2010: Odyssey Two

2010: Odyssey Two is a best-selling science fiction novel by Arthur C. Clarke, which was released in January 1982. It is the sequel to 2001: A Space Odyssey and was nominated for the Hugo Award for Best Novel in 1983. The novel was turned into a 1984 film, 2010.

Plot summary

Unlike 2001: A Space Odyssey, the novel and the screenplay were not written simultaneously, and there are significant differences between the two.

In one aspect, a part of this novel has similarities with a much older short story by Clarke, "History Lesson" - the plot involves superfast evolution on a world just made habitable. See "History Lesson" for more specific comments.

For both the book and the movie, the story is set nine years after the failure of the Discovery mission to Jupiter. Note that the novel version of 2001 featured the journey to Saturn instead: Clarke acknowledges this retroactive continuity in his author's foreword.

A joint Soviet-American crew (the Soviet Union did not dissolve until 9 years after this book was written), including Heywood Floyd from 2001, on the Soviet spaceship Alexei Leonov (named after the famous cosmonaut) arrives to discover what went wrong with the earlier mission, to investigate the monolith in orbit around the planet, and to resolve the disappearance of David Bowman. They hypothesize that much of this information is locked away on the now-abandoned Discovery One craft. The Soviets have an advanced new "Sakharov" drive (a reference to the physicist Andrei Sakharov) which will propel them to Jupiter ahead of the Americans Discovery Two mission, so Floyd is assigned to the Leonov crew as part of a joint mission. However, a Chinese "space station" rockets out of Earth orbit, revealing itself to be an interplanetary spacecraft named the Tsien, (a reference to Tsien Hsue-shen) which is also aimed at Jupiter. The Leonov crew comment on the kamikaze-like method of the Chinese team, but Floyd eventually surmises that due to the large water content of Europa, they are destined to land there and use the water content to refuel their tanks.

The Tsien's daring mission ends in failure, when it is destroyed by an indigenous life-form on Europa. The only survivor radios the story to the Leonov; it is presumed that he dies when his spacesuit air supply runs out.

The Leonov eventually performs a rendezvous with the Discovery, and Hal's creator, Dr. Chandra, on the mission, reactivates the HAL 9000 computer to ascertain the cause of his earlier aberrant behavior.

A sequence of scenes follows the explorations of David Bowman, who has been transformed into a non-corporeal, energy-based life-form, much like the aliens controlling the monoliths. During his journey, the avatar of Bowman travels to the Earth, making contact with significant individuals from his human past: he visits his mother and brushes her hair (shortly before she dies), and he appears to his ex-girlfriend on her television screen. In the novel, the aliens are using Bowman as a probe to learn about humankind. He then returns to the Jupiter system to explore beneath the ice of Europa, where he finds aquatic life-forms, and under the clouds of Jupiter, where he discovers gaseous life-forms. Both are primitive, but the aliens deem the Europan creatures to have evolutionary potential.

An apparition of Bowman appears before Floyd (shaping itself from dust), warning him that they must leave Jupiter within fifteen days. Floyd has difficulty convincing the rest of the crew, at first, but then the monolith vanishes from orbit and a mysterious dark spot on Jupiter begins to form and starts growing. HAL's telescope observations reveal that the Great Black Spot is in fact a vast population of monoliths, increasing at a geometric rate, which appear to be eating the planet.

The Leonov crew devises a plan to use the Discovery as a "booster rocket", enabling them to return to Earth ahead of schedule. Unfortunately, HAL and the Discovery will be trapped in Jupiter's orbit, with insufficient fuel to escape. The crew are worried that HAL will have the same neuroses on discovering that he will be abandoned yet again, and Chandra must convince HAL that the human crew is in danger.

The Leonov crew make a hasty exit from Jupiter, observing as the swarm of monoliths spread to engulf Jupiter. Through a mechanism the novel only partially explains, these monoliths increase Jupiter's density until the planet achieves nuclear fusion, becoming a small star. In the novel, this obliterates the primitive life-forms which had inhabited the Jovian atmosphere, which the Monoliths' controllers had deemed less worthy than the aquatic life of Europa.

As Jupiter is about to transform, Bowman returns to Discovery to give HAL a last order to carry out. HAL begins repeatedly broadcasting the message "ALL THESE WORLDS ARE YOURS EXCEPT EUROPA. ATTEMPT NO LANDINGS THERE." The creation of the new star, which Earth eventually names "Lucifer", destroys Discovery entirely. However, HAL's artificial intelligence is removed from Discovery's computer core and transformed into the same kind of lifeform as David Bowman, and becomes his companion.

Epilogue: 20,001

The book ends with a brief epilogue, which takes place in AD 20,001. By this time, the Europans have evolved into a species that has developed a primitive civilization, most likely with assistance from a monolith. They are not described in detail, though they are said to have “tendril”-like limbs. They regard the star Lucifer (formerly the planet Jupiter) as their primary Sun, referring to Sol as “The Cold Sun”. Though their settlements are concentrated primarily in the hemisphere of Europa which is constantly bathed in Lucifer's rays, some Europans have begun in recent generations to explore the Farside, the hemisphere facing away from Lucifer, which is still covered in ice. There they may witness the spectacle of night, unknown on the other side of Europa, when the Cold Sun sets.

The Europans who explore the Farside have been carefully observing the night sky and have begun to develop a mythology based on their observations. They believe (correctly) that Lucifer was not always there. They believe that the Cold Sun was its brother and was condemned to march around the sky for a crime. The Europans also see three other major bodies in the sky. One seems to be constantly engulfed in fire, and the other two have lights on them which are gradually spreading. These three bodies are the moons Io, Callisto, and Ganymede, the latter two of which are presently being colonized by humans.

Apparently, humans have been attempting to explore Europa ever since Lucifer was created in 2010. However, none of these attempts have been successful. Every spaceship or probe that has attempted to land on Europa has been destroyed in the atmosphere. The debris from every ship and probe falls to the surface of the planet, and the debris from some of the first ships to be destroyed is venerated by the Europans, in a manner similar to the Cargo Cults of Earth.

Finally, there is a Monolith on the planet, which is worshiped more by the Europans than anything else. The Europans assume (correctly) that the Monolith is what keeps humans at bay. Dave Bowman and HAL 9000 lie dormant in this Monolith. The Monolith is the guardian of Europa, and will continue to prevent contact between Humans and Europans for as long as it sees fit.

Discontinuities between 2010 and the other works

• Both novel and film of 2010 follow the film of 2001 in locating the events at Jupiter, rather than Saturn (as in the 2001 novel).
• In all of the Space Odyssey novels, HAL's instructor is named Dr. Chandra; in the film 2001: A Space Odyssey, it is Mr. Langley.
• In 3001: The Final Odyssey, the Leonov mission is said to have taken place in the 2040s.
• Also in 3001: The Final Odyssey, the Monoliths appear to have been defeated, at least within our own Solar System, rendering the events in 20,001 moot - however, perhaps after this time it is equally possible that the Monoliths might have returned, but it is equally possible that they should not have.

Release details

• Clarke, Arthur C. (1982 repr. 1997). '2010: Odyssey Two'. US: Del Rey; 1st Ballantine Books trade pbk. ed edition. ISBN 0345413970. 
• Clarke, Arthur C. (1983). '2010: Odyssey Two'. UK: Granada Publishing Ltd. ISBN 0246119128.