‘Well, what was all that about?’ demanded Vasili Orlov.
‘It means,’ said Chandra, carefully and precisely, ‘that I have erased all Hal’s memories, beginning at the moment when the trouble started.’
‘That sounds quite a feat,’ marvelled Sasha. ‘How did you do it?’
‘I am afraid it would take me longer to explain than it did to carry out the operation.’
‘Chandra, I am a computer expert – though not in the same class as you and Nikolai. The 9000 series uses holographic memories, doesn’t it? So you couldn’t have used a simple chronological erasure. It must have been some kind of tapeworm, homing on selected words and concepts?’
‘Tapeworm?’ said Katerina over the ship’s intercom. ‘I thought that was my department – though I’m glad to say I’ve never seen one of the beastly things outside a jar of alcohol. What are you talking about?’
‘Computer jargon, Katerina. In the old days – the very old days – they really did use magnetic tape. And it’s possible to construct a program that can be fed into a system to hunt down and destroy – eat, if you like – any desired memories. ‘Can’t you do the same sort of thing to human beings, by hypnosis?’
‘Yes, but it can always be reversed. We never really forget anything. We only think we do.’
‘A computer doesn’t work that way. When it’s told to forget something, it does. The information is completely erased.’
‘So Hal has absolutely no memory of his… misbehaviour?’
‘I cannot be a hundred per cent certain of that,’ answered Chandra. ‘There may be some memories that were in transit from one address to another when the… tapeworm was making its search. But this is very unlikely.’
‘Fascinating,’ said Tanya, after everyone had thought this over in silence for some time. ‘But the much more important question is: Can he be relied upon in future?’
Before Chandra could answer, Floyd anticipated him.
‘The same set of circumstances can never arise again; I can promise you that. The whole trouble started because it’s difficult to explain Security to a computer.’
‘Or to human beings,’ muttered Curnow, not very sotto voce.
‘I hope you’re right,’ said Tanya, without much conviction. ‘What’s the next step, Chandra?’
‘Nothing so tricky – merely long and tedious. Now we have to program him to initiate the Jupiter escape sequence – and to bring Discovery home. Three years after we’ve got back on our high-speed orbit.’
26
Probation
To: Victor Millson, Chairman, National Council on Astronautics, Washington
From: Heywood Floyd, aboard USSC Discovery
Subject: Malfunction of onboard computer HAL 9000
Classification: SECRET
Dr Chandrasegarampillai (hereinafter referred to as Dr C.) has now completed his preliminary examination of Hal. He has restored all missing modules and the computer appears to be fully operational. Details of Dr C.‘s actions and conclusions will be found in the report he and Dr Ternovsky will submit shortly.
Meanwhile you have asked me to summarize them in non-technical terms for the benefit of the Council – especially the new members who will not be familiar with the background. Frankly, I doubt my ability to do this; as you know, I am not a computer specialist. But I will do my best.
The problem was apparently caused by a conflict between Hal’s basic instructions and the requirements of Security. By direct Presidential order, the existence of TMA-1 was kept a complete secret. Only those with a need to know were permitted access to the information.
Discovery’s mission to Jupiter was already in the advanced planning stage when TMA-1 was excavated, and radiated its signal to that planet. As the function of the prime crew (Bowman. Poole) was merely to get the vessel to its destination, it was decided that they should not be informed of its new objective. By training the investigative team (Kaminski, Hunter, Whitehead) separately, and placing them in hibernation before the voyage began, it was felt that a much higher degree of security would be attained, as the danger of leaks (accidental or otherwise) would be greatly reduced.
I would like to remind you that, at the time (my memorandum NCA 342/23/TOP SECRET of 01.04.03) I pointed out several objections to this policy. However, they were overruled at a higher level.
As Hal was capable of operating the ship without human assistance, it was also decided that he should be programmed to carry out the mission autonomously in the event of the crew’s being incapacitated or killed. He was therefore given full knowledge of its objectives, but was not permitted to reveal them to Bowman or Poole.
This situation conflicted with the purpose for which Hal had been designed – the accurate processing of information without distortion or concealment. As a result, Hal developed what would be called, in human terms, a psychosis – specifically, schizophrenia. Dr C. informs me that, in technical terminology, Hal became trapped in a Hofstadter-Moebius loop, a situation apparently not uncommon among advanced computers with autonomous goal-seeking programs. He suggests that for further information you contact Professor Hofstadter himself.
To put it crudely (if I understand Dr C.) Hal was faced with an intolerable dilemma, and so developed paranoiac symptoms that were directed against those monitoring his performance back on Earth. He accordingly attempted to break the radio link with Mission Control, first by reporting a (non-existent) fault in the AE 35 antenna unit.
This involved him not only in a direct lie – which must have aggravated his psychosis still further – but also in a confrontation with the crew. Presumably (we can only guess at this, of course) he decided that the only way out of the situation was to eliminate his human colleagues – which he very nearly succeeded in doing. Looking at the matter purely objectively, it would have been interesting to see what would have happened had he continued the mission alone, without man-made ‘interference’.
This is virtually all I have been able to learn from Dr C.; I do not like to question him further, as he is working to the point of exhaustion. But even allowing for this fact, I must frankly state (and please keep this absolutely confidential) that Dr C. is not always as cooperative as he should be. He adopts a defensive attitude toward Hal, which sometimes makes it extremely difficult to discuss the subject. Even Dr Ternovsky, who might have been expected to be a little more independent, often appears to share this viewpoint.
However, the only really important question is: Can Hal be relied upon in the future? Dr C., of course, has no doubts on the matter. He claims to have obliterated all the computer’s memories of the traumatic events leading up to the disconnection. Nor does he believe that Hal can suffer from anything remotely analogous to the human sense of guilt.
In any case, it seems impossible that the situation that caused the original problem can ever arise again. Although Hal suffers from a number of peculiarities, they are not of a nature that would cause any apprehension; they are merely minor annoyances, some of them even amusing. And as you know – but Dr C. does not – I have taken steps that will give us complete control as a last resort.
To sum up: The rehabilitation of HAL 9000 is proceeding satisfactorily. One might even say that he is on probation.
I wonder if he knows it.
27
Interlude: True Confessions
The human mind has an astonishing capacity to adapt; after a while, even the incredible becomes commonplace. There were times when the crew of Leonov switched off their surroundings, perhaps in an unconscious move to preserve sanity.
Dr Heywood Floyd often thought that, on such occasions, Walter Curnow worked a little too hard at being the life and soul of the party. And though he triggered what Sasha Kovalev later called the ‘True Confessions’ episode, he certainly had not planned anything of the sort. It arose spontaneously when he voiced the universal dissatisfaction with almost all aspects of zero-gravity plumbing.
‘If I could have one wish granted,’ he exclaimed during the daily Six O’Clock Soviet, ‘it would be to soak in a nice foaming bathtub, scented with essence of pine and with just my nose above the waterline.’
When the murmurs of assent and sighs of frustrated desire had died away, Katerina Rudenko took up the challenge.
‘How splendidly decadent, Walter,’ she beamed at him with cheerful disapproval. ‘It makes you sound like a Roman emperor. If I were back on Earth, I’d like something more active.’
‘Such as?’
‘Umm… Am I allowed to go back in time as well?’
‘If you like.’
‘When I was a girl, I used to go for holidays to a collective farm in Georgia. There was a beautiful palomino stallion, bought by the director out of the money he’d made on the local black market. He was an old scoundrel, but I loved him – and he used to let me gallop Alexander all over the countryside. I might have been killed – but that’s the memory that brings Earth back to me, more than anything else.’