Rendezvous with 31/439

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Rendezvous mit 31/439 (Original title: Rendezvous with Rama ) is a science fiction novel by Arthur C. Clarke , published in 1973 . He received the Nebula and in 1974 the Hugo Award.

action

The story takes place in the 22nd century, when an alien spaceship in the shape of a cylinder more than 50 kilometers long crossed the solar system. A group of astronauts is dispatched to examine the spacecraft more closely. Clarke describes how the spaceship "thaws" as it approaches the sun and various biomechanical life forms become active one after the other , which the human crew observes and researches. Far within Mercury's orbit , the artifact is fully activated and accelerates with an unknown drive. Apparently the solar system only used it to " get momentum ".

The story is told from the point of view of the people, so the destination and the creators of the spaceship remain mysterious.

In the original English title, the "Rama" refers to the name of the spaceship. Since it was first thought to be an asteroid , it was named after the Hindu deity Rama .

The book was originally intended as a single work, but in retrospect the final sentence seemed almost like a reference to two sequels (English text):

And on far-off Earth, Dr Carlisle Perera had as yet told no one how he had woken from a restless sleep with the message from his subconscious still echoing in his brain: The Ramans do everything in threes.

German:

In his slumber on the distant earth, from which he was suddenly startled by a message from his unconscious, and it had been a restless slumber, Dr. Perera received a message that still filled his mind and that he had never shared before: The Ramans do everything in three ways ...

For the unintended sequels, Clarke teamed up with Gentry Lee .

Other books in the series

  • 1989 Rendezvous with the day after tomorrow (Original: Rama II )
  • 1991 The next meeting (Original: The Garden of Rama )
  • 1993 Nodus (Original: Rama Revealed )

Structure and geography from 31/439

Rama from within; compiled from the information in "Rama" and "Rama II" by James A. Ciomperlik

31/439 is based on the design of an Oberth'sche Wohnwalze ( Oberth 1954): The living space is the inside of a rotating hollow cylinder. The rotation creates an artificial gravity of approximately 0.6 g. In addition, 31/439 is equipped with a propulsion system for interstellar locomotion and therefore differs from the concept of the O'Neill colony (O'Neill 1974).

On the inner surface and roughly in the middle of the cylinder is a lake, the Cylindrical Sea . In the middle of this lake is a mysterious island, which is named by the astronauts of the tall towers because of "New York". The lake divides 31/439 into a northern and a southern hemisphere. At the two ends of the cylinder are the north pole and the south pole, these are the circular ends of the cylinder. The air locks, to which long stairs and ladders lead, are installed at the North Pole, while the drive systems are installed in the form of kilometer-long mandrels at the South Pole.

On the remaining “land area” there are more collections of buildings that appear like cities. The astronauts arbitrarily assign the names London, Paris, Moscow, Bombay, Beijing and Tokyo to these.

Influence on science and history

The project for the discovery of 31/439 in the first two chapters of the book, Project Spaceguard , is a program that detects near-Earth asteroids that are on a collision course with Earth. This project was started after a fictional disaster in which an asteroid crashed onto Italy and the Adriatic, destroying Milan and Venice in the process. A few years later, a Spaceguard project was actually launched. The United States Congress authorized NASA and made funding available for Project Spaceguard after some Hollywood films sparked interest in asteroid impact disasters .

filming

A film adaptation of the novel, directed by David Fincher with Morgan Freeman in the lead role, was put on hold in October 2008 until further notice. The reasons given were Morgan Freeman's poor health and the lack of a script.

Computer games

The illustrated text adventure Rendezvous with Rama (Telarium, 1984) is based on the novel. Clarke wrote an ending for the game that differs from the end of the book.

In October 1996 appeared Rendezvous in space (original title Rama), a computer game developed by Dynamix , in which Gentry Lee and Arthur C. Clarke participate. The Myst- style point-and-click adventure is based on the novel Rama 2 . The multimedia production with pre-rendered background graphics, video sequences and digital sound comprised three CD-ROMs and contained a video interview with the authors.

expenditure

  • 1973: Rendezvous With Rama. (Original edition by Gollancz )
  • 1975: Rendezvous with 31/439. Roman, German by Roland Fleissner, Marion von Schröder Verlag, Düsseldorf (1977 paperback edition by Heyne Verlag, Munich)
  • 2008: Rendezvous with Rama. (Paperback edition at Bastei Lübbe)
  • 2005: Rendezvous with Rama. Retold by Elizabeth Walker. (edited and abridged version for use in school)

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Peter Sciretta: "David Fincher's Rendezvous With Rama is Not Happening". In / film . Status: October 13, 2008, URL: http://www.slashfilm.com/2008/10/13/david-finchers-rendezvous-with-rama-is-not-happening/ ( Memento of the original from October 19, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (accessed November 14, 2008) @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.slashfilm.com
  2. ↑ see entry Rama in the game database MobyGames

Web links