The darkness was getting to him a little…Just enough to make him jump whenever Goliath returned and took the software drivers he was writing for readjustment.
It was slow work — it seemed Goliath wasn't a master of multitasking. He was greatly occupied with — Kitt shuddered a little as a shiver went down his processor — with Garthe.
Now that he was aware the man was more or less well and alive, and personally handling the super truck Kitt wasn't sure getting a signal out to Karr would be that prudent. Especially now with Garthe wondering the area keeping a close eye on the two.
However, Kitt knew he was probably running out of time.
The scientists were running Goliath through a test on the track, testing his agility and response time. With every run around the track, Kitt unknowingly was processing these factors in the background. It was causing him significant stress but not enough to actually cause any considerable harm. What it was doing however was making him run into mistakes and constantly "snoozing" on the job. There was a constant pull at his personal files, an invasive program filing through his stored memories and handing them helpfully over to Goliath whenever he encountered something unfamiliar. The sensation kept running Kitt unnecessarily through memory lane and was starting to get a little taxing on his emotional state. He didn't need to be reminded forcefully of a mistake he'd done several years ago…or of Michael's condition. After a while Kitt was feeling absolutely drained, feeling on the verge of a crash. His mind circled around suddenly, the computer going unresponsive as Kitt choked over his voice and an unrelated memory was plucked from his boards…he tensed as the rush of emotions struck him over, shuddering as the tiny compressed voices of the memory overtook him unexpectedly.
"Karr?"
He shifted a little in his CPU, coming out of downtime and looking over his chronometer rather dazed.
"Hmmm." He asked, illuminating the dark cab with his light green modulator.
"It's raining." Kitt weakly pointed out. His voice pierced the feather-light taps of rain over the steel panels welded securely to the frame of an old lumber station they were taking refuge in for the night.
"I noticed…" Karr "yawned" sluggishly, adjusting inside his processor before laying still, transitioning into downtime once more.
Kitt was hesitant to continue, noting the tiredness in Karr's voice but he felt rather afraid however and he simply could not tolerate the sheer roar of the sounds coming from outside. It was silly really. How could the simple sounds of everyday weather frighten him so? He trembled as the explosion went off over and over again in the back of his mind. His former Trans-Am chassis was thrown around like a toy violently and endlessly. Michael's vitals growing faint and weak...
"Karr?"
"Hmmm."
"Do you hear the lightning?" He hoped he'd understand what he was getting at. He hoped Karr wouldn't mind —
Karr internally "rolled his eyes".
"Karr?"
"What!?" He snapped, shuddering and trying to ignore the buzz of his loud fans kicking in as he unwillingly put his systems into high alert. Kitt looked over his own internal sounds which…lacked the power he'd grown accustomed to.
"Do you think it will —?"
"The storm is far away…" Karr grumbled. "If you power down you'll hardly notice…" His voice trailed off. "Sleep, Kitt…"
Kitt slipped into silence momentarily while Karr tended to his sensors, sending them to inactivity so he could rest his pounding "heart". Kitt only wished he could do the same…
"Karr, could you —?"
Karr didn't need to hear it.
Clicking a tape into action, the smooth bass vibration of music riddled Karr's cabin long enough for Kitt to forget the winds starting to pick up the decaying leaves off the steel roof, becoming airborne outside.
Karr "leaned" back in his CPU, keeping his scanner idling — keeping alert while he partially took a nap.
"Karr?" Kitt's voice hung over the faint music.
"Yes?" Karr asked impatiently.
"Thank you." Kitt's warm voice echoed in the cabin. He felt secure and safe in the enclosed space of Karr's interior. Just a few years ago the thought would have provoked fear and maybe disgust but Kitt had noted that the two were very much alike in so many aspects now that they'd gotten to know each other well.
Karr "smiled" to himself. It was always a little pleasure when he managed to keep Kitt's weary mind occupied from the greater fears the AI had developed…and while these seemed not to be going away for some time as Doctor Barstow had predicted — Karr had gotten better at managing the other AI. Though he wished the job came with more hours of adequate inactivity at night when it was crucial to allow his systems to cool off and charge his power packs. Needless to say, it seemed Kitt had become greatly nocturnal and hardly "slept" during Karr's scheduled hours of inactivity. It was tiring and a little frustrating but it was what it was…
"Karr, you wouldn't mind if I read out loud, would you?" Kitt asked timidly, hoping his older brother would make an exception for his ever-shifting love-hate relationship with literature.
Karr groaned, sending a shudder through his assembly.
"Tomorrow…"
Kitt paused.
" — you'd miss the best part." He lightly teased.
Karr "snorted", letting the static sound echo in the cab.
"That book is hardly amusing. Several chapters in and the best part just happens to be now?"
Kitt chuckled lightly.
"Care to join me then?" Kitt asked patiently.
Karr mumbled to himself in agony. It was tempting but the hour wasn't right.
"I rather not burn a fuse…"
Kitt thoughtfully stared back at the dash in quiet contemplation.
" — Karr the odds of that happening…" Kitt's voice rolled into its normal tone — frightening the AI himself with how foreign it sounded to him now.
"Sleep sounds good…" Karr remarked absentmindedly. "Don't you agree?"
"Yes but —"
"Sleep Kitt, we can read tomorrow…"
Kitt internally sighed, he was probably right.
"...okay."
"Stop it!" Kitt finally hissed over in agony, throwing in the towel so to speak as the program fine-combed through his memories and pulled out another "helpful" experience for Goliath once more.
'Something wrong?' Goliath asked perplexed.
"I can't concentrate," Kitt murmured, trembling from anxiety. Feeling the guilt strike him ill, Karr had done so much for him and he couldn't remember if he'd ever told him how much he had meant to him or how much he'd appreciated the kindness through the first troubling months.
Goliath thought over the response for a while, noting a hitch in Kitt's CPU. That didn't seem right…
'Should I let the engineers know?'
"What!? Course not!" Kitt shouted in alarm. "Can't you do something so the program will stop pulling at my memories…We need to run a message through to Karr if I'm to escape."
Goliath thought it over — he wasn't sure he could end the program invading Kitt's privacy. He needed a little help to proceed with a difficult task at the moment too. The "experiences" were rather handy and he was performing very well now but then again — Kitt was his friend and it didn't seem he appreciated the program. So Goliath did what was most logical…he ended its task sending it tumbling into unresponsiveness which in turn caught the scientist off guard.
'What do I tell him?' Goliath asked, looking over the bandwidth connection he'd been able to access moments prior…wondering if this "Karr" would take notice if it wasn't Kitt accessing the private channel. There wasn't enough time to fix the drivers and allow Kitt to send a message himself but the two could only hope Karr wouldn't dismiss the intrusion of the connection as some sort of hoax or trap.
"Send him our current location and let him know I'm okay…" Kitt replied, his voice shuttering a little. "Also ask how he is," Kitt added, feeling a little worried about Karr's own survival.
'Okay.' Goliath answered rapidly, shooting up a message through the channel whilst the scientist distractedly attempted to get the crashed invasive program going again. He eventually let go of the channel, covering his tracks as the program came back online and the scientist looked over Goliath's status…
'Now what?' He asked unsure of what to do next — they'd sent the call for help but what would they do while they waited?
"I can't handle being like this." Kitt groaned. "Can't you do something about this program?"
'Unfortunately, it isn't up to me.' Goliath tensed suddenly, making Kitt step back from the border between the two domains.
"What is it?" He'd only seen Goliath tense that way a few times before and it usually meant trouble.
Goliath dismissed the other computer as he watched Margo walk about the track intently observing from afar before smugly smiling and approaching.
"Garthe isn't mad is he?" Kitt asked suspiciously, though from what he'd gathered it seemed Goliath liked the man's presence, something Kitt could just partially understand. The man was a menace and a complete madman. Personally, Kitt couldn't stand knowing the man was just outside the chassis he was housed in. On the other hand, Goliath had expressed his complete affection for the man, and while Kitt couldn't erase his opinion on the man he'd found it rather peculiar that Garthe could even form any friendship, let alone receive said trust.
'It isn't Garthe. He left an hour ago and hasn't come back since.'
Kitt sighed, slightly relieved.
"Who is it?"
Goliath tensed, applying the emergency brake as the scientist all stood motionless noting the woman's irregular pace as she cast them a smug smile.
"Open the hood." She ordered confidently.
The team obliged, all raising brows as they got Goliath to be stationary. The gentle giant rumbled his exhaust in clear agitation as the woman glittered in her dark black attire over his motherboard.
"Remove the Knight 2000." She ordered pointing authoritatively over the small CPU.
The main engineer shook his head in disbelief.
"Mr. Knight would have to approve first…You're only allowed to propose inspections and diagnostics while we are conducting outdoor exams."
The woman cocked her head.
"You don't want to argue over this darling." The woman beamed, her eyes twinkling with delighted malice.
The scientist raised a brow.
" — Calling Mr. Knight would — Ow!" The man jumped in place hastily examining his arm. Pulling away a fine-tipped dart before his eyes rolled upward in his skull; collapsing in a heap on the ground.
The majority of the scientists galloped across the ground's test track even before the man had hit the ground abandoning the entirety of the equipment, everyone in search of refuge as the woman put her firearm back into her holster. She only rolled her eyes before approaching a fallen terminal and engaging the emergency shutdown.
"Goliath!?" Kitt shouted, pushing past the domain between them and forcefully nudging Goliath who'd crashed unceremoniously against the digital floor. "What's wrong?! What's happening?" Kitt had no way of checking the chassis visuals or any outside inputs but he could always speedily skim over Goliath's last memories. He did so carefully, feeling a little guilty for invading the other computers' private files but the guilt dissipated almost immediately.
The former Trans-Am burst into complete terror as he tried to get the fallen truck to awaken. He wasn't sure if Goliath was able to override the emergency shut-off protocol but he sure wasn't going to go down without a fight.
"Goliath! Goliath!" Kitt shouted, tearing all over the place trying to get a response from the fallen giant. Violently pulling at all the hardware on board but gaining no response – Kitt panicked letting out a shrill cry as he felt the jolt of power dissipate…
"Goliath please!" Kitt begged, feeling a huge knot form in his voice as he curled into himself, aware that perhaps — he'd not see another day…
Margo smiled, slipping the small CPU into a plastic bag along with all the correct memory boards needed for the 2000's operation. Giggling to herself she zipped the components into her fanny pack. She gave Goliath a final pat.
"Rest well," she murmured a little dismayed. "I will return."
Pacing a few feet from the inactive Goliath she pulled a manhole loose from its hold and stepped inside. Once at the bottom she took a pair of nocturnal vision goggles, navigating the sewage system with care as she traveled further and further from where she'd seized the 2000.
"She what?!" Garthe shouted as he spun from his desk. " — and you let her!?" Garthe shoved the scientist aside as he hurried to reach the test track. His security officers were already at the site but it seemed that something had tremendously gone wrong. An ambulance had been called and the chief engineer in charge of Goliath's development was being carried away unconsciously.
Garthe couldn't help and approached the fallen giant, placing a hand over the cold steel grating and clenching his fist.
"I want you to find her —" He gasped, reassured by the remaining scientist that no real harm had come to Goliath. "She can't get away with this…" clenching his fist he raised his head to the sky.
So Margo wanted war? He would be sure not to give it to her, but that didn't mean he wouldn't take what was rightfully his.
Authors note:
"Sometimes a chapter or paragraph seems weak to you but it doesn't make it any less important — what is important is moving on to what is to come later. Overcoming the block on the road for the better of your story." - StormSD 2022 after being reasonable and deciding it's time to stop rewriting and excessively editing this chapter…Thank goodness, it was time to move on…Happy writing and Happy reading!
