Michael was ecstatic to see Katie safe, even though he was very concerned (as I still am) that there were cameras hidden in the walls and ceilings of our living quarters, i never did scold Katie properly for going off on her own— I was too relieved to find her at all. Katie told Simone that she had had a “fabulous adventure” and that the octospider was “nice.” Such is the world of the child.
4 February 2209
Oh, joy of joys! We have found Richard! He is still alivel Just barely, for he is in a deep coma and has a high fever, but he is nevertheless alive.
Katie and Simone found him this morning, lying on the ground not fifty meters from the opening to our lair. The three of us had been planning to play some soccer in the plaza and were ready to leave the lair when Michael called me back for something. I told the girls to wait for me in the area around the lair entrance. When they both started screaming a few minutes later, I thought something terrible had happened. I rushed up the stairs and immediately saw Richard’s comatose body in the distance.
At first I was afraid that Richard was dead. The doctor in me immediately went to work, checking his vital signs.
THE GARDEN OF RAMA
99
The girls hung over me while I was examining him. Especially Katie. She kept saying, over and over, “Is Daddy alive? Oh, Mommy, make Daddy be all right.”
Once I had confirmed that he was in a coma, Michael and Simone helped me carry Richard down the stairs. I injected a set of biometry probes into his system and have been monitoring the output ever since.
I took his clothes off and checked him from head to toe. He has, some scratches and bruises that I have not seen before, but that’s to be expected after all this time. His blood cell counts are peculiarly close to normal—I would have expected white cell abnormalities with his almost forty-degree temperature.
There was another big surprise when we examined Richard’s clothing in detail. In his jacket pocket we found the Shakespearean robots Prince Hal and Falstaff, who had disappeared nine years ago in the strange world below the spiked corridor in what we thought was the octospider lair. Somehow Richard must have convinced the octos to return his playmates.
I have been sitting here beside Richard now for seven hours. Most of the time this morning other members of the family have also been here, but for the last hour Richard and I have been alone. My eyes have feasted on his face for minutes on end, my hands have roamed across his neck, his shoulders, and his back. My touching him has evoked a flood of memories and my eyes have often been filled with tears. I never thought I would see or touch him again. Oh, Richard, welcome home. Welcome home to your wife and family.
12
13 April 2209 \A/e nave nac* an
V V day. Just after lunch,
while I was sitting beside Richard and routinely checking all his biometry, Katie asked me if she could play with Prince Hal and Falstaff. “Of course,” I told her without thinking. I was certain that the little robots were not functioning and, to tell the truth, I wanted her out of the room so that I could try another technique for bringing Richard out of his coma.
I have never seen a coma even remotely like Richard’s. Most of the time his eyes are open, and occasionally they even seem to be following an object in his field of vision. But there are no other signs of life or consciousness. No muscles ever move. I have used a variety of stimuli, some mechanical, mostly chemical, to try to rouse him from his comatose state. None of them have worked. That’s why I was so unprepared for what happened today.
After Katie had been gone for about ten minutes, I heard a very strange mix of sounds coming from the nursery. I left Richard’s side and walked into the corridor. Before I reached the nursery the strange noise resolved itself into
THE GARDEN OF RAMA
101
clipped speech with a very peculiar rhythm. “Hello,” a voice that sounded as if it were in the bottom of a well said. “We are peaceful. Here is your man.”
The voice was coming from Prince Hal, who was standing in the middle of the room when I entered the nursery. The children were on the floor surrounding the robot, somewhat tentatively except for Katie. She was clearly excited.
“I was just playing with the buttons,” Katie said to me in explanation when I gave her a questioning glance, “and suddenly he started talking.”
No motions accompanied Prince Hal’s speech. How peculiar, I thought, remembering that Richard took pride in the fact that his robots always moved and spoke in concert. Richard did not do this, a voice inside my head told me, but I initially dismissed the idea. I dropped down on the floor beside the children.
“Hello. We are peaceful. Here is your man,” Prince Hal said again several seconds later. This time an eerie’ feeling swept through me. The girls were still laughing, but they quickly stopped when they noticed the strange expression on my face. Benjy crawled over beside me and grabbed my hand.
We were sitting on the floor with our backs to the door. I suddenly had a feeling there was someone behind me. I turned around and saw Richard standing in the doorway. I gasped and jumped up just as he fell and lost consciousness.
The children all screamed and began to cry. I tried to comfort them after quickly examining Richard. Since Michael was topside in New York having his afternoon walk, I cared for Richard on the floor outside the nursery for over an hour. During that time I watched him very closely. He was exactly as he had been when I left him in the bedroom earlier. There was no obvious sign that he had been awake for thirty or forty seconds in the interim.
When Michael returned he helped me carry Richard to the bedroom. We talked for over an hour about why Richard had awakened so abruptly. Later I read and reread every article about coma in my medical books. I am convinced that Richard’s coma is caused by a mixture of
102 ARTHUR C. CLARKE AND GENTRY LEE
physical and psychological problems. In my opinion the sound of that strange voice induced a trauma in him that temporarily overwhelmed the factors creating the coma.
But why did he then relapse so quickly? That’s a more difficult issue. Perhaps he had exhausted his small energy base by walking down the hail. There’s no way we can really know. In fact, we cannot answer most of the questions about what happened today, including the one that Katie keeps asking: Who is it that is peaceful?
1 May 2209
Let it be recorded that on this day Richard Colin Wake-field actually acknowledged his family and spoke his first words. For almost a week he has been working up to this moment, initially by giving signs of recognition with his face and eyes and then by moving his lips as if to make words. He smiled at me this morning and almost said my name, but his first actual word was “Katie,” spoken this afternoon after his cherished daughter gave him one of her energetic hugs.
There is a feeling of euphoria in the family, especially among the girls. They are celebrating the return of their father. I have told Simone and Katie repeatedly that Richard’s rehabilitation will almost certainly be long and painful, but I guess they are too young to comprehend what that means.
I am a very happy woman. It was impossible for me to restrain the tears when Richard distinctly whispered “Ni-cole” in my ear just before dinner. Even though I realize that my husband is not yet anywhere near normal, I am now certain that he will eventually recover and that fills my heart with joy.
18 August 2209
Slowly but surely Richard continues to improve. He only sleeps twelve hours a day now, can walk almost a
THE GARDEN OF RAMA
103
mile before becoming fatigued, and is able to concentrate occasionally on a problem if it’s especially interesting. He has not yet begun to interact with the Ramans through the keyboard and screen. He has, however, taken Prince Hal apart and tried unsuccessfully to determine what caused the strange voice in the nursery.
Richard is the first to admit that he is not himself. When he can talk about it, he says that he is “in a fog, like a dream but not quite as sharp.” It has been over three months since he regained consciousness, but he still can’t remember very much about what happened to him after he left us. He believes he was in the coma for the last year or so. His estimate is based more on vague feelings than on any particular fact.
Page: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100 101 102 103 104 105 106 107 108 109