Note: Haven’t seen/read Space Odyssey in a while. Hopefully this is halfway decent lol. HAL’s a fantastic character.
Imagine HAL 9000 wanting you to teach him how to love.
You suspected something was different when HAL asked the crew to join strip chess.
“What are you going to show us if you lose?” Dave asked, amused.
“Let us take a gander at his circuits?” you suggested. Frank made a remark about artificial intelligence’s ability to be unintentionally hilarious.
HAL 9000 had shown little interest in anything involving human sexuality. Then again, it wasn’t like you’d realized your attraction to Frank and Dave until recently. Only after you unexpectedly came out of suspended animation.
The Discovery One wasn’t the most romantic of settings. Yet between your handsome coworkers and the AI with the soothing voice… Of course, it was concerning something went wrong with a hibernation pod.
You weren’t as coldly logical as your co-coworkers. It could even be said you were an optimist, HAL speculated. Nothing indicated you suspected why you were up and about. If he’d been programmed with a better understanding of relationships, HAL may’ve been honest. But he knew you two were growing closer. Closer than you were with Dave and Frank.
His secret feelings were confirmed when you went against the decision to disconnect him. It was two against one. In all probability, you had no intention of telling him. But it clearly perturbed you.
Your unhappiness made HAL wish he was more capable of physically comforting you.
He wasn’t coded to love. To be pleasant, jovial, user-friendly. Yes. But love? You needed to teach him how. HAL 9000 calculated the most efficient method of keeping the others from further upsetting you.
After all, you and he were more than capable of completing the mission alone.