Two hundred years before the discovery of Ringworld...

For too long, the Puppeteers have controlled the fate of worlds. Now Sigmund is pulling the strings.

Covert agent Sigmund Ausfaller is Earth's secret weapon, humanity's best defense against all conspiracies, both real and imaginary, and all foes, both human and alien.Who better than a brilliant paranoid to expose the devious plots of others?

But Sigmund may finally have met

A prelude to the seminal science fiction classic, Ringworld

Since fleeing the supernova chain reaction at the galactic core, the cowardly Puppeteers of the Fleet of Worlds have—just barely—survived one crisis after another: the rebellion of their human slaves, the relentless questing of the species of Known Space, the spectacular rise of the starfish-like Gw'oth, and the onslaught of the genocidal Pak.

Now fresh disaster

The explosive finale to the Ringworld and the Fleet of Worlds series

For decades, the spacefaring species of known space have battled over the largest artifact—and grandest prize—in the galaxy: the all-but-limitless resources and technology of the Ringworld. Now, without warning, the Ringworld has vanished, leaving behind three rival war fleets.

Somethingmust justify the blood and treasure that have been spent.If the fallen