From "The Ringworld Throne": "........The Hindmost danced.

They were dancing as far as the eye could see, beneath a ceiling that was a flat mirror. Tens of thousands of his kind moved in tight patterns that were great mutating curves, heads cocked high and low to keep their orientation. The clicking of their hooves was a part of the music, like a hundred thousand castinets.

Kick short, kick past, veer. One eye for your counterpartner. In this movement and the next, never glance toward the wall that hides the Brides. Never touch. For millions of years the competition dance, and a wide spectrum of other social vectors, had determined who would mate and who would not........."

Stories featuring the Hindmost:

The Ringworld Engineers:

After the Puppeteer Migration , the Hindmost's Government: the Experimentalists is thrown from power by the Conservative faction. Not to be outdone, a renegade Hindmost kidnaps Chmee and Louis Wu and returns to the Ringworld in search of alien technology that will bring faith back to his government and his reinstatement. The Hindmost does not find any miraculous alien technology still on the Ringworld, but assists Louis Wu in defeating Teela Brown who has now become a Pak Protector. Their ship the "The Hot Needle of Inquiry" ends up buried in several miles of lava under the Repair Center on the Map of Mars. With the Hindmost's aid, Louis prevents the Ringworld from sliding off-center into its star.

The Ringworld Throne:

Twenty years after correcting the Ringworld's spin, the Hindmost is still in the ship under the Map of Mars. He is quite content having a world of electronical gadgetry with which to amuse himself. Louis has gone native, as has Chmee. Meanwhile a Vampire-bred Protector is in Control of the other Repair Center under the second great Ocean 180 degrees around the circumference of the Ringworld.

Current status:

Alive, but buried under tonnes of congealed lava in the Hot Needle of Inquiry on the Map of Mars Repair Center, Great Ocean, Ringworld.

Copyright © 1996-2001 Nesssus
Most recent revision December 26, 2001

Sources Consulted: Ringworld, The Ringworld Engineers, The Ringworld Throne, and The Guide to Larry Niven's Ringworld by Kevin Stein