As Knight Falls

By Dark Xena
 

It was dark. The cold spread through him quickly, freezing his body and his mind. Falling...falling into a pit that seemed to contain liquid shadow. //Noooooo...!// His mind shrieked, terrified beyond all thought.
//Help me!!// He cried desperately, to the only one who could hear him, his partner...//Kitt!!!!! Help me please! Help me!// He cried over and over as the cold swept through him. The cold burned and stung, trying to make him loose his grip on the thing holding him to sanity. Forcing him toward a huge black pit that he knew represented death. He screamed-
 

//Michael!! It's just a dream! Wake up Michael!// The familiar voice jolted Michael out of the terrifying nightmare and back into the real world. He sat up, realising he was in his own bed in his own personal apartment at the Foundation mansion.
//Michael?// His partner's questioning voice drifted through his mind. The warm presence comforting him as he had never known possible until only a short time ago.
//I'm okay Kitt. I'm still kinda shaken up that's all// It was true. The last case he had been on had been a complete nightmare. The woman they had been after was an expert in neurological science called Dr. Maria Bell. She had begun experimenting in the field of brainwave manipulation. Something that if properly used could improve the lives of millions of people. Unfortunately, she had not been interested in using her new technology properly, and set out to commit crimes using her machine to control people. When Kitt and Michael had eventually caught up with her, they learned that she already knew all about them. Including all the details on the newly established mental link between them. Maria had wanted to establish her own link between herself and a computer, desperately wanting the clearer thinking and split-second reaction time that were among the benefits of the link. So she had captured Michael, taken him to a secret lab and examined him. Put him trough a myriad of physical and mental tests that amounted to nothing less than torture. But worse than all that, worse than the most hideous physical torture anyone could devise, was that she had disrupted their link - Sometimes for just seconds, sometimes for hours at a time - and it had been horrible.

Michael shuddered violently at the memory. And suddenly felt the need to be physically close to his partner. So he pulled on some clothes and padded down the stairs to Kitt's garage. He stood in the door for a moment, admiring the sheer beauty of Kitt's form - the elegant lines and curves, the smooth sweeping of the red scanner and the reflected starlight on the gleaming black surface. It reflected the beauty of Kitt's mind, Michael thought to himself, carefully shielding that particular thought. He was so proud to be the only one who knew exactly how deep his partners beauty went.
"Are you going to just stand there all night?"  Kitt asked in a familiar teasing tone.
Michael just smiled, "I was admiring the view." He said, stepping out of the doorway and toward the custom TransAm. The door swung open on his approach and Michael climbed in without hesitation.
"Feel like a little sight-seeing partner?" A warm thrill of approval ran through him and the familiar turbine hum of the engine filled the garage. Michael smiled as the partners headed out into the night.

They stopped at a spot just outside the city that overlooked the bright lights and nightlife of the big city.
They were far enough away that the city below seemed unreal - like a hazy memory. Michael leaned back in his seat, relaxed and comfortable. He opened the sunroof and looked at the stars, simply enjoying the feeling of being out in the fresh air and being close to his partner, revelling in the soft warmth of Kitt's presence. He looked back at the dashboard, and as always his eyes fell on the triple columns of Kitt's voice modulator, feeling half in a daze, Michael murmured the question that had been bugging him for a while now.
"Kitt...do you believe in soul mates?"
Confusion flashed through the link for a second.
"Michael?" Kitt asked, puzzled.
Michael struggled for a way to explain himself. "I...well, I've had a lot of..." <Go ahead!> He thought, <Say it! 'Lovers'> "...relationships..." <coward> "...And I've never felt as close to anyone as I do to you."
"Michael...thank you. I told you once before, a long time ago, that the odds on my meeting a more compatible partner than you were around 1000 to 1."
Michael smiled, that had been during the very early days, when Michael and Kitt were still learning how to get along. Who would have guessed that they would become what they were now, "Yeah. What about it?"
"They are now around 3000 to 1." Kitt said.
Michael smiled broadly, and knew that this was the perfect time.
"// I love you Kitt //" He said, both verbally and mentally. Warmth infused him through the link, feeling like he was being embraced.
"// I love you too, Michael //" Kitt's voice was filled with something that sounded like awe.
Kitt was stunned. He had never expected Michael to actually say it. Of course, the link let Kitt to know that Michael felt it, but Kitt had not ever expected his partner to say it. In fact, he had never expected a conversation like this to take place between them. Michael had practically called him his soul mate! Kitt felt happy beyond words.

Michael leaned back into the plush seat once again. Kitt's presence in his mind felt closer than it ever had.
A strange feeling that he had never felt before ran through him. It was as though saying those simple words had opened a door. Mentally, he reached for Kitt, as he had done many times before, but this time it was different. As soon as he touched that bright presence, the link deepened to a level that they had never felt before. Michael gasped softly as the real world was replaced by a different kind of reality, a wonderful reality. Michael and Kitt coiled together, closer than they had ever been. Then, they joined. Merging together, two becoming one. Michael's back arched off the seat as a terrific burst of white light filled him, the most wonderful thing he had ever experienced, for a moment, he felt like he could touch the stars.

Kitt felt it too, waves of energy flew through him, a feeling that the AI had never dreamed existed. The twin sensation ran through them both, echoing back between them, amplified and sent back again.
Eventually, the two souls separated gently and with great reluctance. Returning to themselves.
Michael opened his eyes, slowly becoming aware of the real world that he really didn't want to go back to. He was breathing heavily, but he didn't care. Kitt's presence was still there in the back of his mind, warm and happy and satisfied.
"Kitt?" He asked, more to see if his own voice still worked than anything else.
"Michael...what was that?" Kitt asked, awe in his voice.
Michael had an idea, but didn't think now was the time to discuss it. "I'm not sure, partner." He said, "But I think we should get back to the foundation before sunrise."
"I suppose you are right Michael." Kitt said, starting the engine.
As the black TransAm rolled off back towards the city, something was bothering Michael, something had altered, but he wasn't sure what it was.
Anyone who knew tem both could have told him. Michael's voice now held some of Kitt's inflections and Kitt's voice now included some of Michael's easy-going tones. Almost as if they had left part of each other behind, bonding them even closer together.

THE END

By Dark Xena

 Feedback should be sent here: DarkXena@Warp10.zzn.com [hint, hint]