Rama: The Omnibus

by Arthur C. Clarke

  “I have never seen any human being as utterly devastated as Satoko was by the stillbirth. She emitted a terrifying wail when she realized that she had delivered a dead baby, and even five hours later, when darkness came, her body was still convulsing with her sobs. We attempted to sit up with her during the night, but she kept screaming for all of us, even Fernando, to go away and leave her alone. We finally left her. It was a terrible mistake. The next morning she was gone.”

  Vivien took a final drag on her cigarette and then stubbed it out on a nearby rock. “That first morning,” she said, “we all volunteered to help Fernando with the search…”

  THREE

  EVERYONE EXCEPT SISTER Nuba, who stayed in the village with the children, left the village to search for Satoko within an hour after Fernando informed them that she had disappeared. Vivien and Kwame followed the path through the forest that led eventually back to the lake. Ravi and Anna headed one way along the rim of the chasm, while Brother Jose went with Fernando in the opposite direction.

  They gathered back at the village late that afternoon. Nobody had found any clue that suggested where Satoko might have gone. Fernando was beside himself with grief. He asked the group to help him look for her again the next day, and they all assented. But the second day, with everyone searching a new and different area around their village, was equally fruitless. There were no signs of Satoko anywhere.

  By this time everyone except Fernando had come to the same conclusion. “The only explanation that makes any sense,” Vivien said softly to Kwame as they were strolling along the path with their children, “is that Satoko jumped into the chasm very soon after she departed. Otherwise we would have found something. She wasn’t in the frame of mind that she would deliberately have concealed her route.”

  “I agree,” Kwame answered. “I’ve been thinking about it all day. But how do we tell Fernando to give up hope? He is obviously expecting us to continue the search yet another day Meanwhile, it is time for us to harvest the grain from the northwestern farms.”

  Fernando was not pleased the next morning when Kwame informed him that only Brother Jose was available to continue looking for Satoko. His eyes glazed from weeping and lack of sleep, Fernando announced that he would never give up searching for Satoko and that he intended personally to cover every square meter of their domain. He was true to his word. In the month that followed Fernando was rarely present in the village. He would stay away for two days, then thee, as his search for Satoko covered territory more and more distant from the village.

  To keep Keiko from feeling completely abandoned, Vivien and Kwame essentially adopted her during this period. Keiko and Beatrice became inseparable. When Fernando did return to the village, he was usually too exhausted or distraught to pay much attention to his daughter. After her father’s brief visits, Keiko would crawl silently into Kwame’s comforting arms.

  Late one evening Fernando came back, after having been gone for almost four days, with some surprising news. He had worked his way though the thick, nearly impenetrable forest on the far side of their domain. On the other end of that forest, he had discovered a spot where the chasm was so narrow that Fernando had been able to jump across to the other side. He had explored over there for two days. Fernando reported that it was an exciting and wonderful paradise full of fruit trees, vines, bubbling streams, and cascading waterfalls. He even brought back a large, new, purple fruit, the size of a basketball, that was absolutely delicious.

  In spite of Kwame’s suggestion that they should be cautious, and ask themselves why this other land had so deliberately been hidden from them, the village consensus was that an expedition should be sent immediately to explore this new realm across the chasm, both to see if perhaps Satoko might be there and to learn more about it. Brother Jose was selected to go with Fernando.

  They were gone for six days. During their absence a euphoric optimism swept through the community Vivien especially was carried away by her own fantasies of a more interesting place to live. After eight years, she told herself, there were finally going to be some real changes in their lives. Vivien couldn’t wait for Fernando and Brother Jose to return.

  The men came back with baskets overflowing with fruits, vegetables, grains, and vines that were unlike any that grew in their territory on this side of the chasm. They were followed into the village by two friendly little six-legged animals that looked like a mixture of a squirrel and a rabbit. Anna Kasper called them squibbits and the name stuck. Fernando and Brother Jose said that these animals were “all over” the other side of the chasm, living in warrens underneath the ground.

  The two men mentioned that they had built a small bridge across the chasm so that the group would be able to move their supplies and equipment across in the event a relocation was considered desirable. In the excitement of the descriptions of the exotic flora and fauna of the new land, nobody paid much attention when Kwame commented that the presence of the bridge also meant that whoever lived “over there” now had access to their territory as well.

  The village feasted on the new food for several days. It was unanimously proclaimed to be far superior to their standard fare of the last eight years. The friendly squibbits scampered around the village for a couple of hours and then disappeared. At the weekly council meeting Fernando recommended that the group move permanently across the chasm. The response was enthusiastic. Sensing that the others were ready for a change, Kwame put aside his misgivings and agreed to participate in the planning of the move.

  THE VILLAGE WAS infused with a new vitality by the thought of moving to the new location. Even the five children were swept up in the excitement. Beatrice and Keiko were thrilled at the prospect of having the cute squibbits as pets. Little Jomo gathered up his favorite toys, put them in one of the small pouches, and announced ceremoniously to his mother that he was now ready to go.

  Vivien’s primary task was matching the inventory of items they would need to take with them against the available number of wagons, packs, baskets, and pouches. She quickly concluded that there were not enough carrying devices. Vivien and Anna started working immediately to make new packs from the strong, supple bark of the “broom” trees that grew in a grove near the lake. Kwame and Brother Jose, meanwhile, were busy building a large wagon to carry the tepees.

  Fernando and Ravi were dispatched, as preparations proceeded, to cut a wide path through the thick forest in front of the bridge, and to reconfirm that the village site tentatively selected by Brother Jose and Fernando on their previous visit was the best available location. When the two men left, it was expected that they would be gone for several days. It was a surprise, therefore, when Fernando and Ravi returned to the village only four hours after they departed.

  “What’s up?” Kwame said, temporarily stopping his work on the wagon when the two men stepped into the clearing from the forest.

  “This is something I think you’d better see for yourself,” Ravi said, his furrowed brow showing his concern. “And we’ll need at least one extra torch. It will be dark before we come back here to the village.”

  When Kwame returned and called a council meeting to report what they had seen, it was well after dark and all the children, except little Jomo who never went to bed without his mother, were already asleep. “The northeastern farm, the closest one to the thick forest,” he said, “has been overrun and completely destroyed by the squibbits. We will not be able to harvest any grain at all from the farm. At least a hundred or so of the squibbits are now living underneath where the farm was, and they are decidedly territorial. When Ravi and I walked on to the farm, to see if any of the grain could be salvaged, the squibbits immediately formed into several large groups of twenty or so each, and made menacing noises at us. I believe they might have attacked if we had not promptly left the area.

  “What I want the council to consider, based on this latest information, is whether our decision to move might have been a bit hasty. Given what I saw this evening, and Fernando’s rep
ort on the number of squibbits living on the other side of the chasm, it seems unlikely that we will be able to farm over there. Besides, although the squibbits may be a manageable nuisance, do we know for certain that there are not other larger, more dangerous creatures living in our chosen area? Maybe we should do some more careful exploration before making any final decisions.”

  Kwame’s impeccable logic carried the meeting. The group decided that the move would be postponed at least until more information was available about the fauna that lived on the other side of the chasm. Kwame was selected to go with Fernando on the next exploratory expedition.

  THE MORNING THAT Kwame and Fernando were scheduled to leave, Fernando woke up with a debilitating headache. The normal herbs that usually provided headache relief had no impact on his pain. In fact, his pain seemed to intensify after he ingested the herbs and the water in which they had been mixed. By mid-morning Fernando complained that he could no longer see, and his body broke into a profuse sweat. The cold, wet compresses that were laid against his forehead and other parts of his body only made Fernando more uncomfortable. By lunchtime he was delirious and unaware of his surroundings. He died two hours later.

  The entire community was in shock. As they mourned together, gathered around Fernando’s lifeless body lying on a mat in front of what had been his tepee, little Eric pointed at the dead man’s face and began to scream uncontrollably. A trio of round, pulsating, brightly colored blobs, two red and one blue, the size of pearls on a necklace, were oozing out of Fernando’s right nostril. They crawled a centimeter or two and then stopped just above his upper lip. A few seconds later, with everyone watching in horror, these three blobs lifted their translucent gossamer wings that had been folded tightly against their bodies, and then flew away in the direction of the land across the chasm.

  Soon after the first three departed, streams of brightly colored blobs began to flow out of each nostril. A few even crawled out through the ears. Altogether more than a hundred poured out of Fernando’s head, each disappearing in flight only a few seconds after its appearance.

  Anna Kasper fainted. Everyone else was frozen in tenor. Brother Jose and Sister Nuba made an effort to comfort the hysterical children, but their own obvious fear only frightened the youngsters more. After a protracted silence, everyone started talking at once. Kwame was the first one to suggest that Fernando’s body should be thrown over the chasm, in case whatever had killed him was contagious and any disease agents still remained in his body. Since none of the other three men wanted to touch Fernando for longer than a split second, ropes were wound around his body and he was dragged the two hundred meters to the edge of the chasm. Less than ten minutes after he was pronounced dead by Sister Nuba, Fernando dropped into the darkness.

  There were no more excited discussions about how life would be improved in their new locale. In fact, there was very little talk at all, not even by the children. Each of the remaining three families (the two Michaelites, who were like brother and sister, were essentially a family unit) retreated into the privacy of their own tepees, and dealt with their fears in the company of their closest loved ones. Sister Nuba and Brother Jose eventually emerged to lead everyone in a long, heartfelt prayer just before dark.

  Vivien prayed that evening with an earnestness that had been missing since the first days of her arrival in the giant sphere. The horror of Fernando’s death still fresh in her mind, she beseeched God to spare her children another sight like the one they had witnessed. She told God that she was not afraid to die, if that was His plan, but that she hoped that He, in his infinite wisdom, would realize that the children could be permanently traumatized by watching others repeatedly die in such an awful manner. Vivien also asked God to help her be a worthy mother for the now-orphaned Keiko.

  During the days that immediately followed Fernando’s horrible death, fear held an iron grip on the village. In spite of the daily prayers offered by the Michaelites, the adults moved through their tasks like zombies, trying to avoid saying anything that might disturb the children. Kwame sent Brother Jose and Ravi to destroy the bridge across the chasm, even though he admitted privately to Vivien that the action was mostly for psychological relief, for the damage had probably already been done.

  In the middle of the fifth night after Fernando’s death, Brother Jose and Sister Nuba woke Kwame and Vivien from a sound sleep and asked them both to step outside. “I have had a steadily worsening headache now for over an hour,” Brother Jose said, his body trembling with fright and nervousness. He was carrying his sleeping mat. “Sister Nuba and I have talked and prayed together. We have decided that if I have contracted the same disease that killed Fernando, it would be better for everyone, especially the children, if I went away from the village until the malady has run its course. There is another small clearing near the chasm, almost half a kilometer from here, where I propose to stay. Sister Nuba has volunteered to come with me.”

  “I will go with you also,” Vivien said. The trio gathered some food and water and wandered through the trees to Brother Jose’s selected spot. By the time daylight arrived Jose’s pain was so severe that he could no longer see. He prayed fervently, holding both women’s hands, and asked God to be merciful. Two hours later he didn’t recognize his own name. Shortly after he died colored blobs oozed out of his nose and ears and flew away toward the land across the chasm. Vivien and Sister Nuba pushed Brother Jose’s body over the edge of the chasm and then wept together. When they returned to the village, there was no need for them to say anything. The five remaining adults hugged one another, shared their sorrow, and asked Sister Nuba to lead them in prayer.

  FOUR

  JOHANN WAS STUNNED by the story of Brother Jose’s death. “How terrible for everybody,” he managed to say. He extended a hand to each woman.

  “It wasn’t bad enough that we had lost two of our small group in such an awful way in a period of less than a week,” Vivien continued after she composed herself. “What everyone was wondering was, what happens now? Who else is going to die? We all lived in absolute horror for the next ten days or so.”

  Vivien was visibly struggling with the memories. Johann stood up. “Come now,” he said, “it’s late and we have all had a busy day. Let’s go to sleep and you can finish the story tomorrow.”

  Vivien motioned for him to sit down. “Not yet, giant Johann,” she said. “I’m nearly done and besides, I’ve decided to have one more cigarette before I go to bed.” She laughed. “I tell myself it will make me feel better.”

  She lit the funny brown cigarette and blew the smoke out into the darkness opposite their cave. “By the way,” Vivien said, addressing Sister Nuba, “you’ve been unusually quiet all evening, even for you. Is there anything you want to add?”

  Nuba smiled. “Not really,” she said. “You’re doing a fine job with the basic story… I can supply Brother Johann with a slightly more spiritual version at another time.”

  Vivien laughed again and winked at Johann. “A slightly more spiritual version,” Vivien repeated. “Unless I am mistaken, giant Johann, I have just been reproached, albeit gently, by the good Sister Nuba… In fact, I believe I have just had a déjà vu of sorts. I can recall when Sister Beatrice made similar comments to me about what she called my ‘Earthbound’ point of view.”

  Vivien inhaled deeply on her cigarette and blew the smoke out with gusto. “For a few years of my life I was actually Sister Vivien, a priestess of the Order of St. Michael, dedicated to the service of my fellow humans. It always seemed an impossible miracle to me that I, with my love for jewelry and parties and fancy clothing,” she said, flicking her ashes into the fire, “could possibly have been willing to forsake sex and material possessions, forever, so that I could spend my life helping others. Sister Beatrice must have hypnotized me.”

  “God works in strange ways sometimes,” Sister Nuba commented.

  “Oh yes, that He does,” Vivien replied. She stifled a yawn. “Well, Johann,” she then began, “you
can well imagine the mood in our little village after Brother Jose’s death. Each day we waited for someone else to develop a ferocious headache, the first symptom of what we called ‘blob disease.’ But fortunately, no one ever did. After several weeks, we concluded that Brother Jose and Fernando must have contracted it on the other side of the chasm, and that it was apparently not contagious.

  “I had already decided by this time that we should pull up stakes and leave where we were living. Kwame was not convinced. He questioned whether there was any other place in this entire worldlet that was suitable for human beings. When I reminded him that Sister Beatrice and you must have been taken somewhere, he acknowledged the logic of my argument, but said that trying to find you would be like looking for a needle in a haystack.

  “He swung over to my point of view, however, as our harassment by the pesky squibbits continued to increase. By this time they had spread throughout what we had previously considered to be our domain. They had destroyed most of our farms and regularly made themselves a nuisance when one of us went out to gather fruit or grain. Eventually the men had to take clubs with them when they foraged, and inevitably several of the squibbits were killed one day when Kwame lost his patience and bashed a pair of them with his club.

  “From that day forward our tepee village was always surrounded by several hundred of the little furry creatures. They never did anything overtly hostile, they just sat there and watched us. Whenever someone left the village proper, several dozen of the squibbits would follow. It was a tense situation and we were worried, of course, about what might happen if one of the children were left unprotected.

  “Several years earlier, we had built a small boat and had searched unsuccessfully along the lakeshore for any possible fish or seafood. Kwame and Ravi found the boat again after we made a tentative decision to leave. They spent a couple of weeks refurbishing it while we worked out our plan. Since the boat would hold a maximum of five people, maybe six if three of them were children, we decided that Kwame, Sister Nuba, our three children, and I would make the first trip. If we found a suitable home, Kwame would return for Ravi, Anna, and their two children.