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Don't worry, Dave. This is Frank Poole. I'm watching your heart and respiration-everything is perfectly normal. Just relax – take it easy. " Soft light flooded into the chamber; he saw moving shapes silhouetted against the widening entrance. And in that moment, all his memories came back to him, and be knew exactly where he was. Though he had come back safely from the furthest borders of sleep, and the nearest borders of death, he had been gone only a week. When he left the Hibernaculum, he would not see the cold Saturnian sky; that was more than a year in the future and a billion miles away.

I'm sorry," Hal replied. " "I probably did, a year ago. But there are eight thousand subsystems aboard. Anyway, it looks a straightforward job. " "That suits me fine," said Poole, who was the crew member designated for routine extravehicular activity. "I could do with a change of scenery. " "Let's see if Mission Control agrees," said Bowman. He sat still for a few seconds, marshaling his thoughts, then started to dictate a message. "Mission Control, this is X-ray-Delta-One. At two-zero-four-five, on-board fault prediction center in our niner-triple-zero computer showed Alpha Echo three five unit as probable failure within seventy-two hours.

That was fine, but he did not get excited about it. Presently he felt hunger. The computer, of course, had anticipated this need. "There is a signal button by your right hand, Dave. " Bowman forced his fingers to hunt around, and presently discovered the pear-shaped bulb. He had forgotten all about it, though he must have known it was there. How much else had he forgotten: Did hibernation erase memory? He pressed the button, and waited. Several minutes later, a metal arm moved out from the bunk, and a plastic nipple descended toward his lips.