Over the last two episodes, we spent a lot of time with two people, Will and Brenda.

And I wanted to take time to tell their stories in full, because to me, they occupy opposing

ends of the spectrum that is, you could say, the Rama effect, the best in the worst-case

scenarios.

A lot transpired in those years, though.

Will met Rama in the early 80s and stuck around for about a dozen years.

Brenda's time in Rama's orbit was shorter.

She disappeared in 1989.

And that's around when we are picking the group's story back up.

By the early 90s, Rama was steeped in controversy, from a group of women who accused him of sexual

assault, to exposés and print and TV.

In response, Rama and his students would themselves prepare a counteroffensive with the help of attorneys.

And we'll get to all of that in the next few episodes.

Around this time, the character of the group was also changing, the way it worked.

In 1992, Rama told his early students that they would now also become teachers, and would

be referred to as ST1s, while their mentees or students, the newest members of the group,

would be ST2s.

It was an inside joke, ST stood for Star Trek.

The nicknames are playful, but according to Liz Lewinson, Rama's biographer, the underlying

shift was a big deal in the evolution of the group.

All these new students were coming.

It was like a reset key, Liz told me.

...