Similarities With Rescue Party
The aliens operating Rama, as revealed at the end of this story, share a very similar origin with the aliens in "Rescue Party" (1946), the first story sold by Clarke (though not the first published). Additionally, the aliens in both stories have similar galactic administration duties.
Another scene this story shares with "Rescue Party" is the use of a paralyzer on uncooperative humans by tentacled aliens. In "Rescue Party", the paralyzer is only a last resort weapon and it is never used; in this story, it is actually used. The Rama ship and the alien spacecraft in "Rescue Party" are both cylindrical in shape, and with kilometer scale dimensions.
Read more about this topic: Rama Revealed
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