Chapter 4 fourth quarter

June 5, 2201 In the middle of the night last night, I was awakened by the sound of knocking from the vertical passage of the cave.In order to reduce the impact of the acceleration vibration on Simone, Richard made a new cradle, and we put Simone safely in the cradle, and then walked carefully to the entrance of the vertical passage.As I approached the protective iron fence, the knocking sound became louder and louder, and I was extremely nervous.A few meters away from the iron fence, a huge shadow moved on the wall in front of us.We stopped and studied it carefully.Richard and I immediately realized that the cover on the outside of our cave had been lifted.Apparently that eerie Rama creature on the wall did it.

I instinctively grabbed Richard's hand and said loudly, "What kind of shadow is this?" "It must be something new," said Richard softly. I said that the shadow looked like an old-fashioned oil pump moving back and forth in the field, and Richard said he would climb to the iron fence to see what was going on, and asked me to wait for him below.When he reached the landing of the last corridor, the knocking stopped suddenly. "It's a robot," cried Richard. "It looks like a praying mantis with a hand in the middle of its face. It's trying to open our fence."

Richard quickly jumped off the platform, came back to me, grabbed my hand and scrambled down.When we reached the mouth of our cave we could still hear the movement above. "There's at least one praying mantis...behind the first one," said Richard breathlessly, "and they started pulling the bars as soon as they saw me...they knocked on our door just now to let us know they Appeared." "What are they trying to do?" I asked nervously.The voice from above was again, and growing louder. "Now it sounds like an army," I said. After a few seconds they moved down our corridor. "We must prepare to escape." Richard said nervously, "You go and hug Simone, and I'll call Michael."

We quickly made our way back to the living quarters, Michael and Simone had already been woken up by the noise.We huddled together, sat on the shaky floor, and waited for the intruder.Opposite is the large black display screen, and Richard holds the keyboard, ready to enter information and call for help from the Lamarn people we have never met."If attacked, the passage behind the screen is our only way out," Richard said. After half an hour, loud voices from the direction of the corridor told us that the intruders were at the same height as us, but none of them entered our place.After a quarter of an hour my husband said with great curiosity, "I'll go and see how they are doing." He left Michael, Simone and me and left.

Richard returned five minutes later. "About fifteen to twenty," he said with a puzzled frown. "There are three praying mantises, and two different types of robots. They seem to be repairing something on the opposite side of our cave." Simone fell asleep again.I gently put her back in the cradle and followed the two men towards the sound.A large praying mantis appeared before our eyes, instructing the robot to widen the horizontal aisle opposite the arc room. "What are they doing?" Michael asked softly. "No sign of it," said Richard. Another day passed, and there was still no way of knowing what the robots were repairing.Richard thinks the aisle was widened to accommodate some new equipment, and since this all happened in our cave, it must have something to do with us.

The robot works non-stop, without eating, drinking or resting, as if performing a notoriously important task.They neither questioned nor talked about each other during the construction process.We watched in amazement as they toiled endlessly without them seeming to be aware of our presence, and worst of all we had no idea what was going on.Richard smiled and said vaguely, "Actually, it's similar to the situation on Earth." When Michael and I asked him to explain what he meant, he waved his hand and replied absently, "Even on Earth, at home, Our knowledge is still quite poor. The path to truth will always be full of hardships and hardships."

June 8, 2201 We were amazed at how quickly the robots completed the work.Two hours ago, all the robots withdrew, leaving the leader praying mantis beckoning us to inspect the newly repaired room with the "hand" growing in the middle of the face, and then climbed up the stairs and gradually disappeared.Richard said he was the last one to leave so we could figure out what was going on. The only architectural work in the new room was a narrow rectangular box, clearly designed for us.The box is about three meters high, with ladders leading to the ground on each side.The enclosure is shiny metal with a solid perimeter walkway.

There are four mesh hammocks fixed on the wall inside the rectangular box. The magic is that each hammock is specially designed for each member of our family.Michael's and Richard's hammocks are at the ends, mine is in the middle, and Simone's little hammock is next to mine. Why was this box built just for us?Are we going to accept some experiment?Richard was pretty sure we would be tested in some way, but Michael didn't think experimenting with our bodies would be in keeping with the good nature of the Rama people.I couldn't help laughing at their conclusion.Michael extrapolated the Ramas with his characteristic religious optimism, always assuming that the cosmic environment in which we live is the best.

Behind the box is a set of pipes that run into the wall of our cave, which we assume is used to inject some kind of fluid. What to do now?All three of us thought there was nothing to do but wait.No doubt we'll be spending some time inside this box. June 10, 2201 Richard is right.He affirmed that yesterday's intermittent low-frequency whistle was announcing a new shift in our lives and suggested that we enter the newly built enclosures, lay down in our respective hammocks, and get ready.Michael and I disagree with him, insisting that the information we have so far is insufficient to draw such significant conclusions.

Richard's suggestion was confirmed.Three hours later the leader praying mantis suddenly appeared at the door of our room and we were completely overwhelmed.It pointed its odd finger down the aisle, clearly telling us to move fast. Simone was still sleeping, and she looked very unhappy when I woke her up.She was hungry, but the praying mantis wouldn't give me time to feed her.We hugged each other and entered the box, Simone crying loudly. A second praying mantis was waiting for us on the walkway, holding the transparent helmet prepared for us in strange hands.Apparently the second praying mantis was an overseer, and it carefully checked that each of us put on our helmets before letting us lie down in our hammocks.The material used for the visor of the helmet is different, and through the visor we can clearly see everything that is going on.The material on the bottom of the helmet is also rare, a sticky rubber-like synthetic substance that adheres tightly to the surface of the skin to prevent the penetration of liquids.

After lying in the hammock for half an hour, a strong draft hit us and we sank halfway into the box.In an instant, the filaments wrapped around our bodies, leaving only the arms and neck to move.I glanced at Simone, who had stopped crying and had a big smile on her little face. A light green liquid began to pour into the tank, and within a minute we were surrounded by this liquid.The specific gravity of the liquid is very close to that of our body, and we are half floating on the surface of the liquid.The injected fluid was almost at the top of the tank, and while I didn't think there was any real danger, I was terrified when the overhead tank lid closed.This situation scares everyone. Meanwhile, the intense acceleration is still going on.Luckily it's not too dark inside the box, there are some small lights scattered on the box lid.Simone was sleeping next to me, her body bobbing up and down like a buoy.I can still see Richard in the distance. We spent more than two hours inside the box to complete the test.Richard was extra excited, telling Michael and me that we had definitely passed the "endurance limit" test. "The acceleration we've been experiencing is obviously insignificant to them, and they're certainly not happy with it," Richard said energetically. "The Rama need real acceleration. To accomplish this, the alien ship The spaceship must withstand long-term voyages and strong gravity. This box is designed to prevent us from being collided during acceleration, and to ensure that our body's physiological structure is not affected to survive in this extraordinary environment." Richard has been calculating all day, and a few hours ago he showed us the preliminary calculations for yesterday's "accelerated motion". "Look at this," he yelled, barely able to control himself, "in the short two hours just now, our constant speed change has reached 70 kilometers per second, which is too much acceleration change for a huge spaceship like Rama. Already." He smiled at us and said, "This alien ship has an acceleration mode." After the test in the box, I did a physical check on everyone, including Simone.The test results showed no abnormal reactions or any adverse changes in the body.I have to admit that after this stress, I still worry about how my body will react. Richard said to me with some complaints: "The Rama people are watching us too." He didn't think it was necessary for me to do a physical examination, because Rama people are also very concerned about our physical changes after the test. "I bet the Ramas could get data about our bodies through those filaments," Richard said.