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The message had been bordering on the romantic - �meet in the park at midnight�. The most important information often came from the most unlikely of sources. There was every possibility it was a trap, then again there always was. But you had to trust someone at sometime. Tooling Kitt quietly in to the car park, Michael had his
partner do
a full scan of the area. All clear. Taking the
side arm from
the glove compartment he checked the clip and dropped the
gun into the
large side pocket of his long black coat.
There was a figure waiting in the park by the children�s
playground,
some five hundred yards from the car.
Watching their contact, keeping tabs on the activity
around the area,
Kitt�s main processor was dedicated to covering his
partner�s back.
Because of that, it was a background process that that
registered a sudden
spike in the power source for the lawn�s sprinkler system.
Engaging the engine, Kitt backed up and span the car through 180 degrees, heading for the exit like a dart. Suddenly, as suddenly as the deadly rain had come, the ground beneath him and around him exploded. Flames burst up through the dirt and gravel, showering him, surrounding him, engulfing him. The Tarasine fuelled the fire, rapidly taking the temperature up to unbearable heights. He didn�t have to call out. The first spike of surprise, fear and then pain arced through the mental bond between the partners. Michael had stopped dead in his tracks, hearing the warning in his mind. He had turned in time to see the sprinklers spraying something on to his car. Alarm bells had started to ring in his head. In his mind he heard his name called, watched his partner spin the car around to make his escape. And then the night turned to fire and he was running, yelling Kitt�s name through the roar of the sudden blaze. For a second the white-hot pain in his head was something he could bear. But in the next second it became blinding agony as he reached down the link to Kitt. He dropped to the grass, strings cut, mind overloaded. * Many times in the past Nicholas had experienced his
partner�s pain;
mind-shattering agony that looped back indefinitely when
Karr failed to
block his transmission. Never before had he
experienced pain originating
from the other car. It had a different quality, a
mirrored feel rather
than the straight arc from one to the other.
The park was a good twenty miles from the harbour.
They covered
the distance in just over ten minutes. In the
otherwise empty car
park, the intense fire still burned around the charred
vehicle, fuelled
by the fresh rain of chemical. Nicholas took in the
scene in a moment.
For now there was no room and no time for emotion.
Michael was fifty yards from the chaos, collapsed onto
the grass.
His eyes were screwed shut, pulse racing, unconscious.
Nicholas performed a quick, brief first-aid check before
picking Michael
up and dumping him as gently as he could into the
passenger seat of Karr�s
dark cabin.
Frog�s private fire truck started spraying foam onto the flames seconds after it pulled into the car park. Behind it, Duck pulled his truck up onto the side of the road, ready to transport whatever remained of the burning wreck back to Nicholas� warehouse. Neither ever asked questions - neither ever wanted to know the answers. Once the fire was out, Nicholas could only stare at the charred skeleton that remained. He was reminded of the scene at the Foundation test track after Jennifer�s run of experiments had torn Kitt apart. But this was worse. Because instead of a terrified AI in the framework of a car, there was just a shell, devastated, dead. With the heat of the fire gone, the night turned cold. Nicholas turned to Duck. �Let�s load it up.�
Gently, he put the casing onto the driver�s seat of his
own car.
�Is he still there?�
The journey back was made in silence, with Duck following behind. Karr, as always, was a constant in the back of Nicholas� mind, but there was a difference to his presence, an odd intensity now. It was very rare for Karr to be at all dependant on him, �clinging� to him. But Nicholas could easily understand the need. For the first time in a long time, Karr didn�t have a second connection - his brother was gone from his consciousness. * Michael opened his eyes cautiously. His headache
hadn�t been a
dream. He couldn�t remember a hangover quite like
it. And then
reality kicked in. It wasn�t alcohol induced.
And he wasn�t
alone. Nicholas crouched down next to where Michael
lay on the wide,
battered couch.
Bonnie had learnt recently not to ask too many questions. When Nicholas had called her on his way back to the warehouse, she�d come straight in. Michael wasn�t obviously injured, but there was clearly something not right. Now she was hooking Kitt�s damaged CPU up to Karr�s CPU. Michael was sitting close by, head in his hands. For all intent and purposes he was �housing� Kitt. They�d been linked for a long time. He knew what it
was like to
have Kitt in his mind and could barely remember what it
had been like without
him there. But at the moment the AI�s presence was
overwhelming.
No longer was Kitt an entity in his mind, he was
everywhere, overshadowing
Michael�s own thoughts and emotions. Only a strong
personality and
a fairly impressive ego was keeping him afloat.
�Whenever you�re ready, Karr.� Bonnie stepped back, waiting for the unknown. <This might not be pleasant. I�m going to block
you.>
There was very little left undamaged. Circuits were
fried, connections
severed. Close to where the link to Michael was
located, there was
a tiny part of Kitt remaining, clinging for dear
life. He couldn�t
leave the CPU completely, the disks and memory housed
within were as much
a part of his consciousness as the intangible part Michael
liked to call
his soul.
It was crude but effective. Outside in the warehouse, Michael screamed, helpless as
the pain seared
through him. He felt Kitt grab at him, snake pieces
of himself further
into his mind.
Karr felt the vibrations of a keening whimper.
Michael experienced
the spike of agony.
Michael fell forward, caught by Nicholas.
Nicholas let go, leaving Karr and Kitt to have whatever conversation they needed to have. Karr would be the only one able to communicate with Kitt now and they couldn�t be sure what effect this would have on Michael. Nicholas sat up on the sofa, waiting for the other man to open his eyes. For a while he said nothing. But tears started to roll over his cheeks, became a cascade and when he did look up at Nicholas he said only, �He�s gone.� The tears were an automatic reaction. So much had
been torn from
him in a second, so much emotion poured into him as Kitt
had realised that
Karr was right and had left his driver�s mind. �Is
he okay?� he choked
out.
Michael closed his eyes and initially shook his head, but
then he hesitated.
�Yes� just a thread of him. Nothing definite,
just�.� He opened
his eyes again. �I know he�s alive, but I can�t feel
anything passed
that.� Biting into his bottom lip he fought to
control the flood
of loss and loneliness. �Oh, God, it hurts,� he
breathed.
* _Swan?
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