At the Core Larry Niven Produced by calibre 0.6.40 At the Core by Larry Niven I I couldnt decide whether to call it a painting a relief mural a sculpture or a hash but itwas the prize exhibit in the Art Section of the Institute of Knowledge on Jinx. The Kdatlynomust have strange eyes I thought. My own were watering. The longer I looked at quotFTLSPACEquot themore blurred it got. Id tentatively decided that it was _supposed_ to look blurred when a set of toothy jawsclamped gently on my arm. I jumped a foot in the air. A soft thrilling contralto voice saidquotBeowulf Shaeffer you are a spendthrift.quot That voice would have made a singers fortune. And I thought I recognized it -- but it couldntbe _that_ one was on We Made It light-years distant. I turned. The puppeteer had released my arm. It went on: quotAnd what do you think of Hrodenuquot quotHes ruining my eyes.quot quotThe Kdatlyno are blind to all but radar. FTLSPACE is not meant to be seen but to be touched.Run your tongue over it.quotquotMy tongue No thanks.quot I tried running my hand over it. If you want to know what it feltlike hop a ship for Jinx the things still there. The puppeteer cocked its head dubiously. quotIm sure your tongue is more sensitive. No guards arenearby.quot quotForget it. You know you sound just like the regional president of General Products on We MadeIt.quot quotIt was he who sent me your dossier Beowulf Shaeffer. No doubt we had the same Englishteacher. I am the regional president on Jinx as you no doubt recognized from my mane.quot Well not quite. The auburn mop over the brain case between the two necks is supposed to showcaste once you learn to discount variations of mere style. To do that you have to be apuppeteer. Instead of admitting my ignorance I asked quotDid that dossier say I was aspendthriftquot quotYou have spent more than a million stars in the past four years.quot quotAnd loved it.quot quotYes. You will shortly be in debt again. Have you thought of doing more writing I admired yourarticle on the neutron star BVS-1. The pointy bottom of a gravity well... Blue starlightfell on me like