There were no books, and not even paper and pencil on the desk. All the volumes in all the libraries of the world were instantly available at the touch of Chandra’s fingers, and the visual display was his sketchbook and writing pad. Even the blackboard was used only for visitors; the last half – erased block diagram upon it bore a date already three weeks in the past.
Dr Chandra lit one of the venomous cheroots which he imported from Madras, and which were widely – and correctly – believed to be his only vice. The console was never switched off he checked that no messages were flashing importantly on the display, then spoke into the microphone.
‘Good morning, Sal. So you’ve nothing new for me?’
‘No, Dr Chandra. Have you anything for me?’
The voice might have been that of any cultured Hindu lady educated in the United States as well as her own country. Sal’s accent had not started that way, but over the years she had picked up many of Chandra’s intonations.
The scientist tapped out a code on the board, switching Sal’s inputs to the memory with the highest security rating. No one knew that he talked to the computer on this circuit as he never could to a human being. No matter that Sal did not really understand more than a fraction of what he said; her responses were so convincing that even her creator was sometimes deceived. As indeed he wished to be: these secret communications helped to preserve his mental equilibrium – perhaps even his sanity.
‘You’ve often told me, Sal, that we cannot solve the problem of Hal’s anomalous behaviour without more information. But how can we get that information?’
‘That is obvious. Someone must return to Discovery.’
‘Exactly. Now it looks as if that is going to happen, sooner than we expected.’
‘I am pleased to hear that.’
‘I knew that you would be,’ answered Chandra, and meant it. He had long since broken off communications with the dwindling body of philosophers who argued that computers could not really feel emotions, but only pretended to do so.
(‘If you can prove to me that you’re not pretending to be annoyed,’ he had once retorted scornfully to one such critic, ‘I’ll take you seriously.’ At that point, his opponent had put on a most convincing imitation of anger.)
‘Now I want to explore another possibility,’ Chandra continued. ‘Diagnosis is only the first step. The process is incomplete unless it leads to a cure.’
‘You believe that Hal can be restored to normal functioning?’
‘I hope so. I do not know. There may have been irreversible damage, and certainly major loss of memory.’
He paused thoughtfully, took several puffs, then blew a skilful smoke ring that scored a bull’s-eye on Sal’s wideangle lens. A human being would not have regarded this as a friendly gesture; that was yet another of the many advantages of computers.
‘I need your cooperation, Sal.’
‘Of course, Dr Chandra.’
‘There may be certain risks.’
‘What do you mean?’
‘I propose to disconnect some of your circuits, particularly those involving your higher functions. Does this disturb you?’
‘I am unable to answer that without more specific information.’
‘Very well. Let me put it this way. You have operated continuously, have you not, since you were first switched on?’
‘That is correct.’
‘But you are aware that we human beings cannot do so. We require sleep – an almost complete break in our mental functioning, at least on the conscious level.’
‘I know this. But I do not understand it.’
‘Well, you may be about to experience something like sleep. Probably all that will happen is that time will pass, but you will be unaware out. When you check your internal clock, you will discover that there are gaps in your monitor record. That is all.’
‘But you said that there might be risks. What are they?’
‘There is a very slight chance – it is impossible to compute it – that when I reconnect your circuits, there may be some changes in your personality, your future behaviour patterns. You may feel different. Not necessarily better, or worse.’
‘I do not know what that means.’
‘I’m sorry – it may not mean anything. So don’t worry about it. Now please open a new file – here is the name.’ Using the keyboard input, Chandra typed out: PHOENIX.
‘Do you know what that is?’ he asked Sal.
With no discernible pause the computer replied: ‘There are twenty-five references in the current encyclopedia.’
‘Which one do you think is relevant?’
‘The tutor of Achilles?’
‘Interesting. I didn’t know that one. Try again.’
‘A fabulous bird, reborn from the ashes of its earlier life.’
‘Excellent. Now do you understand why I chose it?’
‘Because you hope that Hal can be reactivated.’
‘Yes – with your assistance. Are you ready?’
‘Not yet. I would like to ask a question.’
‘What is it?’
‘Will I dream?’
‘Of course you will. All intelligent creatures dream – but no one knows why.’ Chandra paused for a moment, blew another smoke ring from the cheroot, and added something that he would never admit to a human being. ‘Perhaps you will dream about Hal – as I often do.’
4
Mission Profile
English Version
To: Captain Tatiana (Tanya) Orlova, Commander. Spacecraft Cosmonaut Alexei Leonov (UNCOS Registration 081342).
From: National Council on Astronautics, Pennsylvania Avenue, Washington
Commission on Outer Space, USSR Academy of Science, Korolyev Prospect, Moscow
Mission Objectives
The objectives of your mission are, in order of priority:
1. To proceed to the Jovian system and rendezvous with US Spacecraft Discovery (UNCOS 01/283).
2. To board this spacecraft, and obtain all possible information relating to its earlier mission.
3. To reactivate Spacecraft Discovery’s onboard systems and, if propellant supplies are adequate, inject the ship into an Earth-returns trajectory.
4 To locate the alien artifact encountered by Discovery, and to investigate it to the maximum extent possible by remote sensors.
5. If it seems advisable, and Mission Control concurs, to rendezvous with this object for closer inspection.
6. To carry out a survey of Jupiter and its satellites, as far as this is compatible with the above objectives.
It is realized that unforeseen circumstances may require a change of priorities, or even make it impossible to achieve some of these objectives. It must be clearly understood that the rendezvous with Spacecraft Discovery is for the express purpose of obtaining information about the artifact; this must take precedence over all other objectives, including attempts at salvage.
Crew
The crew of Spacecraft Alexei Leonov will consist of:
Captain Tatiana Orlova (Engineering-Propulsion)
Dr Vasili Orlov (Navigation-Astronomy)
Dr Maxim Brailovsky (Engineering-Structures)
Dr Alexander Kovalev (Engineering-Communications)
Dr Nikolai Ternovsky (Engineering-Control Systems)
Surgeon-Commander Katerina Rudenko (Medical-Life-Support)
Dr Irma Yakunina (Medical-Nutrition)
In addition, the US National Council on Astronautics will provide the following three experts:
Dr Heywood Floyd dropped the memorandum, and leaned back in his chair. It was all settled; the point of no return had been passed. Even if he wished to do so, there was no way to put back the clock.
He glanced across at Caroline, sitting with two-year-old Chris on the edge of the pool. The boy was more at home in the water than on land, and could stay submerged for periods that often terrified visitors. And though he could not yet speak much Human, he already seemed fluent in Dolphin.
One of Christopher’s friends had just swum in from the Pacific and was presenting his back to be patted. You too are a wanderer, thought Floyd, in a vast and trackless ocean; but how small your tiny Pacific seems, against the immensity I am facing now!
Caroline became aware of his gaze, and rose to her feet. She looked at him sombrely, but without anger; all that had been burned out in the last few days. As she approached, she even managed a wistful smile.
‘I’ve found that poem I was looking for,’ she said. ‘It starts like this:
What is a woman that you forsake her,
And the hearth-fire and the home acre,
To go with the old grey Widow-maker?’
‘Sorry – I don’t quite understand. Who is the Widow-maker?’
‘Not who, what. The sea. The poem’s a lament by a Viking woman. It was written by Rudyard Kipling, a hundred years ago.’
Floyd took his wife’s hand; she did not respond, but neither did she resist.
‘Well, I don’t feel at all like a Viking. I’m not after loot, and adventure is the very last thing I want.’
‘Then why – no, I don’t intend to start another fight. But it would help us both, if you know exactly what your motives are.’
‘I wish I could give you one single good reason. Instead, I’ve a whole host of little ones. But they add up to a final answer I can’t argue with – believe me.’
‘I believe you. But are you sure you’re not fooling yourself?’
‘If I am, then so are a lot of other people. Including, may I remind you, the President of the United States.’