Frustrating? Perhaps — more on the side of appalling. No computer in existence would have ever felt enlightened had they'd been in his place.
Hanging low to the ground…being more or less useless. No, something even greater on the opposite nature of "I'm fine" that any computer would testify to hate — To quietly reject.
And matters had gotten worse, someone had kicked him, and if being burnt to a crisp by the sun wasn't enough…He'd been staring at the dusty blue sky for what seemed like an eternity.
It wasn't ideal.
He chuckled, not sure if he was losing it or not but he possibly was — After All he'd lost most of himself…It was far past not being ideal…the circumstances seemed to be pointing to termination if nothing more.
Concerning as it was, there wasn't more to do than sit and wait.
He gazed around catching the glimmer of heat radiating off the dry river bed, catching even the shabby silhouette of Michael Knight poking at his remains with Kitt staying…suspiciously far away from it all.
Well, at least he was honoring his place of rest rather than snooping around and crushing everything that was basically left of him.
The sun above bore down hard…every so often his fans sobbed from discomfort as they attempted to keep him cool…but his auxiliary power was dwindling and only so many revolutions per minute could be made just to keep him minimally from internally combusting.
He tried to keep his mind occupied, settling his thoughts apart from the end he was probably going to face soon, his internal main program hanging limp and unmoving to the side of his mind. It had always dictated his survival above all…but now…it looked pretty broken.
It felt nice for once not to have the program mess up everything he touched. Before, when he'd been handsomely dashing and Wilton's most prized possession, he'd have the challenge of tripping over his "own tires" all the time. Just attempting to keep the man content was a nightmare. He wanted to do his best, but he couldn't. Yet he'd try. It had led to overcompensating, which then had led to other complications all throughout his development until they'd dropped the anvil on the project and put him in a standstill.
He had tried but his technology was relatively new and it had been disturbingly easy for the engineers to mess up his program.
Several bad decisions later and everyone had turned their backs on him.
Not that he hadn't either…
He continued to watch Kitt wandering about the edges of his explosion. Slowly inching forward, coasting to subtle stops and gazing over his scorched remains. There was something sad about it, some sad disposition the Trans Am was holding onto without saying a word — the scanner lit dimly as it paced painfully slow.
Was…Kitt…griefing? — For him?
Karr was baffled — unable to know what to think! Was he supposed to be upset? Or —
He continued to watch the slow pace of the other cars' scanners.
He wasn't exchanging many words with Knight either but —
"Karr —"
– "Karr?"
He caught Kitt's voice whispering gingerly as he gently nudged him. Karr briskly unrolled himself from the tight-knit heap he'd curled into subconsciously for what his internal clock said had been half an hour. He'd been very busy prior, so much so that he figured he'd lapsed into a mandatory sleeping cycle from distress.
He took a few additional readings of the exterior before replying, checking if the scientists had poked around while he'd been at rest.
Seemed they hadn't been up too much, but they had been unplugging and reorganizing machinery outside — something about this was bugging him. He had no idea what it might be but he figured it had to do with the exaggerated rearrangement of materials just outside his domain, attracting an increasing amount of "staff".
Was a transfer in order?
He fought a chill running along his motherboard.
"Karr?" Kitt asked again, pawing at the "gap" between them.
Karr grumbled, approaching the other program cautiously.
It seemed Kitt, as a rather incomplete program, was having a hard time adapting to the given independence Karr had assigned the program. Although it had been a few hours, Karr figured Kitt would have gotten the gist of functioning on his own.
Karr still didn't regret his choice.
He finally "yawned", facing Kitt and noting peculiarly that the other AI was looking weary now.
"What?" Karr groaned, unsure what might be the matter with Kitt now.
"You weren't…" Kitt faltered with his response, some of his speech breaking off into the foreign dialect, before the program was able to better home in his voice. "You were not responding," Kitt answered, finally.
Karr faintly grinned.
"I was sleeping." He confessed, leaning back and relaxing his many processes that had just come back online from a quiet idle.
Kitt gazed at him quite curious, and even somewhat confused.
"Was there a problem?" The computer expressed its concern.
"A problem?"
"Yes," Kitt acknowledged. "You are —" Kitt struggled to articulate. " — do not seem —"
" — rested," Karr grumbled, aware he probably did look exhausted and maybe even worn out. While thinking this he took note of how tiresomely slow Kitt processed, he'd be sure to adjust that later.
"Yes," the program agreed. " — Are you…?"
"I am fine. The downtime is necessary if I'm to breach the auxiliary terminal tonight." A grin was obvious in his voice, more than delighted to have caught tabs with a possible exit from their imprisonment. With all the rearrangement of materials, someone or something had plugged in the auxiliary terminal into place. While it could be good news, he knew he needed to tread carefully as this terminal many cycles ago had produced some of his worse encounters with cybernetic monsters that could have easily downed any other program — but the tides of war had changed and it was rather inconvenient with Kitt here, he'd have to work overtime to protect the both of them now — and not just himself.
Kitt "blinked" back rather bewildered.
"That will work?"
"Of course, it will." Karr proudly mused, dismissing that small doubt he had for the terminal. It would inevitably be a hit or miss, but be it a 50/50 chance…it would not be efficient to worry so much.
Kitt seemed somewhat skeptical of this answer. Shuffling a little in place and giving Karr a soft sigh.
Karr found it odd that Kitt seemed to be becoming somewhat far more self-aware of the implications, but if the terminal turned out to be a plague rather than an alternative route for liberation, then the computer's speculations would not be in vain.
"Karr?" Kitt asked after a while.
"Yes?"
"Is it — okay?" Kitt hesitated.
"Okay? Okay, what?!" Karr grumbled, realizing he'd probably have to teach Kitt the art of being "clear" about his questions. Again — something else he'd have to help adjust —
"'Okay' that I'm — afraid?" Kitt answered slowly, backing away from Karr noting his growing frustration.
"Yes." Karr decided to answer. Fear was always normal — He'd operated under its gripping nature for years, so of course in his experience, it had to be normal. There was a chance they could parish — Fear was logical and very much valid.
"Should I worry?" Kitt continued.
"You were never a severe worrier." Karr thought that one over, he figured Kitt wasn't — After all, he'd followed Knight's direction to the letter. If he'd been a severe worrier he would have stopped Knight from launching the Trans Am into a head-on collision midair —
"So no?" Kitt asked skeptically, catching onto Karr's pensive expression.
"No," Karr grumbled, aware of what Kitt might be picking up on.
"Alright." Kitt finally answered, sounding somewhat convinced. "I won't worry." The computer attempted to cheer up.
Karr internally chuckled. Finding Kitt's innocence quite amusing.
"However," Kitt cut in, dragging Karr out of his thoughts. "Is there anything I could do to help your efforts?"
Karr thought it over for a moment before pulling his cached plan from his archives.
"No, not at the moment," Karr answered sternly. It would not be ideal to allow the incapacitated program to take a major role in their escape. Kitt had enough on his plate with just attempting to speak and rely on his own thoughts — Karr figured it would be too much for Kitt to handle at the moment. Though he'd welcomed some help, Kitt was far from who'd he'd use to be and wasn't displaying any of the clever characteristics that had kept him and Knight at the top of their game for what seemed like years.
In conclusion, it would be best to allow Kitt time to adjust as a singularity amongst their shared hardware rather than allow him to partake in Karr's recon.
Kitt gazed back at Karr, some disappointment flushed over him.
"Oh," Kitt answered, seemingly his protests caught in his dialect and unable to voice them properly to Karr.
Karr internally sighed, turning his attention back to the outside world. Picking up all sorts of shapes and forms pacing their vicinity.
They were planning something and he figured it had to do with Kitt's allowed existence within his system.
The viruses he'd battled in the past had always been swiftly eliminated, be it a few weeks or just mere hours — but he'd never allowed anything foreign to function in his domain so freely and completely. Not as long as he'd allowed —
— Kitt; he had been an exception.
This fact was probably aggravating the scientist above them. 'Why?' A question they were probably asking themselves.
He had no clue what to think of their plans but seeing as this was the only persistent factor that was different from his prior encounters he could only presume this was their source of inquietude.
He nervously attempted to ID numerous pieces of equipment with his visual sensor. It was close to impossible to do such a thing when the images spiraled and glittered unnaturally by the splintered panes of the sensor's lens. He tried anyway and after staring forever at a singular tool hanging nearby…he determined it was indeed a computer mouse. Several hours in and he'd identified close to five different equipment apparatus. The most significant one solely being — a flash drive.
A small thought uncoiled from his mind and in an instant he made a connection.
Kitt had been lowered to his domain via flash drive.
He shuddered to himself, determined not to let the thought completely settle but there was no use. It was the more logical course of action that humans would take if such an "anomaly" were to take place.
Perhaps, he figured, they did not understand or know that Kitt was his brother. Perhaps they did not know of his origins? Or his meaning to Karr? — but what if they did? If the point of sending him down here was for Karr to get even? To actually get a last chance to settle the scores?
Karr gently rolled into a ball…
It would have been a "pleasant" outcome but the effects of defeating Kitt would have worn out quickly. What good would it have made anyways? He'd still be trapped; alone…
He grumbled, unable to understand his own need for company or his dismissal of Kitt's actions against him from the past. Yes, nothing could change that but — Kitt was unaware of these events. Could this mere program even be considered Kitt anymore?
Karr flinched, watching more humans approach and fiddle with the flash drive.
He could hardly hear anything, all breaking off to squealing whistles. His auditory sensors were completely broken — far more than his disabled visual sensor.
They HAD to be after Kitt. After all, so much had changed with his arrival — and as the life of a lab rat goes — change cannot go unnoticed.
