chapter seven

Two weeks passed in relative peace, and for that Kitt was grateful. There had been too much hell and chaos in the past few months, and once again Michael wasn't sleeping well. The nightmares though were on both their parts. Kitt knew the pain was going to come back and haunt him eventually. He had tried to hide the nightmares from Michael; the poor man had his own nightmares to deal with. Still, Michael had found out, and more often than not they spent the nights together in Kitt's garage. It was getting more and more common for Bonnie to come down and run checks on Kitt's programming and find Michael sleeping either on the couch or in Kitt's cabin.

Kitt didn't want to deal with the consequences of what they had done. He wanted everything to go away, for everyone to leave Michael and him alone so they could finally have a chance to recover. He wanted time for just him and his driver. It was something they had been striving for, but the threat of impending separation had made things strained. Things were still strained.

It had surprised Agent Rich when Devon insisted on the meeting being held in the garage. There was Bonnie, Devon, a lawyer for the Foundation named Lee, and Michael and Kitt. From the FBI there was Rich and his superior, a big black man named Agent Freeman. Rich wasn't too pleased that they were outnumbered, but he figured it was safer that way.

Freeman spoke first. "Does anyone want to explain to me just what Dr. Brocklien was trying to do?"

Michael leaned against Kitt's hood and tuned out for the most part as Bonnie explained the technical details of what had been done. He didn't need to hear them. He already knew what his anam cara had been through. He didn't want to hear it again. Kitt shivered underneath him, and he placed his hand against the warm MBS for comfort. Kitt was strong, but there was only so much pain a person could handle on their own.

As Bonnie finished, Freeman nodded. "Was this worth a man's life?"

Michael sat up. "Oh, so now you're willing to listen?" he snapped.

Freeman cast a glance at Rich, who had the grace to look sheepish. "Unlike some people, I don't believe people don't act for a reason. I want to know what your reason was before I condemn you." he said quietly.

Michael stood and walked over to Freeman. "You can feel pain, right?"

Freeman nodded. "Right."

"If your partner was screaming in pain, and the one responsible was standing right in front of you, what would you do?" Michael hissed.

Freeman didn't even blink as he responded. "I would shoot him."

"Exactly." Michael returned to Kitt to lean once again on the Trans-Am's hood. "What no one seems to understand is that Kitt can feel pain just like we can. He has a personality just like any other person, and it goes beyond what he was programmed to do. We protect each other the best we can."

For a moment, there was silence in the room. Lee spoke up, her voice slightly timid. "Michael's prints are on the gun. We have three eye-witnesses who are willing to testify that Brocklien drew first. There was a gun with the body when the FBI found him, correct?" Rich nodded reluctantly. "This looks like a case of self-defense to me."

"Self-defense?" Rich exploded. "Defense of what? A machine? That machine is a killer too – it killed my friend and my partner!"

For the first time, Kitt spoke. "Your friend as you put it was trying to kill Michael and sell me off on the black market. Once again, I believe that qualifies as self-defense." There was pure acid in his voice, and Devon didn't miss the smirk that crossed Michael's face. The FLAG driver had waited a long time for Kitt to finally stand up and defend himself. It seemed that Kitt had finally found the appropriate time. "My programming may prevent me from taking human life, but I will not let anything happen to Michael. Whatever I have to do to protect him, I will do it."

Once again, silence reigned in the room. This time, it was broken by Freeman's chuckles.

"You got guts, Kitt." he said. "I like that." He looked over at Lee. "Write this one off as self-defense. But Devon, remember this – there's only so many times that will fly with my bosses. Clean your house, or next time I'll have to take Mr. Knight in. I don't think Kitt would like that."

"You wouldn't get near him, Agent Freeman." Kitt said calmly.

"But Agent Freeman," Rich protested, "there's still going to be an investigation, right?"

"There will be." Freeman agreed. "But you won't be involved in it. I will lead the team, and I'm sure our findings will agree with Lee's." He nodded a farewell to Devon and Bonnie, shook Lee's hand, and left the garage, followed by a sulking Rich.

As soon as they were out of earshot, Michael laughed. "That was great, Kitt."

"Thank you." Kitt seemed to preen under the attention. "I meant every word of it."

"I have no doubt." Michael grinned. He turned to Devon and abruptly turned serious. "So how are we going to clean house?"

"For one thing, I'm doing it, not you." Devon said sharply, but there was a hint of a smile in his eyes. "You will be busy with something else, if you want."

Michael tilted his head to the side. "Oh?"

"You and Kitt. This affects you both."

Michael sat up a little straighter, and even Kitt seemed to be focusing on Bonnie and Devon a bit more. Devon couldn't know for sure. He had never been as able to read Kitt's body language, what little of it there was, as well as Michael and Bonnie could. Then again, he didn't spend nearly as much time with the AI as they did. "What?" Michael asked.

Bonnie and Devon exchanged looks. "Devon told me what happened when the comm. link was cut." Bonnie said gently. Michael's expression soured, but Bonnie continued. "You can't operate like that. What happens if the comm. dies in the middle of a case?"

"What happened, Michael?" Kitt asked quietly.

"I choked." Michael said darkly.

"We have a way to keep that from happening." Devon said quickly. Michael locked eyes with him. "There is a new technology being implemented to link human minds to computers. We've tweaked it to link a human mind to an AI."

"What would this do?" Michael asked cautiously.

"If it works, you and Kitt will be in constant contact with each other." Bonnie explained. "It would serve as a replacement for the comm. link, and not very many things can block it."

"If it doesn't work?" Kitt demanded. "For me, it would be another piece of circuitry, but what about Michael?"

"If it doesn't work, then theoretically the implant would be nothing more than a harmless device inside his skull." Devon said quietly. "But we aren't sure. It hasn't been tested yet."

Michael laughed. "Yeah, and how do you test something like that?" he murmured. "What do you think pal?"

Kitt hesitated. "If you are willing to take the risk . . . I don't want to be separated again."

Michael nodded and ran his fingers across the hood. "Then let's do it."

/---/

An: The neurolink idea I'm implementing here is not mine, obviously. It belongs to Macx and is being borrowed for the time being by me.