chopped at the kzinti ships, and smaller mobile cannon darted in and out on the light pressure of their own beams ...
Slowed by unexpected human resistance and by the barrier of lightspeed, the war had run for decades instead of years. But the kzinti would have won eventually.
Except that an Outsider ship had stumbled across the small human colony on We Made It. They had sold the mayor the secret of the Outsider hyperdrive shunt, on credit. We Made It had not known of the kzinti war; but they learned of it fast enough when they had built a few faster-than-light ships.
Against hyperdrive the kzinti hadn't a prayer.
Later, the puppeteers had come to set up trading posts in human space ...
Man had been very lucky. Three times he had met races technologically superior to him. The kzinti would have crushed him without the Outsider hyperdrive. The Outsiders, again, were clearly his superiors; but they wanted nothing that man could give them, except supply bases and information, and these they could buy. In any case the Outsiders, fragile beings of Helium II metabolism, were too vulnerable to heat and gravity to make good warriors. And the puppeteers, powerful beyond dreams, were too cowardly.
Who had built the Ringworld? And ... were they warriors?
Months later, Louis was to see Speaker's lie as his personal turning point. He might have backed out then -- on Teela's behalf, of course. The Ringworld was terrifying enough as an abstraction in numbers. To think of approaching it in a spacecraft, of landing on it ...
But Louis had seen the kzin in terror of the puppeteers' flying worlds. Speakees lie was a magnificent act of courage. Could Louis show himself a coward now?
He sat down and turned to face the glowing projection; and as his eyes brushed Teela he silently cursed her for an idiot. Her face was alive with wonder and delight. She was as eager as the kzin pretended to be. Was she too stupid to be afraid?
There was an atmopshere on the ring's inner side. Spectroanalysis showed the air to be as thick as Earth's, and of approximately the same composition: definitely breathable to man and kzin and puppeteer. What kept it from blowing away was a thing to be guessed at. They would have to go and look.
In the system of the G2 sun there was nothing at all but the ring itself. No planets, no asteroids, no comets.
"They cleaned it out," said Louis. "They didn't want anything to hit the ring."
"Naturally," said the puppeteer with silver curls. "If something did strike the ring, it would strike at a minimum of 770 miles per second, the speed of rotation of the ring itself. No matter how strong the material of the ring, there would always be the danger of an object missing the outer surface and crossing the sun to strike the unprotected, inhabited inner surface."
The sun itself was a yellow dwarf somewhat cooler than Sol and a touch smaller. "We will need heat suits on the ring," said the kzin -- rubbing it in, Louis thought.
"No," said Chiron. "The temperature of the inner surface is quite tolerable, to all of our species."
"How would you know that?"
"The frequency of the infrared radiation emitted by the outer surface --"
"You see me exposed as a fool."
"Not at all. We have been studying the ring since its discovery, while you have had a few eights of minutes. The infrared frequency indicates an average temperature of 290 degrees absolute, which of course applies to the inner as well as the outer surface of the ring. For you this will be some ten degrees warmer than optimum, Speaker-To-Animals. For Louis and Teela it is optimum.
"Do not let our attention to details mislead or frighten you," Chiron added. "We would not permit a landing unless the ring engineers themselves insisted. We merely wish you to be ready for any eventuality."
"You don't have any detail of surface formations?"
"Unfortunately, no. The resolving power of our instruments is insufficient."
"We can do some guessing," said Teela. "The thirty hour
Slowed by unexpected human resistance and by the barrier of lightspeed, the war had run for decades instead of years. But the kzinti would have won eventually.
Except that an Outsider ship had stumbled across the small human colony on We Made It. They had sold the mayor the secret of the Outsider hyperdrive shunt, on credit. We Made It had not known of the kzinti war; but they learned of it fast enough when they had built a few faster-than-light ships.
Against hyperdrive the kzinti hadn't a prayer.
Later, the puppeteers had come to set up trading posts in human space ...
Man had been very lucky. Three times he had met races technologically superior to him. The kzinti would have crushed him without the Outsider hyperdrive. The Outsiders, again, were clearly his superiors; but they wanted nothing that man could give them, except supply bases and information, and these they could buy. In any case the Outsiders, fragile beings of Helium II metabolism, were too vulnerable to heat and gravity to make good warriors. And the puppeteers, powerful beyond dreams, were too cowardly.
Who had built the Ringworld? And ... were they warriors?
Months later, Louis was to see Speaker's lie as his personal turning point. He might have backed out then -- on Teela's behalf, of course. The Ringworld was terrifying enough as an abstraction in numbers. To think of approaching it in a spacecraft, of landing on it ...
But Louis had seen the kzin in terror of the puppeteers' flying worlds. Speakees lie was a magnificent act of courage. Could Louis show himself a coward now?
He sat down and turned to face the glowing projection; and as his eyes brushed Teela he silently cursed her for an idiot. Her face was alive with wonder and delight. She was as eager as the kzin pretended to be. Was she too stupid to be afraid?
There was an atmopshere on the ring's inner side. Spectroanalysis showed the air to be as thick as Earth's, and of approximately the same composition: definitely breathable to man and kzin and puppeteer. What kept it from blowing away was a thing to be guessed at. They would have to go and look.
In the system of the G2 sun there was nothing at all but the ring itself. No planets, no asteroids, no comets.
"They cleaned it out," said Louis. "They didn't want anything to hit the ring."
"Naturally," said the puppeteer with silver curls. "If something did strike the ring, it would strike at a minimum of 770 miles per second, the speed of rotation of the ring itself. No matter how strong the material of the ring, there would always be the danger of an object missing the outer surface and crossing the sun to strike the unprotected, inhabited inner surface."
The sun itself was a yellow dwarf somewhat cooler than Sol and a touch smaller. "We will need heat suits on the ring," said the kzin -- rubbing it in, Louis thought.
"No," said Chiron. "The temperature of the inner surface is quite tolerable, to all of our species."
"How would you know that?"
"The frequency of the infrared radiation emitted by the outer surface --"
"You see me exposed as a fool."
"Not at all. We have been studying the ring since its discovery, while you have had a few eights of minutes. The infrared frequency indicates an average temperature of 290 degrees absolute, which of course applies to the inner as well as the outer surface of the ring. For you this will be some ten degrees warmer than optimum, Speaker-To-Animals. For Louis and Teela it is optimum.
"Do not let our attention to details mislead or frighten you," Chiron added. "We would not permit a landing unless the ring engineers themselves insisted. We merely wish you to be ready for any eventuality."
"You don't have any detail of surface formations?"
"Unfortunately, no. The resolving power of our instruments is insufficient."
"We can do some guessing," said Teela. "The thirty hour
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