Hearts

Escape

Pt 4

Kitt was floating. Light and sound seemed to melt into one blur. He would have panicked, or at least been frightened, if his mind had not been so bogged down with a thick liquidly numbness for the last four and a half hours.

Odd feelings occasionally got past the strange tiredness. Voices seemed to be forcefully directed at him when he could hear them. And accompanying the voices was always an unpleasant sensation.

Now it was quiet, so he slept, uneasy and drifting. Seemingly alone.

~*~

Bonnie and DR. Yamata both grabbed on to the torque wrench and braced themselves against it together. They had been pulling like this for about ten minutes.

“We will need to get the hammer.” Yamata grunted.

“Will that get it loose?” Bonnie asked.

“It should.” He replied.

Bonnie reached for the hammer, hoping to tap the torque wrench loose, when Devon picked it up.

“Good morning.” He said, handing it to her. “Is Kitt all right?”

Bonnie sighed. “Yes and no.” She looked at Kitt and brushed her hair back. “He's not in any pain, but he can't help me with some of the repair, either.”

After the morning, Kitt had told them he could no longer endure the pain Bonnie had spoken with Dr. Yamata. They had worked on the basic sensor-blocking program. The first result was anything but good. It had actually caused more discomfort than before. Michael and Bonnie had sat up all night with Kitt as he tried to deal with the additional stress. All of his power had, as it had before, been diverted to the most seriously affected systems. The only thing Bonnie or Michael could do at that point to comfort him was talk. When that failed to work, they simply made sure he knew that they were there.

Mercy was in the design and the program ran its course. It had been timed to run for six hours before finally deleting itself. The only good to directly come from the experience was the closer understanding between Bonnie and Michael after their long talk.

Bonnie had right away started work on another program. The second one was as eventful as the first, but in a totally opposite way. This time Kitt had simply been disoriented. And while this was not entirely bad, it wasn't good either. Nor was it very dignified. But, for the most part, he had slept thought the effects.

As they say in baseball, third time's the charm. The third program was a touch stronger than it should have been, but Kitt was no longer feeling any pain whatsoever. When the program worked its way out, Kitt would feel extra sore, but he could take that over the agony of procedure after procedure.

Devon reached out and stroked the black skin. It felt almost like it was wet it was so smooth. “How long will he be unconscious?”

“For about another two hours or so.” Dr. Yamata replied. “Do you need him?”

Devon shook his head. “No, just wondering.”

“He'll probably need to be charged when he wakes up.” Bonnie said. “Despite the fact that he looks as if he's shut down, he isn't. In fact, he's using more power now then he would if he were out chasing someone at full speed.”

“Will that hurt him in the long run?” Devon asked.

“We are not sure.” Dr. Yamata replied. “It could if we allowed it to run too many times.”

“We wont let it hurt him.” Bonnie said firmly. “It takes both Dr. Yamata and I to activate the program, and both of us to shut it down before its time. We each have passwords that only we know.”

Devon nodded. “You have this planned out well.”

Bonnie shook her head. “Not planned out, improvised. We had to MacGyver this program in to Kitt's.”

“The chance of it damaging him is small, but not likely.” Dr. Yamata added.

Devon looked down at the black car and frowned. “At this point I can imagine any damage would be traumatic.”

“It is.” Bonnie agreed.

“Mr. Miles, what did you come here for?” Dr. Yamata asked. He was holding the hammer and looked eager to get back to work.

“I came actually, to say that the engine Knight Industries has, had a slight set back. We could be waiting two weeks longer than we thought. But I have been assured that they are working as hard as they can to complete this engine in a speedy amount of time.”

Bonnie rubbed her temple. “Kitt's going to be upset.”

“We'll have Michael tell him.” Dr. Yamata said. “Now let’s finish this up before we lose the chance.”

Bonnie nodded. “Yes, of course.”

“I'll go tell Michael. Should I send him in?”

“No.” Bonnie said. “Tell him to wait until I call for him.”

Devon nodded. “I'll tell him.” He turned to walk away, but hesitated and looked at Kitt. Even though Devon could see no physical change in the car body, he felt the difference. And he knew that he'd feel the difference even if Bonnie and Dr. Yamata weren’t there.

~*~

Kitt felt the fog start to lift from his mind and his body seemed to again make contact with the ground. All at once he could feel where Bonnie and Dr. Yamata had been working. The sensors, having been deprived of attention in the past six hours, were all crying out at once. Suppressing the urge to call out and find Bonnie, Kitt forced his attention onto other things.

He was still in the same lifeless room, with the same array of instruments hooked up to him, and still unable to move any part of his body.

But one thing was different. Michael was near him, sitting backwards in a chair. His arms were folded over the back of the seat and he seemed to be sleeping with his head on his crossed arms.

“Michael?”

Blinking and sitting up Michael looked at Kitt. “Hey, how are you?”

“Sore.” Was all Kitt could manage.

Michael stood up and stretched. “Bonnie said that if you were feeling up to it later she would hook up the Atari. I got us a couple of racing games. Would you like that?”

“Maybe.” Kitt watched as Michael walked over and put his hands on the roof. For a moment, Kitt wondered why Michael wasn't getting in. Then, as if it was an afterthought, he scanned his interior. It was filled with equipment that resembled the things that surrounded his exterior.

“I'll ask her to hook it up. It'll take your mind off of the stuff here.” Michael's voice held only concern. “But if you don't want me to ask her, I won't.”

“Michael.”

He looked down through the window at the voice graph. “Yeah?”

“Just do what you want to do.” Kitt's voice was flat and lifeless. “I don't care.”

“But...”

“Michael, please. I just want to shut down and recharge.” Kitt said dryly.

“OK. I'll be right here if you need any thing.” Michael walked back to the chair and sat down. It wasn't long before he was dozing lightly.

Kitt watched him for a while. He neither felt comforted by the human presence of his partner, nor reassured. He turned his attention away and started to shut down. Right now he just wanted to return to the darkness from which he had awoken. It was the only place left where this awful reality had yet to taint.

~*~

“Kitt?” There was no answer. “Come on Kitt, I know you can hear me.” Bonnie ran her hands through her hair for the hundredth time. “Michael, you talk to him. He needs to cooperate with me on this test.”

Michael looked up from the chair he had unceremoniously clamed as his. “Maybe you should give it a rest today, Bon.” Michael replied. The day had dawned only twenty minutes earlier. Bonnie had arrived fifteen minutes before that.

“But this test needs to be preformed before we add the fluid for his hydraulic systems.” She protested. “If he wants control of his body back, he needs to do what I ask him to do.”

“Maybe he's still upset about what happened the last time you tried to help his hydraulic system.” Michael replied. He sat the paper he had been trying to read down and stood up. “Why not give him, as well as yourself, the day off?”

She looked irritated. “Michael...”

He took her and pulled her aside. “Bon, trust me, no one wants to see your miracle work on him more than I do. But he needs the rest. Just one day, please.”

She was silent for a moment. Then she closed her eyes and nodded. “All right. I could use a little rest my self.” To her surprise, Michael hugged her.

“Thanks, this means a lot to him.”

She glanced over at Kitt. “Did he ask you to get him the day off?”

He let her go. “Well, not in so many words, but he needs some time.”

She stepped away from Michael and walked over to Kitt. “Hey, Kitt?”

There was a long silence before he answered. “Yes, Bonnie?”

“I'm going to go home and catch up on some things there. Do you need anything before I go?”

Another, even longer, silence followed. Then Kitt answered. “Yes, Michael was talking about a game. I believe he wished to play it.”

“Is that what you want to do Kitt?”

“I think it would be a… a needed break from all of this.” Kitt replied.

Bonnie looked around. She spotted the game Michael had bought the day he had gone to get RC at the airport. “OK. That won't take me to long.”

“Thanks Bonnie.” Michael said, giving her a faint smile.

“Sure.”

~*~

Devon walked in to the garage looking for Bonnie. He had a question about his intercom. When he saw Michael perched on a chair with a game controller in his hands, grinning, he wondered if he might have gone to the wrong room.

“Michael?”

Michael glanced up from the TV he had been watching. “Huh?”

A small explosion emanated from the TV and Michael's head snapped back to the game.

“You lose Michael. It’s now five to one.” Kitt announced.

Devon couldn't help but smile at the triumph in Kitt's voice. “Playing a game?” He asked.

Michael tossed a mock glare at his partner. “No, I'm getting slaughtered. Kitt is the one who is playing.”

“You are simply too reckless when turning corners, Michael.” Kitt retorted. “If you would slow down first like I have been telling you, you wouldn't have exploded every game.”

Devon descended the steps and stood next to Michael. “He’s right. You have to slow down to take turns on a race track.”

Michael stood and snorted. “I have been!” Frustrated he thrust the game controller in to Devon’s hands. “Here, you try and beet him.”

Devon glanced at the device he was holding and then at Kitt. “Oh, I'm no race driver.”

“It's all right, Devon.” Kitt said. “Anyone could do better than Michael.”

Any other time Devon would have refused. But Kitt was actually urging, sounding more like his old self then he had for the last month. Devon sat down in the chair Michael had been sitting in and smiled. “All right, just show me what to do.”

~*~

Kitt was only powered down slightly when Bonnie walked in. Her shoes made rhythmic squeaks on the polished floor. Kitt watched her pick up an empty bag of chips and a half full Styrofoam cup. She threw them away and then started to tidy up the game's controls. She reached out to unhook him from the game when he decided to speak up.

“How was your day off, Bonnie?”

She looked up, a bit startled. “Oh, um, it was quiet.” She stood up and looked down at him. “You sound like you’re in a much better mood. I'll take that as a sign that you had a good day as well?”

“I did have a present day.” Kitt replied. “I beat Michael fifteen to two in Radical Race... and it was no contest in Frogger. And Devon played a game with me.” The last part was said with a touch of admiration.

Bonnie smiled. “He did?”

“Yes, and he nearly won. I would have thrown the game, but he wouldn't let me. He said that he wanted to see how good he was against me with out the help.”

“So was he any good?”

“Better than Michael.”

“I’m' not surprised.” She sighed and took on a more serious look. “Are you up to the tests tomorrow?”

“I... I think so.” Kitt replied. “Just so long as Michael is there.”

She nodded. “He'll be there, Kitt. You can count on it.”

“Bonnie?”

“Yes?”

Kitt hesitated.

“What is it?”

“I just... I want to thank you for letting me enjoy today.” It seemed as if he wanted to say more, but he didn't.

“Of course, Kitt. See you in the morning.”

“Good night, Bonnie.”

She turned and, after picking some other things up, left. Kitt settled back in to his powered down state, feeling both reassured, and uneasy. He just hoped Michael would come back before Bonnie got there.

It would make everything much easier.