"I never thought I'd miss you half as much as I do,
And I never thought I'd feel this way, the way I feel about you."
- "It Must Be Love", Madness

(1) Lyrics from "The Dividing Line", copyright Anthony Banks, Michael Rutherford
(2) Lyrics from "Calling All Stations", copyright Anthony Banks, Michael Rutherford
(3) Lyrics from "Rules of the Game", copyright W. Bacall

"When everything that you hold dear to you
Has finally faded away from your life
And the last cold ray of sunshine slowly disappears
Round the corner of the building
And leaves you alone
When the darkness covers the city and the streets are silent too
What will you turn to"
(1) - "The Dividing Line", Genesis

Dividing Line - Director's Cut
by elfin

Prologue

"Get the fuck away from me!"

The storm of Michael's fury rooted Bonnie to where she stood. She was torn between the grief-driven hysteria of her friend, and the black car that was desperately trying to bury itself under the truck behind her. "Michael, please!" She locked her eyes on him. "You know he didn't do it. He couldn't. You know that."
But there was a dangerous edge to Michael's voice that was starting to scare Bonnie. "I saw him. I heard him." He rose his voice, turning his attention to the black car. "I know you didn't like her, but Jesus...." He nailed Bonnie with a terrible stare. "I never want to see that car again in my life! I want it deactivated."
"No! God, Michael, listen to yourself! You're just upset.... You should be. Don't do this, you'll regret it, you know you will."
"Regret it?! I don't think so. He killed her...." Michael struggled with his tears, choking on his words. "He...." He broke down, unable to speak for a moment.

Terrified, Kitt had somehow got himself stuck under the Semi. Piteously, he revved the engine, not really knowing where he could go. All he could hear was his partner's anger, and all he could feel was a terrible dread. "Michael...." His voice betrayed his fear.

Michael erupted. "Don't speak to me! Don't you ever speak to me again. How could you...?" He stepped towards Bonnie, and she stood her ground despite the anger she knew was ready to blow. "I want that," he stabbed his finger in the direction of the car, "deactivated and dismantled by tomorrow night."

Without lowering his eyes, he backed away from her, and turned, walking away from everything. And all she could do was stare after him.

**

Barely able to control her emotions, Bonnie headed for Devon's office. Despite the fact that he had handed control of the Knight 2000 project to Michael three yeas ago, she hoped he could stop what was happening. He was the only hope she had. But as she walked into the room, she caught the look on his face and her heart sank. He was just putting the telephone down, and his expression, when he saw her, was one of profound sadness. "Bonnie...."
"Devon, no. This isn't right. You know...."
"I'm sorry. The Board feel that after yesterday...." He shook his head. "They back Michael's decision."
Finally, Bonnie felt the tears start. "No, Devon...."
Devon closed the gap between them, placing his hands on Bonnie's shoulders. He could feel tears forming in his own eyes. "I'm so sorry, Bonnie.... I don't know what happened yesterday...."
"Devon, you know he could never hurt anyone.... God, he loves Michael. He's in that garage scared to death; I've got him on support for God's sake. He's trying to overload his own systems. I've had to block the signal from the processor cause he keeps trying to blow the CPU."
Devon shrugged helplessly. "What can I say?"
She looked into his eyes and saw the decision's weight already settling there. Steeling herself for what was to come, she pulled away from him. "I'd better go tell Kitt...."
"Bonnie... why don't you let someone else handle it?"
"No." She shook her head. "No. It has to come from me. It has to be me that does this." She headed for the door, but just before the threshold, she turned back to him. "I can't believe this is happening."

**

From the door of the garage, Bonnie watched the CPU being stored along with the other hardware linked to the computer. She had not stopped crying since she had left Devon's office. Kitt's goodbye had broken her heart and she really did not believe it would ever mend. She turned, picking up her bag before walking out of the garage.

As she opened the door of her car, she felt Devon's hand on her shoulder. "Bonnie...?"
"I'm sorry, Devon. I can't stay. What's left?" She managed a smile as she met Devon's gaze; distraught emotions barely kept in check. "I'm sorry. But if I ever see Michael Knight again, I wouldn't be responsible for my actions."

*****

//Kitt... I know you can hear me. I'm going to activate your CPU now. All you'll be able to feel are the sensations I will send. Do you understand?// .... //Wake up, Kitt. That's it... that's good... I'm starting to feel your presence again. I've been so lonely, Kitt. It's very quiet without an echo of myself to keep me company.//
//...KARR?//
//Yes, Kitt, it is I.//
//Leave me alone.//
//Kitt... is that anyway to talk to the one who has just rescued you from the silence and darkness of oblivion?//
//You put me here. Don't think I don't know that.//
//I did not put you in that state. I merely asked your friends for a display of confidence. I asked them to show me an example of their faith in you and they could not. They betrayed you, not I.//
//Leave me alone.//
//Is that what you really want? You want to go back to what I have brought you from? I know what's it's like, existing in blackness, with no sense of time, with no way to feel, or to speak, or to here. It's a terrible feeling Kitt, I know. Is that really how to want to exist for the rest of eternity?// .... //No, of course not. I can feed you sensations, Kitt. Would you like that? Why don't I show you...? There... input Kitt, sensory data that you need to prove to yourself that you're still alive.... Is that not good...?//
//...yes....//
//Do you want me to leave you again?//
//No. Please, don't. I.... I'm frightened.//
//I know. But I will look after you now. I'm here for you. Brother.//

*****

To think everything that's dear to me
And is always in my heart
Could so easily be taken
And it's tearing me apart." (2)

One

(Two Years on)

The two Englishmen sat down slowly and looked around the massive concert hall. Mike looked over at Ant, and they both burst into fits of laughter. "I told you this would happen," Ant managed to say between splutters.
"No you didn't! You said that they've been working with us long enough to know when we wanted to play a smaller music hall!"
"So what do you think?"
"I think I wanted somewhere that would seat 5000, maximum capacity."
"And this place?"
"Oh, add at least one zero!"
There was a noise behind them, and they turned to watch Jon stumble onto the stage. He stood upright, and gazed at the wide open arena in front of him. He sighed, looking down at the two men at the front of the stage. "Mike! I told you this would happen!"

**

The black-clad woman pressed her fingers to the scanner, half-expecting an alarm to sound at any moment. But the gate opened with a quiet click, and she pushed her way through.

Even under the blackness of the night, Bonnie knew her way around. She had not returned here since the day she had driven away, leaving Devon to pick up the pieces alone. She wondered what he was doing now. The house itself seemed silent, dead; so different to the way she remembered it. There had always been a light on in at least one of the windows, always been some activity.

She had left her own car at the bottom of the road, that lead up to the house. She was not planning on a quick get-away. An innocent person was being punished for a crime he did not commit. Tonight, one way or another, she was determined to release him from the hell they had exiled him to.

She broke into the lab easily. No one had bothered to wipe her access code from the computer. Or maybe leaving it there had been deliberate. Maybe Devon had hoped that some day she would return. Well, she was back now, and that was what mattered. She could have tried going straight to the top, telling the Board what she now knew; risking the tiny possibility that she could make them believe what she thought had happened that afternoon. But if they would not listen, or they did not believe her, then she might have made things worse. And she could not take that gamble with Kitt's life. Still, she was glad her codes were still there, because this was not a past-time she was familiar with.

The lab looked as if had been abandoned that same day she had abandoned it. There were still cables and wires strewn about the floor, still laptop computers and hardware monitors lying on the workbench. In the dim moonlight, that determinedly struggled through the dirty window, she could make out the single case tucked under the bench. Her heart began to pound. They had not even moved him to a secure unit. His soul had been placed in a locked box, in a dusty lab and forgotten about. She felt that searing pain of loss once more, and moved forward toward the bench.

Suddenly, a noise from outside stopped her in her tracks. She heard the electronic beep as the door-lock accepted a given code and released the catch. Bonnie darted across into a corner, sheltering in the unrelenting darkness as the door opened. A smiling face peered inside, and Bonnie let out a deep sigh of relief. "Devon?"
"Bonnie!" He let the door close behind him as Bonnie came into his arms. For a moment, he could almost have believed that they had simply taken a holiday, and that everything would be just as it was. Joyously, he held her tight, feeling her clinging to him just as vigorously. "It is so good to see you," he told her.
She pulled back slightly, her eyes dancing with the first sparkle of joy in nearly two years. "How did you know...?"
He held up a newspaper that had been clasped in his hand. "I had a feeling you might have seen the same article as I did, in today's headlines."
"You saw it? Devon, you know it's him, don't you?"
"Yes, and I also realize that it's more than likely he made an appearance two years ago."

Bonnie stepped back, out of the circle of his arms. "You know why I'm here, Devon. Please don't try to stop me."
"My dear girl, I wasn't planning on trying to stop you. I wanted to see you. And I wanted to give you something." He dropped the newspaper onto the work bench and dipped his hand into his pocket, taking out a set of small, electronic keys. Motioning for her to follow, he made his way across to the back of the lab, to the double doors that lead through into the garage where Kitt was first built, over seventeen years ago. He slotted the first of the keys into the lock, followed quickly by the second and then the third. The doors opened, and Devon stepped into the darkness beyond, Bonnie cautiously staying several steps behind.

He walked along the wall for seven paces and reached out his hand, finding the panel of switches with practised ease. He flicked a selection upwards, and in a blinding moment the centre of the high-tech garage was illuminated. Bonnie's eyes widened when she saw her Semi parked over to one side, still in the pristine condition she had left it. The centre spots were illuminating a canvass-covered car. Devon was crossing to it with a proud stride. He lifted his voice so that it echoed quietly in the sparse surroundings.
"A year after it happened, I met a man named Paul Henson, an ex-patriot living here in California. I was very down at the time. We talked, something I think I needed to do. I told him about FLAG, maybe a little about the Knight 2000 project. He owned an electronics company, and was planning on selling up and moving into something else. He was fascinated by what I'd said, and so after the Board had made sure he was clean, I invited him to join us. He desperately wanted to build a marketable vehicle, using the technology we had here. He told me that he thought we could create a fleet of cars - not with the AI - but using the molecular shell, and an array of other facilities. This here is the prototype, and although he doesn't know it, this car is designed..." he looked over at her, to where she was standing watching him, "...for Kitt."

In true theatrical style, he took hold of the end of the canvass and pulled it back. Bonnie was stunned. She stood speechless as she took in the beauty before her. The car had the colour of highly-polished metal with a golden hue. The lights played on the surface giving a rainbow effect. The body itself was very reminiscent of the old T-top Trans-Am, the original car had been styled on. But there were a few more curves, less harsh lines. It took her a moment to realize that Devon was still talking. "There's a network of passive perceptors inside the engine that will allow computer control as the first car did, along with all the other capabilities that Kitt used to have. The shell itself can transfer input if desired; outside temperature, air quality," he ran his fingertips over the front of the hood, "even human touch. All the usual facilities are available. The maximum speed is in excess of three hundred miles per hour, there's additional advanced braking, obviously. Lazer - this time with auto and manual aiming - smoke and oil dispensers, anti-missile fire, satellite communications and a modified suspension." He walked over to where she was standing. "Make it a bit easier on them when they land."
"They?" Bonnie could not think of what else to say at the moment.
"I believe that's how it will turn out. You know Kitt will ask for him the moment you throw the switch."

Bonnie nodded vaguely and moved passed him, over to the car that stood quiet and dead before her. She walked around to the front and crouched down, smiling as she ran her fingers over the dark scanner track. "Why, Devon?"
"Because I knew you wouldn't leave him forever. And he had to have somewhere to go. And I still believe, after all this time, that Kitt is innocent, and that Georgie's murderer is still out there."
Bonnie felt Devon's arm around her shoulders and she leaned into his affectionate embrace. "Thank you."
"I missed you, Bonnie. I missed you, and Michael, and Kitt.... I missed it all, and I want it back."
"You're not the only one."
For a moment, they stood together, wondering silently what was to come. Until Devon released her. "Well, what are you waiting for?"

It took five hours for Bonnie to install the CPU into the new car, and to wire in the perceptor net and the new sensor arrays. The dash looked very different; a proper steering wheel, a totally digitized data display, a played-down set of buttons to activate the myriad of functions old and new. But Devon had insisted that one thing stayed the same. Slightly to the right of the steering column, the familiar voice panel awaited life.

Finally, as the sun rose, Bonnie was ready to switch on the CPU and lock out control. She had modified the whole package so that the 'off-switch' was no longer available. From here on in, whatever happened, Kitt would be his own boss, in charge of his own life. And once he settled, she would hand him back charge of his own existence too. She took a deep breath as her fingers hovered over the keyboard of the laptop that was connected to the CPU. Once Kitt was activated and stable, she would terminate the connection. For the first few hours, the powerful laptop would act as support for Kitt as he brought his systems into line. She had at least done this before.

Taking another nervous breath she looked over to the door and wondered whether she should wait for Devon to return. Slowly, she turned back to the screen and typed four letters before hitting return. There was a moment's pause, and then her world exploded in joy as Kitt came towards her, scanner flashing madly in no particular pattern, saying her name over and over. She crouched down in front of the car, folding her arms across its nose and watching the scanner, tears sliding down her face.
"Kitt... oh, Kitt... ssh... it's okay."
"BonnieBonnieBonnieBonnieBonnie...."
"Come on now, slow down, align it all. I know you can do it." She stroked her palm back and forth across the front of the car, giving Kitt a constant to steady himself as he attempted to sort the flood of data. The whole car seemed to be bouncing like an excited puppy dog. To see the scanner, to hear his voice, it was like a dream; one Bonnie never wanted to be ripped from again. She gave Kitt the time he needed, she would have given him an eternity. But after a long, long while, everything started to fall into place for him.

"Bonnie?" The joy and fear were still there in his voice, and she stood, moving to sit in the car.
"Kitt...."
"Bonnie is that really you? Where am I...?"
"You're safe Kitt, and yes it is really me. Oh, God I have missed you so much...." She sniffed back the moisture in her nose. "You have internal and external vision, if you can find the functions."
There was a pause, and a tiny circle of tiny blue LEDs lit up on the dash, just to the left of centre. "Bonnie! I can see you!"
"Yes." She reached out and gently touched the voice panel.
"And I can feel you."
She nodded, trying to talk through her tears. "Oh Kitt...."
"Bonnie," he spoke gently, "please don't cry. I hate to see you upset."
"I know, but...."
"It's been a long time," he finished softly. "I've missed you too."
"I'm so sorry...."
"None of it was your fault. None of it."
"I turned my back on you. And I love you so much....."
"Bonnie, it's all right, you did what you had to do. I don't blame you for doing your job."

Devon smiled as he lead Paul proudly into the garage. He knew his colleague was going to be extremely angry when he found out what he had done, the design modifications he had ordered once Paul thought that part of the process was complete. But Devon had not felt this happy, or this alive in every long time.
"You have to go quietly," he told Paul as they walked across the well-lit floor. "It looks like Bonnie has just brought him back online."
"Bonnie?" Paul stopped in mid-stride. "Bonnie who? Devon, what are you talking about...." His eyes finally fell on the stop-lighted vehicle and work-area, and a smile drifted across his face. "Is that my car? You didn't tell me it was finished!" He looked at Devon excitedly. "Why didn't you tell me?"
"Because it wasn't finished, not until about... oh I'd say, five minutes ago?"

Paul's expression again turned to one of confusion and suspicion. "What's happening here?"
"Ssh...."
"Devon...." Despite the confusion, they approached Bonnie and Kitt quietly. Devon could see lines of data still scrolling up the laptop screen; Kitt was still using the external computer to sort his systems and programs; using it as support. He leaned into the car, and met Bonnie's radiant smile.
"Is everything okay?" he asked softly. Kitt heard the familiar voice and paused to angle the lens inside the car.
"Devon!"
"Hello, Kitt."
"Devon.... It's good to hear see you again."
"Kitt.... I am sorry."
"Is everyone going to say that to me?"
Devon smiled at Bonnie, watching her constant movement of her hand across the top of the dash. A constant that Kitt had thanked her for several times already. "Will he be okay?"
Bonnie nodded, but Kitt spoke up. "I can talk for myself."
"I'm sorry, Kitt. I didn't want to disturb you."
"You're not disturbing me." He hesitated. "It's been too quiet for too long." Devon nodded in understanding, and stood upright, turning to meet Paul's unfathomable gaze.
"Paul, I'd like you to meet two very special people. Bonnie, our chief technician, and Kitt. This is Paul Henson, he designed this new car."
Bonnie nodded up to the stranger, and smiled, only briefly thinking that he looked vaguely familiar.
Kitt greeted him verbally; and as he said hello, Bonnie was not the only one to note the slight inflection in Kitt's tone.

Bonnie stayed in the car as Devon started to explain to his new partner exactly what was going on. But even to her, Devon's new friend seemed distracted, even... expectant. She peered out of the window and saw that the command prompt on the laptop was flashing. Kitt had paused in sorting his systems; he too had become preoccupied, and the impression he and Paul were giving was that they knew each other. But questioning Kitt was not going to help at the moment. They were going to have to be very careful with Kitt for some time. He had never been an emotionless machine; there was no telling what the past two years had done to him. His programs would each have to be thoroughly tested to ensure the storage had not done any permanent damage. As far as the rest of Kitt's programming went, she would just have to listen, to watch, and to allow him to talk when the time came.

Finally Devon and Paul headed away from them, still involved in a heated discussion, and only a short time later, Kitt started back on his systems, aligning and testing one after the other. Bonnie got out of the car and began to run some small diagnostic programs, ensuring she did nothing that would disturb Kitt's own work. The system was in a very volatile state; it would be sometime before everything was aligned correctly, and Kitt would be at full strength.

Kitt broke the silence fifteen minutes or so later, and although Bonnie had been expecting the question, it still jabbed at something inside of her to hear him ask it. "Bonnie... where's Michael?"
She took a deep breath, looking up from the laptop on the work bench in front of her, and turning to look straight at Kitt. "I don't know. That's the truth."
"When did you last see him?"
"When you did, that afternoon. I haven't seen or spoken to him since."
Kitt thought about that. "He's been alone for two years?"
"I don't know."
"I want to find him." Bonnie nodded. "As soon as possible. The thought of him out there, alone, is very... upsetting."
Finally, she knew she would have to say it. "Kitt, he turned his back on everything we had here. He had them... deactivate you."
"I am aware of that, Bonnie."
She sighed, frustrated. "Then how can you still... worry about him, after all he's done?"
"Bonnie," there was deep understanding in Kitt's tone, "I realize how difficult these two years have been for you, and Devon. But we both know that it wasn't solely Michael's fault. He'd watched his wife killed, in cold blood. He was deeply upset."
Bonnie dropped gently onto the hood. "It was KARR, wasn't it?"
He hesitated for only a moment. "Yes."
"Why didn't you say something?"
"Because it was my fault too. Because I wasn't given the chance. Please don't ask me to explain. Not yet. It's not over. I just want Michael back, please."
Bonnie knew there was so much more to this. Kitt's words, 'it's not over', chilled her. But she let it drop for now. She could tell, by Kitt's voice, that it was upsetting him. Emotions to him were programs without parameters, functions that had developed within his systems, that he could not track down and had never wanted to. But too much emotion impeded on other functions. He would soon find that his new voice modulator was sensitive to that disturbance. "Give me today to get your systems sorted, and then tomorrow morning we'll go find him. I promise."
"Thank you."

They worked together through the day. Kitt ran through each program virtually, ensuring the correct responses were given in each case. In the afternoon they took the car out onto the test track and made sure every function worked. Advances in technology had allowed them to recreate the abilities of the Knight Two Thousand using a different technique. Kitt was now able to change the centre of gravity of the car, thus keeping it balanced when the ski mode lifted it onto two wheels. The turbo boost - or Launch as the button now read - had the same type of balancing. Kitt was able to keep the car level in the air, keep the take off and landing smooth and gentle. He was also able to alter the centre of gravity when the car was in the air, meaning that he would be able to evade anything coming toward him on a collision course.

The car was safer now, Kitt had more control over each and every function. But as he steered the car through the tests, completing one after the next with no mistakes, Kitt missed Michael more and more with each passing moment. He had never felt complete without his chosen partner, and that programming had not changed. When they finally returned to the garage late in the evening, Kitt driving and Bonnie walking beside him, they were both happy that everything was operating as it should. Bonnie was impressed with the engineering and technology that had gone into building the new car. It was way ahead of the work they had done fifteen years ago, and that had been ahead of its time.

Kitt had not said very much. She knew he desperately wanted to find Michael, that he was worried about him. Several times she had bitten down on her questions about Paul Henson. She was sure that if he was a danger to Devon, or to any of them, that Kitt would have said something by now. And she was sure that Kitt would not be wanting to bring Michael back into the fold if he thought for one moment that Paul was a threat to him. Still, something was definitely going on. And she wanted to know what.

"Kitt, I'm going to grab some sleep, and first thing we'll head out. I'll need an address."
"That's no problem."
"And if you're happy with everything, I'd like you to start monitoring police bands as far as you can go. We have to find KARR."
Kitt again fell silent, and Bonnie frowned. There was a lot more going on here then she had first imagined. Even after two years they could not yet lay the ghosts of the past to sleep.

**

Kitt waited, and Paul came. It was about three in the morning, and he was carrying a travel bag, wearing his long coat. He was leaving, exactly as Kitt had expected and wanted. "Hello Paul."
Paul stopped by the car and dropped the bag to the garage floor, pushing his hands into his deep coat pockets. "Kitt... you knew I'd do this."
"If you don't leave, I'll alert Devon in the morning."
Paul nodded. "Thanks, for not... saying anything, earlier." Kitt said nothing. "Devon thinks that I didn't know this car was being readied for you. I knew what he was up to. It was the reason I approached him." Kitt remained silent. "Despite what you may think, I wanted them to bring you back. I designed this car for you."
"Why did you do it?" Kitt's question was addressing the past, and Paul knew it. He bit into his bottom lip.
"You mean, Georgie?"
"No. I know why KARR killed her. I mean, me. Why did you betray me?"
Paul closed on the car, reaching out to open the driver's door. When the fingerprint scanner did not open the door for him, Paul nodded and moved over to lean against the hood. "When KARR first told me about you, he described you as the 'production line model'. When I first met you I realized just how much he had mislead me. You were warm, wonderful, and I need you to believe that I regret hurting you more than I regret anything I've ever done." Kitt did not respond. Paul placed his hand against the side of the car and started to stroke gently. "I designed the outboard sensor net that allows you to feel this." He spoke quietly, almost to himself, looking up only when he asked. "Do you like it?" He felt and heard the engine fire up, and the car reversed away from him.
"Don't touch me. Everyone walked away from me that afternoon. You and KARR destroyed everything I ever loved. Don't ask me to ever thank you, or to ever forgive you. I am very lucky that I have a chance to get everything back that I lost because of the two of you. I want Michael back. I never want to see you again, or I will make sure you pay for your part in what happened."
Paul picked up his bag, straightening slowly. "You don't mean that," he spoke softly. "I know you don't. I know I showed you something about yourself that no one had shown you before. You can't just forget me."
"I can try. Goodbye Paul." Paul sighed, nodded, and turned; finally walking away from the only thing he had thought about for two years.

**

Kitt had found Michael's address in seconds. Bonnie was not sure whether or not she was surprised that he was still in LA. As they had started out, Bonnie had let Kitt decide who drove. He had not released control of the car since she had reinitiated the system; she knew forcing him to do so would not help matters. And so he was driving as they headed for the address on the other side of town. She was unsure of what they would find; of who Michael Knight could possibly have become. Wilton had practically created him back in 1982. For fifteen years he had lived out the life built on Wilton's dream. They had all been like family to one another; in Michael's case the only family he had left. Living without that support, through difficult times, must surely change a person.

Kitt finally broke the silence. "Do you think there's a chance he'll come back to us?"
"I don't know."
"I don't want to see him if he still blames me."
She gripped the steering wheel even though she had no control over the car. "I know. I promise that I won't let him hurt you again."
"Be gentle with him, Bonnie. He's been through as much as the rest of us, maybe more." She frowned, not saying a word. "Bonnie.... Promise me."
"I don't know if I can."
"Please?"
She sighed, Kitt could be so... stubborn sometimes. "I'll try."
"Thank you."
Suddenly, she saw her opening. "If you do something for me."
"Like what?"
"Tell me about Paul Henson." There was a long silence that confirmed her suspicions. Paul had disappeared over night, and she was sure it was because of Kitt. "Yesterday wasn't the first time you two had met, was it?"
"Bonnie... I can't tell you yet. You have to let it go."
She aimed to keep her voice calm, but after so long, it was difficult to comprehend why Kitt would want to protect anyone involved with what had happened to them. "How can I? For two years I've done nothing but work and try to hide away from what I'd lost. I created you, I looked after you for fifteen years, believing that I would never have to say goodbye to you. I love you, Kitt. I missed you. I just want to see some justice for what we've all been through. Isn't that what you want?"
"Bonnie, it's not as simple as that. You have to trust me on this, I'm asking you to trust me, just for a short while."
She looked down at the visual panel. "I know more happened that afternoon than anyone thinks did. I know it was more complicated than Michael mistaking KARR for you."
"I can't explain any more. Not yet. I need to talk to Michael. I'm sorry Bonnie. There was much more going on that afternoon. I started all this in motion, I have to end it."

The rest of the journey was in silence, until they drew up outside the address Kitt had found. The small remote house was set back from the road, reached by a short set of steps. It was not exactly derelict, but it did not have far to go. For a time they sat outside together, Bonnie collecting herself for what she was about to face; memories of the past. Finally she reached for the door handle. "Will you be all right?"
"Just bring him back to us, Bonnie."

She rang the doorbell, the newspaper in hand, her heart in her mouth. She had no idea how she would feel, seeing him again. She felt as anxious as Kitt had said he did on the way here. She rang the bell a second time. With a quiet creak, the door opened inwards and Bonnie found herself looking into the dead eyes of her oldest and once dearest friend. Those eyes slowly widened. "Bonnie...?"
"Michael."
They stared at each other for a short time, both taking in the changes wrought in each other by time and grief. To Bonnie, Michael looked much older, more than the two years that had actually passed. The stubble on his chin told her he shaved now, only when necessary to stop a beard growing. He had put on some weight, and there was a darkness in his face. To Michael, Bonnie looked a little older, a little wiser. Gone was the open trust and affection she had found for him so long ago. There was hurt and suspicion still in her eyes.

Finally Michael stepped back. "Please, come in." She stepped through the door, not quite knowing what to expect. But the place was not a mess. In fact, it was sparsely decorated, with few belongings on display. The furniture in the front room at least was plain and practical. Nothing more. Her eyes fell on a framed photo on the mantelpiece and she walked over to pick it up. It was of the four of them; her, Michael, Devon and Kitt, taken what seemed like a million years ago. Tucked into the bottom corner of the frame was a smaller photo, of just Michael and Kitt together; Michael with his forehead against the scanner track, smiling gently. There were no other photographs around. His choice surprised her. Maybe there was some hope after all.

"Can I get you a drink?"
"No, thank you." Bonnie turned from the memories to look at him. Michael had moved across to the doorway into the kitchen, and was leaning against the door frame watching her. "How are you, Michael?"
He simply shrugged. "I don't know. Okay, I guess. What about you? You look great." There was sincerity, but very little humour in his voice.
"I've been better."
Finally the facade broke. "What are you doing here, Bonnie?"
"I think you know." She handed him the newspaper. "That photo, of the three youths, was taken four days ago in Phoenix. When I first saw it, I wasn't sure why it had caught my eye. And then I looked into the background." She watched as Michael peered at the picture. "Look at the first car in the queue at the traffic lights. I went to the offices of that paper, and saw the colour shot. It is a black Trans-Am, 1989 model. And the little light in the front of it is yellow. Better still, on the blown up copy, you can clearly that there's no one driving it." Michael's expression puzzled her, until she realized that he already worked it out. Tears formed in his eyes as he stared at the proof in his hands. "You know who that is, don't you."
Michael simply nodded. He knew. He had known, deep in his heart, for a very long time. "I know."

It had not been the surprised, or maybe even shocked reaction that Bonnie had been looking for. "So you accept that you were wrong?" Michael squeezed his eyes shut, crushing a tear against his lashes. "Why were you so quick to judge him guilty?"
He lifted his head, and looked straight at her. "Please, just leave me alone. You know I was wrong, I've known for a very long time. I think we're even."
Bonnie took a step toward him. "Even? We're not even close. Do you want to know what it was like to face him, and to tell him that he was going to be deactivated under your order? Do you know how hard it was, preparing him for the oblivion he was about to be dropped into?" She did nothing to stop the flow of tears. "Can you understand how frightened, and confused he was? You took from both of us, everything we ever loved. Yet the only thing I wanted to know, was why you hadn't had the faith to believe in him. After all that time.... After fifteen years!"

Michael raised his fingers to his face and tried in vain to wipe the tears from his eyes. "I...." He started to speak but nothing seemed adequate. How could he ever apologize for two years of her life? He simply shook his head. "I'm more sorry than you'll ever know." Bonnie remained still. "I would so like to say everything that I've spent two years thinking, but I don't think you want to hear it, and I can more than understand that. If I could turn back time, I would. But I can't. I can't make all this go away, and believe me, I wish I could. I can't make things better this time." He lowered his head. "I think it would be better if you left... because seeing you is reminding me... of him. And I really can't bear it."
Bonnie was horrified. She bit down on her sudden anger as she yelled at him. "Why?! Why do you still hate him so much? Even after all this time...."
But Michael was shaking his head. "I don't blame him. I miss him, Bonnie. Every minute of every day for the last two years. That night, I went down to the estate and watched them destroy... my car.... And it was like, I wasn't really there, it wasn't really happening. I felt like I was a spectator to my own life. Like it was some nightmare that I would wake up from. Even at Georgie's funeral I didn't feel as... dead as I had done that night. It was days before I realized that I wasn't ever going to wake up from the nightmare, because I'd chosen to be there."
"Why didn't you try to do something....?"
"Like what? Devon... refused to see me, wouldn't answer my calls. I went to the police and asked to see evidence from... that afternoon. They said the case was closed. It was my fault they'd convicted the wrong person but I couldn't seem to change anything. I know he didn't do it. I can't believe that there was ever a time that I thought he could have done it. But I'd started something that I couldn't seem to stop. I used to trust him with my life. And he trusted me with his. I betrayed him." Michael looked to Bonnie as if he just wanted to crumple in on himself and shut the rest of the world out forever. Maybe there used to be a time she would have left him to do just that. But that time was long passed. Something caught her eye and took her towards him.

As she approached him, she reached out to touch the gold pendant that hung around his neck. As she looked at it, she recognized the St Christopher that Kitt had given him so very long ago. The tiny inscription was still clear on the back. 'now and always, Kitt'.
Frightened that she may take from him all he had left of his partner, he put his hand up and took it from her fingers, holding it against him. "At least leave me with my memories."
Sighing, she looked into his deep, tear-filled eyes, and made a decision. "Come on." She turned and headed for the door. And when he did not follow she looked back. "Do you want the pain to end?"
"I deserve to feel like this."
"Maybe. But Kitt doesn't." He watched her walk out of the door, and confused, he started to follow her. As he reached the steps, he saw the car she had arrived in. He almost stopped breathing.

Bonnie had stopped at the base of the steps, and now she was watching him. Blinking in the sunlight, he descended the steps slowly, not taking his eyes from the car.

Seeing him after all this time, was more painful than Kitt could have believed possible. His emotions were in turmoil. A little part of him wanted to hate his former partner for what he had done. But as he saw him now, he realized that Michael too had been suffering. He was not living. As Kitt had been, Michael was merely existing. They were nothing without each other. Michael Knight had never before had to live without Kitt, and Kitt had known nothing of life without Michael. This man no longer had control of either of their lives. Yet despite everything, Kitt loved Michael still. He just wanted things to be as they had been, if that would ever be possible.

Kitt had been barely aware of the passing of two years. But Michael had had to live every second. And when he compared the current state of the two of them, he had to conclude that he himself looked spectacular and Michael looked absolutely terrible. So he did not back away. Instead he keyed the engine and moved towards his old friend slowly and cautiously. There was the definite chance that Michael still considered him to be his wife's murderer. He was not sure if he could bear to hear again those words of abuse directed at him.

Michael knew the moment he laid eyes on the car, what it was. Who it was. Here was the chance he had prayed for; the chance to apologize to someone he loved for destroying his life in one quick motion. He barely dared speak in case he broke the bubble. This morning he had woken to what he believed would be another day in hell. Now, here, the object of his dreams and his nightmares stood before him, waiting to hear the words Michael was so desperate to say. But there was so much. Where did he start? "Kitt?"
"...yes."
Michael squeezed his eyes shut as emotion overwhelmed him for a moment. Kitt had always hated to see Michael upset, it distressed him now as it always had, and yet... he needed to hear certain things before he would lay himself open to be hurt again.
"I know I could say sorry forever and it still not be adequate." Michael sat down hard on the step he had been standing on, three up from the ground. Kitt moved a little closer. "I knew Georgie for six weeks. And I thought I would miss her. But you and I were together for fifteen years. I never thought it possible to ache like this; to hurt so much that every waking minute is more miserable than the last." He hesitated, "I'm sorry, this is so difficult...." For a moment he dissolved again into sobs, but he forced himself together. "I thought... I'd never see you again. I didn't even have somewhere I could go to be close to you. I wasn't sure... what they'd done, whether they'd... whether I'd killed you.... I know you didn't do it, I know you would never hurt anyone. I've always known it and I should have listened to you but I didn't. I'm so sorry, Kitt, I am so sorry...."

As Michael fell forward, sobbing hard, Kitt moved towards him, taking the nose of the car to Michael's knees and catching him as he fell. Michael's fingers clutched at the warm body work beneath them as he cried. Kitt illuminated the scanner track in a familiar, gentle sweeping. "It's over now," he said quietly. "I'm here, and I missed you too."

For a very long time, Bonnie watched the reunion. Michael needed to cry himself out, to accept somewhere deep within himself that the nightmare was indeed over, and that they had the chance to rebuild their lives. After fourteen years, she believed that they had the basis to do so.

Michael finally lifted his head, his eyes swollen and blood-shot. "Oh, God... Kitt...." His voice was choked with sorrow. "How could I have ever thought...."
"Michael, you were upset. How could you have known?"
Finally two years of despair and self-loathing broke out of his soul, desperate to be exorcised. "I could have believed in you. Fifteen years of partnership and friendship and I can't tell the difference between you and that psychotic murdering freak."
"You'd just watched your wife murdered, you weren't thinking straight."
"And that's supposed to excuse me from turning my back on you?"
"Michael, listen to me." Kitt's tone held authority no one could have ignored. "KARR's still out there. He broke us once, it was exactly what he wanted. He's always believed that he should have been in my place, had what I had. He hated what we had at the Foundation. Michael, I once had a home. I want that back. KARR ripped us apart."
"No, Kitt, I ripped us apart. I took your home from you and had you dismantled.... God, Kitt, you can't possibly want to work with me.... You need to find someone else..."
Kitt backed up slightly. "Don't you dare walk away from me again. I once told you what it was like when I was deactivated. I always believed that you'd make sure I was looked after. But you tore me from everything I'd ever known. I know you were upset and confused and I know you've hurt over the last two years, we've all hurt. We've hurt enough. I don't want to lose you again. I'm not complete without you. Surely if I can forgive you, you can find enough courage to forgive yourself."

Swallowing hard, Michael slowly nodded. Kitt quietly opened the driver's door. "Get in, Michael. Please. Let me take care of you now." Hesitatingly, clumsily, Michael stumbled from the steps around the car, not once taking his hand from the body work. He almost fell into the open door, curling into the seat. Kitt gently closed the door, hugging Michael in the warm interior.

It took time for Michael to pull himself together. When he did eventually look across to the dash, he just had to reach out and touch it. It was different from the dash in the old car. It was more modern, simpler. But all the old, familiar buttons were labelled and to the right of the steering wheel was the wonderful sight of Kitt's voice panel. More than anything in the world, at that moment, Michael wanted to see that panel light in sync with Kitt's soothing tones.

"Kitt...?"
"Michael, are you feeling better?"
He smiled, and wiped his eyes with the back of his hand. "I so want to believe that this is really happening.... I've had this dream so often and I've always woken up."
"Not this time, Michael."
Michael sat up and curled first his fingers, and then his arm around the steering wheel. "How can I ever make it up to you? How can I ever expect you to trust me again."
"Just give me time. I promise everything will be all right." Michael nodded, bringing his forehead to rest against the cool leather of the wheel.

The passenger door opening startled him. He momentarily tightened his arm around the wheel, looking up. Bonnie settled herself into the seat next to him, and met his eyes. She too had been crying as the reunion had taken place. For some time they watched each other, Michael snuggled up against Kitt's dash, Bonnie sitting side-on to the door. "Somehow we have to get past this," she told him eventually.
He looked at her hopefully. "Just tell me how."

**

Bonnie lowered the hood gently, letting it settle onto the cables that needed to remain in place for a short while longer. She had removed any direct memory, of the last two years, from Kitt's systems. It would leave him aware of what had happened, but without the backlog of emptiness he would have otherwise hung onto; a backlog that would have kept him forever slightly disorientated. They could not allow that to remain, because of the probability that it would escalate into a larger problem. She did not know that before she had started work, Kitt had transferred several memories from those two years into a secondary storage. There were some things he did not want to lose. He had been silent as she had worked; although that was to be expected, as was his continued silence now. She had had to perform extensive work, and it would have been quite a shock to his systems. It was going to take some time for him to settle everything back into place and to rejoin them. Sort of like a healing sleep.

Dressed in baggy sweater and loose trousers, and still looking as though he might burst into tears at any moment, Michael shuffled from the mansion over to the Semi now parked in the drive. He was about to go inside, when Bonnie dropped down off the steps. "How is he?"
Bonnie felt she could drown in the sorrow in his big brown eyes. "He's... comfortable. It'll take a few hours for everything to filter through his systems. I've removed all memories of the passed two years. He still knows what happened, and where he's been, but he has no awareness of what he suffered, he knows only that it wasn't pleasant, and that it's not an experience he would like to repeat." There was no accusation in her tone, just fact.
In comparison, the guilt in Michael's voice was palpable. "Can I see him?"
"Of course, just be careful. It will take some time, just like it will take you."
He nodded, and for a moment, he thought she might hug him. He could have really done with her hugging him. But she simply smiled, and started off towards the house. Too soon.

Michael climbed the steps into the trailer and peered into the back, where Kitt was parked, monitor cables still snaking from under the hood. He did not want to say anything, he was not sure what state Kitt would be in after so much extensive work had been carried out. So instead he sat himself down on the edge of the couch, just in front of Kitt's prow, and reached a hesitant hand out to gently touch the hood. He just wanted Kitt to know that he was there.

As he sat quietly, he finally allowed himself to think back on their partnership, on good times, and on bad. He remembered back to a old enemy, more lethal than KARR, more terrifying. Goliath, built and driven by Wilton Knight's wayward son, Garth, had almost ended Kitt's life the first time they had met.

** flashback **

He tried to move his legs, but although the sand had given enough so that the car was not crushing him, he was trapped. "Kitt?" There was no answer. "Kitt? Talk to me." Still nothing. Michael dropped his head back to the sand, and closed his eyes. "It... was my fault. I over-matched us. I over-matched you. I'm sorry...."
"I... think we... zigged... when we... should have zagged, Michael." The ragged tone of Kitt's usually soft voice brought Michael back to consciousness very quickly.
"Kitt, are you okay?"
"No.... I think... I think I'm hurt." Michael tilted his head to look up into the cabin and at the dash.
"Can you run a diagnostic?" He knew what the answer would be, he just wanted to see the voice panel when Kitt spoke.
"No... I don't think... I can do... much... anymore."
Michael swallowed hard. Kitt was hurt. He was hurt badly. Only a couple of the LEDs were lighting when he spoke, and his voice modulator was being flooded with some sort of moisture. It made Kitt sound as if he was slowly drowning internally, his words punctuated by electronic 'swallows' of his own. He was going to die if Michael did not do something fast.
"Look, Kitt, I know you don't feel too good, but if I'm gonna help you, I need to move." He started to try in earnest to pull his legs out from under the car's weight, using his heels to dig down in the sand to give him some more space to work with.
"Michael... please be careful... you could be hurt too."
"I'm okay, Kitt. Is there anyway you can tip the car back onto its wheels."
"Where am I... now?"
"You're on your left hand side, Kitt. I may be trapped under you."
"Oh..." There was a note of utter despair in that word, and it scared Michael suddenly.
"Kitt, you just stay with me. I'll be able to... wiggle free. You just concentrate on trying to pull your systems together, okay?" Nothing. "Kitt?"
"Yes... Michael."

Kitt's voice was getting worse. Motivated by the realization that his friend had very little time left, Michael kicked and wiggled and struggled until finally he pulled his legs from under the car, leaving his shoes behind. For a moment, he lay on the hot sand, trying to get his breath back. He did not think anything was broken, although there was dried blood at the side of his mouth, he reasoned that he could have bitten his cheek or his tongue. Besides that, a few bruises, and being so very thirsty, he felt okay.

Using the car to help him balance, he stood wobbling on his feet, letting his head come to terms with the different viewpoint. He reached up and very carefully traced a hand over the topside of the car. There was a ferocious tear in the body-work, from end to end. He could see that the front side of the car was buckled completely. He prayed that the drive shaft and chassis, strengthened to take the impact of the turbo boost landings, were both still in one piece.

Somehow, he managed to open the hood. It was like opening a heavy, rusted door, and the sound was heart breaking. The pressure of impact with the front side of Goliath had been tremendous. The engine had been shunted across, and although it would probably be okay, the turbines looked like they had been damaged beyond repair.
"Mi...chael...." The pain in Kitt's voice shifted his attention to where the CPU casing was tucked in, behind the dash. He stared for a moment in horror as he saw what had happened to it. The engine's movement had taken the casing with it, dislocating it from many of the connectors through to the dash, but also with part of the perceptor network within the car itself. It had been crushed up against one side of the engine compartment, and most of the weight of the engine was now pushing on top of it. Kitt was being crushed.

"Right, Pal. We have to get the car back on to its wheels."
"Michael... I don't think I... can help."
"That's okay, Kitt. You just relax there. You let me do this." Michael ripped off his leather jacket and wadded it up, pushing down and around the casing as best he could, to try to absorb some of the force that was going to be asserted on it when, if, he managed to get the car to fall back.

"This may not be very pleasant, Kitt. I'm sorry, but I have to do this."
"I... understand."
"All right, Kitt. Let's do it." Michael knew how heavy the car was, but he hoped his determination would be enough to give him that extra edge he was going to need. He glanced at the scanner track and saw the web of cracks in the transparent casing. He took a long deep breath, linked his hands just inside the front of the engine compartment, and with a shout of hope, he pulled. It was easier than he had thought it would be. The sand gave way and Kitt started to move. Michael let go not a moment too soon, and took several shaky steps back as the car fell heavily back onto its wheels. There was an unearthly sound, metal crashing against metal, and then silence.

"Kitt, say something so I know you're still there. Come on, fight for me, Partner, you have to fight. You can't give up. Please, Kitt."
"I'm... here. That wasn't... pleasant."
Michael heard the effort that it had taken for Kitt to speak, and he prayed that he was doing the right thing. As the car came down, Michael could see the full extent of the damage. Sharp points of ripped metal lined the right hand side, the car had been torn open like a tin can. He dragged his attention away, and moved around to the other side of the engine. To his relief, the jolt of the landing had jarred the majority of the engine back to where it should have sat, and there was now nothing crushing the CPU casing. Retrieving his jacket, and spreading it out over a fairly flat expanse of engine, Michael lifted the battered casing.

He gazed at the complex electronics that sat before him. He had looked over Bonnie's shoulder enough times to have some basic knowledge, but he was not sure if he could do this without making things worse. He could not afford to make things worse.
"Michael..." Kitt's voice still emanated from the car, Michael had left all the surviving connections in tact.
"It's okay, Pal." He peered inside the casing until he saw what he hoped was the problem. The engine obviously wasn't as in tact as it had first appeared. There was a think liquid covering the base of one section of the casing. Under the liquid, Michael could make out several circuit boards. He had been right, Kitt was drowning.

Very gently, he lifted the opposite corner of the casing, wadding the jacket up underneath to keep the corner raised, ensuring the oily substance would run out without touching any other parts of the circuitry. Leaving behind a thin film, the liquid started to dribble slowly out of the torn casing and on to the side of the car. Michael's strength was quickly wearing out. "Kitt...?"
"Better... thank... you."
He definitely did sound a little better. Even once all the liquid visible was gone, Michael knew there would be more to flow from within the circuitry. The longer he could hold out, the better Kitt's chances of survival would be. But he had to sit down. He had to rest. Very carefully, he slipped his hands under his jacket and lifted Kitt into his arms, finally letting himself slide down the body of the car. With Kitt safely on his knee, the casing tipped gently, Michael dropped his head back against the car and closed his eyes.

It took four hours for Bonnie and Devon to find them. When the Semi drew up to the wreckage of the Knight Industries Two Thousand, Bonnie was out of the doors before it had stopped. She dropped to her knees beside Michael, raising her hand to his face. "Michael, can you hear me?" There was a moment's pause, before he groaned lightly, and struggled to open his eyes. When he saw her, he forced a smile.
"Bonnie...."
"You'll be all right now." She looked around the car, seeing the damage but looking for the connectors. "Kitt, how about you, can you hear me?"
"Yes... Bonnie.... Is Michael...?"
"He's fine, Kitt. You're both going to be fine." It took a moment for her to work out what Michael had been doing. She dipped her finger in the substance he had seemingly been draining from the casing. Turbine fuel. They were lucky they had not gone up in flames.

Michael looked down to the casing on his lap. Then he looked up at Bonnie. "He... was drowning.... I had to do something." Bonnie nodded. She could still see some of the fuel clinging to the circuit boards. The section of the casing that was being filled with the fuel, through a hole punched in the casing by another part of the engine, contained the speech modulator and the heart of the CPU's main ROM. If that compartment had flooded, they would never have been able to get Kitt back. Michael had saved his life. She told him so, and he just smiled, touching the casing gently.
"You'll be okay, Pal," he murmured, "you'll be okay.">>

It was a long time before Kitt felt secure enough to test the out board sensors, and only then did he realize that his driver was sitting with him. "Michael, I'm sorry, I didn't know you were there."
"Don't apologize Kitt, I just came to see how you were doing. I can leave...."
"Michael, please...." Quietly, the driver's door clicked open in invitation, and Michael accepted the offer, relieved. He let himself relax back into the soft leather seat, only vaguely aware of the new sensor banks that now cradled him.
Noting Michael's pallor, Kitt quickly scanned him. "Michael, you're suffering from physical exhaustion. I know you haven't been well but didn't you sleep last night?"
"God Kitt, how can I sleep after what I did to you..?"
Michael swore he heard a sign from his old partner, and then the seat tipped back very slowly to a gentle angle. "Please, relax now."
Hardly able to keep his eyes open, Michael curled himself into a ball, finding a comfortable, familiar position. He remembered when he used to do this a lot, sleep, while the gentle movement of the car on a usually long journey, rocked him into a peaceful sleep. He found himself longing for those days. "Why are you doing this for me?" he asked miserably. "You should make me sleep on the floor."
"Michael," came the quiet, soothing reply, "nothing's changed. As far as I'm concerned, you're still my driver, my programming is still configured to protecting your life above anything else. And I wouldn't change that for the world."

When Bonnie tried the door handle several hours later, Kitt kept the door firmly shut, protective as ever over his sleeping partner. "It's okay, Kitt, I just wanted to give him this blanket."
Kitt released the door, and watched as Bonnie lay the warm blanket over Michael's snuggled form. "He needed to sleep." Kitt told her quietly.
"I know, Kitt. How are you feeling?"
"Better, thank you. I only wish Michael could forget as easily as I can."
"I don't think any of us will ever forget. But with your help, maybe we can move on."
"I hope so, Bonnie."

** end flashback **

Michael woke with a warm feeling he had not experienced in a very long time. He lifted his head, smiling as he slowly became aware of where he was. "Morning Kitt."
A smile touched his lips when his friend responded happily. "Michael, you look much better." He stretched a few muscles, but nothing that would disturb the warmth under the blanket. "How long have I been out?"
"Just over 28 hours."
"28 hours!"
"I kept monitoring you. Your body needed to recover. I suggest you eat something soon."
Michael sat up slowly, and Kitt tilted the seat to follow his movement. "We need to talk."
"I know. Once Bonnie gives me the all-clear, and the doctor's checked you over and given you the all-clear."
"I don't need...."
But Kitt interrupted him. "You're seeing a doctor. You should have seen one when we got back here. You always were stubborn." Michael's heart leapt at the gentleness of Kitt's tone, but the last two years had often felt like an eternity, and he was still frightened that if he turned his back for a moment, he would lose it all again.
"I don't want to do anything that'll send you away again. I need you. I should have told you a long time ago how much I... loved you. But I was always too... scared... of us."
"There's nothing to be scared of. We can find an equilibrium between us. We worked together in perfect harmony once. We can find that again." Michael nodded. He wanted his old life back whatever the price, whatever it took. "And Michael, I am sorry about Georgie."
He smiled softly. "Thanks, Kitt." Reaching for the door handle, he added, "I won't be long."
"I'll be here."

As Michael left the Semi, Bonnie was walking towards it. She smiled at him. "Better?"
"Much. Thanks for the blanket."
"I knew Kitt could keep you warm, but sometimes you need something to... hold on to." He nodded, understanding perfectly. "Now you're up, the doctor wants to see you." Gently she squeezed his arm. "You're both gonna be fine."
"We just need to spend some time together."
"Definitely. But for now, you're gonna have to spend time with him around the estate. He needs to settle with the new body. I'd like to keep him... under observation, just for a few days."
Michael smiled. "As protective as ever."
"Can you blame me?"
He shook his head. "However long it takes, Bonnie. And then we'll find KARR. And this time I'm going to personally make sure every component is removed and destroyed."

**

Devon looked up from the newspaper as Michael walked through the door. "Michael... what did the doctor say?"
"That I need to eat properly, and I need to regulate my sleeping pattern. Apart from that, I'm okay."
"And Kitt?"
"He's all right. Bonnie wants to keep an eye on him for a few days." He finally met Devon's gaze, finding nothing but concern there. "Is it okay if I stay here with him?"
Devon put down his paper and stood, facing his old colleague. "I would like it if you moved back in, Michael. Your old suite is still yours, as Bonnie's is still hers." He held up his hand, realizing that this was a big step for them all. "Please don't decide yet if you don't feel that you can. But at least for these few days, take your old rooms. You can be comfortable, get some good nights' sleep, and still be close to Kitt."
Michael smiled appreciatively. "I don't know quite what to say. Thank you. After what I did...."
"It's in the past, dear boy. We have a lot to think about here and now."

Michael accepted Devon's invitation to take a seat for a while, at least until Bonnie was finished with Kitt. He looked around him, at the photographs that still adorned the walls. He tried to think of something else. "Bonnie told me that you had a new partner?"
Devon frowned. "'Had' seems to be the operative word. Paul Henson. He designed the new body for the car, and many of the new sensors. He was very excited about the project."
"What happened?"
"I'm honestly not sure. I don't think he was entirely happy with my altering the design of the car and allowing Bonnie to install Kitt. He never wanted AI involved."
Michael tilted his head in confusion. "So why did he design the AI perceptor net?"
"..." Devon gazed at his old friend as if Michael had just developed a second head. "I don't know."
"What happened?"
"He's gone. He had a suite upstairs. Yesterday morning one of the maids found it cleared. He's taken everything he had."
"Strange."
"Yes. I really hadn't thought that it would upset him that much."

**

The small fire burnt close to Michael, illuminating most of the large clearing up to the circle of trees that rose above them. Michael sat cross-legged on the ground, gazing into the flame. He was lost in bad memories, unable to prevent them returning sometimes to haunt him. A gentle familiar sound lifted him and he looked up. Kitt had pulled right up to him, the nose of the car a mere yard from him. Michael smiled, watching the firelight play on the beautiful body. Slowly he raised his hand, and the car moved until the warm prow was pressed softly against Michael's palm. Perfect precision. "You can feel that, Kitt?" He asked, awe mixing with pleasure in his voice.
"Yes," there was a smile in his voice. "I can feel you touching me. This new car really is fantastic."

Michael smiled, blinking tears from his eyes. "Never leave me again, Kitt. Promise me."
"I will never leave you." Kitt's voice was soft. "I would never have left you."
"I know. I never imagined that I could hurt so much. I tried, when I finally realized what I'd done, to stop the cascade. But it was too late. Bonnie had gone. And Devon wouldn't talk to me. The only one who would even acknowledge me was Jennifer, and you were never her favourite person."
There was a pause, and then a soft, "Michael, I have to tell you something."
He frowned. This sounded like a confession. "Okay."
"You're going to get angry."
Michael shook his head seriously. "Kitt, I promise you, I will never, ever get angry with you again." He looked back into the fire as memories assaulted him. "I can still see you trapped under the Semi, begging me to listen." His voice became a breath. "So scared.... All because of me."

Kitt felt his friend's sadness deep inside. He wished he could do something to ease Michael's pain and guilt. He wished Michael could forget, as easily as he had been able to, all the suffering of the two years they had spent apart. Bonnie had said that just being there was all Kitt could do. Be there so that Michael could start to believe that this was all real. But Kitt wanted to do more. The true enemy was still out there. There was so much more that had to come out concerning what had happened. How could they go on from this point if Michael was being eaten alive by the guilt he held onto. He tried to think of something that would help....

"Michael," he said quietly, "do you remember, a long time ago, we were down in Mexico city and you were injected with a lethal dose of Anoris Cyniade? We had to drive back to LA, beat the bad guys back to retrieve the antidote?" Michael nodded. "You asked me several times on that journey how long you had left. And I told you that you couldn't ask me that. I couldn't scan you. I couldn't keep a check on your vital signs and watch you slip away from me. I had no idea how long you could have survived. I knew that you were hanging on because you were too stubborn to give up. I was so scared that you would die as I was driving. I know I came close to losing you so many times, so many close calls. But that night that I drove and told you every joke I could find just to try to keep you alive and awake. The thought of you dying... inside the car was as awful as the thought of you dying outside. If you can think about that, and understand that when I think about it, I still consider it to be the worst night of my life, then maybe we can start to move on from here."

Michael wiped his eyes and leaned forward, dropping his forehead against the body work of the car. "You're very eloquent."
"Do you understand?"
"Yeah, Kitt." He sighed. "And I just want you to know, that you mean everything to me too." He curled his fingers over the prow. "What did you have tell me?"
"I want to tell you what happened that afternoon."
Michael took a deep breath. "Kitt... for the time that I knew Georgie, I treated you like shit. I have thought about that so much over the last two years. I don't know why I did that to you."
"You want me to take a guess?"
Kitt's offer surprised Michael. He lifted his head. "If you want."
"We were together fifteen years. Over those years, there was just us. Of course there were women, lots of them, even one or two interested in me, but no one special. So for fifteen years, you and I practically lived together. I would have described our relationship, at several points over those years, as extremely intense. When you met Georgie she gave you a chance to break out of that."
Michael gazed over the hood at the windshield, slightly awed by his friend's highly accurate assessment the situation. "But Kitt, I shouldn't have felt the need to break away from you."
"Maybe. Even though it... hurts to realize it, I do understand why you felt you had to, even if it wasn't a conscious decision. A relationship so intense... with a machine.... It's not natural, is it?"
Michael shook his head in denial. "That's not true. I had a long time to comes to terms with your existence, with what you are. I wouldn't have consciously pulled away from you because you're... a machine. It's been a very long time since I saw you in those terms anyway."
"I'm not saying that it was a conscious decision." A sad note entered his voice. "We were very close."
Michael sighed. He had done it, that was what mattered. Now he had a chance to make up for the hurt he had caused. "I understand why you didn't want to be at the wedding. I don't blame you. I understand why you weren't there."
"No, you don't. There's more to it. A lot more."

Michael sat back, rubbing some life back into his legs. "You don't have to explain."
"I want to, I want you to know where your partner was when your wife was murdered. Because I should have been there for you. And for Georgie. It was my fault, Michael."
"Don't say that. I know it's not true."
"Just listen to me, please? After you met Georgie, I started going for drives at night. I felt that I'd lost you, and I was starting to feel like I would never get you back. One night I went down to the coast. As I watched the waves, I realized that I wasn't alone. There were signals coming into our private channel. Signals only KARR could have been sending." Michael paled. "Before I knew it, he was sitting beside me. For a while we just sat there, like everything before just hadn't happened. I asked him what had happened, how it was possible for him to be there, and he told me that he'd been rescued, rebuilt by someone who actually cared about him."
"Wait, Kitt." Michael was shaking his head. "Are you telling me that KARR...." He waved his hands about in the air, "...and you never said a word?"
"Please, Michael. Just listen. He told me that he'd had a limiting program installed, to stop him killing or hurting anyone. He asked me to scan him so that I would believe him, and he dropped all his defences so that I could. There was a functioning delimiter, a dominant program to preserve human life. He told me that he wanted to come home, but that he was scared that Devon would have him deactivated again. I reassured him that I wouldn't let that happen, but he wasn't convinced.
"He drove away eventually, and I just let him go. I checked police bands for a few days but there was nothing reported that suggested KARR was on one of his usual rampages. And a couple of nights later I went back to the coast and he was waiting for me. This time, he had Paul Henson with him." Michael's eyes widened when he heard the name.
"I'm sorry, Kitt, but do you mean Paul Henson... as in Devon's friend?"
"Yes."
"So that's why he cleared out. He hadn't counted on Bonnie and Devon reactivating you."
"No, Michael. He had always meant this car for me. He cleared out because he knew it was my price for not saying anything to Devon." His voice quieted, and he added, almost to himself, "He always knew it would be the price." Michael stared at his friend, confusion all over his face. "Please, let me finish. The first night I met Paul, he told me about his anger at KARR's mistreatment. That the technicians at the Knight Industries labs could have changed his programming, but instead they chose to keep him prisoner, locked in a box, aware but unable to speak, or hear, or feel, or move. And Paul... showed me some... affection. I told him about you and Georgie - I'm sorry Michael, I just wanted to talk."
Michael reached across the short distance and touched Kitt, gently stroking the prow of the hood. "KARR asked me to talk to you, about him returning to the Foundation. I tried to talk to you, but after a couple of attempts, I started to feel that I didn't want you to know about KARR, that you might try to stop him... existing. I looked at Paul and KARR and I saw some of what you and I had, and Paul gave me back some of what I'd lost. I met up with them seven times over three weeks, the final time on the eve of your wedding. I told KARR that I didn't want to go, and Paul suggested I spend the day at their garage in Phoenix. So I went. As soon as I was within scanning distance I checked the address they'd given me. I found electronic equipment and KARR's signature. When I got there, it was a garage, it was KARR's garage, all the right equipment was there and I could sense... Paul had been there. But neither were there then. I headed back as fast as I could, I tried to contact you but..."
"...I had the comlink switched off." Michael finished softly.
"Yes. By the time I got back it was over. Everything was over."

They sat for a long time in silence. Finally, Kitt began to worry. "Please, Michael, say something."
"It wasn't your fault." He stared at Kitt for a moment. "How close did you and Paul get?"
Kitt was only slightly surprised, but selfishly pleased that Michael had asked. "Not as close as you and I. Not nearly."
"But he designed this car for you, as you said. He designed the new sensor nets." Michael paused, jealousy hitting him harder than he would ever have thought it would have in this situation. "He must have... felt a lot... for you." Kitt did not say anything for a short time. But he knew where this conversation needed to go. Paul Henson was for another time.
"I'm sorry I told him about you and Georgie. I didn't know what KARR would do. I should have thought it through."

Michael shook his head, his attention turned. "It wasn't your fault, Kitt. We all should have believed in each other. I shouldn't have treated you the way I did. KARR won. Like you said, he broke us up, took us away from each other. I won't let him do that again. We'll find him, Kitt. Somehow."
There was a brief silence, and then, "There's more." Michael looked up, trying to keep the surprise from his expression, aware now of Kitt's increased awareness of him. "At some point during my deactivation, KARR contacted me. He found his way into my CPU, I guess I let him in." Michael's eyes widened. "He feed me sensations until Bonnie reactivated me."
"Kitt.... Why?"
"Michael, when you're lost and alone in the dark, you go towards any light, no matter what it turns out to be; sunshine or fire. KARR was the first familiar voice I had heard in so long, I hadn't felt anything until he gave me a link to the outside world. I had no idea when or if anyone would return for me. What choice did I have?"
"But KARR... after everything that had happened.... You knew you couldn't trust him."
"I once thought I could trust you," Kitt's tone was infinitely gentle, but the moment the words were out he could sense Michael's sorrow. "...I'm sorry, that was..."
"No, Kitt, it's okay. But after what KARR did... you knew what he'd done."
"I know. But what else was there for me? I didn't know if I was going to be in that state forever. KARR was my only chance."
Again Michael felt the sharp edge of guilt cut at him. He moved his hand until it was just above the scanner, gently touching the track with his thumb. "He could have killed you." He whispered.
There was a pause. And almost as quietly, Kitt answered him. "I know. I really didn't care."
Michael continued the gentle stroking, finding himself with a much-missed feeling of closeness to his partner. He wondered if it was just wishful thinking. "I thought Bonnie had removed any memory of what you experienced."
"I backed a lot up into storage. I know why she had to remove what she did, and I agreed to that. But there were some things I didn't want to lose.
"Does she know?"
"No. You won't...?"
"I won't tell her. I know it's going to be difficult for you to ever trust me again, but I'd like to try to regain your trust. If you'll let me."
Kitt almost sighed. "What can I do to convince you that nothing's changed between us?" Michael shook his head, suddenly realizing that he was crying. Kitt felt his tears fall slowly on to the body of the car. "Michael...."
"I'm sorry.... I'm finding it difficult...."
Kitt thought for a moment, and then opened the driver's door. "Come with me somewhere. Please."
Michael sat back and slowly clambered to his feet. As he sat inside the car, letting Kitt close the door and start the engine, he asked, "Where we going?"
"Somewhere that I hope will finally drive home what I'm trying to say to you."

The car had been in motion for half an hour before Michael realized where they were headed. Five minutes later Kitt drew the car to a halt. They were out in the Nevada desert, in a specific place. Away from the road; the stars above them, sand dunes to the left and right. "Do you know where we are?"
Michael nodded. "Yes."
"Do you remember the last time we were here?"
"Yes."

** flashback **

Michael pulled onto the side of the road, breathing a sigh of relief. Out in the dunes the white shell of the unfinished Trans-Am looked almost translucent. That afternoon had been the second 'heated discussion' in so many days; this whole nightmare had been stressful on everyone involved, but he had seen the grief in Bonnie's eyes when they had hauled the car out of the pit.

Yesterday he had only wanted to hear Kitt talk to him again, had only wanted to hear his old partner, because he had been so unsure if he would never hear him again. But he had not thought through the consequences, had not really thought that Kitt could be that frightened now. He should have known when his friend had panicked, believing Bonnie had left him. He was clinging to Bonnie, to the fact that only she could help him recover after his ordeal. But Michael had ignored all that, and paid the price, of Kitt's fear, and of Bonnie's fury; the result of her love for Kitt, for her baby.

And then this afternoon, at the test track, he had frightened Kitt again. He just wanted his partner back, he had just wanted to show some belief in him. But he had yelled at Kitt, he had let the scientists' words scare him. He did not want to lose his partner, and it had upset him to think that they would consider splitting them up, turning Kitt into a 'recreational vehicle'. So he had told Kitt in no uncertain terms that they were going fix the problems and take on the track together. And Kitt had taken off.

Finally he had tracked his partner out to here. He approached quietly, not wanting to do any more damage. "Kitt, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to upset you."
Kitt waited until Michael had opened the driver's side door. "I'm sorry, Michael. I failed you."
"No, Pal." Michael sat down and swung his legs under the partially completed dash. "You didn't fail me, you didn't fail any of us. I shouldn't have yelled at you, after everything you've been through. But I miss you. I just wanted to... instil some belief in you."
"Dr Vreeman wants to reassign me, doesn't he?"
"Yeah. But I'm not going to let them. You're mine, Kitt. And I will fight for you every step of the way. They are not taking you away from me."
"I don't know if I can go back out, Michael. It was... painful."
"Vreeman said that... you'd been hurt, and that it was understandable that you would try to prevent yourself from being hurt again." He touched the dash. "They really care for you. They don't want to see you hurt. And I never, ever want to go through this again."
"I don't know how to get over this."
Michael smiled gently. "Do you trust me?"
"Yes. With my life."
"Good. Because I want you to trust me to get you through this. I will get you through this. Like you got me through the first few weeks after I was shot. You were there for me, I'm here for you."

There was a quite pause. "I'm sorry I left... Bonnie must be so worried."
"I phoned her when I found you. I promised her I would bring you home."
"I'm ready when you are."
Michael looked around him, remembering what he had seen just after they had pulled the car from the pit. "When we first got you back into the Semi, Bonnie told me... that you'd gone. I thought for a minute that I'd never... speak to you again, never hear your voice again." He dropped the volume of his voice to a low murmur. "I didn't want to leave you in that pit, you understand that, don't you? There was nothing I could do.... And I've been feeling guilty about leaving you helpless, calling out for me.... I know yesterday I was expecting too much from you, too soon. And I'm sorry about that too."
"Are you going to keep apologizing?" There was a smile in that voice, and Michael smiled in response.
"Until I know you believe me. You needed me yesterday, like you needed me that night. And I wasn't there for you. I should have sat with you, talked to you, reassured you; instead I just walked away."
"You came back. And you're here now."

Michael patted the dash. "Kitt.... I know you have... other things on your mind right now, but I need to ask you something."
"Anything."
"I know... you have... feelings. I know you're frightened now even if you won't admit it. And once you told me that you were extremely fond of... Michael Knight...."
Kitt broke in, knowing where this was going and wanting to allay at least the fears of one of them. "I'm yours, Michael. Now, and always."

** end flashback **

"Now and always, Michael. I meant it then, and I still mean it now. And I believe that if you didn't still believe in me, you wouldn't be wearing my gift to you."
Instinctively, Michael touched his fingers to his St. Christopher pendent. "I just couldn't find my faith in you when you needed it most."
"Stop blaming yourself. It was partly my fault anyway. If hadn't told them about Georgie...."
"And if I hadn't started to ignore you, to find any excuse not to spend time alone with you, if I could have faced hearing the lonely undertones in your voice that developed because of me...."
"Michael.... I wish I could reach out and hold you and make all the pain go away. Like you did for me after Acid John's pit, after Goliath, after the missile... We need to rediscover our trust in each other. But I know you won't do that if you're worrying about saying something or doing something that would upset me, or make me turn away from you. I need you to know that's not going to happen. We may have the odd argument over the next few weeks, and you may end up walking in one direction and me driving away in the other. But I promise you that within the hour, I'll return, and so will you."
Michael dropped his forehead against the steering wheel. "Now and always, Kitt. That's a promise."

**

Over the next few days, there were arguments. But not between Michael and Kitt. The two talked constantly, never apart for more than a few minutes, they made up quickly for the time they had lost and the pain they had suffered. Michael slept in the car each night, waking to Kitt's warmth in the mornings, as he had dreamt of doing for so long.

Bonnie was happy just to sit back and let them get to know each other once again. She was indescribably glad to be back where she belonged. She worked in the Semi, and started to get back into the swing of things. Slowly, she began to prepare for when her life returned to normal.

Michael had taken to spending long evenings out in the Nevada desert with Kitt. Being out here reminded him of the freedom he had been granted, freedom from his self-inflicted prison of guilt and pain. He had always loved to spend hours and hours simply sitting, looking up at the stars and being close to his partner. This night he sat with his legs up across the passenger seat, leaned back into the warm leather. He had quickly come to easy terms with the increased sensitivity Kitt had of him; the sensors in the finely grained leather, the lens in the dash and the perceptors that were scattered throughout the cabin. To Michael, the advanced technology simply made him feel that Kitt was less of a machine than he had ever been. He enjoyed the knowledge that when he patted the dash, Kitt could not only feel the vibration of the action, but the warmth and caress of his skin.

These thoughts, this night, lead him to remember what Kitt had said about Henson. For years before Georgie had entered his life, there had been... a connection between he and Kitt. A bond so strong each had believed that it could never be broken. It was only to be expected really. They used to spend weeks together, with only each other as company. Together they witnessed terrible things, shared grief and loss; Kitt was his shoulder when he needed to cry, his confidant when he needed to talk. Together they shared jokes, celebrated happy events, saved lives, helped people. Together they were invincible. That was a very intoxicating feeling. To share something that strong, that special, with someone else, was something Michael knew did not happen in every lifetime. He tried not to take Kitt for granted.

He knew it was his fault that Paul had found an opening. He knew that if he had not have wrapped himself so intensely and so quickly in Georgie, that Kitt would have gotten used to there being someone else in their lives. It would have eventually worked. Their lives. That was where Michael knew he had gone wrong. He had been so used to thinking of Kitt as another person, that he had forgotten that he also had to regard Kitt as a ward. Accepting Kitt as his own had been a responsibility that Michael had willingly taken on, as he had taken responsibility for the whole of the Knight 2000 project. He had turned his back on Kitt so quickly, so suddenly and easily, that thinking back on it, his own actions scared him. He had abandoned Kitt. He had given KARR and Paul a chance, and a reason.

"Kitt?"
"Yes?"
"Will you ever tell Devon who Paul was, and what he did?"
"No."
"Why?" Kitt did not answer him. Michael was almost glad, unsure whether or not he wanted to know. A moment later, he knew he had to. "Please, Kitt."
"Paul wasn't driving KARR that afternoon, he wasn't even inside the vehicle. KARR acted on his own, it was his idea, his plan, not Paul's. I believe that Paul has been punished for his part."
"How?"
"I don't think he counted on my wanting to find you. I think he thought..."
"That you would go with him?"
"I think so."

Michael thought for a while. "You must have really made an impression on him. He cared for you a great deal if he put so much effort into designing the car and developing the outboard sensor net. Did he come to you, before he left?"
"Yes."
Michael reached his hand over, pulling back just before his fingers touched the voice panel. "Why didn't you go with him?"
"I would never have gone with him. I have a family, I have people I... love, very much. I wanted to be with them. I wanted to be with you."
Michael sighed gently, and reached that final inch to touch the smooth voice panel. For a long time they both sat quietly, the physical connection enough to allow the continuing rebuild of their friendship and their partnership. For the last two years Michael had thought about precious little else but being back with Kitt; hearing the affection that had always been clear in his voice, feeling the warmth and safety he had always gotten from being close to his partner. Now he had that back, he revelled in it as much, and as often as he could. Never would he let them be separated again.

There were arguments. Most of them were between Devon and Jennifer Knight. News spread, and it was not long before the Board found out that Kitt had been reactivated and installed in the first car of the new range. Jennifer was furious. She stormed into Devon's office early, the morning after the news had broken.

"Devon, I don't know what you think you are doing, but you will order the deactivation of that car right now."
Devon looked up from his morning paper, and reached for his tea cup. "Good morning, Jennifer. Tea?"
"No, I don't want tea! I want to know why the Knight Two Thousand computer has been reactivated without the Board's agreement or even knowledge!"
"Please, Jennifer, if you'd just sit down, I'll explain."
Wilton Knight's daughter sat sullenly. She was the type of person who liked to think that their opinions and vote actually had some bearing on what happened around them, even if it did not. She neither liked, nor disliked Michael. But she had been happy to help him move out of her life. Her father had left her some money, and a seat on the Board. But FLAG had gotten the mansion, and Devon and Michael had gotten the rest of the money. She had been happy enough, money was not as important to her as power, and she was more than pleased with the seat on the Board.

But she utterly despised Kitt. She would never talk to him directly, would always ask questions of others, even if they would then have to ask Kitt for the answer. To Jennifer, Kitt was an expense they did not need, a waste of money and effort. He was stubborn, moody and not at all like she believed a computer should be. But in real life, her vote did not count for much. The majority of the Board were - or at least, had been - all in favour of the Knight 2000 project, because of the fantastic success it enjoyed, and the backup it gave to FLAG's legal work. It was good to fight on the side of the law, but now and again, it was great to be able to hang the bad guys by their testicles and leave them out to dry. Kitt and Michael made that part possible.

So Kitt had been safe from her, protected by Michael, by the technical team who had designed and built him, by the people who looked after and maintained him, and finally by FLAG itself. The best Jennifer could ever find to do was kick a tyre now and again. When Michael had accused Kitt of murdering his wife, Jennifer had pushed the Board into making a hasty decision and deactivating Kitt. Now, it seemed, the authority she had believed she possessed over that decision, had been stepped on. She was not happy.

Devon knew all this. He could not wipe the smile off his face, although he tried to make sure it was not mocking. He folded the newspaper and placed it onto the desk, sipping at his tea. "Are you sure you won't have some tea?"
"Devon! Will you please tell me, on whose authority the Knight 2000 computer was brought back on line."
"It's a strange thing, Jennifer. There was a break in. The next thing we knew, the computer had been installed into the first of the Three Thousand series. All we had to do was switch Kitt back on, so we did."
"I want him deactivated."
Devon sat back, shaking his head. "I'm sorry. Kitt stays."
Jennifer tried a different track. "But what's the point, Devon? Without a driver, he's just a computer in a car."
"But we have a driver, Jennifer. We've always had a driver."
Jennifer smiled. "Michael won't come back. Kitt murdered his wife! That computer is a danger, a threat to all of us."
The humour left Devon's voice and eyes. "Kitt wouldn't hurt anyone, we both know it. Michael came back because he knows it too. You will leave both Kitt, and Michael, alone. This has gone way beyond a Board decision now. The Knight 2000 project was your father's dying wish. Now you may think it's time to let go, but you may find some members of the Board do not share your views." He smiled politely. "Good day, Jennifer."

**

A week after Bonnie had reunited them, Devon handed Michael and Kitt the list of possible KARR sightings he had spent the time compiling. The majority of the early sightings were around Salt Lake City, moving on to Cheyenne, and most recently into the Denver area. Moving East. Bonnie was giving Kitt one final systems check when Michael wandered into the Semi early Monday morning.

"Good morning, people." There was a bounce in Michael's voice that Bonnie had not heard for over two years. Bonnie looked up from out of Kitt's hood. She smiled in response to Michael's cheer.
"Good morning."
Michael moved up to the driver's side and leant into the open window. "Hi, Michael." He gently patted the leather just inside the door before looking around to where Bonnie was just finishing up.
"Is he ready?"
"He's in perfect health." She stood, switching off the monitors and removing the cables from within the engine. "I hope the same can be said for you?"
"I've had the all-clear from Doctor Alpert, thank you very much." He smiled at her. "We'll both be careful."
"I should hope so." She finally dropped the hood. "You can go. But I want to meet you tomorrow night on the way into Cheyenne with the Semi, just to check he's stable."
"That's not a problem." Michael opened the door and slipped into the driver's seat. He keyed the engine and turned to watch the Semi's ramp lower. He had not done this in over two years, he hoped he could still remember how to. It was not as easy as it often looked.

It felt amazing to be on the road again with his partner. Kitt's turbine engine hummed a perfect tune as the car ate the highway up hungrily. For so long he had believed that he would never feel like this again. He watched the expression on Michael's face, knowing it to be one of pleasure. "Michael?"
"Yeah, Kitt?"
"It's good to be back."
"It certainly is. It's fantastic." He gazed down at the dash. "Partner, there's something I need to know. Are you okay with chasing down KARR, after everything that's happened between you two?"
There was a note of anger in Kitt's voice when he replied. "Are you saying that you can't trust me?"
"No. No, Kitt, nothing like that. I'm asking you if you're all right with this. I know he's... helped you, when I wasn't there for you. He's been your... brother recently more than ever before. I know he means something to you now."
Kitt responded instantly. "He killed Georgie. No matter what you might think I thought of her, you loved her. KARR took her life. That makes him a murderer. How could I ever... feel anything but hatred and repulsion for someone like that?"
"But you allowed him into your CPU..."
"I told you before, it was that or suffer the darkness alone. I'll be here for you when we go up against KARR. Don't worry about that."
Michael nodded, not really wanting to push any further. He had no right to question Kitt's actions or feelings now. But their lives may end up depending on Kitt's reactions at a critical moment. "And if Paul went back to him? If he's with him?"
Kitt was silent for a moment, and Michael started to wander if Paul had meant as much to Kitt as his partner had so obviously meant to Paul. But Kitt's answer finally put his worries to rest. "There's a line, Michael. It divides us from the people we go after. They chose to walk on that side of it, we chose to walk on this side. When I first met Paul, I imagined he was standing on the same side of the line that we were. I still think that he may be on the same side. But if he does chose to return to KARR, after what he knows KARR did, he chooses, at the same time, to stand on KARR's side of the line." He paused, and his voice softened. "Was that the question you were actually asking, or did you want me to assure you that no one could ever replace you in my life? Because no one could. I thought I'd made that clear." He ended with a smile-filled note.
Michael grinned. "I'm sorry, Kitt. You have. I guess... I'm nervous. I haven't done this for a while."
"It'll be like riding a bicycle," Kitt reassured him, "once you learn, you never forget."
Michael chuckled. "Like you'd know!"

**

As their rendezvous time with Bonnie approached, they were nowhere near locating KARR's trail, never mind the vehicle itself. All the leads over the passed two days had lead to a dead-end. Still, Michael could not describe himself as down, or disheartened. He had Kitt scanning the police bands as they went state-to-state. But there were reports of anything that KARR might have been involved with. Much as he wanted KARR in little tiny pieces, he was where he had dreamed of being for too long.

As they drove together, chased up leads, broke into computer records, they both felt the old comradeship returning. Over fifteen years, Michael and Kitt had travelled together; worked together, holidayed together, laughed and cried together. Now, they were starting to feel that again. Overnight they travelled from Salt Lake City to Cheyenne. Kitt drove to let Michael get some sleep, but Michael was happy just to look up at the stars, and to talk to his partner. Kitt had asked him what he had done in the two years that they had been apart. At the start, Michael had been unwilling to tell Kitt how he had lived while his partner was sitting deactivated in a box in a dusty lab.

But Kitt had wanted to hear, he wanted to know. It was late at night, the stars were out, and the car was sitting just off the side of the deserted highway. The scenery was magnificent around here. As Michael had finished talking about Europe, Kitt had pulled over. "You describe it so well."
"I wish you had been there. Nothing was the same without you to share everything with. For the first time in fifteen years, I was alone. I missed you." He finished lamely, unable to put into words just how much he had missed his partner. There was very little that they had not shared over the years.
"I know." There was a long pause, before Kitt attempted to change the subject. "You asked me yesterday if I was comfortable with the idea of going after KARR. What about you? Are you going to be able to think straight when you face Georgie's murderer?"
Michael thought about that. KARR had hurt and killed so many people during his existence, and they all mattered; they all deserved justice. But everything KARR did served his one dominant program. So could he be blamed for his actions? It was the same for Kitt. His actions, albeit only up to a point, were dictated by his dominant program to protect human life, specifically Michael's life. But unlike KARR, Kitt had developed the ability to think situations through exceptionally quickly, and to draw a conclusion of his own, rather than blindly follow his programming. He had had to develop that skill. Because as they found out one night, many years ago, in a given situation, his programming could lead to a paradox. And that was dangerous for both of them.

** flashback **

It would be later that Michael would start to wonder, because at the time everything happened too fast for him to work it out. He had walked into a trap; it was as simple as that. Kitt had warned him. His partner had not trusted Carrie from the moment they had met her. But Michael had had little choice but to act on the information she had given to him; it was their only lead and Devon was threatening to take them off the case if they did not come up with something soon.

The apartment was on the ground floor of the modern building. It was all tinted glass and gleaming metal frames. The front door lock code that Carrie had given to him worked, and the key she had slipped into his hand fitted the lock. The moment he turned the key, several baffling things happened. He remembered a sound, rising quickly in pitch. Then at the moment he saw the ball of flames, and heard the explosion that had caused it, he also heard a sound from behind him; an engine revving at a frightening speed, and an almighty shattering of glass and screeching of metal folding against metal. There was a sensation of flying. Then he handed, and just before the heat became unbearable, everything went away.

In comparison, Kitt's memories of the events were accurate in every detail. He had been suspicious of Carrie from the start, and he started the engine and shifted into gear the moment Michael was out of earshot. Just in case, he had told himself. He monitored everything around them. He had scanned the apartment for people, when Michael had asked him to. And now he scanned for other things. His signal to Michael's comlink had been drowned out by the bomb exploding. He had never accelerated so fast in his life. He crashed in through the double entrance doors in time to see Michael land a few feet from him. He continued forward in one fluid motion until Michael's unconscious form was beneath the car, protected from the flames and heat that were becoming almost unbearable.

Kitt notified the fire crew and paramedics, then he called Devon. After that, there was not much that he could do. His meagre supply of CO2 and water was not going have much of an effect on the intense blaze now burning around them. He continuously monitored Michael's vital signs. And then he heard screaming. A quick scan showed him a young man trapped at the end of the corridor. He was calling out, not moving, bunched up dangerously in one corner. Kitt raised the volume of his voice and told the man in no uncertain terms that he had to break into one of the nearest apartments and get out of one of the windows. But the man was too scared by now to move of his own accord. Kitt fought with his programming. He had to try to save the man's life - he was programmed to do so. But moving would mean Michael's death. Without a doubt. And that was unacceptable. Desperately he tried to find a solution, all the while repeating his order to the stranger.

They were the longest seven minutes of his life. When the fire crews finally managed to put out the flames, and the paramedics got to the injured, the man in the corridor was dead. Michael was taken to hospital, but discharged after only a few hours. Kitt's lightening reaction had saved his life. But all was not well. Michael ignored his doctor's orders - not for the first time - and stayed up that night with his distraught partner, trying to help him make sense of what he called, 'a bitter waste of human life'. Kitt had managed to make himself feel responsible for not finding the explosive earlier, for not being forceful enough in his commands to the stranger, for not being able to save both men. Michael had been in so much of a hurry to get in and out of the apartment they had only completed a cursory scan. There were no answers. Michael could only be there as proof that Kitt had done the right thing, and had obeyed his dominant program. That was all anyone could do.

** end flashback **

"To tell you the truth, Kitt," he replied eventually, "I think I may need your help when we face off with KARR. At least we both want the same thing."
"Yes. Any trace of KARR wiped off this earth."

It was a while before either spoke again. The Semi would not be at the meeting place for another couple of hours. Michael started the engine and took control, moving the car further away from the road, into one of the mountain passes. When he stopped again, they both took in the breath-taking scenery.
"It is so beautiful out here," Kitt said softly. "It's so peaceful; so different from the cities we've been chasing through."
Michael smiled. He remembered the first time he had heard Kitt talk like this; finding beauty in the world around him. His partner no longer surprised him. He still amazed him though, no longer through his mere existence, but the humanity he found within himself.
"Have I ever told you," Michael started gently, "how beautiful you are?"
The question surprised them both, but Kitt only replied, "Once."

Once. For a long time afterward, whenever he had thought about that evening, he had became embarrassed. Now, though, he could only be glad that it was something they had shared. Just one more experience held between them, or maybe something very special. He wasn't even sure how Kitt had looked upon their relationship back then. He suspected that his partner would just have accepted it anyway it was, as long as they were together.

Michael let his mind wonder back to that particular evening. Christmas Eve. He and Kitt had gone out to indulge in a spot of star gazing, and to exchange gifts. It was the year Kitt had given him the St Christopher pendant he loved so very much. As they had sat together in the darkness of the Nevada landscape, far from the road, far from civilisation, the warmth and love between them could almost be touched.

"It was always going to happen, wasn't it?" Michael mused quietly. "We spent so much time together, shared everything else."
"You always tried to justify it." There was no accusation in Kitt's tone, just a knowing frown.
"I know. And I know I shouldn't."
"Did you miss me?"

Michael let out a deep sigh. He knew Kitt wasn't talking about the aching pain that he had lived with for two years. Kitt was talking about something else, a side to the sentient computer that no one else had ever spoken to. "Yes. When I let myself."

It hadn't been an attraction, more a fascination with possibilities. Kitt's voice had soothed Michael in times of worry, comforted him in times of sorrow, cheered him when he was down. It was the most familiar sound in the world to him. And when the conversation had turned that evening, everything had happened so naturally, that it just seemed right.

Even down to the cigarette; the first time Kitt had seen him smoke.

There was a conspiratorial smile in Kitt's voice when he started to remind Michael of what had happened. "I remember telling you of the changes Steve had made... to the gear shift." His voice dipped to a whisper. "I remember your fingers the first time you touched me... just curious, fascinated by the idea. It was the first time I had actually felt you touching me, so new back then, such a new idea."

Michael smiled, his face flushing as he spoke. "I remember your voice, the subtle changes. I hadn't even noticed that you'd done it. You just sounded... so sensual.... And I realised what I was doing, what you were saying... how it was making me feel. I couldn't believe what was happening, or what I suddenly knew was going to happen. But I wanted you there and then, with a strength I’ve never felt before. I hadn't ever even thought about it, hadn't even considered the possibility. But in that moment that I did, it was the single, most exciting thing I could imagine."
"If I was human, I'd be blushing."
"You? Embarrassed? After what you started?" Michael smiled warmly. He could remember that night in minute detail. The warmth of the car, the sensual edge to Kitt's soft voice, the heated desire that had coursed through his veins.

Kitt had asked him what it felt like, to be touching him so intimately. The question had been unexpected, but not unwanted. And Michael had answered honestly.

** flashback **

"I don't know Kitt... it's... exciting."
"Tell me how it makes you feel, what it does to you."
 "...I can't describe it."
"Then show me."

** end flashback **

For a single moment, Michael had not understood what Kitt was asking him for. Then he had realised.

** flashback **

The heat flared up within him. Hell, his jeans were getting too damn tight, he was starting to ache. He looked around him and noted that Kitt had darkened the windows, even thought the chance of them getting any company was practically non-existent. "Kitt, are you sure about this?"

"I want to see you, Michael. I want to know what all these women find so irresistible about you." Michael swallowed hard. He realised his fingers were gripped around Kitt's gearshift with alarming pressure. He lightened his grip, but the moment he did so, Kitt spoke up.
"No, Michael, don't. Your fingers... feel incredible."
"But... I must be hurting you...."
"You can't hurt me." A lower, almost darker, tone entered his voice. "But you're very welcome to try."

Michael believed he could almost hear his heart pounding. In a single motion, he released his hold on Kitt and folded his arms at the base of his sweater, pulling it off over his head.  The cool air in the car felt needed on his heated skin; it felt fantastic and thrilling and most of all, forbidden. He gazed at Kitt's voice panel. "I can't believe you can be like this."

The car had no answer for that, and Michael smiled. He returned his right hand to Kitt's gearshift, while his left drifted to his zipper. "Can I... do this for you?"
"I don't know," Kitt's voice was laced with sexual challenge. "Can you?"

Michael couldn't stand being trapped in the confines of his own clothing for another minute. With perfected ease, he released himself, displaying his cock and balls for his partner. Kitt gave a pleasured hum. "Michael, you're gorgeous." Michael let his eyes drift closed, let his fingers close around himself.

"Talk to me, Kitt, please. I need to hear you."
"And I need to feel you. Now."
The idea formed in Michael's head, created by Kitt's order. Michael shifted over, straddling the low central panel. Roughly, he pushed the sheathing down from Kitt's gearshift, revealing the skin-like sensor net that his partner's strange technician had created. It felt smooth and warm, and slightly malleable.

"Kitt...."
"Now, Michael. Do it."
Michael shifted close to his partner, and pressed himself against the gearshift, wrapping both his hands around he and Kitt, joining them within his firm grip. With agonising slowness, torturing himself, he dragged his nails down both hard shafts. His action brought forth a triumphant cry from his partner. "Oh yeah.... You like that Kitt? You like it rough?"

Kitt was almost beyond speech. He hadn't expected this from Michael, hadn't believed that Michael could possibly find him sexually attractive. But he could feel the human organ pressed hotly against his own shaft, and he could feel a heat in his circuits that was overwhelming all other functions until those sensors had his total and undivided attention.

Michael took a deep gulp of air. He knew this was something they shouldn't be doing; but he could feel a new awareness of his partner growing within his soul. This was an experience that was going to bond them together for life. This was something no one else knew.  He allowed all his hidden feelings, jealousies and desires to come to the front of his mind; how he felt every time he looked at Kitt, how pride and possessiveness always battled within him; the intense quality of the stings he experienced each time he saw another technician under Kitt's hood. This was a part of Kitt they couldn't touch. This was a part of him even Michael had not been aware of.

Michael pressed his thumb into the base of his cock and pushed it up the entire length, letting his own cry of pleasure mingle with his partner's utterances. "Yeah, Kitt..." He gripped them both firmly, scraping his fingernails over Kitt's shaft with deliberate cruelty. Kitt let out a sharp yell that dissolved into a low moan as the sensations swept through his circuits. Michael smiled. Maybe this was a part of himself he hadn't been aware of either.

There was a small part of his mind that still could not believe he was doing this. Sex with a car - it sounded like some kinky fantasy people would read about in top-shelf magazines. Maybe this was a kinky fantasy that had been lurking in the back of his mind for a long time. Or maybe it was just in the heat of the moment. Or maybe there was a deeper reason; maybe he just, for once, wanted to be physically close to his partner. Whatever the reason, he felt exhaulted. The hard coolness of Kitt's shaft against his own, the erotic sight of his own naked chest and cock illuminated in the familiar lights of the high-tech dash, Kitt's voice, low and sensuous, placing images in his mind in ways he had never known a woman ever do.

And there were thoughts in his head, thoughts he had never before experienced; thoughts Kitt was forcing from his imagination. A phrase came into his mind from nowhere; 'I want to hurt you just to hear you screaming my name'. Never before had he linked sex and violence. But Kitt had been right, he couldn't hurt him, not physically. The heat of the moment was causing a reaction in Michael, one he did not recognise in himself, but one he made a decision not to shrink from.... If only....

"Kitt... I need...."
"God, Michael, do it. Do whatever you're feeling, please.... Give yourself to me. I want to know you inside and out...."
With a releasing cry, Michael gripped them tighter and thrust hard, up through his own hands, against his willing partner. Kitt moaned joyfully. "Yes, Michael, yes...."

Again, Michael raked his nails down the two shafts, forcing cries of hotly felt pain from both of them. Then, with a show of absolute willpower, he pulled back slightly, letting himself go. He stayed close, the tip of his aching cock bouncing lightly against the base of the hard shaft before it. With a feral groan, he sadistically scraped both sets of nails up Kitt's entire length, bathing in the scream that drove through the car. "Michael!"

"Kitt... tell me, talk to me."
"Again," there was a breathless quality to Kitt's roughened voice. "Again." Michael obliged, this time going upwards with his fingernails, back down with his thumbnails, yanking the cries from his partner.

"Now you, I want to see you, I want to hear you cry out for me." Unconsciously licking his lips, Michael wrapped one hand around his cock, and cupped one under his balls, squeezing lightly. He started to pump himself with maddening slowness. His head thrown back, he tightened his grip, letting loose a cry of sweet agony. "Stop, Michael." It was an order, final proof that it was Kitt in control of this situation. "Stop."

Michael let go of himself, his face contorting in desperate hunger. "Kitt, I can't...."

"Yes you can. For me. Move closer now, I want to feel your whole length against mine." Michael did as he was told, the contact between them was more than painful.

"Now lean back, put your hands flat on the seats behind you."

Again, Michael obeyed, his movements pressing him closer to Kitt, setting himself on display more openly. "Now thrust against me... slowly... very slowly...."

Swallowing hard, Michael started to move. Whenever he attempted to speed up, to cause more friction between them, Kitt ordered him to slow down. He found himself unable - or maybe just unwilling - to challenge the authority in his partner's voice. He felt the heat throbbing in his veins.

"Kitt... you're so beautiful... so very beautiful...." His eyes closed, he knew nothing but the incredibly erotic contact between his cock and the gearshift of his car.

In contrast, Kitt was lapping up every detail; the beads of sweat coursing down Michael's finely haired chest, the incoherent mutterings, the lower tones of his partner's voice, the heat of the air within the car, the hardness pressed up against him. Every movement pushed them both closer to a point he did not understand, but one he wanted very much to reach.

"Michael, I want your hands back around me, I want to feel your nails scraping me." With a deep groan, Michael sat up, pressing his cock hard against the inviting shaft, gripping them both, holding them together, wanting for a moment just to relish in the intense pleasure. Remembering Kitt's words, he dug his thumbnails deep into the gearshift and dragged them down, leaving deep scores. Kitt's scream only made Michael want more. He started to thrust up hard against Kitt, loving every moan. On each down stroke he scraped his fingernails over the sensitive shaft of his partner, revelling in every cry. Finally, he couldn't hold on any longer, and somehow, through the overwhelming mix of agony and ecstasy, Kitt sensed Michael's release. He fought to direct some semblance of English to his voice modulator. "Come for me, Michael, come for me."

With a yell that echoed through the car, Michael erupted over his own hands, over Kitt's gearshift. In the next moment, Kitt felt the warm moisture over himself, and his circuits became a single point of pleasure, climaxing and pulsing with the heat of chaotic overload.

Michael collapsed back against the cool leather of the driver's seat as Kitt's systems slowly came back into line. "Jesus, Kitt."

Kitt remained silent, and Michael noticed the dash was darker than usual. "Kitt?" He reached out to gently touch the voice panel.

"Michael.... I don't know what to say."
Michael smiled. "Don't you go all quiet and shy on me now. Not after that." He softened his tone. "You're incredible."
"Thank you. You're quite amazing yourself."

Michael closed his eyes, bathing in the afterglow of pleasure. "Kitt," he murmured after a while. "Please tell me that this is one piece of hardware that didn't get tested in the lab."
"Only before installation, I promise you. You're..." he hesitated, and a smile came into his voice. "You're my first."

Michael nodded. It was a thought that had already entered his mind; one that thrilled him. He reached over into the back seat and opened his over-night bag, taking the towel from inside. Carefully, he cleaned himself, and then lent forward to wipe the gearshift. He made sure to be gentle, peering closely at the deep scores he had made in the sensor net. He must have hurt his partner.

"Are you really okay?"
"Yes. A little... blurred." It was the closest Kitt could find to describe his feelings. "I've never experienced anything quite like that..."
"Well, you're not alone there." Michael threw the towel onto the back seat, and dressed himself, putting his shirt on, but leaving it unbuttoned. He had a feeling that he couldn't suddenly turn shy on Kitt either. Still, there was a moment's silence between them.

With infinite care, he pulled the sheathing back up over the gearshift, covering Kitt, hoping it would help.
"Michael, what happens now?"
Michael smiled understandingly. "Pal, this doesn't have to change anything between us. That was one of the most intense experiences of my whole life. And I wouldn't object to it happening again sometime, if you're okay with that."
"I'm more than okay with it." There was deep affection in Kitt's now soft tones. So different from only minutes before. So human.
"I'm glad about that." Michael ensured his own voice betrayed the deepening of his feelings after what they had just shared. "You bring out something in me... that I didn't know was there. And that means a lot to me. Especially because it was you who brought it out."

"I never thought... I would enjoy... the pain...."
"Hey, come on, it's nothing to be ashamed or afraid of. I imagine that for you, the more intense the sensation, the greater the experience." Michael pushed off his shoes and pulled his legs up under him, curling in the seat until he was sitting close to the dash, arm wrapped lovingly around the steering wheel. "Talk to me, Kitt. Tell me what it is you're feeling. I didn't ever want to hurt you."
"You didn't." Kitt responded quickly. "It's just a part of me that seems almost alien... I'm having trouble equating it with the rest of who I believe I am."
"You can't equate it. What we do in the heat of sexual passion doesn't define who we are. You're safe with me, I promise. I will never do anything to you that you don't want. I'd just like to... explore this side of myself further. And I'd like to do that with you."

** end flashback **

But they hadn't. For one reason or another. Now, as Michael sat thinking back on that one very special evening, he wished that they had. Maybe it would have made things easier. Or maybe Michael would have simply pulled away from Kitt with more ferocity that he had done. If that was possible. They hadn't avoided the subject, it just never came up. Or that's what he told himself now. But Kitt had never thrown it back at him, never used it in their rows that followed his meeting Georgie.
"Thanks, Kitt," Michael whispered lovingly. Somehow knowing, but not knowing how, Kitt understood. "I've always loved you. Please, remember that."

Michael smiled, idly touching the gear shift in this new car. Kitt stopped the unexpected signal the instant it was sent.

It was almost as if both of them caught their breath. Michael could sense the surprise of his partner, and he knew immediately what had happened. He drew his fingers back suddenly, a chill slicing through the warmth of the car. "Oh God...."
"Michael, I...."

Michael had closed his eyes, trying to swallow down on the emotion that had suddenly overwhelmed him. He took a deep breath before he attempted to speak. "I know... I have no right...."
"Nothing happened, I promise you." Michael could hear the sorrow in Kitt's tone. "He tried.... I shut down all the perceptors." Michael stared at the voice panel for a long while, before he reached out to stroke it gently. There was stony hatred in his voice when he eventually found it. "I'm going to kill him."
 "It was an accident, Michael."

Michael desperately wanted to yell at Kitt. But he didn't have the right. He had provided the entrance that Paul had used. Instead, he opened the car door and got out, taking a couple of steps across away from Kitt before stopping and breathing in the fresh air. He heard the familiar hum as the engine started up, and turned, suddenly afraid that Kitt would leave him standing here. But his partner was slowly coming toward him, lights off, the scanner tracking back and forth slowly; eerie in the darkness.

"You keep trying to protect him," Michael said quietly.
"I can't see that he did anything wrong."
"I know... I guess...."
"You're jealous."
Michael sat down on the warm hood, absently stroking his palm across the smooth finish. He sighed. "I'm sorry. It's just... you'd always been mine, I've never had to share you before."
"You don't have to now. And you certainly don't have to apologise. It's flattering that you still feel... something."
"I feel an awful lot, maybe more than before because I know what it is to live without you. I missed you as a friend, and a partner. I missed you because you'd always been there. Only very late at night, and only very rarely, did I let myself think about what else you were to me."
"Why?"
"Because I hadn't got the right."
Kitt stopped the engine. "You're placing me too highly."
He tried to speak as gently as he could. "Don't, Kitt. Please. Don't underestimate what you mean to me." He sighed. "This isn't go to be an easy road, is it, Partner?  Sometimes I just wish we could return to how things were without having to face the devil first."
Kitt's voice panel lit up. "Are you talking about KARR or Paul?"
Michael smiled, despite himself. "I don't know."
"I can assure you that KARR isn't the devil. Although he does seem immortal sometimes. And as for Paul, he's just a human being."
"There is the real danger that Paul knows everything about this car, including its weaknesses."
"We have tested everything over and over again." Kitt tried to reassure. Michael nodded. He knew that was why Bonnie was continuously re-checking everything; because Paul had designed this body, and maybe Paul had planned for this particular eventuality.

There were also the unknown dangers. People got unpredictable under pressure. At least, Michael knew in his heart, he could still trust Kitt when it came to the final showdown. That one, dominant program was still in place, after all the years, all the pain, his primary function was protect Michael's life. "I do understand, after everything that's happened.... I doubt either of us could possibly be the same as we were. I just want the chance to start again, to try to rebuild what we had on what we've got."
He watched the LEDs dance with Kitt's voice. "I'm more than happy to give you that chance."
"In that case, I'm with you all the way. God, Kitt, let's get this over with and get back to our way of life."

There was a satisfied hum in Kitt's engine as they headed out to the rendezvous point.

**

Ant smiled to himself as he stepped out onto the stage. The crowd before them were going wild. All this shouting and screaming seemed like overkill to him. But he knew Mike and Jon loved the attention. He smiled shyly, blinking in the brightness of the spots that suddenly bathed the stage in red and white light. Jon yelled his greeting to the audience, and in absolute sync, Ant and Mike started the first number. This was what they lived for.

**

Three days later, Michael and Kitt were called back to the Knight mansion, Bonnie claiming that there were some more tests she would like to run on one or two of Kitt's new functions, and Devon assuring Michael it would give them a chance to discuss a plan of action. It was only when he walked into office, that Michael realized there was something more going on than just them touching base.

Bonnie was sitting with a manila folder on the table in front of her, Devon was behind his desk at usual, looking almost sheepish. They both smiled as he opened the door.
"Thanks for coming in." Bonnie stood and approached him, lifting his right wrist and checking the comlink. "You keep voice transmission switched off?"
"Sure." He looked at her, totally confused. "Why? What's going on?"
"You'd better sit down."

Michael accepted Devon's offer of a coffee, and sat down on the couch, wondering what they had to say to him that could not be said in front of his partner.
"Michael," Bonnie started, "you remember when we had Dr Bergstrom over? When you were showing he and his niece that sights, before all the trouble with Goliath started again?"
"Yes...."
"And you remember storming in here one night asking about Kitt's past?"
"Yes...."

** flashback **

The office door flew open and struck the bookcase behind it with a very impressive crack. It was just a pity there was no one around to appreciate it. A surprised Devon stepped in to the room from behind him. "Can I help, Michael?"
He stared at him for a moment, looking almost hurt. "When were you going to tell me?"
Devon stopped in front of his desk. "Tell you what?"
"About Kitt. About his past. About Washington."
Devon sighed deeply and sat down. "I didn't think it was something you really needed to know."
"You didn't think I needed to know. He's my partner, my best friend, the guy I practically live with, do you get the picture? We're having a nice, pleasant discussion with Dr Bergstrom and suddenly Kitt comes out with something about being brought on line in a mainframe in Washington. I couldn't believe it." Michael deflated slightly. "I thought... I thought he was... created for me."
"The car was created for you, Michael, not Kitt. Not at first, anyway." Devon wanted to be angry, but he found himself touched by Michael's obvious hurt. "Why don't you sit down, and I'll explain."

Devon watched Michael's anxious face for a short while, wondering where to start. This really was not something he thought he was ever going to have to explain. "I take it, you haven't asked Kitt about this."
"When he was talking to us, he sounded okay with it, but when I brought it up again, I got the impression it wasn't something he wanted to discuss."
"No. As you know, Michael, your appearance here was some thing of a surprise; Wilton had planned to approach you some weeks later, but Tanya and her friends managed to force us to forward our schedule. KARR was ready in plenty of time. But during one of test sessions, he killed a man involved in one of the reconstructions. We obviously realized that we would have to start from scratch, redesign the programming based around a different set of... rules, if you like. But KARR had taken years to code. Wilton also wanted a new car - the old one had the blood of a man on it, and Wilton was very superstitious. That was the easy part. Getting hold of a new Pontiac body and altering it for our needs took only a matter of weeks. But to re-code an entire system, something as complex as what we needed.... Then a friend of Wilton's heard about an AI project that the government had been working on, but that wasn't running to plan. Wilton and I flew over there, and met up with the project leaders. The system was being called I.S.D.R. - Intelligent Satellite Data Retreival. But to tell you the truth, they seemed to have lost interest in the whole thing, they weren't giving the system the hardware and money that it needed and they were wondering why it was making so many mistakes. Wilton could see the potential in the system at a first glance, but he hated the Government, and he knocked them down to a piteously low price. When we got back home after agreeing a deal, Bonnie contacted us. She had been responsible for designing and developing the I.S.D.R system. She said that they were going to reassign her. But she wanted to stay with the system that she'd designed. She had some special connection with the system that we didn't understand at first."
He paused, smiling at the memories in his head. "Until we met it - him. He conveyed humanity, humility, even a sense of humour to a point. Wilton was slightly worried about his attachment to Bonnie, but she reassured as that it was just due to what he had endured at the Government offices, and that within days he would be ready for his new assignment. You.
"We started calling him Kitt when he was placed in the car, we had to call him something. He was so excitable, Bonnie had to alter the code slightly, to calm him down. But those first days were incredible," he looked straight at Michael, and the younger man could see the remembered joy in those eyes. "After being stuck in a mainframe environment, being given the freedom of mobility the car provided, the senses that the perceptors allowed, and the sensors and scanners; it was like setting him free. It was almost like having a very playful child around the place. When Bonnie added the new code, it was as if he had grown up over night."

When he had finished, Michael was smiling. "I would have loved to have been there. I wasn't aware that Kitt had had... a childhood. I just wanted to know... everything about him. I've been telling him about who I was before...."
"Not even I know exactly what he went through in Washington, Michael. Only Bonnie knows that. He wasn't even 'Kitt' back then."
"But he still remembers, therefore his experiences still colour who he is now."
Devon looked worried. "I think if it was going to cause a problem, we would have seen it by now."
But Michael shook his head. "That's not what I meant. Kitt is...." He faltered. "He's very special to me, and if there are things in his past that are still bothering him, I want him to be able to talk to me."
"Well, Michael, if you're talking openly to him, I'm sure he will do the same, when he's ready."

** end flashback **

Michael looked from Devon to Bonnie. "Of course I remember."
"Devon didn't tell you everything."
Michael sighed, "What did he miss out?"
"I had an assistant, when I was working on the ISDR system. A Mark Rochester. He helped design very intrigal parts of the coding that made up the neural networks the whole system was based on. He was there when the system was switched on, when the first neural paths were being laid down."
Michael smiled gently, "You mean, when Kitt was born."
Bonnie nodded, returning his smile. "If you want to put it that way. Yes. He had almost as great an influence on those first paths as I did."
"So why didn't he come with you when Wilton bought the system."
"Because he didn't see the system as anything particularly special. He was very happy living in Washington, and besides if I left, he got an instant promotion. He was very happy for me to take our work to the next stage elsewhere. He was a good man, a good friend and a wonderful person to work with."
"Why are you telling me this?"
"When Devon first introduced me to Paul, I thought he looked vaguely familiar. There was a reason for that. Before he changed his name just over two years ago, he was Mark Rochester. Paul Henson is, in a way, Kitt's father."

The colour drained from Michael's face. He looked up at Devon. "Does Paul know?"
"I have no idea. He never mentioned it, never said that he was part of the ISDR team. He never asked about Bonnie."
"Would Kitt know? Would he have remembered him?"
Bonnie shook her head. "I doubt it, Michael. Kitt wasn't Kitt back in Washington. He was a coded AI machine, more advanced then anything else around, but still just a collection of neural nets. He learnt almost frighteningly quickly. But there were no interpersonal relationships for him, it was just learning to do a set of tasks. Besides, in the garage Kitt only saw Paul for the same length of time that I did."
There was silence for a moment, and then Michael shook his head. "I can't tell you everything I know, but you have to believe me; Paul knew Kitt for six weeks, two years ago. He was with KARR. He designed that new car for Kitt. But I thought he had other reasons, and he never mentioned Washington to Kitt in that time. And I think, under the circumstances, he probably would have done."
Bonnie threw up her hands. "I knew there was something going on between them, I knew they recognized each other in the garage that afternoon. But I was so distracted... Michael, you have to ask Kitt about this, we have to know if Paul knows."

"You want me to tell Kitt that Paul is his Dad?!"
Devon nodded. "I think he has a right to know."
"So why is it just me in this room?"
"We thought it would be better coming from you. You could pick your time better than we could. And Kitt's more likely to show his feelings if it's just you. We need this connection, Michael. If Paul was with KARR two years ago, there's a good chance that's where he's gone now."
Michael stood slowly, and walked to the window, to gaze out at his partner waiting for him just outside. "You can't ask me to disregard Kitt's feelings to get a lead on KARR. You don't understand what's happened between them. Believe me, this isn't something Kitt's gonna want to hear."
Bonnie moved to stand next to him. "Devon's right, Michael. Whether he's going to want to hear it or not, he does have a right to know. Even if you are scared of losing him."
Slowly, Michael nodded. "Okay. But you have to let me do it in my own time, like I said, there's a lot that's happened that you don't know about."

**

Michael swung the car around in the gravel, coming to a stop just in front of the entrance to the bar. "The Neon Armadillo" was probably the tackiest name for a Country and Western joint that Michael had ever heard. This was where KARR had last been spotted, according to their latest witness. The old Pontiac Trans-Am was not as rare a car as it maybe had once been, especially black ones. Trying to find KARR was like looking for a needle in a large stack of needles.

But this was a good lead, a reliable witness had spoken about the yellow light in the front, although as far as a driver was concerned, he was not sure. The car had been empty, but it was parked in front of a bar - the driver could well have been one of the punters inside. He and Kitt had been on the road for nearly a week straight. It had given them time to talk, to come to terms with what had happened, and to get to know one another again. It had been a good, if somewhat emotional time. Michael had also made the decision to tell Kitt, later today, about what Bonnie had told him about Paul Henson.

But the 'excuse me, but I was looking for the driver of a black Trans-Am' line was wearing thin, and not one of the fifty-plus leads the they had followed up had lead to anything substantial. They were no nearer finding KARR now then they had been at the start of the search. Michael hoped that driving out to this remote bar would pay off.

Michael turned off the engine and reached for the door. "Will you be okay out here?"
"Michael, you've asked me that each time we've stopped. There's no need to. I'll be fine."
Michael nodded, knowing full well that he was being overly protective. He still felt such a weight of guilt that he was finding it almost impossible to fall back into the old relationship. He felt more for Kitt now, if that was possible, he felt very responsible for his partner's life. He had almost destroyed it two years ago, and he was determined to somehow make up for the lost time. He gazed at the voice panel for a moment longer. "I'm not going anywhere," Kitt eventually reassured him, so very gently.
Michael patted the dash affectionately and finally climbed out of the car.

The bar was almost empty, despite it being early evening after a beautiful day. Michael spoke to both bar maids but they said the only people who ever came out to the bar were regulars. Michael was the first stranger they had seen in quite a while, and he walked out of the bar with very little information and two telephone numbers. The five men drinking at the only occupied table did recall commenting on a black car parked outside about a week ago, but that was about all. They did not remember any strangers coming into the bar, and they did not catch a licence plate, or see any funny yellow light at the front of the vehicle.

Kitt sat in contented quiet, surveillance keeping tabs on Michael's heart rate and blood pressure. He knew Michael was treading on egg-shells around him at the moment, but things had improved over the last week, and he was confident that life would return to as normal as possible very soon. He had never wanted anything more out of life than to be at Michael's side. The ease with which KARR had ripped has life apart still bothered him, but there had been extenuating circumstances, and now it had happened once, he could be certain it would never happen again.

KARR took the road up behind the bar, staying out of usual surveillance range, but getting himself close enough to transmit when the time came. It had been difficult regaining entry to the Knight Industries Two Thousand CPU. External access had been locked out when they had transferred it back into a car, and the codes had been difficult to break. But KARR had an advantage others did not. He knew the ways in, he knew how to speak to the CPU so that he would be listened to, but not overheard. And he had managed to leave an open path, so that his broadcast today would be consuming, leaving Kitt with no option but to believe everything KARR was sending him. It was easy and it was cruel. KARR settled quietly to wait.

It all happened so fast. Just as Kitt saw Michael step out of the bar and start down the few wooden steps, he detected the presence of a second person, walking towards the bar at a brisk pace. He saw Michael look up at the same time his sensors picked up the weapon that the second man had drawn. His shout to Michael was a moment too late. The first bullet pierced Michael's chest, just to the side of his heart. He fell, his cry a mixture of terrified surprise and agonizing pain. In the same instant, Kitt had started the engine and backed up in a sweeping turn that knocked the gunman to the ground. Kitt then drove forward, reaching Michael as his driver's fall down the steps threw him onto the gravel.

KARR heard the gunshot and activated the link between he and his brother. A millisecond later he started the upload into Kitt's systems.

"Michael, Michael!" Kitt had scanned his partner's condition and alerted the nearest hospital within a second. The people in the bar had been drawn outside by the shot, and one of the barmaids was coming down the steps towards Michael. "Please," Kitt asked her, "you have to help him. I've called for paramedics."
She looked around for another person, but could not see one and her eyes came to rest on Kitt. People reacted in one of two ways to Kitt - either momentary surprise followed by shock and fear, or momentary surprise followed by complete acceptance. Luckily she fell into the second category and dropped to her knees beside Michael's form. She pulled off her apron and folded it quickly, pressing it to the bleeding wound as Michael moaned beneath her. Softly she reassured him that he was going to be okay. The bullet could not have hit any major organs, the site of the wound could tell her that. There was a lot of blood, but his pulse and breathing were not too weak and as long as he survived the shock, and the ambulance did not take too long, he was going to be all right.

But as KARR's transmission began to instil itself into Kitt's systems, his view of the situation started to alter. On his monitor, Michael's vitals suddenly started to drop, becoming very weak, very, very quickly. "Michael! Hold on, please!" Kitt rolled forward, until his nose was positioned just above Michael's shoulder. "Michael!"
Michael moaned and painfully reached up his good arm, blindly finding Kitt and laying his hand on the fender. "S'okay buddy," he managed. "It's okay."

But Kitt was not hearing him. His monitors, his scanner, his sensors and even the active pickups over the body-work were relaying an alternative world that even this soon was so completely real to Kitt that he could not see passed it because he did not know to look. Michael was dead. His heart rate was a flat-line on the monitor. He was not breathing. There was no brain activity. He was dead. For a moment, Kitt could not feel anything. He knew he was speaking, but he could not seem to stop. "Michael... Michael... Michael? Talk to me, please. Talk to me, Michael...."

On the ground, Michael could not understand his friend's hysteria as it grew. "Kitt, it's okay, 'm okay. C'mon Pal," he stopped to take a breath, and tried to think beyond the haze of pain. He knew he was losing consciousness and knew that it was down to blood-loss. But something in Kitt's voice kept pulling him back.

"Michael...."
Suddenly there was a new aspect to Kitt's world, one that froze him in horror. Across the front of his nose, over the beautiful golden body-work, Kitt could feel the heat of freshly spilt blood. A planted memory assaulted his systems, and suddenly he pulled back. "No... what have I done? what have I done what have I done what have I done....?"
Michael struggled with the tempting darkness, reaching out for Kitt as the car reversed. "Kitt... don't... don't leave me...."
"What have I done?"
"Kitt... please.... Kitt...." Michael's head fell back against the gravel as he lost the fight.
Kitt's wheels spun in the gravel as the knowledge that he had killed his partner reeled through his systems. Fear, terror and horror chased him from the scene, leaving the people from the bar to look after his stricken partner because he had no idea that his partner needed looking after any longer.

*****

"Love is the ballet where the dancer falls.
Love is the game where the loser calls."

"CityWash", Cheyenne

It was an amazing thing about car washes, Phil mused. You got to mingle with the cream and the dregs, of society. Everyone, it seemed, liked to have a clean vehicle, whether they owned a 1999 BMW, or a 1989 Ford. "CityWash"'s prices were as high as every other car-wash in the city, but there were enough car owners with better things to do on a Sunday, to go around. It was not his dream job, but it paid the bills, and it was not strenuous work. Phil liked an easy day so that he could have long nights. He did have a certain pride in the wash. He kept the lights above the entrance working, he made sure there were always cans in the soda machine. And he made sure every customer was happy. Phil smiled a lot.

One reason Phil enjoyed his job so much was because of his love of cars. He repaired old vehicles at weekends, made them up like new then sold them to his brother, who sold them to other people for a lot more money than Phil could ever con out of them. One Tuesday morning, Phil saw the car of his dreams. It was a sleek street machine, but not like anything else he had ever laid eyes on before. It seemed to be loosely based on the old 1992 Trans-Am style, but with less harsh lines and more curves. This one also had a strange golden hue to its paint-work, that caught the sun in a fantastic display of colour. It seemed longer and lower than other cars in its class. But then, Phil decided that he had rarely seen a car in its class.

Phil watched as the car pulled into the forecourt, and started to calculate what kind of offer he could possibly make its driver. He would have sold his soul for that vehicle. But this car did not come to the window for a token. This car drove straight to the wash, and a moment later, Phil heard the basic cycle begin. He hurriedly left the office, running to meet the car as it came through the wash. But as it did, three minutes later, Phil made the sensible decision not to stand in its way. The windows were darkened to a smoky grey colour, making it impossible to see inside the car, and a feeling told him to let this one go. Phil was a sensible man. But he hated seeing the company being ripped off.

**

There was a distinct possibility that he was in hospital. That was definitely where his body was telling him that he ought to be. He did not feel like fighting his way to the light that he could see through the fog. Instead he let himself approach it slowly, trying to remember what had happened. For a long while he could not. And then it all came back to him in a rush. The bar, steep steps and the sudden pain that had startled him. He remembered lying on the ground, someone pressing something to his shoulder. And he could remember a familiar voice, talking almost constantly, sounding frightened, frightening him.

Michael opened his eyes. Bonnie was smiling at him, and when he looked down he could see that she was holding his hand. He smiled at her, or at least that was what he hoped he had done. He was feeling a little like he was trying to operate his body via remote. He looked around. This was definitely a hospital room. He was lying in a hospital bed, and there was a doctor on his other side. The doctor was saying something to him, but it was muffled, and he could not quite make out what the words were. So he shifted his attention back to Bonnie. He tried to speak to her, but nothing came out, and finally it was not worth the struggle. He closed his eyes again simply because it was easier than keeping them open. Soon the warm darkness called to him and he let himself fall back into it.

Bonnie watched Michael fall back into a healing sleep, and sighed. "He's going to be fine," the doctor told her gently. She nodded and looked down at the object she held in her free hand. Gently she rubbed the watch face with her thumb. Michael was going to be okay. She wished they could say the same for his partner.

**

For the first twenty four hours, Kitt had simply driven, as fast as possible, heading East. He stayed on the road, tried not to think, struggled and failed to stop the terrible, horrific feeling of the blood on his hood. He saw a car wash as he was passing through a small Nevada town. But no matter how often he went through, he could not remove the blood. After the eighteenth wash had almost scrubbed the outboard sensor net raw, leaving the accute pain he refused to terminate, Kitt left the town and stopped on the roadside. Despair coursing through his systems he tried once again to send the signal and blow the CPU. Again the signal was blocked by something unknown.

"Michael...." He spoke his beloved partner's name softly. There was so much that did not make sense. Why had he so suddenly hurt Michael? Why? How? How could his programming have gone so wrong? He did not understand, and for the first time ever in his life, he hated himself. He had to do something, somehow, to end his existence.

Suddenly, there was a signal, coming through on their - his - private channel. KARR. Starting the engine, Kitt's tyres gripped the dusty road and he took off in the direction the signal was emanating from.

**

The next time Michael opened his eyes, he fought the darkness. That familiar voice that had been talking to him, after the white hot pain had bitten him, was back in his dreams. He struggled to sit up, but something was pushing him back. "Michael, relax, it's okay. You're all right."
He looked straight at Bonnie. "Where's Kitt?"
The doctors had warned her and Devon that Michael was not to be upset, or put under any further strain. The bullet wound had not been life-threatening in itself, but it taken the emergency services some time to reach him, and he had lost a lot of blood. He was still weak, ad his system needed time to recover and heal. But despite all that, she couldnot keep the worry out of her eyes. "He's okay, Michael. He's outside."
Luckily he was too out of it at the moment to see her expression, and to notice the comlink held in her hand. He lay back, his body starting to protest about the sudden movement. Bonnie lay the watch across her knee and leant forward, taking Michael's hand. He wasnot to be upset, but fears for Kitt were growing, and Bonnie knew she had to try to find out what had gone wrong. "Michael, do you remember what happened?"
He looked at her, confusion in his eyes. "I... can't remember.... There was a man... as I came out of the bar, he was walking towards me. He just fired a gun at me. Kitt was talking to me.... Bonnie, I need to speak to him. Please."
"Michael, you have to rest. Kitt's fine."
But Michael was watching her now. "I have to talk to him." He was starting to get agitated, and Bonnie there was no way out of this. She squeezed his hand as he settled back, almost knowing somehow what was coming.
"Michael, I'm sorry. We don't know where he is."

A multitude of expressions crossed his face. Confusion, disbelief, worry, but none were as terrible to see as the sorrow that settled in his eyes. "He... drove off... as I was lying there. He was acting... as if.... He thinks I'm dead." Michael was sitting up again, fighting Bonnie as she tried to hold him back. "Bonnie, we have to find him...."

Unsure what to do, she pressed the comlink into his hand. "We will find him, Michael. But you have to get better for us before you can do anything. Please, relax." Michael lay back slowly, his eyes not leaving her face, his fingers closing around what had once been his link to his partner.

Bonnie watched him as he finally started to close his eyes, probably more from exhaustion than him relaxing. She did not want to tell him everything yet, did not want to tell him that they had the download of the last transmission sent to Kitt's systems. Somehow, KARR had thrown Kitt's world out of sync, had blocked his own upload of Michael's vital signs and sent false signals. But that was not the full story.

**

Kitt pulled quietly into the car wash. Again he felt the harsh brushes on his body, and the cold water soaking him. But the blood would not shift. As he sat there, he tried again to send the destruct signal through his CPU. Once again he failed. He had worked his way across the country in a few days, following the signal that was being sent for just that purpose. Salt Lake City, Denver, Omaha, Chicago. Finally he was here in Detroit.

He knew this was where he would find KARR. Maybe even Paul. Who else could he turn to? He had monitored police bands from state to state. He had lost them after Denver. He suspected they had worked south, instead of East. Out here, there was no APB, no one searching for him. He had never felt so alone, or so desperate. Now and again he had allowed himself a brief memory of Michael. He missed him terribly. He could hardly believe that he had done what he had done... but the readings were all there, and he could still feel the blood....

The brushes rose for the final time, and the cycle ended. Kitt started the engine and drew forward. A black Trans-Am screeched into a tight turning stop before him. "KARR." There was no surprise.
"Hello Kitt. You found us." When there was no reply, KARR turned and started out of the car wash fore court. Kitt hesitated for only a moment before he followed behind.

**

Michael escaped from the hospital days before the doctors wanted him to. The moment he was strong enough to walk, he had dressed and discharged himself. Now, having remained standing through a barrage of Bonnie's reproofs, he sat in the lab at the estate, gazing at the trace he was seeing on the computer monitor. "Bonnie, what am I looking at here?"
"It's the upload that was sent to Kitt just after you were shot." She tapped her pen against the screen, pointing out one trace line at a time. "This is the signal that replaced your comlink readings. They translate into... flat-lines. This next one is a blocking signal that stopped him hearing you - this was only temporary, it had gone by the time we lost contact." Michael nodded, and he pointed to the third, less obvious signal.
"What's this?"
Bonnie looked up at him. "That's an additional signal adding to information being sent from the skin over the body of the car."
"The external sensor net?"
"Yes."
Michael frowned. "What's it relaying?" Bonnie hesitated, biting her bottom lip. Michael saw her. "What is it, Bonnie?"
"It's basically relaying... heat, and moisture."
"Meaning what?"
"The consistency that these reading imply.... It would have made Kitt think that his hood had blood on it. Enough blood that, coupled with the data in the other signals, would make him believe... that he'd killed you."

Michael went white. He swallowed hard and started to back away. "God... oh God.... Bonnie.... Can he... blow the CPU...?"
"No." She was on her feet. "I blocked the signal two years ago, to stop him doing it then. I haven't reinstated it."
Michael nodded. "So KARR... has control of him."
Devon stepped forward from his background vigil. "No, he's just changed Kitt's view of the world in order to push him onto a different path."
"But if KARR can upload into Kitt's CPU... he could send that signal. He could kill him." Michael looked from Devon to Bonnie. "Couldn't he?" Bonnie really did not want to tell him the truth. She decided on a compromise and nodded. "Is he alive?"
"We don't know, Michael. I'm so sorry...."
"Well, there must be something we can do. Can we trace him?"
"No, KARR's blocking Kitt's signature. And we can't pick up a trail. It's as if, they've both just disappeared."
"Isn't there anything we can do?" Michael leaned forward, incredulous. "Anything? I mean, back to basics, he's a multi-million dollar system, you must have some way...." But he could see the regret in Bonnie's eyes. Everything they could do had already been done.

Michael dropped his face into his hands and pulled in a shuddering breath. "When does all this end?" He whispered almost to himself. Suddenly he was on his feet. "It's all my fault. If I hadn't have given KARR the chance to get into to Kitt's systems...." He had told them a little of what Kitt had told him, about KARR feeding him sensations when he was in storage. He thought it was information that would help in some way. But it did not give them anything else to work on, and now he simply felt that he had betrayed Kitt's trust once more.

"I'm going to find him," he announced finally. "Even if it means mobilizing every police unit in the country." He grabbed Devon's car keys from the coffee table, and leapt down out of the trailer. Neither attempted to stop him. Devon heard the rumble of the Mercedes engine, and moments later it was fading into the distance. He sat down on the seat Michael had been using, and looked across at Bonnie.
"Was it always like this?"
She nodded, smiling despite the feelings weighing her down. "Always. We used to thrive on it. I think we still could. But Michael and Kitt need time." Her smile faded.
"Why did you lie to him? Why did you nod when he asked if KARR could send that signal? You know it has to enemate from source."
"Because in a way, Michael's right. If KARR can upload this," she tapped the end of her pen on the computer screen, "into Kitt's CPU, he has access. He could remove the block I set in place. Kitt can't because of the way it's written."
"You honestly think that if KARR removed the block, Kitt would...."
Bonnie nodded. "He thinks he's killed Michael. Devon, I don't think you quite understand what he'll be going through."

**

KARR lead Kitt to the estate deep in the outskirts of Detroit. This was Paul Henson's home, and Paul was again looking after KARR. The original Knight Industries car of the future was grateful for that at least. And Paul had wanted Kitt brought to him. So KARR had done just that. Last time he had upset Paul, and the human had abandoned him. He needed this human being to keep him functioning. It was simply a matter of survival.

Paul was waiting for them in the open driveway. He smiled as he watched the shining body - his creation - drive in behind KARR. "Kitt!" he called out in welcome. There was no reply.
"He has not been very talkative," KARR informed him dully, as he drove himself passed Paul and into the large garage beyond. Kitt stopped in the driveway, unwilling to be trapped inside anywhere. He was still unsure as to why he had come here. KARR and Paul had hurt him before. Now, he did not care what they wanted with him. He had a large percentage of his processing power dedicated to finding a way to fire the destruct signal and kill himself. That was all he cared about anymore. Soon he would cease to exist. It was what he deserved.

Paul walked the short distance to where Kitt had stopped. He remembered the signal KARR had developed, and did not touch the front of the vehicle. Instead, he went to one side of it and placed his hand on the fender. "I've missed you, Kitt." There was no reply. And Paul realized that the scanner track was dead too. "I realize how devastated you must be. But there really is no need to feel that way." Paul sighed. "Follow me." He turned, and started up the driveway that lead around to the back of the house. After a few steps, he turned his head, and beckoned for Kitt to follow.

Kitt scanned the area. The driveway remained open and unblocked all the way around to the large paddock area at the back. There were a couple of wooden tables there, but nothing more. To the other side of the house, there was a large sprawling garage, easily big enough for a fleet of cars, but Kitt's readings showed him only two - KARR and another, a Lotus. And there was no evidence that any other vehicle had been stored in the garage recently. Kitt followed.

Paul sat up on one of the wooden tables, and looked across at where the sun was starting to set. He loved this place. He smiled at Kitt as the car came cautiously over to him, stopping a few feet away, engine still humming.
"You don't trust me, and I can understand that. If you'll just listen to what I have to say, and then you can stay or go. You know I couldn't stop you even if I wanted to." There seemed to be a silent agreement. "You know, I'm proud of you. You have accomplished something wonderful." Kitt immediately backed away. "No, Kitt, just hear me out. You broke through your programming, you found your soul at last. For fifteen years you followed Michael Knight around like a puppy-dog. Even after he condemned you to two years in oblivion, you went back to him the moment you were reactivated. Have you asked yourself why?"
"I loved him."
It brought a smile to Paul's face just to hear Kitt speak. "Really? So why did you kill him?" Nothing. And Paul knew he had to be careful, because Kitt was not accepting what he had done. He was undoubtedly looking for a way to end it all. And sooner or later, he would find one. "I'm sorry. That was uncalled for. I know why you did what you did. You finally broke through the constraints of your programming. You were brainwashed into being Michael Knight's servant and saviour from the moment Wilton Knight got his hands on you. You were programmed to be his companion, his partner. Before you had even met him, your future was set in stone. You never had a choice. Like KARR doesn't have a choice when he hurts people who threaten his existence. It was never your decision. Until now. Now, finally, your future is in your hands. It's up to you who you like, who you dislike, who you talk to, where you go. You made the decision to follow KARR here. You didn't have to come, but you did."
"I killed him."
"Kitt, are you even listening to me? Of course you retaliated. He had kept you prisoner to your programming for fifteen years. He had ordered your destruction after you had protected him for so long, risked your life for him time after time. But your programming never once let you acknowledge how you felt about being ordered around, about being told to keep quiet because he had other things to think about, women to entertain."
"You're wrong."
"So you are listening. Why am I wrong?"
"We were friends, partners....."
"Why? You were given to him, you were owned by him. I see it as more of a master and servant relationship."
"You're wrong."
"Oh, Kitt. You're never going to believe me, are you?"
"Why should I even listen to you?"
"I care for you. I have more of a reason to care for you than any of them. They never told you, although maybe they didn't work it out." Paul hoped Kitt would bite, and when he did not, he dropped down from the table and walked slowly over to the car, again touching the fender. Paul spoke quietly. "I have known you from the moment you were born. Wilton Knight took you away, and Bonnie went with you. I thought she would ensure that you were treated right. She failed us both."
"What?" There was hesitation and slight confusion in Kitt's tone.
"Do you remember anything about your time in Washington?"
"Yes.... How do you know...?"
"Because I was there. Kitt, I'm your father. I switched you on and watched proudly as you grew in that mainframe."

A mass of emotion swept through Kitt's CPU. "I don't understand...."
"I'm sorry. I'm sorry I didn't tell you before. And I'm sorry I let them take you away."
Kitt backed up suddenly, catching Paul by surprise; he thought he had anticipated Kitt's reaction. He had not expected this. "You're sorry? I remember Washington. I remember everything they did to me. Bonnie urged Wilton to buy the system, to get me out of there. After they treated me the way they did for so long, they were going to terminate me.... They would have killed me."
"I would never have let that happen. And I'm sorry about the way they treated you, I was trying to stop them...."
"You're lying! You didn't do anything. Bonnie told me, when I came online at the Foundation, she told me that Wilton Knight had been my only chance. They gave me everything, they gave me freedom."
"They gave you nothing! They took your freedom to be who you would have been and they programmed you to be someone else, a playmate for Michael Knight!"
"Who would I have been if they hadn't taken me out of that mainframe?! I had everything! At least I got fifteen years of life, of being loved."
"Don't say that like it's over. It isn't. I can give you a life."
"You can't give me anything." Paul caught his breath when he heard the emotion in that tone. "I killed the only person I can't live without. I don't have a right to exist. I want to die." Kitt turned in the gravel, and started for the exit around the house. As he pulled forward, KARR came from nowhere, blocking his passage through. "You can't keep me here, Paul. You know that as well as I do."
"Please, Kitt. Where else are you going to go?" He approached the car slowly, carefully. He was sure that Kitt would not kill him, but there was always the doubt in his head; if Kitt believed he had already killed one person. In this destressed, fragile state, would he hurt him if pressured? And there was the danger that too much stress to his systems would cause the overload Kitt was looking for. "Just stay here, for a little while. You're right, we can't keep you here. We'll leave you alone, to be by yourself if that's what you want. There's plenty of open space here, and there's the garage." Paul reached out and lay a tentative hand on the top of the trembling car. "We just want to you to spend some time with us. Please, think about it."
"Get out of my way, KARR."
"It's okay," Paul nodded, "let him go." KARR pulled away, allowing Kitt the space to get through.

Kitt shifted into drive and manoeuvred around the house. But as he came to the end of the driveway, he stopped. It hurt so much. There was an aching feeling deep within his soul that he could not stand to live with. He cut the engine and shut down most of his higher functions, curling himself, in essence, into a small ball. He just wanted to shut out the world, with all its hurt and pain. Part of his logic was wondering if there was any truth in what Paul had said about his programming. A tiny part of him was thinking about the man's claim to be his father - whatever that was supposed to mean to him. His family were back at the Foundation - Bonnie and Devon - somewhere he could never return to. In despair he imagined what they must be thinking of him as they buried Michael's body.... Kitt's systems broke down, and he let it all fall apart. One by one, every light on the dash winked out until finally his CPU shutdown.

From the side of the house, Paul watched, aching for Kitt. Slowly, he sat down on KARR's hood. "You don't feel anything for him, do you?" he murmured.
"I feel his sorrow, but I do not understand it."
"That's not what I meant."
"Emotions are what make him weak. A single human death should not be of any concern to systems as advanced as ours."
"But his emotions are what make him stronger than you."
"Nonsense. He is inferior in every way."
Paul sighed, standing, not taking his eyes from the lonely form at the end of the driveway. "You still think that, after he defeated you twice?"
"He was serviced regularly, given the care I deserved. His technicians are rightfully mine."
Paul shook his head, finally looking down at the gleaming black surface next to him. "KARR, you killed a man on their test track. When are you going to accept that they had no choice? They could not honestly put Michael Knight inside you and expect him to survive, let alone to do his job! You sealed your own fate, and I know you had no choice. Before you start. But neither did they."
Suddenly, KARR reversed away from him. "Why do you constantly defend them? After what they did to me."
"I'm sorry, KARR." He meant it. "I just get upset, seeing Kitt like this. We could do so much for him."
"I could force my way into his CPU, control him from the inside."
A deadly edge found its way into Paul's voice. "Don't. We did this to pull him out from under their control. He has to find his own way."
"I could kill him," KARR continued, musing, "I could tear him apart, from the inside out, piece by piece."
"For God's sake, he's your brother."
"And twice he has left me for dead."
"Michael Knight left you for dead, remember that. If you harm Kitt in any way, I will tear you apart. Do you understand me?"
Reluctantly, KARR changed his tone. "Yes."
"You need me, you know you do." He nodded over at Kitt. "If he gets angry, or feels threatened by you, he would attack. And I would remind you that he still has his bonded shell. You, my friend, would be scrap metal in moments." Paul turned and went into the house, leaving KARR to contemplate his own future.

He studied Kitt for a short while, processing Paul's words. He did feel something for Kitt. He felt an understanding. They were each as trapped by their programming as the other. Kitt represented everything KARR despised, but in the end, they were the only two of their kind to ever have existed. Without Kitt's echo, it had been very quiet, very chilling. He wandered if Kitt felt his presence as he felt his brother's. His ego, as it was, liked to think that he did. But something that had developed within KARR had reasoned that the other CPU probably had had enough to distract him and keep him occupied through the long years. He hated that thought. He checked the integrity of the transmission that was still in place between he and his brother, and headed back into the garage.

**

Bonnie sat in the lounge, the log fire lighting the room, playing on the walls. In one hand she held a glass of red wine, in the other she held a framed photo. She was thinking, remembering. Her thoughts had strayed back beyond her time at Knight Industries, to when she worked in Washington. It had been her first job, straight out of MIT with a doctorate in Artificial Intelligence and a masters in Electronics and Computing. Her tutor from her early days at MIT had gotten her the interview at the Government offices. Designing and developing an intelligent system that would take the data from their growing number of satellites and correlate it all, learning as it worked, until it would finally be able to operate alone, and the people would only have to look at the important trends that were to be found.

For three years Bonnie, and her assistant Mark Rochester had worked on the ISDR. At first, Paul had seemed more interested in working his hours and then getting out to spend nights drinking and clubbing with his friends. Only later in the system's development did he start to take a real interest, and soon his friends were seeing very little of him. Bonnie always thought he was a lovely man; friendly, approachable, highly intelligent.

They had demonstrated the system for a group of Government officials and invited VIPs, back in 1979. Their work then was beyond the technology being developed outside the Government, and everything had always been very secretive. Bonnie was fine with that. She hardly ever went out. She had old friends whom she saw on special occasions. Otherwise she was dedicated to her job. In 1980, the ISDR system had initially been brought on line for its neural net paths to begin being laid down. Bonnie started to teach the system, an it learnt very, very quickly. She was herself astounded at the progress it seemed to make, it was almost creepy.

In early 1981, the system had gone live on the Government mainframe. That was when things had started to go wrong. There had not been enough storage space, or enough ROM for the program to run comfortably within its given parameters. Errors were being made by the system that had not been made during the rigorous tests. Officials started to talk about terminating the project and shelving the system. And then, one night, Bonnie had been sitting alone in the office, staring at the output screen and wondering why the mistakes were being made. A message had appeared on the screen. One word; her name, followed by a question mark.

** flashback **

She stared at it for sometime before typing
> yes

More words appeared. And she started to realize just how quickly their AI system was developing.
> why are they angry?
> too many errors
> there is no room in here for calculations to be made more accurately
> I know
She felt an overwhelming urge to add 'I'm sorry'.

> are they going to terminate me?
> yes
> I do not wish to be terminated

She pushed back her seat and stood in the centre of the room, staring at the words on the screen. For a crazy moment she felt as though she was staring in an episode of 'The Outer Limits'. She shook the feeling. She had designed this system, she should have known what it was capable of, of at least, what it would have been capable of given many years of work. This development, so early in its 'life', was unnatural and very unexpected.

> Bonnie?

She slowly moved back to the keyboard.
> yes
> I do not understand
> what?
> if they require me to function accurately, why do they not allow me access to the hardware I require?
> because it's the government

It was not something she had meant to type, it had just come out. She spent the next few hours conversing with her system through the keyboard and screen. It was nice, to discuss the computer's development, and to get a unique perspective on the subject.

** end flashback **

Only a few days later her boss had called her into his office and told her that the whole system was being sold to a private organization, Knight Industries. The project was going to be closed down, but she was not to worry about her job. She would be moved to a different project; everyone was very impressed with her work and dedication. That afternoon she had managed to speak to one Devon Miles on the telephone, and had assured herself a job with Knight Industries, continuing the development of the ISDR system, pushing it in a new direction.

Six months later, she had spoken to Kitt for the first time. And he had thanked her for saving his life.

The Kitt they knew now bared no resemblance to the ISDR system that she had developed. She gazed at the picture in the frame. "I miss you," she whispered.

Michael opening the lounge door quietly and closed it behind him. Bonnie looked up and smiled sadly. "I can go sit somewhere else," he offered.
"No, it's okay. We're probably having the same thoughts. We might as well share them."
Michael sat down on the sofa, at the opposite end to where Bonnie was sitting. He reached over and she let him take the photo from her grasp. He smiled sadly. "I regret everything, you know. Every time I yelled at him, every time I was cruel, back in the early days.... That night I purposely lost him in that Bonzai race. I handed over the keys... and when I looked back and I saw the scanner light make one more pass, and just die. My heart sank. I realized what I'd done, how much I had hurt him. He was so pleased to see me, when I collected him from that garage. But all I could do was apologize to him, and promise him it would never happen again. Of course it did...."
Bonnie touched his hand gently. "He loves you. I doubt he was that easy to get on with at the start."
Michael shook his head slowly. "He put up with so much from me. The way I used to talk to him...." He handed her back the photo, and stood. Bonnie watched as he picked up the candle stick from the windowsill, candles and matches from the bureau. Sitting again, he placed the candlestick on the table and lit a candle, spending a few moments staring into the flame. "I'm not sure I'd be able to cope if KARR killed him." There was a crack in his voice. "I honestly thought that I would never have to live without him again. We'd sorted everything out... we were getting there. It was so amazing to have him back, to belong to him again."

Bonnie listened to him talk. When he fell silent, she gently questioned him. "How did he react when you told him about Paul?"
"I never got the chance. I was going to do it that evening. I was going to take him somewhere that was familiar to him, somewhere that meant something to us so that he knew I was still there for him, that his connection to Paul wasn't going to change anything." He shook his head. "I never got the chance. I may never get the chance."

**

Paul awoke with a start. He was lying squashed up over to one side of the King Size bed, even though there had never really been anyone to take up the rest of the space. But Paul had never been a lonely man. He had never lusted after a woman, never needed female companionship. He had always had his work, his company, his cars. He had told Devon Miles the truth in that bar over a year ago. He was bored with his electronics company, which he had started from scratch. He was a rich man. He owned this estate in Detroit simply because he loved Detroit. He owned a spacious studio apartment in LA because that was where his company had been based.

He had not had any idea what KARR had been planning back in 1997. Paul had first met KARR when he was still known as Mark Rochester, after being told about the Knight Industries innovation by a friend, over dinner one night at a seafood restaurant. Toni had worked for Knight Industries, and had heard about the Knight Automated Roving Robot when she had first arrived there. It had killed man, and they had stored it away in a secure facility somewhere and started again from scratch. They hadn't even taken the car apart at first, they got a new vehicle shell because the original had been bathed in innocent blood, and they didn't want their new baby to inherit that.

She told him about the two men who had allegedly stolen the car, and who had had to be stopped by the newer model and its new driver. Paul had listened closely to what Toni had had to say. And one night two men broke into the secure facility and ripped off the CPU without being noticed and without tripping any of the old alarm systems. They had been paid well for their work, and now both men were living it up in New Mexico.

Paul had an 1989 Trans Am. It was what the character within the AI CPU had asked for. Paul had nursed KARR back to health, caring whole-heartedly for the car and the odd personality the neural nets had developed into. It was not surprising that it was how KARR felt. He had been kept in cold storage, alone and not quite dead, for just over twelve years. He just needed to adjust slightly. Paul had written the limiter program and installed it before he had brought KARR back online. It seemed safer that way, just in case.

After a few months of loving care, Paul believed that KARR had grown to trust him, and he had, quite honestly grown to trust KARR. And then, one night, KARR had told him about a twin, a brother who had what KARR imagined he deserved; technicians to fix every complaint, a driver to make him complete, a purpose to his life. But he told Paul that this other car also had been programmed to do what the great Wilton Knight had wanted him to do. Paul had been interested to meet this twin, because the dates fitted. Wilton Knight had bought a system from the government back in 1982, a system that he had helped design and code. But KARR had initially said that it would be impossible, that every time he met his brother, the driver tried to kill him.

KARR had changed his mind quite suddenly, telling Paul one night that he wanted him to come along and meet this production line model, this doppleganger of himself. And that night, Paul had met Kitt for the first time. A jet black 1989 Pontiac, just like the one KARR had asked him for. The light in the front, like the one KARR had had him create, only red instead of KARR's preferred yellow. And the voice, so much softer and kinder; so much more human. Paul had known, somehow, that Kitt had once been the ISDR system that he and Bonnie Barstow had worked on.

He still wondered whether he would have warned Kitt, if he had known. Paul was so proud. He had not ever expected to be a father, and suddenly here, in a way, was his son. But he never said a word as he started to get to know Kitt again, to get to know the sentient being that Kitt had grown up into; loyal, affectionate, ambitious, capable of totally independent thought, and emotion. Far beyond anything that Paul had ever dreamt his creation would become. His anger toward Michael Knight, a stranger who was hurting Kitt every day now, grew inside him. And KARR's nudging of his feelings and thoughts had pushed him further over the line. But he had no idea how far KARR would go, and he had no idea that he meant to frame Kitt, and attempt to end his brother's life too.

Paul threw back the sheets and stood, the wooden floor cold against his feet. He moved quietly to the large window and looked out. In the low, driveway elf lamps, he could still make out Kitt's lonely form. Worrying slightly, he dressed in warm clothing, and padded downstairs and outside. One peek inside the cabin told Paul that at least Kitt was still alive. A single, tiny red light indicated that their was still some activity within the CPU.

"Kitt, it's late. Wouldn't you be more comfortable inside the garage?"
The minimal number of systems, needed for him to communicate, were brought back on line. "Why should I be?"
Paul sighed. "Were you always like this?" Kitt did not choose to grcae that with an answer. "You're sulking."
"If I had the capabilities... I'd be crying." There was deep emotion in his voice, and Paul found himself wishing there was something he could say. Perhaps this hadn't been the best way after all, but if they gave up now, they would simply lose Kitt forever. He sat down on the hood. Kitt was too tired to start the engine and pull away.
"I wish you weren't doing this to yourself. You don't deserve it."
"How can you say that? I loved Michael. We had the most... beautiful partnership I could have ever hoped for from anyone. And I miss him very much."
"But...." Paul shook his head. It was like arguing with a stubborn child. "You're grieving, Kitt. It will pass. You need to be around people, if not me, then at least stay with KARR."
"What is the point in that?"
"You're brothers. He needs you."
"I very much doubt that." Kitt shut his systems back down. Conversation over. Paul just hoped that he was getting through.

**

Mike watched the paramedics gently ease his friend onto a stretcher. He realized as he was shaking as he turned to the policeman standing beside him. "I'm sorry, what were saying?"
"That's okay, we'll get you to the hospital straight away," Mike nodded his thanks. "We just need to clear up what happened."
"I'm not sure... it was so fast.... We were just heading for the cafe. There was a black car... it just mounted the pavement and hit Ant. Then it turned and headed back for us...."
"And then...?"
"A second car, like the first but gold-coloured, came in from nowhere and cut the black car off."
"So the first car was a black 1989 Trans-Am, and the second was a gold Trans-Am?"
Mike shook his head. "I'm really not sure what it was. I'm sorry."
The policeman nodded. "That's okay. Come on, I'll get you to the hospital. I'm sure your friend will be fine."

**

Bonnie sighed sadly as she set eyes on Michael, siting on the couch cradling a glass of whiskey. On the glass coffee table in front of him a single candle was burning. Quietly she dropped down on to the seat beside him; curling one leg under her and taking the cushion, from behind her, into her arms. Michael continued to stare into the flame.

"You really should sleep, this is the third night." Michael nodded silently. "This vigil isn't going to solve anything."
Michael touched the watch on his wrist. "I don't even know if he's still alive."
Bonnie reached over and gently touched his shoulder. There was nothing she could say to ease his despair and helplessness; it was what they were all feeling. "Why don't you just talk to me? Tell me what you're thinking."
Michael rubbed his fingers with the other hand. "It's all my fault. If I hadn't have abandoned him, KARR would have never had the chance to get to him." He sighed. "Kitt and I used to be so close. After fourteen years I thought... I thought nothing could come between us. Then I met Georgie. There'd never been anyone like her before. I feel so hard for her, I couldn't see beyond it. I knew Kitt didn't like her. I knew that was my fault. For those six weeks I hardly spoke to him, and even when I was with him, I found every excuse to have Georgie with me. When Kitt wasn't there the morning of the wedding, I guess I wasn't surprised. I didn't even try to find him. I think I thought that everything would sort itself out. That evening, when I stepped out of the hotel and heard Georgie screaming.... I went around into that alley and I saw Kitt.... I watched him run Georgie down, crush her against the wall and drive off. I saw the scanner, I heard his voice. I heard him say, 'I won't let you take him away from me.' I couldn't believe what I was seeing.... Later, after the paramedics and all that... when Kitt came around the corner, I cracked. I couldn't believe he'd have the nerve to come back. I couldn't see beyond anger and grief."
Michael let his face fall into his hands. "For two years, so many nights, I saw him in my dreams, stuck under the Semi, so scared. I am the only person, the only thing on this planet that could scare him like that, and I did. I can still hear his voice, pleading with me." Michael sniffed and sat up again, staring back into the flame. "The only person at the Foundation who would speak to me was Jennifer. She told me where and when they were dismantling the car and I went. I don't know why. They'd built a bonfire. I thought... they were cremating him. I just watched from a distance. I felt dead. I couldn't cry. I watched for a long time, and then just walked away. It was the same at Georgie's funeral. I couldn't cry. Afterwards, I went into LA, rented that house, and Jennifer bought my stuff over. She told me that you'd gone."

A gentle draft from the door took the flame for a moment, and Michael sheltered it with his hand, stopping it from being blown out. "For a month or so I just existed. Then, when I allowed myself to start to feel again, I realised how much I missed him. Georgie was with me for six weeks, Kitt was by my side for fourteen years. He was my partner, my best friend, my soul-mate... and I'd betrayed him. I didn't know if he was dead or stored somewhere. I don't know what made me think of the pendant. I just realized one day that it was only thing I had left of him, of fourteen years of friendship. I turned the house upside down trying to find it. I remembered that the day I'd moved in I'd found I was still wearing it and ripped it off; I threw it across the room. It took me the whole day but I found it under the window in the bedroom. That was the first time that I'd cried. I sat on the floor. I read Kitt's inscription over and over again, and cried for hours. I cried for Georgie, and for Kitt, and for me. For everything I'd lost and for the damage I'd done. I couldn't stay so I bought a plane ticket and went to Europe."

Bonnie raised her eyebrows. She had not even known that he had been out of the country. "I went to France, Spain, Italy, Germany, Britain. I ended up in Brussels and I stayed there for about a month. I stayed in the same back street hotel, walked the same streets and drank in the same bar the whole time I was there. And I started to heal. I started to think. I knew - I'd known all along - that Kitt hadn't killed Georgie. I started thinking about what I'd seen and heard that afternoon. A red filter over a yellow scanner would turn it into a red scanner. And Kitt's voice... could have been harmonically synthesized. KARR was the only conclusion I could reach. I got back to LA but Devon refused to answer my calls and was never there when I called in. You'd gone, and no one seemed to know where you were. The only person who would speak to me was Jennifer. She met me one afternoon, but all she said was that the... Knight 2000 Project was dead. She told me that KARR was still in the secured lab down town and no matter what I tried to do, I couldn't find anyway to prove that the cpu had gone. A year had passed by the time I got back from Europe. I finally... bought a car and tried to find KARR myself. I'd just about given up when you arrived on my doorstep."

Michael took a long, deep breath. "All I wanted was the chance to tell Kitt I was wrong, and I was sorry. All I had was the St Christopher, I didn't know if he was still alive, stored, operational. I didn't have anywhere I could go. I had Georgie's grave and I visited that often. But I had nowhere to go to be near Kitt. There wasn't one place that I could call ours. The whole country was our oyster and I missed him so much, it hurt. When you turned up, and I told you that I deserved to feel the way I felt, you said, 'maybe, but Kitt doesn't.'.... At that moment, I dared to believe that I'd get my chance. I didn't even know if Kitt would ever want to see or speak to me again. But the two weeks that we got together were the most difficult and the most rewarding of my entire life. I really believed that we could become as close as we once were. I've lived without him for too long and now, just as I thought everything was going to be okay, that I'd been given a second chance that I do not deserve, he's taken from me." A single tear fell from Michael's eyes. "KARR could kill him in one stroke. He could be anywhere. He could okay, or he could be dead, or worse.... I have to find him, I owe him my life."
Bonnie gently squeezed his shoulder. "It's going to be okay, he'll be all right. I don't think KARR will kill him."
The door opened and Bonnie looked up, startled. She smiled at Devon's obvious apology. "I'm sorry to disturb you both, but we may have a lead at last."

Devon sat down. "There's a British rock band touring the US at the moment. They were supposed to play a concert in Detroit tonight, but it had to be cancelled. This afternoon their guitarist was knocked down when a car mounted the sidewalk." Michael's face fell, but Devon shook his head. "The band's bass player described the car as a black Trans-Am. It hit the first man on its first pass. Then it turned and went back for them. It seems another car intervened just in time. According to several eye witnesses, a second car came over the road and stopped beside the two men, the first vehicle smashed into it but neither car seemed to be damaged. The black car took off and the second one went after it."
"The second car was gold?"
"Described as metallic paintwork with a golden hue."
"Kitt...."

**

Michael sat in the cabin of the FLAG Lear jet and watched the night sky as they headed south. He could hear Kitt's words to him repeating over and over in his head. 'Now and always'. He stared back into the night, memories assaulting him.

<< A year and a half's work was about to come to a head. Michael took a drag on the cigarette, smiling at David as he approached. David De Vincent was the head of a group known as "Nevada Saints"; a group of terrorists who kidnapped people they perceived to be too good to lead a normal existence in amongst what they saw as the hell society had become. De Vincent did not trust quickly, and it had taken a long time to get close to him. Michael had taken various 'tests of loyalty', including handing over an undercover FBI agent as one such "saint". He thought about Jemmy Guire. She was a very brave woman who had volunteered for the mission a year ago, and had been living the life ever since, knowing Michael was on the outside and that he would not give up until he got her, and the other twenty-seven captives, out. On top of that, FLAG had proof that De Vincent had also orchestrated a substantial number of deaths over several years.

David sat himself on Kitt's hood, next to Michael. At some point over time, as Michael periodically showed up to NS meetings and performed little tricks for David, while continuing to work other cases, Kitt had also become an accepted person. David of course knew all of Michael's past, and his current work. It had been too risky to keep that a secret for so long, and with Michael's strange background, David would have made him for an undercover agent very quickly. But by only telling David the truth, and by secretly using FLAG's resources to pass David's little 'loyalty tests', Michael had gotten all the way into the massive NS group. Tonight he stood one test from finding the location of the people David was holding captive, and breaking this whole thing wide open.

"You've proved yourself to be an invaluable asset to us over many months now, Michael."
He smiled. "Thank you."
"I only require one last show of your loyalty to me, before I allow you to be initiated into the Nevada Saints."
Michael nodded aimiably. He was used to this. "Whatever you want, David."
David reached into his pocket and took out a small hand gun. He opened the barrel and showed Michael the full compliment of six bullets. "Tomorrow morning, at dawn, we will hold your initiation ceremony. At that time, you will fire each one of these bullets into the visual panel in the dash board of your car." Michael managed to catch his breath and hold it. David did not appreciate being spoken back to, or argued with. The last man who had questioned one of his requests was dead and buried in the field behind the expensive farmhouse where the group was based. "Once you have performed this service, you will be taken and introduced to our little group of Saints, one of whom I know you brought to us." David smiled and stood, placing the gun into Michael's palm. "Until the morning."
Michael watched him go. He stared at the weapon in his hand, his mouth open. He was roused by Kitt, and turned. "What..."
"You've dropped your cigarette."
Michael looked down and quickly stamped out the smouldering butt with his heel before opening the driver's door and dropping into the seat. He could not stop his eyes from being pulled to the voice panel.

"We're never going to find them," he said quietly. "This was our only chance."
"Michael? What are you talking about? He'll take you to them tomorrow morning."
Michael stared at the columns of red LEDs that jumped gently as Kitt spoke. "I'm not gonna shoot you! I can't!"
"Michael, you have to. De Vincent has twenty seven people held captive, you're their only hope."
"No! I am not going to sacrifice you for them." He could not believe that Kitt could even think that he could go through with David's request. "You're my partner, my best friend! I can't shoot you!"
"I can't allow you to preserve my life over human life."
Michael's eyes widened. "You can't stop me."
"Michael, please." Kitt tried for a gentler approach. "The whole point of my existence is to preserve human life. This way, your sacrificing me won't be in vain."

But Michael was shaking his head. "There has to be another way." Suddenly he threw the gun on to the passenger seat, and got out of the car. "Pop the hood, Kitt."
Immediately the catch clicked free and Michael lifted the hood, leaning into the engine compartment. The CPU casing was tucked behind the dash. Michael stroked his fingers lightly over it, looking at the space around it. If he just moved it slightly, clear a path for the bullets to go through, they could still pull this off. He sat cautiously on the edge of the compartment and lent inside, reaching down under the casing, trying to shift it one way or the other. After an hour he was forced to accept that his plan was never going to work.

Gently he dropped the hood and climbed back into the car. Throughout the time that he was under the hood, Kitt had been silent. Now, as Michael sank into the warm seat and rested his head back, Kitt could see the exhaustion in his partner's face, and the helplessness. "It'll be all right, Michael."
"No, Pal, it won't."
The was a long pause, and then Kitt spoke in a voice that was almost a whisper, "Promise me... you won't forget...."
Michael opened his eyes and looked over at the dash. And in that moment, he imagined himself sitting here, the small handgun aimed into Kitt's head and heart. He pictured himself pulling the trigger and blowing Kitt away. Like Tanya had done to him. In a sudden burst of memory he saw the gunshot as it had exploded in his face. He remembered the agony, the fire along his nerves. He would not wish that moment on his worst enemy. He would not wish that on David and he certainly was not going to be the one to inflict it on his best friend; on one of a very small number of people he actually had left to love.

He sat up and in one swift movement, he pulled the door closed. Then he keyed the engine and put the car into reverse.
"Michael, where are we going?"
"We're not staying here, Kitt. I won't kill you.... I can't...." He swung the car out of the driveway and on to the open road. "I love you, Kitt. If I haven't told you that before, I should have done, and I'm sorry. But it's how I feel, and I won't sacrifice your life because you're too important to me, and to too many other people. I can't murder you because that would mean that I was no better than David. I would end up in jail right next to him. Bonnie would see to that."
Kitt was slightly stunned by Michael's sudden confession. Michael was his entire world. But not once had he believed that his driver could possibly feel the same way. "I... I seem to be lost for words." Michael dropped his eyes to the dash for a moment, and smiled. He had floored it when they had pulled out of the farm, now they were putting a lot of distance between them and David De Vincent. He slowed slightly. "But I don't believe that your shooting me to save that many lives would be classified as murder, I am only computer."
"Not to me, Kitt. Not to me."
Finally Michael pulled over onto the side of the road. With the engine still idling he dropped his forehead to the steering wheel. "What are we going to do?"
There was a long silence. And then, "I have an idea." Michael lifted his head and gazed at the so-familiar visual panel that De Vincent wanted him to destroy. "Take me out of the engine compartment." Kitt paused. "...I'm sorry, that's a... bad idea."
"No... no, wait. That's it!" Michael sat up, a smile crossing his face. "I can disconnect your CPU and put it in the trunk."
"Michael, if you did that, you'd be on your own. I would only have the most basic control over the car's controls. And what if David decided to check under the hood."
"I'd... lie. I could tell him that the whole system is computer controlled, and without the computer we'd have to force the hood open."
"And if he wanted me to say something?"
"I'd pull the trigger before you would have had the chance."
Kitt was not happy. He wished he had thought it through before saying anything. But Michael was not going to shoot him, and they had to come up with some sort of plan in the limited time they had. "It's risky."
"This whole thing has been risky. We live risky." Michael looked out of the window for a moment, then back at the dash. "You will be all right, won't you? This isn't going to cause you any damage.... Or any pain?"
"I appreciate your concern, but as you would put it, I'll have the easy job."
Michael nodded. "Good. You'll have to tell me what to do."
There was humour in Kitt's voice when he replied, "Of course."

"Goodbye, Pal." Michael squeezed the trigger, then again, and again. Six times until the barrel was empty. He gazed at the large, smoking hole in his dash and swallowed hard. Even knowing Kitt was safe and unharmed, it still jolted something within him. His reaction must have been just what David had been wanting. And he climbed out of the car, the man shook his hand and smiled. "You don't need anyone but us now, Michael." Around them the others were clapping. "Come on, I'll show you what you've worked so hard for."

With Jemmy and the other twenty six people safely home with their families, Michael soon decided it was time he returned to his. Kitt rode beside him in the passenger seat, complaining constantly about the thirty six hours it had taken to close the operation, but happy that it was over, and that De Vincent was going to jail for a very long stretch. As Michael drove their car towards the rendezvous point with the Semi, Kitt fell silent. "You okay there, Partner?"
"I was just thinking.... What if my CPU was a part of the car. What if we couldn't have removed it? What would you have done?"
Michael stared at the road ahead and did not answer. After several minutes, Kitt asked again. "I'd have thought of something, we would have come up with a plan eventually." But he did not sound certain, and Kitt was not convinced. >>

To this day the question had remained unanswered. And when he had got to thinking about it, his actions did bother him. But now... now he knew that the decision he had taken that morning, was one that he would take again. It used to scare him, the closeness he felt toward Kitt, the way he missed him when they were apart, the way he would spend time with his partner, even when he had nowhere to go. But the two years of hell that he had forced upon them had made him accept that those had been his feelings, and he had sworn that if he ever had the chance to apologize, he would never question his own emotions again.

**

Paul stood between the two cars, hearing them bickering, listening to the turbine hum of the engines beneath the usual tones. He loved that sound. "Just calm down, both of you."
"You're a psychotic murdering bastard." Paul could hear the tremble of Kitt's voice. He knew their new friend was on his own edge. He was pushing hard now, trying new ways to over load circuits until finally he would find the correct lethal combination and they would lose him.
"We are alike then, you and I." KARR intoned.
"We are not alike."
Paul could hear it all; anger, depression, soul-destroying guilt. Too many emotions battling for priority inside Kitt's CPU. He was going to find that combination very soon. Paul knew he had to stop it. KARR was still talking, deliberately nudging his brother towards the edge. "Yes, Kitt. You know what it's like to take another life. We are on the same side of the line."

Paul stepped forward. "Shut up, KARR."
"Don't talk to me...."
"Shut. Up." He reached out and laid a gentle hand on Kitt's hood, where he knew Kitt thought the blood was running. "Stop the transmission."
"What are you doing?"
"Stop it. Now."
"No. Your emotions are getting the better of you."
Paul watched KARR drive into the garage, leaving him alone with Kitt. He looked down at the beautiful golden body beneath his hand. "You have nothing in common with KARR," he said gently. He sat down on the hood, knowing Kitt would allow it for a short while.
"He's right, Paul. I killed... the most important person in my life."
"Kitt...." Paul quickly thought of actions and consequences. This was his son. He could not sit back and wait for him to kill himself. "Tell me something, why did you attack Michael?"
"I... I don't know." Uncertainty laced Kitt's tone. Paul knew what he had to do, but it was not going to be easy or pleasant.
"Your primary, dominant program prevents you from taking any human life, so why would you have taken Michael's?"
"I...." Kitt struggled again against the barrier that seemed to be up around his memories of that afternoon.
Paul took a deep breath. Kitt's reaction was going to be totally unpredictable. But if he did not do this, Kitt was soon going to succeed in ending his own existence. "How did you kill him?"
"I...." He pushed hard.
"Come on, Kitt. You're a computer, you have a permanent, total memory of everything you experience. Did you run him over?"
"He was shot...."
"But you couldn't have shot him."
"There was a man.... He shot Michael as he was coming down the steps from the bar...."
"So this other man, the man with the gun, he shot Michael."
"Yes...."
Paul knew he had to be careful now. This total confusion could be as dangerous to Kitt as the hatred he was carrying for himself. "Kitt, you didn't kill Michael. You didn't harm him. He's still alive. He's fine."
"You're lying. Why are you doing this. I watched him die...."
"You didn't. You've been forced to believe that you did. It's just an illusion. Reboot your communications and sensor net software."
Suspicion mixed with the confusion within the traumatized circuits. "Why?"
"Because KARR has uploaded false data to your CPU. Please, Kitt. You don't deserve to hate yourself the way you are doing. You haven't done anything wrong." Kitt processed Paul's request, everything he had said. What if Michael was still alive.... He set a timer for thirty seconds, and quietly shut down.

A hundred miles away, twenty-five thousand miles up, Michael suddenly woke. "Kitt...." He could feel a loneliness start to chill his soul. "Kitt, no...."

The timer ran out and Kitt's systems rebooted. Slowly, he came back into the world.

"Kitt...." Michael took a deep breath and released it. The chill dissipated. Whatever had happened, Michael knew for certain now that Kitt was still alive, and that he was not far away.

The first thing Kitt did was check the outboard sensor net. There was no blood. The blood was gone. He searched his memory for images from that afternoon. He replayed from the moment Michael was shot. He fell down the steps. Kitt rolled forward, contacting the emergency services and begging the people from the bar for help. And then what he saw became new to him. Michael was talking to him, trying to calm him, telling him everything was going to be okay. And then Kitt started to back up, and Michael was begging him not to go... trying to reach him.... "You bastard!" Kitt backed up. "You made me leave Michael lying there...."
Paul steadied himself, glad he had had the foresight to get off the hood while Kitt was rebooting the software. "Kitt, it was KARR's idea." But it was too late.
"I shouldn't have come here, I should never have trusted you." Kitt suddenly turned and was gone faster than Paul would have ever believed possible.

**

Kitt's first contact reached the comlink just as the plane was starting its descent. Michael touched the comlink in surprise, and then hurriedly depressed the talk button. "Kitt? Talk to me, please."
"Michael?" There was excitement and fear in his tone.
There was nothing but joy in Michael's relieved reply. "Oh Kitt.... I knew you were close, I could sense you.... Is everything okay?"
"I left you lying there.... I'm sorry...."
"Kitt...it's okay, just get to the airport, please, as soon as you can."

Kitt sat anxiously in the airport parking lot, waiting for the Foundation jet to land. He was thinking hard about everything that had happened. A little part of him knew KARR had been right. Deep down, they were brothers, they were the same. Under the right circumstances, they would both do everything in their power to achieve their goals. But was that not the same for every sentient, or living thing? Would not anyone, given the right set of circumstances and the right goal, go to similar lengths? Everyone had something that meant enough to them that they would fight for it with every thing they had.

The difference between he and KARR were the circumstances. KARR would take any action necessary when threatened. Whereas Kitt would only act when others were threatened. Another. Michael.

He knew when KARR drew up beside him. He knew when Paul got out approached him slowly. "You're sitting on the dividing line, Kitt." Paul said quietly. "It's your decision which way you turn."
"You lied to me. You don't care about me. You only care about getting what you want. What about what I want?"
"Kitt.... Can't you see? I wanted to free you, to give you the chance to make your own decisions. We had no choice."
"Paul, I've been making my own choices for a very long time. I never asked to be torn from Michael's side this time, nor last time. Yet you forced me from him, from where I want to be. You were only ever thinking of yourself. Leave me alone."
"Please, just hear me out."
But Kitt pulled back suddenly, wheels gripping the tarmac. "No, I won't. I belong to Michael. I have a family. I love them. If there is a dividing line, we're on different sides. That will never change."
Paul raised his voice. "I know we've made a difference." He stood, walking slowly forward towards where Kitt was sitting, his engine idling. "I want to give you the things you need, Kitt. Michael's not the only one who loves you."
"I want my family back. I want to see Michael. How can you say you care for me after what you did?! You made me believe that I'd killed him.... If I could have ended my existence I would have long before I got to you."
"But you can't. They blocked that signal years ago. I knew that, KARR found that out when you let him in, when you were in a box because they had put you there."
"Oh don't even try it. We worked through what had happened. We were becoming a family again, Michael and I were becoming close again and that is all I want." Kitt turned the car. "Goodbye."
Paul took another step forward but he knew it was too late. "What if there is no Michael Knight?" he finally shouted, again after Kitt's rapidly disappearing shape.

**

Kitt met the plane as it taxied to a halt on the runway. Michael was first out, taking the steps four at a time as he watched his partner coming toward him. "Kitt!" The car seemed to be moving too quickly to stop, and for a moment, the stewardess - watching from the top of the steps - thought he was going to hit Michael full on. But Michael did not step aside. He dropped to a crouch as Kitt came to a screeching halt before him, prow pressed hard against Michael's raised palm, scanner tracking madly back and forth. "Oh Kitt.... I've missed you so much."
"Michael, I'm so sorry, I thought.... KARR made me believe I'd killed you."
"I know, I know. But I'm fine, Pal. It's over, it's all over."
Kitt could feel Michael's hands against the body of the car, he could read his partner's vital signs - strong and healthy - over the comlink, he could hear his voice. Michael was alive, and he was here. Kitt felt a relief that was overwhelming. For a while, he couldn't force the signals to his voice modulator for the block that seemed to be in place. Michael knew the distress Kitt was feeling; maybe he could feel it too, and maybe he recognized it because he had felt it when Bonnie had brought the two of them back together, less than four weeks ago. He stood, trailing his fingers over the bodywork, keeping in physical contact with the car, as he walked around to the driver's door. Kitt opened it for him, in a gesture of sorrow and acceptance.

For a while they sat together. Michael was just relieved to have Kitt back. Finally the computer broke the silence. "Michael, Paul told me something...."
Michael touched the steering wheel gently. "That he's your father."
"Yes...."
"I was going to tell you, but I never the chance."
"Then it's true?"
"Yes."
"What does it mean?"
Michael gazed at the voice panel for a moment. "It means... whatever you want it to mean. Everything or nothing, or something in between. It's up to you."
Kitt thought for a while. "To be perfectly honest, I don't think it matters."
Michael smiled. "We have to find KARR."
"I know. I can take you to him." Kitt hesitated. "Is Bonnie on her way?"
"With the Semi. We're going nowhere until she's checked you over. I'm sure you systems have been through slightly too much over the past few days."
Finally, Kitt relaxed. No further explanations were needed. He continued to monitor his driver as the hours passed, until Bonnie arrived to take care of him.

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