When they reach the vicinity of the Ringworld, they are unable to contact anyone, and their ship, the "Lying Bastard", is disabled by the Ringworld's automated meteoroid-defense system. The severely damaged vessel collides with a strand of shadow-square wire and crash-lands near a huge mountain, "Fist-of-God". As the fusion drive is destroyed, they are unable to launch back into space where they could use the undamaged faster-than-light hyperdrive to return home. They set out to find a way to get the "Lying Bastard" off the Ringworld.