Captain Norton of the space ship Endeavour is ordered out to make contact with an alien vehicle coming into our solar system. Humans have spread thru the local planets, but have never met life that didn't come from Earth - until now.
The shrewd and level headed Captain takes his crew thru docking on the ship - dubbed Rama - and leads the exploration of its interior. The interior is a world built on the inside of a gigantic tube that -at first - appears to be frozen and inert. At first, anyway.
It is odd to me to have so much adventure in a story, with not that much excitement. There is some drama, but no real grandiose tension. Clarke Norton and the crew of the Endeavour too careful and sober for that. Any leader worth his salt in Clarke's eyes would not put his crew at a greater risk than need be. Any loose-cannon types would have been off his ship long ago. They all work together as a trusting and tight-knit unit. ..and that is exactly the way a good outfit of genuine spacers would need to be.
I enjoyed the play between the planetary councils. He calls it the United Planets and the people from the different regions have different attitudes. Permanent habitation has long been established on the Moon, Mercury, NOT Venus (too harsh), Mars and several moons of Jupiter as well as colonies in the further reaches of the solar system. They consider their OWN worlds home and do not consider themselves "Earthlings". You especially have to watch those Hermians ( people from Mercury ). They are hot blooded and untrusting souls.
p115
"Suppose that we do find that Rama is -active- and has these capabilities. There is an old saying in military affairs that capability does not imply intention."
p156
He paused at the last spot where he could hear it, like a faint throbbing deep in his brain. So might a primitive savage listened in awe-struck ignorance to the low humming of a giant power transformer. And even the savage might have guessed that the sound heard was merely the stray leakage from the colossal energies, fully controlled, but biding their time.
p173
The crab showed no reaction whatsoever, nor did it slacken its pace. Ignoring Jimmy completely, it walked straight past him and headed purposefully into the south. Feeling extremely foolish, the acting representative of Homo Sapiens watched his First Contact stride away across the Raman plain, totally indifferent to his presence.
He had seldom been so humiliated in his life. Then his sense of humor came to his rescue. After all, it was no great matter to have been ignored by an animated garbage truck. It would have been worse if it had greeted him as a long-lost brother.
