Rama - part 4 Concluded from last issue ------------------------------------------------------------------ Octospider Lair Head for the Octospider Plaza. From the entrance, move forward toward the tetrahedron at right, then move L F3 R F L to the row of gray squares at the back of the plaza. This door was disclosed by the prism- tetrahedron puzzle you solved earlier. Zoom in on the hexagonal access panel and put the star- shaped octospider icon in the lower triangular hole and the costume pendant in the upper triangular hole. Move B F3 R F2 L F3 R3 F5 down to the fountain room. Zoom in on the closed door ahead, then click on the left-center region of the door. Use Falstaff to retrieve the blue- orange octahedron. Move B R F R and take three datacubes from Sabatini's uniform for more of the backstory about the guilty parties. Move B L2 and press the second white key from the right on the left-hand keyboard. Move L2 and zoom in on the wall panel. Put the indigo-yellow jewel from your inventory into the indicated receptacle to open the panel. Pick up all the octahedra inside the panel, in particular the orange-red one at bottom. Move B L F2 and use the blue-orange jewel to open the door back to the octospider hub. Move F2 onto the central purple sinking platform in this room. Look up and note the displacement of colored squares on the ceiling. This is part of a puzzle that needs to be solved in order to reach the lower level of the octospider lair. It works like a base-8 clock - note the number of positions (0-7) the white square has been displaced clockwise from the home position at right. For each clockwise displacement of the inner ring white square, count 8, and for each clockwise displacement in the outer ring, count 1. The total is a key number that will be used in an alien device you'll find later. For example, if the inner white square is at 6 o'clock (a displacement of 2) and the outer white square is at 9 o'clock (a displacement of 4), the key number is 2 x 8 + 4 = 20. This puzzle re-randomizes every time you step on the sinking platform. From the sinking platform, move L2 to face the doorway to the immediate right of the entrance ramp. Move F and use the yellow-red jewel from your inventory to open the door. Move F6 R and zoom in on the alien device. Click on the spongy blue button at bottom to bring up the alternate display. Find the position of your key number from the ceiling puzzle and click on it to light up that many red bars. Click again on the blue button; the black circle at left will show spikes extending outside its perimeter and the right diagram will match what you saw on the ceiling in the hub. Move B L and use your green- red jewel to open the door. Move F2 L F D F3 R into the lower level of the octospider lair. Zoom in on the octospider lair map and click on the blue button to activate one of the doorways on the upper level; the colored triangles start blinking. You are again standing on a sinking ceiling-puzzle platform; move B U and figure out its key number. Move D R F3 and use the alien device with the new key number to activate the spikes in the access tube. Move B L F R and notice O'Toole's crucifix lying on the ground - not a good omen! Move U F R and head for the left-hand door. Use the violet-blue jewel from your inventory to open it. Move F R F into the octospider trophy room. Here you'll see such gruesome sights as Takagishi stuffed, and a photo of him getting that way (with clamps). How about those octospiders, anyway? If you read the Rama book series, you'll find a similar episode occurring, in which Takagishi is later found to have died by "natural causes" (perhaps heart failure on first encountering an octospider!). There's also a good color photo of a couple of Ramans here, and another tri-lingual number wheel in which the sector directly to the right is again emphasized. Move to the closed door at the far side of the room and use your orange-red jewel to open it. Enter the back room and observe the octoteacher. When it displays 7 and waits for your response, click on the upper-left corner of the color tower to rotate it a quarter turn, then click on the light-purple square second from the bottom. The octoteacher seems thrilled by your response, gives you O'Toole's catechism card, and exits the room. Oh, well, I guess O'Toole won't be needing it any more! Before leaving the room, pick up O'Toole's favorite- number chart from the top of the color tower, and an organic lump from the octospider food dish (it could be part of Takagishi for all you know!). Move L2 F3 L F2 R F D F4 L F into the subway room in the lower level (you needn't re-solve the ceiling puzzle if you avoided the main octospider hub). Put the organic lump into the miniature subway car, followed by Falstaff. From Falstaff's perspective, take the organic lump and click on the white button in the subway car. Move F and watch the animation of the big octospider stealing food from a miniature one. Move L and take the hand laser from the wall. Move B R and put the organic lump into the empty light-green feeding dish at right. After the octospider returns to his meal, move R and get O'Toole's ID card. Move B R, re-enter the subway car and use it to return to the subway room. Move F out of the subway car and restore your normal perspective. If desired, move R F2 and note Sabatini's scarf in the full-size inoperative subway car. Exit the subway room onto the sinking platform. Since you've now reset the ceiling puzzle at least twice, look up and derive the new key number. Use the previously-established procedure to exit the lower level, then return through the right-hand tunnel to the main octospider hub. Exit up the ramp back into the Octospider Plaza and head for the Human Plaza. ----------------------------------------------------------------- Endgame From the entrance to the Human Plaza, move R F3 to the door that was previously inaccessible on the other side of a chasm (for which you raised a bridge by solving the subway puzzle in the back of this plaza). Zoom in on the hexagonal access panel and put the human icon in the right holes and the pool pendant in the left hole. Move B F2 inside. Solve the tri-lingual number wheel puzzle by making all rings display 9 at right; that is, by clicking on the inner, middle and outer rings 3, 1 and 4 times, respectively (pi?). Move F L F R and use the green laser on the crane biot to have it disable the spider biot guarding the bomb. Move R F L F and zoom on the bomb's code panel. The bomb's disarming sequence is a set of five 4-digit numbers, with leading zeroes used when necessary. Each time Rama is played (at least from the point when you've exited the avian lair), the disarming sequence is re- randomized. From Heilmann's message to Yamanaka and Tabori, there's every reason to believe the disarming code is generated from five of the numbers on O'Toole's prime sequence chart. Each of the forty numbers on the chart contains four or fewer digits. The clues in O'Toole's belongings all refer to the sequence number in his list of forty favorite numbers; for example, if the reverse side of his anniversary photo makes a reference to "21st", it means that one of the 4- digit disarming code numbers is the 21st element of his sequence, which from his chart is 0461 (you may have a different number on the back of the photo). On O'Toole's ID card, the month and date of his birth are circled, providing two more sequence numbers. Looking at the reverse side of O'Toole's catechism card, you'll see that the first 4-digit code number is the 15th in the sequence (0251), and the last is the 33rd in the sequence (1097). You now know what all five code numbers are, with the only question being the positioning of the middle three. Of the four digits already displayed on the bomb's panel, the first two are the trailing digits of the second code number, and the last two are the leading digits of the third code number. Using O'Toole's sequence chart in conjunction with the above information, you can define the positioning of the middle three code numbers. Here's an example from one particular Rama game: Bomb digits displayed: 61|00 Source Sequence Number Code Number Position Catechism card 15 0251 First Catechism card 33 1097 Fifth Photo 21 0461 Second ID Card 3 0047 Third ID card 29 0853 Fourth The positioning of the second, third and fourth code numbers is the only arrangement matching what is already displayed on the bomb. Once the disarming code numbers have been entered, click on the INPUT button to disarm the bomb (you get three tries before the bomb automatically detonates). If you hear the sound of compressed air being released and a majestic fanfare begins, you've done it! Back out and listen to Nicole's vidmail describing what's going on upstairs. Move R2 F4 and watch the endgame sequence, at the end of which Arthur C. Clarke makes a vague reference to a game sequel. - o -