“I disagree,” said the Japanese scientist respectfully. “You said yourself that the unpredicted lighting profile did not represent a fundamental difference between the two spacecraft. We are not facing an unknown Rama. I submit that we should implement the sorties in accordance with the original mission plan.”
“So you favor dedicating this entire second sortie to mapping, including or perhaps even featuring a detailed exploration of New York?” asked O’Toole.
“Exactly, General O’Toole. Even if one takes the position that the strange sound heard by cosmonauts Wakefield, Sabatini, and myself does not constitute an official difference, the careful mapping of New York is clearly one of the highest priority activities. And it is vital that we accomplish it on this sortie. The temperature in the Central Plain has already risen to minus five degrees. Rama is carrying us closer and closer to the Sun. The spacecraft is heating from the outside in. I predict the Cylindrical Sea will begin to melt from the bottom in three or four more days—”
“I have never said that New York was not a legitimate target for exploration,” David Brown interrupted again, 4
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