Ahira's Hangar

Commander Norton and his current medical officer, Laura Ernst, had once had a brief and intense bout of love making long ago between missions. They still feel a nice little sexual tension, and this makes them both happy, even though they never act on it.

Laura has come to warn Norton that some of the crew has been slacking off in their exercising with all of he excitement and work of Rama, and that this is affecting their health.

Later, one of his officers expresses worry that Norton plans on leading the landing expedition himself, and that he should let a lesser and less expendable officer lead in his place. Norton will have no part with that.

Mention is made that the ship carries simps - genetically modified New World monkeys with long tails to deal with zero gravity with the intelligence of chimps. They do simple ship board tasks like cleaning.

We better stop monkeying around and do the next chapter one of these days...

I've been hoping to get the mental energy up to do it one of these days. Maybe when they finally get the synthroid dose right...

Heehee...nice one, danlo!

Actually, I have gotten back into a Rama frame of mind. Jotted down notes a few days ago. Apologies for my absence.

Thanks, duchess, for your contributions!


Clarke seemed to have a matter-of-fact attitude toward gender and sexual activity in his stories. Which perhaps made him too dry for readers wanting more hot-blooded prose. (The writing in the Rama sequel novels is indeed more sexually charged, thanks to series co-writer Gentry Lee.)

As to the character of Dr. Laura Ernst, well...she's like the lone "token" female member in a male-dominated crew - or at least the lone female figure of authority. But I guess it was progressive coming from a male author in 1973. I'm not here to make a big deal out of it, I'm just saying I notice these things as a guy who grew up in the "post-feminist" era.

The simps are a fascinating creation. I suppose it was a very futuristic idea back then. But with all the advances made in genetic research these days, I could imagine that a simp would be almost child's play. Of course, in the "real world" NASA might have a real tough time justifying to Congress the expense of training such creatures.