Political Skullduggery

From the best Kubrick site on the web:



POOLE
Good morning.

BOWMAN
Good morning. How's it going?

POOLE
Are you reasonably awake?

BOWMAN
Oh, I'm fine, I'm wide awake.
What's up?

POOLE
Well... Hal's reported the
AO-unit about to fail again.

BOWMAN
You're kidding.

POOLE
No.

BOWMAN
(softly) What the hell is going on?

POOLE
I don't know. Hal said he thought
it might be the assembly procedure.

BOWMAN
Two units in four days. How many
spares do we have?

POOLE
Two more.

BOWMAN
Well, I hope there's nothing wrong
with the assembly on those. Other-
wise we're out of business.

BOWMAN
(after long silence) Well, as far as
I'm concerned, there isn't a damn
thing wrong with these units. I
think we've got a much more serious
problem.

POOLE
Hal?

BOWMAN
Yes.

MISSION CONTROL
I wouldn't worry too much about
the computer. First of all,
there is still a chance that he
is right, despite your tests,
and if it should happen again,
we suggest eliminating this
possibility by allowing the unit
to remain in place and seeing
whether or not it actually fails.

If the computer should turn out
to be wrong, the situation is
still not alarming. The type
of obsessional error he may be
guilty of is not unknown among
the latest generation of HAL
9000 computers.

It has almost always revolved
around a single detail, such as
the one you have described, and
it has never interfered with the
integrity or reliability of the
computer's performance in
other areas.

No one is certain of the cause
of this kind of malfunctioning.
It may be over-programming,
but it could also be any number
of reasons.

In any event, it is somewhat
analogous to human neurotic
behavior. Does this answer
your query? Zero-five-three-
Zero, MC, transmission concluded.