（外文电子版资料）Larry Niven - Ringworld.doc

RINGWORLD by Larry Niven (c) 1970 by Larry Niven v1.0 (25-Aug-1999) If you find and correct errors in the text, please update the version number by 0.1 and redistribute. CHAPTER 1 -- Louis Wu In the nighttime heart of Beirut, in one of a row of general-address transfer booths, Louis Wu flicked into reality. His foot-length queue was as white and shiny as artificial snow. His skin and depilated scalp were chrome yellow; the irises of his eyes were gold; his robe was royal blue with a golden steroptic dragon superimposed. In the instant he appeared, he was smiling widely, showing pearly, perfect, perfectly standard teeth. Smiling and waving. But the smile was already fading, and in a moment it was gone, and the sag of his face was like a rubber mask melting. Louis Wu showed his age. For a few moments, he watched Beirut stream past him: the people flickering into the booths from unknown places; the crowds flowing past him on foot, now that the slidewalks had been turned off for the night. Then the clocks began to strike twenty-three. Louis Wu straightened his shoulders and stepped out to join the world. In Resht, where his party was still going full blast, it was already the morning after his birthday. Here in Beirut it was an hour earlier. In a balmy outdoor restaurant Louis bought rounds of raki and encouraged the singing of songs in Arabic and Interworld. He left before midnight for Budapest. Had they realized yet that he had walked out on his own party? They would assume that a woman had gone with him, that he would be back in a couple of hours. But Louis Wu had gone alone, jumping ahead of the midnight line, hotly pursued by the new day. Twenty-four hours was not long enough for a mans two hundredth birthday. They could get along without him. Louiss friends could take care of themselves. In this respect, Louiss standards were inflexible. In Budapest were wine and athletic dances, natives who tolerated him as a tourist with money, tourists w