ABANDONED. Sci Fi: Space ship detected; group sent to check it out. All the tech is very advanced. Artificial gravity. Surface black as night, unslippery.

[Joe]

I read this book in the early 1990's, but I have a feeling that it was written in the 1980's.

What I can remember is that there is a mysterious space ship that is detected and a group is sent to it.

Once they get there they find no one there. all of the tech is very advanced. The ship has artificial gravity. I'm not sure if the people have that tech.

the one scene that I really remember is at a point they find a surface that is as black as night. They think it is quite slippery but is quite the opposite. I think that they try and chip at it but it is very hard and they can not break even a chip (not sure on this last one, it's been a very long time since I have read the book and my memory is shady at best.)

Thank you everyone
Any help is greatly appreciate

[Andy]

Possibly Clarke's Rendezvous With Rama? Rendezvous with Rama. The bit about black surface that wasn't slippery sounds vaguely familiar.

[Lobstergirl, au gratin]

Joe, please add plot details to your header since quite a few members are looking for sci-fi books.

[Joe]

thats the thing, I don't remember the plot. should I put space ship sci fi? suggestions?

[Isabel (kittiwake)]

Joe wrote: "thats the thing, I don't remember the plot. should I put space ship sci fi? suggestions?"

Here is my suggestion for the post title: Group sent to mysterious space ship, find unbreakable black surface.

You can fit a lot of words into the post title, so usually mention the genre plus the most unique things about the book that you can remember (although in this case, space ship makes it clear it's sf).

[Lobstergirl, au gratin]

Good suggestions.

If you are unable to edit your header (whether for technical reasons or you just don't know how to phrase it), a mod can always help out.

[Andy]

Here's a link to a passage from Rama that talks about expecting an area to be slippery https://books.google.com/books?id=mVE...

I think we've got it!

[Andy]

Joe - was "Rendezvous With Rama" your book?

[Peter]

Another possibility is Eon by Greg Bear, but I don't remember enough to say if the strange black surface was present.

[Andy]

Bump to check on whether Rendezvous with Rama was right.

[Andy]

Rama bump...

[Nicola]

Yes it sounds exactly like Rendezvous with Rama to me.

[Andy]

Bump

[Beverly]

I agree that it sounds like Rendezvous with Rama; I just listened to the audiobook a few months ago.

[Kris]

No response, moving to Abandoned folder.

Joe (OP) was last active on the site in May 2016.