It was a week after his disappearance. Kitt was officially on "sick leave", which in itself was strange –computers didn't usually get sick leave. After the semi had pulled into Foundation headquarters, Bonnie had promptly informed Devon and the board that Kitt had been through a lot and she needed to figure out how the program re-writes would affect him. Michael had been supportive of Bonnie's request and (surprisingly) so had the board. Bonnie walked through the early morning mist that surrounded the mansion and breathed in the fresh air. A steaming cup of coffee warmed her hands and she took a minute to appreciate the beauty of the Foundation's immaculate garden. Even through the serenity of the early morning and the feeling of joy that she still had over finding Kitt, she couldn't help but feel a small nagging feeling of dread. She had let Kitt rest and recharge for two days after he had returned to them. After that she had gently started to go through his ordeal, mainly by allowing the AI to talk about it. The subprograms had finished re-writing themselves. New code was engraved within Kitt's main program. For the most part, it didn't seem to be doing anything. Kitt hadn't had any more "slips" and he had aced all of Bonnie's tests. Still, Bonnie was uneasy. Giving herself a mental shake Bonnie resumed her walk towards the garage. Kitt had probably scanned her already and was wondering why she had stopped. She mentally prepared herself for yet another day of finding nothing wrong, but knowing that something was.
Kitt came online with a start. His scanner flashed fast a couple of times and it took him over a second to focus. For a computer that was nearly an eternity! He was surprised to find Bonnie standing in front of him! He hadn't seen her come in! A slip! "Bonnie!" He sounded surprised and tried to run a self-diagnostic. The diagnostic ran for 78% then stopped and started over, then it ran for 65% before stopping and starting over, then 43%. He tried to stop it –couldn't. "Bonnie?!" Frightened Bonnie dropped her coffee, which splattered onto the garage's clean floor. A thick support cable snaked from underneath Kitt's hood and connected him to the Foundation's computers. Bonnie watched the numbers before manually disengaging the diagnostic. The program didn't fight her and shut down. Turning, she faced Kitt, "What happened?" Focusing on the comfort of the support cable, Kitt transferred most of his most basic support functions away from himself and to the Foundation's computers. He found he didn't trust himself. "I didn't see you come in. I couldn't stop the diagnostic. Bonnie, what's wrong with me?" Turning back to the computer, Bonnie acknowledged the transfer of Kitt's life support (for the lack of a better word), stood up and walked to the AI, "God, I wish I knew Kitt. I'm sure it has to do with the new programs, but I've yet to figure out how to counteract it."
"Michael is coming." Kitt was slightly relieved to find he could still tell when his partner was approaching. "Wow, what happened here?" Michael motioned to the spilt coffee. "Kitt had an attack of some kind. I was able to completely walk in on him, than he was unable to turn off his self-diagnostic." Michael walked to Kitt and ran his hand over the MBS, "You ok, buddy?" "I do not think so, Michael. I find this quite unsettling. It feels like I'm loosing my mind." Glancing at Bonnie, she only shook her head slightly he got the hint, "Don't worry, Kitt. Slips happen to the best of us…" "They shouldn't happen to me! Also that diagnostic –it is a scary feeling not being in charge of one's self." Michael didn't know how to respond to that.
"Kitt, I'm going to lock most of your basic functions with the Foundation's computers. You will essentially be on life-support." Michael glanced up sharply at that, "Bonnie can I see you for a sec?" Furrowing her brow, Bonnie followed Michael into the quickly warming California morning. "What did you mean by that, Bon? In layman's terms it just sounded like you were putting Kitt into ICU?" Bonnie responded by fishing out her cell phone. "It's not that bad -yet. I'm just making sure that I now control all the functions that Kitt needs to remain sentient. He normally runs those automatically, but with that errant code, I can't trust him. I'm just taking a precaution that's all. Now, sorry Michael, but I have to make a phone call."
He shouldn't be eavesdropping he knew that, but this concerned him. Kitt had to admit he was frightened. Bonnie didn't trust him to maintain his sanity, he didn't blame her. He didn't trust his sanity either. Checking that the connection with the support cable was operating at peak efficiency, Kitt powered down, hoping that Bonnie would figure out a cure.
"Hello?" A gruff male voice answered Bonnie's call. She was calling long distance and hoped that the number she had pulled up was the correct one. "Good evening, is this Dr. Marcus?" A long silence followed and the gruff voice answered the question with a question, "Who wants to know?" Bonnie paused. She had never met Thomas Marcus. He had been on the team of programmers who had originally programmed the delicate code that made up Kitt. The man's résumé didn't fit on 6 pages and his list of accomplishments seemed to go on forever. He was also the only one of the original team of Kitt's programmers who was still alive and Bonnie's only hope. She had to admit that she was stumped. She hadn't been on the original team; she hadn't seen the original schematics. Oh, she had the copies all right, but if she had to do, what she was dreadfully afraid of, she didn't want the copies, something might have been unintentionally left out. She couldn't risk it. If she had to reprogram Kitt from the ground up, she had to have someone who had already done it once. Also, she was dreadfully aware that she might not be able to reprogram Kitt fully… Would Kitt still be Kitt when she was finished –she didn't know. "This is Dr. Bonnie Barstow calling from the Foundation for Law and Government. It is a pleasure to speak with you Dr. Marcus…" The gruff voice cut in, "I am NOT Dr. Marcus. What is your business with the doctor, Ms Barstow?" Bonnie noticed that the speaker seemed to have deliberately dropped her own title and replaced it. "I need to speak to the doctor on a project he did in the '80's. It is a matter of life and death." The voice on the other end went silent. "The doctor is not to be disturbed. No exceptions." The line was cut. Bonnie almost dialled again, and then decided against it. She had to do some research first. She returned to the garage and found Kitt in recharge. The power-feed fluctuated between 99,97-99,99%. Normal. A message from about five minutes ago flashed on her IM: "Scared." She glanced at the AI and the dark scanner. "Yeah, me too." She thought quietly.
In Georgia James hung up on that Barstow woman. The mansion rivalled the Foundation and James was the butler. He was also the nurse and the bodyguard. And he took his job really seriously. "Who was that, James?" The sound of the electronic wheelchair softened the bodyguard's scowl and he turned to his boss, "Just some lady from some Foundation. Nothing to worry about." The elderly man in the wheelchair smiled briefly then suddenly looked confused, "Did the phone just ring, James?" The larger man sighed, "Yes sir, it was nothing. Shall we have dinner and your meds?" The older man straightened. "Yes James, lets."
Bonnie settled down at her computer. She set the machine to search for any resent information about Dr. Thomas Marcus. She did not have to wait long. Within minutes she had determined that the doctor hadn't published anything for a long time. She found out his home address and a list of employees –namely one, stated as a butler. Probably the man she had spoken too. The doctor seemed to have retired some years ago. She turned away from the Internet and logged onto the Foundation's own Intranet. She attempted to locate the doctor's medical records only to find them classified at a level so high it was even beyond her.
The sound of a turbine engine firing up directly behind her snapped her back to reality. She moved by shear reflex alone and vaulted out of the way just barely before the prow of the Knight Two Thousand smashed into the main computer relays directly where Bonnie had sat just a second ago. The engine died with a choke. Alarms sounded and smoke furrowed out from underneath Kitt's prow. Technicians came running and so did Devon. "Bonnie! What happened?!" Shaken, Bonnie dusted herself off, "I don't know, I was just sitting at the computer and suddenly Kitt just blew into me!" She took a step towards the Pontiac. Devon restrained her, "Be careful, Bonnie." She shook him off. "Kitt? Kitt, answer me?" The scanner was dark and the artificial intelligence didn't respond. "He's in stand-by mode. He doesn't know he's moved!" "You and you," Bonnie called out orders motioning to two of the techs, "give me a hand." She had no trouble opening Kitt's door and manually shifting the transmission into neutral. The touch of Bonnie's hands on the door and the gearshift brought Kitt online.
He couldn't scan. No error messages were coming in, he just couldn't scan. "Bonnie?" "Kitt, listen to me. Do exactly as I say. Don't shift and don't fire the engine!" Direct commands…from his head technician…must obey…cut power from the transmission…can't…no power there…can't read any power…engaging engine…NO…mustn't…can't…no power…no feeling… just sound… "Bonnie! Help…"
"There!" The two techs and Bonnie succeeded in pushing Kitt back onto a lift. Hydraulics hissed as Bonnie lifted the Trans Am about a foot into the air. "Cut the power from this support cable and get me another one here! I'm going to remove this one, it's damaged." Techs scurried to follow her orders. She heard the power being cut from the support cable and lifted the hood. The cable had partly torn off; taking with it several much needed parts of the engine. Within two minutes she had another cable installed and manually disconnected the small DVD-type box that housed Kitt from all parts of his car-body. Kitt had remained silent the entire time.
"Bonnie? Bonnie?! What is going on? No! Why are you disconnecting me!" His screams were deafening to himself but he got no reply. He still didn't feel any power, but he did feel as his ways of controlling his body where stripped from him one by one. Brakes, transmission, engine control, Internet, Michael's comlink… The only link that remained open was the link with the Foundation's mainframe. He could just barely feel it. Then that feeling started slipping away. He knew it was there, but suddenly he didn't know what it was. No input…no data…send 0%…receive 0,0001%…
She hated doing this to him. Taking away his ability to move and in a sense see. But it was necessary, to protect the people around him. Bonnie was sure that Kitt didn't know that he had almost killed her. Something was terribly wrong with the AI. She comforted herself on the act that Kitt had access to the mainframe and so wouldn't be completely shut away from the world. She didn't know it, but she was wrong.