To: [email protected]
From: [email protected]
Reply-To: [email protected]

Hello Kitt

My name is Anton Sachias.  Fifteen years ago I was a Post-Graduate researcher at MIT.  My specialist field was Artificial Intelligence.  I was fascinated with the idea that instead of a mind being born, it could be created.  Instead of taking eighteen years to develop, it could be taught in a matter of months everything that an adult knows.  The idea that a human mind might be linked to an artificial mind, in order to teach it, was one that invaded my mind and refused to let me alone.

It took two years, but I finally came up with something.  A tiny device that could be surgically implanted into the human brain and when activated would allow a telepathic link to a sensor installed inside the central processor of the AI.  But the cost of development was great and when the millionaire Wilton Knight offered to buy it off me for a substantial amount of money I saw no reason to refuse. I didn�t know what he wanted it for and at the time I didn�t care.  I took the money and ran, as they say.

I know now what Knight wanted with the neural implant technology.  It�s incredible!  He�s used it at least once to link you and your driver.  And it works, doesn�t it?  In fifteen years I hadn�t thought about it.  As I grew older, I looked back on that invention as a moment of madness, as a fantasy.  Now I know I was right.  And I want to experience my own invention.

I know you�ll help me if I need you to.  I will be in touch.

Anton

* * *

�I hope you�re more comfortable than I am,� Michael grumbled into the Comlink.
�You were the one who chose the �up close and personal� method of surveillance.�
Michael rolled his eyes at his partner�s tone of voice.  They�d been after this guy � �Claris� � for Devon for the last week.  Also known as Stephen Grey, Michael had only just discovered, Claris was a petty jewel thief turned professional.  Initial electronic bugging hadn�t worked - the guy seemed to have his house swept for surveillance devices once a day.  Michael had thought that odd for a jewel thief and his interest in the case had increased to the point at which he had been willing to go, sit and watch the guy�s house, to try to find out exactly what was going on.

It was three in the morning.  And nothing was going on.  Their subject had taken an early bath before curling up in the corner of the couch with a mug of something to watch a film on the television.  Michael was cold and wet and Kitt�s �I told you so� tone didn�t help.

The AI was bored.  He tapped into the television signal and found a channel he thought he might enjoy.  He watched for a few minutes before his link with Karr flared into life.
<_Kitt?
<_Karr!  Hey!  Are you busy?
<_No.  Nicholas is busy doing� something
<_Good.  Want to hang out, take in a movie?
There was silence.
<_Joke
<_You pick up far too many bad habits from your driver.  Are you still watching the jewel thief for the Foundation?
<_Watching him watching television
<_You�re bored
<_To death
<_What would you rather be doing?
<_Watching paint dry?  Another joke
<_I realised that.  Could I� ask something personal?
<_Of course
<_What does it feel like when you and Michael link� deeply?
<_Karr� they don�t come much more personal than that
<_Sorry
<_It�s all right.  Kitt hesitated.  <_It�s knowing him so completely, having him know me
<_You lay yourself open to him?
<_I trust him with my life, as you trust Nick
<_There are still parts of ourselves we keep private
<_Because you are both still private individuals.  To lay myself open to Michael is� sensual
<_You�re no longer an individual?
<_That�s not what I said.  I need to share more of myself with Michael than you do with Nicholas.  It�s just the difference in our relationships

Kitt noted his brother�s silence.
<_Karr?
<_Will I� ever have that with anyone?

*

Nicholas MacKenzie took the stairs down to the ground floor of the warehouse two at a time.  An anchovy slipped from the top of the pizza slice, that he held between his fingers, to the bottom step.  He ignored it for the moment.  �Karr?�
The AI informed his brother that he would be back in a moment and answered his driver�s call.  �Nicholas?�
�Anton Sachias.�
Without hesitation Karr came back, �I gave you everything I found.�
Nick nodded, biting into the pizza.  �Aliases?�
�I�d have told you if there had been.�
Looking up from the paperwork in his other hand, Nick gazed at his car.  �Am I interrupting something?�
Karr was immediately on the defensive.  �No.�
�Really?�
�Kitt and I were just� talking.�
Nicholas smiled to himself.  �I thought they were working.�
�Michael is surveying, Kitt is bored.�
��Michael� is it now?� Nick teased.  He felt Karr�s mumbled response.  �Just check aliases again for me, will you?  Go as deep as you can.�
�Is there something wrong?�
�I don�t know.�

Sitting himself down on one of the flat seats in Karr�s diagnostic area, Nick finished the last of his pizza and spread his papers out on the coffee table.
�Nick, why are we checking on Sachias?�
�The name rings a bell, I just can�t place it.�
�You could ask them.�
�I could.�  Nick shrugged.  �Maybe I will.�

*

It was gone three a.m. by the time Michael tooled the Trans-Am back into the warehouse.  Nicholas looked up as Michael climbed out of the car looking tired and pissed off.
�Unsuccessful night, I hear.�
Michael rolled his eyes.  �He doesn�t strike me as the international jewel thief type.�
�Maybe it�s his night off.�
Michael closed the car door and watched as his partner moved to park close to the Stealth.  His head ached.  He headed up stairs for the kitchen to make himself a sandwich and a coffee.  He only realised Nick had followed him when he turned to fill the kettle and saw him leaning against the door-frame.
�Everything all right?� he indicated the white loaf he�d dug out.  �Can I make you something?�
�No, thanks.�  Nick shifted to his other foot.  They might work together for the Foundation, but when it came to their own cases, they�d made a point for the most part of staying out of one another�s way.  �Listen, I know it�s not really any of my concern but I was wondering� Anton Sachias.�

Michael looked at him.  �How did you know about that?�
Nicholas glanced away.  �I looked at that file Devon gave me for you.  Just at the name on the first page.  Sorry.�
Michael shook his head, �Don�t worry about it.  Do you know who he is?�
�I haven�t been able to find out, but the name rings a bell.�
�He was the original designer of the implants.�
The light dawned.  �Of course!  I knew I�d heard of him!�  Nick frowned.  �Why are you looking into him?�
Michael took the cheese from the fridge.  �I was interested.�
�Now why I don�t I believe you?�

Pouring the boiling water into a mug, Michael stared into the dark liquid as he stirred it.  �Kitt received a message from a man claiming to be the designer of the implant.�
Nick looked up, expression darkening.  �Saying what?�
�Saying he wanted to talk about the link we shared.�
�Why didn�t you tell me?�
�You were busy.  Besides, you�ve had enough on your mind.�
�Kitt didn�t mention it to Karr.�
�He didn�t want to worry him.�
Nick tapped his fingers against the doorframe.  �How did the message come in?�
�Email.�
�Kitt uses email?!�  Nicholas smiled despite his growing concerns.
�Has done for years.  Picks it up using a remote, transparent ISP, much in the same way you do, so that no one can trace him.  When he got back into the car after being in Swan�s android the mail was waiting for him.�
�Signed by Anton Sachias?�
�Yes.�  Michael rubbed his forehead.  Reaching into the end cupboard he grabbed the bottle of painkillers and swallowed two.  �I was going to tell you if we heard from him again.  But it�s been almost two weeks and there�s been nothing.�
�What did this mail say?�
Michael shrugged.  �Told Kitt his life�s story.  The worrying bit was at the end.  He said� he wanted to experience his invention.�
�How the hell does he plan on doing that?�
�I have no idea.�
�And there�s been nothing else?�
Michael sighed.  �Nothing, Nick.  If I thought there was any real danger I�d have told you.  But he only mentioned our implant, not yours.  I don�t think he knows about you and Karr.�

Nicholas stepped into the kitchen, reaching around Michael to switch the kettle on.  �You�ll tell me if you hear from him again?�
�You�re not here to look after us, Nick.�
�We are if we want to be.�
Michael shook his head.  He was too tired to argue at the moment.  �You�ll be the second to know if anything else comes in.  Promise.�
Nick chuckled softly.  �Get some sleep.  I doubt your jewel thief�ll make a move tonight.�
The other man scoffed.  �I don�t think he�s ever going to make a move.�

*

Michael closed the bedroom door and leaned back against it, closing his eyes as he unbuttoned his shirt.  Dropping the material to the floor, following it with jeans and underwear, he threw himself diagonally across the bed, naked.  He felt his partner�s appreciative hum in his mind and smiled, reaching for Kitt.
//Hey, Beautiful//  He felt the touch to his mind, like a kiss, so real it could almost have been a physical caress.
//Michael�//

Some nights Kitt was satisfied with just curling up around his partner and falling asleep in the warmth of their entwined presences.  It was hellishly early in the morning, they should have been exhausted but Kitt wasn�t tired and his low-strung energy was pulsing through Michael�s mind now, leaving ideas in its wake.

It would take time to get used to the fact that the sensuous images placed in his head were just those - images.  He and Kitt had shared things while his partner had been housed in the android body, things they�d never dreamt they�d be given the chance to share.  And there was no denying that the experience had changed them.  But instead of regrets, either at having done it in the first place or at Kitt being back in his original form, they�d used the fire that one night had lit between them.

They�d discovered that they could do some amazing things with the implant, if they trusted enough to let one another deep into their minds, deeper than they were ever supposed to go.  Kitt could touch Michael and make him believe it was real.  It felt real!  But for once Michael was the one who couldn�t touch Kitt, couldn�t work out how to.

//You have to come closer//
Michael frowned.  //How?//  Kitt didn�t respond, and after a moment he didn�t have to.  Michael swallowed hard.  //Kitt� I don�t know if I can//  Through everything, Michael had never actually moved across into Kitt�s CPU.  That was an alien environment as Michael�s head was to Kitt.  When Kitt had jumped over to the implant after Jennifer�s Tarasine attack on the car, he�d done it as a desperate, last resort and the result could easily have been fatal for either of them.

Kitt wasn�t going to push, and Michael knew if he was going to do this it would have to be without his partner�s coaxing.  It wasn�t so much a visible connection between them.  They usually met at the point of interface between the implant in Michael�s head and the chip in Kitt�s CPU.  They�d shattered the imagined distance between them some time ago and almost merging their presences with one another had become natural.  But what Kitt was doing, when he made Michael believe he was being kissed, was touching his partner�s mind, convincing neurones that a physical sensation was being felt.

For Michael to do that to Kitt, he�d have to venture at least a small part of himself into his partner�s CPU.  And frankly that scared him.  But he wanted to do this, wanted to prove to Kitt that his returning to the car hadn�t lost them the physical intimacy they�d shared.  At least, not as completely as the AI believed it had.

Slowly, Michael moved toward that place in his mind where Kitt�s beautiful bright energy pulsed strongly.  Following the path his mind took him, he felt a shift in perception, a change in sensation.  Whether it was real or just imaginary honestly didn�t seem to matter.  Whether the sudden assault of electricity, of thoughts and emotions so powerful and yet so very alien was all in his head, he had no idea.  He passed over tendrils of familiar white light, convinced he could feel his partner shivering all around him.  Was this really where Kitt resided?  Or just what he believed it should look like?

Not knowing if the tight ball of blinding light was real or not, Michael slowed as he closed in on it.  Reaching out, he stroked it with infinite tenderness.  The world around him shuddered, and then they were both falling.
 

Nick looked up from his laptop as, for a single second, the spots on the prow of the TransAm flared into life.  He glanced at Karr, and the AI sent back a wave of something Nicholas couldn�t translate.  Shrugging to himself, he went back to his work.

After a short time, Karr nudged him.
<Are you planning on getting some sleep tonight?>
<Are you?>
<It seems unlikely>
<Block him>
There was no reply forthcoming.  Nick sighed to himself.  Maybe it was time to get some rest.

*

Michael opened his eyes cautiously, not at all sure of what he would see.  His room was dark, the only light coming from the soft green glow of the alarm clock.  05:44.  He was still lying across his bed, naked, starting to feel the chill as the sweat dried on his body.  //What the hell was that?// he murmured to his partner.
Kitt�s presence was clear in his mind, a lazy warmth curled around him happily.  //Orgasm// was the soft reply.
//It was�//  He decided that his feelings could say more, and then became aware that Kitt already knew how he felt.  Smiling, he dragged himself up the bed and hauled the duvet over him, closing his eyes as he pulled the thick quilt over his sated body.  //You�re incredible, Kitt//
His answer was a smile.  //I love you too//