Behind the scenes of Rama II

It is the late 1980s. NASA scientist Gentry Lee is worried. "I sure do have a lot of anxieties related to race and gender," he mutters to himself. "I should probably write a sequel to Arthur C. Clarke's classic science fiction novel Rendezvous with Rama to work them out," he continues thoughtfully.

He furrows his brow. "But it should have whimsical Shakespeare robots too," he adds. Nervously, he asks his secretary to get Sri Lanka on the horn.

When the call comes in, Sir Arthur is busy snorkeling with a twink. "Hello, Gentry," he says. He notices the twink sighing slightly. Oh dear, thinks Sir Arthur, is he losing interest? He decides to finish the phone call as quickly as possible. "Sure, fine," he says. "Good enough. I have no real standards anyway."

He hangs up the phone and puts the snorkeling mask back on his face. "Have I mentioned that I basically invented telecommunications satellites?" he asks the twink. The twink rolls his eyes, but replaces his mask as well.

Later on Sir Arthur remembers that Rendezvous with Rama should never have had a sequel, but by now he's much too rich to care.