Part 2

Reality

Devon opened the door and walked down the dull gray steps in to the mechanics pit. Five or six young men and women were working on various things. Past them was a large expanse of shelves and work benches. Beyond that was the half obscured form of a black Trans-Am.

Devon carefully picked his way through the tangeled mess of equipment and chaos. When he had picked his way over to the main work station Bonnie gave him a stern look, silently pulling her finger to her lips in a hushing manor.

“Kitt, Devon's here.” She announced. Her voice was soft and soothing.

Devon got the full impression that Kitt was to be kept calm. He could hear the engine rev slightly. It knocked and pounded furiously for about ten seconds before choking out in a most harsh and strangled manner.

“Hello, Kitt, how do you feel?” Devon managed.

“Tired.” Was the dry reply. Devon looked to Bonnie for an explanation.

“We went on a test run.” She said, taking her queue. “Kitt misfired a bit and suddenly we were losing power. We returned here as quickly as we could.”

“What happened?”

She reached up and sifted her hair through her fingers. “Let’s take a walk.”

Kitt's engine revved again, harder this time. “Bonnie?”

“I'll be right back, Kitt. I just need to do some things. OK? I'll be in sensor range the whole time.”

There was an uncertain pause, a hesitation. Finally Kitt spoke again. “Not too far?” His voice was painfully weak and drawn out.

“No, I won't leave the building.”

“OK.”

She turned and took Devon's arm. They walked away from the car and the equipment attached to it. Devon opened his mouth to ask a question, but Bonnie shook her head. Finally, they made it over to one of the desks and Bonnie sat down, a dark shadow over her. She waited for Devon to join her before speaking in a hushed voice.

“When he lost power suddenly I thought it might have just been a loose connection, but now I see it's a lot more than that. Kitt's whole system needs to be recalibrated. But each time he leaves, even on a short excursion, he undoes all the work I've put in to him. And each time that has happened, the damage I'm trying to contain gets worse. So basically speaking, the more he moves, the more he's hurting himself. The worst possible case of him doing damage would either be complete engine failure, or CPU overload. He could throw a rod, fry his internal sensors... hundreds of things could go wrong at any time. And because he's made of metal any thing that can, will go wrong. It's only a matter of time and use.”

Devon nodded as he took it all in. “We'll simply have to keep him confined to the garage then.”

“For three months?” Bonnie asked. “Devon, he'd suffer cabin fever and drive every one nuts.”

“We could shut him down for that amount of time.”

“I've spoken with Kitt about that. There is a chance, a small chance, but a chance, that once I shut him down I'll have trouble bringing him back online again.”

“What sort of trouble?”

“Kitt's systems are all interconnected, like a spider web. If I shut him down now and try to bring him back on line before the transplant, which I will have to do in order to run some tests, there could be a malfunction. This could be as non eventful as a simple unpleasant feeling, or as damaging a vast memory loss.”

“I take it he didn't want to risk the memory loss.”

Bonnie shook her head. “It's like going in to controlled coma, but there would be difficulty when being reawakened. Would you rather sit in a little misery for three months, or sleep and risk permanent amnesia?”

Devon's lower lip twitched a bit. “I suppose I'd take the former over the latter. I can see how he might be apprehensive.”

She nodded, looking even more grim. “When the damage was first done, Kitt's CPU case was cracked open. I had to recover it. Unlike the acid pit incident where it was ninety-nine percent damage; this is only about seven, maybe eight percent. But all the damage done was to Kitt's most vulnerable places. From the outside he's nearly invincible. But from the inside out he's almost more fragile than a human being.”

Devon nodded, his hand reaching up and fingers curling around his chin. He was giving Bonnie his full, undivided attention. “Michael said it looked like some one had taken a shot gun to his engine.”

“Not quite. Kitt's engine literally exploded; one piston, rupturing at the crack. If I were to compare it to a human body it would be like...” She thought for a minute. “Like a bullet that explodes on impact that had been rigged to go off after being placed inside the chest. Kitt's engine, much like our heart and lungs, was torn to pieces. I fixed what I could, but even so I couldn't rebuild what was completely destroyed. When he was dunked in the acid, all it did was clean his engine. After the run-in with the antitank ram rod Kitt's engine was protected by the frame work of his body. Like ribs around the soft organs.” She folded her hands on the table and sighed. “But his engine wasn't the only thing damaged. The delicate connections between his CPU and the other aspects of the car body were partly or completely severed. This, in itself is no problem. I have fixed, rewired, and redesigned his central network system before, hundreds of times. But the damage is shorting out weak connections and tripping circuits at a phenomenal rate. I can't keep up, only try to compensate.”

“Is there any possible way you can bypass the damage and thereby spare Kitt the shorts?”

“No. Think about the human body. When that little explosion goes off, all the fragments rip through the soft flesh until stopped by bone or exits the body.”

Devon nodded.

“In Kitt's case, the only thing that was able to stop the piston parts was the MB shell. The parts ricocheted and hit everything. Nothing was left untouched.”

“Is there any way you can put a temporary engine into Kitt?”

Bonnie looked up at the man in front of her with slight disbelief. “No. Kitt's engine is the third most technologically complicated system in his body after the CPU and the dash. If I took that out and tried to put a new one in, it would run, but Kitt would neither have control over it, nor feel it. Besides that, a great deal of his sensor capabilities are hard wired in to his systems and...”

Devon raised his hand. ”Bonnie, I know. I just thought maybe it could have been possible.”

“I wish it was.” She folded her arms and looked between the shelves and past the other desks to where Kitt was. He was silent now, hood open, wires hooked up to monitors and systems by the dozens.

Devon followed her gaze and watched the scanner’s reflection in one of the steel cabinets. The red light tracked back and forth slowly, skipping one spot like a missing tooth. “Can he still see completely?”

Bonnie turned to Devon. “Yes, his systems in that respect are some what redundant. He did complain of a slight blind spot though.”

Devon glanced over at Kitt. “How is Michael taking this?”

“Not well.” She sighed. “Michael put him self on the line for Kitt's safety. And now that Kitt is sitting here helpless, Michael feels helpless too.”

“Yes, I can see how he would feel that way.”

~*~

Kitt knew that when humans leave the area, they have private things to talk about. And yet through the dim haze he felt around him, he was listening and watching. The hand movements, the head shaking and hanging, the sighing... every thing spoke volumes of how serious this all was.

But Kitt already knew that. Every move he had made to get back to the 'Emergency Room' had been an agony. Yet he didn't say a word until they had returned. Then he had only managed to relay one thing, one thought...

He had asked for Michael.

Bonnie had told him, gently, that Michael was not on Foundation grounds and that he wouldn't be back for some time. After that, she powered Kitt down. It was a welcome relief from all the dull throbbing that came from each rotation of his engine.

But she reactivated him not long after. She explained that she needed him fully awake for the procedure she was about to do. She also warned him that it may be slightly uncomfortable. He had a large amount of hydraulic fluid leaking in to one of his CPU relay compartments. Something had been damaged when the first explosion had taken place and finally ruptured when they had gone out. She told him he must assist her by using the hydraulics as she repaired them.

The procedure was simple sounding: open the case with the leak, drain the fluid, have Kitt work his doors, trunk, hood, t-tops and so on until they found which one was drained. Then repair the leak and replace the fluid.

Kitt found that step one was nearly unbearable, as this was just the start of a long line of problems. The moment Bonnie opened the case, all of the pressurized fluid gushed out spraying everything and everyone within three feet. It solidified in an instant on every surface it touched. In seconds, he lost power to all parts linked to the hydraulic network. The sudden drain left Kitt's internal diagnostic sensors reeling. It took a moment before he could calculate exactly what had happened. Bonnie by that time, was trying to clean the mess off of his most important and vulnerable systems barking orders as she did so.

The next hour and a half was a hazy blur as Kitt started to slowly lose power. Deep in his programming, far beyond his control, his systems started to reroute energy paths taking power from superficial units like long range sensors and the chemical analyzer and feeding it directly to systems like internal scanners and audio perception. Apparently, this alarmed Bonnie to the fullest. Kitt was at a loss as to why. He recalled her shouting some thing like 'He's in overload!' He knew that meant some thing, but his mind wouldn't work. He was hyper aware of all the little things inside of himself, and of the damage, and he could clearly see everything around him inside the garage. It was happening all at once for what seemed like forever.

Then it was dark.

Bonnie's voice coaxed him out of the inky blackness. Calm, soothing... worried.

Kitt couldn't do more than make out a blurry shape in front of him. His power was down to fifteen percent at most. He was supposed to shut down and recharge at thirty, twenty at the worst. And to his dismay his remaining energy reserves were draining rapidly. He tried to tell Bonnie, but his voice mod was offline. He tried to reroute power, but that caused him even more disorientation and discomfort. Bonnie told him to relax, that they would have emergency generators hooked up in a moment. Kitt waited, struggling to keep from falling back in to that darkness. Then the power came. Only a trickle. Bonnie calmly told Kitt that too much at this time would overload his programs and cause the same thing that had just happened to happen again. She told him to rest.

So he did.

And then Devon had come, worried, white knuckled, and trying to act calm.

Kitt forced his scanners to close in on Devon's face alone. He was frowning and seemed to be contemplating some thing. Kitt was so focused on Devon he didn't see a dark shadow come close to his side.

“Hey Kitt, how you doin'?”

Kitt's muggy mind sorted out the voice.

“RC...?”

“That's me.”

Kitt scratched at his memory, trying to find some words that would make sense. “Michael... left... home... find...”

“Yeah, he picked me up at the airport about twenty minutes ago. Devon called us and we came here on the double.”

RC's hand rested on Kitt's nose, near the scanner. “He went to get you something.”

Kitt again forced his voice. “What did... he... get?”

“I don't know. But if you ask me I think you'll like it. Told me he felt really bummed out about you getting stuck here for so long.”

“Feel the same.”

RC smiled. “I hear ya. Is there any thing I can do for you?”

“No.” The blurry edges of Kitt's vision were creeping in on him. “I feel... tired.”

“Well, I'll let you rest then.” RC replied. He pulled away and walked towards the others. Kitt watched as his vision distorted even more. Now even his audio seemed to shift in it's perception. The darkness reclaimed him again.

~*~

“Hey Bonnie,” RC said as he made his way over. “Devon.”

“Reginald.” Devon pulled his chair over and RC took his seat at the table. For a moment there was a heavy silence. “Did you enjoy your visit?” Devon finally asked.

RC nodded. “Yeah. I surprised my sister and my mom made this huge dinner. It was great, until I heard what happened. They were upset that I had to leave but I told them a friend of mine was in serious trouble. Looks like I was right.”

“You were.” Bonnie said quietly. “Kitt's number three cylinder ruptured when he was in a chase.”

RC frowned and resettled in his chair so that he was leaning forward on to the table. “So is he going to be all right?”

“The foundation is doing everything it can to build Kitt a new engine. Unfortunately it will take three months. Until that time he will be here, recovering and undergoing temporary repairs.” Devon answered. “But he isn't taking this well, I'm afraid.”

“Devon's right.” Bonnie sighed. She leaned back and glanced at the car she was caring for. “He's frightened, and what's worse, he's in the computer equivalent of pain. That's some thing I can't just stop. He's programmed to feel the pain when there is damage to protect him self from further damage.”

“Man, that's tough.” RC said shaking his head. “So what's the plan now?”

“Keep him comfortable until we can replace the engine.” Devon said. “That's all we can do, really.”

The silence settled again, long and sober. Each human gathered around the table sunk in to there own thoughts, dark looks settling on their faces. Finally, Devon stood. “I have some matters to attend. Call me if there is any progress or if you need anything, Bonnie.”

She nodded. “I'll do that.”

~*~

Michael struggled in to the semi with two boxes under his arms. “Any one home?” He called.

“I'm here.” Bonnie replied. She grabbed one of the boxes. “What took you so long?”

Michael set the second box down and leaned against the wall. “I did a little shopping. I was thinking Kitt's going to be cooped up for a while; he'll get bored, so I got some games. I'm sure you can hook them up for us.”

Bonnie glanced down at the box in her arms. It clearly said ATARI. “Did any one tell you about what happened today?”

Michael shook his head silently. “Good news I hope.”

She set the box down. “Kitt's hydraulic systems failed today. There was some undetected damage and the main system relay filled with hot fluid. When I opened the case the fluid was under extreme pressure and managed to destroy all the relays. He's resting in the 'E-room' now. I can't hook this up to him until he's regained the necessary power.”

Michael looked like he had taken a rather harsh blow. “Can I see him?”

“Yes. He had been asking for you while I was trying to accomplish damage control. He'll be happy to see you.”

Michael picked up the box Bonnie had set down and reached for the other one. “I'll take these in to show him.”

“Michael.” She took his arm. “Not now. Tomorrow, maybe, if he's rested enough you can show him. But for now, under no circumstances can he be burdened with any extra stimulus or worries.”

He let the box down slowly. “That bad?”

She nodded. “I'll warn you before we see him. His hood is up and he's got a lot of cables running in and out of his engine. There is an external fan that's keeping his CPU cool until I can repair his internal one. There are a lot of computers and equipment there as well. Just try to ignore it, OK?”

“OK.”

~*~

Kitt was watching the dim room silently, his scanner drifting back and forth at a crawl. Every one was gone for the night except for a couple of night workers and a security guard. Every now and then a conversation would perk up and one man's laughter would echo in the large, hollow, white room. They would joke and at times banter, but none of it seemed to come clearly to Kitt's audio preceptors. The fact was he wasn't really listening; only aware of the occasional din.

A thin sheet made of cotton had been thrown over two thirds of his body, covering his t-tops, doors and most of the back window. On the sheet were tools that had been left out by the repair workers. The sheet was to try and minimize the greasy mess.

The most uncomfortable thing Kitt was aware of was the hood that now was stuck open. He could feel it, but he couldn't move it. Even if he could close it, he would have left it open so as not to damage the equipment trailing in and out of him.

Surrounding him were the many monitors and screens that had been fed information directly from his CPU. Each had been hooked up to a different system. Most of them were off now. One, hooked up to the external fan, was constantly running a green line of numbers. Each number was the amount of rotations the fan's blades made in five seconds.

Kitt watched this for a while, finding it mote interesting than counting the tube lights above him. (Of which there were fifty two, one wasn't working and a number were flickering.) After this ceased to captivate him, he settled down in to a quiet half sleep. Sensors nearly off, audio tuned down to near zero. He remained this way until he heard a welcomed voice.

“Kitt?”

Kitt brought what little he had back on line. Again he was startled at how weak he was. “Michael.”

The tall man winced. It was then that Kitt realized his voice was crackling.

“What's wrong with my voice?”

Bonnie, who was behind Michael, came closer. “Don't worry, Kitt, I can fix that later. You'll sound like yourself again in no time.”

Michael was reaching up and removing the tools. He was completely silent and had a tight expression on his face. Bonnie reached up and helped him. When the tools were gone they pulled the sheet off.

“There, that looks better.” Michael said with a slight sigh. “How are you feeling, pal?”

“Not so good.” Kitt replied honestly. He tried to open the door but all he got was a gurgling hiss from inside his engine compartment. Michael reached down and opened the door himself. He sat down and for a moment was silent, the same tight look on his face.

“Bonnie said you were... hurting.”

“It's uncomfortable here, but I feel much better now.” He stopped. All the energy allotted to his voice had drained and he had to wait for it to return. In this time Bonnie had joined Michael in the inside.

“I was... hurting... as you say, before.” He admitted, speaking quiet and slowly. He was trying to conserve power. “I won't lie, it was one of the few times I would have rather faced Goliath again.” He had attempted to sound humorous, but it hadn't worked. The tone needed for such a mood was lost in the crackling weakness.

“Do you mean that Kitt?” Michael asked somberly.

Kitt thought for a moment. “Yes.”

Michael turned to Bonnie. “Can you do anything to prevent that certain pain from happening again?”

“I don't know, Michael. His feelings are deeply routed in his core programming. I don't think I can, or should change it.”

“It's all right.” Kitt said, forcing himself to sound lighter and less bogged down. “It didn't last long. Besides, it wasn't anything I couldn't handle.”

“Are you sure?” Michael asked.

“I should think so.” Kitt replied. His voice was starting to distort a little bit. Bonnie glanced out to one of the screens that happened to be still on.

“Kitt, you should rest. Right now talking is draining a lot of the power you just spent the last two hours accumulating.”

“Let him talk.” Michael turned to her. “He isn't going any where soon; he can make it up later.”

She wanted to protest, but he raised his hand and silenced her. “Let him talk.”

She nodded and opened the passenger door again. “I'll go and finish up my work. When I'm done, then it's time for him to rest.”

“Yes ma'am.” Michael gave her a small smile. She stood up and leaned in to the car.

“See you in a little bit, Kitt.”

“Thank you Bonnie.” He replied. She shut the door and both partners waited until she was gone before speaking. It was Kitt who broke the silence.

“I hope this goes quickly, I want to get back to work.”

“Me too,” Michael said with a nod. “But let's not rush anything Kitt. We have all the time we need to relax and recover. Devon gave me an indefinite vacation, telling me that until I feel I can work without you, I can stay here and keep you company.”

“You adapt rather quickly to situations... Michael.” He was talking very slowly, each word was deliberate now. He had to concentrate just to get them out. Listening was equally as hard.

“I couldn't do it, Kitt. I couldn't adapt to fighting crime with out you. All the people who shoot at me would get their big chance if you weren’t there.”

“I... shudder to think... of it.”

Michael frowned. “Kitt, maybe Bonnie was right, maybe you should rest, just for a minute.”

“I've been resting... I'm tired of... resting... Michael. I want to... talk... to... you now.” He struggled; the edges of his vision were creeping in again. “Please... I want to say some thing.”

“OK. Tell me what's on your mind pal.”

“This... accident... shouldn't have happ...pened. I'm the Knight Industries... Two... Thousand... The most advanced car in the world... I should have seen... something like... this coming.”

“If you could have seen this coming, Kitt, then we would have all seen it coming. Were human, and were not perfect. Neither are you. It happened, and we've been through this already.”

“Then I should… have... at least... been able to... keep you from coming... near me when you... were in danger... when...” The words stopped abruptly and Michael glanced nervously at the screens. He couldn't make out what any of them meant, but there were definite fluctuations.

“Kitt?”

“Give me a moment.” He managed.

“Kitt, what's going on?”

There was a long pause before the screens and monitors returned to their regular pace. “I'm all right.” Kitt said at length. “It's over.”

“What happened? What's over?”

“My power dropped rather suddenly. I had to... recalibrate... the energy... distribution.”

“Why did it drop?”

“I'm not sure. It's been doing... that all night.”

“Does it hurt?”

“Only a little.”

Michael gripped the wheel and let it go a couple of times. Finally, he leaned back and let one hand drop. “Kitt?”

“Yes, Michael?”

“Are you all right?”

Kitt took a moment to answer. “Isn't my condition obvious enough to tell you the answer?” His voice had come out rather forceful, instantly he was regretting it. The monitors jumped again. Kitt however, continued in the same weak, yet heated tone. “This is possibly the most humiliating thing that has ever happened to me. Goliath, the acid, the juggernaut, the drone car's missile... none of those things could do what one little crack could!”

“Kitt, calm down.” Michael was sitting up now, the wheel in his hands.

“Calm down?” He hissed. Despite the swell of frustration he wanted to vent, the reality was he could neither calm down voluntarily, or involuntarily. Both had to happen soon, though, his reserves were draining quickly away.

“Kitt, stop talking. That's an order.”

A long silence followed as the monitors and screens flashed random looking numbers. It took a full fifteen minutes for them to finally stop raging and settle back in to a shaky calm.

“Kitt?” Michael coaxed.

“I'm sorry.” His voice was scarcely loud enough to hear.

Without a word, Michael opened the door and got out. He walked a short ways away and leaned against some tool cabinets. He seemed to be deep in thought. Finally, he walked back. When he returned to the seat, Kitt could tell that he was very upset.

“I'm sorry.” He said again.

“It isn't your fault, Kitt.” Michael replied. He attempted a smile. “Look, you don't worry about a thing. All right? Not one thing. Let me do all the worrying.”

“But...”
”No, no buts, no arguing. I'll worry, you rest. Do everything you can to get better. I know you can't do a lot, but if you worry you will add to the damage.”

“I don't know if I can keep myself from worrying. What if the new engine does the same thing? What if it doesn't get completed in time? What if for some reason the board...”

“Kitt!” Michael said sharply. “Don't. Everything will work out fine. Just wait and see.”

“I'll... I'll try.”

“Good. You do that, leave the worrying to me. I'll take care of ya', pal. Just relax and enjoy your off time.”

“Very well, if you insist, I'll try.”