Where the webeye had been, now they saw a window: a view through blowing rain, down past the rim of a vast plate. Far below, pale humanoid shapes swarmed in their hundreds. They seemed gregarious enough. They rubbed against each other without hostility, and here and there they mated without seeking privacy.

“This is present time,” the Hindmost said. “I’ve been monitoring this site since we restored the Ringworld’s orbit.”

Kawaresksenjajok said, “Vampires. Flup, Harkee, have you ever seen so many together?”

Louis asked, “Well?”

“Before I brought our probe back to the Great Ocean. I used it to spray webeyes. You’re seeing that region we first explored, on the highest structure I could find, to give me the best view. Alas for my view, rain and cloud have obscured it ever since. But, Louis, you can see that there is life here.”

“Vampires.”

“Kawaresksenjajok, Harkabeeparolyn, this is to port of where you lived. Can you see that life is thriving here? You could return.”

The woman was waiting, postponing judgment. The boy was torn. He said a word in his own language, untranslatable.

“Don’t promise what you can’t deliver,” said Louis Wu.

“Louis, you have evaded me ever since we saved the Ringworld. Always you speak as if we turned a blowtorch hundreds of thousands of miles across on inhabited terrain. I’ve questioned your numbers. You don’t listen. See for yourself, they still live!”

“Wonderful,” Louis said. “The vampires lived through it!”

“More than vampires. Watch.” The Hindmost whistled; the view zoomed on distant mountains.

Thirty-odd hominids marched through a pass between peaks. Twenty-one vampires; six of the small red-skinned herders they’d seen on their last visit; five of a bigger, darker hominid creature; two of a small-headed variety, perhaps not sapient. All of the prey were naked, and none were trying to escape. They were tired but joyful. Each member of another species had a vampire companion. Only a few vampires wore clothing against the chill and the rain. The clothing was clearly borrowed, cut to fit something other than what wore it.