Rama II

Clarke, Arthur C. Rama II. New York: Bantam, [1989]. A Spectra book. "The Sequel to Rendezvous with Rama." (The [S. F.] Book Club Edition is not marked as such, but bears no ISBN.)

Includes an introd. "Rama Revisited," by ACC. As with Rendezvous, see RII for both human beings inside a "magnificent spacecraft" legitimately seen "as a single machine, almost organic in its complexity" (236) and arguably a "superior machine intelligence" with "a special place among God's creations, perhaps even above lower life forms" (357); and see also the "biots": robots parallel to terran creatures such as sharks, spiders, centipedes, and crabs. Note also elements new to RII: human-made small robots in the form of Shakespearean characters and The Bard himself. These novelties make plausible the assertion that "We humans would never be able to distinguish between a living creature and a versatile machine made by a truly advanced species" (309).