Rama: The Omnibus

by Arthur C. Clarke

Is it the reptile in my brain

  That lets your terror run its course?

  Baseless Fear undoes us all

  Despite our quest for lofty goals.

  We would-be Galahads don't die,

  Fear just freezes all our souls.

  It keeps us mute when feeling love,

  Reminding us what we might lose.

  And if by chance we meet success,

  Fear tells us which safe route to choose.

  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 that 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 pensé 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 clothes. I need to shower and shave."

  As the two women walked in the dark from the barn to Max's house, Eponine informed Nicole that 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 o
n 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.

  4

  Max had been gone from the party for almost two hours. Both Eponine and Nicole were becoming alarmed. As the two women tried to cross the crowded dance floor together, a pair of men dressed as Robin Hood and Friar Tuck stopped them.

  "You are not Maid Marian," Robin Hood said to Eponine, "but Maid-Mer is nearly the same." He laughed heartily at his own joke, extended his arms, and began to dance with Eponine.

  "May a lowly priest enjoy a dance with Her Majesty?" the other man said. Nicole smiled to herself. What harm can there be in a single dance? she thought. She slipped into Friar Tuck's arms and they began moving slowly around the floor.

  Friar Tuck was a talkative fellow. After every several bars of the music, he would pull away from Nicole and ask a question. As planned, Nicole would indicate her response with a head movement or a gesture. Toward the end of the song, the priest in costume began to laugh. "Verily," he said, "I believe I am dancing with a mute. A graceful one, no doubt, but nevertheless a mute."

  "I have a bad cold," Nicole said softly, trying to disguise her voice.

  After she had spoken, Nicole detected a definite change in the friar's manner. Her concern increased when, after the dance was over, the man continued to hold her hands and to stare at her for several seconds.

  "I've heard your voice somewhere before," he said seriously. "It's very distinctive. I wonder if we've met. I'm Wallace Michaelson, the senator from the western section of Beauvois."

  Nicole vaguely remembered the man. She did not dare to say anything else. Fortunately, Eponine and Robin Hood returned to join Nicole and Friar Tuck before the silence had become dangerously long. Eponine sensed what had occurred and acted quickly. "The queen and I," she said, taking Nicole by the hand, "were on our way to the powder room when you Sherwood Forest outlaws ambushed us. If you will now excuse us, with thanks for the dance, we will continue toward our original destination."

  As the women walked away, the two men dressed in green watched them carefully. Once inside the ladies' room, Eponine first opened all the stalls to ensure that she and Nicole were alone. "Something's happened," Eponine then whispered. "Probably Max had to go to the warehouse to replace your equipment."

  "Friar Tuck is a senator from Beauvois," Nicole said. "He almost recognized my voice. I don't think I'm safe here."

  "All right," said Eponine nervously after a moment's hesitation. "We will follow the alternate plan. We'll go out front and wait underneath the big tree."

  Both women saw the small ceiling camera at the same time. It made just the slightest sound as it changed its orientation to follow them around the room. Nicole tried to remember every word that she and Eponine had said. Was there anything that suggested who we were? she wondered. Nicole was worried especially about Eponine, since her friend would continue to live in the colony after Nicole had either escaped or was captured.

  When Nicole and Eponine returned to the ballroom, Robin Hood and his favorite priest gestured for the ladies to come toward them. In response Eponine motioned toward the front door, put her fingers to her lips to indicate that she was going outside to smoke, and then crossed the room with Nicole. Eponine glanced over her shoulder as she opened the outside door. "The green men are following us," she whispered to Nicole.

  About twenty meters away from the entrance to the ballroom, which was in reality the gymnasium for Beauvois Middle School, there was a large elm tree that had been one of the few already-grown trees transported to Rama originally from the Earth. When Eponine and Queen Nicole reached the tree, Eponine reached into her purse, pulled out a cigarette, and lit it quickly. She blew the smoke away from Nicole. "I'm sorry," she whispered to her friend.

  "I understand," Nicole had just finished saying when Robin Hood and Friar Tuck walked up beside them.

  "Well, well," Robin Hood said, "so our mermaid princess is a smoker. Don't you know that you're taking years off your life?"

  Eponine started to give her standard reply, to tell the man that RV-41 would kill her long before smoking would, but she decided that any conversation might encourage the men to stay. She just smiled wanly, inhaled deeply on her cigarette, and blew smoke above her head into the branches of the tree.

  "Both the friar here and I were hoping
that you ladies would join us for a drink," Robin Hood said, ignoring the fact that neither Eponine nor Nicole had responded to his earlier comment.

  "Yes," added Friar Tuck, "we would like to know who you are." He stared at Nicole. "I'm certain we've met before, your voice is so familiar."

  Nicole faked a cough and looked around. three policemen within a radius of fifty meters. Not here, she thought. Not now. Not when I am so close.

  "The queen is not feeling well," Eponine said. "We may be leaving early. If not, we'll find you when we come back inside."

  "I'm a doctor," Robin Hood interrupted, moving closer to Nicole. "Maybe I can help."

  Nicole could feel the tension in her heart. Again her breath was short and labored. She coughed again and turned away from the two men.

  "That's a terrible cough, Your Majesty," she heard a familiar voice say. "We'd better take you home."

  Nicole glanced up at another man dressed in green. Max, a.k.a. King Neptune, was smiling broadly at her. Behind him Nicole could see the buggy parked no more than ten meters away. Nicole was joyful and relieved. She gave Max a huge hug and almost forgot the danger all around her. "Max," she said, before he put his finger to her lips.

  "I know both you ladies are just delighted that King Neptune has finished his business for the evening," he then said with a flourish, "and can now squire you away to his castle, away from outlaws and other unsavory elements."

  Max looked at the other two men, who were enjoying his performance even though he had foiled their plans for the evening. "Thank you, Robin. Thank you, Friar Tuck," Max said as he helped the ladies into the buggy seat. "Your kind attention to my friends is most appreciated."

  Friar Tuck approached the buggy, obviously to ask one more question, but Max pedaled away. "It is a night of costumes and mystery," he said, waving at the man. "But we cannot tarry, for the sea is calling us."

  "You were fantastic," Eponine said, giving Max another kiss.