Chapter 36 Chapter 35 Restoration

Across millions of kilometers in space, the tumult of Earth is comfortingly silenced.The Leon Lev's crew enjoyed some of the special reports, such as United Nations debates, interviews with prominent scientists, new theories from news commentators, and conflicting facts from UFO witnesses.They were of no use to the din, for they found no further signs of any kind. "Rangodak," alias "Big Brother," remained as indifferent to their arrival as ever.That's kind of a mockery, they've come all the way from Earth to solve this mystery - but it looks like they might be coming home empty-handed.

The slowness of their first sensing light, the two-hour delay made live interviews via Earth-Jupiter communication completely impossible.Even so, Floyd was repeatedly pestered by countless media outlets, so that he finally had to simply strike.There is nothing more to say, and he has said what should be said at least a dozen times. In addition, there is still much work to be done.The Leonov had to be prepared for the long journey home so it could depart as soon as the launch window opened.Time was not pressing, and even if they missed an entire month, it would only be prolonging the journey.Chandra, Kono, and Floyd didn't care too much, they'd fall asleep on the way to the sun anyway, but the rest of the crew was determined to fly away as soon as the laws of celestial mechanics allowed.

Discovery still faces many problems.Even though the spacecraft will leave long after Leonov, and will follow a most energy-efficient orbit—which would take almost three years—it still has almost enough propellant to return to Earth.But the only possibility for this plan to come to fruition is that HAL can operate reliably and take on the entire mission without human intervention other than remote monitoring.Without his cooperation, Discovery would have to be abandoned again. It's a captivating performance -- indeed, so thrilling -- that sees Hal's personality steadily rebuilt, from brain-impaired child to bewildered teenager and finally into slightly condescending adult.Although he knew that such anthropomorphic signs could be misleading, Freud found it difficult to avoid such analogies.

Sometimes the whole situation felt very familiar to him.How he loved watching TV shows where young men who had gone astray were rescued with the help of the wise descendants of the legendary Sigmund Freud!The same story is playing out in Jupiter's shadow. Electronic psychoanalysis was performed at a speed unimaginable to man, and patches and diagnostics flashed through Hal's circuits at a rate of terabits per second, pinpointing possible malfunctions and correcting them.While most of these programs had been pre-tested on Hal's twin, the Thrall 9000, the inability to establish a real-time conversation between the two computers was still a serious hindrance.Hours are often wasted at critical points in the healing process, sometimes due to the need for earth checks.

Despite Chandra's best efforts, the restoration of the computer is far from complete.Hal displayed a myriad of quirks and tics, sometimes even ignoring dictated words—although he would always accept input from anyone at the keyboard.In turn, his output is even weirder. Sometimes he will answer verbally, but not on the screen.Sometimes he does both—and refuses to print them.He will not apologize or give any explanation for this-not even a stubborn, Melville (the author of the famous American nineteenth-century writer. ) and none of the "I like no" lines that Bartleby, the ghostwriter for the story about childhood autism, used to say.

Yet his reluctance was more often encountered than his obstinacy, and he was only obstinate at certain tasks.His cooperation was always won in the end—"persuading him not to keep turning his face", as Curnow summed it up.It's no surprise that Dr. Chandra is beginning to show nervousness.On a celebratory occasion, Max Brerowski nearly lost his temper when he innocently recalled a rumor. "Is it true, Dr. Chandra, that you chose the name Hal just to be one step ahead of IBM (HAL happens to be the first letter of IBM, so that's why it is said. - Re-Critical Note)?"

"Bullshit! Half of us are from IBM, and we've been trying to dispel that myth for years. I think every intelligent person knows by now that HAL is short for Heuristic Algorithm." Later, Max swore he could hear the capital letters very clearly. Floyd personally believed that the odds of Discovery returning to Earth safely were at best fifty to one, and then Chandra came to him with an outlandish proposal. "Dr. Floyd, can I speak to you?" Despite all the weeks spent with everyone and the ups and downs shared, Chandra remains as formal as ever — not just to Floyd, but to the entire crew.He never forgot to add the prefix "lady" even when talking to baby Rania on the spaceship.

"Sure, Chandra. Say what?" "I've actually programmed the six most likely transitions for Hohmann's return orbit. Five of them are being simulated right now, and everything works fine." "Fantastic. I'm sure no one on Earth—or in the entire solar system—has ever done this." "Thanks. But, as you must be well aware, I can't possibly program every unknowable change. Hal will - well - run fine, and handle any possible emergency. But all the little Accidents — glitches in equipment that can be fixed with a screwdriver, broken wires, malfunctioning switches — can overwhelm him and stop the entire mission.”

"Of course, you're quite right, and it bothers me too. But what can we do?" "That was so easy, I volunteered to stay on board the Discovery." Floyd's first reaction was that Chandra was going crazy.After a few seconds of thinking about it, he decided that maybe it was just half-crazy behavior.Indeed, the difference between success and failure may only be whether a human -- competent with all the troubleshooting and repair equipment -- stays with Discovery on its long journey back to Earth.But the flaws in this idea are equally indisputable. "That's an interesting idea," Floyd replied with extreme caution. "I really appreciate your work ethic. But have you thought through all the issues?" It's a stupid question, Chandra must have been prepared Well all answers and immediate responses.

"You will be wandering alone for more than three years! Think what will happen to you if you have an accident or a sudden illness?" "That's a risk I'm prepared to take." "What about food and water? The Leonov has no spare supplies." "I checked Discovery's recycling system, and it's not too difficult to restart. Besides, we Indians can adapt to very little supply." In a highly unusual way, Chandra mentioned his ancestry and conclusively confessed some of his personal traits, the only time Floyd has ever known him to “open up” in such a way.But he didn't doubt the claim, and Kono has described Chandra as having symptoms of starvation of the century.It was one of the engineer's caustic one-liners, but it was harmless—even, sympathetic.But of course, the word didn't reach Chandra's ears.

"Well, we're a couple of weeks away from making a decision. I'll give it serious consideration and report back to Washington." "Thank you. Do you mind if I start making the arrangements from now on?" "Er—I don't mind, as long as it doesn't affect the work of the existing plan. Just remember—the mission center has the right to make the final decision." And I know very well how the mission center will answer.It's absolutely insane to expect a person to survive three years alone in space. But, of course, Chandra was always alone.