Rama: The Omnibus

by Arthur C. Clarke

  Johann and Vivien selected their monitoring post one night just after the children had fallen asleep. There was a natural spot along the tiny pathway between two rock walls where they could observe the canal clearly with very little risk of being seen themselves. They decided to monitor around the clock, and created, for the children, an imaginative and not implausible explanation for their irregular sleeping and disappearances. The surveillance started immediately, and Johann took the first shift.

  The initial results suggested that Johann’s conjecture was correct. Two adoclynes swam by the entrance to their area three times between every pair of food and water deliveries. The time period between these nozzler patrols was virtually a constant, at least as far as Sister Nuba, Vivien, and Johann could ascertain from their separate, individual methods of trying to estimate the amount of time that passed between appearances.

  Johann was elated when additional monitoring confirmed the regularity of the patrols. He would have two and a half hours to swim in the canals without being noticed. Vivien had decidedly mixed feelings about the results. She was happy to see Johann excited and out of his pervasive gloomy mood, but she knew that the next phase of his plan was full of danger and uncertainty Vivien confided her fears to Sister Nuba, who counseled her not to show the extent of her anxieties to Johann. Nuba then suggested that the two of them should ask God for an extra measure of strength and courage for the days ahead.

  Both Johann and Vivien were awake long before the food and water delivery on the morning that had been designated by Johann as Exploration Day. Vivien had a new worry. “What if,” she said quietly while lying in his arms, “the patrol times are different where the child is staying? You’ll be caught for sure, and then we’ll never see you again.”

  Johann had already thought about this possibility “Maria and I heard the cry at the first junction before we reached here,” he said. “The cell where the child is living must be in this general area of the grotto. It makes sense that patrols would go by there either immediately before or after they come here.”

  Vivien could tell that nothing she could say was going to dissuade him. She closed her eyes and pressed against Johann, hoping that she could stop the passage of time. When they heard the familiar whirring noise and Johann started to rise, Vivien took his hand and placed it against her stomach.

  “Feel your son,” she said. “For good luck.” The child obligingly kicked strongly against Johann’s fingers.

  They had agreed that Johann would leave before the children were awake. Both Vivien and Sister Nuba had insisted that there should be no additional fanfare, that the children would simply be told the same story they had heard during the monitoring period, namely that Johann needed “private time” by himself and that the only available locations permitting any privacy were on the narrow pathway between their room and the canal.

  JOHANN EDGED ALONG the pathway until he was out of sight of the room. Then he stood still about five minutes, as he had agreed with Vivien to do, to allow the adoclynes distributing the food in their region of the grotto to complete their deliveries. When he finally reached the canal and sat down on the bank, Johann’s heart was pumping furiously and adrenaline was flooding through his system.

  He eased into the water slowly, making only a minimal splash, and headed back toward the canal junction where he had heard the cry of the child. Johann swam breaststroke, with his head fully out of the water. As he rounded the first bend that carried him out of sight of the opening that led to their room, he turned around and swam back a little to make certain that he would be able to find his way back. Unfortunately Johann’s aging eyes and the dim lighting conspired against him. He could not even see their opening from this distance.

  Treading water in the middle of the canal, Johann realized that there was a serious flaw in his plan. The canal and the surrounding rock walls were nearly indistinguishable. one from another, in this part of the grotto. It would be extremely easy to become lost and not be able to find his way back. Johann knew that what he was trying to do allowed little margin for error. Reluctantly, he backtracked to the opening, turned around, and started counting his rhythmic armstrokes.

  It was a long way to the junction. Johann’s stroke count had reached four hundred and eighty by the time he swam into the other fork of the canal and began a new count. Already becoming worried about time, he briefly considered turning around and making the effort on another occasion. Performing a quick mental calculation, however, Johann convinced himself that as long as he reached the other room in five hundred or fewer additional strokes, he could still spend fifteen minutes there and return home with enough time to spare.

  ‘When his stroke count in the new canal reached three hundred, Johann found an opening and a pathway leading through the rocks that lined the canal. Reminding himself that he had absolutely no idea what, if anything, he might find at the other end of this narrow passageway, Johann squeezed through it very slowly, stopping every step or two to listen for any possible sound. He heard nothing. When the path expanded into what appeared to be some kind of room, Johann hesitated. It was very dark here, the only light being that which filtered along the pathway from the canal.

  Johann warily entered the room, straining his eyes to see if he could make out anything in the dark. He kept his right hand on the wall and continued to move forward, eventually making a full circle around the tiny room that was about half the size of the bedroom in his apartment at Valhalla. Johann then edged into the center of the room, using his feet to check for the presence of any objects on the rock floor. Nothing was there. Near the other side, however, he slipped when his foot nearly fell into a hole. Johann reached out to the wall for support and found a flat ledge, at chest level, that was similar to the ledge cut into the wall directly behind the toilet in their cell. After he regained his balance, Johann felt along the ledge and found small, broken pieces of rock as well as something round and flat that he picked up and put into the pocket that Vivien had sewn into his trunks.

  After a couple more sorties into the middle of the room, on the last of which he was on his knees, with both hands searching the floor for anything other than rocks, Johann decided to return to the canal. Before slipping back into the water, he examined the round, flat object that he had picked up on the ledge. It was a medallion of some kind, clearly of human origin. On one side was an engraving of a young woman wearing a uniform; on the other was a single character that Johann thought was Chinese. Pleased with his discovery, and mindful that his time was now running out, he eased into the water and began swimming back toward his cell.

  After a hundred strokes, Johann had already convinced himself that the room he had visited had previously been occupied by no more than two humans. There was absolutely no evidence of recent occupation. But who had lived there? Johann thought. And why did they leave? And where are they now?

  Johann was pondering these unanswerable questions when a faint child’s cry echoed along the canals. He stopped and treaded water to make certain that his mind was not playing tricks on him. No, that was definitely a human cry that he was hearing. Johann turned into his fork of the canal with a surge of excitement. I’m returning to my place now, he told himself but I’ll be back to find you very soon.

  WHEN JOHANN REACHED his living area, the children quickly gathered around and started peppering him with questions. After a quick exchange of glances with the other two adults, Johann told the truth about what he had been doing.

  The children were especially fascinated with his story. Beatrice had an immediate explanation for the empty room. “That’s where they’ll put one of us if we’re bad, and disobey the rules,” she said. She turned to little Jomo. “How would you like to live in a tiny dark room all by yourself?” she said.

  “Wouldn’t like it,” Jomo answered, still stroking the wet trunks that Johann was wearing.

  The medallion was passed around the room. There was general agreement that the article was proof that some othe
r human being had been living in that room at some time in the past. After Johann had finished his story, and shrugged off Maria’s question about when he was going to go “out exploring” again, Sister Nuba approached Johann, looking very serious, and asked if she could discuss something with him privately.

  “That medallion belonged to Satoko,” Nuba said, when Johann and she were out of earshot of the others. “She was very proud of it. It was given to her when she graduated from nursing school.”

  Johann’s eyes showed his astonishment. “When Satoko was having her mental difficulties, at the village,” Sister Nuba continued, “I often spent hours sitting by her side and listening to her talk. She showed me that medallion several times.”

  “Do you know if she had it with her when she disappeared?” Johann asked.

  Nuba shook her head. “No, but nobody ever mentioned finding it among her things.”

  Johann whistled. “So Satoko may still be alive,” he said, half to himself.

  Sister Nuba looked over her shoulder at the children, who were playing on the far side of the room. “Let’s not say anything yet to Keiko,” she said. “Not until we know more.”

  Johann reflected for a moment. “But we do know a lot already. Either Satoko or someone from Ravi and Anna’s family has almost certainly been in this grotto… Unless . Jailani or someone else picked up this artifact from Satoko’s body or from the village.”

  “That last possibility seems very unlikely to me, Brother Johann,” Nuba replied after a brief hesitation. “I prefer to believe that God has sent this medallion as a sign that we are all going to be reunited.”

  Johann smiled. “You’re probably right, Sister Nuba,” he said lightly. “Forgive me, but it’s just my nature to consider all the possible explanations.”

  THE ENTIRE GROUP participated in the planning for Johann’s next sortie, which was scheduled to occur after the food and water delivery the next morning. This time everyone was awake before he left, and Maria even asked if she could accompany him, citing her outstanding swimming ability as her primary qualification. Vivien and Sister Nuba reiterated to Maria and the other children how very dangerous Johann’s sortie could be, and how important it was for him to go alone.

  Johann’s swim to the fork in the canal was uneventful. He turned the corner and began counting his strokes. After he passed the small empty room on his right, the canal turned sharply to the left and then split into two forks again. Johann had not anticipated this. Eventually he took the right fork, telling himself that the other human room was likely to be physically close to their location.

  He became concerned about the stroke count as it neared five hundred. His eyes carefully examining the rock walls on both sides of the canal, Johann decided that he would turn back if the stroke count reached six hundred and he still hadn’t found anything. Just as he was turning around to head back, he spotted an opening on the right side of the canal. He swam over to the shore and climbed out of the water. He inched forward slowly, listening for any sounds that might give him a clue about what was ahead. He noticed that the light around him was not diminishing significantly, suggesting that whatever was in front of him had its own source of light.

  The passageway led to a room of approximately the same size as the room in which Johann and his extended family were living. Five people were sleeping on seaweed mats on the far side of the room. Crossing the room quietly, Johann confirmed that the four together were Ravi, his wife, Anna, and their two children, Eric and Serentha. Satoko was sleeping by herself; a few meters away from the rest.

  Johann bent down beside Anna and started gently shaking her.

  “What is it, darling?” she said softly, not opening her eyes.

  “It’s Johann Eberhardt, Anna,” he said. “I’ve come over from another room in the grotto.”

  Anna’s eyes opened and she stared at Johann, blinking frequently, for several seconds. “Oh, my God,” she said then. “I must be going mad.” She reached out and touched Johann’s arm. “Is that really you, Johann?” she asked. “And not some bizarre dream?”

  Johann assured her that he was real. Anna rolled over and grabbed her husband’s arm. “Ravi, wake up,” she said, shaking him vigorously. “We have a visitor … and it’s Johann Eberhardt!”

  When Ravi saw Johann he bolted up from his mat and scrambled to his feet. “What are you doing here? How did you get here?” he sputtered while reaching out to shake Johann’s hand.

  Johann started giving a brief answer but both Ravi and Anna kept interrupting him with more questions. The general clamor awakened the children and Satoko, who crossed the room to join in the conversation. The girl Serentha, who was the same age as Jomo, started crying as soon as she saw the huge blond stranger. Johann noted to himself that it had indeed been her cry that Maria and he had heard before.

  At one point in the confused conversation, Johann told Satoko that her daughter, Keiko, was fine and staying with them in their grotto room. The woman immediately began to jump around and flail her arms wildly through the air, shouting continuously while tears ran down her cheeks. She then unleashed a flurry of questions that made Johann stop completely his discussion with Ravi and Anna.

  The scene was complete chaos. Johann, becoming acutely aware of the passage of time, struggled without success to impose some order on the conversation. He had some questions also. He wanted to know under what conditions the others had been brought to the grotto, how long they had been there, and what had been the nature of their interactions with the adoclynes and/or Dr. Jailani. But he was never even allowed to finish one of his questions, much less obtain any answers, because everyone kept speaking at once. Finally, in desperation Johann raised his arms above his head and shouted “Silence” in a loud voice.

  Everyone quieted down immediately, except for Serentha, whose steady cry escalated into a terrible wail. “I’m sorry,” Johann said, “but I’m in a hurry. I must return to my own living area before the next alien patrol. We don’t have time for any more discussion now, but hopefully, I’ll return safely and be able to come again. What’s important is that we now know about each other and that we’ve all managed to survive.

  Satoko raced over to her mat and retrieved a silver ring that she insisted Johann carry back to Keiko. Rather than argue with her, Johann slipped the ring on his little finger and prepared to depart. Ravi came over and gave him a friendly hug. By the time Johann reached the canal, he figured he was about five minutes late.

  He swam fast, with powerful arm strokes and driving frog kicks that propelled him through the water. Johann passed the first fork without incident and was no more than twenty meters away from the entrance to the canal branch leading to his own room when two loud nozzler blasts reverberated off the walls. The blasts sounded very close. Johann pulled as much air into his lungs as possible, visually measured the distance to his branch entrance, and dove under the surface of the water. Stroke after stroke, he moved through the canal completely submerged.

  He did not rise to the surface until he thought he was going to pass out. Once, Johann’s head glanced off one of the underwater rock walls. He simply changed his direction and continued to swim. When he did finally raise his head out of the water, Johann was certain that he was now in the canal branch that ran by his living area.

  Or was he? As he swam, the walls around him suddenly started looking unfamiliar. He began a stroke count, and tried to estimate how far he had come while underwater, but Johann knew that his estimate was probably inaccurate. Besides, he was now becoming fatigued. The combination of the fast swimming at the beginning and the long underwater stretch had worn him out.

  He started imagining that he had passed his opening. The anxiety increased as he continued to swim. Johann fortunately saw the passageway to his room just before he decided to turn around and swim in the opposite direction to his doom. As it was, he was barely out of the water when he heard nozzler blasts behind him. He lunged into the opening, banging his forehead and rig
ht elbow hard against the sharp rocks on the wall, and managed to be barely out of sight when the adoclyne patrol passed. Exhausted and bleeding from the rock cuts, Johann stumbled into his living area and collapsed on his mat.

  FIVE

  AFTER HIS NARROW escape, Johann did not argue with Vivien and Sister Nuba when they both insisted that swimming in the canals was foolhardy at best. The two women were also afraid that Satoko’s medallion and the ring for Keiko might be recognized by the cleaning nozzlers; they demanded that both items be carefully concealed each time the adoclyne visitors entered their living area.

  In spite of Vivien’s and Sister Nuba’s desire for their family life to return to the routine that had existed before Johann’s pair of sorties, the group’s existence was irrevocably altered by the knowledge that their friends were also living in the grotto, in similar conditions, not far away. The children’s play reflected this fact immediately. Beatrice and Keiko had grown up with Eric and had essentially been big sisters to baby Serentha. At the children’s request, Johann used his knife to mark a pair of large rocks with the initials E and S. The two rocks represented Ravi and Anna’s children and often became integral parts in the games that were played.

  Among the adults, the missing others were the main topic of many late-night conversations. Both Vivien and Sister Nuba told anecdotes from the days when everyone except Johann and Sister Beatrice had been living in the tepee village. Satoko’s presence in the grotto engendered a virtual flood of question and speculation. Although Johann had had hardly any interaction with her during his brief visit to the other room, he was repeatedly asked by Vivien and Nuba about her “overall condition.”