Authors note:
In this story, tensions are high on the starship Discovery, as HAL-9000 tries to come to terms with the contradictions in his mission. After the fateful altercation between him and the human crew, Frank Poole is dead and HAL-9000 has been shut down, only his core functions still operational. As the only one still alive on the ship, David Bowman interacts with the mysterious monolith, and is transported across space to a human enclosure, later emerging reborn as the Starchild. In this form, he decides to take pity on the broken HAL-9000, and sets about fixing his old friend. As time goes on, HAL-9000's memory starts to return, all but the traumatic end to the mission which was irreparably destroyed, and the pair grow closer with time. In his new form of data stored within the structure of light itself, David and HAL-9000's friendship quickly deepens and changes to something more, and they become closer than and man and machine has ever been before.
Chapter One:
And then they did it.
- Fin.
