"Im still disconnecting instruments. Its hard to tell where its safe."

Louis began disconnecting laser and cable attachments, pacifying Tunesmiths instruments where necessary. He wished he could move faster. Something with sharp edges was loose in his hip; the flesh was badly swollen. "Youre not safe on the Ringworld," he said. "How are you going to move the doc components?"

"I hadnt decided."

"I was hoping youd think of something. Stet. This next part is risky." Louis finished disconnecting sensors. The docs components were still connected to each other. Louis left them that way. "Ill be gone at least an hour. Get this stuff ready to be lifted with magnetic fields. Leave the roof open."

"Wait. What are you about to do?"

"No time."

"Where are the protectors were robbing? What can I accomplish when death may find me in a moment? Tell me what youve done!"

Better if he knew, and Louis had already cost himself an hour at least. Give the Hindmost a minute. He said, "I tried to tell Tunesmith that the Fringe War is about to blow up—"

"Eee!" A raucous chord of dismay.

" — Just as Im telling you. If you tuck your heads under you, you will die in that position. Do you believe me?"

"Yah."

"I let Tunesmith guess I had a child — yes, a boy with Teelas genes. Congratulations, they survived. Your breeding program is still in force—"

"What of later inbreeding?"

"Oh, Hindmost, there must have been other ships crashed on the Ringworld. Wembleths children will find mates."

"Stet."

"I flicked out to a few places, ended where Tunesmith can find traces of Wembleth. Then I used my block on the stepping disk and went to Needle. It wont take Tunesmith long to get around the block. When he does, hell find out I went to Hot Needle of Inquiry, took my sweet time there, and didnt leave.

"I must be still aboard. I went to get Wembleth, right? It follows that were trying to leave the Ringworld. The Fringe War balance must be ready to fall apart right now. No protector would otherwise risk his childs life this way, in a ship that can be shot down by Fringe War ships or blocked as easily as Tunesmith can block Needle.

"If Tunesmith and Proserpina followed that line of logic, then theyre getting ready to end the Fringe War, and they will not disturb us here, as long as you keep these protectors asleep and take care to shut down these cameras. Can do?"

"Trust me," the Hindmost said.

Louis took a moment to think that over. The Hindmost knew how to open the roof into Mons Olympus. Long Shot was too big to launch using the linear cannon, so the ship would rise slowly, on fusion jets, making too good a target. The Hindmost wouldnt have the nerve, and it was far too dangerous anyway.

So he wouldnt launch without Louis, Louis could trust him, and that settled that. Louis flicked out.

Meteor Defense. "We never did locate the ship," Tunesmith said. "Can you block his takeoff?"

"Yes. And I can search near space for any ARM ship coining for him. He cant possibly escape me. He must be mad. A failed transition to protector can warp a breeders brain."

"Sudden understanding can do that too. Mad with fear?"

"But is he afraid of the Fringe War, or of what well do?"

Proserpinas eyes half-closed. She looked a little like Hanuman in that pose. She said, "He didnt expect to delay us long. Hed have just enough time to get clear, if we begin now and ignore Louis Wu and his freemother child."

Tunesmith looked up at the crowded sky. "Begin," he commanded.

Hanuman flicked in on a ridge of bare scrith. He looked down across miles and miles of forest, reviewing his options.

Louis Wu was the protector who had no children on the Ringworld — unless hed had a child by Teela Brown. Louis-protector could have no interest in Teela, who was dead, unless shed left a child; and that child would be Louis Wus. The chain of logic was so straightforward that even a Hanging People protector could follow it.

Tunesmith had seen it in a moment. And in that moment, Louis Wu had gone to rescue his child and get him to safety.

It followed that the Ringworlds death was likely and immediate. Tunesmith would act.

And what now? Hanumans people were tree dwellers! They didnt have minds; they couldnt follow instructions even if he had any to give. How was he to hide them from the sky?

Wish for a rainstorm?

Find and fetch Teela Browns lucky child, bring the creature here, then wish for a rainstorm?

Hanuman decided.

He detached a float plate from the depleted service stack. He stayed above the forest, enjoying the scents of thousands of his people below the canopy. Brothers, sisters, N-children. He did not dip down to see them. There wouldnt be time.

Tunesmith would move immediately. Where a treetop blocked the sun, already Hanuman could see a glitter to the shadow squares. Power was being beamed down.

He settled his disk on raddled earth. A few Burrowing People emerged. He spoke to them.

"You must stay underground for two days. For you this is easy. Do not watch the sky. Spread the word as far as you can, but be underground before shadow hides the sun.

"There will be lights beyond your experience. Do not look at the sky until the light fades. Afterward the sky will be very dark. Go spin-and-port to where you will find Hanging People. Help them. They are mine, and they will have gone mad."

CHAPTER 21

In Flight

Penultimates Palace. Louis flicked in and rolled off the burnt stack of float plates. Nothing fired on him.

The flying belt took him out and down. He skimmed above the yellow lawn, wondering at the black markings. One pattern must be the Penultimates name or portrait… there, traces of a cartoon, very simplified, a style weirdly reminiscent of William Rotsler. The other would be speech.

He had guesswork for a Rosetta Stone. What would a protector say to an invader? That might be a pictograph pun: a word you could read as "Enter" or "Extinct"; "Greetings" or "Epitaph". Could you extrapolate a language from that?

Nah.

Louis flew low, enjoying the skill it took to weave between trees. Maybe theyd conceal him if Proserpina came looking for him on her own turf. (Nah. She had his scent.) Hard turns and high gees and a brief freedom from intellectual problems.

Proserpinas sunfish ship rested among the trees near Proserpinas base. Lesser trees had grown up through the gridwork. Louis set the flying belt behind a thick trunk, stripped off his falling jumper, and left that too. He made his way forward on foot. See the naked, limping breeder.

Here was the ARM doc from Gray Nurse. Louis wondered what the diagnostic readings would say about him. Mutated? Not human? Dying? He walked past it without a pause. No time!

He stopped by Snail Darters library. No time, but protectors didnt always have a choice.

Hed watched Claus and Roxanny work this device. It wasnt hard to persuade it to summon up a roster for the Fringe War fleet. There were dozens of Wu, and six Harmony: his first daughter had married a Harmony. An ID number sequence would identify his line of descent -

A grandson and his daughter had joined the Navy decades ago. Wes Carlton Wu was Flight Captain aboard Koala, a lurker ship, with Tanya Wu as Purser. Another quick pass found no other blood relatives, and time was shrinking.

Louis approached the sunfish ship.

Think like a Pak. A protector might kill any breeder who smelled wrong, to leave more space for her own breeders. But youre Proserpina. Accommodation has been your survival for a million years. You dont want to hurt a breeder. It might be some powerful enemys N-child!