Rama Revealed

5

The octospider on the table was unconscious. Nicole handed Dr. Blue the small plastic container that the alien physician had requested and watched as the tiny creatures were dumped onto the greenish black fluid that covered the open wound. In less than a minute the fluid was gone and her octospider colleague deftly sewed up the incision using the forward five centimeters of three of her tentacles.

“That’s the last one for today,” Dr. Blue said in color. “As always, Nicole, we thank you for your help.”

The two of them walked together out of the operating area into an adjacent room. Nicole had not yet accustomed herself to the cleaning process. She took a deep breath before removing her protective gown and placing her arms in a large bowl filled with dozens of silverfish like animals. Nicole fought against her personal revulsion as the slimy things clambered all over her arms and hands.

“I know this part is not pleasant for you,” Dr. Blue said, “but we really have no choice now that the forward water supply has been contaminated by the bombing. And we can’t take a chance that anything here might be toxic for you.”

“Is everything destroyed north of the forest?” Nicole asked while Dr. Blue finished cleaning herself up.

“Almost,” the octospider replied. “And it looks as if the human engineers have now finished their modifications to the helicopters. The Chief Optimizer fears that they will make their first flights over the forest in another week or two.”

“And there have been no replies to the messages you have sent?”

“None at all. We know that Nakamura has read them… but the humans captured and killed the last messenger near the power plant-despite the fact that our octospider was carrying a white flag.”

Nicole sighed. She remembered something Max had said the night before when she had expressed bewilderment that Nakamura was ignoring all the messages. “Of course he is,” Max had shouted angrily. “That man understands nothing but force. All those stupid messages say is that the octos want peace and will be forced to defend themselves if the humans don’t desist. The threats that follow are meaningless. What is Nakamura to think when his troops and helicopters move around unimpeded, destroying everything in sight? Hasn’t the Chief Optimizer learned anything about humans? The octospiders must engage Nakamura’s army in some kind of battle.”

“That’s not their way,” Nicole had replied. ‘They do not involve themselves in skirmishes or limited wars. They only fight when their survival is threatened. The messages have spelled this all out very carefully and have repeatedly urged Nakamura to talk to Richard and Archie.”

In the hospital, Dr. Blue was flashing colors at Nicole. She shook her head and returned to the present. “Are you going to wait today for Benjy?” the octospider asked. “Or will you go directly over to the administrative center?”

Nicole checked her watch. “I think I’ll go now. It usually takes me a couple of hours to digest all the quadroid data from the day before. So much is happening. Please tell Benjy to tell the others that I’ll be home for dinner.”

She walked out of the hospital a few minutes later and headed for the administrative center. Even though it was daytime, the streets of the Emerald City were nearly deserted. Nicole passed three octospiders, all hurrying on the other side of the road, and a pair of crab biots, who looked strangely out of place. Dr. Blue had told Nicole that the crab biots had been recruited for Emerald City garbage duty.

The city has changed so much since the decree, Nicole thought. Most of the older octos are now over in the war domain. And we never saw a single biot here until a month ago, after most of the support creatures had supposedly been moved to another location. Max thinks many of them might have been terminated because of the shortages. Max always thinks the worst of the octospiders.

Often after work Nicole would accompany Benjy to the transport stop. Her son was also helping the shorthanded staff at the hospital. As Benjy had become more aware of what was occurring in the Emerald City, it had grown increasingly difficult for Nicole to hide the seriousness of their situation.

“Why are our people fighting against the octospiders?” Benjy had asked the previous week. “Don’t they know that — the octos don’t want to hurt anybody?”

“The colonists in New Eden don’t understand the octospiders,” Nicole had replied. “And they won’t let Archie and Uncle Richard explain anything.”

“Then they’re stupider than I am,” Benjy had said gruffly.

Dr. Blue and the other members of the octospider hospital staff who had not been reassigned because of the war were all very impressed with Benjy. In the beginning, when he had volunteered to help, the octospiders had had reservations about what he could do with his limited capabilities. Once a simple task had been explained to him by Nicole, however, and he had repeated it back to her, Benjy never made a mistake. With his strong, youthful body, he was especially helpful performing heavy labor, a valuable attribute now that so many of the larger creatures were no longer around.

While Nicole was walking toward the administrative center, she found herself thinking about both Benjy and Katie. In her mind’s eye Nicole glanced back and forth between pictures of the two children. As parents, she said to herself, we often spend too much time focusing on intellectual potential instead of more substantive qualities. What matters most is not how much intellect the child has, but rather what he or she decides to do with it. Benjy has succeeded beyond our wildest imaginings, primarily because of who he is inside. As for Katie, never, in my worst nightmares…

Nicole broke her train of thought as she entered the building. An octospider guard waved at her and she smiled. When she reached her usual viewing room, Nicole was surprised to find the Chief Optimizer waiting for her. “I wanted to take this opportunity,” the head octospider said, “both to thank you for the contribution you are making in this difficult period and to reassure you that all your family and friends here in the Emerald City will be cared for as if they were members of our species, no matter what happens in the next few weeks.”

The Chief Optimizer started to leave the room. “The situation is deteriorating, then?” Nicole asked.

“Yes,” the octospider replied. “As soon as the humans fly over the forest, we will be forced to retaliate.”

When the Chief Optimizer was gone, Nicole sat down in front of her console to scan through the quadroid data from the day before. She was not allowed access to all the information from New Eden, but she was permitted to call up the images of the daily activities of all the members of her family. Nicole could see each day what was happening in the basement with Richard and Archie, how Ellie and Nikki were adjusting to being back in New Eden, and what was occurring in Katie’s world.

As time passed, Nicole watched Katie less and less. It was simply too painful for her. Observing her granddaughter Nikki, by contrast, was pure delight. Nicole especially enjoyed watching Nikki on those afternoons when (the little girl went to the Beauvois playground to play with the other children of the village. Although the images were soundless,

Nicole could almost hear the squeals of mirthful delight as Nikki and the others tumbled over one another in pursuit of an elusive soccer ball.

Nicole’s heart ached for Ellie. Despite her daughter’s heroic efforts, Ellie was not having any luck resuscitating her marriage. Robert had remained withdrawn in his workaholic pattern, using the demands of the hospital to keep him from facing all emotions, including his own. He was a dutiful but restrained parent with Nikki, only rarely showing any true delight. He did not make love with Ellie and would not talk about it, except to say that he was “not ready” when she tearfully brought up the subject three weeks after they had been reunited.

She always saved Richard for last. Although Nicole never really shook the premonition that she would not touch her husband again, she did not let that feeling detract from the daily pleasure she experienced sharing his life in the basement in New Eden. She especially enjoyed his conversations with Archie, even though it was often difficult for her to read his lips. Their discussions reminded Nicole of earlier days, after her escape from prison and New Eden, when Richard and she would talk and talk about everything. Watching Richard always left Nicole feeling uplifted and much more able to deal with her own loneliness.

The reunion between Richard and Katie caught her by surprise. She had not been following Katie’s life closely enough to know that her daughter and Franz had success-folly designed a plan to secure a short visit with Richard. Because the quadroid images covered the infrared portion of the spectrum as well as the visible, Nicole actually had a better view of the reunion than the participants. She was deeply moved by Katie’s action, and even more by Katie’s sudden admission (which Nicole watched over and over, in super slow motion, to make certain she was properly leading Katie’s lips) that she was a drug addict. The first step to overcoming a problem, Nicole remembered from somewhere, is to admit to someone you love that the problem exists.

There were happy tears in Nicole’s eyes as she rode the nearly empty transport back to the human enclave in the Emerald City. Despite the fact that the bizarre world around her was deteriorating into chaos, for once Nicole was optimistic about Katie.

Patrick and the twins were outside when Nicole stepped off the transport at the end of the street. As she drew closer, she could tell that Patrick was trying to adjudicate one of the boys’ innumerable disputes.

“He always cheats,” Kepler was saying. “I told him that I wasn’t going to play with him anymore and he hit me.”

“That’s a lie,” Galileo replied. “I hit him because he made a face at me. Kepler’s a sore loser. If he can’t win, he thinks it’s all right to quit.”

Patrick separated the two boys and sent them, as punishment, to sit against opposite corners of the house. He then greeted his mother with a kiss and a hug.

“I have some big news,” Nicole said, smiling at her son. “Richard had a surprise visitor today-Katie!”

Of course Patrick wanted to know all the details of the visit between his sister and Richard. Nicole summarized what she had seen, admitting that she was encouraged by Katie’s confession of her drug habit. “Don’t read too much into her action,” Patrick admonished. “The Katie I knew would rather die than be without her precious kokomo.”

Patrick had turned around and was almost ready to tell the twins that they could resume playing, when a pair of rockets raced skyward, bursting into bright red balls of light just underneath the dome. Moments later the city was plunged into darkness. “Come on, boys,” Patrick said. “We must go inside.”

“That’s the third time today,” Patrick commented to Nicole as they followed Kepler and Galileo into the house.

“Dr. Blue said they extinguish the city lights the moment any helicopter rises to within twenty meters of the top of the forest canopy. Under no circumstances do the octospiders want to risk showing the location of the Emerald City.”

“Do you think Archie and Uncle Richard will ever have a chance to meet with Nakamura?” Patrick asked.

“I doubt it,” Nicole replied. “If he were going to see them, it should have happened before now.”

Eponine and Nai greeted Nicole and embraced her. The three women talked briefly about the blackout. Eponine was holding little Marius on her hip. The boy was a fat, happy baby with a major drooling habit. She wiped off his face with a cloth so that Nicole could kiss him,

“Ah-ha,” she heard Max say behind her, “the Queen of Frowns is now kissing the Prince of Drools.”

Nicole turned around and gave Max a hug. “What’s this Queen of Frowns bit?” she said lightly.

Max handed her a glass containing some clear liquid. “Here, Nicole, I want you to drink this. It’s not tequila, but it’s the best substitute the octospiders could make from my description. We’re all hoping that maybe you’ll find your sense of humor before you finish the drink.”

“Come on, Max,” Eponine said. “Don’t make Nicole think that we’re all somehow involved. This was your idea, after all. The only thing that Patrick, Nai, and I did was agree with you that she has been very serious lately.”

“Now, my lady,” Max said to Nicole, raising his glass and clinking it against hers, “I want to propose a toast. To all of us, who have absolutely no control over our future. May we love each other and share laughter until the end, whenever and however it might come.”

Nicole had not seen Max drunk since before she went to prison. At his insistence she took a small drink. Her throat and esophagus burned and her eyes watered. The drink contained a lot of alcohol.

“Before dinner tonight,” Max now said, opening his arms in a dramatic flourish, “we are going to tell farm jokes. This will provide us some much-needed comic relief. You, Nicole des Jardins Wakefield, as our leader by example if not by election, will have the floor first.”

Nicole managed a smile. “But I don’t know any farm jokes,” she protested.

Eponine was relieved to see that Nicole was not offended by Max’s behavior. ‘That’s all right, Nicole,” Eponine said, “none of us do. Max knows enough farm jokes for all of us.”

“Once upon a time,” Max began a few moments later, “there was a farmer from Oklahoma who had a fat wife named Whistle. She was called Whistle because, at the climax of her lovemaking, she would close her eyes, screw up her mouth, and make a long whistling sound.”

Max belched. The twins giggled. Nicole worried that maybe it was not appropriate for the children to hear Max’s story, but Nai was sitting behind her boys, laughing with them. Relax, Nicole told herself. You really have become the Queen of Frowns.

“Now, one night,” Max continued, “this farmer and Whistle had a big brouhaha-that’s a fight, to you, boys- and she went to bed early and fuming. The fanner sat by himself at the table, drinking some fine tequila. As the evening progressed, he became sorry that he had been such an ornery son of a bitch and began to apologize in a loud voice.

“Meanwhile, ole Whistle, who was now angry all over again because the farmer had awakened her, knew that when he finished drinking, her husband was going to enter the bedroom and try to seal his apology with some wild lovemaking. While the farmer emptied the bottle of tequila, Whistle slipped out of the house, went over to the pigpen, and carried the youngest and smallest of the sows back into their bedroom.

“When the drunken farmer staggered into the dark bedroom later that night, singing one of his favorite hymns, Whistle was watching from the corner and the sow was in the bed. The farmer took all his clothes off and jumped under the sheets. He grabbed the sow by the ears and kissed her on me lips. The sow squealed and the fanner pulled back. ‘Whistle, my love,’ he said, ‘did you forget to brush your teeth tonight?’

“His wife bolted from the corner and began beating the farmer on the head with a broom.”

Everyone was laughing. Max was so amused by his own joke that he could not sit upright. When he finished laughing, he took another drink of the octospider alcohol.

“My brother Clyde,” Max said, “knew more farm jokes than anyone I ever met. He courted Winona with them, or so he claimed. Clyde used to tell me that a ‘laughing woman already has one hand on her panties.’ When we would go duck hunting with the guys, we’d never shoot a single goddamn duck. Clyde would start telling stories, and we’d be laughing and drinking. After a while we’d forget why we got up at five a.m. to go and sit in the cold.”

Max stopped talking and there was a momentary quiet in the room. “Damn,” he said after the brief silence. “For a while there I was imagining I was back in Arkansas.” He stood up. “I don’t even know now which way Arkansas is from here, or how many billions of kilometers away it is.” Max shook his head. “Sometimes, when I’m dreaming and it’s real lifelike, I think the dream is reality. I believe I’m back in Arkansas. Then when I wake up I am lost, and I think for a few seconds that this life we’re living here in the Emerald City is the dream.”

“The same thing happens to me,” Nai said. “Two nights ago I dreamed I was doing my morning meditation in the hawng pro in my family home in Lamphun. As I was reciting my mantra, Patrick awakened me. He told me that I was talking in my sleep. For a few seconds, however, I didn’t know who he was. It was frightening.”

“All right,” Max said after a protracted silence. He turned to Nicole. “I guess we’re ready for the news of the day. What do you have to tell us?”

“The quadroid videos today were very peculiar,” a smiling Nicole replied. “For the first few minutes, I was certain I had entered the wrong data base. Image after image showed a pig, or a chicken, or a drunken Oklahoma farm boy trying to court a sweet young thing. In the last series of pictures a fanner was trying to drink tequila, eat fried chicken, and make love with his sweetheart all at the same time-which reminds me, that chicken sure looked good. Is anyone else hungry?”