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.
