Larry Niven: Fate of Worlds: Return From the Ringworld

Coughing, she asked, “Okay, Jeeves. What just happened?”

“I don’t know.”

Was that anguish in Jeeves’s voice? Their tactical display had gone dark. When Louis brushed off the foam and reset the unit, the holo showed nothing nearby. “Where are we? I don’t see the Fleet.”

“The Fleet is gone.”

IT TOOK FOUR DAYS and most of their spare-parts inventory for Louis and Alice to return Endurance to more-or-less working order. They had life support, minimal sensors, short-range comm, hyperdrive, and enough thrusters to manage a landing. They had the secondary fusion reactor, with which — just barely — to power the ship’s essential systems.

Thank Finagle for twing, Louis thought.

Jeeves monitored hyperwave and radio while they toiled, and heard nothing. He hailed in every language and digital message format in his databases, and no one answered. Sensors — the few they had — detected only gas and dust.

A great deal of gas and dust.

A trillion Puppeteers. Five worlds. Three great armadas. Two old friends.

All of them gone.

ON THE FIFTH DAY Endurance was sufficiently restored to run search patterns. They saw nothing. They heard no one. Jumping ahead of the light-speed wave front, reliving the nightmare, they captured data — as well as they could, with so many hull sensors out of commission — from several perspectives around the catastrophe.

And sadly, sickeningly, they understood.

A planetary drive harnessed the energy to move a world. One planetary drive destabilized would have doomed everyone. The Fleet had five drives, close together.

One stray missile could have done it.…

Feeling emptier than he could have imagined possible, Louis watched Alice set their course toward New Terra.

Squaring her shoulders, taking a deep breath, Julia decided: today was the day. She had made that resolution often. Before second thoughts muzzled her yet again, she flicked to Grandpa’s place in the desert.

Grandpa was setting empty plates around the big picnic table. A big black metal contraption, like nothing she had ever seen, stood near an edge of the patio. Next to that contraption, of all implausible things, was a portable fire extinguisher. Maybe the apparatus had something to do with this mysterious family lunch, and whatever barbeque was.

Not why you’re here, she reminded herself.

Grandpa waved off an earnest-faced adjutant who’d rushed over at her arrival. “It’s fine, Colonel. This is my granddaughter.”

“Very good, Minister.” The colonel withdrew to the house.

Grandpa said, “You’re a half hour early, Julia. That’s not to say you aren’t always welcome.”

“Minister, could I have a word before the rest of the family arrives?”

“Oh. One of those visits.” Grandpa grimaced. “Not an astronomical phenomenon, I hope.”

“Please, sir,” Julia said. “In private.”

He set down his stack of plates. “Let’s go for a walk.”

“Thank you, sir.”

“Stop sirring me,” he said. He walked off the patio onto the sand. “As beautiful as I find this desert, it’s just not complete. I don’t miss snakes, but an armadillo or a roadrunner would be nice.” His gaze grew wistful. “Maybe not rabbits.”

Earth animals, she supposed.

They walked in silence for a while. Finally, Julia said, “I haven’t been truthful with you, sir … Grandpa.”

He raised an eyebrow.

“It’s about Endurance. ”

“About how you came home without your ship.”

She felt so guilty. “The ship wasn’t stolen. I … I gave it to Alice.”

He jerked to a halt. “With its autodestruct disabled, I hope.”

“Of course!”

“I’m relieved.” He fixed her with a penetrating stare. “However…”

“I think I should explain things from the beginning.”

After hearing her out, Grandpa said, “So Louis and Alice are, most likely, well on their way to Earth with one of the Ministry’s few long-range ships.”

“Most likely, sir, although that’s only a side effect of what I was after, getting an ARM ship to visit us.” She could not meet Grandpa’s eyes. “If you don’t mind, I’ll leave before the rest of the family arrives. You have my promise I’ll turn myself in first thing tomorrow morning. I wanted to tell you first, and to apologize in person.”

Grandpa lifted her chin. “Do you suppose sitting in jail will fix anything? What if, instead, you fetch back the ship?”

Huh? “You want me to go to Earth for it?”

“Why not? I’d enjoy the company.”

“You’re going to Earth?”

Wasn’t this world Grandpa’s home, after so many years? Her parents, her brothers and their wives, Uncle Charles and Aunt Athena, her many cousins … weren’t they family? Wasn’t she family? That Grandpa would abandon them at his first opportunity hurt worse than her confession.

And inexplicably, he laughed. “Maybe this will teach you not to sir me. I invited the family out to hear this, but I don’t mind telling you first. Without you, it wouldn’t be happening. Tomorrow afternoon the governor will formally accept my resignation as Minister of Defense and announce my appointment as ambassador to the United Nations. When Koala heads for Earth, that’s why I’ll be aboard.”

“And what about Endurance ?” Julia could not help asking.

“You were light-years from home, and you did what you thought best.” He gave her a hug. “When you’re that far from home, using your best judgment to represent everyone is the job. As far as I’m concerned, you did the right thing.

“First thing in the morning come by my office in the Ministry. We’ll clear up this little matter before the announcement.”

“TELL US EVERYTHING,” little Annabeth said, tugging on Julia’s sleeve.

“About the Ringworld,” her twin Lilith clarified.

The twins and a gaggle of Julia’s other youngest cousins leaned closer, expectantly. Most of the little faces wore streaks and smears of barbeque sauce. Their parents, staying in the background, looked almost as curious.

“It’s a huge place,” Julia told them. She didn’t know much about it directly, but Tanya had told her plenty during their long flight. “Bigger than millions of New Terra.”

Fortunately she could talk about Ringworld on autopilot. People asked about the Ringworld wherever she went. The wonder had not worn off — nor the awe that such a thing could pick up and move — but other things were on her mind. She would be going to fabled Earth, not to jail? That was … that was …

Words failed her.

Grandpa had gone to stand at the head of the picnic table. Ready to tell everyone about the ambassadorship? As he waited for the family to quiet down, an adjutant in uniform burst from the house. He whispered in Grandpa’s ear.

Grandpa nodded, cleared his throat, and caught Julia’s eye.

He led her to what she remembered as his cozy den, into which a secure office and comm center had somehow been shoehorned. He said, “Well, Captain, your little retrieval project just got easier.”

“What do you mean?” she asked.

“I mean that the urgent news was from the planetary defense center. Endurance will be here in a few days, with Alice and Louis Wu aboard.

“The rest of the news is terrible.”

By virtue of standing at least a head taller than, well, everyone, Alice could appreciate just how mobbed her house was.