“Good. Good.” The commander grinned broadly, “I appreciate your re­port, and not just because it confirms my own opinions. As you can under­stand, these matters can sometimes be fairly delicate.” General Borzov abruptly changed the subject. “Now I have another question of an altogether different nature to ask you.”

“What’s that?”

“Francesca came to me this morning and suggested that we have a party tomorrow night. She contends that the crew is tense and in need of some kind of release before the first sortie inside Rama. Do you agree with her?”

Nicole reflected for a moment. “It’s not a bad idea,” she replied. “The strain has been definitely showing… But what kind of party did you have in mind?”

“A dinner all together, here in the control room, some wine and vodka, maybe even a little entertainment.” Borzov smiled and put his arm on Nicole’s shoulder. “I’m asking your professional opinion, you understand, as my life science officer.”

“Of course,” Nicole said with a laugh. “General,” she added, “if you think it’s time for the crew to have a party, then I’d be delighted to lend a hand…”

Nicole finished her report and transferred the file by data line over to Borzov’s’s computer in the military ship. She had been very careful in her language to identify the problem as a “personality conflict” rather than any kind of behavioral pathology. To Nicole, the problem between Wilson and Brown was straightforward: jealousy, pure and simple, the ancient green-eyed monster itself.

She was certain that it was wise to prevent Wilson and Brown from working closely together during sorties inside Rama. Nicole chastized herself for not having raised the issue with Borzov on her own. She realized that her mission portfolio included mental health as well, but somehow she had diffi­culty thinking of herself as the crew psychiatrist. ! avoid it because it “s not an objective process, she thought. We have no sensors yet to measure good or bad mental health.

Nicole walked down the hall of the living area. She was careful to keep one foot on the floor at all times; she was so accustomed to the weightless environment that it was almost second nature. Nicole was glad that the Newton design engineers had worked so hard to minimize the differences between being in space and on the Earth. It made the job of being a cosmo­naut much simpler by allowing the crew to concentrate on the more impor­tant elements of their work.

Nicole’s room was at the end of the corridor. Although each of the cosmo­nauts had private quarters (the result of heated arguments between the crew and the system engineers, the latter having insisted that sleeping in pairs was a more efficient use of the space), the rooms were very small and confining. There were eight bedrooms on this larger vehicle, called the scientific ship by the crew members. The military ship had four more small bedrooms. Both spacecraft also had exercise rooms and “lobbies,” common rooms where there was more comfortable furniture as well as some entertainment options not available in the bedrooms.

As Nicole passed Janos Tabori’s room on her way to the exercise area, she heard his unmistakable laugh. His door was open as usual. “Did you really expect me,” Janos was saying, “to trade bishops and leave your knights in command of the center of the board? Come on, Shig, I may not be a master, but I do learn from my mistakes. I fell for that one in an earlier game.”

Tabori and Takagishi were involved in their usual postprandial chess match. Almost every “night” (the crew had stayed on a twenty-four-hour day that coincided with Greenwich Mean Time) the two men played for an hour or so before sleeping. Takagishi was a ranked chess master but he was also softhearted and wanted to encourage Tabori. So in virtually every game, after establishing a solid position, Takagishi would allow his edge to be eroded.

Nicole stuck her head in the door. “Come in, beautiful,” Janos said with a grin. “Watch me destroy our Asiatic friend in this pseudocerebral endeavor.” Nicole had started to explain that she was going to the exercise room when a strange creature, about the size of a big mouse, scurried through her legs and into Tabori’s room. She jumped back involuntarily as the toy, or whatever it was, headed for the two men.

“The ousel cock, so black of hue With orange-lawny bill, The throstle, with his note so true The wren with little quill .

The robot was singing as it skipped toward Janos. Nicole dropped down on her knees and examined the curious newcomer. It had the lower body of a human and the head of a donkey. It continued to sing. Tabori and Takagishi stopped their game and both laughed at the bewildered expression on Nicole’s face.

“Go on,” said Janos, “tell him that you love him. That’s what the fairy queen Titania would do!’

Nicole shrugged her shoulders. The little robot was temporarily quiet. As Janos urged again, Nicole mumbled “I love you” to the twenty-centimeter Athenian with a mule’s head.

The miniature Bottom turned to Nicole. “Methinks, mistress, you should have little reason for that. And yet, to say the truth, reason and love keep little company together nowadays.”

Nicole was amazed. She reached out to pick up the tiny figure but stopped herself when she heard another voice.

“Lord, what fools these mortals be. Now where is that player I changed into an ass. Bottom, where art thou?”

A second small robot, this one dressed as an elf, leapt into the room. When he saw Nicole, he jumped up from the floor and hovered at eye level for several seconds, his tiny back wings beating at a frantic pace. “I be Puck, fair lass,” he said. “I’ve not seen thee before.” The robot dropped to the ground and was silent. Nicole was now dumbfounded.

“What in the world—” she started to say.

“Shh… ” Janos said, motioning for her to be quiet. He pointed at Puck. Bottom was sleeping in the corner near the edge of Janos” bed. Puck had now found Bottom and was spraying him with a fine light dust from a small pouch. As the three human beings watched, Bottom’s head began to change. Nicole could tell that the small plastic and metal pieces making up the asshead were simply rearranging themselves, but even she was impressed by the scope of the metamorphosis. Puck scampered off just as Bottom awakened with his new human head and started talking.

“I have had a most rare vision,” Bottom said. “I have had a dream, past the wit of man to say what dream it was. Man is but an ass if he go about to expound this dream.”

“Bravo. Bravo,” Janos shouted as the creature fell silent.

“Omedeto,” Takagishi added.

Nicole sat down in the single unoccupied chair and looked at her compan­ions. “And to think,” she said, shaking her head, “that I actually told the commander you two were psychologically sound.” She paused two or three seconds. “Would one of you please tell me what is going on here?”

“It’s Wakefield,” Janos said. “The man is absolutely brilliant and, unlike some geniuses, also very clever. In addition he’s a Shakespeare fanatic. He has a whole family of these little guys, although I think Puck is the only one that flies and Bottom’s the only one that changes shape.”

“Puck doesn’t fly,” Richard Wakefield said, coming into the room. “He is barely capable of hovering, and only for a short period.” Wakefield seemed embarrassed. “I didn’t know you were going to be here!” he said to Nicole. “Sometimes I entertain these two in the middle of their chess game.”

“One night,” Janos added as Nicole remained speechless, “I had just conceded defeat to Shig when we heard what we thought was a fracas in the hall. Moments later, Tybalt and Mercutio entered the room, swearing and slashing their swords at each other.”

“This is a hobby of yours?” Nicole asked after several seconds, indicating the robots with a wave of her hand.