“Nick… I need to ask you something.”
Nicholas smiled.  He’d been waiting for Karr to talk since they left the warehouse.  They were almost at the Foundation and this was the first sound he’d made.  “Sure.”
“Kitt and his driver….”
Nick tilted his head to one side.  How did I know…?  “What about them?”
“They will be… all right, won’t they?”
“Karr!  I didn’t know you cared.”  The only answer was a low growl into his mind.  “They’ll be okay.”
“I don’t understand what’s happening with them.”
Nicholas sighed softly.  “They’re getting to know one another… differently this time.”
“Does that mean what I think it means?”
“What do you think it means?”
“Nick….”
“Why don’t you ask Kitt, when they get back?”
“You won’t tell me?”
“I can tell you what I’ve seen, what Michael’s said.  But that’s not what you want to know.”
Karr was silent for a moment or two.  “Nothing’s simple with you, is it Nick?”
 

Devon stepped out of the front door, file clasped to his chest, smiling in greeting as Nicholas pulled Karr into the driveway.  “Nicholas,” Devon watched the man get out of the black shadow of a car.  “I was expecting Michael.”
“I know.  He and Kitt have gone away for a little while.”
Devon frowned his patented frown.  “Away?  Is everything all right?”
“Everything’s fine.  They just needed some time.  He asked me to come and pick up the information you had for him.”
“Yes,” the smile returned, “yes, of course.”  He handed the file over to Nicholas as easily as he would have to Michael.  “It’s everything my sources could find.  Please… tell them to be careful with this.  He’s a very dangerous, insane individual.”
Nicholas nodded, not letting slip that he had no idea what it was that Michael had asked Devon for, on whom, and why.

When he got back into the Stealth he dumped the files onto the passenger seat.  He started the engine, but he couldn’t help wondering.  Reaching across he opened the top cover, reading the name on the top left-hand side.  ‘Anton Sachias.’
“Karr, run down the name…”
“…Anton Sachias?”
“You know me too well.”

*

Finally!  Jennifer double-clicked on the document and watched as the files opened before her eyes.  Just what had her father been up to?  Why the hell had he created what MacKenzie, Knight, Barstow, Miles and so many others liked to call a life?  She frowned as she read the introduction, technical jargon regarding the car, the AI, the mainframe used to house the program before the car was ready.

The second half of the document was more directed towards Michael Long, the chosen driver for the flagship vehicle.  It was a short paragraph with photographs.  She could understand now why it had taken her so long to find this document, and why she’d had to crack so many passwords.  As it was, she’d only been able to gain access using her father’s user name which she’d been surprised to find still worked.

She continued to scan down the pages of technical data, most of which she couldn’t begin to understand.  And then, close to the bottom of one of the last pages, she saw a small heading that caught her eye.  ’32,1 Implant / Link Connection’
She thought she’d overheard Devon and John talking about an ‘implant’ during the time Knight had vanished with the car part-way through the military testing phase.  She read this part in detail, trying to understand.  After the third time she thought she might have picked up the gist.

They’d put something in Knight’s brain, right at the base close to the nervous system.  An implant that allowed direct communication between Knight and the AI within the car.  Or should have done.  There was a note added, stating that the implant hadn’t activated and they’d been unable to complete the tests.  A second note told her that they weren’t able to remove the implant and it would remain dormant in Knight’s head.  There was predicted to be a small risk associated with it, but not too great that it couldn’t be swept under the carpet.  Knight would never know what they’d attempted to do.

And yet….  Although there was nothing more to the file, no addendum or links off to other documents, she just had a feeling.  She closed the file and looked around the directory structure she’d gained access to.  Then, remembering something, she opened the bottom drawer of her desk and took out a leather bound notebook, her father’s last journal before his death.  Turning to the last pages she read what he’d scrawled in his deteriorating handwriting.

‘I’ve succeeded I think.  He’s perfect, head-strong and determined.  He’ll hunt them down and finally I’ll have my revenge.  How dare they steal from me?  The car’s finished.  The AI’s been installed.  Dr Barstow seems happy enough with it, although it’s a little too excitable for my liking, and very life-like, it sounds almost human.  They’ve done an excellent job with the responses.  My only regret is that the implant once again seems to have failed.  Michael shows no signs of being able to sense the AI is with him.  I’m monitoring the link at the other end personally – the less people that know what we’re trying to do the better – but there’s no sign it’s even activated, never mind connected.

It wasn’t to be.  It was a small part of my dream I’ll admit, more a part of the fantasy.  And I don’t know how Michael would have reacted to it now that I come to meet him and start to get to know him.  He doesn’t yet know of the car’s existence, how he would feel to know it could feel him, read his thoughts and respond in kind, I have no idea.  None too favourably I suspect.  It doesn’t matter now.  It doesn’t look like he will ever know what we came so close to achieving.’

Jennifer stared at the words, re-reading it to be sure.  Her father had tried to link the car and its driver and had failed.  Or had he?  Had something happened that activated the implant?  Her tests perhaps, Knight had certainly known about that in a hurry, almost as if he’d been there when they’d set light to the car.  Could that really be true?  Was it possible?  Had Knight felt the fire as the body of the car had gone up in flames?  And did it work the other way around?  Would hurting the human half of the pair in turn hurt the AI?  Could it be killed that way…?

*

“Nick.”  Nicholas turned his attention from the morning traffic to glance at the voice panel.  Karr’s tone was disturbed.
“What is it?”
“Someone’s tripped one of your alarms inside the FLAGNet system.  A watchdog’s reporting that user ‘wknight’ opened a file describing the implant procedure on Michael Knight.”
Nicholas moved the Stealth into the near-side lane, heading for the Interstate.  “Find Kitt.”

*

This was somewhere they’d come before for privacy.  Tucked away on the Western tip of North Vancouver, staying in a fishing hut that belonged to Nick’s friend, Duck, Michael and Kitt had left California for the quiet of the mountains.

They’d driven up over night, breaking speed limits with ease.  Arriving early in the morning, Michael had first stopped by the local stores for supplies.  Once at the cabin he had no intention of seeing civilisation for at least a week.  It was late on in the evening now.  The sun was setting through the trees and the world around them was at peace.  Michael had made himself some toast and a mug of coffee and was now sitting on the wooden steps up to the hut, high enough so that Kitt had been able to drive close, parking with the prow of the car pressed gently against his driver’s knee.

They’d spent the journey close to one another in their minds, Kitt taking the car while Michael had slept.  Now, from the outside, they looked still and silent.  But the communication between them was almost constant, be it words or images, feelings or thoughts.  Michael’s hand rested palm-down on the black hood, his eyes were open but he wasn’t seeing the woodland surrounding them.

Within the world only they shared, they were entwined, the warm amber-tint of the human presence, and the bright, white of the AI.  The link was beginning to blossom, to take them deeper within one another than they had ever previously experienced.  No engineer or technician could ever have imagined their work would lead to this.

They hadn’t yet spoken of what they’d shared during Kitt’s final night in Swan’s android body.  There was no hurry.  Neither of them were about to deny it.  They were using it in a way, drawing on that new intimate knowledge of one another to push the link further.

And now there was something new.  Finally wanting to come to terms being back, Kitt had activated the SensorNet in a desperate need to feel more.  The input had come in slowly at first, and then it had been like waking.  He could feel everything.  The chill of the night air, the heat of the sunshine in the morning.  It was still data, but there was a new quality to it; he was feeling it instead of processing it.  And now he was feeling Michael’s skin against his own where the palm of his driver’s hand was resting on him.

Leaning back against the warmth of Kitt’s presence in his mind Michael smiled, stretching out a part of himself, an ‘arm’, and feeling the brush of Kitt along it.  Heat rippled through him, the dim embers of a slowly burning arousal.
//you are beautiful//
Kitt moved against him, stroking in long luxurious caresses.  //is it enough?  Now that we’re here//
In answer Michael turned, burying himself in his partner, holding Kitt close in what might have been an embrace, or might have been a kiss.  Michael let his partner read that thought and found it echoed back to him in delight.
//could we?//
//I don’t know//  He wanted to believe they could do anything they could imagine.  //kiss me//
//how?//
//make me believe it//

Somehow, Michael opened up his very self.  Kitt’s touch to his consciousness went beyond intimate, beyond anything they’d shared before.  Michael closed his eyes as he felt the feather-light caress over his lips.  It was just suggestion, just a touch to his mind, but it was so real.  “Kitt….”  He breathed his partner’s name as he mirrored the sensation back to his partner.  //my lover//
Kitt dared not answer, dared not believe it could be so.  He just lost himself in now, tomorrow was too unpredictable.  //yours//
//yes, Kitt, always//

*

“You’re assuming Miss Knight would be able to find them,” Karr told his partner cooly.
“It depends how desperate she is.”
“You don’t think she heeded your warning?”
Nicholas frowned.  “I don’t think she listened to a word I said.”
Karr digested that information with a lot more sincerity than any human would have.  “In that case perhaps it is best if she is removed from the picture altogether.”
Nick glanced at the dash, it was unlike Karr to use analogies.  “You’re suggesting we kill her.”
“I’m suggesting she is a threat we could do without.” Karr’s voice was totally matter-of-fact, as if he was suggesting they take a ride along the beach.
Nick felt tempted.  Very tempted, but he reigned the killer instinct in.  There were things he would have done in the past that he couldn’t do now.  This was one of them.  He sighed.  <You’re right there>

They headed north.  Michael had mentioned Vancouver, but it was a big city.  They’d definitely be somewhere quiet and private.  Karr’s digital speed readout was steady at a satisfactorily high three-figure number.  Still it would take them six or seven hours to reach the city.  Karr would hopefully reach Kitt a lot sooner.

*

High up in the air, a Lear Jet was on a course north.  Sitting next to Jennifer in the plush seats a technician, who’d always thought the world of her sat, with a laptop computer in front of him.
“Anything yet?”
He shook his head.  “They might still be too far away.”
“Keep trying.”

*

“I have him.”  Karr intoned when his private channel to Kitt finally gave him an active state signal.
“Tell him Jennifer might be on her way.  Tell him to be careful, she may know about the link.”
<_Kitt?
He waited, but despite the report that the message had been successfully sent, he got neither a received confirmation nor a reply.
<_Kitt?
Nothing.
“He’s not answering, Nick.”

Nicholas swore under his breath as the possibilities presented themselves.  “He could be blocking, they did go away to find some privacy.”  He thought about it.  “Can you… mark it ‘urgent’?”  He could almost hear his partner’s frustrated sigh, he could definitely feel it.  “I know, it doesn’t work like that.”
“It does not.  However, I’ll try.”
He sent a different start code with the message.
<_Kitt?
This time a received confirmation came straight back, along with the information that his message had been placed in a queue.  Karr transmitted his bewilderment to his partner.

“Maybe he doesn’t want any interruptions.”
“He has never done this before.”
Nick felt the urge to pat the dash.  Karr had sounded almost perturbed.  “Things are different now.”  Knowing he had to do something, he tried a different tack.  “Try to find Jennifer Knight.”
Karr’s equivalent of raising his eyebrows touched Nicholas through the link.  “And how do you suggest I do that?”

*

The laptop beeped once.  Jennifer’s companion leaned forward, reading the slowly scrolling messages there.  “You were right,” he told his lady boss, “the KARR AI seems to be communicating with the Knight Two Thousand on their private carrier frequency.  Or at least trying.  He’s getting received signals but no replies.”  He tapped more keys.  “All we have to do is work out the strength of the ‘received’ signals, do some magical mathematics and we should get Kitt’s exact… position.”  He hit return and turned to smile at her.  Jennifer handed him a glass of champagne.
 
 

“Nick!”  Karr shut down the channel between himself and his brother.
Nick glanced down.  “What is it?”
“Our private channel is being hacked into!”
 
 

“Shit!”
Jennifer started.  “What?”
“I lost him… the KARR AI’s shut down the channel.”
“Do you think he knows we’re here?”
“I have no idea.”
 
 

“Someone’s trying to locate either Kitt or myself.”
“Jennifer….”  Nicholas could barely believe her audacity.  “How much longer do you need to pin-point him?”
“One point two-four seconds.”  Nick couldn’t help but wonder what life would be like if one of them wasn’t so meticulous.
“All right….”  He hesitated.  “Do it now.”
 
 

“It’s back!”
“Where are they?”
 
 

 “Found him.”
 
 

“I… shit!  Gone again.”
 
 

“Where?”
Karr flashed up a map with Kitt’s position a blip on the screen.  “They’re not moving.  They’re at Duck’s place, western tip of North Vancouver.”
“Get us there, as fast as you can.”
The three digital figures on the dark speedometer leapt in factors of ten.
 
 

Jennifer’s technician shook his head.  “I can give you North Vancouver, that’s as close as I can get.”
“The channel hasn’t come back?”
“I don’t think it’s going to.”  Shutting down the laptop he leaned back, turned his head.  “So… how would you like to wile away the time?”

*

If he perceived his mental presence as an echo of his physical being, Michael found he could translate Kitt’s touches.  His partner was everywhere, caressing his arms and legs, stroking a little more roughly down his back, a gesture that had Michael arched in pleasure.  Words weren’t needed here.  Thoughts, feelings were passing between them and around them, their intentions were clear to one another and that was all that mattered.

Kitt once again touched Michael’s mind directly, the sensation of being kissed as deeply as they had before was sent straight to his partner’s brain and the implant echoed it back.  The most incredible feelings of loving and being loved surrounded the two of them, bringing them closer, pushing them deeper.

The shot, when it came, tore apart the silence around them.  Michael and Kitt screamed as they were ripped from one another, the twist of one around the other undone by the sudden, violent interruption.  The verbal cries were only in their heads.  The sound that came from Kitt’s voice modulator was very different; a high-pitched wail that was agony to hear, that crawled into the head of their uninvited guest and tried to claw into her sanity.

For Michael, being so forced from the embrace of his partner was a white-hot flash of pain.  He fell forward, half-caught by the prow of the car.  His mind felt like it was on fire, a sensation too close to what it had been like at the start, when they had neither understood nor been able to control the link between them.   He blinked back the blinding light that he knew was coming from inside his head and tried to focus on the world around them, on the trees and the ground.  On what the fuck had happened.  He spent a second mentally checking his body.  The bullet had gone way off target.  He wasn’t even scratched.

When his vision cleared, he saw Jennifer.  She was standing near to him now, but her weapon was lowered, as if she were simply watching the fall out.  Anger flared within him, coming from nowhere and everywhere, fuelled by new emotions pouring in to him from his partner.  Never before had he felt rage from Kitt.  He knew his partner had experienced it, had almost killed Geiger because of it, but Michael had been unconscious, hadn’t witnessed his partner’s own version of ‘losing it’.  Not until now.

He could barely cope with the strength of the emotions.  Even with all the training, all the experience that he had with the implant, Kitt was radiating pain and anger and he was directing it all through his driver.  Fury raged within him and in the next moment he was up and lunging at Jennifer.

She didn’t have time to bring up the gun before it was knocked from her grasp as she fell back, Michael’s full weight on top of her, forcing her to the ground.  He straddled her, bunching his fist as he drew his arm back and punched her hard in the jaw.  She was a slight woman, she had no hope of beating him off, although she hit out with her own, smaller fists.  He didn’t even feel her as he watched the blood seep from her split lip.

She hadn’t cried out, and that somehow made him angrier.  Reaching over to the right of them he grabbed the butt of the weapon and settled his hand around it comfortably.  In his left grip he got a good fist of her blouse and pulled her up, her head dropping back against the ground as she looked at him, fear in her eyes for the first time.  “Mich….”  Her words were cut off by him thrusting the barrel of the gun up under her chin.

Her vain fight stopped abruptly.  “Don’t….”
He heard the tremor in her voice and found it was what he wanted.  “Don’t what, Jennifer?  Don’t kill you?”  He saw the rapid nod of her head.  “Give me one good reason!  Just one!!!”
“You’re…” she tried to swallow passed the obstruction pressing against her throat, “not a… killer.”
“But you are!  You’ve tried to murder Kitt, me, who’s next?  Or is it just us?  You won’t stop until we’re out of your life!  Why shouldn’t I?!”  He could hear himself shouting, see himself out of control, ready to pull the trigger.  The rush was like nothing he’d experienced in a very long time.  “If it’s you or us, Jennifer, you lose.”
“Michael….”  She managed to choke out his name.  “Please….”

“Michael….”  Nicholas’ calm, low voice swept over the scene.
He didn’t even stop to think why his colleague was here, over 800 miles from where he was supposed to be.  “I’m going to kill her, Nick.  She… she shot at me!  She tore us apart!”
Nicholas winced.  To be ripped forcibly apart when linked so deeply was dangerous.  It must have hurt.  Both of them.  He looked over at Kitt.  The car was still, the scanner black.  “Michael….”  He closed in on where his friend had Jennifer pinned down.  In his mind he could feel Karr urging him to let Michael finish it.  But he couldn’t.  Michael wasn’t a murderer killer.  “Michael, this isn’t you.”
“It’s me, Nick,” he growled out.  “I’ve killed before, you don’t have to protect me from this.”  He didn’t take his eyes from Jennifer’s terrified face.
“I’m not trying to protect you.”  Nicholas lowered his voice.  “I’m trying to protect Kitt.  That’s his rage fuelling yours.  She interrupted something special, tried to kill you.  You’re feeding off Kitt’s anger.”

Michael took a deep breath.  He wanted to kill her.  He wanted to end this now.  But he trusted Nicholas.  The other man wouldn’t stop him if he hadn’t the best of reasons.  Cautiously he touched the implant at the back of his mind.  The strength and flow of emotion was almost physical in its power.
//Kitt….//
//Kill her!//
//No//  Michael clambered to his feet, backing away from her but keeping the gun aimed at her head.  //No, Kitt.  You don’t want to do this//
//She hurt us!!!//
//I know… I know, Beautiful.  But we can’t do this//
//Michael….//  But the anger, the raging fury was easing slowly.

Nicholas and Karr watched silently.  Once he’d broken the vicious circle of rage feeding rage, there was very little else they could do.  Nick personally didn’t care either way.  But he didn’t want the gentle innocence of the young AI to be corrupted.  He felt Karr in his mind, but for once he couldn’t directly translate the emotion.

Jennifer’s wide eyes never left the gun, but Michael’s resolve was crumbling as he tried to calm Kitt.  When he finally pulled away from his partner, he lowered the weapon.
“If you ever, ever come near us again,” he rasped, “I will kill you without a second thought.  Kitt wants me to end it now so don’t think you’ll get any protection there.”
Jennifer scrambled to her feet, backing away.  She looked from Michael to Nicholas.  The former agent met her frightened gaze.  There was no compassion there, only coldness.  “Leave.  If Karr finds you hacking any of his systems again I’ll let him kill you.”
He didn’t sound threatening, but he was.  Nick was deadly serious and inside his mind, Karr was twitching at the chance to crush Jennifer Knight.  He smiled wryly.
<Not today, Partner.  Not today>  He gazed at Kitt.  <Not as long as they would have to live with the consequences of our actions>

It was vaguely amusing to watch her run away in her high heels.  How anyone who looked so ridiculous could be the source of so much anguish was beyond Nick.  He shook his head and turned to Michael.  He’d collapsed back onto Kitt’s hood, head in his hands.  Nick approached him.
“You okay?”
He nodded without raising his head.  “Yeah.  Thanks.”
“Don’t mention it.”  He looked about.  “I know a place just outside Whistler, about fifty miles north from here.”
Michael let out a deep breath, letting himself fall back onto the hood, head against the windscreen, eyes closed.  “How did you know about her?”
“She set off a tripwire alarm in FLAGNet.  I think she knows about the implants, yours at least.”
“Jeez….”
“Don’t worry about it.  Karr had an idea that’ll keep her busy for a few months at least.”  He reached out, stroking the roof of the TransAm gently.  “Are you all right, Kitt?”
There was no reply, and for a moment Michael opened his eyes, meeting his friend’s concerned gaze upside-down.  “He’s sulking.”
A smile cracked Nick’s face.  “Understandable.”  He patted the black metal.  “Karr’ll relay the directions to Kitt.  I’ll let Duck know his place is no longer secure.”
“Sorry.”
“Don’t be.  He’s relocated for less than this.”

<_Kitt?
<_Why wouldn’t you let us kill her?!
<_I told you, you can’t hate!  Karr growled, angry at his younger brother’s stubbornness.
<_I can hate her!  She’s tried to kill us both!
Karr didn’t have a retort for that.  He could feel anger simmering, along side the shards of agony.  In a way, it was what he felt as well.  The anger, the rage, the hatred.  But for him, that was just it.  A feeling.  He could cope with it, he had lived with it ever since his first deactivation.  For Kitt, it was new.  He couldn’t let him hate.  Never.  The hate was like barbs in Kitt’s usually gentle presence.  Worried, he snaked a part of himself across the path into the other CPU, seeking to negotiate a path around the jagged edges.  Before he could, he felt Michael Knight reach for his partner.  Karr watched with reluctant admiration as his brother’s driver took Kitt into him, entwined the sharp, needy AI’s presence with his own, soothing one.
//We’re okay//
//Sorry//
//Don’t be.  Sorry I couldn’t do it//
From over Kitt’s virtual head, Michael looked up and saw the dark presence of Karr tentatively watching them.  He gazed into the darkness that represented Nick’s partner, the AI that had been linked to him longer than Michael and Kitt shared their bond.  It was a frightening but also amazing sight.
//Karr//  It was the first time Michael had communicated with Nicholas’ partner.  He hesitated, but reached out and touched a tendril of his presence to the other AI.  In an instant, Karr retreated.  The darkness wavered, fluctuating, like a skittish deer.  But then he came forward again, and for a moment he allowed the touch.  Michael smiled.  Karr was like snow, a warm cold that left a shivering chill in his mind when the AI pulled back, out of Kitt’s CPU.

Proudly, Nicholas accepted him into a quick hug.
<You let him touch you>
<Do you mind?>  Karr sounded suddenly unsure, as if he was waiting for Nick’s approval or disdain.
<I’m impressed>
Karr grumbled something low, making Nick smile.  He had been impressed by his partner’s sudden bout of trust.  Letting Michael touch him on that level was… truly amazing.
<I did it for Kitt!> Karr rumbled defensively.
<Hey, what did I say?>  Another growl.  <Or are you reading my mind again?> Nick teased.
<You know I can’t do that>  With that Karr snapped a light block into place.  Nick smiled.  Silently, he left the other two alone, piloting the Stealth out of the woodland and heading for home.

*

Different trees, same country.  Michael sat cross-legged on the hood of the car, eyes closed, not really aware of his own body as Kitt’s presence caressed his own where they lounged together away from the real world.
//Why did you prefer to sit like this?//
//It made me feel… more compact//
//Compact?//
//Your limbs are vulnerable//
Michael laughed, the tremors driving through his physical form and his mental presence.
//But they’re useful//
//Perhaps//  There was a pause.  //They’re nice when they’re wrapped around me//
Michael could feel the sadness surrounding Kitt’s words.  //Do you regret going back?//  Kitt didn’t reply at first, and when he did it was only because of a nudge from his driver.  //It’s okay, you can tell me//
Kitt wrapped himself tighter around his driver.  //I don’t know//
Michael returned the gesture.  //It’s okay not to know//

Kitt relaxed fractionally.  He had tuned out the SensorNet, wanting for now just to feel Michael next to him through the link.  Michael had been right, it was more intimate than anything physical.  He could feel Michael behind him now, massaging him, soothing him.  He was everywhere, all around.  Not just one or two touches but an enveloping presence that Kitt needed.  And slowly, with the sensuous stroking, that need was heating into desire.

//Michael….//  It was a low plea, even though Kitt wasn’t sure what he was asking for.
//Let me take you//
Closing himself off to every other input, Kitt sank into his lover’s embrace, infinitely trusting.

*

Nicholas climbed out of the Stealth and leaned on the door.  “Have you done it?”
“Yes.  It is complete.  She’s completely broke; share options, investments, savings.  All gone.”  Karr sounded immensely pleased.  “I can thwart whatever she tries to get to the files for as long as you want me to.”
Nick allowed himself a smile.  “Thank you.”  He felt Karr’s rumble of dissatisfaction.  “I know it’s not enough.”
“It’s less than she deserves.”
Agreeing, Nick closed the car door.  “Not yet.  Just not yet.  One day, Karr.  I promise.”
“I might hold you to that.”

* * *
 

On Dec 31st 1999, a hundred and twenty people flew around the world on Concorde, escaping the date line, chasing midnight.  But midnight will always be just out of reach.
 

fin
elfin
12/1/01