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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.
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 noted his brother�s silence.
* 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?�
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.
* 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.
Michael looked at him. �How did you know about
that?�
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.�
Nicholas stepped into the kitchen, reaching around
Michael to switch
the kettle on. �You�ll tell me if you hear from him
again?�
* 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.
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//
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.
* 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.
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