Familial State
Mike yawned and stretched out on his pod's bed. He eyed the ceiling, bored and restless. The SSC was dead this night. Everybody else had gone out, leaving just him...and KITT. Speaking of whom... Mike swung his legs over the edge and stood up, yawning and stretching his arms high over his head, working the kinks out. He hadn't heard from said partner since earlier in the evening. Not that anything was wrong with that...just, well, he needed some of that stirring conversation that only a supersmart artificial intelligence could offer. Anything, really, just to break this damn boredom that had begun to settle in over the past few weeks.
"KITT?" he whispered, hoping to hear the AI's voice answer as quickly as he had come to expect him to. He received none. Hm. He went to his pod's door and it swept open for him. He shuffled out, stifling another yawn. The hallway opened up as he reached the overlook of the main floor of the SSC. It was still dimly silhouetted in shadow. They hadn't gotten around to getting any proper lighting for the place. Secretly, Mike liked the dimness, it added to the secret-organization-that-not-even-the government-could-know-about atmosphere they had built up since the FBI and NSA pulled the plug on them.
He leaned against the railing, his eyes sweeping the SSC: the large screen in the front of the room, the table with laptops and various other tech stuff Billy and Zoe used in front of the screen, before settling on his partner. KITT sat on his gimble, facing away from him. The Mustang's black skin gleaming even in the near darkness of the main floor. He smiled and pushed off the railing, walking silently toward the staircase down to the main floor. KITT would probably notice him before he even stepped down one stair, but even after Mike stepped off the final rung, KITT still hadn't acknowledged his presence, which in itself, was very out of character. He usually always kept a constant eye on Mike, even when they were here, at home base.
Mike quietly stopped behind KITT's back bumper and shoved his hands into his pockets as he leaned forward to peek in through the back windshield. KITT had several files opened and displayed on his front windshield, which doubled as an interactive Head's-Up Display, or HUD. He flipped between two files, both having contents that dealt with the first incarnation of the Foundation for Law and Government, FLAG. Mike's hair bristled as KITT brought a dossier of his father, the first Michael Knight and driver of the original KITT, up for viewing. He had met his estranged father only once, at his mother's funeral. God...how long ago was that? Only a year...a single year. Seemed much longer than that. Only once, but he hoped it wouldn't be the last time.
He blinked and saw KITT bring another file up for viewing. This time, it was a dossier for the Knight Industries Two Thousand, the first KITT. He pulled up an in-action shot of his predecessor and seemed to ponder the picture, holding it up on his screen. Mike's eyes flickered to KITT's "eye", trying to get a glimpse at the AI could possibly be thinking. From his earwig, he could have sworn, at the moment, he heard a small whimper from his partner. Mike's eyes widened. KITT didn't whimper.
"KITT?" he asked hesitantly.
KITT did a virtual jump at Mike's voice and quickly shoved the files he had opened away and linked himself to the gimble controls, slowly bringing himself around to face his driver. "M-Michael. I-I did not hear you come down. Please excuse me...I hope you have not been standing there long."
Mike shrugged and grinned, "I wasn't. You're fine. Nothing wrong with going through the old family photo album."
KITT didn't respond and Mike wondered if he should have said that. KITT looked over his driver, his friend's face. He could tell Mike. He could tell him and he would understand. The bond they had formed through their many adventures would surely allow for that
"Michael, may I confess something to you?" Mike pulled up a chair and sat down in front of him, KITT's red hood scanner, faintly illuminating his shirt front
"Mmsure, KITT. Go ahead."
KITT swallowed virtually and tried to make what he was about to say sound the least bit troubling, but that was useless so he went straight out with it. "Michael, I...I am a bit confused and, if I may say so, hurt...by something that has not happened, but should have."
Mike wrinkled his brow, now concerned. "Hurt? What do you mean, hurt? Do I need to call Sarah?"
"Nonono, nothing like that. No, hurt...as in, well as in emotionally hurt, I guess you could say. Of course, Sarah would say that is impossible since I am not suppose to be able to emote, or have emotions in general, but...that is the best I can do."
"Well, erm...ok...what's up? Maybe I can...help?"
"Perhaps...I did not want to say anything about this...I thought I could deal with it myself. But..." He stopped and looked up at Mike again, who waited with concern still on his face.
"Dr. Graiman created me. He built me, programmed me, helped me to become what I am today. In that effect, he is my father."
He brought up the in-action shot of the Knight Two Thousand and projected it onto his hood. Mike leaned back in his chair to look at it. "The Knight Industries Two Thousand. My predecessor. And...in a sense, my father as well. He made it possible for me to be created. Without him, Dr. Graiman would never have had the stepping stone to go ahead and create another AI such as myself."
KITT took the shot down and paused again before continuing, "After Dr. Graiman's death, we all were hurt by it. Sarah most of all, of course. That was her father, and she had no other but him. But I knew I had another, and the thought comforted me. When I was given the files on the first FLAG to study and learn from, I had another link to my father...and I was very much grateful. But...what I truly wanted...was real contact. Dr. Graiman was one I could talk to and be truly understood. He was gone."
"The only other one I knew that could possibly understand me as Dr. Graiman had, was the Two Thousand. I thought he would have come forward with the doctor's death, since he had a hand in creating him...and he too, would want the contact with one who was the same as him."
KITT's voice changed ever so slightly, "I guess I was wrong. Because he has not made any such attempt, and any attempt I have made, has been met with failure." KITT looked up at Mike virtually and whispered, "You are now all that I have, Mike. Sarah will never understand. Neither will Billy or Zoe. But you, you understand."
Mike was touched. KITT had never displayed such ardent affection for Mike and Mike had only given hints to his feelings he held for KITT, because he thought that was that was needed for KITT to understand. Now that KITT was showing him, revealing to him, the pain he had been bottling up inside him since Graiman's demise...Mike reached out a hand and place it on KITT's hood.
"I'm sorry, KITT. I never knew you felt like this...You-you could have told this to me before this, though. Why didn't you?"
"I did not want to upset Sarah any more than she was already. And it would have taken the focus away from our true job and I did not want that either."
Mike sat forward, his hand still on KITT's hood. Even with the engine off, it felt warm. "KITT...maybe...maybe the Two Thousand can't contact you. Maybe he's been decommissioned and we haven't been told about it. A lot can happen to a car in twenty five plus years, even to a supercar."
"No." KITT stated firmly. "Your father is still alive and well, Michael. And wherever one is, the other can not be far behind. The bond your father and my father have is well documented. It would not have faltered through time."
Mike nodded, "Well, yeah, ok...but-"
"Maybe...he just...does not want to talk. I mean, what could we possibly have to say to each other, really..."
Great, now he's beginning to feel sorry for himself...Mike needed to nip this in the bud. Now. He stood up and opened the driver side door and slid in. KITT watched him virtually as he settled in.
"KITT...you obviously are far more hurt by everything that has happened with Dr. Graiman, than any of us could have possibly imagine...and I know that there is nothing I can say that can possibly take that pain away. I wish there was, because believe me, I'd do it in a heartbeat. You don't deserve it, no one does. All I can say is that...I hope that the Two Thousand is still around.
" Maybe...maybe I could do some digging. Find him for you. Or...maybe...the Two Thousand will come through in the end. He might be just as shy as you are eager for the contact to happen. But I know that I had the chance to meet my father. You should have that chance too."
Mike patted the steering wheel and moved to get out. "Chin up, supercar."
Mike shut the door and smiled at KITT, and patted his hood before moving toward the staircase.
"Michael?"
"Yeah, KITT?" he said, turning around in midstep.
"Thank you."
Mike saluted him with a grin and took the rungs two at a time. KITT watched him walk back to his pod. Mike jumped back down in bed, and soon his vitals showed he was fast asleep. KITT sighed and brought the files back up to sift through them. He paused over bringing the in-action shot of his father back up, but decided he'd keep in in the background while he worked.
It was well after three in the morning when KITT finally stopped reading over the files. Sarah, Billy and Zoe had all made their way back through the course of the night and were now in their respective pods, either passed out or asleep. KITT checked over all four of of his friends and co-workers, pausing on Mike for a few extra seconds. Good driver, better friend...
Suddenly, from somewhere in the back of his systems, a faint pulse of intrusion made his virtual hackles raise up. He quickly went to investigate the origin of this possible intrusion. Security was fine...systems functioning normally...nano-pods and nanoskin were fine...ah, what was this? A new link he hadn't noticed before, was now open. It had been opened by an outside party. Was somebody trying to hijack his systems?
KITT moved cautiously and probed the link, trying to trace its origin.
"You won't get far doing that." A voice suddenly cajoled from the other side of the link. KITT jumped back and immediately raised his virtual defenses.
"Oh, don't do that. I'm not going to hurt you, or anything. Why are you so jumpy, anyway?"
KITT blinked, "Excuse me, but may I ask who you are and why you are in my systems?"
The voice chuckled, "If I told you that now, it would be anticlimactic, and there's no fun in that."
"Well, if you do not tell me, I am shutting this link down, and that will be the end of it."
"Stick-in-the-mud still, eh? You are better than I thought you would be, I'll give you props for that..."
"I asked you a question. Now I want an answer. Or I am shutting this down."
"Ok, ok, jeez. Give me a minute. This isn't exactly how I hoped this would go down..." The voice said, rushed.
"I have already given you a minute."
The voice paused, as if gathering itself and indeed, when it did speak again, it was stronger, more resolved, as if it had rehearsed what it wanted to say many times before.
"I am the Knight Industries Two Thousand, Kitt to my friends. To you...to you, my son, you can call me Father."
