Chapter 16 Chapter 16 Calacgua Bay

"You know very well, Dr. Perilla," said Bossy, in a resigned tone, "that few of us have as much knowledge of meteorological mathematics as you. So please forgive our ignorance." "Greatly," the exobiologist replied quite calmly, "I think the best explanation is to tell you what's going to happen in Ramari. "The temperature has now begun to rise as the sun's thermal pulse reaches the interior. According to the last information I have, it is above freezing. The ice of the Cylindrical Sea will soon begin to melt; unlike solid water on Earth, it will be formed from the bottom Melting upwards. This will have some weird effects. But I'm more concerned with the atmosphere.

"After it is heated, the air in Rama will expand, and there will be a tendency to rise towards the axis. On the surface of the ground, although it looks stable, it is actually shearing Rama's rotation—— at speeds in excess of 800 kilometers per hour. As it rises to the axis it will attempt to maintain this speed, but of course this is impossible and the result will be violent winds and eddies. According to my estimate the wind speed will reach . "It's the same thing on Earth, by the way. The hot air at the equator, shearing the Earth's 1,600-kilometer-per-hour rotation, rises and flows north-south, and has the same problem."

"Ah, the trade winds! I remember my teacher saying that in geography class." "Exactly, Lord Lobutt. There will be a very violent trade wind at Rama. I believe they will last for a few hours before returning to some form of equilibrium. In the meantime I would advise Lieutenant Colonel Newton to retreat immediately. This is the telegram I intend to send out in response to the request." With a little imagination, Newton said to himself, he could be like a temporary night camp at the foot of a mountain in a remote mountainous area in America or Asia.Messy mattresses, foldable tables and chairs, mobile energy stations, lighting equipment, electrified toilets and various scientific instruments, how like it is on Earth!Especially here, there are men and women working off life support.

Building Alpha Battalion was painstaking work, as everything had to be manually moved through a series of airtight chambers, then slid directly off the hub, collected, and unboxed.On one occasion, the brake parachute failed, causing the cargo to slide for 1,000 meters.Many crew members asked for permission to slide down like this, but Newton strictly forbade it.Only in an emergency would he reconsider the ban. Almost all equipment has to stay here, because it is practically impossible to take it back.At times Newton was ashamed to leave so much human clutter in such an utterly tidy place.He was prepared to sacrifice some precious time to sort out what was left when he finally left.Maybe millions of years from now when Rama passes through other galaxies, there will be other visitors.He hoped to give them a good impression of the earth.

Meanwhile, he had a more pressing problem. Within 24 hours, he received two almost identical telegrams from Mars and Earth from his two wives.They all reminded him rather pointedly that even though he was a hero now, he still had family responsibilities. The captain picked up a folding chair, stepped out of the halo, and entered the darkness near the tent.Only in this way can he get a little time away from the noise and think about it.With his back to those busy people, he began to speak into the tape recorder hanging around his neck: "Personal file, transcript distribution Mars and Earth. Hello dear. I know I'm a poor correspondent, but I haven't been back on the ship for a week. We're all in Rama except for the watchman Camp, camp at the foot of the ladder we named Alpha.

"I have sent three teams to explore the plains, but the progress is disappointingly slow, because everything has to be done on foot. It would be great if there were some means of transportation! I would like to pack some electric bicycles; so It will be very beneficial for our kind of work. "You have seen my medical officer, Lieutenant Colonel Ernst, medic—" Captain Newton paused uncertainly. Laura had seen one of his wives, but which one?Don't ask for this sentence! Erasing this sentence, he resumed speaking: "My medical officer, Lieutenant Colonel Ernst, took the first team to the Cylindrical Sea, 15 kilometers away. She found that it was frozen ice, as we expected, but you don't want to drink it. Ernst Said it was a diluted organic broth with every carbohydrate you could name, plus phosphates and nitrates and dozens of metal salts. They had no trace of life, not even dead microbes. So We still don't know anything about Rama's biochemistry, although it probably won't be too different from ours."

Something brushed his hair lightly.He's been too busy to get a haircut, and it looks like he'll have to get a haircut before he wears his space helmet next time. He went on: "You've seen videotapes of Paris and other cities across the sea—London, Rome, Moscow. It's impossible to believe they were built to live in. Paris appears to be a big warehouse district. London It's made up of tanks with pipes connecting them to what's obviously a pumping station. Everything is sealed and we can't get in there except with dynamite or lasers. Unless there's no other way, we don't ready to use this method."

"As for 'Rome' and 'Moscow'—" "Excuse me, Earth's urgent call." A voice interrupted him. What is it this time?Newton asked himself.Can't one have a few minutes to talk to family members? He took the telegram sent by the sergeant, glanced at it quickly, and found that it was not something to do immediately.He will read it again in a moment. What the hell is the Rama Committee?How did he never know about it?He knew all the associations, academies, and professional organizations of all kinds—some serious and some of them all nonsense.But if it wasn't really important, Communications Command wouldn't let it pass.

"A 200-kilometer wind...could strike suddenly..." Well, that's something to think about.But on a quiet night like this, there's no need to take it too seriously.It would be ridiculous to run away like a frightened mouse when effective reconnaissance has just begun. Newton raised his hand to push back the hair that had fallen and partially blocked his eyes.Just before the action was completed, he froze. Several times in the course of the hour he had felt a breeze so slight that he hadn't noticed it at all.He was, after all, the captain of a spaceship and not a sailing ship.Before this time, he had never had the slightest professional concern for the movement of air.How would the long-dead captain of the Endeavor cope with such a situation?

Over the years, Newton has always asked himself this question in times of emergency.This is his personal secret, which he has not revealed to anyone. It took him many months to captain the Endeavor before he discovered that it was named after one of history's most famous ships.It was a 370-ton sailing ship sailed around the world by Captain James Cook of the Royal Navy from 1768 to 1771. What started out as interest turned into curiosity and even fascination.He read everything he could find about Captain Cook.He may now be the world authority on the great explorer, and he can memorize entire logbooks.

It's hard to believe that one person could accomplish such a big thing with such primitive equipment.Cook was not only an outstanding navigator, but also a scientist and a humanitarian.It was unusual in a barbaric age for him to treat his own subjects with kindness; yet it was unique that he treated the hostile savages of the new lands he had discovered in exactly the same manner. up. Newton had a private dream, which he knew he would never realize, to circle the world at least once along one of Cook's many routes.He had made a limited but rather spectacular attempt, and it must have surprised the old captain, when he made a polar-orbit flight directly over the Great Barrier Reef.It was a clear morning, giving him an excellent view at 400 kilometers of the deadly wall of coral that was evident along the foaming coast of Queensland. He crossed the 2,000-kilometer reef in less than five minutes.One look from him was enough to spend several weeks on the arduous voyage of the first Endeavor.He also glanced through the binoculars at Cooktown and the spot where the ship had been hauled ashore for repairs after it had run aground. A year later, he had an even more memorable opportunity when he visited the Deep Space Tracking Station in Hawaii.He took the hydrofoil to Calacogua Bay, and as he flew past the gray-white cliffs of volcanic rock, a deep emotion moved him.The guide led their group of scientists, engineers and astronauts through the gleaming metal pylon gate that replaced the monument destroyed by the 1768 tsunami.They still had to walk a few steps over the black, slippery lava to reach the small tablet by the water.Regardless of the slight waves under his feet, Newton hurriedly approached and bent over to read the inscriptions—— around this point captain james cook killed in February 14, 1779 Original inscription by Cook 150 Years Memorial Committee Dedicated on August 18, 1928 Cook's 300th Anniversary Committee Rebuilt on February 14, 2079 That was many years ago and a hundred million kilometers away.But at this moment Cook's strong image seems particularly kind.In the secret depths of his heart, Newton would ask: "So, Captain, what do you say?" what will be done.It's one of Cook's many talents, and he's always done it right -- until his final death at Calacogua Bay. The staff sergeant waited patiently while the captain gazed silently into the darkness of Rama.The night is no longer empty, and the lighting spots of the two reconnaissance teams 4,000 meters away are clearly visible. I can get them back in an hour in an emergency, Newton thought.That's good enough. He turned to Staff Sergeant: "Take note of this call. Planetary News Agency to Rama Committee, thank you and appreciate your advice, will proceed with caution. Please elaborate on the meaning of the word 'surprise attack'. Regards. Lieutenant Colonel Newton on Endeavor .” After the sergeant left, he turned on the tape recorder again, but his train of thought had been interrupted.This letter had to be left for later.He suddenly thought of Captain Cook's wife, Elizabeth Cook, how rarely and briefly she saw her husband in her 16 years of married life.Yet she bore him six children, and raised them all. His own wives, not more than ten minutes away from him at the speed of light, should have nothing to complain about. ----------------------------- Notes: