Arthur C. Clarke - Rama 2 - Rama Revisited

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RAMA II

by Arthur C Clarke and Gentry Lee

[01 jul 2001 - scanned and released for #bookz, thanks

to bryon for proofing]

RAMA REVISITED

I never imagined, until a few years ago, that I would ever

collaborate with another writer on a work of fiction. Non-

fiction was different: I've been involved in no less than

fourteen multi-author projects (two with the editors of Life,

and you don't get more multiplex than that). But fiction-no

way! I was quite sure I would never let any outsider tamper

with my unique brand of creativity. . . .

Well, a funny thing happened on the way to the word

processor. Early in 1986 my agent, Scott Meredith, called

me in his most persuasive "Don't-say-no-until-I've-finished"

mode. There was, it seemed, this young genius of a movie

producer who was determined to film something-anything-of

mine. Though I'd never heard of Peter Guber, as it

happened I had seen two of his movies (Midnight Express,

The Deep), and been quite impressed by them. I was even

more impressed when Scott told me that Peter's latest, The

Color Purple, had been nominated for half a dozen Oscars.

However, I groaned inwardly when Scott went on to say that

Peter had a friend with a brilliant idea he'd like me to

develop into a screenplay. I groaned, because there are no

new ideas in s.f, and if it really was brilliant I'd have thought

of it already.

Then Scott explained who the friend was, and I did a

double-take. The project suddenly looked very exciting

indeed, for reasons that had nothing to do with Peter Guber,

but a lot to do with Stanley Kubrick.

Flashback. Twenty years earlier, in 2007: A Space Odyssey,

Stanley and I had visited the moons of Jupiter, never

dreaming that these completely unknown worlds would, in

fact, be reconnoitered by robots long before the date of our

movie. In March and July 1979, the two Voyager probes

revealed that lo, Europa, Ganymede, and Callisto were

stranger places than we'd dared to imagine. The stunning

views of Jupiter's giant satellites made it possible-no,

imperative-for me to write 2070: Odyssey Two. This time

around, the Jovian sequences could be based on reality, not

imagination; and when Peter Hyams filmed the book in

1984, he was able to use actual images from the Voyager

spacecraft as backgrounds for much of the action.

Spectacular though the results of the 1979 missions were, it

was confidently hoped that they would be quite surpassed

within a decade. The Voyager spacecraft spent only a few

hours in the vicinity of Jupiter, hurtling past the giant planet

and its moons on the way to Saturn. But in May 1986, NASA

planned to launch Galileo, an even more ambitious space

probe. This would make not a brief fly-by, but a rendezvous;

Galileo would spend two years, starting in December 1988,

on a detailed survey of Jupiter and its major moons. By

1990, if all went well, there would be such a flood of new

information about these exotic worlds that a third Space

Odyssey would be inevitable. That was what I was planning

to write; I'd hitched my wagon to Galileo, and could hardly

care less about some amateur science fiction author's ideas.

How to turn him down politely? I was still pondering this

when Scott continued:

"Peter Guber wants to fly out to Sri Lanka, just for thirty-six

hours, to introduce this guy to you. His name is Gentry Lee,

and let me explain who he is. He works at the Jet Propulsion

Laboratory, and he's the chief engineer on Project Galileo.

Have you heard of that?"

"Yes," I said faintly.

"And before that, he was director of mission planning for the

Viking landers, that sent back those wonderful pictures from

Mars. Because he felt the public didn't appreciate what was

going on in space, he formed a company with your friend

Carl Sagan to make Cosmos-he was manager of the whole

TV series-"

''Enough!" I cried. "This man I have to meet. Tell Mr. Gabor

to bring him here right away."

"The name," said Scott, "is Guber. Peter Guber."

Well, it was agreed that the two of them would fly out to Sri

Lanka, and if I liked Gentry's idea (and, equally important,

Gentry) I'd develop an outline -perhaps a dozen pages-

which would give characters, locations, plot, and all the

basic elements from which any competent script writer could

generate a screenplay.

They arrived in Colombo on February 12, 1986-just two

weeks after the Challenger disaster. 1986 was going to be

the Big Year for Space, but now the entire NASA program

was in total disarray. In particular, Galileo would be delayed

for years. It would be 1995 before there could be any

further news from the moons of Jupiter. I could forget about

Odyssey Three-just as Gentry could forget about doing

anything with Galileo except getting it back from the Cape

and putting it in mothballs.

Happily, the Guber-Lee-Clarke Summit went well, and for

the next few weeks I filled floppy disks with concepts,

characters, backgrounds, plots- anything which seemed

even remotely useful to the story we'd decided to call

Cradle. Gentry liked my four-thousand-word outline and

flew out to Sri Lanka again so that we could fill in the

details. From then onward, we were able to collaborate by

making frequent phone calls and flying yards of printout

across the Pacific.

The writing took the best part of a year, though of course

we were both involved in other projects as well. When I

discovered that Gentry had a considerably better

background in English and French literature than I did (by

now I was immune to such surprises) I heroically resisted all

attempts to impose my own style on him. This upset some

longtime ACC readers, who when Cradle appeared under our

joint names were put out by passages where I should have

done a little more sanitizing. The earthier bits of dialogue, 1

explained, were the result of Gentry's years with the hairy-

knuckled, hard-drinking engineers and mathematicians of

JPL's Astrodynamics Division, where the Pasadena cops

often have to be called in to settle bare-fisted fights over

Bessel Functions and nonlinear partial differential equations.

Though I'd greatly enjoyed working with Gentry, when we'd

finished rocking Cradle I had no plans for further

collaboration-because Halley's Comet was now dominating

my life, as it had failed to dominate terrestrial skies. I

realized that its next appearance, in 2061, would provide a

splendid opportunity for a third Space Odyssey. (If the

much-delayed Galileo does perform as hoped in 1995 and

beams back megabytes of new information from the Jovian

system, there may be a Final Odyssey. But I make no

promises.)

By the summer of 1987, 2061: Odyssey Three was doing

very nicely in the bookstores, thank you, and I was once

again beginning to feel those nagging guilt pains that assail

an author when he's not Working On A Project. Suddenly, I

realized that one was staring me right in the face.

Fifteen years earlier, the very last sentence of Rendezvous

With Rama had read: "The Ramans do everything in threes."

Now, those words were a last-minute afterthought when I

was doing the final revision. I had not- cross my heart-any

idea of a sequel in mind; it just seemed the correct, open-

ended way of finishing the book. (In real life, of course, no

story ever ends.)

Many readers-and reviewers-jumped to the conclusion that I

had planned a trilogy from the beginning. Well, I hadn't-but

now I realized it was a splendid idea. And Gentry was just

the man for the job: He had all the background in celestial

mechanics and space hardware to deal with the next

appearance of the Ramans.

I quickly outlined a spectrum of possibilities, very much as I

had done with Cradle, and in a remarkably short time Scott

had sold a whole package to Bantam's Lou Aronica. Rama

II, The Garden of Rama, and Rama Revealed would be

written and delivered during the 1989-91 period.

So once again Gentry Lee is commuting across the Pacific

for brainstorming sessions in the Sri Lankan hills, and the

postman is complaining about the bulky printouts he has to

balance on his bicycle. This time around, however,

technology has speeded up our intercontinental operations.

The fax machine now allows us to exchange ideas almost in

real time; it's far more convenient than the Electronic Mail

link Peter Hyams and I used when scripting 20/0 (see The

Odyssey File),

There is much to be said for this kind of long-distance

collaboration; if they are too close together, co-authors may

waste a lot of time on trivia. Even a solitary writer can think

of endless excuses for not working; with two, the

possibilities are at least squared.

However, there is no way of demonstrating that a writer is

neglecting his job; even if his snores are deafening, his

subconscious may be hard at work. And Gentry and I knew

that our wildest excursions into literature, science, art, or

history might yield useful story elements.

For example, during the writing of Rama II it became

obvious that Gentry was in love with Eleanor of Aquitaine-

don't worry, Stacey, she's been dead for 785 years-and I

had to tactfully dissuade him from devoting pages to her

amazing career. (If you wonder how E of A could have the

remotest connection with interstellar adventures, you have

pleasures in store.)

I certainly learned a lot of French and English history from

Gentry that they never taught me at school. The occasion

when Queen Eleanor berated her son, the intrepid warrior-

king Richard the Lion Heart in front of his troops for failing

to produce an heir to the throne must have been one of the

more piquant moments in British military history. Alas, there

was no way we could work in this gallant but gay Corleone,

who was often a godfather, never a father . . . very unlike

Gentry, whose fifth son arrived toward the end of Rama II.

But you will meet Gentry's most cherished creation, the yet-

to-be-born St. Michael of Siena. One day, I am sure, you'll

encounter him again, in books that Gentry will publish under

his own name, with the minimum of help or hindrance from

me.

As I write these words, we're just coming up to the midway

point of our four-volume partnership. And though we think

we know what's going to happen next, I'm sure the Ramans

have quite a few surprises in store for us. ...

-Arthur C. Clarke

1 RAMA RETURNS

The great radar pulse generator Excalibur, powered by

nuclear explosions, had been out of service for almost half a

century. It had been designed and developed in a frantic

effort during the months following the transit of Rama

through the solar system. When it was first declared

operational in 2132, Excalibur's announced purpose was to

give Earth ample warning of any future alien visitors: one as

gigantic as Rama could be detected at interstellar distances-

years, it was hoped, before it could have any effect on

human affairs.

That original commitment to build Excalibur had been made

even before Rama had passed perihelion. As the first

extraterrestrial visitor rounded the sun and headed out

toward the stars, armies of scientists studied the data from

the only mission that had been able to rendezvous with the

intruder.

Rama, they announced, was an intelligent robot with

absolutely no interest in our solar system or its inhabitants.

The official report offered no explanations for the many

mysteries encountered by the investigators; however, the

experts did convince themselves that they understood one

basic principle of Raman engineering. Since most of the

major systems and subsystems encountered inside Rama by

the human explorers had two functional backups, it

appeared that the aliens engineered everything in threes.

Therefore, since the entire giant vehicle was assumed to be

a machine, it was considered highly likely that two more

Rama spacecraft would be following the first visitor.

But no new spaceships entered the solar neighborhood from

the empty reaches of interstellar space. As the years passed

the people on Earth confronted more pressing problems.

Concern about the Ramans, or whoever it was that had

created that drab cylinder fifty kilometers long, abated as

the lone alien incursion passed into history. The visit of

Rama continued to intrigue many scholars, but most

members of the human species were forced to pay attention

to other issues. By the early 2140s the world was in the grip

of a severe economic crisis. There was no money left to

maintain Excalibur. Its few scientific discoveries could not

justify the enormous expense of assuring the safety of its

operation. The great nuclear pulse generator was

abandoned.

Forty-five years later it took thirty-three months to return

Excalibur to operational status. The primary justification for

the refurbishment of Excalibur was scientific. During the

intervening years radar science had flourished and produced

new methods of data interpretation that had greatly

enhanced the value of the Excalibur observations. As the

generator again took images of the distant heavens, almost

nobody on Earth was expecting the arrival of another Rama

spacecraft.

The operations manager at Excalibur Station did not even

inform his supervisor the first time the strange blip

appeared on his data processing display. He thought it was

an artifact, a bogey created by an anomalous processing

algorithm. When the signature repeated several times,

however, he paid closer attention. The manager called in the

chief Excalibur scientist, who analyzed the data and decided

the new object was a long period comet. It was another two

months before a graduate student proved that the signature

belonged to a smooth body at least forty kilometers in its

longest dimension.

By 2179 the world knew that the object hurtling through the

solar system toward the inner planets was a second

extraterrestrial spacecraft. The International Space Agency

(ISA) concentrated its resources to prepare a mission that

would intercept the intruder just inside the orbit of Venus in

late February of 2200. Again the eyes of humanity looked

outward, toward the stars, and the deep philosophical

questions raised by the first Rama were again debated by

the populace on Earth. As the new visitor drew nearer and

its physical characteristics were more carefully resolved by

the host of sensors aimed in its direction, it was confirmed

that this alien spacecraft, at least from the outside, was

identical to its predecessor. Rama had returned. Mankind

had a second appointment with destiny.

2 TEST AND TRAINING

The bizarre metallic creature inched along the wall, crawling

up toward the overhang. It resembled a skinny armadillo, its

jointed snail body covered by a thin shell that curled over

and around a compact grouping of electronic gadgetry

astride the middle of its three sections. A helicopter hovered

about two meters away from the wall. A long flexible arm

with a pincer on the end extended from the nose of the

helicopter and just missed closing its jaws around the odd

creature.

"Dammit," muttered Janos Tabori, "this is almost impossible

with the 'copter bouncing around. Even in perfect conditions

it's hard to do precision work with these claws at full

extension." He glanced over at the pilot. "And why can't this

fantastic flying machine keep its altitude and attitude

constant?"

"Move the helicopter closer to the wall," ordered Dr. David

Brown.

Hiro Yamanaka looked at Brown without expression and

entered a command into the control console. The screen in

front of him flashed red and printed out the message,

COMMAND UNACCEPTABLE. INSUFFICIENT TOLERANCES.

Yamanaka said nothing. The helicopter continued to hover in

the same spot.

"We have fifty centimeters, maybe seventy-five, between

the blades and the wall," Brown thought out loud. "In

another two or three minutes the biot will be safe under the

overhang. Let's go to manual and grab it. Now. No mistakes

this time, Tabori."

For an instant a dubious Hire Yamanaka stared at the

balding, bespectacled scientist sitting in the seat behind

him. Then the pilot turned, entered another command into

the console, and switched the large black lever to the left

position. The monitor flashed, IN MANUAL MODE. NO

AUTOMATIC PROTECTION. Yamanaka gingerly eased the

helicopter closer to the wall.

Engineer Tabori was ready. He inserted his hands in the

instrumented gloves and practiced opening and closing the

jaws at the end of the flexible arm. Again the arm extended

and the two mechanical mandibles deftly closed around the

jointed snail and its shell. The feedback loops from the

sensors on the claws told Tabori, through his gloves, that he

had successfully captured his prey. "I've got it," he shouted

exultantly. He began the slow process of bringing the quarry

back into the helicopter.

A sudden draft of wind rolled the helicopter to the left and

the arm with the biot banged against the wall. Tabori felt his

grip loosening. "Straighten it up," he cried, continuing to

retract the arm. While Yamanaka was struggling to null the

rolling motion of the helicopter, he inadvertently tipped the

nose down just slightly. The three crew members heard the

sickening sound of the metal rotor blades crashing against

the wall.

The Japanese pilot immediately pushed the emergency

button and the craft returned to automatic control. In less

than a second, a whining alarm sounded and the cockpit

monitor flashed red. EXCESSIVE DAMAGE. HIGH

PROBABILITY OF FAILURE. EJECT CREW. Yamanaka did not

hesitate. Within moments he blasted out of the cockpit and

had his parachute deployed. Tabori and Brown followed. As

soon as the Hungarian engineer removed his hands from the

special gloves, the claws at the end of the mechanical arm

relaxed and the armadillo creature fell the hundred meters

to the flat plain below, smashing into thousands of tiny

pieces.

The pilotless helicopter descended erratically toward the

plain. Even with its onboard automatic landing algorithm

active and in complete control, the damaged flying machine

bounced hard on its struts when it hit the ground and tipped

over on its side. Not far from the helicopter's landing site, a

portly man, wearing a brown military suit covered with

ribbons, jumped down from an open elevator. He had just

descended from the mission control center and was clearly

agitated as he walked briskly to a waiting rover. He was

followed by a scrambling lithe blond woman in an ISA flight

suit with camera equipment hanging over both her

shoulders. The military man was General Valeriy Borzov,

commander-in-chief of Project Newton. "Anyone hurt?" he

asked the occupant of the rover, electrical engineer Richard

Wakefield.

"Janos apparently banged his shoulder pretty hard during

the ejection. But Nicole just radioed that he had no broken

bones or separations, only a lot of bruises."

General Borzov climbed into the front seat of the rover

beside Wakefield, who was sitting behind the vehicle control

panel. The blond woman, video journalist Francesca

Sabatini, stopped recording the scene and started to open

the back door of the rover. Borzov abruptly waved her

away. "Go check on des Jardins and Tabori," he said,

pointing across the level plain. "Wilson's probably there

already."

Borzov and Wakefield headed in the opposite direction in the

rover. They traveled about four hundred meters before they

pulled alongside a slight man, about fifty, in a new flight

suit. David Brown was busy folding up his parachute and

replacing it in a stuff bag. General Borzov stepped down

from the rover and approached the American scientist.

"Are you all right, Dr. Brown?" the general asked, obviously

impatient to dispense with the preliminaries.

Brown nodded but did not reply. "In that case," General

Borzov continued in a measured tone, "perhaps you could

tell me what you were thinking about when you ordered

Yamanaka to go to manual. It might be better if we

discussed it here, away from the rest of the crew."

"Did you even see the warning lights?" Borzov added after a

lengthy silence. "Did you consider, even for a moment, that

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RAMAIIbyArthurCClarkeandGentryLee[01jul2001-scannedandreleasedfor#bookz,thankstobryonforproofing]RAMAREVISITEDIneverimagined,untilafewyearsago,thatIwouldevercollaboratewithanotherwriteronaworkoffiction.Non-fictionwasdifferent:I'vebeeninvolvedinnolessthanfourteenmulti-authorprojects(twowiththeeditors...

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