Chapter 4: Startling New Discoveries

Keri blinked her eyes and stared at her surroundings.

"How... how did I get into the car?" she asked aloud. She looked around the interior, and her eyes fell upon the sandwich lying on a small plate in the passenger side of the car. "Where did that come from? Oh, well. I'm too hungry to care," she grabbed the sandwich and hungrily wolfed it down. When she was finished, she sat huddled in her blanket for a while, absorbing its warmth. She was just about to close her eyes again, when she was startled by an unseen speaker.

"Are you feeling better?" the voice came from everywhere and nowhere. Keri looked around wide-eyed.

"Who are you? Where are you? How did you get in here?!" she asked slightly frightened.

"I am the Knight Industries Two Thousand, an experimental car of the future. And I'm here because you rescued me from that dreadful car graveyard," the car's Boston accent was very noticeable.

Keri stared in disbelief at the dash board. "But you're a car. Cars don't talk," she reasoned.

"True, cars do not talk, but I do. I am the car of the future."

"But you're a 1982 Pontiac! I don't mean to be rude, but you're ancient!" she said, remembering the car's make.

The car paused for a minute, then said, "True, I may be from the '80's, but I assure you, my dear, I have only the most advanced technology at my control."

"Do you know what year this is?" she asked the obviously confused car.

"No, I'm afraid I don't. My internal clock went haywire when I was deactivated; therefore, I hardly had any perception of the passage of time."

"It's the year 2015."

The car didn't say anything for quite a few minutes, then it finally spoke up again in a more quiet, subdued voice, "Oh... oh my... I... had no idea. They left me sit there for over 13 years? They didn't come back for me? I don't understand, they said they would come back for me in only a few months. Why did they leave me sitting there for so long?"

Keri looked guilty, even though she had nothing to do with it, "I'm so sorry. You must feel terrible."

"Actually, I feel quite good, thanks to you. You pulled me out of oblivion, repaired my broken and disconnected circuits, and sucked out that horrible rat's nest that was clogging my intake valve. Did you know those brutes crawled into my circuitry and chewed on my poor wires?!" he told her. "I'm a delicate piece of equipment! Not a chew toy!"

Keri smiled at the car, "I'm sorry about all the bad things that happened to you, but you're welcome."

"Indeed," he sounded happier now, "But all that aside, can you help me find someone?"

"Sure. Who?"

"He was a very close friend of mine. He used to be my driver. His name is Michael Knight."

"No problem. Let me get my old computer warmed up." She got out of the car and walked over to the counter. She removed a dusty white sheet from a large object and revealed a very sophisticated computer. "Activate," she spoke to it clearly. The computer clicked on and hummed, then a screen appeared containing various squares with words written on them. She touched the screen over the button marked "search". It blinked and brought up a menu. She touched the button on the screen called "personal". The computer then brought up a screen that asked her to say the name of the person being searched for.

"Michael Knight," she said clearly. The computer blipped and bleeped as it searched the internet for the name.

"I've got something," she told the car. It's engine started and he pulled up closely behind her to get a look at the screen. "I didn't know you could drive yourself," she said looking back at the car.

"I can do many things," he said.

"Mmm... Anyway... 'Michael Knight: Dubbed a hero of his time. He saved countless lives and corporations from destruction by criminals,'" she read aloud. "'He joined the Foundation for Law and Government in 1982 and continued with them until 1990. On February 2, 2000, he was called back to duty due to a critical situation with FLAG. A little more than a month later, he again retired to his house in the country. Height, weight, ... blah, blah, blah," she said trying to hasten the unneeded information. "'Date of birth, Date of... death: June 27, 2005,'" she said slowly. She turned and looked at the car who had said nothing. "I... I'm sorry, Car."

He sat there for a long while. He didn't move, he didn't speak. Apparently, it had been a great shock to him.

"Hello? Are you okay? Mr. Car?" she asked.

"Yes... yes, I'm fine. It's quite a distasteful feeling. I was very fond of him. He would have been considered my best friend."

"I'm sorry. Do you have anywhere you can go? Who do you belong to?"

"Recent events have lead me to the conclusion that the Foundation has disowned me, so to speak. I, therefore, belong to no one at this time. I also have nowhere to go," he said, the sadness showing through in his soothing voice.

"Well then," Keri said, shutting off the computer. "You'll just have to stay with me. That is, if you want to, you can."

"Really?" the car seemed to perk up, "I can stay with you?"

"Of course you can. I can't just kick you out of my home and tell you to go find someplace else. That would be extremely rude. Besides, I kind of like you. You seem to be pretty nice."

"Thank you! Thank you so much! You won't regret this!" the car said, happily.

Keri smiled and looked at the car. Suddenly she realized that she didn't know his name nor did he know hers.

"Hi," she said, formally introducing herself, "My name is Keri, what's yours?"

"I am the Knight Industries Two Thousand, but you may call me Kitt for short," the car replied.

"Kitt," she said, trying out the name, "I like it."

"Thank you. Your name suits you as well... Keri."