Rama Revealed

3

Nicole finished her dried apricots and crossed the room to drop the package in the wastebasket. It was nearly full. She tried to compress the waste with her foot, but the level barely changed.

My time is running out, she thought, her eyes mechanically scanning the food remaining on the shelf. I can last maybe five more days. Then I must have some new supplies. Both Joan and Eleanor had been gone for forty-eight hours. During the first two weeks of Nicole’s stay in the room underneath Max Puckett’s barn, one of the two robots had been with her all the time. Talking with them had been almost like talking with her husband, Richard, at least originally, before Nicole had exhausted all the topics the little robots had stored in their memories.

These two robots are his greatest creations, Nicole said to herself, sitting down in the chair. He must have spent months on them. She remembered Richard’s Shakespearean robots from the Newton days. Joan and Eleanor are far more sophisticated than Prince Hal and Falstaff. Richard must have learned a lot from the engineering of the human biots in New Eden.

Joan and Eleanor had kept Nicole informed about the major events occurring in the habitat. It was an easy task for them. Part of their programmed instruction was to observe and to report by radio to Richard during their periodic sorties outside of New Eden, so they passed the same information on to Nicole. She knew, for example, that Nakamura’s special police had searched every building in the settlement, ostensibly looking for anyone hoarding critical resources, in the first two weeks after her escape. They had also come to the Puckett farm, of course, and for four hours Nicole had sat perfectly still in total darkness in her hideout. She had heard some noises above her, but whoever had conducted the search had not spent much time in the barn.

More recently, it had often been necessary for both Joan and Eleanor to be outside of the hideout at the same time. They told her that they were busy coordinating the next phase of her escape. Once, Nicole had asked the robots how they managed to pass so easily through the checkpoint at the entrance to New Eden. “It’s really very simple,” Joan had said. “Cargo trucks pass through the gate a dozen times a day, most carrying items to and from the troops and construction personnel over in the other habitat, some going out to Avalon. We’re almost impossible to notice in any large load.”

Joan and Eleanor had also brought Nicole up to date on all the colony history since she had been imprisoned. Nicole now knew that the humans had invaded the avian/sessile habitat and essentially routed its occupants. Richard had not wasted robot memory space or his own time by supplying Joan and Eleanor with too many of the details about the avians and sessiles; however, Nicole did know that Richard had managed to escape to New York with two avian eggs, four manna melons containing embryos of the bizarre sessile species, and a critical slice of an actual adult sessile.

She also knew that the two avian hatchlings had been born a few months earlier and that Richard was being kept extremely busy tending to their needs.

It was difficult for Nicole to imagine her husband, Richard, playing both mother and father to a pair of aliens. She remembered that when their own children had been small, Richard had not shown much interest in their development, and he had often been insensitive to the children’s emotional needs. Of course he had been marvelous at teaching them facts, especially abstract concepts from mathematics and science. But Nicole and Michael O’Toole had remarked to each other several times during their long voyage on Rama II that Richard did not seem to be capable of dealing with children on their own level.

His own childhood was so painful, Nicole thought, recalling her conversations with Richard about his abusive father. He must have grown up with no capability to love or trust other people. All his friends were fantasies or robots he had created himself… She paused for a moment in her thinking. But during our years in New Eden he definitely changed… I never had a chance to tell him how proud I was of him. That was why I wanted to leave the special letter…

The solitary light in her room suddenly went out and Nicole was surrounded by darkness. She sat quite still in her chair and listened carefully for any sounds. Although Nicole knew that the police were again on the premises, she could hear nothing. As she became more frightened, Nicole realized how important Joan and Eleanor had become to her. During the first visit to the Puckett farm by the special police, both the little robots had been in the room to comfort her.

Time passed very slowly. Nicole could hear the beating of her heart. After what seemed like an eternity, she heard noises above her. It sounded as if there were many people in the barn. Nicole took a deep breath and tried to steady herself. Seconds later, she nearly jumped out of her skin when she heard a soft voice beside her reciting a poem.

Nicole recognized eventually that the voice belonged to the robot Joan, and that she was reciting Benita Garcia’s famous pair of stanzas about fear, written after Benita had been thoroughly politicized by the poverty and destitution of the Great Chaos. The friendly voice of the robot and the familiar lines of the poem temporarily mitigated Nicole’s panic. For a while she listened more calmly despite the fact that the noises above her were growing in amplitude.

When Nicole heard the sound of the movement of the large bags of chicken feed stored above the entrance to her hideout, however, her fright was suddenly renewed. This is it, Nicole said to herself. I am going to be captured.

Nicole wondered briefly if the special police would kill her as soon as they found her. Then she heard loud metallic pounding at the end of the passage to her room and was unable to remain seated. As she rose, Nicole felt two sharp pains in her chest and her breathing became labored. What’s wrong with me? she was thinking when Joan spoke up from beside her.

“After the first search,” the robot said, “Max was afraid mat he had not camouflaged your entrance well enough.

One night while you were asleep he inserted into the top of the hole a full drainage system for the henhouse, with the discharge pipes running out above your hideout. That pounding you heard was someone beating on the pipes.”

Nicole held her breath while a muffled conversation took place on the surface above her. After a minute, she again heard the movement of the bags of chicken feed. Good old Max, Nicole thought, relaxing somewhat. The pain in her chest subsided. After several more minutes the noises above her ceased altogether. Nicole heaved a sigh and sat down in the chair. But she did not fall asleep until the lights were on again.

The robot Eleanor had returned by the time Nicole awakened. She explained to Nicole that Max was going to start ripping out the drainage system in the next few hours and that Nicole was finally going to leave her hideout. Nicole was surprised when, after crawling through the tunnel, she encountered Eponine standing beside Max.

The two women embraced, “ça va bien? Je ne t’ai pas vue depuis si longtemps,” Eponine said to Nicole.

“Mais mon amie, pourquoi es-tu ici? J’ai pense que—”

“All right, you two,” Max interrupted. “You’ll have plenty of time later to become reacquainted. Right now we need to hurry. We’re already behind schedule because I took too long to remove that damn drain. Ep, take Nicole inside and dress her. You can explain the plan while you’re putting on your domes. I need to shower and shave.”

As the two women walked in the dark from the barn to Max’s house, Eponine informed Nicole mat everything was in place for her escape from the habitat. “During the last four days Max has hidden the diving gear piece by piece around the shore of Lake Shakespeare. He also has another full set stored in a warehouse in Beauvois, in case someone has removed your mask or air tanks from their hiding places. While you and I are at the party, Max will make sure that everything is all right.”

“What party?” a confused Nicole asked.

Eponine laughed as they entered the house. “Of course,” she said. “I forgot that you haven’t been following the calendar. Tonight is Mardi Gras. There is a big party in Beauvois, and another over in Positano. Almost everyone will be out tonight. The government has been encouraging people to attend, probably to keep their minds off the other colony problems.”

Nicole looked very strangely at her friend, and Eponine laughed again. “Don’t you understand? Our biggest difficulty was figuring out how to get you all the way across the colony to Lake Shakespeare without being seen. Everyone in New Eden knows your face. Even Richard agreed that this was our only reasonable opportunity. You’ll be in costume, and wearing a mask—”

“Have you talked to Richard, then?” Nicole asked, starting to comprehend at least the outline of the plan.

“Not directly,” replied Eponine. “But Max has communicated with him through the little robots. Richard was responsible for the drainage system idea that misled the police on their last visit to the farm. He was worried that you would be discovered.”

The women entered the bedroom, where a magnificent white dress was spread out upon the bed. “You will attend the party as the queen of England,” Eponine said. “I have been working on your dress nonstop all week. With this full mask and these long white gloves and leggings, none of your hair or skin will show. We shouldn’t need to stay at the party for more than an hour or so, and you won’t say much to anybody, but if anyone should ask, simply tell them that you’re Ellie. She’s staying home tonight with your granddaughter.”

“Does Ellie know I have escaped?” Nicole asked a few seconds later. She was experiencing a strong yearning to see both her daughter and little Nicole, whom she had never even met.

“Probably,” said Eponine. “At least she knew that an attempt was likely. It was Ellie who first involved me in your escape. Ellie and I cached your supplies out on the Central Plain.”

“So you haven’t seen her since I’ve been out of prison?”

“Oh, yes. But we haven’t said anything. Right now Ellie must be very careful. Nakamura is watching her like a hawk.”

“Is anyone else involved?” Nicole asked, holding up the dress to see how it would fit.

“No,” answered Eponine. “Just Max, Ellie, and I… And of course Richard and the little robots.”

Nicole stood in front of the mirror for several seconds. So here I am, finally the queen of England, at least for an hour or two. She was certain that the idea for the specific costume had also come from Richard. Nobody else could have made a choice so appropriate. Nicole adjusted the crown upon her head. With this white face, she thought, Henry might have even made me queen.

Nicole was deep in a memory of many years earlier when Max and Eponine emerged from the bedroom. Nicole began to laugh immediately. Max was dressed in a scanty green outfit and was carrying a trident. He was Neptune, king of the sea, and Eponine was his sexy mermaid princess.

“You both look great!” Queen Nicole said, with a wink at Eponine. “Wow, Max,” she added a second later in a teasing voice, “I had no idea you had such an imposing body.”

“It’s ridiculous,” Max grumbled. “I have hair everywhere-all over my chest, down my back, in my ears, even—”

“Except it’s a little thin up here,” Eponine said, patting his head after removing his crown.

“Shit,” said Max. “Now I know why I’ve never lived with a woman… Come on, you two, let’s get going. And by the way, the weather is wacky again tonight. You’ll both need a shawl or a jacket during our ride in the buggy.”

“The buggy?” Nicole said, glancing at Eponine.

Her friend smiled. “You’ll see in a minute,” Eponine said.

When the New Eden government had requisitioned all the trains to convert the lightweight extraterrestrial alloys into war planes and other weaponry, the colony of New Eden had been left without a comprehensive transportation system. Luckily most of the citizens had purchased bicycles, and a full set of bicycle paths had been developed during the first three years after the initial settlement. Otherwise, it would have been very difficult for people to move about in the colony.

By the time of Nicole’s escape, the old train tracks had all been removed and roads had been laid where the tracks had once been. These roads were used by the electric cars (restricted to government leaders and key military personnel), the transport trucks (which also ran on stored electricity), and the creative and varied other transportation devices constructed by individual citizens of New Eden. Max’s buggy was such a device. In front it was a bicycle. The back half, however, was a large pair of soft seats, almost a couch, resting on two wheels and a strong axle, much like the horse-drawn buggies three centuries earlier on the Earth.

King Neptune struggled with the pedals as the costumed trio eased onto the road toward Central City. “Shit,” Max said as he strained to accelerate, “why did I ever agree to this absurd plan?”

Nicole and Eponine laughed in the seat behind him. “Because you’re a wonderful man,” Eponine said, “and you wanted us both to be comfortable. Besides, can you imagine a queen riding a bicycle for almost ten kilometers?”

The temperature was indeed on the cool side. Eponine spent a few minutes explaining to Nicole how the weather continued to grow more and more unstable. “There was a recent report on television,” she said, “that the government intends to settle many of the colonists in the second habitat. Its environment is still unspoiled. Nobody has any confidence that we will ever fix the problems here in New Eden.” As they neared Central City, Nicole worried that Max was becoming chilled. She offered him the shawl Eponine had loaned her, which he eventually accepted. “You could have picked a warmer costume,” Nicole said teasingly.

“Having Max be King Neptune was also Richard’s idea,” Eponine said. “That way, if he needs to carry any of your diving equipment tonight, he will look perfectly natural.”

Nicole was surprisingly emotional as the buggy slowed in the growing traffic and wound its way through the colony’s main buildings in Central City. She remembered a night, years before, when she had been the only human awake in New Eden. On that same night, after checking her family one last time, an apprehensive Nicole had climbed into her berth and prepared to sleep for the many-year trip back to the solar system.

An image of the Eagle, that strange manifestation of alien intelligence who had been their guide at the Node, appeared in her mind’s eye. Could you have predicted all this? Nicole wondered, synthesizing quickly the entire colony history since that first rendezvous with the passengers from Earth onboard the Pinta. And what do you think of us now? Nicole grimly shook her head, acutely embarrassed by the behavior of her fellow humans.

“They never replaced it,” Eponine was saying from the seat beside her. They had entered the main plaza.

“I’m sorry,” Nicole said. “I’m afraid I was daydreaming.”

“That wonderful monument your husband designed, the one that kept track of where Rama was in the galaxy… Remember, it was destroyed the night the mob wanted to lynch Martinez… Anyway, it was never replaced.”

Again Nicole was deep in her memory. Maybe that’s what being old is, she thought. Too many memories always crowding out the present. She recalled the unruly mob and the red-haired boy who hollered, “Kill the nigger bitch.”

“What ever happened to Martinez?” Nicole asked softly, fearful of the answer.

“He was electrocuted soon after Nakamura and Macmillan took over the government. The trial dominated the news for several days.”

They had passed through Central City and were continuing south toward Beauvois, the village where Nicole and Richard and their family had lived before Nakamura’s coup. It could have been so different, she thought, looking at Mount Olympus towering over them on her left. We could have had paradise here. If only we had tried harder…

It was a train of thought that Nicole had followed a hundred times since that terrible night, the same night that Richard had hurriedly departed from New Eden. Always there was the same profound sorrow in her heart, the same burning tears in her eyes.

We humans, she remembered saying once to the Eagle at the Node, are capable of such dichotomous behavior. At times, when there is caring and compassion, we truly seem little lower than the angels. But more often, our greed and selfishness overwhelm our virtues and we become indistinguishable from the basest creatures from which we have evolved.