The wreck that was once Kitt had been towed back to the Foundation. If Bonnie had to have guessed the likelihood of repair she would have said that it was impossible. She would have been right. The team spent hours trying to bring Kitt back online, but there wasn't enough left. The CPU casing was nothing more than a twisted mess, and the circuitry within looked like it was completely beyond repair. It was almost impossible to tell what it had once been. Bonnie had given up after two days. There was nothing more she could do except break the news to Michael.
He hadn't spoken to anyone since the day Kitt had been brought in. He knew that what happened to Kitt was his fault. If only he had listened to Kitt. If only he had stopped to think, just for a second. Bonnie knocked on the door, and Michael opened it. "Has Kitt been repaired?" Michael asked immediately. I paused, unsure of how to approach the topic if Kitt's demise.
"All of us tried everything we could… but he's gone," Bonnie told him, tears starting to fall as the reality of this had set in. "I'm sorry," she said. Michael didn't say anything, but Bonnie could tell that what she had told him had hit him hard. She backed slowly away from the door and headed back to the garage.
Michael threw himself into the chair in the corner of the room. He felt his eyes start to swim with tears. Kitt had been a close friend, someone to talk to, someone he knew he could trust with his life… and now he was gone. Nothing could change the fact that Kitt was gone.
At some point in the future, Michael knew that the Foundation would consider building a new AI. Many thought Kitt was replaceable. That getting another one would make everything go back to normal. Like getting a new watch.
The comlink was still in its usual place on his wrist, only he could no longer talk to Kitt through it. Now it was a useless reminder of what had been.
Bonnie was back in the garage, staring at the remains of Kitt like she could bring him back through willpower alone. She had stopped crying a while ago, and now was just numb. One of the technicians tapped Bonnie on the shoulder and she looked up. "There's one thing we haven't tried yet," they said to Bonnie.
"Well let's do it!" Bonnie replied, jumping up.
Together they attached wires underneath the hood. As soon as that was done, the technician flicked a switch on the wall. For a second nothing happened. Then the scanner light flickered once, before going out again. "No!" Bonnie shouted. "Kitt. Please wake up." The deafening silence that answered shattered her last hope shattered like a dropped glass, and she was once again in tears.
"Bo…nnie," a voice that sounded like Kitt said, only it couldn't have been. "I… can…not 'wake… up', ho… we… ver my sy… stems are on… line despite… the damage." It was Kitt. There was no mistaking it.
"We thought you were gone," Bonnie told him.
"So… did… I," Kitt replied.
AN: I hope you like the story. :-)