge volume, an area to match all the land masses of Earth, and forty miles high. You cant miss it. Its the Repair Center for the whole Ringworld. Teela could see that most of the rim-wall ramjets were missing. Somebody had to get into the Repair Center to try to stabilize the Ringworld before it brushed its sun."

Shed wanted power too, Louis thought. Futz, she was a protector. He said, "She rode the rim-wall maglev system, and then anything that could reach the Map of Mars on the Great Ocean," his mind running ahead of his mouth. "Maybe she went to the Map of Earth first, to see how the archaic Pak were faring, and picked up Hidden Patriarch there. Thats how the ship got to Mars—"

Roxanny said, "Say what?"

"It doesnt matter. What happened next was that Teela tried to murder Bram."

Roxanny said, "Bram?" and Wembleth said, "Murder? My mother?"

Louis said, "There was a protector already inside the Repair Center. Teela didnt know about Bram, but she knew that if there was anyone on site, he wasnt doing his job. He was letting the rim-wall attitude jets be stolen. Hed have to be replaced.

"Wembleth, I talked to Bram. I got his version of what happened. Bram wasnt the brightest of protectors. He never figured out this next part.

"Teela was a protector. She did what she had to do. She took an older man off one of the other maps, probably, and disguised herself. She went with him into the Map of Mars as a pair of breeders. They went exploring through the Repair Center. By the time they found the tree-of-life garden, Teela must have seen enough, or smelled him. Somewhere there was a protector. She let the man eat tree-of-life, and she ate too.

"The man died. Teela pretended to go into a coma. She might have lain motionless for several turns. Bram was supposed to come and examine her to find out what she was, then kill her before she could wake up as a protector. She would have taken him by surprise and killed him.

"But Bram didnt come. He must have decided to let her wake. She had to go to Plan B. She left the Map of Mars without ever letting Bram know she knew about him. She set about repairing the rim-wall jets, and then… she contrived to get herself killed."

"How? Louis, how?" Wembleth demanded. He was still holding the crossbow.

She had attacked Louis and his companions, and contrived to lose the fight. Louis had killed her himself.

He said, "Bram had us at his mercy. We were hostages for as long as Teela was alive. Shed have been his servant, and he was incompetent. She had to die to save the Ringworld, and she did."

"But—"

Louis rode him down. "What matters now is that I would do anything for you. In practice, what I have to do is lose you again. Its indescribably important that the ruling protectors, Tunesmith and Proserpina, be unable to find you."

"What would they do, kill us? Question us?"

"Theyd protect you."

Wembleth set the crossbow down. His hands were shaking. "Vashneesht! Stet. I like these people, but we can move again. Must you know where?"

"I must not," Louis said firmly.

He went outside. Wolf-people youths were clambering over the service stack. Louis shooed them away. He reprogrammed the stepping-disk controls and the float controls too.

Wembleth and Roxanny had followed him out. "Im going to flick through," he told them. "After Im gone, change this setting, then tap the Crosshatch button, here, and flick through. Then go wherever you like."

"Cant we be traced?"

"I fixed that, Roxanny. Youre ghosts as long as you tap the Crosshatch before you flick out. Even so, Tunesmith will solve that pretty quick, so bounce around for no more than… half a day, give me that much… then stop flicking around and get away from the service stack." Louis flicked out.