Calculating Pi to the Nth Degree
by elfin


Part One


"MICHAEL!!!!!"

He could feel the heat all around him. He could feel his protesting ribs, his arms trapped beneath him, the weight of his body pinned by charred rubble and burning debris. "Kitt?" His own voice was so weak he could barely hear it. //Kitt// More frightening than the explosion, more painful than his injuries, was the static darkness in his head. //Kitt Kitt Please//

//Mi //

It wasn't right. What he was hearing was distant, and when he tried to reach mentally for his partner, he couldn't. Couldn't reach, couldn't get close.

//Kitt Kitt are you ok//

//Ca Mi Ca//

//Kitt please Please Stay with me//

//Ca Mi//

//KITT//

~

"What are you reading?"

Nick looked up at the dark dash. "Why?"

"Michael Knight likes to listen to music when he and Kitt are on the road."

Lowering the book, he regarded his partner with an expression that was part curiosity, part suspicion.

"And? So? But? Therefore?"*

"I could locate a radio station to your liking."

He couldn't quite believe what he was hearing. "You don't have a stereo."

"I have several spare channels; I could easily use one of them as a tuner."

"That's it. I'm throwing them out as soon as we get back. They're having a bad influence on you." For a second he thought Karr wasn't going to take the bait, and smiled when he heard,

"You wouldn't."

"No point, is there? When you're constantly in touch with…" The car swerved suddenly, left then right, all over the thankfully otherwise empty road. Nick's book slipped into the footwell as he sat up to grab the steering wheel. "Karr?" Slamming his foot on the brake overrode Karr's control and they skidded to a halt at a thirty-degree angle to the edge of the desert road. "Karr, what the fuck happened?"

When he didn't respond, Nick tried an alternative approach.

<Karr?>

<Kitt. Something's wrong. He's gone. Nick!>

<Got his last known location?>

<Programmed and set>

Reaching for the fallen book and dropping it into the passenger seat, Nick turned the Stealth around.

~

The devastation was lit in strobing red and blue by the lights of the emergency vehicles. They stole across the silky black skin of the car as Nick got out and looked around, taking in the only two details that concerned him right at that moment. An ambulance was stopped to his left, close to what remained of the still-smouldering shell of the building. Two hundred feet or so away from the destruction, at the end of a long path of uneven scores and deep, ugly furrows cut into the stone-covered, weed-strewn track, the modified black TransAm was upside down, resting on its roof. Nick was surprised the wheels weren't spinning, but then maybe Kitt had run out of power, or maybe he'd accepted the futility of his position.

<The ambulance?>

<Michael Knight. He is unconscious but his vitals are strong, he has two cracked ribs, cuts and bruises and some minimal third degree burning. He will live.>

"Excuse me…?"

Nick turned, flashed a smile at the police officer, and produced from his pocket the FLAG card he'd stolen from the offices at the mansion last time he'd been there. "Nicholas Rosemont, Foundation for Law and Government. The man over there is another operative and that," he pointed at Kitt, resisting the urge to run to the other car, "is the Foundation's flagship. I need to know what happened."

The officer looked at him with eyes full of suspicion, but still he nodded. "We don't know for certain yet, but best guess right now is that your friend left his car just in front of the building and went snooping around the back. When the building exploded, with - according to the fire chief over there - the blast focused at the front here, he was thrown a few feet back, and the car was tossed over to where it is now."

Leaving them separated. Worse, leaving Kitt unable to physically reach his partner.

<Karr?>



<_Kitt?

<_K a

<_Kitt? What's wrong?

<_M i

Karr took a logical guess at what his brother was trying to say.

<_Michael Knight has some injuries. There is an ambulance here. I've scanned him, Kitt, he isn't badly damaged. I think you might be.

<_J a n



<Karr?>

<Nick, Kitt has sustained some considerable damage. Our link is… broken.>

<What?>

His partner sent nothing but a warning and that in itself was enough.

<Okay, okay. Any idea how to get Kitt back on to his wheels?>

Nick approached the distressed car, running his hand down the length of Kitt's dusty, dirty, but undamaged skin, feeling what was invisible to the human eye - the stress tremors running through the specialised body.

"Kitt, it's Nick. Can you hear me?"

"Ni... wh… Mi…."

"Okay, sounds like the connection to your voice modulator has become disconnected. We're going to get you back the right way up."

<Call Bonny>

<Already done. She'll meet us at the warehouse after she's been to the hospital>

<Thanks>

Karr rolled up to him.

<I need room>

Nick backed up, watched as Karr completed some silent and, apparently, disjointed communication with Kitt before tucking his prow under the upturned hood of the TransAm and slowly proceeding forward, edging himself under the heavy car until his fender was pushing against the windscreen, carrying on forward at a slight angle, easing Kitt up until he was standing precariously on his driver's side. With a smile, and with Karr preventing Kitt from falling back, Nick reached up, grabbed a hold of the front wheel, and pulled down with all his strength.

The TransAm dropped to all fours with a thud.

"Kitt?"

"Ni..."



<_Kitt?

<_K a



<He is unable to respond properly. There maybe connections that have become disconnected.>

"Pop the hood, Kitt. Can you do that?"

After a couple of seconds, a click told him that he had access to the engine compartment, a true show of trust, and Nick lifted the hood and peered inside. His eyes sought out the CPU and its position answered all his questions; either the force of the initial explosion or the impact of the ground over and over until the car had come to rest had knocked the CPU out of alignment, disconnecting it from the sensors, wires and pickups required for the links Kitt had with his own internal functions. Perhaps it had knocked the two links out too.

Nick swore softly under his breath. If Kitt's link with Karr was damaged, what if his link to the implant in Michael's brain was too? What if they'd been separated? Nick knew first hand, more times than he liked to recall, the shock of the dark emptiness left in the mind when their wasn't an AI connected.

Reaching under the hood, Nick carefully took a hold of the sides of the CPU casing, mindful of the live sensor on the top, and shifted it back into its correct position. There were no trailing wires, no dislocated cables. He could only hope….

"Kitt?"

"Nick! Michael's been hurt! I can't… I can barely feel him!"

"It's okay, Kitt. He's okay." He looked up as the ambulance drove off. "He's on his way to hospital." Immediately the TransAm's engine fired up. "No, Kitt, wait! We need to…." It was pointless. Nothing was going to stop Kitt from tailing the ambulance carrying his partner. Nick slipped into the Stealth which immediately turned to follow on his brother's tail.

"Any improvement to your link with Kitt?"

"No. His words are disjointed. They don't make sense." Nick could hear the disturbance in Karr's deep tones; he was worried, upset, scared even.

"I think his link to Michael is in the same state, which means he's all but cut off from both you and his partner."

<Nick>

<We'll fix it. We have to.>

He didn't really want to imagine what Kitt's state of mind was right now, didn't want to think about what would happen if the link had sustained permanent damage.

~

Kitt brushed a tendril of himself over the black space where Michael's presence usually glowed with an amber hue. It was splintered, a web of orange cracks where previously solid colour had, by way of its brightness, told him of Michael's proximity. Recently they'd used the link for a deeper intimacy than they'd ever shared, found that by focus and concentration, by blotting out the rest of the world, they could touch one another in a way that felt physical - like a stroking of Kitt's preceptors, like a caress over Michael's skin.

But it was gone - Michael was gone. Only… not gone. Lost - distant - like a telephone call made over a satellite link. Kitt could feel a shadow of his partner lurking way back behind the cracked place where the link usually shone bright, but he couldn't push through, couldn't reach him.

And his link with his brother too was damaged, like a bad broadcast, a weak radio station signal, parts of words missing, what was left not making sense.

He was cut off from Karr, cut off from Michael.

Worse. When the explosion - a bomb he hadn't detected? - had gone off, he'd been thrown like any old debris into the air, chucked so far across the dirty track, deposited on his roof so that not only couldn't he reach his partner through the link, he couldn't get to him physically either. He could recall with clarity his useless, helpless scream into the burning silence that had followed. Even the Comlink hadn't been able to give him access to the man whose voice, whose reassurance he'd so desperately needed to hear.

Now everything he had was in the back of the ambulance he was following. He was suddenly more aware than ever of Michael's mortality, and of how his whole life - his whole existence - was so dependent on a single human male.

Viciously holding back the terrible fear that was creeping around the edges of his consciousness, threatening to overwhelm, he concentrated on the ambulance, the route, and re-aligning the functions that had been taken off line by the jolt of the explosion.

~

Michael woke to a blinding pain at the back of his head and he knew in a moment what it was. It felt as if the implant itself was on fire and he recalled the impact of the building blowing up in his face, the heat of the fire as he'd lost consciousness, Kitt's name on his lips.

He cracked his eyes open, his head pounding with that simple movement, and saw Nick sitting on the edge of the bed he was lying full clothed on.

"You're in A&E. You've got a couple of cracked ribs, burns on your arms which they're about to treat, a minor concussion…."

"Fuck that, Nick," Michael interrupted him, edgy and with good cause, "where's Kitt?"

"He's still there. He's taken some slight damage but he's fine."

"He's not fine, believe me. He's like… fire in my head."

Nick shook his head. "The link's malfunctioning."

Screwing his eyes shut, pressing his fingertips into his temples, Michael groaned softly. "Make it stop, please," he muttered without hope.

"I'm sorry. I don't know how to. We need to get you and Kitt back to the warehouse, only then can we take a look at what's working and what isn't."

Michael immediately pushed himself up, elbows locking. "Then let's go."

Lightening fast, Nick reached out a hand and pressed it flat to his chest. "No. You're staying right where you are until they've treated the burns."

"I don't care…."

"I know you don't now. I know the pain from the link's obliterating everything else, but if they don't treat those burns you know the consequences. When we fix the link, broadcasting that kind of agony to Kitt isn't going to help the situation, is it?"

However much sense Nick was making, it was difficult to accept it, to pay attention to it. Carefully he touched the link again, mentally calling Kitt's name, and the response was like an electric jolt. He wasn't sure if his cry was out loud or just in his head, but he felt Nick's hand on his shoulder. Backing away from where his partner's bright light usually broadcast safety, love, and recently so much more, Michael tried to accomplish the impossible; to not think about what was happening.

~

Karr sat physically at Kitt's side in the underground hospital car park. The TransAm looked as dark as he'd ever seen it; windows blacked out, scanner track unlit.

It was uncomfortable not to have his brother's presence with him. Since their link had first stood completely there had only been a small number of occasions on which they had lost that connection entirely. Of course they blocked one another; when either or both pairs were on their own cases and when Kitt and his driver required privacy. The relationship between Kitt and Michael Knight now was something Karr still didn't understand, but he didn't have to. His secondary concern after Nick's safety was his younger brother's wellbeing and he knew without question that Knight would never cause Kitt intentional harm.

There were no blocks now. It was obvious that Kitt was trying to communicate. Partial words were coming through, but nothing definite, nothing that made any sense. Strange then that he could feel the desperation of the other AI; the terror and pain, presumably from his separation from his driver, were bleeding through. And a thought occurred that Kitt might not have the ability to re-align the link, but maybe he did.

He regarded the dark place where his link to Kitt sat in his CPU. If he was wrong he would surely make the situation worse. He might damage the link beyond repair, might damage Kitt further or cause himself harm. His own connection to Nick was separate, standing strong, and although he'd erected a light block, he could feel his partner's strength mingling easily with his own; perfect compatibility.

He dropped his block for a second.

<I'm going to try to reach Kitt>

<How?> The fluid response came back without pause; this was second nature to them now.

<By forcing myself into his CPU through the link>

<You said the link was broken>

<I think it requires realignment>

<And you can do that without harm to yourself or Kitt?>

<I don't know until I try>

He felt Nick's mild frustration and put the block back in place, turning his attention to his brother.

<_Kitt, if you can hear me, I'm going to try to break through to you. Don't panic, little brother, just stand back

<_K a d t h t y r f o n k

There was a frantic nature to the stream of random - or maybe not so random - letters coming through. Karr didn't know what to say so he said nothing. He drew extra power from his packs and gathered it up into the equivalent of an electrical surge, wrapping tendrils of his own self around it, spinning it, faster and faster until it crackled painfully through him. And in that nano-second he launched himself and it at the link.

Kitt's scream washed over him, and he was vaguely aware of Nick yelling something at him, but when the surge died down he found himself deep inside his brother's CPU, his own dark presence mingled with Kitt's bright white one. It wasn't that he could hear Kitt, not in words, but he could feel him everywhere, almost a physical part of him, his own immediate reassurance merged with Kitt's fear and distress, and all Karr could do was stay there, hugging in a way, quickly trying to make sense of where he was and how he'd got there.

Very, very slowly, Kitt started to disentangle himself from his brother - not completely - but at least so it was clearly where one of them ended and the other began.

Karr

Everything will be all right Kitt Trust me

I've lost Michael

You haven't He's alive and well The link is as ours was Michael needs to break through as I did I will tell Nick

Karr too backed off a little, leaving part of himself with Kitt while he moved back through into his own CPU. To find Nick's overwhelming presence awaiting him, relief flooding them both.

~

<Nick, this is all very flattering but I've only been gone a few minutes>

<An hour, Karr> Nick's tone was grating; he had a migraine to give all other migraines a run for their money. <You were gone. Completely> He gave that time to sink in.

<I am sorry. I didn't realise>

<Did it work?> Was it worth it?

<Yes. I know what Knight must do to reach Kitt. But apparently, he must be careful>

It took Nick a moment or two to work out what Karr meant by that. But he worked it out soon enough. Karr's success had meant him leaving his CPU completely, and apart from the separation shock it had subjected Nick to, that was okay, because one CPU was much the same as another. But if Michael's consciousness somehow left his mind in the same way… what would happen then? Was it even possible?

He glanced up at the beige curtain pulled around Michael's bed, cutting him off temporarily as the nurses dressed the burns on his arms. He didn't have a choice. Michael would try anything and everything he could to get the link back, picking at it like an old scab until he either succeeded in breaking through on his own or hurt himself and Kitt with his attempts. So he waited, wondering if a hospital was perhaps the best place to be for what they were going to do.

~

When Michael finally escaped, Nick was waiting to walk him to the elevator. That in itself was odd. In this not unusual situation, Bonnie would be the one to keep the vigil, whereas Nick would either remain with Kitt - depending on the cause of the problem - or return to the warehouse. This time Nick had sent Bonnie on to the warehouse, and he remained behind. Michael wasn't sure he liked this changed in what was essentially routine for them.

The moment they were in the elevator, Nick turned to him. "Karr's broken through his link with Kitt." Michael felt a momentary and absurd stab of jealousy, quickly shoving it to the back of his mind. "You need to do the same."

The doors slid open and they stepped out into the cool air of the underground parking lot. Karr and Kitt were side by side, with at least three empty spaces either side of them, as if they'd been dissuading other people from parking too close.

"You just need to be careful. When Karr broke through it took so much power, so much energy, it threw him all the way into Kitt's CPU, separating us. When he returned, he told me he'd only been gone a couple of minutes. For me, it was more like an hour. And I don't know why that happened, I can't even take a guess at this stage. But if you do what Karr did…"

"…I'd die."

Nick shrugged. "I don't know. There's something else you should know. When we found Kitt, the car was on its roof."

As soon as they reached the two cars, Michael put his hand on the black roof of his partner, hoping Kitt still had access to the SensorNet, hoping he could still bring it on line. "I'm here, Kitt, and I'm fine. We're gonna be fine too." The door opened under his hand and he slid into the driver's seat. "Just back to the warehouse, then we'll sort this out, I promise." He resisted the urge to flinch at the distant but intense feelings he was gleaning from his partner. He understood them, shared them. Hadn't he promised Kitt that they would never be separated again? Whoever had rigged the building, however they'd rigged it so Kitt's scanners didn't pick up the danger; this was meant to do the damage it had done. No explosion was going to destroy Kitt, and placed as the explosives had been, the chances had been high that Michael wouldn't have been in its direct path.

"Is one of you fit to drive?" In answer to Nick's question - maybe the only one he could give - Kitt fired up the engine.

They headed back, controlling the car in the strange symbiosis they'd slowly developed over the years, piloting it together. Michael had one hand on the wheel, the other rested gently over the sensor on the steering column. He had no idea if Kitt could still feel him; there wasn't any sense of comfort in the myriad distant emotions seeping into his mind.

"I'm here, Kitt," he told his partner, talking ceaselessly, his only clue as to whether Kitt could hear him had been his apparent answer to Nick's question in the parking lot but it was all he had. "I'm here, Beauty, and I'm fine. And I know how desperately you would have tried to reach me. I know Karr's broken through to you and as soon as we get back to the warehouse I'll do the same I swear." The desolation - his own veiled thinly with Kitt's - brought tears to his eyes and he blinked them free so that they ran over his cheeks. He stroked his thumb harder over the sensor, wanting Kitt to know he was there, wanting more than anything for Kitt to know that he wasn't alone.

But of course he wasn't alone. There was Karr. Karr who had the connection that was Michael's by right, Karr who was sitting close to Kitt now. Karr, who so long ago had tried to kill them. He could feel his partner desperately projecting so much that if the link was at its usual strength, even just the constant background it rested at, it would all be overwhelming. But Michael could barely pick up the meaning of it now. He closed his eyes briefly, knowing Kitt would keep them safe, and tried to relax, tried to push aside petty jealousies he'd experienced since first finding out about the link shared between the two unique AIs.

"I love you, Kitt." He choked on the words, tears in his voice. This was all too much. Their contract with the Foundation was up by a matter of months, they were freelancers now. And more importantly, they belonged only to one another. "I'll always love you."

The sight of the warehouse was a more than welcome one. He parked the black TransAm in its usual spot and pressed the button that stopped the engine. He could see Bonnie coming towards them but she wasn't what they needed right now. "Lock us down and darken the windows, Kitt."

He was heard and understood. The car wouldn't open now to anyone from the outside. "Kitt, according to Nick it took all of Karr's strength to realign the link between you two. I'll be honest with you, Beauty, I don't know if this is going to work. But I'm not going to give up, not until ours stands too. There's one thing I need you to do. I need you to monitor me. If I seem to be… dying, you open the car and alert Karr and Nick." He immediately sensed Kitt's panic. "It's okay, I promise." He explained about Karr having left his CPU. "I have absolutely no idea if it's even possible but just in case…." He trusted Kitt to comply. Even if he hadn't mentioned it, he knew without a doubt that Kitt would do everything in his power to save his life if something went wrong.

"Okay, Kitt. I apologise in advance if any of this hurts you."

Michael closed his eyes and taking a deep breath, he gathered himself, drawing on the strength that had kept him fighting through so much pain, so much death, disappointment and disillusionment. He pulled around him the steel facades that had kept him alive all this time, living out another man's insane fantasy, and he made himself into a bullet, a clutch of strength and power, knowledge and emotion. Using everything he'd learnt over the years he'd been linked to his partner, he threw himself against the dark patch in the back of his mind where Kitt should have been.

It felt like falling down a long, black tunnel. As he realised something was happening, realised something was changing, he had the bright lamp bulb moment, a moment of foresight, to extend a piece of himself back and grab on to himself, to who he was, what he was, something he'd done in the worst moments of Kitt's nightmares just after Jennifer Knight's disguised attack at the Foundation. The next thing he knew was a white light streaked with grey enveloping him, drowning him; terror and loneliness and warmth and depression and desire. Everything Kitt was came to him, such perfect beauty, such perfect love, that he let go, lost himself, sinking into his partner, letting the essences of who they were join into one.

Michael

Kitt

I love you

I love you too Beauty so much So very much

Michael knew he had to back away, take at least a part of himself back. But Kitt's hold was incredibly strong.

Come with me Not leaving you Remember what I said about dying

Kitt immediately released him, panic thrumming through him like a chord on an E string. Michael backed up, keeping a tight hold of Kitt, amber and white twisted around one another as a surge of electricity shot through him and his body cramped.

"That's it!"

Michael pulled in a lungful of air like fire. He could feel the hard concrete beneath the flooring he was lying on. He could hear Nick and Bonnie above him, next to him, relief and tears in their voices as she called his name and he gave instructions to Karr, instructions he didn't catch as he murmured a 'thank you' and dropped back into Kitt's now shallower embrace.

//Michael// There was a smile there, one so happy, so bright, Michael felt like he was staring into the sunshine.

//Kitt//

//I did as you asked//

//saved my life again//

//that’s what I'm here for//

//no Kitt, you're here to love me, for me to love, never forget it never//

//you have my word//

~

Part Two


Michael felt a little like he'd been run over by a ten-tonne truck then used as a conductor in an electrical substation, but he wasn't about to tell his nurse-maid that.

Bonnie handed him a mug of coffee before getting back to work. Many of Kitt's systems were inaccessible to him, she'd said, by way of disconnected wires and loosened cables. The voice modulator was just one of them. The links - those intangible things so much more important than anything Bonnie could fix - had been realigned by Michael and Karr through sheer determination and need. Hardware was her domain and he watched her, admiring as he always had her grace and care. He still loved her. But his love for Kitt had transcended every boundary, blown away every barricade; he was more intimate, more intense… just more than anything Michael had ever known.

"Why do you still do this?" he asked her.

She looked up from under the hood of the car, eyes wide. "What kind of question is that? He's still my baby, Michael, I still love…."

But he shook his head. "No. I didn't mean Kitt, I meant me. Why do you still look after me?"

//?//

He would never forget the terrible calm in her eyes when he's told her he couldn't go on with their relationship, almost as if she'd known it was coming.

She smiled at him. "Because I still love you too." She bent over the prow of the car and as he watched her he sent a stream of reassurance across to his partner. //just asking, gorgeous//

"Michael, can I ask you something?"

"Sure. Since when have you had to ask… to ask?"

She straightened up, moving to lean against the side of the car. "I'm not sure how to put this, and believe me, I'm only curious…. But… when we were together… was Kitt ever… with us?"

It was difficult to separate his and Kitt's emotions when the flooding was so sudden, but he understood that most of the panic was coming from his partner; he knew them both well enough to know that. He sent wordless reassurance, hugged Kitt gently, and looked steadily at Bonnie.

"Bon… I never cheated on you, even with Kitt."

The hint of a smile played across her lips. "Never let the blocks slip?"

//Michael…//

He sighed. //it's all right// He saw Bonnie glance over her shoulder, "You're scaring him," and watched as she flattened her palm against the jet black surface behind her, stroking gently. He was mentally questioning the surge of protectiveness before he realised it had come from himself. He felt Kitt's projections in turn become proprietary.

"The last time. I started to block but… didn't hold them. Kitt's… naturally curious. He was with us all the way." Michael paused. "It's just feelings, emotions," intense sensation "he wouldn't have… spied."

But Bonnie was smiling, an almost private smile, and her hand still stroked Kitt's side. "I don't mind," she said quietly, and Michael got the feeling it was meant for both of them. "In a way, it's…" But she didn't finish. Instead, she went back to working under Kitt's hood.

//what was that about?//

//I have no idea//

//she wouldn't have hurt me//

Of course she wouldn't. So where had the protective, possessive streak come from all of a sudden? //I know, I just… never mind. later//

What Kitt sent in response was an affirmative, a commitment of sorts to 'later', and Michael knew the conversation was far from over. At least now he had time to think about what it was he wanted to say.


"How are you feeling?" Nick dropped to the couch beside him.

"Like I've been under the tyres of one of our respectives." Kitt's response was predictable. Nick's was a knowing smile. "Have you seen my cigarettes?"

Sliding his hand down the back of the sofa, Nick came up with a squashed pack of Camels with maybe four or five cigarettes and a disposable lighter tucked inside. Michael took them, thanking him.

"Care to tell me what are you working on?"

Michael sat forward, lit his cigarette before cautiously getting to his feet and leading his companion away from where Bonnie was working. "January."

This time it was Nick's response that Michael had predicted. "David January? January Corp.? Have you completely lost it? I thought we agreed that he's too big - it's too much for us."

"Yeah, we did. But it got personal." They were close to the open mouth of the warehouse now, and Michael glanced back at the sleek form of his partner.

Nick followed his eyes and frowned. "Kitt? What does he have to do with January?"

"January flew out of town a couple of days ago so I took the opportunity and went for a look-see around his office. With Kitt's help I found a safe he obviously didn't want anyone else to find, got inside it, again obviously with Kitt's help, and I found a disk, a gold disk… with Kitt's name scribbled on it. When we got back here I dropped it into a stand-alone laptop and read it. The only things on it were two text files. One contained a three-digit number, the other one contained a one-hundred-and-sixty-long character string. I showed the files to Bonnie, without giving her any context, and she told me one was a frequency, the other one was probably a code. So I spoke to Devon, asked him if the code meant anything to him."

They were outside, against the railing, and Michael leaned against it, back to the warehouse, taking long drags of nicotine that would sooth his aching body and raw nerves.

"Devon told me that after Karr malfunctioned, they came up with the idea of building a code into Kitt's neural network, one that if sent on a specific frequency would blow the synapses - would basically terminate the AI…."

"It would kill him."

"In an instant. No warning, no second chances. Devon went on to say that he was sure the counter-measure hadn't been put in place. But at the same time, he couldn't be absolutely certain."

"You have the disk."

"I don't know if it's the only copy." He dropped the butt of the cigarette to the ground and pressed his heel over it. "I've had Kitt block that particular frequency, but he does not know about the code and I would really prefer it if it stayed that way."

Nick smiled briefly and nodded. "What else do you want from January? Names?"

"A name will do. If it is true, if that code would destroy Kitt, someone either gave the information to January or he stole it."

"I have all of the Foundation's files, Knight Industries' files and the Government files on Kitt alarmed, if anyone had hacked in, we'd know about it."

"So there's a good chance someone gave it to him. But the people who would know the code must be limited. Vorman didn't know it, Bonnie doesn't know about it."

"So the question is… who… wrote them?" Nick's voice was unusually soft. "Who wrote Karr's original code before going on to create Kitt?"

Michael shook his head. "I don't know. But we must be able to find out."

"I'm certain of it. But are you going to ask, or shall I?"


Bonnie was dropping the hood when Michael and Nick returned from their private conversation. Michael had dropped the slight blocks he'd put in place to prevent Kitt from overhearing them, and his partner immediately reached a tendril of himself through the link, a gesture Michael responded to in kind.

//have a question for you//

//okay//

//and for Bonnie// "Bon, do you know who wrote the original code for Karr and Kitt?"

//?//

//it's okay//

"You mean the original designer of their neural nets? I'm sorry, I don't. I was brought in to re-programme Kitt, to make him compatible with you. The code, the AI network, was already in place. He was already Kitt, much as he was when you met him."

Nick broke off and jogged up the metal steps to the mezzanine. "I'll see what I can find in FLAGNet's files."

Michael nodded, mostly to himself, and in his mind wrapped a part of himself around Kitt's 'arm'.

//why do you want to know?//

//I'll explain soon I promise//

//no secrets//

Kitt was upset, still unbalanced after what had happened, projecting a need to be close stronger than Michael had felt in a long time.

//there's just something I need to know. trust me?//

//you know I do//

//everything's okay//

~

Michael stretched, yawned, rubbed the back of his neck. He'd swallowed three of the painkillers he'd been given at the hospital and crashed out in Kitt's cabin, deep in the link, cradled by his partner, wrapped in Kitt's warmth.

Now he was awake he needed a leak and he needed coffee. Through the tint in the windows he could see the lights on upstairs and knew instinctively that Nick was still working. Hugging Kitt tightly for a moment, he moved away, opened the car door and tested that his legs hadn't gone to sleep before standing on them.

Nick was on the couch with his laptop, keys clicking furiously, as Michael walked passed to the bathroom. But as he returned and made a beeline for the coffee pot, he looked up.

"I found him. Or more accurately, her."

"Really?" There would one day come a point when he wouldn't be impressed by Nick's considerable skills in gaining entry to places he shouldn't have access to. He dropped to the battered couch next to his companion. "So, who…?"

Nick turned the laptop so that Michael could see the photograph and read the file displayed. "Doctor Sandra Kennedy. MIT graduate in Computer Software and Hardware, post-graduate in Artificial Intelligence, doctorates in Artificial Intelligence and Neural Networks. Worked for NASA for two years then was recruited to a Government Research lab from which she was headhunted in 1981 by Wilton Knight. Worked for Knight Industries for… three years before… vanishing." He glanced up at Nick. "There's nothing after 1984."

"Oh, there is. You just have to look under a different name…." Nick tabbed to another window, another file. "In 1984, she became Sandra January when she married David January's son, Paul."

"And she went to work for January Corporation."

"There's our connection. Let's go."

Michael dropped a hand to his shoulder. "It's just gone three a.m. Let's wait until tomorrow, okay?" He saw the glance at his mug. "Can't sleep without it."

"You're a very strange man."

"Yeah, and you're the model of normality."

~

To say Kitt had been slightly put out by Michael's opting to ride as a passenger in Karr was an understatement. He was blocking - albeit lightly - in protest. Either that or he was sulking. Michael doubted it; it wasn't his partner's style.

"He's going to know you're keeping something big from him," Nick commented as they headed for the home of Paul and Sandra January.

"When we get back, I'll enlighten him. I just want to talk to her, Nick, I just want to know if there's a threat here or not."

Looking at Nick, Michael couldn't help but wonder what Karr was telling him regarding Kitt. This four-way communication was a weird thing sometimes, but considering what it was up against, it was just something else he'd come to accept.

"Let me guess, he's not happy." He caught Nick's smile.

"Not entirely. Karr isn't blocking, but neither will he let slip where we're going."

"Does Karr recognise the name?"

Nick shook his head. "But naturally, he's doing his research. He won't keep it from Kitt longer than twenty-four hours."

Michael rubbed his eyes. He definitely needed more than two hours' sleep, he wasn't getting any younger and Kitt took a perverse pride in wearing him out on a regular basis. "Starting to wish I hadn't told you…."

"What did you expect?"

Michael shrugged. "This. You know, Nick, I'm really not sure I want to meet this woman. I mean… it's gonna be like meeting Kitt's mother."

"What's up? Worried she won't think you're suitable for her son?"

Michael mirrored his smirk.


The house was apart from the others, set back from the road. It wasn't a mansion but it was by no means small. The driveway was open, no gates, and there was only one car parked in front of the garage door.

"How many people in the house, Karr?"

"Three. One is an adult female, the other two are smaller versions."

"Known to most of us as children." Nick pulled the Stealth in behind the featureless Ford. "Eyes open."

"Please do not turn into your companion."

Michael stared wide-eyed at Karr before getting out. "Turn into me?"

"Kitt is always complaining that you still tell him to, and I quote, 'keep his scanners peeled'."

"I'd be interested in what else Kitt's always complaining about."

Nick shrugged. "You're asking the wrong guy. I only know what Karr tells me."

Approaching the solid-looking wooden door, Michael felt in earnest the apprehension he'd been feeling all day. Nick had been partially right; he did feel like he was about to meet his lover's mother. But more than that, if Sandra January confirmed there was a hole in Kitt's system that would allow the killer code through… what did he do then?

"This isn't bothering Karr?"

"Karr's beyond worrying about his roots. He isn't the same AI I dug out of the Californian sand all those years ago. It's the same for Kitt, he isn't the AI this woman wrote for Wilton Knight."

"I know." He did know. He just couldn't shake the feeling. Nick rang the doorbell looking not entirely comfortable himself and they waited. "What's up? Not used to going in the front door?"

He threw Michael a smile. "Touché."

The woman who answered it was in her forties, blond hair, blue eyes, beautiful. Michael smiled without thinking. "Mrs January? My name's… Michael Knight." He knew she recognised him, saw it in her eyes, and she didn't try to deny it. "This is my… colleague, Nick. We wondered if we could talk to you about… the Knight Industries Two Thousand."

He watched her gaze slide to Karr, saw the uncertainty, but still she was smiling, beaming, and invited them right in, leading them through to a large kitchen with a breakfast bar that she told them to make themselves comfortable at.

"Coffee?"

"That would be great, thanks. Milk for me, black for him."

It wasn't until they both had mugs in their hands that she sat down opposite them and asked, "Is that the car out there?"

Nick shook his head. "That's mine."

"But…" she glanced at Michael, "you still have it? It's still functioning, with the AI onboard?"

He hoped to God that his smile didn't look as utterly sappy as it felt. "Kitt and I are still together, and he's good, better than good." He didn't dare look at Nick. "In fact, that's why I'm here. I need to know something about his neural nets."

"Kitt…? The Knight Industries… of course. You call it a 'he'."

"He is definitely a 'he'."

"He's developed then?" He didn't answer, and she shook her head. "I'm sorry - what was it that you wanted to know?"

"We know that the Karr AI had some… problems, and that there were some safety protocols added to Kitt. We need to know if one of them was a failsafe that would… destroy his synapses if a particular code was broadcast on a particular frequency."

She nodded, and Michael's heart sank. "It was definitely one of the options talked about, I was at the many meetings where the issues with the Karr AI were discussed and options were brainstormed on how to prevent it happening again. Whether it was ever implemented, I couldn't tell you. Once I'd finished my work I handed the programme over to another team."

He was glad when Nick acknowledged that, and pushed a little further. "This may be a strange question, Mrs January -"

"Sandra, please."

"- but have you ever discussed your work on the project with your husband, or your father-in-law?"

She frowned, the wrinkles tainting the previously happy expression on her face. "Not in any detail, I assure you, although it has been a long time since I worked for Wilton Knight."

"Neither of them has ever asked you about your work?"

"What is this…?"

Michael stopped her before she could get hostile. "We just need to be sure, Sandra. Kitt's life would obviously be in danger if a code like that existed."

The wrinkles vanished, and that curiosity returned. Michael found himself thinking that maybe she was where Kitt had got his own innate, unfathomable curiosity from.

"His life? The way you talk about him…. You see him as a… partner? A person?"

"More than that," Michael answered honestly. "He's a friend, the best I've got. And yes, he has developed, beyond anything you can imagine."

"Does he exhibit basic emotions?"

Glancing at Nick, Michael saw him smile. "Love, hate, joy, fear, pleasure, pain…." And speaking of which… he could feel Kitt on the other side of the block and making a decision, he dropped it.

//where are you?//

//with your mom//

//?//

//I'll explain everything when we get back I promise you//

//yes you will. then I'll decide whether or not to eject you through the sunroof//

"I would love to meet him…."

Hadn't he known she'd ask? "I'm sure he'd be fascinated to meet you. Maybe we could arrange something soon."

"I could come to the Foundation…."

"We no longer work for the Foundation."

Her eyes widened, and he could see her working it out - how much history there was, how much time had passed, stories untold. "Is his… future secure?"

"Yes. I can promise you. He no longer belongs to the Foundation, he belongs to me. I'll see what I can do about you meeting him. Meanwhile, we'd appreciate it if you didn't say anything to your husband or father-in-law about our visit. As you can imagine, the fewer the people who know about Kitt, the safer he is." It was low, this emotional blackmail, but her nod and her agreement seemed genuine. "Thank you."

~

Kitt was silent until Michael and Nick arrived back at the warehouse. He wasn't blocking and Michael could feel the bright warmth of him in the back of his mind, but he knew he was in trouble. Keeping Christmas presents a secret from his partner was difficult enough - something as big as what he'd been trying to keep to himself regarding January and the disk he'd found was nigh-on impossible.

Climbing out of Karr's oppressive cabin, Michael brushed his fingers over Kitt's fender. //let's take a walk//

//a walk?//

//it's a beautiful day//

//we'll see about that//

But Kitt started up the turbines, leaving the engine off, the car humming as he reversed and rolled side by side with Michael out of the warehouse and along the smooth road that ran along the waterfront. They travelled in silence until they reached the small park at the end of road. Michael hopped up on to the one and only wooden bench, ass on the back, shoes on the seat, watching as Kitt came up to him nose first until his prow was touching the splintering wood.

Leaning forward, Michael touched the warm metal of the car. "Remember the reccy of David January's office that I did last week?"

"How could I forget? Five separate alarm systems, two safe combinations and seven locked doors if I recall correctly. Which of course I do." Same prissy words, softer, more affectionate tone. It made Michael smile to realise how far they'd come together, the changes wrought in them both.

"I found a disk in one of the safes you so kindly opened for me."

"You never said."

"I know. And I'm sorry, but it had your name written on it and I… I didn't want to worry you until I knew what was on it."

What he felt through the link was a complex mix of frustration, love, fear, concern… and something akin to 'I've told you before not to keep things from me.'

"What was on it?"

"A code and a frequency."

Kitt wasn't slow on the uptake. "The frequency you had me block two days after you broke into January's office."

"Yeah."

"And the code?"

He sighed softly. "Kitt… there may or may not be a failsafe in your neural network. If there is, and the code is broadcast on that frequency, it'll kill you." He felt hesitation, then sadness, upset, and Michael was surprised at the reason for it; not that the code was out there and so was a threat, but that those who'd created him had programmed the protocol in the first place.

//because of Karr// Michael tried to explain.

//they didn't trust me//

//they didn't know you, didn't know what would happen at the beginning, didn't know who you'd turn out to be//

//later they might have mentioned it//

"Kitt, I don't know for certain if it's even there. All anyone seems to know is that after Karr's initial switch-off and subsequent de-activation, there were possibilities discussed and the code was one of them."

"Is that why you visited Sandra January, nee-Kennedy, this afternoon?"

Michael smiled slightly. "I'm impressed. Karr told you?"

"Not in the way you mean. I tracked him when you left, cross-matched his destination with your reference to my 'Mom' and quickly came up with a name I recognised."

"You recognised?"

"We have been investigating January Corporation on and off for a couple of years."

"Ah. You don't remember her?"

He felt Kitt's smile. "I was nothing but code and a collection of simple neural nets, Michael. I'm happy to accept that now I have many, many human characteristics but back then I wasn't so… well-endowed."

Michael couldn’t help but chuckle. "She recognised your name. Wanted to know all about you."

"You don't think she passed the details on to her father-in-law, do you?"

He could understand the upset radiating from his partner. "No, I don't. She was genuine. And very nice, you'd like her."

"Can I… meet her?"

"If you want. But if it's all the same to you I'd like to wait until we know if this code can hurt you or not."

"I've disabled that frequency as well as three frequencies either side of it."

"Don't suppose you can go through your own code…"

"Can you take a look at your own skeleton?"

"X-ray…."

"Don't even think about it."

Sliding down from the back of the bench, bending his knees and bouncing on his feet on the seat, Michael reached out and rubbed his hand over Kitt's hood, following the line above the scanner with his thumb.

//is anything else wrong?//

//is there anything else? if I lost you…//

//you know the feeling's mutual//

//this is all too close. this really scares me//

//I'm not going to be destroyed. I'm not going to leave you//

"Say that out loud."

Another smile into his mind. "I'm not going to leave you."

"Have I ever told you how much your voice means to me? How… it's the most familiar thing in the world to me?"

"I don't think so." He sounded surprised, sounded like he didn't know what else to say.

//sorry. getting heavy on you//

It was all right, Kitt sent that to him, more than all right, I love you too. It was the nature of their relationship now, and that in itself was a kind of weird miracle.

"Michael… what are we going to do about January?"

"I don't know." It was the truth.

"With the frequencies disabled, I should be safe even if someone sends the code."

"'Should be' isn't good enough. At the moment I feel like every time we go out could be the last time. Every one that comes near to the car I want to ask you to scan."

"I'll set up a permanent scan for any equipment broadcasting that kind of code of a broad spectrum of frequencies around the one you gave me, it'll be an on-going sweep and it'll alarm if it detects anything." //please don't worry//

//can't help it// He couldn't. Life without Kitt was an unthinkable prospect. The neuro-link meant that there couldn't be one without the other, not anymore. They were too close, too deep, too much of one another. They'd faced worse before, worse odds, worse enemies. He didn't know why this time was so different. He suddenly felt old.

Moving forward on the to the midnight black hood, Michael leaned up against the windshield, knees tucked up, one arm over the roof of the car. "Listen, Kitt… I want you to think about something. I don't want an answer now, I don't want an answer anytime soon. I just want you to know that it's a consideration."

He felt a momentary flicker of fear, reached through the link and hugged Kitt tight. At the same time he brought to mind the idea of Swan's second-generation android, completed a couple of weeks ago with Kitt's unique insight and invaluable input. Immediately he sensed myriad emotions from his partner; surprise, anticipation, anxiety, hope, panic, and amusingly, a spike of arousal.

//I don't know if I understand//

//like I said, just an idea, just a thought//

//permanent?//

//we said one day. we deserve a different future to the one Wilton Knight had in mind//

//I don't. this is what I am//

//don't do that. if you don't want it that's okay, that's more than okay. but think about it// Michael rubbed his hand over the warm hood. //consider it//

The low sound of a specialised engine made him look up. Karr sped up as he came towards them along the road, roaring passed, and for a moment Kitt faded from Michael's mind, returning quickly.

//they've had a call about a case they're on//

"Should we be worried?"

//…no//

Definite hesitation, and for a second Michael thought he was being evaded. //Kitt?//

//it leaves the warehouse empty//

A slow smile spread across his lips and at his mental suggestion, Kitt silently reversed away from the bench and being careful to keep Michael on his hood, took them back into the warehouse, turning on only a couple of the in-floor halogen lights, rolling the doors shut as they went.

Drawing the car to a stop in their usual place, neither man nor computer spoke. But safe, Michael stretched out across the hood and staring up into the darkness of the ceiling he deepened the link, opening himself completely to his partner - his lover - letting the touch of Kitt's presence to his mind also be a touch to his body. It was so much more intimate than anything he'd ever known, nerves translating the electrical impulses into a skimming caress of his lips, fingers spreading through his hair, hands on his skin under his coat and shirt.

It was more difficult to send touches back, but over the months Michael had found by trial and error what excited Kitt in the way same as Kitt's skilled, exquisite touches excited him. Arousal was the build up of sensation, it was no different for his partner, and Michael had discovered that by mirroring back his own feelings, his own excitement, through the link, he could take Kitt along for the ride.

And what a ride. Kitt was a master in this art, knowing how to touch, how to make it physical but at the same time understanding completely how much Michael loved the way the link connected them; that was where the intimacy was, not the illusion of caresses, the manipulation of nerve endings, but the free flow of thoughts and feelings, recognising emotions, both human and… 'alien'? Not artificial, that was for sure. Technically computer generated, but Michael tended to link the term with fake special effects in the movies he and Kitt saw at the drive-in very irregularly. At the start most of the AI's emotions had been alien to Michael, but over the years he'd learned to recognise them, associate them with his own, find answering feelings in himself.

Right now he could feel himself, hard in his jeans, hot in his clothes. Stroking Kitt, stretching out alongside him, winding his presence around the bright white one, Michael toed off his shoes, letting them drop to the floor, unbuttoning, unzipping, wriggling his hips until he could take himself in hand. Bringing one socked foot up to rest on the edge of the hood, he relaxed back again, closing his eyes, sinking into the erotic contact, moving his free hand over the black skin of the car, knowing Kitt would have the SensorNet's input cranked all the way up and that the heat of his hand, the teasing of his fingers, would feel as real and as sensual to Kitt as his own hand on his own dick did to him.

He went deeper, further into the link, feeling Kitt surrounding him, arousal building as they fed off each other, desire feeding desire, ever nearer to a shared climax.

Could have been minutes, could have been hours. Michael barely noticed his own hand, the friction caused by his lazy movements nothing compared to what Kitt was doing to him, ghosting over his thighs, firm presses against sensitive flesh, a sure touch to his balls, another hand matching the work of his own, fingers exploring everywhere, more erotic, more passionate than he'd ever known. Reaching for Kitt, he ran his hands down the bright warmth, pulling him close, closer, weaving them together, every touch, every caress reflected back and forth, until Kitt let loose a long, hard cry and went over the edge, taking Michael with him. Slices of colour cut across the dash, bouncing off the black leather of the car's interior. In his mind Kitt's white presence shone, radiant and beautiful.

//you're incredible//

Kitt smiled, sank back into Michael's arms as they held on to one another, their lives and sanity and happiness dependant on each other.

That's how they remained, at some point Michael tucking himself unceremoniously back into his pants, fastening up untidily, not quite ready to disturb the perfection of them yet but dimly aware that Nick and Karr could be back at any time. Not that Kitt wouldn't alert him, but he wanted just to hold his partner for a while, keep that feeling of him all around him, at the same time locked in his arms.

They didn't talk, just touched; lazy circles, gentle patterns for a long, long time. Long enough that when Kitt eased them up a little from the depth they'd sunk to through the link and told him Karr and Nick were on their way back, when Michael reached in his coat pocket for his cigarettes and lighter, sticking one between his lips and lighting it without opening his eyes, he realised his back was aching from lying over the hood.

//they okay?//

//yes//

//you okay?//

//you worry too much. and that position isn't good for your back//

Michael smiled to himself. It was an amazing thing.

//kicking me out of bed?//

//you'd be more comfortable inside me//

//don't I know it// He added the sly smile at the innuendo and Kitt smirked in response. //set up the scan for the code broadcast//

//already done//

//when?//

//I am capable of multi-tasking, just like all computers and the majority of women//

//hey you're supposed to be on the side of the red-bloodied male. you didn't do it while we were-//

//I'm not that good!// Kitt interrupted. //When we're… //

//…making love…//

//…it's all I can do-//

//say it// Michael's turn to interrupt.

//say what?//

//say it//

//…when we're making love, it's to keep the basics functioning//

//thank you. and I'm glad to hear it// There was a smugness in his tone he knew and didn't care.

//why is it important to you that I acknowledge what we do?// Curious as ever, Kitt's question was utterly genuine.

But Michael had to think about the answer. It wasn't something he could put easily into words, but he sent what he hoped was some kind of explanation.

//did that make sense?//

//yes //

The doors rolled open and the black prow of the Stealth ate up the floor as it moved to its parking spot. Nick glanced at Michael as he climbed out.

"Just discussing the meaning of life." He got a smile and a nod as his friend started up the stairs. "Nick? Anything we should know?" Nick shook his head. "Sure?"

"Got my word."

It was more than enough.

~

Part Three


"…from the information provided by Michael Knight I don't think that's even a possibility."

One hand on the steering wheel with Karr doing most of the driving, Nick glanced at the dark dash.

"Tell me, how many 'Michael's do we know?"

There was the predictable pause.

"To my knowledge, twelve. One is well known to us and eleven are acquaintances or business contacts. Or was that a rhetorical question?"

"You can call him 'Michael', you don't need to use his full name."

"It is his name."

"Karr, we've lived with them for over ten years. He's your brother's partner and lover."

"Do you have to refer to him like that?"

Nick laughed. "It's who he is. It's what they are. You can't deny it."

"You cannot tell me that you approve."

"It's not up to me, or you, to approve or disapprove. Sure, it's not something I would want but I understand how intense their link is, and you know how intimate it is. They're not us, Karr. They're very different and so is their relationship."

"You wouldn't want it."

Nick shook his head. "No, thank you. And certainly not with you on the other end." He was amazed to feel offence coming from his partner through the link. "Karr…!"

"If I were Kitt?"

He didn't feel the need to say 'no', instead he replied, "Michael and Kitt had completely different beginnings to us. Michael told me once that Kitt was in his heart before he was in his head. You know they were always close, from the very start."

"Do you wish you had been chosen for Kitt rather than for me?"

"No." This time it was needed. "You and I both know we're suited to one another."

"But Kitt…"

"…is wonderful, gentle, accepting, warm and affectionate. He isn't you, and that's not a bad thing." He smiled. "Where has this paranoia come from?"

"I was just fishing for compliments." And there was a note of amusement in his tone that Nick wasn't sure about. He was going to ask when the car suddenly swerved and Karr switched control back to him with a moment's warning.

<What is it?>

<Kitt. Gently and affectionately attacking me.>

~

Michael stared at David January as if he'd actually lost his mind.

"I have absolutely no idea what you're talking about." He knew the bluff wouldn't work; he wasn't even buying for time, not really. He was trying to understand what January was threatening.

"I want the disk with the code on it, Michael. I know you have it. I don't think you'd have told Kitt about it, and I don't think you'd have destroyed it, so in a change to what's surely your usual routine, I'm going to torture him until you give me the information I'm after. Where's the disk?"

He'd stuck what was best described as a timer dial to Kitt's hood, about the size of the guy's palm. And he'd turned the dial one notch.

Michael had felt nothing. There was nothing coming through the link, the blocks they usually had up while on a case were in place, not obviously under stress, and there wasn't a sound coming from Kitt, no reaction at all from the car. So what was January doing?

"I want the location of the disk. The one you stole from me."

"I told you…."

He turned the dial again. Still nothing. Michael didn't understand. "The location!"

"How many times do I have to tell you? I don't know…."

January shook his head. "Please. You should be reasonable. What this little gadget is doing is sending a large electrical current over the body of the car. At the moment it's just high enough for the SensorNet to be causing Kitt a considerable amount of pain." Michael touched the link. Nothing. "Much higher, and its going to start burning the sensors out. Like… cigarette burns on human skin. Higher than that and it'll start to overload his CPU. So if I was you, if I didn't want to cause my partner's total destruction, piece by piece, I'd TELL ME WHERE THE FUCKING DISK IS!"

He was starting to worry slightly now. //Kitt?//

"I know you know what I'm talking about." The dial was turned another notch, and another, and another. Still nothing. Maybe it had malfunctioned. But in that case… why wasn't Kitt at the back of his mind, reassuring him, telling him to play it out…?



"Karr! Give me complete manual control!"

The car was starting to shudder, Karr's CPU taking a battering from whatever was going on at Kitt's end. He was blocking Nick fiercely, protecting him against the pain, pain that wouldn't even translate as such but would undoubtedly seriously affect Nick's ability to function. Still, Nick could feel the echoes of it through the heavy blocks. Whatever was happening, it was bad. Very, very bad.

The Stealth slid to a wavering halt outside January Corporation's Research & Development Facility where Karr had tracked Kitt to.

"Scan the building, I need the situation," Nick insisted.

Karr's voice was rough, grating when he answered. "They're in the lab at the back of the facility. Knight is… surrounded by armed men. Four… machine guns, two handguns, all primed, armed and aimed at his face. Kitt is close by."

"What's happening to him? What's causing this?"

"You think I know that?!" There was a degree of panic in Karr's tone. "All I'm getting… is heat… and blazing agony!"

Nick felt another, stronger block thrown up between himself and his partner. Much more and he'd start to feel the separation. "Why isn't this taking Michael down too?"

"Kitt's… blocking. They are… specific… blocks. Feedback blocks! I don't think… Knight knows… what's happening."

Nick considered that. He piloted the Stealth silently around to the back of the Lab. "Where can I get in, Karr?"

"Three… point five… nine… metres from the… corner of the building."

He lined up the car's prow. "Okay, I need a distraction. Six men could put twelve rounds of bullets into Michael's head before I'm even out of the car. "

"What do… you suggest?"

"Get Kitt to lower the shields between him and Michael."

"I thought… we were… trying… to prevent… Knight's… death?"

"If he lowers the blocks, Michael should suddenly drop in agony, it'll give us the seconds we need. We'll stop it as soon as we're in there. Please, Karr."

"You… don't… understand. Kitt… isn't… listening…. He's… otherwise… engaged."

Nick nodded. "Not listening. Right." As he started to work on Plan B, feeling the building heat in Karr's CPU behind the substantial blocks. A light flickered on the dash.

"There is… another… option."

"Give it to me."

"As you wish. I… will be… back."

It took a moment to work out what Karr meant by that. A moment too long. "KARR! NO!"

But already there was a shift in the link, and swearing brightly under his breath, knowing he had no choice but to use the change his partner was about to give him, Nick gunned the Stealth's engine, reversing, getting ready to plough through the wall.


Kitt's CPU was a hellish chaos. Karr could feel the heat and smell the burning of circuits and components. Kitt himself was curled into a far corner, bleeding energy and light, dark patches on the usually bright presence where the current had caught him, searing him. He was barely conscious, his remaining strength focused towards one single point - the blocks he'd erected across the link to his partner. They were strong feedback blocks, and Karr spared a single nano-second impressed. He'd hardly used them himself, hadn't realised Kitt knew how to. No wonder Knight hadn't yet reacted to Kitt's state; he knew nothing of it. The blocks wouldn't just be cutting the pair off from one another, they would be mirroring Michael's own emotional state of mind back at him. If he wasn't feeling any pain, he would believe Kitt wasn't either. Clever. And very, very dangerous. This was going to come as a very real shock, but had didn't have another option.

As Karr aimed for those blocks, he felt Kitt become aware of him, felt his brother move towards him, felt the panic, the begging for him not to do what they both knew he was going to.

Don't! Please!

I have to

No! I did this to protect him!

It is the only way. You shouldn't have done this. The link is there to protect you both

I won't let Michael be forced into giving away the location of the warehouse!

He wouldn't ever do that, Kitt, you know it

Please, Karr. He'll hate me for what I've done

Kitt. Even I know that's not true. His anger towards you will not stand in the face of your pain. He would never, ever hate you. I understand the love he feels for you. Let me end this

The argument ceased, and gathering himself, Karr smashed out at the heavy blocks at the location of the human/AI bond.


Michael wasn't sure how much longer they could keep this up. "I don't know what you are talking about."

"Yes, you do," January pointed out quietly. He turned the dial, seemingly enjoying himself, and for a moment Michael thought he saw a tremor run through the black frame.

//Kitt? talk to me please//

He was starting to get scared. What if January had been telling the truth? How far had he turned that dial already?

//Kitt!// He could feel a hint of his own concern, and something about it didn't feel right.

He tried to look utterly calm as he stared at his adversary. "I'm telling you…" It was like being hit by an avalanche; a wall of agony blasted into his mind, overwhelming him, drowning him, all so suddenly and with such great force that he was lost in an instant. He dimly knew of his legs folding, of hitting the ground, of someone screaming. And he realised with diminishing awareness that it was his own voice he was hearing.

When the wall exploded inwards, he knew it was Karr and Nick coming to the rescue - a rescue he hadn't even realised they'd needed.

He could feel Kitt now all right; searing heat and pain like nothing he'd ever know, sensation he didn't know how to deal with. He reached through the link instinctively, however much it hurt to do so because he knew without a doubt that Kitt was badly injured. He should have known it before now! Why hadn't he felt even a hint of this?!

//Kitt? Kitt!// He tried to gather his wits, tried to be careful as he moved part of his presence through into Kitt's CPU. What he found brought stinging tears to his eyes. Hot red metal smouldering, circuits melting in the aftermath of wave after wave of excruciating surges of electrical current. He went as deep as he dare, calling for his partner, hearing and feeling only vague signals from the physical world around him. Kitt? Where are you?

A gunshot, as far away as his own body, rang like a distant church bell in his ear.

He ran into something cold and black and it took a second to realise how and what it was. Karr. Sitting in Kitt's CPU.

Where is he?

Karr said nothing, he simply moved out of the way and let Michael see the burned and bleeding presence of the soul he loved above anything and everything else.

Kitt… oh God, Kitt…

Reaching for him, cushioning him with infinite care and tenderness, Michael stroked his amber warmth over the waning white light. He turned, watching the cold black of the other AI start to spread. A deep-seated fear crept up on him and he buried Kitt further into his own presence.

What are you doing?

Karr didn't speak, or maybe he did, but Michael just couldn't hear him. That he would hurt Kitt was unthinkable but it took Michael a few long seconds to understand. He was fire-fighting, quite literally, removing some of himself back to his own CPU - presumably to aid Nick - but using the rest of his presence here to cool the burning, to put out the flickers of flames, to sooth Kitt's pain as best he could.

Thank you

He didn't know if Karr could hear him, or even if he could understand.


Nick stamped the heel of his boot hard on January's wrist and twisted his ankle, mashing the two bones together, snapping them. The man's screams were immensely satisfying. Leaning across, not lifting his foot, Nick tore the small magnetic generator from Kitt's hood and dropped it to the floor next to January's fallen form, moving his attentions to it, crushing it as surely as he'd crushed the other man's wrist.

Then he stepped over four dead men, two with broken necks, two with gunshot wounds, to stand at January's feet. Slowly raising his hand, he beckoned Karr over from where he had two gunmen pinned against the wall, both with fractured legs. They dropped forward almost comically as he let them go, falling first to the hood, then sliding to the floor with a groan as Karr turned.

Nick made sure he had January's full and undivided attention. "Listen to me, and listen well." The Stealth drew up, prow over the prone man's legs, one tyre touching his right knee. "If I see you or hear of you again, I won't hesitate in killing you." He took a couple of steps back and with a low hum, Karr drove straight over January's knee, breaking it, crushing it slowly. He passed out before another sound could break free from his gasping throat.

With everyone dealt with, Nick turned his attentions to Michael. He was curled up on his knees on the floor, tear streaking his cheeks, face contorted into a mask of blazing agony and crippling pain.

<Karr? What's the situation with Kitt?>

<His CPU is badly damaged. He is badly hurt. Knight is with him but there is not much he can do>

<What do we need?>

<First to get out of here. After that somewhere for him to go would be ideal. He needs replacement circuit boards>

<Call Swan and Bonnie. What about the car?>

<Except for the SensorNet it is undamaged but he is not in any state to drive>

<Can you drive?>

<Yes>

<Good. I'll take ours. Let me get Michael inside first>

Safety-wise, Michael would have been better off inside the Stealth; Nick knew that all too well. But he wasn't physically hurt save for a few cuts and bruises, and it was more important that he be as close to Kitt out here as he was in their minds. Lifting him with only minimal assistance from Michael himself, Nick helped him over to the TransAm and Karr opened the door. Once he had him comfortably inside, he left him to Karr's care and with the Stealth he led them out the way he and Karr had come in.

~

"If we take away the link it'll do more damage than has already been caused!" Nick ran his fingers through his hair in abstract frustration. "Michael's with Kitt on such deep a level that any sudden change could seriously hurt or even kill them both."

"But we need to get Kitt out of there!" Bonnie's array of monitors was telling half the story, with signal strength depleted, database and memory integrity frighteningly low, figures and readings telling of neural pathways destroyed and synapses burned out. The SensorNet, Nick knew, was the least of her worries, but he also knew it had been the conductor between the device January had used and the key components of Kitt's devastated systems.

They looked up as Swan's truck pulled into the warehouse and she jumped out a second later. Nick watched her take in the scene, and smiled grimly when she grinned at him.

"Let me guess, you need a temporary stop for Kitt, but you can't lose the link?"

He nodded, not allowing himself to think for one moment….

"At your service." Throwing open the rear door of the truck she reached inside and threw back the cover from the lifeless android that lay across the floor. "What? You think Kitt designed a new home for himself without including that all-important connection to his partner? Not to mention the link to his brother."

"I don't understand." Nick was glad Bonnie had spoken up; because neither did he. "The implant…."

"…is only an implant where Michael's concerned. For Kitt it's a chip and an application. If you have the chip, a copy of the application and the right wavelength, plus the encryption keys obviously, you can duplicate the link."

Nick rolled his eyes. "Good, I'm glad it's safe."

"Oh it's perfectly safe. Only Kitt knows the encryption. He can take that knowledge with him and apply it to the transmissions. Michael shouldn't experience more than a momentary drop in the link."

"All right. Get everything ready." He crossed to the Stealth, to where it was parked across the back of the TransAm. "Karr, tell them what we're doing. We'll need Michael to come up to full consciousness and I'll need you to ensure Kitt moves across to the android's CPU."

<What about the memory, data packs…?>

<We'll copy everything else across before he goes, just like last time>

<Nick…>

<We don't have any choice. That CPU's shot to hell, isn't it?>

Karr's rumbled agreement was a feeling more than a word. A pause. And then, <Knight's not happy but he'll do it when I ask>

<Thank you>

It took over an hour to get the two CPU's linked by cable, for the information to be copied - the content of Kitt's memory, all his system configuration data, the encryption for the transmission channels, everything.

All that time Michael and Karr had remained with Kitt - Michael close, holding him by Karr's account, soothing him. He was injured, but only when it was safe to do so could Michael look at what to do about that. Karr stayed back, a single tendril of his presence touching his brother, reassuring him that he was protected as well as comforted.

With the android connected to the CPU in the open engine compartment of the car and all of the data transferred, Nick once again returned to the Stealth. <We're ready, Karr>

<I will inform Michael>

Nick's eyes widened, but he said nothing and shielded his thoughts. Now was definitely not the time to continue that particular conversation.


They are ready

Michael looked up. Karr's cold, flat voice came to him from everywhere and he wondered if that was how he sounded to Kitt and Nick, or if it was just a symptom of how they were communicating. He had no link to Karr. If he wasn't so deeply ensconced in Kitt's CPU he wouldn't have been able to hear the other AI, he was sure of that.

He eased back slightly from Kitt.

They've attached the android, Kitt, Karr's going to take you through to the CPU there

He felt a flood of panic all around him and had to fight not to drown in it. Kitt immediately wound more of himself around Michael, clinging on as if his life - his existence - depended on it. Michael understood perfectly. He was feeling it too, just that his own emotions were far away right now.

We won't lose this. The CPU in the android has the same link. You have the encryption key

If it doesn't work

I'm here, Kitt. Bonnie's here too, she's gonna fix this CPU quick and you can come right back. You know the link with Karr works when you're in the android. You won't be alone

I hurt, Michael

Somewhere he could distantly feel his own heart breaking.

I know Beauty. I'm sorry. We must do this

It was one of the hardest things he'd ever done, letting go of Kitt, moving out of the ravaged CPU, back into his own mind. He came to in the driver's seat of their car with an eye-popping migraine and the sight of Nick holding out a glass of water and three small white pills.

"Thanks." His voice sounded like he hadn't used it in a month.

"How is he?"

"Not good."

"I know it's tough to leave him in Karr's hands…"

But Michael shook his head. "Not anymore. I know Karr won't hurt him. He did so much in there, Nick. I didn't know! I had no fucking idea what that… thing… what January was doing to him. I can't believe he could block that kind of intensity!"

Nick sighed softly. "Feedback blocks. They echo your own thoughts and feelings back to you, so you think they're coming from Kitt. They're not easy to create or maintain; Karr and I have never even tried to use them. Kitt must have read the details in one of the files from FLAGnet's early research."

Michael took that in, handed Nick the glass back and climbed gingerly out of the car, trying not to let his head move about too much. On the bench lay the second-generation android, very similar-looking to the first but with a thousand tiny differences and a couple of very major ones. It was surrounded by monitors, Swan and Bonnie keeping a close eye on every measurement possible.

Moving slowly, Michael stepped up to the android's side and lifted his left hand, holding it between his two. He tried not to touch the link, knowing what he'd feel if he did, but he watched the blank face steadily for the first sign of life, ignoring the nauseating pounding in his skull.

It was taking too long. They'd done this before and the transfer had been a matter of seconds, not minutes. He looked up, locked eyes with Nick who shook his head. "Give them time." His voice was surprising loud in a quiet Michael hadn't noticed up until then. As if they were all holding their breath.

He thought he felt something; the slightest of pressure on his hand, a little heat, something akin to an electrical pulse.

//Kitt?//

To his surprise, rapidly warming fingers wrapped around his own and he squeezed back gently, amazed, raising the hand to his chest.

//Kitt please answer me//

The android's head moved, eyes closed and opened. The monitor readings jumped and Nick reported that Kitt was all the way across. Still, the link was chillingly silent.

//Kitt// Michael tried to hold back the tears. He was exhausted, battered and bruised. Sitting with Kitt inside his CPU sapped his strength quicker than any other activity, mental or physical, having to constantly fight not to lose himself in the alien signals all around him, keeping a firm hold on who and what he was, while giving his partner as much of himself as he possibly could. //Kitt// He felt moisture on his cheeks.

//Michael//

It was the most beautiful thing in the world. Sinking as deep as he dare while standing up, he drew Kitt into his embrace, holding him, long soothing strokes over the injured presence of his partner, his lover.

//are you okay?//

//no, not really//

Easing back just slightly, Michael looked over the damage wrought in the soul he knew so intimately. There were black scolds, brownish-red burns and gaping wounds which Michael stroked single tendrils of his own presence over. Kitt flinched and he pulled back.

//sorry, I'm sorry//

//no, you didn't hurt… it just felt… odd//

Michael looked at the patch he'd covered, it seemed slightly better, a little less black, a little less deep.

//I think I can help but I need to know if you're ready for them to disconnect you from the CPU in the car?//

//yes. I have you//

Smiling, balancing himself as best he could, Michael opened his eyes. "You can unhook the CPU."

Bonnie smiled, touched his arm momentarily and got to work while Swan checked and double-checked the readings she was getting from the android. Someone had fetched him a chair, he noticed, and he sank into it, as hard as it was. Standing upright while being so deeply linked wasn't all that easy.

"I need to do some checks on his functions," Swan put in gently.

Michael glanced up, shook his head. "You need to give us some time. He's not ready yet." Whatever she might have wanted to say, she didn't, and he watched Nick lead her patiently away, up the stairs towards the industrial-sized coffee machine with its industrial strength coffee.

Closing his eyes, he sank back, stretching out along the length of his partner, starting to gently heal the wounds January had left.

~

"Kitt, check visual, auditory and voice."

"I can see, hear and speak, Swan." It was Kitt's voice - the right accent, timbre, pitch and tone programmed into the android as they were into the car's systems, with the slight mechanical edge to it removed so that it was smoother, more human.

"Links?"

"Both working." Michael thought that should have been obvious; Karr had been the one to help Kitt over and he'd been buried inside Kitt for the last four hours.

"Thank God for that," she replied with a smile. "Now access each channel one by one and report."

Michael caught Bonnie's uncomfortable glance, shared it. But Kitt was responding as requested. He and Swan had worked together, that was the point, and Michael knew they'd come to their own unique understanding. He knew also that Swan had feelings for Kitt that weren't entirely platonic. He just didn't know what his partner felt about the situation.

"Good. Memory? Data?"

"All functioning normally."

"And movement."

Kitt had been holding Michael's hand back ever since he'd shifted over. Now Michael was stretching his legs close by while Kitt sat the android upright, tilted his head as if stretching out a crick in his neck, arched his shoulders and back, then swung his legs off the workbench and stood, flexing the knees, taking a single step forward. It was slightly stiff, each move slightly jerky, but even with his second step it was significantly smoother.

"Everything seems to be in full working order."

"Great."

He turned and she beckoned him back, started to remove the small electronic pads that were sending the telemetry to the monitors.

"There is just one thing."

Michael watched her head snap up.

"What is it?"

"I appear to be wearing a tarpaulin."

He almost laughed out loud. "Suits you." Eyes like whiskey looked straight at him and he found himself remembering the last time Kitt had been inside the android; his body's response was immediate and he took another couple of steps, glad of his decision to swap the tight jeans of old for a more… relaxed look.

He felt something through the link, but couldn't easily translate it. Amusement perhaps, underlying arousal despite the undercurrent of hurt and fear still ebbing through Kitt's mind. Crossing the narrow gap, Michael wrapped his arms around the android body and held it - him - gently. Kitt's arms came up around his neck, hands skimming his shoulders and back, and Michael turned his face into the silken blond hair. God, but it felt so good to hold him like this again; a physical, public show of affection.

"Let me take the rest of the pads from him," Swan murmured softly. "And you can find him some clothes." Any flippant comment about clothes not being a priority was pushed to the back of his mind as Michael loosened his embrace and Kitt stepped back with a shy smile. "Might want to ask Nick, actually," she added, "the height difference may not be so much of an issue."

~

Michael wrapped one arm around Kitt's waist and pressed his lips into his partner's neck. He was still fragile, still delicate, still staying close to Michael's presence through the link, tendrils of themselves entwined. Nick had given him a bright orange shirt and a pair of worn blue denim jeans to change into. They were still a size too big for him, but if he'd put on Michael's clothes they'd have drowned him.

It was easier this time, to accept Kitt in this form. The last time it had been a shock for them both; so far from what Kitt was used it had been hard for him to accept, so close to Michael's wildest dreams, it had been difficult to let it be real.

This version of Swan's 'Jez' android had been designed by she and Kitt; the same physical details of the previous version - around five and a half feet tall, the attributes and looks of a slim young man of around nineteen or twenty, gentle facial features, with dirty blond hair cut into the back of his neck and eyes the colour of whiskey. There were additional functions that would, when they were ready, allow Kitt to take up permanent residence. The link chips were the most important addition, even in this form where he could reach out and touch his partner, the link between them was something they would both eventually go insane without.

He felt Kitt's arm come to rest over his own, fingers threaded through his, and closed his eyes, taking a deep breath.

"I didn't plan this." He barely breathed the words, feeling Kitt's upset. "Can we talk about what happened today?"

"You think I was protecting you."

"I know you were protecting us both, but that's not my point. Nick told me about the blocks you used, called them 'feedback blocks', said they echoed my thoughts and feelings back to me."

"I didn't want you to feel what I was feeling, didn't want you to have to feel the guilt of not giving him what he wanted while he tortured me."

"I didn't know you were being hurt, Kitt." The thought still scared him. "I thought it was a joke, some big… fucking joke…." He took another deep breath. "The link's there for us to communicate without talking when we most need to. I needed to hear you, to feel what you were going through."

"It would have crippled you."

"There's a difference between a working block and a mirror." Michael kept any brewing anger completely under control; the last thing he wanted was it bleeding through to his injured partner. But he had to get his point across.

Kitt was already arguing his side. "It was… bad, Michael. A working block wouldn't have kept it from swamping you."

"You know, I think we've had this conversation before… about you sacrificing yourself to save me? Remember that?" There was no confirmation or denial. The constant communication of high-level thoughts and feelings was missing from the link. Instead all that energy was focused into a ball, into a space inside the embrace of tendrils of Michael's own presence, one that was constantly soothing, constantly healing.

"I wasn't sacrificing myself."

"How can you say that? Look at what he did to you. How long could you have withstood that for?"

His partner turned to face him, leaning back against the mezzanine rail, hands reaching for Michael's, holding his fingers loosely. "For as long as it took for Karr and Nick to reach us. I knew they weren't far away…." Michael knew then why Kitt was holding his hands. He tried to pull away but Kitt held on. He'd learnt from his last experience in this android body - the pressure he was exerting wasn't in any way painful, but it was secure. "I know what you're going to say. And I'm sorry. But it was the only way."

"We're partners. We work together…."

"Nick and Karr are our friends, our… business partners. They're allowed to help us now and again. I did what I thought I needed to do to get us both out alive."

Easy to shout at a few red lights on a dash, impossible to feel even the slightest annoyance with those big liquid eyes staring at him. Sliding one of his hands out of Kitt's grip, Michael stroked up his arm, over his shoulder, playing his fingers across the smooth skin of his throat. Keeping this torrent of emotions from his partner was becoming more and more difficult. "Let's do this later, Kitt…. I'm exhausted."

With a brief nod, Kitt led him by his hand to the large sofa in the upstairs coffee area. They lay down together, Michael behind Kitt, with his partner wrapped tight in his arms, face buried in the spun silk of his hair, concentrating on the hurt presence in his head. It wasn't long before he fell asleep, emotions tucked behind a light block.

~

Nick made himself a coffee as quietly as possible. Michael was obviously sleeping off the migraine, helping Kitt recover at the same time according to Karr who had lost all the but vaguest of contacts with his brother. Turning, mug halfway to his lips, Nick let his gaze settle on the sleeping pair.

<How is he?>

<Knight has him. He will be fine>

<Back to Knight now? I'm sure I heard a Michael before>

<Do not push it, Nick, I am in no mood>

Despite everything they'd been through in the last twelve hours, Michael looked more at ease than Nick could remember seeing him. He couldn't have had more than a couple of hours' sleep a night for weeks now; Nick was always hearing him up and about in the late night and early morning. He was sleeping soundly now though, comfortable even on the battered sofa, even with his cuts and bruises. And Nick knew it had little to do with exhaustion and a lot to do with the body in his arms. That very human need, to touch and be touched.

He thought about Bonnie, still working downstairs on the CPU for the car. And he couldn't help but wonder if it was actually worthwhile, if her repairs would ever be put to use. He shielded these thoughts carefully from his partner. If Kitt did choose that route, he could do his own explaining to his older brother.

~

Michael opened his eyes, a feeling of cold and loneliness stealing over him. Kitt was gone from his arms, in both senses of the word. Although tendrils of black-patched white light were still in his mind, Kitt had retreated to his CPU. The android wasn't in the immediate vicinity. But Nick was, standing at the top of the stairs with an armful of files and his laptop. Michael didn't have to ask.

"He's outside." Nick went for the first step and stopped. "I don't know if you realise, but blocks don't hold when you're asleep."

It took a moment, but the first word out of Michael's mouth was, "Fuck!" and he was off the sofa and on his feet in a second, grabbing the railing to keep himself from falling as his brain collided with his skull. He was starting to think he and Nick should buy shares in their favourite pharmaceutical company. Either that or stage a break-in at their warehouse.


How many heart-to-hearts had been had against the railings outside the warehouse, or in the park just down from their base of operations? Kitt was sitting in exactly the same place Michael had sat in barely a month before, when they'd talked about Sandra January, the possibility of the code that could end Kitt's life, and the potential in the android Swan had only just completed.

He didn't believe in fate, he honestly didn't know whether Kitt did or not. He should ask.

Without a word, he sat up beside his partner, rubbing his hands together, staring out over the water. It was getting late, the sun was setting and the amber hue of the fading light made the ocean look like crystal and the sand look like gold.

//sorry// Michael started after a few minutes, breaking the not uncomfortable but definitely loaded silence.

"Is this what you want?" There was no accusation in Kitt's tone, it was just a question.

"No." He wasn't shielding, was letting Kitt feel the truth in his answer. "I want you to be happy and safe. I want to spend the rest of my life with you and I don't care if you're inside this android or the car."

"This must be easier for you to reason with in your head."

"I came to terms with us, accepted us, a long time ago. How long before you do the same?" He glanced to his side, saw that Kitt was looking away from him. //what's really wrong?// Kitt didn't answer, and with a soft sigh Michael returned his gaze to the water. "Bonnie will have your CPU ready in a couple of days and…"

"I don't want to lose you."

He snapped his head back, met those liqueur eyes that were looking at him with untold sadness. His frustration melted, leaving behind an oddly intense desperation.

"You won't ever lose me, not while I'm still alive." Kitt held his gaze. "What? You think you being in the car somehow holds me to you." He considered his own words. "Or is that you think you being in the car gives me an excuse, a way out?"

"I'm not a real person, Michael. However real I feel to you, however real I might look right now, I'm not. You're talking about committing yourself to an Artificial Intelligence, a computer, a collection of chips and wires, something that can be destroyed by a single stream of numbers…."

//"Kitt! Stop!"// "How many times do I have to say it? You're the one I love. So you have a neural network instead of a flesh and blood brain, so what?"

"My body is a highly modified Pontiac TransAm. I'm…."

"If you say, 'I'm a car', I will strangle you with my bare hands."

"You'd break your fingers on the MBS-coated titanium-aluminium skeleton if they don't first get caught up in the network of fibres transmitting electronic pulses and fluids around this robot."

Shaking his head, Michael smiled. "I'm not buying it. And I'm not getting into this with you because it's not what this conversation is about. This is you and me. It's been you and me for as long as I can remember and I've never wanted it any other way. So tell me the truth."

Kitt looked away. //I wouldn't be yours// There was a sense of loss in the statement so deep that it took Michael's breath away.

//you'd be more mine than you have ever been. and I'd be yours. just like always //

//are you so sure?//

//have you ever doubted me?//

Kitt's answer was a montage of vague memories showcasing his belief in his partner, but underlying them was his uncertainty. Michael watched the last of the sun's rays stroke the surface of the water.

"What about your safety?" It was spoken softly, in that beloved voice he cherished.

Just as gently, he replied, "Come on, Kitt. We'd still have the car. I'd still have you." //this isn't about me//

Another pause, until the sun vanished below the horizon and darkness dripped over them, the air cooling rapidly.

"If I'd been introduced to you like this, would you have accepted me?"

Michael frowned at the question, but just because he couldn't see its significance didn't mean that Kitt's complex mind hadn't found one.

"No. I'd lost too many people, too many partners. I wasn't ready to that risk again."

"But you did almost lose me, on several occasions."

Michael smiled, glancing at Kitt. "By then you were already a part of me." //where are you going with this?//

He felt the hint of a smile, of defeat. //in circles//

//it's your decision, Kitt. it doesn't have to be made now. doesn't have to be made at all//

Kitt nodded, leaning his shoulder into Michael's. "You would have to be so sure."

Turning his head, Michael pressed a kiss to the synthetic blond hair that felt so very real. "Of what?"

"Of me."

Finally wrapping his arms around his partner, he murmured, "I can promise you, I've never been so sure, so completely certain, of anything my entire life."

"So it is what you want?"

"It's what you want that matters. Time to be selfish for once in your life. This is your decision and yours alone. Whatever you choose, I'll be with you."

~

For once the early hours of the morning were quiet in the warehouse. Swan had gone home for the night, Bonnie was grabbing some sleep in one of the spare bedrooms on the upper level, Nick too was catching a rare few hours' rest, and Michael had gone up to give Kitt some time with his brother.

Only two souls were up. Apart from Nick, Kitt was the only other 'person' to have ever had the courage to sit up on Karr's hood. Even Alex and Michael, who no longer feared the darker AI, kept a respectable distance except in particular extenuating circumstances.

<_Are you all right?

<_I only have a few remaining injuries. I'll be fine. I'm sorry I flooded you, sorry I used you

<_You do not have to apologise to me. We are here to assist you when you need us, as you and Michael Knight have been for Nicholas and myself

<_You could call him Michael

<_Please. Not you too

Kitt smiled at the snide humour in the low voice. He sat for a short time, legs crossed as had been his favoured position the last time he was in the android.

<_Something is bothering you

<_Michael has asked me… if I want to remain here

<_Here?

<_In this android body. Permanently. It's what it was designed for

Karr was silent.

<_I'd appreciate your opinion

<_What has your decision to do with me?

<_You're my brother, Karr. You matter to me

He felt something akin to gratitude - Karr's transmissions translating exactly as they did when Kitt was in the car.

<_Why would you want to remain this way?

It took him a few nano-seconds to formulate a response.

<_This way I can have Michael

Karr's confusion came through loud and clear.

<_Have him?

<_Be with him. Be free to love him as I want to

<_Did he ask this of you?

<_No. This is something I want, Karr, for myself. I've never had anything for myself before. Can you understand?

<_No. But I will accept your decision

Closing his eyes, Kitt moved towards his brother.

<_Are you sure? I don't want anything to change between you and I, nothing would be worth that

A translated smile, maybe even a blush of embarrassment.

<_I am sure

<_You would still be my brother?

<_I am your brother, Kitt, nothing could change that fact. Like Michael Knight, I too will be there for you whenever you need me

<_With the amount of trouble Michael seems to find for us, I will be holding you to that

Reaching out, Kitt hugged him.

~

Sitting up on the side of the Stealth with his first coffee of the day, Nick patted the fender, a habit picked up from Michael; one of many.

<Sleep well?>

<Kitt informed me he was considering staying in the android> Nick sighed softly, smiled wanly. <You knew>

<I suspected>

<I do not understand why he would give up all that he is for something he is not>

<All that he is? Is that how you see him? A computer within a car? Is that how you see yourself?>

<You know it is not>

<Kitt's more than that, as you are>

<The car is all he has ever known!>

<Up until Swan introduced him - or I introduced him through Swan - to the possibility of the android body>

<He said that this way he can have Michael> Nick almost spat out his mouthful of coffee. <?>

<Sorry. Stupid, childish…. Do you have an opinion on what he's considering?>

<I cannot understand it. But he is still my brother, still Kitt. I can still link to him, still reach into his CPU, we still talk without voices>

<He's so important to you>

<After you>

<Of course>

<He has always been there>

Beautifully put, Nick thought to himself. But he kept it that way.

~

Bonnie looked up from washing the oil off her hands as Michael, wrapped in that dark blue dressing gown that had always set off his eyes, padded over to the coffee machine and poured himself a mug full of the black slick that looked like the stuff she was washing down the sink.

"You look like you slept. Finally."

He grinned at her. "Like a baby."

"No, you usually sleep like a baby - two hours of shut-eye then you're up needing a pee and a coffee."

His eyebrows jiggled. "Whose baby do you know?"

She ignored him. "The CPU's ready, Kitt can move back as soon as he wants." There was something in his expression…. "Is Kitt all right?"

"Yeah, Kitt's fine. I'll… tell him." He leaned forward, one arm around her shoulders. "Thank you for fixing him, yet again."

"It's what I've always done." She watched him beat a fast retreat back to the bedroom.

Knowing Kitt was in there waiting for him hurt a little. Impossible to be jealous of a car, not so of something that looked so real, something that walked and talked and moved just like a human being. But it would be gone soon. Kitt would be back - the Kitt she knew and loved - this wasn't something she needed to worry about.

~

"It's ready." Michael sat on the bed, one leg tucked under him, coffee in one hand, weight on his other. Kitt too sat up, pulling the duvet with him in such a human gesture that it made Michael's stomach clench. He was so close to having this, every day, every morning waking to as much warmth on the outside as there was on the inside. He was shielding carefully, thoughts kept away from his still fragile partner. This was Kitt's decision and Kitt's alone. He had no right to drag the soul that he loved away from the home, the form he'd always known.

Kitt was looking at him, those expressive eyes reflecting what was being communicated through the link.

//can I?// Kitt eventually asked, and Michael's forehead wrinkled.

//can you what?//

//can I stay, like this, with you?//

It was a plea, not a compromise. It was what Kitt truly wanted, he could feel that, and Michael dropped his blocks, dropped his coffee, and pulled Kitt into a fierce embrace, clung to him as tightly as he was being clung to.

"//yes//" he breathed, wanting to cry with the joy he was feeling. //forever//

//you're absolutely sure?//

The laughter bubbled up from his chest and broke from his throat and he wrapped Kitt even tighter in himself, in his arms and in his mind. //you know I am// How could he not be? Everything he wanted, everything he needed to survive, was in this room. //you're my life. whatever happens, I love you. I'll always love you//


Kitt stopped on the top step and touched his link to Karr.

<_I'm staying

<_Are you happy?

<_More than I've ever felt before

A pause.

<_Yes, I believe you are

Meanwhile Michael jogged down to where Bonnie was waiting for them next to the TransAm, and taking her hand, he lead her out into the brand new day. Kitt watched them, a computer seeing through digital eyes that looked so human to Michael but were far, far from it. The news had to come from his lover for Bonnie. She was about to lose everything and he knew it. Swan would be the one to fix any damage to this body. Swan would be the one called when there was a crisis, an emergency, or just a simple upgrade requirement. He'd worked closely with her already, was very fond of her. He'd still need Bonnie for any issues with his neural network, his programming as it was. But Bonnie was his 'mother', despite what Michael had said about Sandra January, he was taking so much out of her hands and he hated to be hurting her, knew he would be.

There was her history with Michael too. Kitt had stepped into her shoes, taken her place in Michael's affections, and now he was taking most of her purpose away too.

His pain seeped through Michael's light block and he was reached for, hugged gently. He felt the same emotions from his partner - his lover in truth now he supposed - and knew they were all for Bonnie.

He watched them, watched her shake her head, shrug off his attempt at comfort and walk away from him. He couldn't lose her - he couldn't bear it - and for a moment he questioned his decision.

//don't. please//

He didn't know what to say, so he took the steps one at a time and passed Michael on his way back inside. They both paused momentarily, hands brushing, and despite their shared pain, Kitt couldn't help a shy smile. This was what he wanted; this joy, this connection so less intimate than the link but nevertheless so incredible in its own way.

Stepping out into the sunshine, he found Bonnie leaning on the railing further up, in front of another, long-abandoned warehouse. His approach was silent, and he simply leaned on the rusting metal next to her and looked out over the bright, sun-lit ocean.

"I'm sorry," he said eventually, and turned his head to look at her as she turned to glance at him. Her eyes were filled with leaking tears and he hated that this was his fault. He just didn't want to change his mind. She didn't say anything, and so he continued. "You've given me everything, brought me into this world as I know it, taken care of me, worried about me, loved me. And it must seem now, like I'm throwing it all back at you. I owe you so much, too much to calculate, and I'll always need you."

He saw her try to force a smile through her tears. "You won't, Kitt. You don't need me anymore."

"Of course I do. Apart from being the only one who understands how my brain works, you're part of my family. As I understand it, people don't throw their family away, it's always there. Even if it serves no more logical purpose than to share conversation."

It may or may not have been the right thing to say. But her expression told him he hadn't said the wrong thing, and so he took a sidestep towards her and sliding his arm under hers, took her hand in his own. "You'll never stop being important to me. Never. I'll always need you."

It took a little time, but eventually she turned towards him and drew him into a tight hug. "Whatever you need, whenever you need it. Anytime, Kitt, I mean that. And… I'm glad you're happy."

"Thank you." It was definitely heart-felt.


There was one more discussion to be had. Nick came to stand beside Michael on the mezzanine. "Karr told me the news. Can't say it's a massive surprise."

Turning, Michael studied the man who'd saved their lives countless occasions. Just yesterday in fact.

"Do you mind?"

A frown and a shrug. "Why should I mind?"

"It affects you too."

"Not really. I'm assuming Kitt's planning to take remote control of the car," Michael nodded, "in that case it's an extra pair of legs in a crisis. Strong pair too, with all the advantages of a human being and all the advantages of an AI."

Michael watched Bonnie and Kitt stride back into the warehouse hand-in-hand. A true negotiator, a real-life peacekeeper.

"We'll move out, get our own place."

"Ah, so that's it." He could hear Nick's smile in his voice. "You think I'm bothered by the rest of it, by your relationship with Kitt." Michael didn't answer. "Well, I'm not. Don't worry. He's amazing. I honestly could understand it when you only had the link to bind you. Now… everything's changed for you, and it's for the better. I don't mind having an extra body around the place, not when it's him, and besides, this way I can really get to know him. It's something I'd like to do." Michael's eyebrows rose and he wondered if Nick was fielding jealous protests from Karr right about now. But if he was, he wasn't showing it. "I should have killed January."

Turning his back to the railing, crossing his arms, Michael met Nick's hard eyes, "Why?"

"Because if the code's still out there, and the protocol is in Kitt's neural nets, it could still kill him."

"I know. But I don't think January's out for Kitt personally. I think he's a middleman, I think he was selling the code. He could have destroyed Kitt just as easily with that gadget he was using. I think something else is going on here, something we're not seeing yet."

"What about Mrs Sandra January?"

"I don't think I trust her one-hundred-percent. So for now, she remains under surveillance, like her husband and her father-in-law."

Nick nodded his agreement. "Karr's monitoring all telephone calls, emails, internet access, fax transmissions; the lot. If any of them make a move, we'll know about it."

"Thanks."

"Anytime."

"And now, I have a remote control car to get built."

Shaking his head, Nick said, amused, "Just a kid at heart."

"Absolutely. And you know what I've been thinking? You could get the world's largest Scaelectrix set out on the ground floor."


~ ~ ~


"If you drop that sweet wrapper in my car I will personally feed it to you."

Freezing with the paper about to fall from his fingers, Michael instead balled it up and pushed it into his coat pocket. "It's not your car, it's ours."

"Can you drive it without using the controls?"

"Is this how it's going to be?"

"Isn't this how it's always been?"

With a contented smile to himself Michael shifted, turning from the view of the empty, sandy beach and the low, gentle tide so that he had a better view of his partner sitting in the driver's seat. It was only their second time out since Kitt had made the decision to stay in the android body, and he wondered for how long the sight would take his breath away.

"I'm trying to give up smoking," he said by way of explanation of the boiled sweet he'd popped into his mouth.

"You're trying to give up the five cigarettes you smoke a month? Why?"

"Because smoking can kill you."

Kitt smirked. "Yes, but in your case it's up against a lot of competition."

Chuckling, Michael pulled the conversation back on track. "Any regrets?"

"No." He paused. "Not really. Just that I didn't meet Sandra January."

"One day, Kitt. But for now, the fewer people who know who you are, the safer you'll be."

"You don't trust her?"

"There's just something wrong with everything that happened, with the events and the way it all played out." He brushed his fingers over the dash, sweeping his eyes over the changes wrought in it - not quite as dramatic as the changes for Kitt, but just as distracting at times. "You could always move back into the car for the afternoon, the CPU would still support you."

Kitt shook his head. "For emergencies only. This is what I am now. I need time to get used to it."

"Is it so bad?"

In answer, he reached out and wrapped warm fingers around Michael's hand. Yeah, there was nothing quite like it, there never had been and there never would be. It was exquisite; every touch looped back, sensation shared between them, images and reflections that spiralled into infinity like standing between two mirrors. While deep in the link like that it was impossible to tell whose pleasure was being experienced and it didn't matter. It was as incredible as it was impossible, and Michael was as addicted to it now as he'd ever been.

Bringing Kitt's hand to his mouth, kissing the back of it, he grinned. "Okay. You ready?"

Other hand in his lap, Kitt nodded. "Ready." Without a single movement he gunned the engine, and releasing the brakes he accelerated the car over the wet sand, through the surf, tyres sending out a continuous spray of sludge and salt water as their speed climbed rapidly.

"NOW!" Michael yelled, voice laced with amusement, and without so much as a blink of his eyes, Kitt had them airborne over the dunes. Some things, Michael thought as they soared through the air with a duel whoop of joy, would never change.


FIN

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