Status Updates From Encontro com Rama

They had used the solar system as a
refuelling stop - as a booster station - call it what you
will, and had then spurned it completely, on their way to
more important business. They would probably never
even know that the human race existed; such monu-
mental indifference was worse than any deliberate insult.

But he had also failed. One might speculate endlessly,
but the nature and the purpose of the Ramans was still
utterly unknown. They had used the solar system as a
refuelling stop - as a booster station - call it what you
will, and had then spurned it completely, on their way to
more important business. They would probably never
even know that the human race existed; such monu-
mental indifference was worse tha

That was the obvious explanation, and therefore Nor-
ton viewed it with suspicion. His doubts grew as he exam-
ined the other columns, and conjured up the images
stored in their interiors

There was a story he had heard somewhere about a
President of the United States - was it Roosevelt or
Perez? - who had a sign on his desk saying 'The buck
stops here'. Norton was not quite certain what a buck
was, but he knew when one had stopped at his desk

'What degree of cooperation or understanding would
ever be possible between human beings and termites?
When there is no conflict of interest, we tolerate each
other. But when either needs the other's territory or re-
sources, no quarter is given.
'Thanks to our technology and our intelligence, we can
always win, if we are sufficiently determined. But some-
times it is not easy, and there are those who believe