smencils scented pencils

"Fishing once more? "smencils scented pencils smencils scented pencilstsmencils scented pencilse 128 .In using this system, absentee voters weresmencils scented pencils instructed to mark their ballots with number two pencils. The optical scanner rejected ballots which were marked withsmencils scented pencils instruments other than number two pencil. 2006, Barbara SlaTHE GARDEN OF RAMA
137
Patrick had sprinted off down one of the halls. "That i is the wrong hall," the voice had announced without in-i flection. "Return to the dock and take the next hall on
your left."
j . There was nothing for them to see on the walk from
the dock to their apartment. In the succeeding months,
: they would make the walk many timsmencils scented pencilses, either going to
the exercise room or, occasionally, for tests over in the
: Engineering Module, and they would still never see any-
1 thing except walls and ceilings and the square markers
I they would come to recognize as dsmencils scented pencilsoors. The place was
i obviously carefully monitored. Nicole and Richard both
felt certain, from the very beginning, that some, perhaps
; . many, of the apartments in their area were occupied by
someone or something, but they never ever saw any of
the Others in the corridors.
': After finding and entesmencils scented pencilsring the specified door to their
jv> apartment, Nicole and her family removed their special
j? clothing in the atrium and stored it in the cabinets created
j | for that purpose. Thsmencils scented pencilse children took turns looking out the
\ window at the other two spherical modules while they
^ waited for the inner door to open. A few minutes later
I they saw the interior of thesmencils scented pencilsir new home for the very first , * time.
II They were all overwhelmed. Compared to the relatively I primitive conditions in which they had been living in I Rama, the family's apartment at the Node was paradise. i Each of the children had his or her own room. Michael
> ^ had a suite for himself at one end of the unit; Richard and �� Nicole's master bedroom, complete even with a king-sized
IV bed, was at the opposite esmencils scented pencilsnd of the apartment, just off the I entrance hall. There were four bathrooms altogether, plus
i f a kitchen, a dining room, and even a playroom for the :: children. The furniture in each room was surprisingly ap-| propriate and tastefully designed. The apartment contained �; over four hundred square meters of living space.
Even the adults were stunned. "How in the world could
they have done this?" Nicole had asked Richard that first
night, out of earshot of the overjoyed children.
: Richard had cast a bewildered glance around them. "I
;| can only surmise," he had replsmencils scented pencilsied, "that somehow all our
138 ARTHUR C. CLARKE AND GENTRY LEE
actions in Rama were monitored and smencils scented pencilstelemetered here to the Node. They must also have had access to our data bases and extracted the way we live from that set of information." Richard grinned. "And of course, even way out here, if they have sensitive receivers, they could be picking up television signals from Earth. Isn't it embarrassing to think that we are represented by such�''
"Welcome," another identical voice had interrupted Richard's thought. Again the sound seemed to be coming from all directions. "We hope everything in your apartment is satisfactory. If it is not, please tell us. We cannot possibly respond to everything that all of you say at all times. Therefore, a simple communication regimen has been established. On your kitchen counter is a white button. We wiil assume that everything said by an individual after pushing the white button is directed at us. When you are finished with your communication, push the white button again. In that way�"
"I have one question first," Katie had then interrupted. She had run into the kitchen to push the button. "Just who are you, anyway?"
A tiny delay of maybe one second had preceded the answer. "We are the collective intelligence that governs the Node. We are here to assist you, to make you more comfortable, and to supply you with the essentials for living. We will also, from time to time, ask you to perform certain tasks that will help us to understand you better. ..."
Nicole could no longer see the shuttle she had been watching out the window. Actually, she had been so deeply immersed in her memory of their arrival at the Node that she had temporarily forgotten the newcomers. Now, as she returned to the present, in her mind's eye she imagined an assemblage of strange creatures disembarking on a platform and being startled upon hearing a voice address them in their native language. The experience of wonder must be universal, she thought. Belonging to alt conscious chemicals.
Her eyes lifted from the near field and focused on tsmencils scented pencilshe Administration Module in the distance. What goes on over
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139
smencils scented pencils there? Nicole wondered. We hapless creatures move back and forth between Habitation and Engineering. All our activities appear to be logically orchestrated. But by whom? And for what? Why has someone brought all these beings to this artificial world?
Nicole had no answer to these infinite questions. As usual, they gave her a powerful sense of her own insignificance. Her immediate impulse was to go back inside and hug one of her children. She laughed at herself. Both pictures are true indications of our position in the cosmos, she thought. We are both desperately important to our children and absolutely nothing in the grand scheme of things. It takes enormous wisdom to see that there is no inconsistency in those two points of view.
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smencils scented pencils 3
;reakfast was a celebration. They ordered a feast from the exceptional cooks who prepared their food. The designers of their apartment had considerately provided them with a variety of ovens and a full refrigerator, in case they wanted to prepare their own meals from the raw materials. However, the alien (or robot) cooks were so good, and so quickly trained, that Nicole and her family almost never prepared the meals themselves�they just pushed the white button and ordered.
"I want pancakes this morning," Katie ansmencils scented pencilsnounced in the kitchen.
"Me too, me too," her sidekick Patrick added.
"What kind of pancakes?" the voice intoned. "We have four different types in our memory. There is buckwheat, buttermilk�"
"Buttermilk," interrupted Katie. "Three altogether," She glanced at her little brother. "Better make it four."
"With butter and maple syrup," Patrick shouted.
"Four pancakes with butter and maple syrup," said the voice. "Will that be all?"
"One apple juice and one orange juice as well," Katie said after a brief consultation with Patrick.
"Six minutes and eighteen seconds," the voice said.
When the food was ready, the family gathered at smencils scented pencilsthe round table in the kitchen. The youngest children explained to Nicole what they had been doing during her absence. Patrick was especially proud of his new personal record in the fifty-meter dash over in the exercise room. Benjy laboriously counted to ten and everyone applauded. They had just finished breakfast and were cleaning the dishes off the table when the doorbell rang.
The adults looked at each other and Richard wasmencils scented pencilslked over to the control console, where he turned on the video monitor. The Eagle was standing outside their door.
"I hope it's not another test," said Patrick spontaneously.
"No ... no, I doubt it," Nicole replied, moving toward the entryway. "He's probably here to give us the results of the last experiments."
Nicole took a deep breath before she opened the dosmencils scented pencilsor. No matter how many times she encountered the Eagle, her adrenaline level always increased in his presence. Why was that? Was it his awesome knowledge that frightened her? Or his power over them? Or just the bewildering fact of his existence?
The Eagle greeted her with what she had come to recognize as a smile. "May I come in?" he said pleasantly. "I would like to talk to you, your husband, and Mr. OToole."
Nicole stared at him (or it, her mind instantly smencils scented pencilsflashed), as she always did. He was tall, maybe two and a quarter meters, and- shaped like a human being from the neck down. His arms and torso, however, were covered with small, tightly woven charcoal gray feathers�except for the four fingers on each hand, which were creamy white and featherless, Below his waist, the surface of the Eagle's body was flesh-colored, but it was obvious from the sheen of his outer layer that no attempt had been made to duplicate real human skin. There was no hair below his waist and neither visible joints nor genitalia. His feet had no toes. When the Eagle walked, wrinkles developed around
142 ARTHUR C. CLARKE AND GENTRY LEE
the knee area, but they disappeared when he was standing still.
The Eagle's face was mesmerizing. His head had two large, powder blue eyes on either side of a protruding grayish beak. When he talked the beak opened and his perfect English came from some kind of electronic voice box at the back of the throat. The feathers on the top of his head were white and contrasted sharply with the dark gray of his face, neck, and back. The feathering on his face was quite sparse and scattered.
"May I come in?" the Eagle repeated politesmencils scented pencilsly when Nicole did not move for several seconds.
"Of course ... of course," she replied, moving away from the door. "I'm sorry ... I just hadn't seen you for so long."
"Good morning, Mr. Wakefield, Mr. O'Toole. Hello, children," the Eagle said as he strode into the living room.
Patrick and Benjy both backed away from him. Of all the children, only Katie and little Ellie did not seem to be afraid.
"Good morning," Richard replied. "smencils scented pencilsAnd what can we do for you today?" he inquired. The Eagle never made social calls. There was always some purpose for his visits.
"As I told your wife at the door," the Eagle replied, "I need to talk to ail three of you adults. Can Simone take care of the other children while we chat for an hour or so?"
Nicole had already started herding the children back into the playroom when the Eagle stopped her. "That won't be necessary," he said. "They can use the whole apartment. The four of us are going to the conference room across the hall."
Uh-oh, Nicole thought immediately. This is something big. We've never left the children alone in the apartment before.
She was suddenly very concerned about their safety. "Excuse me, Mr. Eagle," she said. "Will the children be all right here? I mean, they're not going to have any special visitors or anything like that. ..."
"No, Mrs. Wakefield," the Eagle respondesmencils scented pencils matter-of-
THE GARDEN OF RAMA
143
factly. "I give you my word that nothing will interfere with your children."
Out in the atrium, when the three humans started to put on their space suits, the Eagle stopped them. "That won't be necessary," he said. "Last night we reconfigured this portion of the sector. We have sealed off the hall just before the junction and transformed this whole area into an Earthlike habitat. You'll be able to use the conference room without putting on any special clothing."
The Eagle started talking as soon as' they sat down in the large conference room across the hall. "Since our first encounter you have repeatedly asked me questions about what you are doing here and I have not given you direct answers. Now that your final set of sleep tests is completed�successfully, I might add�I have been empowered to inform you about the next phase of your mission.
"I have also been given permission to telsmencils scented pencilsl you something about myself. As all of you have suspected, I am not a living creature�at least not by your definition." The Eagle laughed. "I was created by the intelligence that governs the Node to interface with you on sensitive issues. Our early observations of your behavior indicated a reluctance on your part to interact with the disembodied voices. It had already been decided to create me, or something similar, as an emissary to your family when you, Mr. Wakefield, nearly caused serious chaos in this sector by trying to make an unscheduled and unapproved visit to the Administration Module. My appearance at that time was designed to preclude further untoward behavior.
"We have now entered," the Eagle continued after only a momentary hesitation, "the most important time period of your stay here. The spaceship you call Rama is over a*t the Hangar undergoing major refurbishment and engineering redesign. You human beings will now take part in that redesign process, for some of you will be returning with Rama to the solar system in which you originated."
Richard and Nicole both started to interrupt. "Let me finish first," the Eagle said. "We have very carefully prepared my remarks to cover your anticipated questions."
The alien birdman glanced at each of the three humans
144 ARTHUR C. CLARKE AND GENTRY LEE
around the table before continuing at a slower pace. "Notice that I did not say that you will be going back to Earth. If the nominal plan succeeds, those of you who return will interact with other human beings in your solar system, but not on your Home planet. Only if there is some required deviation from the baseline plan will you actually return to Earth.
"Notice also that only some of you will be returning. Mrs. Wakefield," the Eagle said directly to Nicole, "you will definitely be traveling again in Rama. This is one of the constraints that we are placing on the mission. We will let you and the rest of your family decide who will accompany you on the journey. You can go alone if you choose, leaving everyone else here at the Node, or you can take some of the others. However, you cannot all make the voyage on Rama. At least one reproductive pair must stay here at the Node�to ensure some data for our encyclopedia in the unlikely event that the mission is unsuccessful.
"The primary purpose of the Node is to catalogue life-forms in this part of the galaxy. Spacefaring life-forms have the highest priority and our specifications call for us to collect vast amounts of data about each and every spacefarer we encounter. To accomplish this task, we have worked out, over hundreds of thousands of years of your time, a method of gathering this data that minimizes the likelihood of a cataclysmic intrusion into the evolutionary pattern of those spacefarers while at the same time maximizing the probability of our obtaining the vital data.
"Our basic approach involves sending observing spacecraft on reconnaissance missions, hoping to lure spacefarers to us so they can be identified and phenotyped. Repeat spacecraft are later sent to the same target, first to expand the degree of interaction, and ultimately to capture a representative subset of the spacefaring species so that long-term and detailed observations can take place in an environment of our choice."
The Eagle paused. Nicole's mind and heart were both racing at a frantic pace. She had so many questions. Why had she been especially selected to return? Would she be
THE GARDEN OF RAMA
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able to see Genevieve? And what exactly did the Eagle mean by the word capture�did he understand that the word was usually interpreted in a hostile manner? Why did�
"I think I understood most of what you said," Richard spoke first, "but youJiave omitted some crucial information. Why are you gathering all this data about spacefaring species?"
The Eagle smiled. "In our information hierarchy there are three basic levels. Access to each level by an individual or a species is permitted or denied based on a set of established criteria. With my earlier statements we have given you, as representatives of your species, Level II information for the first time. It is a tribute to your intelligence that your initial question seeks an answer which is classified as Level III."
"Does all that gobbledygook mean you're not going to tell us?" Richard asked, laughing nervously.
The Eagle nodded.
"Will you tell us why I alone am reqsmencils scented pencilsuired to make the return voyage?" Nicole now asked.
"There are many reasons," the Eagle answered. "First, we believe you are the best suited physically for the return voyage. Our data also indicates that your superior communication skills will be invaluable after the capture phase of the mission is completed. There are additional considerations as well, but those two are the most important."
"When will we be leaving?" Richard asked.
"That's not certain. Part of the schedule is dependent on you. We will let you know when a firm departure date is established. I will tell you, however, that it will almost certainly be in less than four of your months."
We're going to leave very soon, Nicole thsmencils scented pencilsought. And at least two of us must stay here. But who?
"Any reproductive pair can be left here at the Node?" Michael now inquired, following the same pattern of thought as Nicole.
"Almost, Mr. OToole," the Eagle replied. "The youngest girl Ellie would not be acceptable with you as a partner�we might not be able to keep you alive and fertile
146 ARTHUR C. CLARKE AND GENTRY LEE
until she reaches sexual maturity�but any other combination would be fine. We must have a high probability of successfully producing healthy offspring."
"Why?" Nicole asked.
' 'There exists a very small probability that your mission will not be successful and that the pair left at the Node will be the only humans we are able to observe. As infant spacefarers, having reached that stage without the usual assistance, you are especially interesting to us.''
The conversation could have lasted indefinitely. However, after sevsmencils scented pencilseral more questions, the Eagle abruptly rose and announced that his participation in the conference was over. He encouraged the humans' to deal quickly with the issue of "allocation," as he called it, for he intended to begin work almost immediately with those members of the family who would be returning in the direction of Earth. It would be their job to help him design the "Earth module inside Rama." Without any additional explanation, he left the room.
The three adults agreed not to tell the children the most important details of their meeting with the Eagle for at least a day, until after they had had a chance to reflect and converse among themselves. That night, after the children had gone to bed, Nicole, Richard, and Michael talked quietly in the living room of their apartment.
Nicole opened the conversation by admitting that she was feeling angry and powerless. Despite the fact that the Eagle had been very nice about it, she said, he had basically ordered them to participate in the return mission. And how could they refuse? The entire family was absolutely dependent upon the Eagle�or at least the intelligence that he represented�for its survival. No threats had been made, but no threats were needed. They had no choice but to comply with the Eagle's instructions.
But who among the family should stay at the Node? Nicole wondered aloud. Michael said it was absolutely essential mat at least one adult remain at the Node. His argument was persuasive. Any two of the children, even Simone and Patrick, would need the benefit of an adult's experience and wisdom to have any chance for happiness
THE GARDEN OF RAMA
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under the circumstances. Michael then volunteered to stay at the Node, saying that it was unlikely he would survive a return trip anyway.
AH three of them agreed that it was clearly the Nodal intelligence's intention to have the humans sleep most of the way back to the solar system. Otherwise, what was the purpose of all the sleep tests? Nicole did not like the idea of the children missing out on the critical development periods of their lives. She suggested that she should return alone, leaving everyone else in the family at the Node. After all, she reasoned, it's not as if the children would have a "normal" life on Earth after they make the journey.
"If we are interpreting the Eagle correctly," she sasmencils scented pencilsid, "anybody who returns will end up ultimately as a passenger on Rama heading to some other location in the Galaxy."
"We don't know that for certain," Richard argued. "On the other hand, whoever stays here is almost certainly doomed to never seeing any humans other than the family."
Richard added that he intended to make the return trip under any circumstances, not just to be a companion for Nicole, but also to experience the adventure.
The trio could not reach a final agreement about the deployment of the children during that first evening's discussion. But they did firmly resolve the issue of what the adults were going to do. Michael OToole would stay at the Node. Nicole and Richard would make the return journey to the solar system.
In bed after the meeting Nicole could not sleep. She kept running through all the options in her mind. She was certain that Simone would make a better mother than Katie. Besides, Simone and Uncle Michael were extremely compatible and Katie would not want to be separated from her father. But who should be left to mate with Simone? Should it be Benjy, who loved his sister madly, but would never be able to engage in an intelligent conversation?
Nicole tossed and turned for hours. In truth, she didn't like any of the choices. She understood well the source of her disquiet. However the issue was resolved, she would
148 ARTHUR C. CLARKE AND GENTRY LEE
be forced once again to separate, probably permanently, from at least a few members of the family that she loved. As she lay in her bed in the middle of the night the ghosts and pain of past separations returned to haunt her. Nicole's heart ached as she imagined the parting that would come in a few months. Pictures of her mother, her father, and Genevieve tugged at her heartstrings. Maybe that's all life is, she thought in her temporary depression, an endless sequence of painful partings.
4
M:
other, Father, wake up. I Iwant to talk to you."
Nicole had been dreaming. She had been walking in the woods behind her family villa at Beauvois. It had been springtime and the flowers had been magnificent. It took her a few seconds to realize that Simone was sitting on their bed.
Richard reached over and kissed his daughter on the forehead. "What is it, dear?" he asked.
"Uncle Michael and I were saying our matins together and I could tell that he was distressed." Simone's serene eyes moved slowly back and forth from one parent to the other. "He told me everything about your conversation yesterday with the Eagle."
Nicole sat up quickly as Simone continued. "I've had over an hour now to mink carefully about everything. I know I'm only a thirteen-year-old girl, but I believe I have a solution to this, uh, allocation issue that will make everybody in the family happy."
"My dear Simone," Nicole replied, reaching out for her daughter, "it's not your responsibility to solve�"
150 ARTHUR C. CLARKE AND GENTRY LEE
"No, Mother," Simone gently interrupted. "Please hear me out. My solution involves something that none of you adults would ever even consider. It could only come from me. And it's obviously the best plan for everyone concerned."
Richard's brow was now furrowed. "What are you talking about?" he said.
Simone took a deep breath, "I want to stay at the Node with Uncle Michael. I will become his wife and we will be the Eagle's 'reproductive pair.' Nobody else needs to stay, but Michael and I would be happy to keep Benjy with us as well."
"Whaat?" Richard shouted. He was flabbergasted. "Uncle Michael is seventy-two years old! You're not even fourteen yet. It's preposterous, ridiculous�" He was suddenly silent.
The mature young woman who was his daughter smiled. "More preposterous than the Eagle?" she replied. "More ridiculous than the fact that we have traveled eight light-years from the Earth to rendezvous with a giant intelligent triangle that is now going to send some of us back in the opposite direction?"
Nicole regarded Simone with awe and admiration. She said nothing, but reached out and gave her daughter a strong hug. Tears swam in Nicole's eyes. "It's all right, Mother," Simone said after the embrace was ended. "After you recover from the initial shock, you'll realize that what I'm suggesting is by far the best solution. Ifc you and Father make the return trip together�as I think you should�then either Katie or Elite or I must stay here at the Node and mate with Patrick or Benjy or Uncle Michael. The only combination that is genetically sound is either Katie or I with Uncle Michael. I've thought through all the possibilities. Michael and I are very close. We have the same religion. If we stay and marry, then each of the other children is free to choose. They can either remain here with us or return to the solar system with you and Daddy."
Simone put her hand on her father's forearm. "Daddy, I know that in many ways this will be harder on you than it is on Mother. I have not yet mentioned my idea to
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Uncle Michael. He certainly did not suggest it. If you and Mother don't give me your support, then it can't work. This marriage will be difficult enough for Michael to accept even if you don't object."
Richard shook his head. "You are amazing, Simone." He embraced her. "Please let us think about it for a while. Promise me you won't say another word about this until your mother and I have had a chance to talk.''
"I promise," Simone said. "Thank you both very much. I love you," she added at the door to their bedroom.
She turned and walked down the illuminated hall. Her long black hair reached almost to her waist. You have become a woman, Nicole thought, watching Simone's graceful walk. And not just physically. You are mature way beyond your years. Nicole imagined Michael and Simone as husband and wife and was surprised that she didn't find it at all objectionable. Considering everything, Nicole said to herself, realizing that after his protests Michael O'Toole would be very happy, your idea may be the least unsatisfactory choice in our difficult situation.
Simone did not waver from her intention even when Michael objected strenuously to what he called her "proposed martyrdom." She explained to him, patiently, that her marriage to him was the only one possible since Katie and he were, by everyone's assessment, incompatible personalities, and anyway Katie was still only a girl, a year or eighteen months away from sexual maturity. Would he prefer that she marry one of her half brothers and commit incest? No, no, he responded.
Michael assented when he saw that there were no other viable choices and that neither Richard nor Nicole raised any strong objections to the marriage. Richard, of course, tempered his approval with the phrase "in these unusual circumstances," but Michael could tell that Simone's father had at least partially accepted the idea of his thirteen-year-old daughter marrying a man old enough to be her grandfather.
Within a week it had been decided, with the children's involvement, that Katie, Patrick, and little Ellie would all
152 ARTHUR C. CLARKE AND GENTRY LEE
make the return trip on Rama with Richard and Nicole. Patrick was reluctant to leave his father, but Michael O'Toole graciously agreed that his six-year-old son would probably have a "more interesting and fulfilling" life if he stayed with the rest of the family. That left only Benjy. The adorable boy, chronologically eight but mentally equivalent to an average three-year-old, was told that he would be welcome either in Rama or at the Node. He could barely comprehend what was going to happen to the family, and was certainly not prepared to make such a momentous choice. The decision frightened and confused him; he became quite distraught and lapsed into a deep depression. As a result, the family postponed discussions of Benjy's fate until an undefined time in the future.
"We will be gone a day and a half, maybe two," the Eagle said to Michael and the children. "Rama is being reconditioned at a facility about ten thousand kilometers from here."
"But I want to go too," Katie said petulantly. "I also have some good ideas for the Earth module."
"We'll involve you in later phases of the process," Richard assured Katie. "We'll have a design center right here beside us, in the conference room."
Eventually Richard and Nicole finished their good-byes and joined the Eagle in the hallway. They put on their special suits and crossed over into the common area of the sector. Nicole could tell that Richard was excited. "You do love adventure, don't you, darling?" she said.
He nodded. "I think it was Goethe who said that everything a human being wants can be divided into four components�love, adventure, power, and fame. Our personalities are shaped by how much of each component we seek. For me, adventure has always been numero uno."
Nicole was contemplative as they entered a waiting car along with the Eagle. The lid closed over them and again they could not see anything during their ride to the transportation center. Adventure is very important to me also, Nicole thought. And as a young girl fame was my upper-
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most goal. She smiled to herself. But now it's definitely love. . . . We would be boring if we never changed.
They traveled in a shuttle identical to the one that had brought them to the Node originally. The Eagle sat in front, Richard and Nicole in the rear. The view behind them of the spherical modules, the transportation corridors, and the entire lighted triangle was absolutely sensational.
The direction they were going was toward Sirius, the dominant feature in the space surrounding the Node. The large, young white star glowed in the distance, appearing roughly the same size as their native Sun would look from the asteroid belt.
"How did you happen to pick this location for the Node?" Richard asked the Eagle after they had been cruising for about an hour.
"What do you mean?" he replied.
"Why here, why in the Sirius system, instead of some other place?"
The Eagle laughed. "This location is only temporary," he said. "We'll be moving again as soon as Rama departs."
Richard was puzzled. "You mean the entire Node moves!" He turned around and glanced back at the triangle glowing faintly in the distance. "Where is the propulsion system?"
"There are small propulsion capabilities in each of the modules, but they are only used in case of an emergency. Transport between temporary holding sites is accomplished by what you would call tugs�they affix themselves to ports on the sides of the spheres and provide virtually all the trajectory change velocity."
Nicole thought about Michael and Simone and became worried. "Where will the Node go?" she asked.
. For the holidays, year round gifts or as incentives, pencils are a perfect teacher gift. Quality no 2 pencil, plus erasers that erase! Any 1-line message, up to 36 letters and spaces will be stamped in gold with your name, slogan or special imprint. "The rewards help students remember smencils scented pencilsthe d 2b pencil often as well." smencils scented pencils