FLAG Today: When the Law is Above the Law
This story takes place in the present day. Much has changed but much has stayed the same with FLAG. This story is told by Michael Knight.
The Canon Knight Rider characters belong to Universal ,Inc and Glen Larson. The rest of the characters are mine. In this AU, RCIII and all the following KR movies and series did not occur.
Chapter one: Introduction
I never expected to still be with the Foundation for Law and Government 40 years later. But here I am. So many things have happened in my life and in the life of FLAG. We are still fighting crime, keeping the world safe from those that think they can operate above the law and Knight industries continues to develop advanced artificial intelligences.
It's hard to know where to start, so I guess I will just have to start with where Devon left off in his autobiography.
Yes, it was hard getting over Stevie's death, but Bonnie and I really were meant to be with each other. It took a while and a few false steps on my part, I admit, but eventually she loosened up a bit and I became a little bit more serious and so we found ourselves to be a couple that had always been meant to be together from the start. We were married in 1990 and Devon not only give Bonnie away, but stood as my best man. If I had thought of Wilton Knight as a father figure, Devon Miles really was like a father to me. Unlike the father of Michael Long , Devon learned to appreciate my sense of humor and my sense of play. I won't say that he never was angry at me, but it was never personal. I always knew that all he wanted was the best that I was and the best that I could be.
Devon passed on much too early, in 1996. To this day Bonnie and I miss him deeply. He is buried on the grounds of FLAG and whenever either one of us has a problem we go to his grave and talk to him. Somehow or other the solution to our problem always comes to us. I know in my heart of hearts, that Devon looks over us along with Wilton Knight.
Fortunately, Devon lived to see our two sons born; Wilton (who is known as Wilt) and "little" Devon. I have a really great picture of Devon's last Christmas. He is dressed as Santa Claus with one boy on each knee, sitting on KITT's hood. The three of them are grinning ear to ear and the picture caught KITT's scanner completely on. He looks like he is smiling too.
The boys are all grown now and on their own. Wilt is a quarter inch taller than I am and used to beat me regularly in basketball. Like Bonnie, he is an Artificial Intelligence engineer. He and his wife have just presented us with our first grandchild. Devon (or "Devie" as we still call him at home), is an automotive engineer. For a while, early on, he worked with us here as an employee of Knight industries and developed some new equipment for KITT's automotive body. He is now working on his own, but contracting to us, developing a new and more efficient engine for the latest electric vehicles.
After Devon Miles died, Jennifer Knight came to speak to me about filling the position of director of FLAG. I thought she would take the position herself , but she completely surprised me when she said I was the only person that the Board of Trustees would consider to run the Foundation for Law and Government. It wasn't a slam dunk for me. I enjoyed being out in the field and the thought of sitting behind Devon's desk day in and day out made me feel like I would be chained and tied up. Even if I was the sort of person who would be content to let others do the job of Director themselves, I knew there was no way that I, or anyone for that matter, could fill the great man's shoes. Still, I thought about a stranger stepping into the role, and I was sick to my stomach. I knew I would have to give up working day-to-day with KITT and then I would be stuck in my office more than I cared to think about, and yet I felt I had a responsibility to Devon and Wilton and this organization. And so I finally accepted and have managed to run FLAG ever since.
Bonnie continues to be the engineer in charge of creating and maintaining our artificial intelligence assistants and is as brilliant at it as she has always been. She is so dedicated; I can count the number of days that she has been away from the Foundation on the fingers of one hand. She actually went into labor with Wilt while she was underneath KITT's engine. If Devon and I hadn't insisted, and if KITT hadn't objected so strenuously , I think she would have given birth in his back seat. And it's a good thing that we actually live in the Foundation's mansion. This way she can be right by her mechanical babies as soon and as long as necessary.
KITT has gone through many changes over the years. His beautiful Trans Am body eventually had to be replaced. Even with the molecular bonded coating, after years of Turbo Boosts, skiing, super pursuit mode, swimming through water and almost flying through air, it was no longer cost- efficient to rebuild it. Over the decades, Bonnie and her team have created a variety of shells for KITT. Most recently , two-and-a-half years ago, KITT requested that instead of a new automotive body he be rebuilt as an Android. At first Bonnie and I were surprised and shocked. We had always thought of him as a person housed in a car. But the more we thought about it, the more we realized that not only did he have the soul of a person, but he deserved a life lived as close to a human being as possible. Bonnie built KITT a body that in some ways resembles Devon Miles. He stands 6 foot 3 and weighs 180 pounds. He has blue eyes but unlike Devon, he requested black hair. He says that this reminds him of his original black shell.
Since that time KITT has been our operative. At first he utilized just an ordinary automobile. His AI still allows him to access computer databases, the Internet, and a wide variety of communications grids. His sight encompasses a wider wavelength of vision than any human possesses. His hearing and strength are (naturally) superhuman. The only negative was the lack of speed and "tricks" of the automotive unit. Naturally, he and Bonnie have collaborated on the latest auto- based Knight Industries artificial intelligence. While I saw the schematics and drawings right from the get-go, I had my first actual look at it today and being in this ecologically conscious era, it is only fitting that our latest accomplishment is an electrically powered unit. Its name is the Knight Electric Intelligence or KELI. After our experience watching KITT grow and develop as an individual , we all knew that KELI would develop its own unique personality. Therefore Bonnie asked it during its development if it wished to put to pick a gender. After considering the question for a few hours, KELI announced to her that it wished to be known as a female. She says KITT doesn't quite know what to make of it, or rather, her. I can believe it. Hopefully, a female artificial intelligence will be a little more rational then a human female. And it's hard not for me to laugh thinking about KITT and KELI as a "couple".
KELI's body is a red Toyota Supra and it kinda reminds me of KITT's original body in Super Pursuit Mode with the big spoiler on the back and curves in the body style that sort of mimic the smaller stabilizers on the sides and even the air scoops that remind me of the special braking system he had back them to slow him down when going out of SPM. It took a while to find a voice for KELI that everyone could agree on and it ended up being a combo of Bonnie's northwest coast accent and Christine Baranski's tone with a dash of Allison Janey thrown in when she is expressing excitement.
Most of KELI's programming is done, but KITT is downloading some things directly to her right now. I suppose that will take a few hours as they begin to develop interface protocols, since he can directly connect with her CPU. I wonder…is that the Artificial Intelligence version of sex? I'd better ask Bonnie. But on second thought, maybe I won't.