Rendezvous With Rama - Arthur C. Clarke Page 0,18

the climb was a delightful experience. After about two hundred steps, however, he began to feel some twinges in his calf muscles, and decided to slow down. The others had done the same; when he ventured a quick glance over his shoulder, they were considerably farther down the slope.

The climb was wholly uneventful, merely an apparently endless succession of steps. When they stood once more on the highest platform, immediately beneath the ladder, they were barely winded, and it had taken them only ten minutes. They paused for another ten, then started on the last vertical kilometer.

Jump—catch hold of a rung—jump—catch—jump—catch…. It was easy, but so boringly repetitious that there was danger of becoming careless. Halfway up the ladder they rested for five minutes. By this time their arms as well as their legs had begun to ache. Once again Mercer was glad that they could see so little of the vertical face on which they were clinging. It was not too difficult to pretend that the ladder extended only a few meters beyond their circle of light, and would soon come to an end.

Jump—catch a rung—jump—then, quite suddenly, the ladder really ended. They were back in the weightless world of the axis, among their anxious friends. The whole trip had taken under an hour, and they felt a sense of modest achievement.

But it was much too soon to feel pleased with themselves. For all their efforts, they had traversed less than an eighth of that Cyclopean stairway.

CHAPTER 11

MEN, WOMEN, AND MONKEYS

Some women, Commander Norton had decided long ago, should not be allowed aboard ship; weightlessness did things to their breasts that were too damn distracting. It was bad enough when they were motionless; but when they started to move, and sympathetic vibrations set in, it was more than any warm-blooded male should be asked to take. He was quite sure that at least one serious space accident had been caused by acute crew distraction, after the transit of an un-holstered lady officer through the control cabin.

He had once mentioned this theory to Surgeon Commander Laura Ernst, without revealing who had inspired his particular train of thought. There was no need; they knew each other much too well. On Earth, years ago, in a moment of mutual loneliness and depression, they had once made love. Probably they would never repeat the experience (but could one ever be quite sure of that?), because so much had changed for both of them. Yet whenever the well-built surgeon oscillated into the Commander’s cabin he felt a fleeting echo of the old passion, she knew that he felt it, and both were happy.

“Bill,” she began, “I’ve checked our mountaineers, and here’s my verdict. Karl and Joe are in good shape—all indications normal for the work they’ve done. But Will shows signs of exhaustion and body loss. I won’t bother you with the details. I don’t believe he’s been getting all the exercise he should, and he’s not the only one. There’s been some cheating in the centrifuge; if there’s any more, heads will roll. Please pass the word.”

“Yes, ma’am. But there’s some excuse. The men have been working very hard.”

“With their brains and fingers, certainly. But not with their bodies—not real work in kilogram-meters. And that’s what we’ll be dealing with, if we’re going to explore Rama.”

“Well, can we?”

“Yes, if we proceed with caution. Karl and I have worked out a very conservative profile—based on the assumption that we can dispense with breathing gear below the second level. Of course, that’s an incredible stroke of luck, and changes the whole logistics picture. I still can’t get used to the idea of a world with oxygen…. So we need to supply only food and water and thermosuits, and we’re in business. Going down will be easy; it looks as if we can slide most of the way, on that very convenient banister.”

“I’ve got Chips working on a sled with parachute-braking. Even if we can’t risk it for the crew, we can use it for stores and equipment.”

“Fine; that should do the trip in ten minutes. Otherwise it will take about an hour. Climbing up is harder to estimate. I’d like to allow six hours, including two one-hour periods. Later, as we get experience—and develop some muscles—we may be able to cut this back considerably.”

“What about psychological factors?”

“Hard to assess, in such a novel environment. Darkness may be the biggest problem.”

“I’ll establish searchlights on the hub. Besides its own lamps, any party down there will always