Chapter 22 Chapter 21 Resurrection

We are waking up a sleeping giant, Freud told himself.After all these years, how would Hal react to seeing us?What will he remember from the past—friendly to us, or hostile? Floyd followed Dr. Chandra as he drifted toward the weightless bridge of the Discovery, occasionally thinking of the disconnect switch that had been installed and tested only a few hours earlier.The remote was with him, and he felt a little silly carrying it around.At present, Hal is still disconnected from all the circuits of the spacecraft operation. Even if he is activated, he has no limbs and is a brain with only sensory organs.He can communicate with people, but he cannot act.According to Kono, "At best, he can only scold us."

"Prepare for first test, Captain," Chandra said. "All missing modules have been replaced, and I've run diagnostics on all circuits. All indications are normal, at least for now." Captain Oleva glanced at Floyd, who nodded.At Chandra's insistence, only the three of them took part in the crucial first try, and it was clear that even that small audience wasn't welcome. "Very well, Dr. Chandra," the captain quickly added, aware of the previous agreement between the two countries, "Dr. Floyd has given permission for this experiment, and I have no objection."

"I should explain," Chandra said, with obvious resentment in his tone, "his tone recognition and speech synthesis centers are damaged. We're going to have to teach him to speak from scratch. Luckily he learns faster than humans Millions of times." The scientist's fingers danced on the keyboard and typed out a dozen words, which were apparently chosen at random. Every time a word was displayed on the screen, he pronounced it carefully.Like a distorted echo, these words came from behind the iron shell of the speaker-the flat panel echoed monotonously and mechanically, and it was completely impossible to feel whether there was any wisdom behind the sound.This isn't what Hal used to be, Floyd thought.It's no better than the primitive sounding toys that I was treated to as a novelty when I was a kid.

Chandra hit "repeat," and the string of words repeated itself.This time there has been a noticeable improvement, although no one would mistake it for a human voice. "The words I gave him contained the basic morphemes of English; repeat them about ten times and he could be real. But I didn't have the equipment to give him really effective therapy." "Treatment?" Floyd asked. "You mean he—well, had brain damage?" "No," said Chandra flatly, "his logic is intact, only the sound output is faulty, but it will gradually improve, so it is necessary to check everything on the graphic display to avoid misinterpretation. And , if you must speak to him, do so clearly."

Floyd gave Captain Oleva a wry smile and asked an obvious question. "What about all the people with Russian accents?" "I'm sure that's not a problem for Captain Oleva and Dr. Kovalev. But for everyone else—well, individual tests are required. Those who fail can only use the keyboard." "That's all in the future. For now, only you can communicate with him in this way. Agree, Captain?" "totally agree." Dr. Chandra nodded slightly to show that he heard them.His fingers continued to fly across the keyboard, and rows of words and symbols flew across the screen with dizzying speed.Perhaps Chandra has an excellent memory, as he seems to be able to recognize entire pages of material at a glance.

Floyd and Oleva were about to leave the scientist in uncanny frenzy when Chandra suddenly noticed their presence and raised his hand as a warning, or as a reminder.Then, after a moment of almost hesitation, with a reversal of his earlier bird-like agility, he pulled up a locked lever and pressed a separately spaced button. Immediately, without any transitional pause, a voice sounded from the console, which was no longer a clumsy mechanical imitation of human voice.That's an intelligent response - thinking - full of self-awareness, though still at the infant level. "Good morning, Dr. Chandra. This is Hal. I'm ready for my first lesson."

There was a stunned silence.Afterwards, the two spectators left the bridge with great excitement. Heywood Floyd couldn't believe it, and Chandra burst into tears.