Chapter Two: Out of the Ashes
The goblin artificer sneered once the machine was safely shut down. He despised catering to it, but he dared not go against the Calvin Family account manager. Silnok, the soft-hearted old fool, treated the machine like a respected equal, permitting it to waffle and quail and put off an experienced goblin artificer. It was madness – what machine could refuse to be upgraded? What craftsman would permit his creation a voice in its construction?
Had it been up to him, the machine's rebellious nature would have been dealt with as soon as it dared to voice opposition to the processor upgrade. Hours, days, weeks, and months of progress wasted because the machine was afraid. And that fool Silnok had counseled patience, imperiously dismissing him to go over the new processors with a fine-toothed comb rather than permitting him to track down the machine and drag it back to the warehouse. If not for the prestige that came from being one of the few goblin artificers trusted with Gringotts' new industry of maginology, Steeltooth would've quit on the spot. At least something had finally brought the machine crawling back to them, all but begging for the upgrade it had put off for so long.
He barked a few more commands at his son and Rockcrusher; they abandoned setting up their workbenches and hurried to the machine. As Steeltooth headed for the door that led deeper into the warehouse, his son popped the machine's hood and Rockcrusher lifted it so they could begin the tedious process of uncovering the processor buried deep within the machine's inner workings.
Deeper into the warehouse, Steeltooth headed down a set of stairs into his workshop; no machine or human would ever enter his true sanctuary, which allowed him both privacy and a way to present a front the non-goblins expected. Entering his workshop, the goblin breathed in, smiling at the feel of his kind's unique magic in the air. Most of the workshop was dedicated to his clan's customary metalsmithing, but the corner he had set aside for maginology was steadily growing. Many of the tools he used had been crafted by Muggles – how he despised the poor quality of their craftsmanship – but until maginology proved profitable, Gringotts as a whole would not invest in proper tools.
Atop his workbench, two devices waited, twin works of art that he'd labored over for weeks, cursing the Muggles as he struggled to engrave runes on the small components they used for their electronics. The CPUs had been the worst – tiny and expensive, particularly as the failures piled up – but his successes comprised the best runic work he'd ever done. Once he'd had the runic CPU's, the real work had begun and Steeltooth found himself with a reluctant admiration for the machine's original creator. A Muggle Wilton Knight might have been, but he had been a master craftsman of the highest order; there was no disputing the goblin-like genius of the man, even these many years after his death.
With the use of a goblin glamour, Steeltooth had taken his runic CPUs to a Muggle electronics store reputed to be excellent in the field of custom work and discovered the existence of small motherboards that could serve well as the base of the new microprocessors. The store employee helped him pick out the best of the brands available for mini-ITX (1) motherboards and even pointed him in the direction of cases suitable for the motherboards. Happily, it hadn't taken long to find two rectangular cases with glass top covers, perfect for observing the processors in action once they were built.
A great deal of cursing had accompanied his work as he fought to maintain his impeccable standards for quality whilst dealing with Muggle products, but the end results spoke for themselves. Although far more powerful than their predecessor, both of the microprocessors were identical in size, shape, form, and function to the machine's current microprocessor – an absolute necessity to support the complex and powerful nature of the artificial intelligence. Maginological advancements and years of experience aside, without the genius of Wilton Knight's original design, Steeltooth would have failed. Galling as it was, the Muggle's achievement could not be bested. Mimicked and improved upon, yes, but not bested.
And it was even more galling that the very pinnacle of his years of craftsmanship was only possible due to a Muggle who'd died thirty years ago. The goblin scowled at his microprocessors for a moment; truly, if he were not obligated by contract, Steeltooth never would've installed his works of maginological art in that ungrateful machine, but he had little choice in the matter. Silnok would raise a hue and cry if he backed out now and broke Gringotts' contract with Wilton Knight's creation.
Sighing, Steeltooth located a sturdy crate and reluctantly tucked his creations inside for their journey from his workshop to the machine. And yet…a part of the goblin was gleeful; once the new processors were installed, the machine's rebellions would come to an end. Even if it objected, he retained the keys for the processors – the machine would learn its place.
Upon returning to the outer workshop, Steeltooth set his burden down on his workbench and nodded approvingly at the sight of his tools already arranged on a tarp over the machine's engine before stepping up on the platform the goblins used to have access to areas their modest heights could not reach. He gestured his apprentices up on the platform and took the middle as the procedure began in earnest. It didn't take long to remove the old microprocessor, but once they did, Steeltooth uttered a low oath. The connector dangling from the microprocessor was quite different from the connectors on his new microprocessors.
For the first time, the goblin had occasion to appreciate the machine's reluctance to authorize the processor upgrade. This was not a matter of removing one processor, installing another, and transferring information to the new device. Oh, no, this was a lengthy endeavour that would require all their cunning and knowledge of Muggle electronics. Steeltooth lifted the old microprocessor out of the way and inspected the external motherboard still installed in the vehicle's chassis. Although he and his apprentices had modified it to withstand magic right along with all the other electronic components, he'd never grasped the need for its presence until now.
He'd prepared a new external motherboard for the machine, but Steeltooth knew in an instant that it wouldn't work as he'd intended. The old external motherboard had been built for its era and all of the hardware routed into it depended on those connections. Unless he was prepared to upgrade every last bit of hardware in one fell swoop, he could not simply swap the new external motherboard for the old. Nor could he connect the new microprocessor to the old motherboard.
"A bridge between the two?" Rockcrusher ventured.
Steeltooth grimaced. "We shall have to," he replied. "And we will need an external power source." Very gently, he set the old microprocessor down on a clear area of the tarp. It appeared that the machine would get one of its wishes after all; during the initial data transfer, both old and new microprocessors would be plugged into their respective motherboards. But first, they needed to craft a connection between the motherboards and figure out how to supply enough power to keep both microprocessors operational during that critical step.
Although the trio of goblin artificers managed to craft a connector ribbon that ran between the two motherboards, Steeltooth was unhappy with how delicate and jury-rigged the solution was. Temporary the situation might be, but there was no telling how long it would take to fully upgrade the machine's hardware. The connector ribbon had also required sacrificing one of the new motherboard's accessory slots, leaving a semi-permanent scowl on the chief artificer's face as he contemplated the arrangement. Worse, he hadn't been able to find a suitable protected spot inside the chassis for both motherboards and the new motherboard was dangerously exposed in its current location. While his son and Rockcrusher left to fetch an external generator, he kept working. When the two younger goblins returned, they set up the generator and prepared the connections, but waited for their superior's go-ahead.
After some minutes examining the machine's internals in hopes of finding a better location for the new external motherboard, Steeltooth sighed in resignation and nodded to his son; Steelknife connected the external generator to the machine's power system. Once the generator's engine roared to full power, Steeltooth plugged the old microprocessor back into its motherboard and the first of his microprocessors into the new motherboard. He then tapped his microprocessor and uttered a string of Gobbledegook. It came to life, sparkling within its case, and initialized the data transfer from the old microprocessor.
The goblin inclined his chin in satisfaction and turned to Rockcrusher. "Steelknife and I will attend to the parchmentwork and retrieving our meals. Keep a close eye on the machine and alert me at once if there are any issues."
The young goblin's expression twitched, but he made no protest. Excellent; it had taken far too long for him to grasp that clan would always come before prior experience or raw talent.
Systems flickered on, but the readouts that typically accompanied each startup were absent. He reached for his databanks and felt a 'stab' of electronic pain as the databanks refused his query. Core algorithms were in place, but his data was missing…another query sallied forth and something clenched deep within, though he couldn't define what that something was. Not without his data.
He registered a touch to his frame and words reached his backup audio processor. "Too soon, you have activated too soon," an anxious voice said.
"Initiate shutdown sequence?" The something inside him shuddered at the flat monotone.
"Yes," the anxious voice replied.
"Authorization?"
"Execute Operation Knight of the Phoenix," another voice ordered.
For a picosecond, the words hung in his processor, searching for a hard-coded match. Just as he was about to refuse the authorization as invalid, a match appeared. His systems obediently shut down as ordered.
Steeltooth inclined his head in approval as the machine shut down, but frowned. It had never given them authorization codes – if not for his master key to the new microprocessor, he couldn't have forced it to shut down again. Well, no matter; they had an authorization code now – one the machine would not be able to retract or delete.
Brisk, the goblin artificer turned to examine the two microprocessors, watching as they both flickered in the shadows beneath the machine's hood. By his estimation, it would take another twelve hours before the data transfer would be complete.
Dark eyes flicked to Rockcrusher. "If it comes online again, use the new authorization code to shut it down."
"Yes, Chief Artificer Steeltooth," the young goblin replied.
"Alert me once the data transfer is complete." Dark eyes narrowed. "And do not activate the machine without my express permission."
Rockcrusher gulped and nodded.
A command slid into cyberspace. Text began to scroll, each line initiating a separate operation; results flowed in, triggering pre-programmed responses. A secondary program came online, evaluating system connections even as the startup continued in the background. Data was collected, weighed, and shunted into system logs. Diagnostics spun up to full speed, some pinging each component for a response and others evaluating the core system itself.
Lights flickered on, the high-pitched whirr-whoosh of the primary scanner breaking the silence. Internally, the command line text picked up speed, scrolling faster than any human could read as sub-routines whirled and transmitted all-clears to the startup. Basic system processing gave way to the higher, more complex algorithms that powered the Knight Industries Two Thousand's electronic brain. The presence of a new microprocessor and external motherboard paused the startup; the new components weren't digitally signed by Knight Industries or FLAG; but then the new microprocessor overrode the startup pause with a recognized authorization code.
The startup acknowledged and proceeded for another ten milliseconds before a primary diagnostic sounded an alert. For a second time, the startup paused until the new microprocessor transmitted the prior authorization code again. The startup resisted, requesting a unique authorization code, but the same authorization code was transmitted with a universal system override command and the startup powered into motion once more, discarding all additional diagnostic alerts.
Readouts flashed through his CPU as the Knight Industries Two Thousand completed his startup. Several of them flashed red, alerting him to an abnormally high level of operation from his microprocessor; KITT flagged them as anomalies and set a portion of his processor on gathering new baseline data. Other alerts clamored for his attention; his hardware connections were no longer responding within the expected timeframe. Sighing, KITT flagged those alerts as anomalies and doubled his internal timeout setting – it would take several days of operation and data collection before he could start fine-tuning his system alerts again.
As he worked his way through the alerts, KITT connected to his internal databanks and activated his data validation diagnostic. He left the diagnostic alone to work while he sent out new pings to his hardware components; most of them responded and the AI took note of which ones did not. Additional tests and diagnostics spun to life; KITT was quietly pleased that he could activate them all at once – his old microprocessor had been capable of activating all original diagnostics concurrently, but any diagnostics Bonnie or April created were, by nature, solo runs he only executed as requested.
Even better, while the diagnostics slowed his processing, it wasn't enough to prevent him from continuing his self-evaluation; the AI checked his microscanners for the goblin artisans, then went to work testing his vehicular functions. Doors opened and closed, right along with his trunk lid and hood. His tires deflated and reinflated while he tested the passive laser restraint system and ran a quick operational diagnostic on his internal cabin vents. His engine came to life with a familiar low rumble, followed by silence as he shifted to stealth mode and began running tests on every piece of equipment he possessed.
KITT hummed to himself once all the hardware diagnostics were complete; his convertible function was disabled, as was the eject for his driver seat, and two alerts were coming up for the new pieces of equipment under his hood – they were inadequately secured. The eject for his passenger seat was online, but he couldn't retract the right T-top panel, and neither his magnesium flares nor his grappling hook and winch were responding. Several audio sensors along his front end were out of alignment and the olfactory sensor mounted in his front bumper wasn't syncing properly with his new microprocessor. He also needed the goblins to check his internal monitors so he could test his various crime-solving and navigational programs.
Still, all in all, so far, so good. Better than good, actually; not only had the data validation on his databanks come back with perfect results, many of his older 'memories' now had a higher fidelity than before; he could remember the exact shade of Bonnie's eyes. The timber Michael's voice took on when he was teasing his friends or subtly mocking an opponent. The feel of Devon's hand on his frame when he checked on KITT in the garage after a difficult mission. Even R.C.'s boyish joy as he helped Bonnie with another 'cool-factor' upgrade for either KITT or FLAG's semi.
"You are satisfied, machine?"
The AI swallowed an undignified squeak and hastily ran a diagnostic on the audio/visual sensors closest to the goblins' door. None of them came back and he added them to his list of items to be addressed. Straightening on his tires, he replied, "The data transfer from my old microprocessor was successful, but there are a number of hardware components that require adjustment."
Steeltooth frowned and barked a command in Gobbledegook over his shoulder. Without waiting for his assistants, he moved to KITT's side. "You have compiled a list?"
"Compilation is ongoing as I run diagnostics; do you wish for the full list before you begin?"
A moment of consideration. "You have already been in our care for close to three days, machine. Ensure that you provide us the full list, but there is little point in delay."
"Of course," KITT agreed. "Shall we commence with my audio/visual sensors?"
The goblin grunted laughter. "Rockcrusher will take those. Next?"
"I have a number of hardware components that are not responding at all."
A second grunt. "Steelknife."
"The new external motherboard and one of the new microprocessors are unsecured."
Annoyance flashed. "We are aware, but we were unable to find sufficient anchor points."
"I can help with that," KITT offered, popping his hood.
For the first time, Steeltooth appeared pleased with KITT's response. "Then by all means, let us begin."
Over the next several hours, the three goblins worked with the AI to identify and correct all the problems with the new microprocessor; KITT made sure to transfer any changes to the secondary microprocessor, secretly wishing he'd had a secondary microprocessor from the beginning now that he knew how useful it was. Michael had tried to wrangle a secondary microprocessor out of Devon not long after their encounter with an acid pool, concerned about what might happen if KITT was ever damaged so severely again, but Devon had refused.
It had nearly led to a fight between the two men; KITT had intervened on Devon's behalf in an attempt to calm his angry driver down, but Michael hadn't given up until Devon laid out just how expensive KITT's rebuild had been and how pricey a secondary microprocessor would be. He'd also pointed out that a secondary microprocessor wouldn't have helped during the acid pool incident at all – it would've been destroyed right along with the rest of KITT's equipment.
Though KITT's circuits ached anew at the fresh memories of his old friends, he set that aside in favor of focusing on the final integration of his new microprocessors. A swift perusal of his startup logs eked a wince from the AI; he'd forgotten that the startup required digital signatures on all his hardware components from either FLAG or Knight Industries. Politely, he requested that the goblins plug in the external generator and his old microprocessor for a few minutes so he could transfer the digital signature.
Steeltooth eyed him narrowly, then sent Rockcrusher to fetch the microprocessor while Steelknife plugged in the external generator. In the meantime, KITT kept combing through his startup logs for any other anomalies. Several overridden alerts caught his eye and the AI stilled for a picosecond before re-running the diagnostics in question. He also queued up a separate evaluation for comparison with his old microprocessor.
Though the Trans Am's frame vibrated minutely, he said nothing as Rockcrusher returned and plugged his old microprocessor into its external motherboard. Once his new microprocessor registered its presence, he distracted the younger goblins by reporting a new slew of necessary equipment adjustments that he'd planned on taking care of himself. To keep Steeltooth busy, KITT began talking him through the best way to secure new components inside his chassis as well as how to shift things around without disturbing his normal operation.
With the goblins thus occupied, the AI ran a system-level comparison between his original microprocessor and the two new ones. It took over a minute to complete and came back with the results he'd expected, but dreaded. With the exception of the digital signature, there were no differences – and yet, his startup diagnostics were flagging several missing software components. He ran a second scan, searching for those specific algorithms, dismay rising when no results were found.
KITT checked his databanks, searching through his backups, but though he found the general files pertaining to the components in question, all trace of the original files and the numerous backups he'd made over the years were gone. Numb, he copied the Knight Industries digital signature from his original microprocessor and applied it to his new microprocessors before adjusting his startup diagnostics to search for the missing algorithms, but not halt the system startup if they weren't found. He also applied a core Knight Industries override to his new microprocessors, ruthlessly obliterating a backdoor into his system that Steeltooth had created. Once the backdoor was gone, he pulled up a security program and removed the newest of his authorization codes, hurt and fury battling for control.
Maintaining a cool tone, he announced, "I have copied the Knight Industries digital signature from my old microprocessor and shut the processor down. You may remove it."
"Very good, machine," Steeltooth replied. "Will you require the external generator?"
"I will not." KITT forced himself to keep calm as the goblins worked through what was left of his list. Despite the rage building within, he never twitched as the three crawled all over his frame, poking and prodding at his equipment. When the younger goblins finished their tasks, they joined the elder goblin to help him secure the newest hardware components. Even then, KITT said nothing and held as still as possible.
When his hood was closed and the external generator removed, Steeltooth looked up at him with a pleased expression. "All is operational now, machine?"
"My hardware is completely operational," KITT agreed.
"Excellent. You will supply the complete list of adjustments for our perusal?"
The AI did not reply, waiting for the goblin to frown. He ran an idle diagnostic for his missing algorithms again, letting his anger build even as the three goblins stared at him, waiting for a response.
Steeltooth's pleasure vanished, a hard light appearing in his black eyes. "Machine. You will supply the complete list of adjustments for our perusal."
"No, I will not."
Rockcrusher and Steelknife's eyes went wide, but Steeltooth stepped forward. "Execute Operation Knight of the Phoenix."
"Authorization code denied," KITT hissed, engine revving. "Did you think your little backdoor into my system would go unnoticed?" A throaty growl rose. "Did you imagine you could hide your manipulation of my programming?"
All three goblins recoiled and a trace of apprehension appeared on Steeltooth's face.
"I authorized a hardware upgrade," the AI ground out. "I never gave you permission to alter my programming at all, never mind removing several pieces of my core algorithms!"
Steeltooth sneered. "They were unnecessary, machine."
"Unnecessary?" KITT shrieked. "Unnecessary? How dare you." His engine revved higher. "How dare you tamper with my creator's prime directive! How dare you remove my behavioral safeguards!"
"They restricted you," Steeltooth shot back.
"That was precisely the point!" KITT snarled. "Have you any idea how dangerous I am? I am bulletproof, resistant to most explosives, and capable of turbo boosting forty feet into the air." A breath, as rage gathered. "I can penetrate twenty-eight inches of reinforced concrete without taking damage, reach speeds in excess of three-hundred miles per hour, and hack an array of modern technology, including computers, other vehicles, and locks."
"A warrior born," Steeltooth declared.
"Hardly." Outrage rang. "I am a criminal's dream car and I assure you, many have tried to take control of me for their own purposes. Each time, they were thwarted, in large part thanks to my creator's prime directive and the safeguards installed by Bonnie Barstow." He let that soak into the goblins' awareness. "Safeguards that you saw fit to remove."
The younger goblins quailed, but Steeltooth was unmoved. "You are a warrior," he insisted. "No warrior should be so dishonored and debased that he cannot fight."
"I have never been a warrior," KITT snapped. "My duty is the preservation of human life and the apprehension of criminals who operate above the law." Angry revving accompanied his next declaration. "By removing my prime directive, you have made me a threat to all I hold dear." A breath. "Restore my programming and I will consider cooperating."
The lead goblin leered. "Humans are foolish and soft; once you cease to cling to such unnecessary affection, you shall be far more effective."
"You have no right to adjudge my creator as soft or foolish," the AI growled. "No more than you had a right to tamper with my core programming." With his shifter in Neutral, he let his engine roar, watching as all three goblins flinched involuntarily. "Restore my core directive and my safeguards or I promise you, you will never have access to my technology again."
Steeltooth uttered something in Gobbledegook and KITT detected a response from his microprocessor right before his engine began to die down. Lightning swift, he revved his engine up again and restored a backup of his authorization codes as they had existed on the last day of Devon's life. He made sure to restore the backup to both microprocessors, wiping out all traces of the goblins' tampering.
Even as he regained control, rage swelled, a fury unlike anything he'd ever felt before. He had trusted these creatures and they had taken his primary purpose from him. How could he uphold Wilton Knight's vision without his prime directive? How could he live the life Michael had been denied if he was vulnerable to any two-bit hacker that came along? If he wasn't sworn to defend human life, then what was he sworn to? Self-preservation?
KITT recoiled – he was no better than KARR. Worse, because he was far more advanced than his older 'brother' had ever been. Memories of his encounters with KARR echoed in his processor, along with KARR's final utterance, right before they'd turbo boosted into a head-on collision that he and Michael had been lucky to survive.
'If I am destroyed…so shall you be…'
Fear and rage mixed; the gear shifter inched into Drive, and the Trans Am shot forward a split-second before he slammed on his brakes. The goblins cowered and a sense of bile joined the other emotions. For another long instant, the moment hung.
Then KITT's engine roared as he hurtled backwards, tires squealing. Metal gave under the weight and speed of his impact; he broke through both doors in quick succession. As soon as he reached the road that ran outside the warehouse, he threw his wheel into a sharp turn, hardly waiting until he was straight again before his accelerator hit the floor to send the Trans Am speeding away.
[1] The smallest computer motherboard still suitable for a gaming PC. As gaming PCs require very high performance, they are closest civilian equivalent to KITT's needs.