Rendezvous with Rama
Rendezvous with Rama was written by Arthur C. Clarke and published in 1972 by Gollancz. This novel has won both Hugo and Nebula awards.
This is my second Arthur C. Clarke novel, as in the 2001: A Space Odyssey, Arthur C. Clarke has concentrated on setting and plot. Characterization is not as good as plot and setting but I must admit better than most novels.
There is a planned film adaptation of the novel. Producer for this film is Morgan Freeman and the scripts by Scott Brick, also Morgan Freeman has stated that he wants to play the main character Bill Norton.
Rendezvous with Rama
The story starts with a meteor disaster which affects Northeast Italy in 2077. After this incident government of Earth sets an early warning system named Spaceguard. In 2130, a group of astronomers have detected an asteroid outside of the orbit of Jupiter and named it Rama, later it is revealed that it is a gigantic alien ship.
An expedition team led by Commander Bill Norton is sent to Rama to investigate it. When they have arrived to the ship, they entered in it and they saw that the air is breathable. They have discovered cities which look like factories and an inner sea.
An artist’s impression of the interior of Rama.
After their arrival the ship seems to be awaken, each day the ship becomes more livable but they still did not encounter any living thing inside the ship.
They have many theories on what may happen to the original crew. All the crew have died ten thousands year ago or something different has occurred.
Later they have seen different creatures, at first they think they were animals but later they learn that they are manufactured organic robots and they were manufactured to do tasks. Laura Ernst named them as biots. An interesting thing is all biots have three legs, later they have find some outfits of original Ramans and they have too legs.
Arthur C. Clark has planned to write this novel as a standalone novel but the final sentence suggest otherwise and he has published three more novels.
And on far-off Earth, Dr. Carlisle Perera had as yet told no one how he had wakened from a restless sleep with the message from his subconscious still echoing in his brain: The Ramans do everything in threes.