“What was the final result of the call?” Nicole asked after a short silence.

“Most of the sane people guessed that Rama would go into orbit around the Earth and conduct passive remote observations. But they were in the minority. Sanity and logic took a holiday, in my opinion. Even David Brown — who acted very strangely, it seemed to me, after we returned to the New­ton — acknowledged that there was a high probability that Rama would do something hostile. He clarified his position by stating that it would not, in reality, be a hostile act; however, its attempt to learn more about the Earth might result in actions that would be perceived by us as hostile.”

The agitated Richard was now standing up. “Have you ever heard such gobbledygook in your life? And Dr. Brown was one of the more coherent speakers. The entire ISA Advisory Board was polled as to which of the projected scenarios each of them favored. Do you think that bunch of pleni­potentiaries could respond simply with “I believe in Option A, direct impact with resultant destruction and climate alteration! or “I favor Option C, Earth orbit with bellicose intentions’? Hell no! Each one of them had to deliver a lecture of some kind. That weird Dr. Alexander, the one who asked you all the questions after your open biometry meeting in November,, even spent fifteen minutes explaining how Rama’s existence had exposed a flaw in the ISA charter. As if anybody gave a shit!” Richard sat down again and put his hands on his cheeks. “The whole thing was unbelievable.”

Nicole was now fully awake. “I assume,” she said, sitting up on her mat, “judging from your obvious irritation, that you disagreed with the consen­sus.”

Richard nodded. “Almost three-fourths of the large group participating in the call — which included all the Newton cosmonauts as well as most of the senior scientists and executives in the ISA — were convinced that the Raman maneuver was likely to be harmful to the Earth in some significant way. Almost all of them focused on the same issue. Since the first Rama appar­ently ignored our existence altogether, they argued, the fact that Rama II altered its trajectory to achieve a rendezvous with the Earth shows that this spacecraft is operating under different principles. I certainly agree with that conclusion. But what I cannot understand is why everyone necessarily as­sumes that the Raman action is hostile. It seems just as likely to me that the aliens could be motivated by curiosity, or even a desire to be our benefactors in some way.”

The British engineer paused for a moment to reflect, “Francesca says that the polls on Earth are indicating that a huge majority of the average people as well, almost ten to one according to her, is terrified by Rama’s approach. They are clamoring for the politicians to do something.”

Richard opened the hut and walked out into the dark plaza. He idly shone his flashlight on the octahedron. “At a second meeting eighteen hours later it was decreed that the Newton team would not go inside Rama again. Technically, I am not in violation of that order, because I left the Newton before the official proclamation. But it was obvious that the order was com­ing.”

“While the leaders of the planet Earth are discussing what to do with a spacecraft the size of an asteroid that is aimed directly at them,” Nicole said as she walked out into the plaza behind him, “you and I have a more tractable problem. We must cross the Cylindrical Sea.” She managed a wan smile. “Shall we do a little exploring while we talk?”

Richard directed his flashlight beam into the bottom of the pit. The manna melon was clearly identifiable but the individual pieces in the pile of jumbled metal were very hard to resolve. “So those are spare parts from a centipede biot?”

Nicole nodded. They were kneeling side by side on the lip. “Even in the daylight the ends of the pit are in shadows. I needed to be certain that I wasn’t looking at Takagishi’s body.”

“I would love to see a centipede biot repair itself.” Richard stood up and walked over to the wall of the barn. He knocked. “And the material scien­tists would love this stuff. Normal radio waves are blocked both ways and you can’t see in from the outside. Yet the wall is somehow transparent if you’re inside the barn looking out.” He turned to Nicole. “Bring your scalpel over here. Let’s see if we can cut off a piece.”

Nicole was trying to decide if one of them should drop down into the pit and retrieve the melon. It wouldn’t be too difficult, assuming the suture line would hold. At length she pulled out her scalpel and walked over beside Richard.

“I’m not certain we should do this,” she said. She hesitated before apply­ing the scalpel to the barn wall. “In the first place, the scalpel could be damaged. We might need it later. Second, uh, it might be considered vandal­ism.”

“Vandalism?” he said rhetorically. Richard regarded Nicole with a pecu­liar look. “What a curiously homocentric concept.” He shrugged his shoul­ders and headed toward one end of the bam. “Never mind,” he said, “you’re probably right about the scalpel.”

Richard had entered some data into his pocket computer and was studying the small monitor when Nicole came over beside him. “You and Francesca were standing right about here, correct?” Nicole gave him an affirmative reply. “Then you went back into the bam to look into one of the pits?”

“We’ve been over this before,” Nicole replied. “Why are you asking again?”

“I think Francesca saw you fall into one of the pits and purposely misled us with that story about you wandering off to search for our Japanese profes­sor. She didn’t want anybody to find you.”

Nicole stared at Richard in the dark. “I agree,” she responded slowly. “But why do you think so?”

“It’s the only explanation that makes any sense. I had a bizarre encounter with her right before I came back inside. She came into my room under the pretense of wanting an interview, supposedly to find out why I was returning to Rama. When I mentioned Falstaff and your navigation beacon, she switched off her camera. Then she became quite animated and asked me many detailed technical questions. Before she left, she told me she was convinced that none of us should ever have entered Rama in the first place. I thought she was going to beg me not to go back.

“I can understand her not wanting me to find out that she had tried to maroon you in the pit,” Richard continued after a brief pause. “What I can’t fathom is why she left you there in the first place.”

“You remember the night you explained to me why RoSur’s fault protec­tion had failed?” Nicole said after a moment’s reflection. “That same night I also asked you and Janos if either of you had seen General Borzov…”

As they walked back in the direction of the central plaza and their hut, Nicole spent fifteen minutes explaining to Richard her entire hypothesis about the conspiracy. She told him about the media contract, the drugs Francesca had given to both David Brown and Reggie Wilson, and Nicole’s personal interactions with all the principals. She did not tell him about the data cube. Richard agreed that the evidence was very compelling.

“So you think she left you there in the pit to avoid being unmasked as a conspirator?”

Nicole nodded.

Richard whistled. “Then everything fits. It was apparent to me that Fran­cesca was running the show when we returned to tie Newton. Both Brown and Heilmann were taking orders from her.” He put his arm around Nicole. “I wouldn’t want that woman as my enemy. She clearly has no scruples whatsoever.”