world can you prepare for a war fast enough to defend yourself?”
“I cannot tell you that,” Archie replied. “But believe me, I know for a fact that a conflict at this time between our two species could result in the total annihilation of the human civilization in Rama.”
Nicole could not calm her tormented soul. No matter how many times she told herself she was overreacting, the premonitory fear did not diminish. She reached over and took Richard’s hand. He wrapped his fingers through hers and continued his conversation with Archie.
Nicole gazed intently at him. I am proud of you, Richard, she thought, but I am also scared. And I am not yet ready to say good-bye,
It was very late when Nicole went to bed. She had awakened Ellie gently, without disturbing Nikki and the Watanabe twins, who were sleeping in the Wakefield house so that Patrick and Nai could have their wedding night alone. Ellie, of course, had had many questions. Richard and Nicole had explained the plan, including everything important they had learned from Archie and the Chief Optimizer earlier in the evening. Ellie had been fearful, but had finally agreed that Nikki and she would accompany Richard and Archie the next day.
Nicole could not fall into a deep sleep. After tossing and turning for an hour, she began a sequence of short, chaotic dreams. In her final dream Nicole was again seven years old back in the Ivory Coast, in the middle of her Poro ceremony.
She was half naked out in the water, with the lioness prowling around the perimeter of the pond. Little Nicole took a deep breath and dove under the water. When she surfaced, Richard was standing on the shore where the lioness had been. It was a young Richard smiling at her initially, but as Nicole watched, he aged rapidly and became the same Richard who was beside her that moment in the bed. She heard Omeh’s voice in her ear. “Look carefully, Ronata,” the voice said. “And remember…”
Nicole woke up. Richard was sleeping peacefully. She sat up in the bed and tapped on the wall one time. A solitary firefly appeared in the doorway, shining some light into the bedroom. Nicole stared at her husband. She looked at his hair and beard, gray from age, and remembered them when they had been black. She recalled fondly his ardor and humor during their courtship in New York. Nicole grimaced, took a deep breath, and kissed her index finger. She placed the finger on Richard’s lips. He did not stir. Nicole sat quietly for several more minutes, studying every feature of her husband’s face. Soft tears flowed down her cheeks and dropped from her chin onto the sheets. “I love you, Richard,” she said.
WAR IN RAMA
1
Time of Transmission: 156 307 872 574.2009 Time Since First-Stage Alert: 111.9766 References: Node 23 -419 Spacecraft 947 Spacefarers 47 249 (A & B) 32806 2666
During the last interval the structure and order in the spacefaring communities inside the spacecraft have continued to disintegrate. Despite the warnings of the octospiders (Spacefarers #2 666) and their laudable attempts to avoid a broad conflict with the humans (#32 806), it is now even more likely that a disastrous war between the two species, which could leave only a few survivors, may take place in the next several intervals. The situation therefore meets all the prerequisite conditions for a Stage 2 intercession.
Prior intercessionary activity has been declared a failure, primarily because the more aggressive of the two species, the humans, are fundamentally insensitive to the entire range of subtle intercessionary techniques. Only a few of the humans have responded to the many attempts to alter their hostile behavior, and those who did react were unable to stop the genocide of the avians and sessiles (#47 249, A & B) perpetrated by their rulers.
The humans are organized in the rigid, hierarchical manner often observed in pre-spacefaring species. They continue to be dominated by a leadership whose focus is the retention of personal power. The welfare of the human community and even its survival are subordinated in the implicit objective function of the current human leaders to the continuation of a political system which gives them absolute authority. There is consequently little likelihood that the threatened expanded conflict between the humans and the octospiders can be avoided by any logical appeals.
A small cadre of humans, including almost all of the family that lived at the Node for over a year, remains in residence in the main octospider city. Their interaction with their hosts has demonstrated that it is possible for the two species to live together in harmony. Recently a mixed delegation of those humans and one octospider have decided to make a concerted effort to prevent a full-scale interspecies war by contacting the leaders of the human colony directly. However, the probability that this delegation will be successful is very low.
Thus far the octospiders have taken no overt hostile action. Nevertheless, they have begun the process of preparing for a war against the humans. Although they will fight only if they determine that the survival of their community is in jeopardy, the advanced biological capabilities of the octospiders makes the outcome of such a war a foregone conclusion.
What is not certain is how the humans will react once the conflict escalates and they suffer heavy losses. It is possible that the war might terminate quickly and, in time, the two surviving communities might again reach a near equilibrium status. Based on the available observational data on the humans, however, there is a nontrivial probability that this species will continue the battle until most or all of them perish. Such an outcome would destroy all the vestiges of at least one of the two spacefaring societies remaining in the spacecraft. To preclude such a disadvantageous result for the project, consideration of a Stage 2 intercession is recommended.
2
Nicole was awakened by the sound of the three children playing in the living room. As she was slipping on her robe, Ellie came to the door of the bedroom and asked if she had seen Nikki’s favorite doll. “I think it’s under her bed,” Nicole replied.
Ellie returned to her packing, Nicole could hear Richard in the bathroom. I won’t be long now, she was thinking when her granddaughter suddenly appeared in the doorway. “Mommy and I are leaving, Nonni,” the little girl said with a smile. “We’re going to see Daddy.”
Nicole opened her arms and the little girl ran over for a hug. “I know, darling,” Nicole said. She held the girl tightly in her arms and then began to stroke her hair. “I will miss you, Nikki,” she said.
A few seconds later the Watanabe twins both bounded into the room. “I’m hungry, Mrs. Wakefield,” Galileo said.
“Me too,” Kepler added.”
Nicole reluctantly released her granddaughter and started walking across the bedroom. “All right, boys,” she said. “I’ll have your breakfast in a few minutes.”
When the three children were almost finished eating, Max, Eponine, and Marius arrived at the door. “Guess what, Uncle Max,” Nikki said before Nicole had even had a chance to greet the Pucketts. “I’m going to see my daddy.”
The four hours flew by quickly. Richard and Nicole explained everything twice, first to Max and Eponine and then to the newlyweds, both of whom were still radiant from the pleasures of their wedding night. As the time neared for the departure of Richard, Ellie, and Nikki, the excitement and energy that had characterized the morning conversation began to wane. Butterflies started fluttering in Nicole’s stomach.
Max was the first to say good-bye. “Come over here, Princess,” he said to Nikki, “and give your Uncle Max a
