CLARKE AT WORK ON `3001'.

Byline: Marc Kaufman Knight-Ridder Tribune News Wire

``Sorry, can't talk right now,'' said the breathless voice on the phone.

``You see, I've started writing `The Final Odyssey' - the absolute end of it all - and it's coming so well. It's 3001, you know. Got to run.''

He's 79 and not in the best of health, but Arthur C. Clarke - the man who brought the world ``2001: A Space Odyssey,'' two sequels and much more - is pumped.

This living legend, an icon of both the space age and American culture, is embarking on what he has described as ``the most challenging project of my career.''

(This was revealed in a note Clarke jotted to his friend, media mogul Rupert Murdoch, accompanying a local newspaper clipping Clarke was sending him. The clip announced the official naming of an asteroid after one Arthur C. Clarke, who already is the first, and only, ``honorary resident'' of Sri Lanka.)

With the real year 2001 less than five years away, Clarke has warped into hyperspace and jumped forward in time 1,000 years. ``The Final Odyssey,'' he makes clear, can't occur a mere decade or century into the future (as his ``2010: Odyssey Two'' and ``2061: Odyssey Three'' sequels did); it requires the leap of a millennium.

``This is really exciting stuff,'' he said with conspiratorial relish. ``Call me later.''

Clarke, born British but now with an indistinct accent and nationality, was speaking from a compound in the diplomatic enclave of Sri Lanka's capital, his home now for almost four decades.

I didn't realize it then, but Clarke, a usually gregarious man who loves to meet visitors to his adopted homeland, was about to go into seclusion. The ideas for ``3001'' were coming to him with such speed that he had to retreat to a place more private than his own home and concentrate on nothing but work.

Not an easy thing for a man as alive to possibilities as Clarke - someone who has not only written 70-plus books but has appeared in scores of TV shows; helped found several technology centers, including the International Space University, founded in Boston; imagined and described decades ago the technology that led to satellite communications; has been a very active patron of many astronomy, animal welfare, environmental and science writing associations; was instrumental in creating a significant new industry in Sri Lanka (he and a longtime diving friend began a reef-diving business); and has served for 17 years as the chancellor of the University of Moratuwa outside Colombo.

He also is a patron of the National Institute for Paraplegics, Sri Lanka. He was diagnosed several years ago with a post-polio condition, a relapse of the polio he contracted in the early 1960s. Clarke sometimes uses a wheelchair to get around, though he is not, his assistants make clear, dependent on it.

I really didn't try to find out where Clarke was hiding, I swear it. A 79-year-old creative force like Clarke deserves to be left alone if he wants to. And he clearly enjoys his privacy, or he wouldn't have lived in Sri Lanka for 40 years.

I just happened to overhear some people at the American Embassy say they were going to meet him over at the old Galle Face Hotel - a 136-year-old treasure of the British Raj - where he was in his secret seclusion. And once I knew that, well, I really had to make contact.

When the appointed time came for a visit several weeks ago, I entered his presence with some trepidation.

A large, craggy-faced man, Clarke was seated alone at the end of a long, dark mahogany table in the huge, first-floor stateroom normally used by the hotel owner. The walls were also sided in dark mahogany, as was the two-posted bed. The ceilings were a mile high.

Clarke was wearing a white T-shirt and a somewhat food-stained sarong - his typical dress. He was eating chocolate ice cream. He had only a short time before his doctor-ordered afternoon nap, he said, so what would I like to know?

An awkward start, but from that point on Clarke was pretty gracious about it all. It turns out that he's not terribly disciplined in his time allotment and just loves to chat. Indeed, he's kind of a cutup. A meeting that was to last 10 minutes can easily go for hours. I've seen it happen.

``Well, I'll stay up a while longer to listen to the news,'' he said a while after his proposed nap time had passed. He turned on the BBC and put his shortwave to his ear.

Clarke is attended by a staff of several Sri Lankans - quiet, doting men in white sarongs and shirts (and one with a white coat and epaulets). They obviously love him; he calls them his family. Once a married man, Clarke divorced long ago.

As the six ceiling fans circled slowly - their whir silenced by the crashing of the Indian Ocean 20 feet away - Clarke had this to say:

``I never intended to write a sequel to `2001' and I certainly never intended to write a four-part collection. But now it all seems preordained.''

``I find the concept of reincarnation to be interesting, but find no plausible physical mechanism to accomplish it. Of course, the mind of God can do what it wants.''

``I've never taken any drugs. But I wouldn't rule out the possibility that those geniuses who created the end of the movie (`2001') did.''

``Please be careful with what I say. I recently told a local reporter that I thought cricket was the slowest form of life, because it takes so long. Well, he thought I said `lowest form of life' and wrote that. It so happens that Sri Lanka just won the world cricket championship, and I had a lot of explaining to do.''

The author is a little reluctant to discuss the ``3001'' project, which he promised to the publishers this fall. He said people were excited about the book - ``Stanley (Kubrick) says he can't wait to get his hands on it'' - and he doesn't want to disappoint.

But he already has written an afterword, defending his decision to continue some of the themes and characters from his earlier books while making some significant changes as well. The universe he's creating is only parallel to the older one, not directly connected.

And so, what is the book about?

``It's mostly about philosophy and sex,'' Clarke said with a chuckle, ``and not necessarily in that order.''

OK ...

``But you know, I'm in a situation that not many writers would enjoy,'' he continued. ``The story involves the planet Jupiter and its moons, and there is now a space probe - the Galileo - on its way there. The first detailed information is coming (soon). So I'll be writing as the data comes in.''

He refused to let on any more, though later this did slip out: Both David Bowman and HAL, the stars of ``2001,'' will be in the book, but somewhat transformed. ``Right now, I'm thinking of a character HAL-man,'' he said, and stopped.

Clarke decided he wanted to get some air, so we moved out to the marble veranda overlooking the Galle Face, a long sweep of parkland along the ocean in the heart of Colombo. He was pleased to see it was being prepared for reseeding - ``The pope's visit (last year) killed the grass and I never thought I'd see green there again.''

Clarke first visited Sri Lanka in 1954, loved it for its tropical beauty and depth of culture and, maybe even more, for its unexplored remoteness. He returned to stay two years later. He began diving on the Great Basses Reef off southern Sri Lanka and, along with his diving colleagues, discovered a 250-year-old wreck there. It was a diver's dream - with old guns, cannonballs and tens of thousands of silver coins - but Clarke said he almost went bankrupt salvaging it.

He said he hoped to be back diving soon; floating underwater is close to the feeling of weightlessness of space, he said, and he just loves it.

The discussion of diving got Clarke back to ``3001,'' and why he can't exactly explain the plot of the book yet: He doesn't feel that he has full control of the project right now. But not because of a writer's block or anything like that.

``Sometimes I feel like I'm really not writing it, I'm discovering it,'' said this man who has explored so much and, wide-eyed, can't wait to see what's next.

``It's like I've discovered something that was happening in a different universe. And then I just report back what I find.''

CAPTION(S):

2 Photos

Photo: (1) Arthur C. Clarke, 79, is working on ``3001: T he Final Odyssey'' in Sri Lanka, his adopted home since the '50s.

(2) Clarke's vision _ melded with that of director Stanley Kubrick _ became a major cultural landmark in ``2001: A Space Odyssey.'' The evil computer HAL will be back in ``3001,'' Clarke says.

Knight-Ridder Tribune Photo Service