Rama 2 by Arthur C. Clarke and Gentry Lee

Sherman Bothwell had been a left-handed, power-hitting first baseman for the Red Sox between 2172 and 2187. He had been immensely popular. A Missouri boy by birth, his genuine modesty and old-fashioned dedication to hard work were as exceptional as the 527 home runs he had hit during his sixteen years in the major leagues. During the last year of his baseball career, Bothwell’s wife had died in a terrible boating accident. Sherman’s uncom­plaining courage in facing the responsibility of raising his children as a single parent was applauded in every American home.

Three years later, when he married Linda Black, the darling daughter of the governor of Texas, it was obvious to many people that old Sherman had a political career in mind. He advanced through the ranks with great speed. First lieutenant governor, then governor and presidential hopeful. He was elected to the White House by a landslide in 2196; it was anticipated that he would soundly defeat the Christian Conservative candidate in the forthcom­ing general election of 2200.

“Hello, General O’Toole,” the man in the blue suit with the friendly smile said when the screen was no longer blank. “This is Sherman Bothwell, your president.”

The president was using no notes. He was leaning forward in a simple chair, his elbows resting on his thighs and his hands folded in front of him. He was talking as if he were sitting beside General O’Toole in someone’s cozy living room.

“I have been following your Newton mission with great interest—as has everybody in my family, including Linda and the four kids—ever since you launched. But I have been especially attentive these last several weeks, as the tragedies have rained down upon you and your courageous colleagues. My, my. Who would have ever thought that such a thing as that Rama ship could exist? It is truly staggering . . .

“Anyway, I understand from our COG representatives that the order has been given to destroy Rama. Now, I know that decisions like that are not made lightly, and that it places quite a large responsibility on folks like yourself. Nevertheless, I’m certain it’s the right action.

“Yessirree, I know it’s correct. Why, you know, my daughter Courtney— that’s the eight-year-old—she wakes up with nightmares almost every night. We were watching when you all were trying to capture that biot, the one that looked like a crab, and my, it was positively awful. Now, Courtney knows—it’s been all over the television—that Rama is heading directly for the Earth and she is really scared. Terrified. She thinks the whole country will be overrun by those crab things and that she and all her friends will be chopped up just like journalist Wilson.

“I’m telling you all this, General, because I know you’re facing a big decision. And I’ve heard on the grapevine that you may be hesitant to destroy that humongous spacecraft and all its wonders. But General, I’ve told Courtney about you. I’ve told her that you and your crew are going to blow Rama to smithereens long before it reaches the Earth, “That’s why 1 called. To tell you that I’m counting on you. And so is Courtney.”

General O’Toole had thought, before listening to the president, that he might take advantage of the call and lay his dilemma in front of the leader of the American people. He had imagined that he might even question Slugger Bothwell about the nature of a species that destroys to protect against an unlikely downside risk. But after the practically perfect short speech from the ex-6rst baseman, O’Toole had nothing to say. After all, how could he refuse to respond to such a plea? All the Courtney Bothwells on the entire planet were counting on him.

After sleeping for five hours O’Toole awakened at three o’clock. He was aware that the most important action of his life was facing him. It seemed to him that everything he had done—his career, his religious studies, even his family activities—had been preparing him for this moment. God had trusted him with a monumental decision. But what did God want him to do? His forehead broke out in a sweat as O’Toole knelt before the image of Jesus on the cross that was behind his desk.

Dear Lord, he said, clasping his hands earnestly, my hour approaches and I still do not see Thy will clearly. It would be so easy for me just to follow my orders and do what everyone wants. Is that Thy desire? How can I know for certain?

Michael O’Toole closed his eyes and prayed for guidance with a fervor surpassing any he had ever felt previously. As he prayed, he recalled another time, years before, when he had been a young pilot working as part of a temporary peacekeeping force in Guatemala. O’Toole and his men had awakened one morning to find their small air base in the jungle completely surrounded by the right-wing terrorists that were trying to bring the fledgling democratic government to its knees. The subversives wanted the planes. In exchange they would guarantee safe passage to O’Toole and his men.

Major O’Toole had taken fifteen minutes to deliberate and pray before deciding to fight it out. In the ensuing battle the planes were destroyed and almost half his men were killed, but his symbolic stand against terrorism emboldened the young government and many others throughout Central America at a time when the poor countries were struggling desperately to overcome the ravages of two decades of depression. O’Toole had been awarded the Order of Merit, the highest COG military accolade, for his exploits in Guatemala.

Onboard the Newton years later, General O’Toole’s decision process was much less straightforward. In Guatemala the young major had not had any questions about the morality of his actions His order to destroy Rama, however, was altogether different. In O’Toole’s opinion, the alien ship had not taken any overtly bellicose actions. In addition, he knew that the order was based primarily on two factors: fear of what Rama might do and the uproar of xenophobic public opinion. Historically, both fear and public opin­ion were notoriously unconcerned about morality. If somehow he could learn what Rama’s true purpose was, then he could . , .

Below the painting of Jesus on the desk in his room was a small statue of a young man with curly hair and wide eyes. This figure of St. Michael of Siena had accompanied O’Toole on every journey he had made since his marriage to Kathleen. Seeing the statue gave him an idea. General O’Toole reached into one of the desk drawers and pulled out an electronic template. He switched on the power, checked the template menu, and accessed a concor­dance indexing the sermons of St. Michael.

Under the word “Rama,” the general found a host of different references in the concordance. The one that he was looking for was the only one marked in a bold font. That specific reference was the saint’s famous “Rama sermon,” delivered in camp to a group of five thousand of Michael’s neo­phytes three weeks before the holocaust in Rome. O’Toole began to read.

“As the topic for my talk to you today, I am going to address an issue raised by Sister Judy in our council, namely what is the basis for my state­ment that the extraterrestrial spacecraft called Rama might well have been the first announcement of the second coming of Christ. Understand that at this point I have had no clear revelation one way or the other; God has, however, suggested to me that the heralds of Christ’s next coming will have to be extraordinary or the people on Earth will not notice. A simple angel or two blowing trumpets in the heavens won’t suffice. The heralds must do things that are truly spectacular to engage attention,

“There is a precedent, established in the old testament prophecies fore­telling the coming of Jesus, of prophetic announcements originating in the heavens. Elijah’s chariot was the Rama of its time. It was, technologically speaking, as much beyond the understanding of its observers as Rama is today. In that sense there is a certain conforming pattern, a symmetry that is not inconsistent with God’s order.

“But what I think is most hopeful about the arrival of the first Rama spacecraft eight years ago—and I say first because I am certain there will be others—is that it forces humanity to think of itself in an extraterrestrial perspective. Too often we limit our concept of God and, by implication, our own spirituality. We belong to the universe. We are its children. It’s just pure chance that our atoms have risen to consciousness here on this particu­lar planet.

“Rama forces us to think of ourselves, and God, as beings of the universe. It is a tribute to His intelligence that He has sent such a herald at this moment. For as I have told you many times, we are overdue for our final evolution, our recognition that the entire human race is but a single organ­ism. The appearance of Rama is another signal that it is time for us to change our ways and begin that final evolution.”