Andrea had been fingering the gull shaped steering wheel. The car's last
statement shocked her to the core. She withdrew her hand quickly and
wondered just how good of an idea it had been to get inside this thing.
"Um, killed how?" A video screen on the dash came to life. "Perhaps it
would be better if I showed you." A date, time and location appeared on the
screen. The cop in Andrea memorized the data. Next a racetrack of some kind
came up on the screen. She watched as the camera accelerated forward.
Suddenly she realized that she was witnessing events from inside this car.
She watched in amazement as the speedometer on the dash rose up over 190
miles per mile within seconds of the start. Suddenly in a blink of an eye a
little girl ran right into the track. A light lit up on the dash. Auto-
cruise. The person who was driving lifted his hands of the steering column.
Amazingly she watched the car perform an evasive move on it's own. But it
was too late. They struck the girl. The view spun around a few times making
Andrea dizzy. When it stopped Andrea noticed a second screen come to life.
Vital signs came up. The child's -flat line. The film stopped and the
screen went dark. Andrea stared at the dash. It was dark. Only a few diodes
shined and a single light blinked on the left side of one of the monitors.
"What were you doing on that track in the first place?" She didn't mean to
sound so cold, but a human life, a CHILD's life, had been lost because of
this car. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to sound so hard. What I meant was, are
you some kind of race car?" "I am not a racing vehicle. My driver and I
were participating in an unofficial, but legal race. The track was rented
for the occasion." The statement was spoken softly and Andrea could swear
she heard warmth in the voice when the car talked about its driver. She
considered the statement "The track was rented for the occasion." Her mind
played back the video she had just seen. "How did that girl get there?" Her
mind suddenly latched onto a detail, which she remembered, "And HOW did
that wheel turn it's self when nobody was touching it?!?" "If you are
referring to my steering column moving without being touched by my then-
present driver, I operated the vehicle at the time. I tried to avoid the
child. She appeared on the track directly on my route, as humans would say,
out of nowhere. There was black ice on the track and I temporary lost
control. My shell hit the child and at racing speed she was ." The car
trailed off. Why didn't it just finish the sentence? Suddenly it hit her.
It, or should she say HE was feeling guilty about killing the child! Guilt,
remorse even, could a computer feel such things?
Kitt ran a quick scan on the modem. The data transfer had stopped, but the link was still open. Bonnie must have figured a way to keep it open, or it would remain open, until somebody turned it off. As long as it was operating, Kitt knew it would be only a matter of time, before Bonnie would trace his position. He considered asking his newfound friend to disconnect the modem, but desided against it. Somehow it did not feel right to push away Bonnie completely. He had not finished his sentence. ".instantly killed." Kitt startled, he had processed that sentence, but hadn't thought to utter it out loud. Yet he was shocked to find that he had indeed spoken. Kitt ran a rudimentary scan of his programming and found that the sub programs that had been rewriting themselves had finished. There was new code through his entire core programming. It just had to have something to do with his slips.
"You feel as if that was your fault don't you?" Andrea said to the now silent dash. "You didn't know that girl was gonna run out there?" The car was silent. "Kitt? Kitt." Andrea called softly. "Yes." The Kitt responded quietly. "Kitt, it was an accident! Even I can see that. And I'm a cop! Look no one's going to blame you for that. The child shouldn't have been there." She watched the place where she had seen the lights working when Kitt had last spoken to her. "The fact that it seems to have been an accident is not the point." Kitt began. "I have failed my most basic programming. I must not harm a human. In a manner of speaking. I have failed in my life. I am a danger to humans. I am capable of doing harm, of taking life. There is just cause for my being dismantled."
Kitt ran a quick scan on the modem. The data transfer had stopped, but the link was still open. Bonnie must have figured a way to keep it open, or it would remain open, until somebody turned it off. As long as it was operating, Kitt knew it would be only a matter of time, before Bonnie would trace his position. He considered asking his newfound friend to disconnect the modem, but desided against it. Somehow it did not feel right to push away Bonnie completely. He had not finished his sentence. ".instantly killed." Kitt startled, he had processed that sentence, but hadn't thought to utter it out loud. Yet he was shocked to find that he had indeed spoken. Kitt ran a rudimentary scan of his programming and found that the sub programs that had been rewriting themselves had finished. There was new code through his entire core programming. It just had to have something to do with his slips.
"You feel as if that was your fault don't you?" Andrea said to the now silent dash. "You didn't know that girl was gonna run out there?" The car was silent. "Kitt? Kitt." Andrea called softly. "Yes." The Kitt responded quietly. "Kitt, it was an accident! Even I can see that. And I'm a cop! Look no one's going to blame you for that. The child shouldn't have been there." She watched the place where she had seen the lights working when Kitt had last spoken to her. "The fact that it seems to have been an accident is not the point." Kitt began. "I have failed my most basic programming. I must not harm a human. In a manner of speaking. I have failed in my life. I am a danger to humans. I am capable of doing harm, of taking life. There is just cause for my being dismantled."