Chapter 50 Chapter Fifty

Richard was busy on Lamarr's computer, but he also made time for Nicole as much as possible.They walked together and chatted.Richard also entertained Nicole with a performance of Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet.Nicole couldn't help laughing whenever he imitated the heroine's lines in falsetto. One night they talked about Grandfather, about the tribe of Sirover, and what Nicole had seen that night on the prairie. Richard said, "You know, I find it hard to believe that these stories actually exist." He suppressed his curiosity. "Still, I admit, these things are fascinating." He tried to analyze her The symbolism of the visual hallucinations, he clearly sees Nicole's mysterious intuitive abilities as part of her rich personality.

At night they sleep in each other's arms; love is tender and sweet. One night Nicole was lying on Richard's chest, half asleep.Richard did not fall asleep, lost in thought.Afterwards he nudged her awake and said, "A few days ago, I told you that I once tried to kill myself. At that time, I was afraid to tell you about that. Do you want to hear it now?" Nicole opened her eyes, rolled over, put her face against his belly, and said, "That's good." Before he could speak, she got up and kissed his eyes again. He began: "I think you already know that I was married to Sheila Tittings when we were both young and she was not yet famous. The first year she was at the Royal Shakespeare Theatre, they did Romeo With Juliet, Sheila played Juliet. She was eighteen years old, just out of school. I fell in love the first time I saw her play Juliet. Every night, I went to her dressing room with roses , and spent all my savings to see her show. After we had dinner together twice, I proposed to her, and she accepted. But she was more surprised than loving about it.

"After the summer I went to Cambridge for my postgraduate studies, and we lived in a small flat; she traveled between Cambridge and London a lot. If I had time, I would go with her as much as I could. But After a few months, my research sessions took up most of my time." Richard stopped talking and looked at Nicole.She lay motionless on him, with a loving smile on her face, and softly encouraged: "Go on." "Sheila is an emotional person. She craves excitement and change, and the trivialities and dullness of life make her unbearable. After a year of marriage, she wants to rent a house in London so that she doesn't have to go far every night after the show. Long way back to Cambridge. But after a while, her behavior became very permissive. I dare not admit it, I guess I was scared. While preparing for an exam, I got a call from a woman. She said she was the wife of the actor Sinclair. She was very polite but obviously extremely disturbed. She said her husband was having an affair with my wife and then wept and hung up."

Nicole stroked Richard's cheek lightly.Filled with pain, Richard continued: "I became angry, panicked, and frantic. I arrived in London, got out of the taxi, and broke into Sheila's room. They were lying on the bed. I took Sheila together. I picked it up and threw it against the wall...I vividly remember the sound of her head smashing the mirror. Then, I threw myself on top of Sinclair and punched him in the face, over and over, until he There was blood all over the face. It was a horrible scene..." Richard fell silent, his tears welling up silently.Nicole put her arms around his heaving, panting chest and murmured, "Darling, dear."

"I lost my mind," he said aloud. "If the guy next door hadn't come and stopped me, I would have killed them both." For a while, both of them were silent.Later Richard said in a low, feeble voice: "The next day, after Sheila dealt with the police, the tabloid reporters, and all the bottom-up people, I wanted to kill myself. If I had a gun gun, I would actually kill myself too. I considered some creepy options like taking poison, cutting a vein with a razor, jumping off a bridge, etc. But then a student called and asked me A question about relativity. I had no choice but to turn my attention to Mr. Einstein, and after fifteen minutes I began to think that divorce might be a better option than suicide." His voice dropped.

Nicole wiped away her tears, took his hand tightly, kissed him, and said, "I love you." Nicole's watch chimed, telling her that Rama's day had begun again.Thinking silently in her heart, she said to herself, "It's been ten days, we need to have a serious talk." The sound woke Richard, too, who turned around and smirked at Nicole.Nicole said to him, "Honey, it's time..." "The walrus said: 'Let's talk'." He playfully imitated lines from fairy tales. "Okay, let's be serious. We've got to decide what to do, and obviously no one's going to rescue us."

"I agree with that." Richard sat up, reached for his shirt and put it on. "I've been dreading thinking about it these days, but it looks like we're going to have to face reality after all: Swimming across the Sea of ​​Columns should be considered." "Do you think we can't make a boat out of those black things?" "No," he replied, "one is too light, and the others are too heavy. If you can get something that is neither soft nor hard, maybe you can build a boat, but you must have cloth for sails, otherwise We'll have to paddle across... the best way to do that is to swim."

Richard stood up and walked towards the big black screen.He patted the black wall lightly and said, "My strangest plan hasn't worked out yet, has it? I'm going to make steaks and potatoes and boats." Nicole got dressed, started to do exercises, and said, "Hey, I'm starting to put on weight. I haven't been moving around very much these days." Richard looked at her with a slightly sheepish expression.She smiled and said to him, "What are you looking at, you fool." "I love this piece of aerobics," he laughs. "It's the only one I like. When I was at Astronautics Academy, I hated last weekend's physical training class."

Richard put a piece of managua on the black table and said calmly, "I've eaten this one, and there are three left. We must swim across the sea before dark." "Why don't you go there early?" asked Nicole. "No," he replied, "you can go to the shore first. Last night, I found something strange in the computer, and I haven't been able to solve the mystery. Of course it won't be food or sailboats, But I feel like we can find our way into a new level of command." After breakfast Nicole kissed Richard goodbye and walked to the ground alone.

It didn't take long for her to survey the coast.There seemed to be little reason to find another place to launch. Really want to swim there?This harsh reality was in front of Nicole, making her breathless. "It's a 'coupling'," she said to herself. "Richard and I won't be alive until dark." She imagined what it would be like to be eaten by a shark.Will die soon?Or after the leg is bitten off, the person is still soaking in the water consciously?Nicole began to tremble, "Maybe we should get another melon..." But she knew it was no use, and they'd have to swim before long.

Nicole turned her back to the Sea of ​​Columns, thinking, "But at least we're having a good time these last days." She no longer wanted to think about the present predicament, "He's such a good companion, no matter where Both ways.” She tried to remind herself of the wonderful moments the two of them had shared together these past few days.She laughed, and began to walk quickly toward the crypt. "What's this?" Nicole asked as another picture appeared on a black screen on the wall. "I'm not entirely sure," Richard replied, "I just know that I touch a long list and suddenly an image appears on the screen. I can change these images with a keystroke." "Then how do you know these images are sent by the sensor?" Richard typed a command, and the image on the wall changed. "It was discovered by accident, and I recognized something." He said, "Look at this picture, isn't this the image of the beta step ladder viewed from the center of Rama?" Nicole studied the picture. "It's possible," she said, "but I don't know how you can prove that it is." Richard changed the image again.The next three panels are all unrecognizable.On the upper edge of the fourth picture, there is a faint cone-shaped structure. "Look at this, isn't this an image of the Minaret seen from near the Minaret?" he said. With great effort, Nicole still couldn't make out that this was the image seen from the Great Southern Spire.Richard continued to change the images, and only one-fifth of the images could be partially seen clearly. "There must be some way in this system to make the image clear," Richard said to himself. Nicole knew that Richard was going to go on and on again.She walked up to him, hugged his neck, and said, "May I bother you?" She raised her head and kissed his lips. "I suppose so," he replied, letting the keyboard slide gently to the floor. "Maybe it will clear my head." In the dream Nicole returned to her home in the Beauvais Valley.Richard and she sat side by side on the living room bench, holding hands; father and daughter sat opposite on the ottoman.Her dream was shattered by Richard's eager cry.Nicole opened her eyes and saw him standing before her.His voice was hoarse and excited, and he stretched out his hand, pulled her up, and said, "Look, dear. It's wonderful that someone's here!" Nicole shook her head lightly, trying to drive away sleepiness.She followed Richard's finger to the black screen. "Can you believe it?" he cheered. "There's no doubt that the military class is still moored outside Rama." At this time, Nicole realized that the picture she saw was the image outside Rama.She rubbed her eyes and listened to Richard explain to her slowly: "I pressed a button and all of a sudden all the images became clear. The image I showed you earlier turned out to be Rama inside and outside Live monitoring from hundreds of sensors. I think I can also check data from other sensors.” Richard was so excited that he picked Nicole up, kissed her, and walked around the room like a madman. When he was quieter, Nicole spent over a minute studying the images on the black screen.It was indeed the military cabin of the Newton, and she could see the insignia on it. "So the science module has gone home," she said. "Yes," he replied, "as I expected. I was afraid that after we swam across the sea they would have taken both ships away. In that case we would still be in trouble, but Into a bigger cage." Nicole was also concerned about this problem.She smiled and said to Richard, "It's easier now, isn't it? Let's swim across the Sea of ​​Columns and head for the chair lift, where someone is waiting for us." Nicole starts packing; meanwhile, Richard continues to view new images. "What are you still doing there, dear," Nicole asked softly. "I think we should go swimming." "I haven't looked at the entire set of images yet," Richard replied. "I don't want to miss anything important. I only need about an hour." Nicole stopped, and she sat next to Richard, looking at the screen with him.Those images are really interesting.Some of the images are of the outside of Rama; most are of different areas inside of Rama, including the interior of the crypt.One of them is an image taken from the ceiling of the large house where the little robot found the hot sphere.Richard and Nicole watched carefully for a while, trying to see if there were any eight-legged spiders, but there was no movement. Finally, an image surprised them both.This is the bottom of the Alpha Steps, where four people in space suits are slowly descending the steps. Richard and Nicole couldn't believe their eyes watching them go down.Suddenly, the two cheered. "They're coming?" cried Richard, throwing his arms into the air. "We're going to be saved!"