| Part Two Kitt explained to Karr and Nick once they were safely holed up inside the warehouse with the usually open doors locked shut and security monitors keeping a check on every available way in - both real and virtual. "I thought I might have destroyed the AI at the time and when we didn't hear about it, or from it, I assumed I had. But it was so incredibly similar. Just a feeling, very difficult to describe." He could feel something from Karr. He'd felt it when he'd spoken to his brother on their way over here to thank him for his help and check he hadn't been hurt. Now it was back, just on the edge of the honed link� something being kept from him. <_What is it? <_Nothing <_Don't lie to me. If you know anything� He could almost feel the conversation between Karr and Nick, and briefly wondered how he and Michael must feel to the other AI, particularly during periods of high emotion and intense sensation. But it was a question for some other time. <_Karr It was a question to his brother, but Nick was the one to answer. "I'll tell you, Kitt." He grabbed for his laptop off the workbench and switched it on, logging in. "When we had that trouble with King Military," (trouble - when Garth Knight kidnapped you, tortured you, transplanted your CPU into the body of Goliath and then tricked you into murdering him, a memory you can't wipe from your mind, a terrible vision of red that seems to creep into every nightmare), "I started digging and I found an email from Quinn Campbell to someone called 'Fran'. She was arranging a sale." What was that old phrase of Michael's? He had a very bad feeling about this�. "Of what?" His partner asked for him. "Of a copy of the original AI code on which Karr and Kitt are based." Sadness filtered through him from his epicentre, touching the link, meeting its human equal from Michael. No. "Quinn? Are you sure?" She had always been friendly towards him, he'd always liked her, always trusted her. She'd supported Devon's proposal to have him and the Knight Two-Thousand signed over to Michael. She couldn't have done this. "I'm sure. I'm sorry. Karr tracked it back to source and confirmed it." "Why didn't you tell us?" Michael's voice was laced with an anger Kitt was surprised he didn't feel too. "There was no point." He handed the laptop over and Kitt remotely interfaced with it, reading the email in pure binary form while Michael read the text on screen. "It was already over. The code was sold to a Doctor Francis Clay. She worked for King Military. We were keeping tabs on them and after� Garth's death they folded. We figured Garth bought the code for some reason, didn't get anywhere and simply trapped the two of you instead." "But Quinn Campbell, Nick�." "I know." There was apology in his tone as he glanced at Michael then at Kitt, holding the complex gaze. "But you can see for yourself, she did everything she could to protect you and Kitt." Kitt dropped his link with the laptop. "Have you spoken to her?" Nick shook his head and in the back of his mind he felt his partner's agreement with his own thoughts. "Michael and I will." For whatever reason, Nick wasn't happy but he didn't argue with the decision. "Are you sure it's the same AI you encountered in King's systems?" "No. But it felt the same. And it attacked me, Nick! What's going on here?" "I'm sorry, Kitt." He was surprised when their friend's hand landed on his shoulder, slid down to squeeze his arm. "Long day. Long week." Karr expanded, <_It was a difficult case <_Are you both all right? <_We will be. Nick needs some rest <_And you need some downtime Kitt smiled up at Nicholas. "You two get some rest. Michael and I will talk to Quinn Campbell and we'll pick up some supplies on the way back." # Michael started the engine but didn't move the car. Quinn had been so important to him and Kitt, so much a part of their lives at the Foundation. Along with Devon, she and John Landes had been their keenest, firmest supporters, fighting to get the Knight Two-Thousand signed over to him, ensuring the trust for Kitt's upkeep was in place, that the finances were more than adequate to provide for him and that Michael was the only one with access to the funds. Not that they used much of the Foundation's money anymore. Kitt was maintained by Swan because she loved him. Their freelance work paid for their lives. Only the car was funded by the trust fund - repairs and upgrades. "I thought she was our friend," Kitt said, out of the blue, sounding so like his old, insecure self of so many years ago that Michael felt his heart squeezed. "Me too, Kitt. Maybe� maybe she still is. Maybe she had a reason for this." He just couldn't think of one. Turning in his seat he reached for his partner and Kitt went easily into his arms, more aware than ever at moments like these how very precious he was. "We'll ask her. We'll find out." Difficult to ask someone anything when they couldn't be found. The house Quinn had shared with her husband until his untimely death was empty; it looked as if it had been empty for some time. Michael called Devon but all he'd been able to tell them was that she'd been at the last Foundation board meeting just under two months ago. He hadn't seen her since, but he usually wouldn't see her from meeting to meeting. He didn't know where else she would be, but he'd make some calls and let Michael know if he found her, or whereabouts she was staying. He asked, of course, why they wanted to find her, but Michael told him it would have to wait, he'd see Devon soon and explain everything then. There was nothing else they could do for the time being. As desperate as he was, as he knew Kitt was, to speak to Quinn, it would have to wait. Dropping the handbrake, Michael pressed gently on the gas and turned the car back onto the main road. Suddenly, without any warning, Kitt wheezed - pulled in an agonising breath he didn't need - before he stopped breathing altogether, his eyes glazed over and the android dropped back into the car seat, sliding down a couple of inches like a puppet without a master. //"Kitt!"// Michael yanked the steering wheel back over, straightening the car. There was no one to hand control over to. //"Kitt, come on, partner. don't lose it now"// Pulling over to the side of the road, he killed the engine and hit a button on the dash that opened a channel to the warehouse at the same time as he leaned across and found the button in Kitt's throat. Pressing his fingers into the rapidly cooling skin, he activated the reboot. "Michael?" Nick's voice over the comms channel. "Karr told me there's another attack." "Nick, I've rebooted him." He watched Kitt come back on line, relief touching him a moment before it vanished; the attack restarted almost immediately. The single jerk of Kitt's body was evidence of it. "Oh God� it didn't work." "Karr's in there with him, Michael. You have to get back here. We've got jammers here; we can externally lock down all his channels." Michael nodded. "Okay." Starting the engine, he twisted the car back onto the road and slammed his foot onto the accelerator, the speed leaping up in factors of ten until it reached triple figures. There were no signs on the outside of the fight going on in the mind of his partner. The link was far from dead but unlike other types of attack, when Michael would feel every nuance of Kitt's pain until one of them blocked, he could feel nothing but distance. It was strange, but it wasn't anywhere close to uncomfortable. He didn't like it. Some strange egotistical urge within him insisted he be in on the action right along side his long-term partner. Like Karr was. Quashing the irrational streak of jealousy, he focused his attention on the road, on keeping the car on in his lane, on trying desperately not to keep looking over at his inert partner slumped in the passenger seat like some kind of broken doll. He ran three red lights in succession, hearing the metallic crunch of two cars colliding at the third set. Yanking hard on the wheel, he finally turned onto the old docks road, the modified suspension bouncing along what was practically a dirt track now and wasn't in any state to be driven at high speeds. The smooth concrete between the overgrown park and the warehouses themselves was a relief. Michael slowed the car, got level with the open door of Nick's base of operations and turned in hard. Immediately the doors came down. Shutting off the engine, he leaned out of the car. He could see Nick at his laptop, and knew he didn't have to say it. "Michael?" Turning, he couldn't rightly express his relief when he found himself looking into the dark amber of Kitt's eyes. As he had done before they'd left, he hugged his partner, tight and hard and just for a second. Then he pulled back and saw how pale Kitt's skin was, how exhausted he was from the fight. Nick was already around the other side of the car, opening the door, helping Kitt out. Michael joined him and they got his partner over to one of the couches. "Is Karr�?" Nick nodded. "He's okay. He'll take his systems offline and power down for a while, recoup what he lost." They sat Kitt up on the sofa. "How did he know it had happened?" "He wasn't blocking this time, he felt it. But� I couldn't feel anything at all. Just distance." Michael nodded. "Same here." As he reached up to touch the hair at Kitt's white temple the android started to topple, to fall to one side, and Michael gently aided him until he was lying on his side. //rest// It was testament to how much the attack had taken out of him that Kitt didn't respond, didn't try to reassure his partner that he was okay. He closed his eyes, and Michael felt him in the back of his mind, off-lining because he had no choice; he reached for him, surrounded him, holding him while he 'slept'. Doing that and functioning normally at the same time wasn't something he'd have been able to do up until a year or so ago. Handling the link, leaning how to use it, how to divide himself between it and the real world, were skills he'd honed after months, years of practise. He looked up at where Nick was seated on the edge of the other sofa. "So what now?" ~ Nick shook his head. "No!" "Absolutely not!" Michael approached a recovered Kitt where he was sitting cross-legged on Karr's hood. "It's suicide." Nick tried to be slightly more rational. "It's been attacking you, Kitt. You do that and it could kill you!" "Oh, so when it's you two rushing headlong into danger, that's okay. But when we try it, it's 'no' and 'absolutely not'? We don't get to say that to you!" Michael glanced between Kitt and Nick and back again, eyes widening, not quite catching the warning in Nick's expression in time. "That's because you're...." Luckily he bit his words back before he could do any major damage. Still, Kitt's gaze turned as hard as stone and the warmth in the back of his mind turned distinctly chilly. "We're what?" Nick wasn't going to be any help. He'd dropped his head, hiding his smirk, not getting involved. And what the hell had he been going to say? 'Ours', he thought, 'I was going to say, you're ours', and that might have flown at one time, when there were no liquid brown eyes to accuse him of claiming ownership over what was now at least one individual, independent life. He still didn't know how he felt about that. But he'd practically talked Kitt into the move to the android, and he loved every single one of its advantages. So if he had to take Kitt's increasing sense of self along with them, so be it. "Sorry. I'm sorry." Things sometimes just slipped out. They always had, especially around Kitt for some reason he didn't understand. It was a part of him he didn't like. "You don't get to play hero every time, Michael." But Kitt's tone was gentler now. "It's our turn. We're the ones who can do this. We can follow the AI's trail back to where it's originating from. It's information we need." Nick lifted his head, the potential domestic row avoided for now. "Karr?" "These attacks on Kitt cannot be allowed to continue. And it is impractical for them to remain here indefinitely." "Can't argue with that." Karr's arguments were usually flawless. Combing his fingers through his dark waves in frustration, Michael took a couple of steps forward, closing the gap between him and Karr, reaching out as Kitt slipped off the hood and stepped into his hands. With a soft sigh he dropped his forehead to his partner's. //I love you. I do not want to lose you// //now you know how I felt for all those years// //Kitt�// //I love you too. but Karr's right. I can't withstand too many of those attacks and the second one was stronger than the first. it's learning. eventually its first strike will be against the links or my central processor// //I don't like you acting as bait// //that was usually my role when I was in the car// //and it's different now// //I'm the only one who can do this. I am yours, Michael, always. let me do this// He responded with a tight, loving hug. Then he dropped his hands and stepped away. Nick - after a not altogether dissimilar talk with his own partner, no doubt - was the one to ask, "What do you need us to do?" |