Larry Niven - Juggler of Worlds

Fleet of Worlds

Juggler of Worlds

TOR BOOKS BY LARRY NIVEN

N-Space

Playgrounds of the Mind

Destinys Road

Rainbow Mars

Scatterbrain

The Draco Tavern

Ringworlds Children

WITH STEVEN BARNES

Achilles Choice

The Descent of Anansi

Saturns Race

WITH JERRY POURNELLE AND STEVEN BARNES

The Legacy of Heorot

Beowulfs Children

WITH BRENDA COOPER

Building Harlequins Moon

TOR BOOKS BY EDWARD M. LERNER

Fools Experiments

Larry Niven AND Edward M. Lerner

TOM DOHERTY ASSOCIATES, LLC
New York

This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, organizations, and events portrayed in
this novel are either products of the authors imaginations or are used fictitiously.

JUGGLER OF WORLDS

Copyright 2008 by Larry Niven and Edward M. Lerner

All rights reserved.

A Tor Book
Published by Tom Doherty Associates, LLC
175 Fifth Avenue
New York, NY 10010

www.tor-forge.com

Tor is a registered trademark of Tom Doherty Associates, LLC.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Niven, Larry.
Juggler of worlds / Larry Niven and Edward M. Lerner.1st ed.
p. cm.
A Tom Doherty Associates book.
ISBN-13: 978-0-7653-1826-8
ISBN-10: 0-7653-1826-1
1. Government investigatorsFiction. 2. ConspiracyFiction. I. Lerner,
Edward M. II. Title.
PS3564.I9J84 2008
813.54dc22

2008022041

First Edition: September 2008

Printed in the United States of America

0 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

To the readers who work on a book long after its closed,
and really get their moneys worth: Thanks for the help.

*Earth resident, unless otherwise noted.

*Unless otherwise noted, a low-status individual yet to earn a name.

Sigmund Ausfaller woke up shivering, prone on a cold floor. His head pounded. Tape bound his wrists and ankles to plasteel chains.

He had always known it would end horribly. Only the when, where, how, why, and by whom of it all had eluded him.

That fog was beginning to lift.

How had he gotten here, wherever here was? As though from a great distance, Sigmund watched himself quest for recent memories. Why was it such a struggle?

He remembered the pedestrian concourse of an open-air mall, shoppers streaming. They wore every color of the rainbow, clothing and hair and skin, in every conceivable combination and pattern. Overhead, fluffy clouds scudded across a clear blue sky. The sun was warm on his face. Work, for once, had been laid aside. Hed been content.

Happiness is the sworn enemy of vigilance. How could he have been so careless?

Sigmund forced open his eyes. He was in a nearly featureless room. Its walls, floor, and ceiling were resilient plastic. Light came from one wall. I could be anywhere, Sigmund thoughtand then two details grabbed his attention.

The room wasnt quite a box. The glowing wall had a bit of a curve to it.

There were recessed handholds in walls, floor, and ceiling.

Panic struck. He was on a spaceship! Was gravity a hair higher than usual? Lower? He couldnt tell.

Plasteel chains clattered dully as Sigmund sat up. He had watched enough old movies to expect chains to clink. Even as the room spun around him and everything faded to black, he found the energy to feel cheated.