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| 2001: A Space Odyssey |
| 07.25.05 (7:17 pm) [edit] |
I just read the book 2001: A Space Odyssey. It is now one of my favorites. Here is some info about
the book.
In the beginning of the book it starts out millions of years ago. The life force which created
Man had already advanced to the point of traveling effortlessly through space. They sent the
Monolith to earth to study the most intelligent creatures. They tested many animals but
the caveman was the most successful. They took control over their minds using the monolith. The
Cavemen were made to perform task such as throwing a stick or tying a knot. One cave man in
Particular named Moonwatcher seemed to be learning quickly. The advanced beings used him to teach
others how to use tools to kill and hunt. After the testing was complete the cave mans brain
had changed. It was pushed in the right direction to someday advance itself to be a human being.
The monolith that had been sent to Earth vanished completely after the testing was finished.
Scientist had already begun to explore the moon. They were able to make the trip from
Earth in just one day. It was thought that the moon was barren and nothing was there. Then
suddenly they started picking up a strong electromagnetic field. The were able to pin point where it was
coming from. Twenty feet underground they found a small monolith. Similar to the one sent to the
cave men millions of years ago. It was totally black. No light could penetrate it. Test had
been run but no one could figure out what it was. Certain scientist were called in the examine
the strange object. It was kept Top Secret and no one could talk about it. This was the first
time any sign of intelligent life had been found. It was obvious to them that it was not placed
there by Earth so the only other logical reason was that other "beings" had been there first.
When the monolith was tested the results were amazing. It was over 3 billions years old.
So now they were faced with the fact there were other life forces in the universe. They now knew
that Earth's technology was nothing compared to whatever placed the monolith there. The monolith
seemed dormant until the sunlight hit it for the first time. Everyone around it had to cover
their ears because the object had sent some kind of signal out through space. It was able to be
tracked to the planet Jupiter or one of its moons.
The Government sent a ship called the Discovery to the moons of Jupiter. There were two
scientist on duty the entire time. Three other crew members were asleep until they reached their
destination. The two scientists currently awake were Bowman and Poole. Their ship had an incredible
computer system called Hal 9000, Hal for short. He was supposed to be able to control and run
the entire ship if he ever needed to. Strange things started to happen to the 2 men while on board
the Discovery. The communication with Earth was failing and no one knew why. Well no one would
tell the crew members why because their true mission was kept hidden from them. Since Bowman
and Poole didn't know what was going on they listened to everything Earth told them. The computer
Hal started acting weird. In fact when Poole was outside the ship repairing it, Hal killed him with
one of the Probes. Bowman was now so terrified that he knew Hal should be disconnected. He had
to ask Hal to give him control over the other crew members so he could awaken them. Hal refused
but finally obeyed his orders. Unfortunately it was too late when Bowman tried to get to the other
sleeping crew, Hal had killed them also. He had cut off all life support to their chambers.
While Bowman was trying to figure out if any of them were still alive, Hal open the air lock.
Bowman knew he only had 15 seconds to get to a safe place before the vacuum of space sucked him
out of the ship. He was able to make it. After a while he emerged and saw the damage. Food, papers,
supplies had all been destroyed. But since he was the only one left he might have a chance. He
had to disconnect Hal. This made things difficult for him because now he had to repair everything
on his own. Earth finally revealed their secret to him. He wished he had known before. The sleeping, now dead,
crew were fully aware of the true mission however the plan was for him and Poole to find out when
they were awakened. It seemed as if Hal had malfunctioned and he still didn't know why.
It was months before he reached his final destination. When he got there he couldn't
believe what he saw. It was a monolith. A huge one about 2 kilometers long. By this time Bowman
knew he probably would not survive. His purpose was to study the monolith and the moons of
Jupiter. He made a final decision to go see the monolith a little closer. He took a pod and made
his way to the giant object. At first nothing happened. Then as he waited longer Bowman was shocked
by what was happening. The monolith was opening up. The last transmission Earth received was him
saying "MY GOD ITS FULL OF STARS".
Bowman was now being pulled into this "warp". He was being taken farther and farther
into the infinite. He saw a graveyard of massive ships. Many were at least a mile long. The were
abandoned and he saw no life. He began to think that whoever was here had left thousands, millions
or even billions of years ago. Some force was pulling his pod. All he could do is sit
back and enjoy the ride. He saw entire galaxies clustered together. Lights moving that might have
been ships or maybe just nothing. His surroundings were constantly changing. Nothing was, as it seemed.
Finally he stopped. The pod had landed on something but he didn't know what. He just sat there then
he saw the air around him suddenly transform. He was inside of a hotel room. It took him a few
minutes to get out of the pod. He walked around and discovered he could breathe without his
suit. There was a closet with clothes for him. The fridge had food but every container was full
of the same thing. There were magazines but when opened they were blank. The pages were not paper.
It seemed as if someone or something had gone to great lengths to make him comfortable.
At last Bowman lay down. He went to sleep and never woke up again. He was transformed into
a higher being. He was a baby yet he was also everything else. His life memories were flashing before
him but they were not lost. Just stored in a safer place in his mind. It would now be nine years
before anyone would here from him again.
This work is copyrighted.
zerospace
2005
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