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''3001: The Final Odyssey'' is a 1997 science fiction novel by British writer Arthur C. Clarke. It is the fourth and final book in Clarke's ''
Space Odyssey The ''Space Odyssey'' series is a series of science fiction novels by the writer Arthur C. Clarke. Two of the novels have been made into feature films, released in 1968 and 1984 respectively. Two of Clarke's early short stories may also be co ...
'' series.


Plot summary

The novel begins with a brief prologue describing the bioforms – dubbed the First-Born – who created the black monoliths. They evolved from "
primordial soup Primordial soup, also known as, primordial goo, primordial ooze, prebiotic soup and prebiotic broth, is the hypothetical set of conditions present on the Earth around 3.7 to 4.0 billion years ago. It is an aspect of the heterotrophic theory (also k ...
", and over the course of millions of years, became a space-faring species. Perceiving that nothing was more precious than "mind", they catalysed the evolution of intelligent species wherever they went, by increasing the intelligent species' chance of survival. After visiting Earth, the First-Born found a way to impress themselves into the fabric of space and time, becoming effectively immortal. Meanwhile, the monoliths—implied to have been forgotten by their creators when they ascended to a higher state of being—continued to watch over their subjects. ''3001'' follows the adventures of
Frank Poole The ''Space Odyssey'' series is a series of science fiction novels by the writer Arthur C. Clarke. Two of the novels have been made into feature films, released in 1968 and 1984 respectively. Two of Clarke's early short stories may also be c ...
, the astronaut killed by the
HAL 9000 HAL 9000 is a fictional artificial intelligence character and the main antagonist in Arthur C. Clarke's ''Space Odyssey'' series. First appearing in the 1968 film '' 2001: A Space Odyssey'', HAL ( Heuristically programmed ALgorithmic computer) ...
computer in '' 2001: A Space Odyssey''. One millennium later, Poole's
freeze-dried Freeze drying, also known as lyophilization or cryodesiccation, is a low temperature dehydration process that involves freezing the product and lowering pressure, removing the ice by sublimation. This is in contrast to dehydration by most conve ...
body is discovered in the Kuiper belt by a
comet A comet is an icy, small Solar System body that, when passing close to the Sun, warms and begins to release gases, a process that is called outgassing. This produces a visible atmosphere or coma, and sometimes also a tail. These phenomena ...
-collecting space tug named the ''Goliath'', and revived. Poole is taken home to learn about the Earth in the year 3001. Some of its notable features include the BrainCap, a
brain–computer interface A brain–computer interface (BCI), sometimes called a brain–machine interface (BMI) or smartbrain, is a direct communication pathway between the brain's electrical activity and an external device, most commonly a computer or robotic limb. B ...
technology; genetically engineered
dinosaur Dinosaurs are a diverse group of reptiles of the clade Dinosauria. They first appeared during the Triassic period, between 243 and 233.23 million years ago (mya), although the exact origin and timing of the evolution of dinosaurs is t ...
servants; and four gigantic
space elevator A space elevator, also referred to as a space bridge, star ladder, and orbital lift, is a proposed type of planet-to-space transportation system, often depicted in science fiction. The main component would be a cable (also called a space tethe ...
s located evenly around the Equator. Humans have also colonised the
Jovian Jovian is the adjectival form of Jupiter and may refer to: * Jovian (emperor) (Flavius Iovianus Augustus), Roman emperor (363–364 AD) * Jovians and Herculians, Roman imperial guard corps * Jovian (lemur), a Coquerel's sifaka known for ''Zoboomafo ...
moons Ganymede and
Callisto Callisto most commonly refers to: *Callisto (mythology), a nymph *Callisto (moon), a moon of Jupiter Callisto may also refer to: Art and entertainment *''Callisto series'', a sequence of novels by Lin Carter *''Callisto'', a novel by Torsten Kro ...
. ''TMA-1'', the black monolith found on the Moon in 1999, had been brought to Earth in 2006 and installed in front of the United Nations Building in New York City. Poole integrates into the society of 3001, but is prompted by a friend to revisit Europa, a cradle of nascent life from which the monolith had banned humanity almost a thousand years earlier. It is believed he might be the first person allowed to visit there. On Europa he is greeted by the voice of David Bowman and computer HAL 9000, who have now become a single entity—''Halman''—residing as digitized lifeforms in the monolith's computational matrix. In subsequent conversations he learns that the monoliths themselves are mechanisms, answerable to an unknown superior monolith, or perhaps lifeforms, almost 450 light-years away. Thirty years later, Poole is married, and a member of a small team responsible for monitoring Europa. Halman contacts him to warn that following the events of '' 2010: Odyssey Two'' and '' 2061: Odyssey Three'', the Jovian monolith had sent a report to its superior monolith, containing details about the human species after first contact. Since this report took place shortly after the wars of the 20th century, Halman believes the response just received after the 900-year round trip contains instructions to destroy humanity, due to its failure as a species. Unsure whether they can physically harm the Monolith, the Europa team decide instead to infect it – as a computational mechanism – with a computer virus. Poole requests Halman to act as a
Trojan Horse The Trojan Horse was a wooden horse said to have been used by the Greeks during the Trojan War to enter the city of Troy and win the war. The Trojan Horse is not mentioned in Homer's ''Iliad'', with the poem ending before the war is concluded, ...
and place the virus inside the monolith, where it will be executed. Suitable computer and biological viruses already exist in the Pico Vault, an ultrasecure storage on the Moon, used for the most dangerous agents of these kinds. The Europa team also agree to leave a
petabyte The byte is a unit of digital information that most commonly consists of eight bits. Historically, the byte was the number of bits used to encode a single character of text in a computer and for this reason it is the smallest addressable uni ...
-capacity holographic 3D storage medium on Europa to allow Halman and other lifeforms in the monolith to
upload Uploading refers to ''transmitting'' data from one computer system to another through means of a network. Common methods of uploading include: uploading via web browsers, FTP clients], and computer terminal, terminals ( SCP/ SFTP). Uploadin ...
themselves and escape the monolith's failure. The monolith does receive orders to exterminate humanity, and starts a duplication, whereupon millions of monoliths form two cascade screens to prevent Solar light and heat from reaching Earth and its colonies, but the monoliths all quickly disintegrate as a result of the virus. The monoliths' makers' response to its destruction will occur in another 900 years as the earliest possibility. The petabyte storage device, containing Halman and other lifeforms, but also infected with the virus, is subsequently sealed by scientists in the Pico Vault. At the close of the story, Poole and other humans land on Europa to start peaceful relations with the primitive native Europans. A statement is made that the monolith's makers will not determine humanity's fate until "the Last Days".


Characters


Main characters

* Frank Poole: ''3001's'' protagonist, Frank Poole has been revived by highly advanced medicine, a thousand years after being killed by HAL during the ''Discovery's'' original mission. Given Frank's role in a very important sequence of events for humanity, which among other things led to the artificial creation of the star Lucifer from Jupiter,The book refers to "the conversion of Jupiter into the mini-sun Lucifer in 2061," which is either a typo or a rare slip of memory on the part of the author, because the conversion of Jupiter into a mini-sun actually happens in 2010. Poole is warmly received by humanity as an important, if ancient and strange, personality. All this, Poole takes in his stride. * Dr. Indra Wallace: A specialist on the history of the early twenty-first century, Wallace acts as Poole's cultural guide. As time goes on, Poole and Wallace recognize their attraction to one another, and so start a family, having children named Dawn Wallace and Martin Poole, before separating amicably some years later. * Halman: a merging of the entities that were once HAL 9000 and Dave Bowman, Halman communicates with Poole at various points throughout the novel, warning Poole of the possibility that the monoliths may issue negative judgment against humanity.


Minor characters

* Dimitri Chandler: Captain of the ''Goliath'', Chandler mines the outer solar system for ice material which is slowly pushed towards the inner solar system, to make the inner planets habitable through long-term terraforming. While in this region of space, he discovers Poole's corpse. Later, after Poole's recovery and cultural acclimation, Chandler ferries Poole to the Jupiter (now Lucifer) system, to see the intervening developments which have taken place in the solar system over the past millennium. * Professor Anderson: a medical doctor, Anderson leads the medical team which revived Poole, and works with Indra Wallace both to aid Poole's convalescence, and also to manage his cultural shock at awakening into a strange future world. * Dr. Stephen Del Marco: Alive at a future time (2513 AD) which is yet in the novel's distant past, Del Marco is the discoverer of TMA-0 in Africa: an earthbound monolith matching the lunar monolith which had been discovered hundreds of years earlier, in ''2001''. The implications of this discovery are that humanity finally becomes aware that it was artificially conditioned to evolve intelligently (already known omnisciently to readers of ''2001''), thus permanently discrediting all major religions. * Dr. Theodore "Ted" Khan: A resident of Ganymede, Dr. Khan is contemptuous of religion, identifying it as a mental disorder. Poole's exchanges with Khan about the redeeming qualities of religious people in his own period are part of a larger theme in the novel, of religion versus irreligion, with the "primitive" Poole sometimes resenting the future world's blanket condemnation of religious people, despite himself being a man of science.


Adaptations

In 2000, ''
Yahoo! Yahoo! (, styled yahoo''!'' in its logo) is an American web services provider. It is headquartered in Sunnyvale, California and operated by the namesake company Yahoo Inc., which is 90% owned by investment funds managed by Apollo Global Manage ...
'' reported that MGM and actor/director
Tom Hanks Thomas Jeffrey Hanks (born July 9, 1956) is an American actor and filmmaker. Known for both his comedic and dramatic roles, he is one of the most popular and recognizable film stars worldwide, and is regarded as an American cultural icon. Ha ...
were in discussions regarding adapting both ''2061: Odyssey Three'' and ''3001: The Final Odyssey'' into movies, with Hanks reportedly to play Frank Poole in the ''3001'' film. An update in 2001 stated that there was no further development on the project. On 3 November 2014, it was reported that the US TV channel Syfy had ordered a miniseries adaptation of ''3001: The Final Odyssey'' into production, planned for broadcast in 2015. The miniseries would be executive-produced by Ridley Scott, David W. Zucker and Stuart Beattie; the latter would also be the primary script-writer. The estates of both Clarke and '' 2001: A Space Odyssey'' director Stanley Kubrick were reported as having "offered their full support", but the extent of their involvement was not known at the time. In February 2016, within Syfy's press release for its
television pilot A television pilot (also known as a pilot or a pilot episode and sometimes marketed as a tele-movie), in United States television, is a standalone episode of a television series that is used to sell a show to a television network or other distr ...
''Prototype'', other series including the ''Final Odyssey'' series were mentioned as being in development.


Notes


References


Further reading

*


External links

* {{Footer The Novels of Arthur C. Clarke 1997 British novels 1997 science fiction novels Fiction set in the 31st century British science fiction novels Del Rey books Fiction set on Jupiter Fiction set in the Kuiper belt Novels by Arthur C. Clarke Space Odyssey