Rendezvous with Rama

Rodrigo asks Norton to send an urgent message to his church on Earth. He claims that he has discovered Rama’s purpose: It’s a cosmic “ark” meant to save the lives of those whom God has judged worthy of salvation.

Norton is at a loss for words, though Rodrigo’s explanation makes sense to him. He raises the point that Rama will soon exit the solar system after reaching perihelion, leaving little to no time to transport those whom it would save from their respective home worlds. Rodrigo believes that when Rama reaches perihelion, it will swiftly change course, parking in Earth’s orbit. He adds that either a highly intelligent robot or a spirit is directing Rama’s movements, which would explain its operation in the absence of biological life.

Norton promises to send the message if Rodrigo will allow him to transmit a copy to the Rama Committee. He admits that though he doesn’t believe Rodrigo’s theory, he’s curious to see how the Committee will react.

Norton leads a new probe team through the entrance to Rama, where the climate has shifted. Clouds hang over the terrain, obscuring the features previously visible in limited light. The team is the same as the one from the first mission: Mercer, Calvert, and Myron (now physically fit).

Before traversing the stairs, Mercer tests the atmosphere for breathability. The high oxygen results confound him, and he initially thinks that his meter is broken. When Norton confirms his oxygen reading, the three remove their helmets and find the air humid and perfectly breathable. They continue to descend the stairs, carefully passing through the cloud layer that formed in their absence. When they exit the cloud, they find a curving waterfall on Rama. Mercer and Calvert can’t believe it, but Myron explains that this is a demonstration of the Coriolis effect.

The water is green, suggesting that organic life is developing on Rama. In just two days, Rama has experienced more than 300 million years’ worth of Earth’s natural history.

The Endeavour’s crew proceeds from their camp to the Cylindrical Sea, where they fashion a small raft from storage drums and metal. Norton names the raft Resolution after one of Cook’s other ships. Three crew members volunteer for a sailing test: Rodrigo, junior officer James “Jimmy” Pak, and Rousseau. Leading them is Executive Sergeant Ruby Barnes, who has the most extensive sailing experience among the crew.

An analysis of the seawater confirms Mercer’s theory that it contains microorganisms that generate oxygen. Closer inspection reveals that the microorganisms don’t resemble those on Earth because they lack a nucleus. Ernst determines that more microorganisms were present at dawn and that they’re now in a state of rapid decline. She warns the mariners not to consume any Raman water.

The next day, a new team sails to New York: Norton, Barnes, Rousseau, and Rodrigo. Reaching the island, they determine that the structures divide the island into sections of threes. Norton disembarks first and then signals Rousseau and Rodrigo to follow when he determines that it’s safe. He takes a panoramic image of the whole city.

Norton quickly realizes that New York isn’t a settlement but a complex machine akin to an industrial plant. The settlement is devoid of accommodations or entryways. There’s no sign of where the plant’s materials are stored or where their output is processed. Over the radio, Mercer suggests that New York draws its materials directly from the Cylindrical Sea. Chief Steward and Simp Master Sergeant Ravi McAndrews suggest that it uses seawater to make Ramans. After taking several more pictures of New York, Norton feels more unnerved by the silence on the island than anywhere else on Rama.

The team performs reconnaissance on the southern cliff of the Cylindrical Sea to determine its ascension path. Norton thinks it is likely that a vehicle is hidden in one of the structures, requiring brute force to access it. He’s apprehensive, sensing that the Ramans designed their cities to protect the objects they contain.

Jimmy Pak hesitantly approaches Norton to propose an idea for scaling the south cliff: flying along Rama’s axis to reach the south pole. Norton is skeptical, so Jimmy elaborates that after his participation in the Lunar Olympics the previous year, he joined a syndicate focused on building an aerobatic vehicle. Norton lauds the idea, though Jimmy points out that space survey missions don’t usually authorize sky-bikes. Norton realizes that Jimmy smuggled a sky-bike onto the Endeavour, which Jimmy admits he logged as “Recreational Stores.” Jimmy calls his sky-bike “Dragonfly.”

Jimmy’s Dragonfly resembles its namesake: It has long wings and a delicate frame. Jimmy is anxious about the success of his mission since it currently represents the only chance of reaching the southern half of Rama. After Ernst provides him with respiratory guidelines for flying along the axis, Jimmy launches the Dragonfly from the Hub for a test flight.

Crossing the first 100 meters, Jimmy observes that the Hub’s lack of gravity hinders the Dragonfly. He initially considers flying at a lower altitude but then realizes that this would risk Dragonfly’s main advantage: its weightlessness along the axis. Once he breaks away from the axis, Dragonfly will descend rapidly. Conversely, the closer he moves to the edge of the axis, the easier it is to maneuver Dragonfly.

Norton offers to help Jimmy disembark, but he refuses, indicating that he’ll need to learn how to do so on his own. He deftly maneuvers an exit from Dragonfly, eliciting applause from his crewmates. Ernst asks for oxygen and blood samples to analyze the flight’s effect on Jimmy.

Jimmy nervously launches his flight over the Cylindrical Sea, fearing all sorts of threats, from drowning in the poisonous waters to discovering hostile flying creatures. He passes over New York and starts taking pictures of everything he sees. Fifteen minutes later, he crosses over the south coast and clears the high cliff.

As Jimmy approaches the spikes that mark Rama’s south pole, he sees that it’s unlike the north pole in every way. It lacks stairway platforms, and buttresses link the spikes to one another, so they resemble a massive temple. As he nears the central spike, which he calls “Big Horn,” he slows down and anchors a line from Dragonfly to the spike, pulling in until he’s close enough to touch Big Horn. The surface is smooth and warm.

Hub Control asks Jimmy to travel down the spike and continue scanning it for energy readings. From there, he can progress to one of the “Little Horns.” Norton warns Jimmy not to leave the low-gravity zone of Big Horn at the risk of being stranded. When Jimmy moves closer to one of the Little Horns, the transmission signal to Hub Control becomes garbled, and Jimmy tries to regain a clear signal. Hub Control theorizes that he’s caught in a magnetic field. They urge him to turn around so that he can clear the interference.

The sound is so intense that Jimmy can hear it inside his head. As he retreats from the south pole, he convinces himself that what he heard was Rama’s voice.

Jimmy initiates his return flight from Big Horn to the Northern Hemisphere. As he reaches the edge of Big Horn, he has a growing sense of foreboding. He stops to inspect his surroundings, unsure of what’s causing his uneasiness. He notices that all the hairs on his arm are standing upright. He’s caught in a strong electric field, much like the kind that precedes a thunder strike on Earth. He reports the static charge to Hub Control, just as the first spike of lightning emits from one of the Little Horns. Panicked, Jimmy pedals away from Big Horn, losing altitude in his attempt to escape the electric field. He realizes that the spikes are part of an energy dispersal system and connect to an unseen source in the south pole.

A strong wind emits from the base of Big Horn, causing turbulence in the surrounding airspace. Jimmy soon realizes that it is electric wind formed from a difference in air pressure. Fire explodes from the tip of Big Horn and reaches out to the Little Horns, knocking Dragonfly out of the sky.