Part 6, Chapters 42-45 Summary

In chapter forty-two, Floyd gives his story to Orlova. She is wary of the idea that Bowman has returned, but Dr. Chandra insists that whatever messaged the ship had to have come from outside of Hal. The crew is trying to determine what happened, and Floyd reminds them that they know Bowman once entered the monolith, and that something recently left it for Earth and disabled a nuclear missile in orbit. The captain insists that they can't leave Jupiter early, regardless of the message, and also that they should delay their departure for another five days in order to improve fuel reserves. Floyd tells Dmitri of their situation in a message, but the crew agrees to keep Bowman's visit a secret from mission control for the time being.

In chapter forty-three, the crew's attitude changes toward Floyd somewhat, but...