chapter 41. Hero
"Darling," began Norton, "this nonsense has cost us more than a day, but at least it's given me a chance to talk to you."
"I'm still in the ship, and she's heading back to station at the polar axis. We picked up Rod an hour ago, looking as if he'd just come off duty after a quiet watch. I suppose neither of us will ever be able to visit Mercury again, and I'm wondering if we're going to be treated as heroes or villains when we get back to Earth. But my conscience is clear; I'm sure we did the right thing. I wonder if the Ramans will ever say 'thank you'."
"We can stay here only two more days; unlike Rama, we don't have a kilometre-thick skin to protect us from the sun. The hull's already developing dangerous hotspots and we've had to put out some local screening. I'm sorry - I didn't want to bore you with my problems..."
"So there's time for just one more trip into Rama, and I intend to make the most of it. But don't worry - I'm not taking any chances."
He stopped the recording. That, to say the least, was stretching the truth. There was danger and uncertainty about every moment inside Rama; no man could ever feel really at home there, in the presence of forces beyond his understanding. And on this final trip, now that he knew they would never return and that no future operations would be jeopardized, he intended to press his luck just a little further.
"In forty-eight hours, then, we'll have completed this mission. What happens then is still uncertain; as you know, we've used virtually all our fuel getting into this orbit. I'm still waiting to hear if a tanker can rendezvous with us in time to get back to Earth, or whether we'll have to make planet-fall at Mars. Anyway, I should be home by Christmas. Tell Junior I'm sorry I can't bring a baby biot; there's no such animal..."
"We're all fine, but we're very tired. I've earned a long leave after all this, and we'll make up for lost time. Whatever they say about me, you can claim you're married to a hero. How many wives have a husband who saved a world?"
As always, he listened carefully to the tape before duping it, to make sure that it was applicable to both his families. It was strange to think that he did not know which of them he would see first; usually, his schedule was determined at least a year in advance, by the inexorable movements of the planets themselves.
But that was in the days before Rama; now nothing would ever be the same again.
Rendezvous With Rama
Arthur C. Clarke's books
- Autumn
- Trust
- Autumn The Human Condition
- Autumn The City
- Straight to You
- Hater
- Dog Blood
- 3001 The Final Odyssey
- 2061 Odyssey Three
- 2001 A Space Odyssey
- 2010 Odyssey Two
- The Garden of Rama(Rama III)
- Rama Revealed(Rama IV)
- The Lost Worlds of 2001
- The Light of Other Days
- Foundation and Earth
- Foundation's Edge
- Second Foundation
- Foundation and Empire
- Forward the Foundation
- Prelude to Foundation
- Foundation
- The Currents Of Space
- The Stars Like Dust
- Pebble In The Sky
- A Girl Called Badger
- Alexandria
- Alien in the House
- All Men of Genius
- An Eighty Percent Solution
- And What of Earth
- Apollo's Outcasts
- Beginnings
- Blackjack Wayward
- Blood of Asaheim
- Cloner A Sci-Fi Novel About Human Clonin
- Close Liaisons
- Consolidati
- Credence Foundation
- Crysis Escalation
- Daring
- Dark Nebula (The Chronicles of Kerrigan)
- Darth Plagueis
- Deceived
- Desolate The Complete Trilogy
- Earthfall
- Eden's Hammer
- Edge of Infinity
- Extensis Vitae
- Farside
- Flight
- Grail
- Heart of Iron
- House of Steel The Honorverse Companion
- Humanity Gone After the Plague
- I Am Automaton
- Icons
- Impostor
- Invasion California
- Isle of Man
- Issue In Doubt
- John Gone (The Diaspora Trilogy)
- Know Thine Enemy
- Land and Overland Omnibus
- Lightspeed Year One
- Maniacs The Krittika Conflict
- My Soul to Keep
- Portal (Boundary) (ARC)
- Possession
- Quicksilver (Carolrhoda Ya)
- Ruin
- Seven Point Eight The First Chronicle
- Shift (Omnibus)
- Snodgrass and Other Illusions
- Solaris
- Son of Sedonia
- Stalin's Hammer Rome
- Star Trek Into Darkness
- Star Wars Dawn of the Jedi, Into the Voi
- Star Wars Riptide
- Star Wars The Old Republic Fatal Allianc
- Sunset of the Gods
- Swimming Upstream
- Take the All-Mart!
- The Affinity Bridge
- The Age of Scorpio
- The Assault
- The Best of Kage Baker
- The Complete Atopia Chronicles
- The Curve of the Earth
- The Darwin Elevator
- The Eleventh Plague
- The Games
- The Great Betrayal
- The Greater Good
- The Grim Company
- The Heretic (General)
- The Last Horizon
- The Last Jedi
- The Legend of Earth