Chapter 4
"Carlee?" K.I.T.T.'s voice queried from her left wrist.
Carlee's eyes snapped open, and she heaved a sigh of relief. K.I.T.T. was okay, and it seemed her kidnappers didn't know about K.I.T.T.'s abilities, or the comlink.
Carlee struggled against her bonds to get to the button on her comlink that would allow her to transmit back. It was no use though, her hands were well secured to the arms of the chair.
"Carlee? I'm in a garage of some kind. They put me on a lift, so they must know about me," K.I.T.T.'s voice had risen slightly, edging toward panic. Carlee suspected the panic was a result of her failure to reply that she was okay.
Carlee squeezed her eyes shut. She longed to be able to communicate with K.I.T.T., reassure him that they'd be okay.
Instead, she started shouting, "Hey! Hey!" If K.I.T.T. weren't too far away, he'd pick up her shouts easily and talk to her through the comlink. If not, then someone else might come and she might be able to get an idea of what was going on.
The door opened and Carlee closed her eyes against the sudden glare. Overhead lights added to her momentary torment.
As her blue eyes readjusted to light, Carlee dared to look around. The small room was barren save for one more chair, which became occupied by the man who had opened the door.
"Who are you?" Carlee demanded, glaring at the man sitting casually across from her. He was in his late forties. His thinning, graying hair might once have been thick and black. Deep creases lined his face. On any other man's face, they may have been distinguished. On this man, they made him look weathered and worn.
The man snorted, as if she'd said something funny.
"They didn't tell you about me," it was a statement, not a question. Under his breath, the man muttered, "I should have known they wouldn't even bother to tell you."
"Tell me what?" Carlee asked, an edge in her voice.
"That I'd been trying to acquire the Two Thousand!"
Carlee's head snapped up, her eyes widening. "What do you mean, acquire?"
"I'm Dr. Gill Stalov. I specialize in advanced artificial intelligence."
A chill raced down Carlee's spine, and her arms broke out in gooseflesh. "What do you want with me?" Carlee asked, dreading she already knew the answer.
"You are the only way I can gain access into the Two Thousand."
"I won't help you!" Carlee snarled.
"Don't worry, you won't have to do anything," was the even response. "This would have been much easier on everyone involved if Knight Industries had just let me run my tests. Instead they kept giving me the run around. Telling me they no longer owned the Two Thousand. Imagine, a machine owning itself!" An angry glint lit up Dr. Stalov's green eyes. "It may be intelligent, but it's still a machine! Machines have no property rights!" Seeming to realize he was beginning to ramble, Dr. Stalov closed his mouth with a click.
"You're insane!" Carlee snapped at him.
Dr. Stalov ignored her, instead, rising to his feet and walking out of the room. He didn't bother to turn the lights back off.
The door was opened again a few minutes later. Two powerfully built men walked in. They picked up the chair Carlee was strapped to and maneuvered it out the door and down two hallways, then through another door.
She quickly dubbed them Thing One and Thing Two. They were both roughly the same height and build. Their biceps, triceps, and every other 'ceps, for that matter, bulged. In a word, they were huge!
The bigger they are, the harder they fall, Carlee thought to herself.
Carlee found herself in the garage where K.I.T.T. was suspended on a mechanical car lift. His tires dangled helplessly in the air.
Thing One and Thing Two deposited Carlee's chair in front of K.I.T.T., and walked out of the garage.
"K.I.T.T.?" Carlee said, rushing on before K.I.T.T. could respond. "Whatever happens, do not open your door."
"What's happening, Carlee?" K.I.T.T. asked, his scanner whooshing to life. It raced back and forth, an indication to Carlee that he was highly agitated.
"They're after you. A Dr. Gill Stalov wants to run 'tests' on you. No matter what, do not open your door!"
"Carlee, my programming will not allow me to knowingly let them hurt you," K.I.T.T.'s agitation was apparent in his voice.
"Programming be damned! I'm ordering you! Do not open your door to anyone!"
"I hate to point this out to you, Carlee, but we are equals, you cannot 'order' me to do anything," K.I.T.T. replied softly. A moment later, "Someone's coming!"
Dr. Stalov walked in, a small case in his hands.
Carlee glared at him, wishing looks could actually cause harm.
Dr. Stalov set the case on a nearby workbench and opened it. He pulled out a syringe containing a clear liquid. He held it up, so K.I.T.T.'s scanners would register it. "Pain by nerve induction."
"How considerate of you to use a method that won't leave any physical trace," Carlee spat at the man.
"You can end this before it begins, K.I.T.T. Just open the door!"
"Don't do it, K.I.T.T.!" Carlee said, as she struggled against her bonds.
Dr. Stalov turned away from K.I.T.T. He pushed the needle into Carlee's forearm and depressed the plunger of the syringe ever so slightly.
The effect was nearly instantaneous. The area around the injection sight began to tingle. It began to spread through her body, the tingle deepening into mild burning.
"Is that the best you've got!" Carlee gritted out between clenched teeth.
"Oh, don't worry, a little more and you'll be screaming!" Dr. Stalov assured her.
K.I.T.T. had been scanning Carlee's vitals, so he registered the spike in her heart rate and blood pressure when the first small amount of serum had entered her system.
Dr. Stalov injected more of the serum, and a cold sweat broke out on Carlee's face as the pain intensified. Tears began to course down her cheeks, but still she didn't cry out.
"Don't... listen... to... him... K.I.T.T.!" Carlee panted out, as she concentrated on her breathing to control the pain.
A look of astonishment crossed the doctor's face.
"Natural. Childbirth. You. Should. Try. It. Some. Time," Carlee replied, correctly interpreting the look on Dr. Stalov's face. Then she grinned at him, bent on making him as angry as she was.
K.I.T.T. was beginning to worry about Carlee, though. Her vitals were through the roof, and he knew she had to be in intense pain. Over half of the serum was still in the syringe and K.I.T.T. worried what might happen if all of it were injected at once, in a fit of anger.
Dr. Stalov, managing to maintain his calm, injected more of the serum.
Carlee's high, piercing scream echoed back from the garage walls.
A smirk of satisfaction on his face, Dr. Stalov crowed, "I told you you would scream." The smirk was replaced with grim determination. "Now, beg K.I.T.T. to make it stop!" Dr. Stalov went back to the case on the workbench and withdrew another syringe. This one contained an amber fluid.
Holding it up for K.I.T.T.'s scanners to detect, he said, "This is the antidote for the nerve induction agent. Open your door, and I will administer it to Carlee."
Carlee's scream had subsided to a whimper. Her voice barely more than a whisper, she managed to gasp, "Don't... do... it... K.I.T.T.!"
Dr. Stalov moved back to Carlee's side, and he injected her with more serum.
Carlee's scream was punctuated by a low keening sound from K.I.T.T. "I'm sorry, Carlee! I can't let him inject you with any more of that serum!" K.I.T.T.'s driver side door opened.
Leaving the first syringe in her arm, Dr. Stalov injected the contents of the second syringe into Carlee's other arm.
Carlee's eyes rolled up in her head, and she passed out. Her head lolled forward onto her chest. K.I.T.T.'s vital signs scanner registered Carlee's vitals returning to normal, though.
"The nerve induction syringe is still in her arm. If you close your door, I will inject double the previous amount into her," Dr. Stalov told K.I.T.T., moving toward the open door. "Now, let's get started!" Dr. Stalov's voice was filled with glee.
K.I.T.T. didn't bother to reply.
Dr. Stalov reached through K.I.T.T.'s open door and pulled the hood release.