Lying Bastard

Lying Bastard is the name of a fictional spacecraft in the novel Ringworld.

The spacecraft was built by the Pierson's Puppeteers specifically for a journey to explore the artifact called the Ringworld, which the Pupeteer's Fleet of Worlds had recently encountered. The ship had a custom-built #2 General Products hull made of nearly indestructible material. Outside this spindle-shaped hull was a large delta-wing structure with thrusters, a sensor array and large fusion rockets (which provided both propulsion and potential weapons, since a stream of fusion-temperature plasma travelling at near-light speed can ruin your whole day). The inside of the hull was fitted with a Slaver stasis field, a device which could suspend time within the ship, effectively separating it from the rest of the universe; so long as the field was active, no energy or matter could get in or out.

The unfortunate downside to this design was not realized until the vessel was attacked by a giant laser beam which vaporized the outer wing, leaving the ship with no means of propulsion or steering, leading it to crash on the Ringworld itself. Eventually, the crew was able to arrange for the ship to be dropped off the Ringworld through a hole in the top of Fist-of-God Mountain, which was punched upward as the result of a millennia-ago asteroid impact on the underside of the Ringworld. The Bastard and its crew fell through and were flung outward until they reached a sufficient distance to activate the ship's hyperdrive (which fortunately for all concerned, was inside the hull) and flew home.

Note: The name "Lying Bastard" was chosen by Louis Wu, one of the crewmembers, because of what he saw as the ship's deceptive nature. While ostensibly unarmed, its indestructible hull and fusion-jet engines made it potentially a powerful warship.

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