Rendevous With Rama (1973)

This novel kicked off the other major series from Clarke. The setup is that an object has been tracked entering the solar system ta a high velocity, and only one spaceship is close enough to investigate. As we have seen with Oumuamua this scenario is accurate. It entered the solar system from outside, traveling very fast, and there was no way to prepare and launch a mission in time to intercept and investigate the object. But in the case of Rama, we are in a future time (2131) when travel through the solar system is more developed and there can be a ship capable of interception.

The Endeavour is duly dispatched and finds Rama to be a perfectly smooth cylinder 50 kilometers long an 20 kilometers in diameter, so clearly of artificial origin. It is a spaceship of some kind, and the crew find a way inside through a triple airlock system, and inside they find three identical staircases. The Rama is rotating, which provides artificial gravity, and has two circular plains, separated by a circular ocean. The crew investigates, and as the Rama gets closer to the sun it starts to warm up and come to life. This creates problems for the crew as storms start to brew, and one crewman is stranded when a static field wrecks his “air bike”, leaving him on the other side of the ocean. As they explore an island they name New York, they notice that the structures there always seem to come in threes, but there are no openings and their purpose is unknown.

Creatures start to appear, but again the pattern of three is noticed., A spider-like creature has three eyes and three legs, and comes to inspect the crew and their equipment. One such creature falls from a cliff and is destroyed, so the crew decides to “dissect” it, and they discover that is a combination of mechanism and biologic material, so they dub the creatures “biots”. They decide that these creatures must have been designed by the “Ramans”. As Rama continues to get closer to the Sun, the planet Mercury decides it is a danger and launches a nuclear weapon, but the crew manage to intercept it, and taking advantage of the time lag between Mercury and the Rama, they disarm it. But now it getting too close to the Sun to stay, so the crew leaves and goes back to the Endeavour. Shortly afterwards, the engines of Rama come to life, and it speeds around the Sun and out of the solar system in the direction of the Large Magellanic Cloud. but as it speeds away, scientists on the Rama Committee realize the Ramans always do things in threes. Sounds like a setup for a sequel.

This novel won lots awards, including the Nebula for best novel in 1973 and the Hugo for best novel in 1974. There was a planned film version that get stuck in development hell before being abandoned, but recently there was a report that it might be back on, with Morgan Freeman producing and Dennis Villenueve directing. There was also a computer game made by Sierra On-Line in 1996. This was directed by Gentry Lee, who mostly took over the Rama series

Rama II (1989)

This is listed as by Arthur C. Clarke & Gentry Lee, but as Clarke confirmed Lee did most of the writing, and Clarke’s role was limited. This takes place 70 years after the first book, and Earth is ready when yet another vessel enters the solar system. A ship has been readied, and learning from the experience of the Endeavour crew they have some better equipment for the task. Their ship, the Newton, carries a crew of 12 in addition to the equipment, but interpersonal conflicts arise even before they launch. Then the commander of the expedition is killed while they are still outside the Raman vessel, and they have trouble deciding who the new leader will be. Ultimately they investigate, but three of the crew are left inside the Raman vessel when it speeds away from the solar system.

The writing is very different, and it is fair to consider this Lee’s story rather than Clarke’s. I comparison to the first Rama book, there is a bit more characterization, which was never Clarke’s strong suit, but then it never won any awards either.

The Garden of Rama (1991)

The three astronauts left in the Rama II ship consist of one woman and two men. The woman duly produces children by each of the men, three girls and two boys. In a journey of 12 years they finally arrive at the start Sirius. Since Sirius is just under 9 light years from Earth, this suggest that the Ramans have good engines, but no faster-then-light propulsion. At Sirius they find there is a Raman node, where they undergo physiological tests for a year while the Raman ship is being refurbished. And then they are sent back to Earth, and the Ramans request that the Earth send them 2,000 more humans to study. This request is kept secret from the public, and instead the secret government agency comes up with a cover story about a new Martian colony, and starts gathering people. OK, this already sounds like disaster in the making. But then the secretive agency starts to select convicts, promising them freedom if they agree to be colonists. Now we know it is going to be a disaster. They divide the people into three groups, and put them on three ships named the Nina, the Pinta, and the Santa Maria. And the people, who are mostly convicts are starting to suspect that they have been hoaxed.

Once they arrive on the Raman ship, a mob boss seizes control of the humans and begins a war against one of the other species on this giant spacecraft. The original astronauts and their children are powerless to stop this genocide, but it has not gone unnoticed. Another species is paying attention and starting to make plans of their own to deal with this. The Rama III spaceship is also paying attention, and has transmitted an emergency signal back to its creators. And as one of the original astronauts is set to be executed, the book ends on a cliffhanger. Because of course it does, You can’t end it here!

Rama Revealed (1993)

The astronaut Nicole Wakefield manages to escape the death in store for her at the cliffhanger of the previous novel. And at this point the humans have meet two alien species: the “octospiders” and the “myrmicats”. These are interesting species. the octospiders had led simple lives until a spacefaring species made contact with them and everything changed. They focused on biological technology and genetic enhancements, and were able to form a utopia of sorts for themselves. The myrmicats were named that by the humans because they seemed to combine traits of both ants and cats. They could form a connection with humans through a network of fibers that enter the human brain They inform Richard Wakefield of their fears from the aggressive humans, and get him to take some of their eggs to a safe place.

The murderous mob of humans, of course, are continuing their attacks and focused on the astronauts from Rama II and their children. These folks flee to the “New York” place as named in the original Rama, but then the genocidal humans come after them. They then flee to the octospider colony, but then the humans start bombing that area. The octospiders retaliate, and then the Ramans decide that enough is enough, and send the humans and the octospiders into hibernation for the rest of the voyage. finally the Raman ship reaches Tau Ceti where another Raman Node is located, which is devoted to studying races capable of spaceflight.

Overall, I would have to say that while the first novel written by Arthur C. Clarke is deservedly a classic, the continuation by Gentry Lee is eminently skippable. It is a jarring change of direction and voice from Clarke, and not terribly interesting. The whole idea of Ramans doing everything by threes seems to disappear here, when it should have been a key focus. so if you decide to skip them, I don’t blame you.

Gentry Lee Rama Universe Novels

Gentry Lee also did several novels set in the Rama universe, but not directly part of the Rama plot. They are Bright Messengers (1996), Double Full Moon Night (1999), and The Tranquility Wars (2000). If you love everything connected to Rama and are a completist you will of course want to check them out, but that is not anything I have the ambition to pursue.

Arthur C. Clarke has written some other stand-alone novels that are not part of any series, and some of them deserve attention, so that is where we will go next.