Larry Niven - Fate of Worlds - Return From the Ringworld

Video switched to a star field centered on New Terra. The blue dot was an icon; from this distance, the planet was hard to spot even if you knew where to look. The world and its low-flying suns together shone only one millionth as bright as the dimmest red-dwarf star.

The voice-over announced, “This is the Earth vessel Koala, calling New Terra.”

This segment of the recording ended all too quickly in a blinding flash.

“That was an attack without warning” — Puppeteer-cleansed English lacked the word ambush — “on the embassy ship from Earth. A ship that Minister Norquist-Ng had personally promised safe passage. A ship bringing home one of his own officers.

“Suspecting deceit by our leaders, I arranged what looked to sensors like a ship’s arrival. I am saddened to have been correct in my suspicions, appalled at the actions taken by our government. But here, finally, is good news. Koala has yet to reach us. It has not been destroyed.

“I submit to you, my fellow citizens of New Terra, that those who would suppress the rediscovery of Earth, those who would kill to keep that secret, are unworthy to lead us.”

He concluded the broadcast as he had begun. “This is Sigmund Ausfaller, onetime Earth resident, your former defense minister. I wait in nearby space to warn away the embassy ship from Earth when it arrives. Or we can reconnect with our cousins and our long-lost past. The choice is yours … if you act quickly.”

ROCKING HERSELF, ARMS CROSSED across her chest to clutch her own upper arms, Amelia sat perched on an armrest of the pilot’s crash couch. The star field had been banished from the main view port, replaced with an old image of Hermes, Amelia, and their three children. Julia, the youngest, was at the missing-tooth, cheesy-grin stage.

Sigmund backed away silently. Whistling loudly, he returned to the bridge. This time Amelia had heard him coming. She sat more normally — looking posed. Stars once again showed in the view port.

He said, “I’m going to make some dinner. What can I get you?”

“Nothing, thanks.”

“You have to eat something,” he said gently.

She shook her head. “Was everything we did for nothing?”

“Don’t think that.” A hand set on her shoulder confirmed that she was trembling.

Why wouldn’t she be terrified? Their buoys had broadcasted for three days, and they had heard back … nothing.

Every second they spent out here terrified Sigmund, too, but he had to be strong. Their ship was intact and no one aboard had died. That was better than usual for him. “Worst case, we’ll warn away Koala. Julia will be safe.”

“With Earth knowing they’re unwelcome here. Hermes and I will never see our daughter again — unless this ARM organization of yours takes offense and returns with a fleet.” Amelia laughed cynically. “Of course I’ll be in prison. Maybe that will take my mind off things.”

How would the ARM take news of a planned ambush? Assuming the organization hadn’t changed since Sigmund’s era, not well.

What came next hinged on the answer to a single question. Would New Terran authorities alter their plans? The shortsighted fools had been relying on the ARM being too preoccupied — by the Ringworld disappearance and the multispecies conflict moving to the Fleet — to investigate a lone ship gone missing far away, in unfamiliar space. The politicians might even have been correct.

Now they had to worry about Koala escaping to report an ambush.

A lost ship might be written off; a hostile act would elicit an armed response. The governor and her cronies had to realize that. Didn’t they? But as the silence from New Terra dragged on, an outbreak of clear thinking seemed ever less likely …

Sigmund squeezed Amelia’s shoulder. “It won’t come to that. Either part.”

“Yes, it will.”

He gave her shoulder another squeeze. “Prison isn’t an option. Not for you. When we head back” — which must happen soon, because Elysium was running low on deuterium and food — “we’ll both tell the authorities that I forced you to help me. You’ll be in the emergency medical stasis unit because I no longer needed you awake after you’d configured probes for me.” He hesitated. “If I smack you a little, bruise your face, no one will question that story.”

She shook off Sigmund’s hand to stand facing him, her eyes blazing. “Absolutely not! I came of my own free will, and I’ll not have anyone think such terrible things of you. Certainly not your son!” Her expression softened. “I can’t believe you would take the blame for me.”

He shrugged, embarrassed.

The hardest part of waiting was the silence. Maybe they had initiated a debate groundside, but it was impossible to know. Back in the day, Sigmund had kept spy ships skulking near the Fleet of Worlds. Any of those ships could have tapped into New Terra’s public networks from this distance. All he had was this short-range cargo ship, equipped and provisioned for same-day jaunts. Hiding beyond the reach of the early-warning arrays, carrying only commercial comm gear, the planet’s low-powered RF leakage was unintelligible babble.

“Maybe I will have a snack,” Amelia said. Changing the subject?

“Sure. What can I bring you?”

“Soup and a sandwich. Maybe some…”

Sigmund saw it, too: the flashing indicator for an incoming comm signal. But was the contact from Koala or New Terra?

“… CALLING SIGMUND AUSFALLER. Please respond. This is the governor calling — ”

The message was in full video and it showed — a man ! He had a long, thin head, a trim goatee, sunken cheeks, and crow’s-feet at the corners of his eyes.

Sigmund didn’t recognize the face.

“Could we have done it?” Amelia asked hopefully.

To put a new face on air would have been easy enough. “Let’s try to find out. Until we know more, I suggest you stay out of sight.”

Instead, Amelia plopped into the copilot’s crash couch.

Sigmund took the pilot’s seat, tilted the camera away from her, and accepted the hail. “Ausfaller here.”

“Minister Ausfaller,” the self-proclaimed governor said. “Thank you for taking my hail.”

The response was immediate, from outside the singularity. So why had the “governor” left New Terra? To facilitate comm, or to backtrack the chain of relay buoys to Elysium ? Probably both.

Sigmund rested his hands on the hyperdrive controls. “Who are you?”

“Excuse me,” the man said. “Of course you wouldn’t know. My name is Llewellyn Kudrin-Goldberg. At the time of your … hasty departure, I was the assemblyman for a rural district in East Arcadia.”

“You’ve had quite a promotion,” Sigmund said.

“Quite.” Kudrin-Goldberg smiled briefly. “I blame you.”

“And the previous governor?” At Amelia’s voice, the camera pivoted toward her.

“Ah, Mrs. Ausfaller-Lopez. I’m pleased to see you are well.”

“I’ll be better,” she said, “when I know what’s been happening.”

“Very well,” Kudrin-Goldberg said. “Minister Ausfaller’s broadcast raised enough doubts that a few courageous individuals within the defense establishment came forward. Computers within the Ministry were searched. When it became public that Norquist-Ng had ordered the strike against the simulated Earth ship…”

Amelia nodded knowingly.

Sigmund had never understood the Puppeteer-like consensus process that swept out New Terra’s first government — and him — so long ago. He didn’t expect ever to quite understand this latest overthrow, either.