Ringworld by Larry Niven Page A
Authors: Larry Niven
Louis a red, fruity drink in a squeezebulb.
"How much time have we got?" he asked the puppeteer.
"An hour until we land. Then you will be briefed on our final destination."
"That should be long enough. Okay, speak to us. Why flying worlds? Somehow it doesn't seem safe to throw habitable worlds about with such gay abandon."
"Oh, but it is, Louis!" The puppeteer was terribly earnest. "Much safer than this craft, for instance; and this craft is very safe compared to most human-designed craft. We have had much practice in the moving of worlds."
"Practice! How did that happen?"
"To explain this, I must speak of heat ... and of population control. You will not be embarrassed or offended?"
They signified negative. Louis had the grace not to laugh; Teela laughed.
"What you must know is that population control is very difficult for us. There are only two ways for one of us to avoid becoming a parent. One is major surgery. The other is total abstinence from sexual congress."
Teela was shocked. "But that's terrible!"
"It is a handicap. Do not misunderstand me. Surgery is not a substitute for abstinence; it is to enforce abstinence. Today such surgery can be reversed; in the past it was impossible. Few of my species will willingly undergo such surgery."
Louis whistled. "I should think so. So your population control depends on will power?"
"Yes. Abstinence has unpleasant side effects, with us as with most species. The result has traditionally been overpopulation. Half a million years ago we were half a trillion in human numbering. In kzinti numbering --"
"My mathematics is good," said the kzin. "But these problems do not seem to relate to the unusual nature of your fleet." He was not complaining, merely commenting. From the refreshment console Speaker had procured a double-handed flagon of kzinti design and half a gallon's capacity.
"But it does relate, Speaker. Half a trillion civilized beings produce a good deal of heat as a byproduct of their civilization."
"Were you civilized so long ago?"
"Certainly. What barbarian culture would support so large a population? We had long since run out of farming land, and had been forced to terraform two worlds of our system for agriculture. For this it was necessary to move them closer to our sun. You understand?"
"Your first experience in moving worlds. You used robot ships, of course."
"Of course ... After that, food was not a problem. Living space was not a problem. We built high even then, and we like each other's company."
"Herd instinct, I'll bet. Is that why this ship smells like a herd of puppeteers?"
"Yes, Louis. It is reassuring to us to smell the presence of our own kind. Our sole and only problem, at the time of which I speak, was heat."
"Heat?"
"Heat is produced as a waste product of civilization."
"I fail to understand," said Speaker-To-Animals.
Louis, who as a flatlander understood perfectly, forebore to comment. (Earth was far more crowded than Kzin.)
"An example. You would wish a light source at night, would you not, Speaker? Without a light source you must sleep, whether or not you have better things to do."
"This is elementary."
"Assume that your light source is perfect, that is, it gives off radiation only in the spectra visible to kzinti. Nonetheless, all light which does not escape through the window will be absorbed by walls and furniture. It will become randomized heat.
"Another example. Earth produces too little natural fresh water for its eighteen billions. Salt water must be distilled through fusion. This produces heat. But our world, so much more crowded, would die in a day without the distilling plants.
"A third example. Transportation involving changes in velocity always produces heat. Spacecraft filled with grain from the agricultural worlds produce heat on reentry and distribute it through our atmosphere. They produce more heat on takeoff."
"But cooling systems --"
"Most kinds of cooling systems only pump heat around, and produce more
"How much time have we got?" he asked the puppeteer.
"An hour until we land. Then you will be briefed on our final destination."
"That should be long enough. Okay, speak to us. Why flying worlds? Somehow it doesn't seem safe to throw habitable worlds about with such gay abandon."
"Oh, but it is, Louis!" The puppeteer was terribly earnest. "Much safer than this craft, for instance; and this craft is very safe compared to most human-designed craft. We have had much practice in the moving of worlds."
"Practice! How did that happen?"
"To explain this, I must speak of heat ... and of population control. You will not be embarrassed or offended?"
They signified negative. Louis had the grace not to laugh; Teela laughed.
"What you must know is that population control is very difficult for us. There are only two ways for one of us to avoid becoming a parent. One is major surgery. The other is total abstinence from sexual congress."
Teela was shocked. "But that's terrible!"
"It is a handicap. Do not misunderstand me. Surgery is not a substitute for abstinence; it is to enforce abstinence. Today such surgery can be reversed; in the past it was impossible. Few of my species will willingly undergo such surgery."
Louis whistled. "I should think so. So your population control depends on will power?"
"Yes. Abstinence has unpleasant side effects, with us as with most species. The result has traditionally been overpopulation. Half a million years ago we were half a trillion in human numbering. In kzinti numbering --"
"My mathematics is good," said the kzin. "But these problems do not seem to relate to the unusual nature of your fleet." He was not complaining, merely commenting. From the refreshment console Speaker had procured a double-handed flagon of kzinti design and half a gallon's capacity.
"But it does relate, Speaker. Half a trillion civilized beings produce a good deal of heat as a byproduct of their civilization."
"Were you civilized so long ago?"
"Certainly. What barbarian culture would support so large a population? We had long since run out of farming land, and had been forced to terraform two worlds of our system for agriculture. For this it was necessary to move them closer to our sun. You understand?"
"Your first experience in moving worlds. You used robot ships, of course."
"Of course ... After that, food was not a problem. Living space was not a problem. We built high even then, and we like each other's company."
"Herd instinct, I'll bet. Is that why this ship smells like a herd of puppeteers?"
"Yes, Louis. It is reassuring to us to smell the presence of our own kind. Our sole and only problem, at the time of which I speak, was heat."
"Heat?"
"Heat is produced as a waste product of civilization."
"I fail to understand," said Speaker-To-Animals.
Louis, who as a flatlander understood perfectly, forebore to comment. (Earth was far more crowded than Kzin.)
"An example. You would wish a light source at night, would you not, Speaker? Without a light source you must sleep, whether or not you have better things to do."
"This is elementary."
"Assume that your light source is perfect, that is, it gives off radiation only in the spectra visible to kzinti. Nonetheless, all light which does not escape through the window will be absorbed by walls and furniture. It will become randomized heat.
"Another example. Earth produces too little natural fresh water for its eighteen billions. Salt water must be distilled through fusion. This produces heat. But our world, so much more crowded, would die in a day without the distilling plants.
"A third example. Transportation involving changes in velocity always produces heat. Spacecraft filled with grain from the agricultural worlds produce heat on reentry and distribute it through our atmosphere. They produce more heat on takeoff."
"But cooling systems --"
"Most kinds of cooling systems only pump heat around, and produce more