Soft Weapon, The
On an unassuming little ice-ball of a world, orbiting Beta Lyrae, a Kzin ship lurks, hoping to capture explorers who may have come across Slaver Stasis Boxes in their travels. The Court Jester, owned by Jason and Anne-Marie Papandreou, is just such a ship—its sole passenger, the puppeteer Nessus, has just purchased a Box from the Outsiders. When the box is opened it reveals a mysterious weapon of unspeakable power, and the race is on to decipher the ancient weapon's true nature. As a point of interest, this episode was also turned into an animated Star Trek episode in the 1970s, with Spock as Nessus!
Introduction of Nessus. Later made into "The Slaver Weapon," an animated Star Trek script, with Spock in Nessus' role.
See: Slaver Weapon, The
as "L'Arme Molle," in Galaxie, Septembre 1971; Neutron Star; Playgrounds of the Mind; World of Ptavvs/A Gift from Earth/Neutron Star; Best of Larry Niven, The