<sod>It is determined that following the events of ''[[2010: Odyssey Two]]'' and  ''[[2061: Odyssey Three]]'', the Jovian monolith had sent a report to its superior monolith 450 [[light year]]s away, and is expected to receive its orders toward humanity after the nine-century round-trip. Presumably, the monolith was empowered to obliterate the nascent [[biosphere]] of Jupiter, but needed a higher authority's approval to do the same with the technological civilisation on Earth. There is considerable worry that the judgment, based on the monolith's observations of humanity up to 2061, will be negative, and the human race thus destroyed as the Jovian bioforms discovered by [[David Bowman (Space Odyssey)|David Bowman]] were wiped out (while making Jupiter a small star to assist intelligence on [[Europa (moon)|Europa]]). Frank conscripts Bowman and HAL, who have now become a single entity—''Halman''—residing in the monolith's computational matrix, to infect the monolith with a computer virus. The monolith does receive orders to exterminate humanity, and duplicates itself; whereupon millions of monoliths form two screens to prevent Solar light and heat from reaching Earth and its colonies. Due to Halman having already infected the first monolith, all the monoliths disintegrate.<eod>
<sod>It is determined that following the events of ''[[2010: Odyssey Two]]'' and  ''[[2061: Odyssey Three]]'', the Jovian monolith had sent a report to its superior monolith 450 [[light year]]s away, and is expected to receive its orders toward humanity after the nine-century round-trip. Presumably, the monolith was empowered to obliterate the nascent [[biosphere]] of Jupiter, but needed a higher authority's approval to do the same with the technological civilisation on Earth. There is considerable worry that the judgment, based on the monolith's observations of humanity up to 2061, will be negative, and the human race thus destroyed as the Jovian bioforms discovered by [[David Bowman (Space Odyssey)|David Bowman]] were wiped out (while making Jupiter a small sun to assist intelligence on [[Europa (moon)|Europa]]). Frank conscripts Bowman and HAL, who have now become a single entity—''Halman''—residing in the monolith's computational matrix, to infect the monolith with a computer virus. The monolith does receive orders to exterminate humanity, and duplicates itself; whereupon millions of monoliths form two screens to prevent Solar light and heat from reaching Earth and its colonies. Due to Halman having already infected the first monolith, all the monoliths disintegrate.<eod>