Chapter 29 Chapter 1 Precise plates

> The best cure for fright is work, and Bowman is now taking on the jobs of his dead crew.He had to get Discovery fully operational again as soon as possible, starting with those critical systems, or he and the ship would be destroyed. Sustaining life systems is the first priority.A lot of oxygen has been lost, but there are enough reserves to keep a person alive.Air pressure and temperature adjustments are largely automatic and generally do not require human intervention.Surveillance devices on Earth can now perform many of the advanced tasks of powered-off computers, although there are long delays in their response to changing conditions.Any failure of the life-sustaining system, except for serious damage to the ship, would take several hours to cause consequences, so a lot of warnings could always be obtained in advance.

The spacecraft's power, navigation, and propulsion systems were unaffected; however, the latter two systems would not be needed by Bowman for several months, until rendezvous with Saturn.Even without the aid of the onboard computer, Earth can still monitor the rendezvous from a distance.Final track adjustments will be a bit of a hassle because of the constant checks, but that's not a serious problem. He didn't try to find out if the rest of the hibernation system was still functional.While he might end up relying on it for his life, that could wait until the ship was in its final orbit.There are many problems that can occur before this.

Finally, as the spacecraft gradually moved into automatic operation again, Bowman began to have time to study the reports and briefings sent to him from Earth, although he still had to supervise him frequently.He played over and over again the recording of TMA-1's first dawn in three million years.He watched the figure in the spacesuit move around it, and later it signaled to the constellations, its electronic voice crippling their radios, and Bowman almost smiled at their then-frightened ridiculous shape. From that moment on, there has been no movement on that plate.It was covered and then carefully exposed to the hot sun and still did not respond.No attempt has been made to cut it apart, partly out of scientific caution, but also out of fear of possible consequences.

A novel, but perhaps unimportant feature of that plate has given rise to endless debate.It was eleven feet high, and its cross-section was one and a quarter by five feet.After the most careful inspection, it was found that its aspect ratio is exactly 1:4:9, which is the square of the first three integers.No one can come up with any plausible explanation, but it is certainly no accident, for this ratio has been measured with the greatest precision.Using all the technology on earth, using any material, it is impossible to manufacture plates with such unimaginable precision, even static plates without power.This is indeed thought-provoking.A performance that displays its geometrical precision in such a haughty manner, like everything else in the TMA-1, is impressive indeed.

Bowman also listened with strange indifference to Mission Command's dated apology for the procedure, and the tone from Earth seemed apologetic; he could understand that among those who planned the expedition there must be blame each other. He was more interested in the past explanation of Hal's behavior even if it was just water under the bridge now.It is impossible for anyone to find out the truth, but a 9000 in the mission command center also suffered from the exact same mental illness and is currently being treated, which shows that the above statement is well-founded.The same mistakes won't be made again; and the utter failure of the makers of Hal to understand the psychology of their own products shows how difficult it must be to deal with the real outside world.

Bowman readily believed in Dr. Simonson's theory that Hal's unconscious guilt caused by a programming inconsistency led him to attempt to sever contact with Earth.and.He's also wishful thinking, though this too can never be proven, that Hal didn't mean to kill Poole.He just wanted to destroy the evidence; because once the AE35 parts that were reported to have burned out proved to be still working, his lie would be exposed.After that, like any clumsy criminal sinking deeper into a fraud, Hal panicked. And panic was something Bowman understood, even more deeply than he wanted to understand, because he had experienced it twice in his life.The first was as a child, when he encountered a rough sea and nearly drowned; the second, when training as an astronaut, when a faulty pressure gauge convinced him that oxygen would not last him long enough to safety.

Both times, he could hardly control all his higher logical thinking; both times, he almost became a mess of crazy impulses; Under such circumstances, anyone can lose their humanity by panicking.