Chapter 12 Chapter 12 The Ramas, the Romans

"Hi, how's it going?" Nicole stood up and spun slowly in front of the camera.She was wearing a new white stretchy evening gown with long sleeves, a hem just below the knee, and a black stripe running from the elbow to the waist.On the head, a bright black wide band gently gathers the hair, and the hair falls to the waist, like a black waterfall; on the wrist of the left hand, there is a small gold bracelet inlaid with three rows of small diamonds. "You are so beautiful, madam." Daughter Gene Viève replied from the screen, "I have never seen you dressed up with your hair down. Why don't you wear your usual coat?" Fourteen-year-old daughter She smiled mischievously, showing her white teeth, "When does the party start?"

"Nine-thirty," replied Nicole. "It's the fashion to open so late. It may be an hour after that before we can have supper. I must have something to eat before I go, so as not to starve." "Madame, don't forget your promise. Last week "Today" magazine said that my most admired singer, Julien Leclerc, was going to perform at this evening. You must tell him: I think he is 'the greatest of'!" Nicole smiled at her daughter and said: "I will pass the word on for you, my dear, though it may misunderstand him. I seem to have heard your M. Leclair rejoice in his heart, that the world Every girl in the world is in love with him." She stopped and asked, "Where is your grandfather, didn't you say he would be with you in a few minutes?"

"Here I am." Before he finished speaking, the father's wrinkled face appeared on the screen, next to his daughter's face, "I just finished the section of my novel Bet Abelard, Who told you to call so early!" Pierre de Jardin is 66 years old and is a well-known historical novelist.He lost his wife in his early years, but his career went smoothly and he became famous. "Yo! You look like you'd pass out." He grimaced at his daughter's evening attire. "Did you buy this dress in Rome?" "Yes, Dad," Nicole replied, and spun around in front of the camera again so that her father could see clearly, "I bought this suit three years ago for François' wedding. Never had a chance to wear it though. Is it too generic?"

"Not at all," said Pierre. "As a matter of fact, I think this suit is quite suitable for a nonsense party like today. In the past when we attended such parties, every lady and lady put herself in the most expensive and proudest way." Put on your clothes and jewelry. Look at you, white and black and simple, with your hair cascading like a waterfall, you are really a charming beauty!" "Thank you!" Nicole said angrily, "Although you are prejudiced and sarcastic, I still accept this superficial compliment." She looked at her father and daughter. For the past seven years, their family had depended on each other and had a warm relationship. Rong, "I don't know why, I am really looking forward to this party very eagerly, even if I meet Rama, I will not be so nervous. I am usually not used to attending such a large party. This is the case tonight. I had a hunch, but I couldn't explain it. Daddy, do you remember, I had a hunch when I was very young, the day our dog died."

The father's expression became serious: "Maybe you'd better not go, just stay in the room. Your premonition is always very effective, remember, two days before we got the news, you told me, you think your mother What happened……" "It's not that feeling this time." Nicole interrupted him. "Also, if I don't go, how can I tell everyone? Everyone is waiting for me, especially the reporters. Sabatini has been waiting for me." Hounding me for a personal interview." "Is that so? I think, if you have to go, then have fun and don't take it seriously."

"Remember to say hello to Julien Leclerc for me!" Genevieve added. "At midnight, I will always miss you." Nicole said, "This is the first time since 2194 that I will not be with you on New Year's Eve." Floating in front of my eyes, "Have a good New Year, you all know that I love you very much." "I love you too, mother," cried Genevieve.The old father waved his hand. Nicole turned off the videophone.Looking at the watch, it was exactly eight o'clock, and the car she ordered would not arrive in an hour.She walked to the computer terminal to order something to fill her stomach.She typed in a few commands and ordered a bisque and a bottle of mineral water.The computer told her it would be delivered in 16 to 19 minutes.

"Am I going to be really nervous tonight?" the thought flashed through Nicole's head.While she waited, she scanned the Italian magazine, which had a news interview with Frances Sabatini.Good guy!The ten pages of the article are covered with a total of about twenty photos of her in different periods.The interview traces her success story (including her highly open romance and her history of drug use), and the article highlights the issue of Sabatini's drug use. The look of a sub addict. Nicole couldn't help reading this article carefully. She had never thought of Sabatini's previous situation! "What's going on in her heart? What is she longing for?" thought Nicole.

Towards the end of the article, the reporter asked Sabatini what he thought of the other two women on the Newton. "I think there was actually only one woman in this operation, and that was me." Frances answered him in this way, "the way the Russian female pilot Tugeyeva thought and acted, she was a whole 'man'; and the French-African The noble lady of blood, Nicole de Jardin, deliberately suppressed and obliterated her femininity. What a pity, she should have been a very lovely woman." Nicole was almost irritated by Sabatini's nonsense, and a competitive desire to compete with Sabatini suddenly surged in her heart.After a short pause, she was happy again, feeling that she was really childish. "But I'll have to ask Sabatini at an appropriate time what all this nonsense is all about!" Nicole thought, laughing.

It took forty minutes to get from the hotel to the party.Hadrian's Palace is located on the outskirts of Rome, not far from the entertainment city of Tivoli.In the car, apart from Nicole, there was the least talkative Hiroshi Yamanaka.Along the way, the two passengers were silent.Nicole recalled that two weeks ago, when Sabatini took a personal interview with Hiroshi Yamanaka, in more than ten minutes, Sabatini tried his best and tried his best to trick him into two or three singles. Syllables, much to Sabatini's dismay.Finally, at her wit's end, she asked if the rumor that he was a robot was true.

"What?" Hiroshi Yamanaka didn't understand. "Are you a robot?" Frances repeated, with a mischievous grin on her face. "No." The Japanese pilot replied, flatly, with the same expression.The camera just caught a close-up of his face. Nicole laughed silently. The car turned into the small road, and there was still the last mile to the destination Hadrian's Palace. The speed of the car slowed down and the traffic began to congest.On the road, in addition to the people who attended the New Year's party, hundreds of people flocked to join in the fun, wanting to see the celebrity's demeanor.The photographers who specialize in taking photos of celebrities are also running around, very busy.Ever since, vehicles and pedestrians were crowded, making the narrow one-way lane completely impenetrable.

The automatic car finally entered a circular driveway and stopped.Nicole took a deep breath to calm himself down.Through the dark car window, she saw a group of photographers and reporters running towards the car.It seems that no matter who is sitting in this car, they will be "captured and brought to justice" together.The car door opened automatically, and Nicole stepped out of the car slowly, wrapped her body tightly in the suede coat, and was careful not to catch her heels. "Who is she?" she heard someone ask. "Franco, come here, come here! This is the astronaut de Jardin." There was a burst of warm applause from all directions, and the flashing lights kept flashing.A handsome Italian gentleman stepped forward, took her hand and protected her.People circled and entangled, several microphones almost reached her face.She heard many voices, speaking four or five different languages, asking questions at the same time. "Why did you refuse a personal interview?" "Remove your coat, please, and let us see your dress." "Do other astronauts accept you as a female doctor?" "Stop, stop, please smile!" "What do you think of Frances Sabatini?" ... Nicole said nothing.Security guards turned the crowd back and ushered her into an electric office vehicle.The four electric cars drove slowly along the mountain path towards the side of the mountain, leaving the noisy crowd behind.An Italian girl in her twenties graciously explained the surrounding scenic spots and relics to Nicole and Hiro Yamanaka in English. She told them that Hadrian, who ruled Rome from 117 to 138 A.D., had built this massive palace for his own amusement.He designed it himself, and condensed all the styles of buildings he had seen during his inspection tours in remote provinces on this flat land at the foot of Mount Tiberdini, which covers an area of ​​300 hectares, and became an eternal masterpiece. The electric car moved forward slowly, passing various ancient buildings, showing all the charm and beauty of the festival night.The lights are shining, silently expressing the past glory and splendor of this millennium ancient market.Look, ancient statues have redecorated ancient courtyards and hallways.The hall without a roof and the weathered stone wall are telling a long story, sighing the insignificant time that passed away like a cloud of smoke. The electric car passed a square pool, and saw a group of grand ancient Egyptian-style buildings surrounding it.Nicole couldn't remember exactly how many ruins he had walked through, but he only felt that the palace city was magnificent and admirable. Nicole recalled the past history, remembered the story of Antinous, smiled, and thought in his heart: "He has been dead for more than two thousand years, and he can be regarded as one of the most talented figures in human history. .He was a soldier, a ruler, a linguist, and lived most of his life in solitude. He had brief, fiery passions, and ended up a tragic figure." The electric car stopped at the intersection of a walking path, and the tour guide finally said: "In order to thank the goddess of peace and recall the long period of peace two thousand years ago, with people's generous donations, the government decided to rebuild Hadrian's water in 2183. Theatre. The project was completed in 2193, and this is the last view of the entire ancient palace that you will see. After viewing the remains of the original work, this final replica will give you a glimpse of the emperor's palace during his lifetime. Complete impression. The whole building was completed in 2193 and began to be used as a venue for celebrating national events." Some neat, handsome, and well-dressed young Italians greeted the guests by the side of the road. After passing through the "Philosopher Hall", they arrived at the Water Theater. After the security personnel checked, the guests merged into the crowd. Nicole was fascinated by the beautiful building.The building complex is circular with a diameter of about 40 meters, surrounded by water waves, separating the central island from the magnificent colonnade.On the island, there is a theater hall, surrounded by several small houses, and there is a large open space in front of the hall.There is no roof on the water surface and the colonnade, and when you look around, you will see a wide and stretched space, and you will feel free and happy. The guests tasted wine and chatted in twos and threes.State-of-the-art robotic waiters come and go with trays of champagne and wine.Across the two small bridges connecting the colonnade to the island, Nicole saw many people in white preparing a buffet dinner. A rich blond woman and her small husband walked quickly towards Nicole from a distance.The husband was bald and wore old-fashioned glasses.Nicole took a sip of the black tea cane wine that a stubborn robot waiter had just forced into her, ready to deal with the rushing couple. "Hi! Madame de Jardin." The little man came quickly, waving to Nicole. "We have to talk to you. My wife adores you." He walked up to Nicole, He turned around and shouted to his wife, "Come on, come on, Cecilia, I found her!" Nicole took a deep breath, forced a "enthusiastic" smile, and said to herself: Come on, the show is about to begin. Nicole thought to herself: "Okay, it's time to have some peace at last." She deliberately chose a small table in the corner, and sat down with her back to the door, so that she could be alone for a while.This room is at the back of the island, next to the theater.Nicole took a sip of her wine and swallowed the food in her mouth. She wanted to recall who she had met in the past hour or so, but she couldn't remember most of them, so she couldn't help but sighed.She felt like a prize-winning work that was being shown around, and everyone came to see it, look at it, and praise it.She was surrounded, held hands, kissed, hugged, even pinched and teased.And a rich Swiss shipping magnate invited her to his castle outside Gothenburg.But Nicole couldn't say a word to any of them, only feeling dazed with cocktails and champagne. "Okay, okay, I'm not drunk yet." She heard a familiar voice speaking behind her, "I bet the one in the white evening dress is none other than Ice Princess Nicole de Jardin." Nicole turned to see Richard Walkerfield push back the table, push himself up from his chair, and stagger toward her, almost falling on top of her. "I'm sorry," he grinned, and sat down beside her with difficulty, "I'm afraid I've had too much wine and drink." He said, taking another swig. Strangely, his fall just now miraculously did not spill the wine he was holding in his right hand. "And now, if you don't mind, I'm going to take a nap before the dolphin show." Richard's head hit the wooden table with a "bang", and he pretended to be unconscious and lay down on the table. Nicole smiled.After a while, she leaned over and naughtily opened the lid of one eye with her fingers, and said, "If you don't mind, colleague, don't sleep until you explain clearly what the dolphin show is all about." Richard straightened up, rolled his eyes, and asked, "You mean, you don't know about this? Would you, a well-informed person, not know? That's impossible!" Nicole drank the wine in the glass: "Seriously, Walkerfield, what did you just say?" Richard pushed open a small window, pointed to the circular pool and said, "The great Dr. Reggie Bardolini and his clever dolphins are here, and Frances will lead him out in fifteen minutes." He looked at Nicole, emotionally, "Dr. Bardolini will prove, here, this evening," he said in a melodramatic drawl, "that his dolphins pass college entrance exams!" Nicole turned her head, took a good look at her colleague, and thought: He's really drunk, maybe he doesn't like it here like I do. Richard was looking out the window intently now. After a moment's silence, Nicole said: "It's a sort of zoo, isn't it? Where they get these..." "By the way!" Walkerfield suddenly interrupted her, and slapped his palm on the table. "No wonder when I first came in, I always felt that this place seemed very familiar." He glanced at Nicole, looking at her eyes, It clearly showed that she thought he was talking nonsense, "This place is a miniature model of Rama! Do you understand?" He couldn't help but jumped up excitedly, "The water surrounds this house, isn't it the 'ring pillar sea' ! This colonnade represents the 'central plain'; we, my dear lady, are sitting in 'New York City'!" Nicole was beginning to understand a little, but not yet following his darting train of thought. "What does this identical design mean?" he wondered. "Does this mean that the human structure built two thousand years ago has the same guiding principles as the Rama spaceship? Is it a natural coincidence? Is it the same culture? Is it? Of course not!" He fell silent, aware that Nicole was watching him motionless. "It's mathematics!" He concluded, suddenly understanding in his heart.Seeing Nicole's puzzled look, he knew that she hadn't fully understood, and explained: "Mathematics is interlinked, this is the key. The Rama people evolved in a place that is very different from the earth, and they have the same appearance as the earth people. They look different, of course, but they must have known what the Romans knew as well—that is mathematics." He was beaming with joy. "Ahoh!" he yelled, dragging Nicole into a dance with joy, "Ramas, Romans, that's the answer for tonight, that is to say, these two kinds of human intelligence are at the same level at present." stage of development." He was elated at his clever discovery, but Nicole shook her head. "You don't understand, dear lady? Well, maybe it's time for the two of us to go to the dolphin show. I'll tell you about these Ramas and Romans, money and thrones... and do pigs have wings or something .”