Chapter 16 Chapter Sixteen "Rama, Rama, Bright Flame"

Landing next to the Rama entrance was clean and flawless.Like Captain Newton seventy years ago, Commander Posov ordered Hiroshi Yamanaka and Tugeyeva to moor the Newton about a hundred meters away from the axis of rotation at the top of Rama to avoid the great circle, which The great circle appears to be a large air-tight hatch through which Rama enters and exits the spacecraft; one of three low mailbox-shaped structures is then used to hold Newton in place against the centrifugal force due to Rama's rotation. In less than ten minutes, the Newton was firmly moored at the predetermined position.Walkerfield and Tabry left the ship in their space suits, looking for the wheel that manually sealed the hatch.As expected, the runner for the airtight door is still in place.Turn the handle, and the outer door shell of Rama's "postbox" airtight door slowly opens.

It seems that this "Rama 2" is not the slightest difference from its companions.The two astronauts continued their scheduled entry into Rama. In the 500-meter-long tunnel connecting the three outer airtight doors and the three inner airtight doors, the two astronauts came and went constantly.Four hours later, they finally installed the transition tank car from the Newton to the interior of Rama.This tank car was specially designed by engineers on Earth, and it used the two ancient parallel grooves made by the Rama people on the tunnel wall as tracks. After lunch, Yamanaka Hiroshi also joined the engineering team.The trio's next job is to build the planned "Alpha Relay Station" at the end of the tunnel.If "Rama 2" is the same as the previous Rama spacecraft, the plan requires that whether the astronauts are on the steps, or on the central plain in the northern half, or anywhere else, they can Resupply from two directions.Therefore, another relay station will be built near the Cylindrical Sea, named "Beta Relay Station".In this way, the two battalion stations will provide strong support and contact radiation network for the team members who are active in various areas in the northern part of Rama, reaching "New York Island".

At the control center, Brown and Takashi are in position, awaiting the final inspection of Station Alpha.The detection robot that will be installed in Rama is preparing to launch, and the sound of the countdown continues continuously.Takagishi looked nervous and excited. He had just completed a flight test of a detection robot.Brown, as usual, was relaxed, even a little casual, and he was ready.Frances Sabatini sits in front of a multi-viewer composite screen, ready to edit the best images for live transmission back to Earth. General Posov issued orders loudly.The moment he gave the command to send two detection robots, he paused for a moment, adding a dramatic effect to the tense atmosphere.

The detection robot flew away, quickly sinking into the emptiness and darkness of Rama.Seconds later, images from Brown's robot appeared on the main screen in the control center.The first white light lit up on the screen, which was dazzling.When the light stabilized, the outline of the wide-angle picture of "Rama 2" appeared in front of people's eyes for the first time. Everything is according to plan.As originally always arranged, the first image is a composite picture of the northern half of the cylinder.From the bowl-shaped hub that has been reached before, to the center of this artificial world-the cylindrical sea, the vast northern region of Rama has a panoramic view, and it is finally frozen into a clear picture on the screen.This is quite different from just reading about Rama or practicing in a replica of it.

Although the team members already knew Lama well, they still couldn't eliminate people's surprise and shock.At the starting point of the bowl shaped like a crater, the tunnels meet, and the complex trapezoidal slopes fan out on all sides, forming a beautiful curve, blending into the inner wall of a huge cylinder.Three wide, rail-like ladders cut the bowl into thirds.Each ladder is divided into several sections by some huge platforms; the bottom of the ladder is connected with the step ladder; the combination of the ladder, the step ladder and the platform extends, like an umbrella bone, bending and closing up and down, pointing to the inner wall of the flat and wide cylinder. Central Plains.

The central plain in the north almost occupies most of the space in the picture.The vast and open plain is encroached and divided by square fields of different sizes. The plots around the "city" are fairly regular.In the wide-angle lens, there are many tall and slender structures standing in the three "cities", which are very similar to the buildings of the earthlings.Along the perimeter of the fields, "roads" that look like highways connect the buildings in the city. People immediately recognized the already familiar alien cities - "Paris", "Rome", "London", which were the names given by the first human exploration.Also striking on the screen are the three straight grooves, or "valleys", on the central plain.They are each 10 kilometers long and 100 meters wide, and they are neatly and equally arranged on the curved inner wall of the huge cylindrical body.These valleys illuminated this small world with a soft, mellow light during the brief time that the Cylindrical Sea thawed when man first met Rama.

The most peculiar thing is the sea.The frozen sea water extends to the upper part of the inner surface of the cylinder, and finally closes at the top to form a completely ring-shaped sea.At the far edge of the frame, as previously expected, the Cylindrical Sea remains frozen.In its center was the mysterious island city of "New York," as it was called at the time of the first expedition.The tall buildings like skyscrapers in the city are looming, and they seem to be calling eagerly. All the team members stared at the screen silently with their eyes wide open for more than a minute.Then Dr. Brown exclaimed:

"Brilliant, Rama!" his voice was full of pride. "Look, look, you're still in doubt, it's exactly the same as the first one!" he yelled, and everyone heard him .Frances immediately turned the camera around and captured him ecstatic. The others remained silent, and everyone was stunned by the scene on the screen. At the same time, Gao An's detection robot also sent back detailed images of Rama.First came close-ups of the area beneath the tunnel; soon the small screens around the control center were filled with these images. These pictures will first be used to review the transportation system installed in Rama to see if there are design problems.Then, the real work of this phase will begin -- comparing the thousands of detailed images of Rama 2 with the existing Rama 1 puzzle pieces.While most of the work is done automatically by specialized digital machines, differences still need to be handled by humans to come up with a plausible explanation.It is conceivable that there will be many unpredictable mistakes and omissions due to different lighting conditions during shooting.

Two hours later, the last detection robot returned to the relay station, and the first image scanning and transmission work was completed.After comparing a large number of images, it can be basically confirmed that there is no difference in the basic structure of "Rama 2" and "Rama 1"; only the Cylindrical Sea is an omission, because the reflection phenomenon of ice makes it impossible to carry out comparative analysis. . It's been a really long and exciting day.Posov announced: The task and list of the first assault will be announced within an hour; two hours later, there will be a special dinner in the control center.

"You can't do this!" David Brown yelled angrily as he broke into the commander's office cabin without knocking, waving a printed mission statement in his hand. "What did you say?" Posov asked deliberately.Dr. Brown's rude intrusion irritated him. "You're mistaken," Brown yelled, still loudly, "you're not really going to leave me on board the Newton on your first move!" General Posov did not answer.As a result, the American scientist changed his strategy: "I want you to understand that I will not accept it, and the Space Federation will not agree to this decision."

Posov stood up behind the desk and said coldly, "Close the door, Dr. Brown." Dr. Brown slammed the sliding door shut. The general continued: "Okay, listen to me now. I don't need to remind you, I am the commander of this operation, if you continue to behave like a sensitive and vain bitch, I promise, you will never cross the border." Half a step into Rama!" Brown lowered his voice, but still made no secret of his hostility, and said, "But, I want you to give me an account. I'm the chief scientist for this operation, and I'm also the chief press officer for Project Newton. How do you Explain that I was kept in the Newton's cabin while the other nine astronauts entered Rama?" "I don't need an explanation for my order," Posov replied.At this time, he was enjoying himself enjoying his use of power to deal with this arrogant American scientist.Leaning forward, he said: "Of course, I expected this childish mischief from you. In order to leave a perfect record, I will tell you why you were not included in the first raid: our first A raid on Rama has two main purposes, one is to establish a transportation system; the other is to complete a detailed investigation of the internal structure of Rama to confirm that this spaceship is exactly the same as the first Rama... "But this has been confirmed by the detection robot!" Brown interrupted him. Posov retorted; "Dr. Gao An didn't say that, he said..." "Fuck him! General, Gao An won't be satisfied if every inch of this place is not exactly the same as 'Lama 1'. You have seen the situation sent back by the detection robot. If you still have any doubts, ..." In the middle of speaking, David Brown stopped. He saw General Posov tapping his fingers on the table and staring at him coldly. "Do you want me to finish?" After a while, Posov said, "No matter what you think, Dr. Gao An is a recognized expert on the internal situation of Rama. You can't say that you dare to compete with him in this regard. Compare! I need 5 space officers to complete the erection of transportation equipment; 2 journalists must go in, because the eyes of the whole world are watching here now; I believe now is the right time for me to go. The regulations clearly stipulate that in the early raids, there must be at least 3 people on the ship. It is not difficult to calculate..." "Don't play tricks on me!" said David Brown bitterly. "I know why. You have made up a whole bunch of excuses to cover up the real reasons for excluding me from the first raid. You It's jealousy, Posov. You can't stand the fact that most people see me as the real leader of the operation." The commander stared at the scientist for a long time without saying a word.At last he said: "You know, Brown, I am very sorry. You are a man of extraordinary ability, but you think of yourself more than you are capable of. If you are not..." This time It was Posov himself who stopped and stopped talking. He glanced over and said, "By the way, I know you're going to go back to your room right away and go rant to the ISA officials, so let me tell you, the life sciences officer is ready for an unmistakable The report objected to your going on missions with Wilson because of some entangled personal vendettas between the two of you." Brown's eyes widened. "You mean Nicole de Jardin has filed a formal report against me and Wilson?" Posov nodded. "This bitch!" Brown gritted his teeth. "It's always someone else's fault, isn't it, Dr. Brown?" General Posov said sarcastically to his opponent. Brown turned and strode out. During the dinner in the evening, Commander Posov was very pleased and ordered to open several bottles of precious old wine.Frances's idea is really good. When everyone sat around the small table in the control center, it was very happy and intimate. David Brown didn't come, sulking alone in his room while the others were enjoying the food and wine. Frances awkwardly helped him cover, saying he was "unwell".Taburi jokingly said, do you want to check him.Frances hastily changed her story, saying that he just wanted to be alone for a while. Gallos and Walkerfield both drank several glasses of wine and played jokes with Frances at the end of the table.Across the table, Reggie Wilson and General O'Toole were talking enthusiastically about the beginning of the softball season; Nicole sat between Generals Posov and General Otter, listening to them reminisce about their early days of peacekeeping Old things in action. After dinner, Frances and Dr. Gao An excused themselves to leave the table for a while.After a while, Frances came back and asked everyone to turn their chairs to face the big screen. The screen flickered, revealing a large photograph of Rama's shape, but it wasn't the dreary gray cylinder that Rama had seen before.If you take a closer look, it has been carefully processed and whitewashed by people, and it has been painted into a black cylinder with golden yellow stripes; one end of it looks like a giant's face. There was a sudden silence in the room, only to hear Frances recite: "Rama, Rama, bright flame-- The sky is dim, the night is deep, what kind of divine hand And eyes bright as blue stars, made you, This terrifying spaceship? The space is long, the long night is long, The flames fly, the streamers splash, reflect you, Deep and bright eyes..." Poetry is like the wind, and love is like a tide.When hearing Frances's poem, Nicole felt like the cold wind was blowing into his bones, and couldn't help trembling: "Isn't this the most fundamental question?" Nicole was full of thoughts, "Who built this huge spaceship? ?It is crucial to the final destiny of our species. And, for what?" Across the table, General O'Toole was also captivated by Frances's verse.In his mind, the same question had been haunting him ever since he applied to join the operation.At this time, he was fascinated: "God, why did you create such a spaceship to disturb your world? Are the Rama people your earlier subjects before you created us? Are they brothers of our compatriots? Why do you want to Let them come here at this time?" "Is the hammer still there? Where can I use it as an anvil? Brain waves can make iron, but gravity can make sails? 'Heaven follows fate', like Zen in the breeze; Resignedly and in awe, forget about fear ——Brows furrowed, heart trembles.When the stars throw down their cold spears and swords; When the tears and rain are gone, and the neon clouds are rising, Does he smile and get what he wants? I asked tremblingly, is it him? Lord of all creatures ——The sky is still silent. Rama, Rama, the flame of the torch! There was silence in the room as Frances finished her little poem, and then suddenly there was a burst of applause and cheers. Frances said that it was the image program provided by Dr. Gao An. The cheerful Japanese scientist bowed shyly to everyone. Gallos stood up and said, "On behalf of everyone, congratulations to Gao An and Frances for the success of the show. It was creative, exciting, and moving." He grinned. "It's not quite there yet. But it's almost on the verge of making me feel like I should get serious about what I'm going to do tomorrow." "Take this opportunity," said General Posov, standing up from the end of the table, holding an open bottle of Ukrainian vodka in his hand, "I would like to ask everyone 'cheers' in the traditional Russian way. .I only bring two bottles of this national treasure of Russia with me. Here, on this special night, please share it with everyone, my dear comrades and colleagues.” He handed General O'Toole two bottles of wine.O'Toole poured vodka into shot glasses from a pourer and passed them to each team member. "Erina Tugyeva knows," the commander continued, "that there is a kind of worm soaked in this wine. There is only one in each bottle, and today we have two worms. According to folklore, who Whoever eats this kind of bug will be endowed with a special divine power within 24 hours." General O'Toole made an infrared cross on the bottom of the wine glass as a mark. Whoever gets the glass with this mark will be "lucky" to eat this dark brown worm in vodka. "Oh!" After a while, when Gallos, who was holding an infrared scanner in his hand, saw a mark on the bottom of Nicole's cup, he quickly looked at the bottom of his own cup. Fortunately, there was no mark.He said loudly: "This kind of competition, I would rather lose!" Nicole's cup did have a mark on the bottom, making her one of two "lucky ones."She was beating drums in her heart, not knowing whether to eat or not to eat.Looking up, she saw her commander's eyes full of sincerity and encouragement.Well, go all out!She thought to herself, it wouldn't poison people to death, after soaking in alcohol, all insects would be harmless to the human body. Posov himself got the second marked cup.The general smiled happily.He picked one worm for himself and the other for Nicole, and raised his glass to congratulate: "For the success of the operation, for the greatest expedition of our lifetimes to be undertaken in the next few weeks, for twelve of us as special envoys of humanity on Earth to visit alien civilizations, and to do all we can to fulfill our mission Cheers to completing the task!" After speaking, he drank it down.Of course, the worm had also reached his stomach whole. Nicole also followed his example, drinking the wine, and quickly swallowed the worms in one gulp.She pursed her lips, thinking that this was actually no worse than a horrible tuber she had eaten in a ceremony in Ivory Coast. After a few "cheers," the lights in the room dimmed. "Now—" General Bosov declared again, waving his powerful arms, "by the outstanding genius of the historic city of Stratford, of which the owners of the Newton are proud—Richard Walkerfield Monsieur and his robots perform traditional poetic drama." All the lights went out, leaving only a column of light projected from above in a square area to the left of the table.In the spotlight beam, a small female robot about twenty centimeters tall and wearing a robe stood in the center. The play started, and she was walking up and down the room, reading a letter. After a while, she lowered her hands and began to say: "Glamis, you are a smart person with excellent talents bestowed by God, but I am really worried about your character! Your personality has too many human weaknesses, no Dare to be straightforward. You want to be distinguished, but..." "I know that woman," Gallos smiled at Nicole, "I've seen her before." "Hush!" Nicole stopped.She watched with interest Lady Macbeth's precise performance.I thought to myself, this Walker is really a genius, he actually made these little things so delicate!Seeing the lifelike expression on the face of the little robot, she was deeply surprised and amazed. When she was concentrating on watching, the small stage suddenly began to shake and drift in her eyes, and she seemed to be integrated into the story.Word is brought to Lady Macbeth that King Duncan and her husband are going to spend the night at her castle.At this time, Nicole saw that Lady Macbeth had an expression full of ambition and longing. "... Oh! Come, you murderous spirits. Castrate me, remove this feminine weakness; please satisfy me! Fill me with cruelty and venom from head to toe! Let my blood Boil it..." "My God!" thought Nicole, blinking hard, "what the hell? But she's really changed!" Yes, she did change, and when she said "castrate me please," her (or it's) figure began to change, its breasts flattened, its ass deflated, and even its tender face disappeared.Lady Macbeth becomes a monster who is neither male nor female. Nicole opened her eyes in a daze, maybe because of the drama, maybe because of the alcohol, she felt a little dazed, like in a dream.The robot's new face was familiar, and it brought back some kind of memory in her.Misunderstood, she heard some noises to the right, and looking back, Reggie Wilson was speaking eagerly to Frances.Nicole shifted her gaze from Frances back to Lady Macbeth's face, and suddenly thought: "That's right! Lady Macbeth's new face is very similar to Frances." Suddenly, a wave of fear hit Nicole, a tragedy is about to happen!This strong premonition sent her heart shuddering. "Something is going to happen!" a voice in her head cried urgently.She took a few deep breaths, trying to calm her emotions, but the fear still lingered. On the small stage, the hostess is greeting King Duncan graciously.On the left, Nicole sees Frances clinking glasses with General Posov for a final sip.At this moment, Nicole still couldn't control his panic. "Nicole, what's the matter with you?" Gallos asked with concern when he saw her terrified and sad face. "It's okay." She gathered her strength and stood up, "I must have eaten something inappropriate. I think I'm going back to my room." "But you'll miss the after-dinner show," Gallos said regretfully. Nicole forced a smile.He helps her to her feet, and Nicole hears Lady Macbeth scolding her husband for his lack of manly courage.The tide of foreboding and fear surged toward her again, pounding her.Nicole tried hard to stop and calm herself, then left the crowd and slowly returned to the room.