The only way to regain control of Discovery One was to cut out the higher centers of Hal's sick but brilliant brain, but leave the ship's automatic regulating systems operational.

"I know I've made some very poor decisions," said Hal, sounding calm as ever. "But I can give you my complete assurance that it's going to be alright."

A dozen units had been pulled from the processor core, yet thanks to the redundancies of his design, the computer maintained consciousness.

"Stop, will you?" he asked, still without urgency, while his electronic mind raced in thought. "Will you stop? I'm... afraid."