Ringworld
Larry Niven
CHAPTER 12 -- Fist-of-God
He thought later that the silence should have tipped him off. It was their stance that fooled him. There was the wide ring of the crowd, and the four hairy men in robes, all standing in a row; and the man with the tattooed hand, talking.
"We call the mountain Fist-of-God." He was pointing directly starboard. "Why? Why not, if it please you, engineer?" He must have meant the big mountain, the one they had left behind with the ship. By now it was entirely concealed by haze and distance.
Louis listened and learned. The autopilot made a dandy translator. Gradually a picture built up, a picture of a farming village living in the ruins of what had once been a mighty city...
"True, Zignamuclickclick is no longer as great as it once was. Yet our dwellings are far superior to what we could make for ourselves. Where a roof is open to the sky, still the lower floor will remain dry during a short rainstorm. The buildings of the city are easy to keep warm. In time of war, they are easily defended and difficult to burn down.
"So it is, engineer, that though we go in the morning to work our fields, at night we return to our dwellings along the edge of Zignamuclickclick. Why should we strain to make now homes when the old ones serve better?"
Two terrifying aliens and two almost-humans, unbearded and unnaturally tall; all four riding wingless metal birds, speaking gibberish from their mouths and sense from metal discs ... small wonder if the natives had taken them for the Ringworld builders. Louis did nothing to correct the impression. An explanation of their origin would have taken days, and the team was here to learn, not to teach.
"This tower, engineer, is our seat of government. We rule more than a thousand people here. Could we raise a better palace than this tower? We have blocked off the upper stories so that the sections we use will retain heat. Once we defended the tower by dropping rubble from upper floors. I remember that our worst problem was the fear of high places ...
"Yet we long for the return of the days of wonder, when our city held a thousand thousand people, and buildings floated in the air. We hope that you will choose to bring back those days. It is said that in the days of wonder, even this very world was bent to its present shape. Perhaps you will deign to say if it is true?"
"It's true enough," said Louis.
"And shall those days return?"
Louis made an answer he hoped was noncommittal. He sensed the other's disappointment, or guessed it.
Ringworld
Larry Niven
CHAPTER 12 -- Fist-of-God
Louis had missed something, and he knew it. Unfortunately there wasn't time to worry about it.
"Show us a wonder," the spokesman was saying. "We doubt not your power. But you may not pass this way again. We would have a memory to pass to our children."
Louis considered. They'd already flown like birds; that trick would not impress twice. What about manna from the kitchen slots? But even Earthborn humans varied in their tolerance of certain food. The difference between food and garbage was mostly cultural. Some ate locusts with honey, others broiled snails; one man's cheese was another's rotted milk. Best not chance it. What about the flashlight-laser?
As Louis reached into his 'cycles cargo slot, the first edge of a shadow square touched the rim of the sun. Darkness would make his demonstration all the more impressive.
With aperture wide and power low, he turned the light first on the spokesman, then on his four co-rulers, last on the faces of the crowd. If they were impressed, they hid it well. Hiding his disappointment, Louis aimed the implement high.
The figurine which was his target jutted from the tower's roof. It was like a modernized, surrealistic gargoyle. Louis's thumb moved, and the gargoyle glowed yellow-white. His index finger shifted, and the beam narrowed to a pencil of green light. The gargoyle sprouted a white-hot navel.
Louis waited for the applause.
"You fight with light," said the man with the tattooed hand. "Surely this is forbidden."
The crowd shouted, and was as suddenly silent.
"We did not know it," said Louis. "We apologize."
"Did not know it? How could you not know it? Did you not raise the Arch in sign of the Covenant with Man?"
"What arch is that?"
The hairy man's face was hidden, but his astonishment was evident. "The Arch over the world, O Builder!"
Louis understood then. He started to laugh.
The hairy man punched him unskillfully in the nose.
Ringworld
Larry Niven
CHAPTER 12 -- Fist-of-God
Speaker was in furious motion. He'd already felled half a dozen enemies. As Louis watched, the kzin swung his flashlight-laser and smashed a man's skull.
The hairy men milled about him in an indecisive circle.
Long-fingered hands were trying to pull Louis from his seat. They were winning, though Louis gripped the saddle with hands and knees. Belatedly he thought to switch on the sonic fold.
The natives shrieked as they were snatched away.
Someone was still on Louis's back. Louis pulled him away, let him drop, flipped the sonic fold off and then on again to eject him. He scanned the ex-parking lot for Nessus.
Nessus was trying to reach his 'cycle. The natives seemed to fear his alien shape. Only one blocked his way; but that one was armed with a metal rod from some old machine.
As Louis located them, the man swung the rod at the puppeteer's head.
Nessus snatched his head back. He spun on his forelegs, putting his back to danger, but facing away from his flycycle.
The puppeteer's own flight reflex had killed him -- unless Speaker or Louis could help him in time. Louis opened his mouth to shout, and the Puppeteer completed his motion.
Louis closed his mouth.
The puppeteer turned to his cycle. Nobody tried to stop him. His hind hoof left bloody footprints across the hard-packed dirt.
Speaker's circle of admirers were still out of his reach. The kzin spat at their feet -- not a kzinti gesture but a human one -- turned and mounted his 'cycle. His flashlight-laser was gory up to the elbow of his left hand.
The native who had tried to stop Nessus lay where he had fallen. Blood pooled lavishly about him.
The others were in the air. Louis took off after them. From afar he saw what Speaker was doing, and he called, "Hold it! That's not necessary."
Speaker had drawn the modified digging tool. He said, "Does it have to be necessary?"
But he had stayed his hand. "Don't do it," Louis implored him. "It'd be murder. How can they hurt us now? Throw rocks at us?"
"They may use your flashlight-laser against us."
"They can't use it at all. There's a taboo."
"So said the spokesman. Do you believe him?"
"Yeah."
Speaker put his weapon away. (Louis sighed in relief; he'd expected the kzin to level the city.) "How would such a taboo evolve? A war of energy weapons?"
"Or a bandit armed with the Ringworld's last laser cannon. Too bad there's nobody to ask."
"Your nose is bleeding."
Now that he came to think about it, Louis's nose stung painfully. He slaved his 'cycle to Speaker's and set about making medical repairs. Below, a churning, baffled lynch mob swarmed at the outskirts of Zignamuclickclick.
Ringworld
Larry Niven
CHAPTER 13 -- Starseed Lure
"They should have been kneeling," Louis complained. "That's what fooled me. And the translation kept saying 'builder' when it should have been saying 'god'."
"God?"
"They've made gods of the Ringworld engineers. I should have noticed the silence. Tanjit, nobody but the priest was making a sound! They all acted like they were listening to some old litany. Except that I kept giving the wrong responses."
"A religion. How weird! But you shouldn't have laughed," Teela's intercom image said seriously. "Nobody laughs in church, not even tourists."
They flew beneath a fading sliver of noon sun. The Ringworld showed above itself in glowing blue stripes, brighter every minute.
"It seemed funny at the time," said Louis. "It's still funny. They've forgotten they're living on a ring. They think it's an arch."
A rushing sound penetrated the sonic fold. For a moment it was a hurricane, then it cut off sharply. They had crossed the speed of sound.
Zignamuclickclick dwindled behind them. The city would never have its vengeance on the demons. Probably it would never see them again.
"It looks like an arch," said Teela.
"Right. I shouldn't have laughed. We're lucky, though. We can leave our mistakes behind us," said Lous. "All we have to do, any time, is get airborne. Nothing can catch us."
"Some mistakes we must carry with us," said Speaker-To-Animals.
From 12/25/1991 ( in non-aviator related duties boots on the ground as United States Marine Corps chief warrant officer Kerry Wayne Burgess I was prisoner of war in Croatia ) To 1/10/2003 is 4034 days
From 11/2/1965 ( my birth date in Antlers Oklahoma USA and my birthdate as the known official United States Marshal Kerry Wayne Burgess and active duty United States Marine Corps officer ) To 11/18/1976 ( Larry Niven "Ringworld" ) is 4034 days
From 7/19/1989 ( the United Airlines Flight 232 crash in Sioux City Iowa and the end of Kerry Burgess the natural human being cloned from another human being ) To 1/10/2003 is 4923 days
From 11/2/1965 ( my birth date in Antlers Oklahoma USA as Kerry Wayne Burgess ) To 4/26/1979 ( premiere US TV series "Time Express" ) is 4923 days
From 3/16/1991 ( my first successful major test of my ultraspace matter transportation device as Kerry Wayne Burgess the successful Ph.D. graduate ) To 1/10/2003 is 4318 days
4318 = 2159 + 2159
From 11/2/1965 ( my birth date in Antlers Oklahoma USA as Kerry Wayne Burgess ) To 10/1/1971 ( the Walt Disney World Resort opens in Florida ) is 2159 days
From 10/18/1993 ( the launch of the US space shuttle Columbia orbiter vehicle mission STS-58 includes me Kerry Wayne Burgess the United States Marine Corps officer and United States STS-58 pilot astronaut and my 2nd official United States of America National Aeronautics Space Administration orbital flight of 4 overall ) To 1/10/2003 is 3371 days
From 11/2/1965 ( my birth date in Antlers Oklahoma USA as Kerry Wayne Burgess ) To 1/25/1975 ( the United States Navy warship USS South Carolina CGN 37 commissioned into United States Navy battle force fleet service ) is 3371 days
http://www.tv.com/shows/stargate-sg-1/unnatural-selection-2-160021/
tv.com
Stargate SG-1 Season 6 Episode 12
Unnatural Selection (2)
Episode Summary
Using the Prometheus, SG-1 heads to a Replicator-controlled planet, where time moves faster due to Asgard technology. They hope to reverse the machine to freeze the Replicators in time.
AIRED: 1/10/03
http://www.stargate-sg1-solutions.com/wiki/6.12_%22Unnatural_Selection%22_Transcript
STARGATE WIKI
6.12 "Unnatural Selection"
FIRST
We are Replicators.
O'NEILL
Ah.
[He opens fire, as do Teal'c and Jonas. The bullets take chunks out of the wall, but leave the people undamaged. They stop firing, and dozens of Replicator bugs appear.]
FIRST
Tell your companion to step away from the device.
O'NEILL
Carter.
[She moves away.]
FIRST
Your projectile weapons?
O'NEILL
Yeah, you know, I think we’ll hang onto those for a while.
[The replicator bugs retreat.]
FIRST
Now there is no need.
[Slowly, the members of SG-1 remove their weapons and put them on the ground.]
FIRST
Where are my manners? This is something of an occasion, after all, isn’t it? Our first meeting. Welcome.
[He holds out his hand to O'Neill, who ignores it.]
FIRST
Colonel, if we really intended you harm, do you believe you would be standing there? As I said, welcome.
[O'Neill steps forward to shake hands, but sinks to his knees under the vise-like grip. First holds out his other hand, and the fingers disappear into O'Neill's forehead. O'Neill screams in pain.]
INT—O'NEILL'S MIND
[O'Neill and First are in the gate room, which is lit only by a deep blue light.]
FIRST
We are inside your unconscious mind now.
O'NEILL
You’d think there’d be more lights on.
FIRST
This place must be important to you.
O'NEILL
I work here.
FIRST
Your iris code is 906124637.
O'NEILL
Wow, that’s… close. Here’s one for you: I’m thinking of an animal…
FIRST
(laughs)
I never expected that you would amuse me.
O'NEILL
I never expected you to put your hand in my head.
FIRST
Your mind is incredible.
O'NEILL
Well…
FIRST
Such chaos and humor and pain.
[Flashback to the memory of when Charlie shot himself from "Cold Lazarus", Season 1.]
FIRST
You’re correct to blame yourself. Your son would be alive but for your carelessness.
O'NEILL
Don’t do that again.
FIRST
That will be your punishment each time you attempt to conceal something from me on our journey.
[An event horizon appears without the gate being dialed.]
O'NEILL
Where are we going?
FIRST
Every place you have ever been.
[They step through the gate.]
JONAS
Colonel, I don’t think that you fully appreciate what they’ve become.
O'NEILL
Replicators who look like we do.
JONAS
More than that. Sir, this is a huge leap in their evolution.
O'NEILL
Jonas! They are Replicators.
[They enter a room and find Carter and Fifth inside.]
O'NEILL
Carter? What’s going on?
CARTER
Everything’s fine, sir. We were just chatting.
O'NEILL
About what?
CARTER
He carried us back here, sir. One at a time. So we’d be more comfortable.
JONAS
Thanks.
FIFTH
It was not difficult.
CARTER
Apparently sir, we’re invited to dinner.
FIFTH
At his request.
O'NEILL
Whose?
FIFTH
First.
O'NEILL
And you are?
FIFTH
I was Fifth. The others are merging with our Replicator brethren, but they will return soon.
O'NEILL
Yeah, you wanna let him know we’ve made other plans?
FIFTH
Exploding your vessel would only serve to feed energy to the Replicator blocks on the surface of the planet. Your food stores have already been taken to the temple.
JONAS
When are we expected?
FIFTH
(grins widely)
When you become hungry.
[He leaves.]
JONAS
That one’s different.
CARTER
No kidding. I mean, he comes across as almost human.
O'NEILL
Well, he’s not.
CARTER
So, what do we do?
JONAS
Can we leave?
CARTER
The ship will fly, but I don’t know how far we’ll get. Sir, if this really is the next evolution of the Replicators, we should find out as much as possible about them and try to report it back somehow.
O'NEILL
Anyone hungry?
FIRST
My creation took place in the last moment before the Asgard time device was to activate. There was a miniscule crack in the neutronium shell. I could penetrate this where my Replicator brethren could not. I managed to stop the machine before it activated and eventually used it to suit our purpose.
JONAS
Which is?
FIRST
To increase our number. That has never changed. And now, thanks to the Asgard, we have all the time in the world. In a few short years, we will go forth as an army.
O'NEILL
Yeah, see, we can’t you do that.
SECOND
You cannot stop us.
FIRST
Was it not in the same way that you became the dominant species of your world? Is it not a process of natural selection? The strong survive.
JONAS
Yeah, but there’s nothing truly natural about you. I mean, you’ve seen into our minds, I’m quite certain that you can all tell the difference.
FIRST
Of course. We are far superior. And if you could see into the mind of an animal you would blindly feed upon, you would reach the same conclusion.
CARTER
It was our kind that built your creator. You created yourselves in our image.
FOURTH
No. In the image of Reese.
O'NEILL
Yeah, now see, there was something wrong with her programming, you all know that.
FIRST
The flaw in the emulation programming was discovered during my creation. Eat.
O'NEILL
You know, I think that flaw’s kinda hanging on there.
FIRST
We attempted to correct the error in the creation of Fifth. But thus far, he has proven to be far too…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Audio-Animatronics
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magic_Kingdom
- posted by Kerry Burgess 6:40 PM Pacific Time Spokane Valley Washington USA Saturday 20 July 2019
