In the long-awaited conclusion to one of the most heralded science
fiction series ever, Arthur C. Clarke and Gentry Lee reveal the ultimate
Raman plan for humanity. The Hugo and Nebula award-winning Rendezvous
with Rama, the bestselling Rama II, and The Garden of Rama were only the
prelude to this stunning conclusion to an epic journey. On its
mysterious voyage through interstellar space, a massive, alien starship
carries its passengers to the end of a generations-long odyssey. For the
great experiment conceived by the Ramans has failed. Rama III, with its
carefully designed Earth habitat, as well as environments to house other
intelligent species, has become a battleground. Instead of creating a
utopia, the human contingent has brought forth a tyrant who seeks to
conquer the other sectors of the vast Raman ark. Cosmonaut Nicole des
Jardins, a lone voice for reason who is now jailed and awaiting
execution, is aided in a daring escape by two tiny robots. On New York
Island, the dark, brood deserted city in the midst of Rama III's
cylindrical sea, Nicole is reunited with her long-lost husband, Richard
Wakefield, whom she'd given up for dead. Joined by their children and
other rebels from the Earth sector, Nicole and Richard enter New York's
labyrinthine underground aboard a ghostly subway hoping to find the
ship's secret inner workings. What they find instead is the
emerald-domed lair of the technologically advanced species that rules
this fabulous subraman world: the octospiders. These arachnidlike
creatures are luring Nicole and the rebels into their domain, but the
Earth group is divided as to whether the octospiders are allies or
enemies - and anxious to discover the fate of two oftheir group abducted
by the enigmatic aliens. Yet even as this drama unfolds, Rama III
continues its inexorable course to its final destination: the Node. To
some, the Node is a vast engineering station; to others, it is a place
of wonder and miracles. From here a powerful force ha
