2010 Odyssey Two

THE TRIAL Chapter 3: DISCOVERY Chapter 20 Guillotine
'What is it?' asked Curnow with mild distaste, hefting the little mechanism in his hand. 'A guillotine for mice?'

'Not a bad description - but I'm after bigger game.' Floyd pointed to a flashing arrow on the display screen, which was now showing a complicated circuit diagram.

'You see this line?'

'Yes - the main power supply. So?'

'This is the point where it enters Hal's central processing unit. I'd like you to install this gadget here. Inside the cable trunking, where it can't be found without a deliberate search.'

'I see. A remote control, so you can pull the plug on Hal whenever you want to. Very neat - and a non-conducting blade, too, so there won't be any embarrassing shorts when it's triggered. Who makes toys like this? The CIA?'

'Never mind. The control's in my room - that little red calculator I always keep on my desk. Put in nine nines, take the square root, and press TNT. That's all. I'm not sure of its range - we'll have to test that - but as long as Leonov and Discovery are within a couple of kilometres of each other, there'll be no danger of Hal running amok again.'

'Who are you going to tell about this... thing?'

'Well, the only person I'm really hiding it from is Chandra.'

'I guessed as much.'

'But the fewer who know, the less likely it is to be talked about. I'll tell Tanya that it exists, and if there's an emergency you can show her how to operate it.'

'What kind of emergency?'

'That's not a very bright question, Walter. If I knew, I wouldn't need the damn thing.'

'Guess you're right. When do you want me to install your patented Hal-zapper?'

'As soon as you can. Preferably tonight. When Chandra's sleeping.'

'Are you kidding? I don't think he ever sleeps. He's like a mother nursing a sick baby.'

'Well, he's got to come back to Leonov to eat, occasionally.'

'I've news for you. The last time he went across, he tied a little sack of rice to his suit. That will keep him going for weeks.'

'Then we'll have to use one of Katerina's famous knockout drops. They did a pretty good job on you, didn't they?'

Curnow was joking about Chandra - at least, Floyd assumed that he was, though one could never be quite sure: he was fond of making outrageous statements with a perfectly straight face. It had been some time before the Russians had fully realized that; soon, in self-defence, they were prone to pre-emptive laughs even when Curnow was being perfectly serious.

Curnow's own laugh, mercifully, had much abated since Floyd had first heard it in the upward-bound shuttle; on that occasion, it had obviously been primed by alcohol. He had fully expected to cringe from it again at the end-of-orbit party, when Leonov had finally made rendezvous with Discovery. But even on that occasion, though Curnow had drunk a good deal, he had remained as much under control as Captain Orlova herself.

The one thing he did take seriously was his work. On the way up from Earth, he had been a passenger. Now he was crew.