Log# 103948574KR
" — Thanks, pal. I'm beginning to like what Bonnie's done here. You think she'll let me add a bigger speaker?"
[Rewind Y/N]
"His taste in music is…pleasantly outdated." Welm offered. Gazing over Kitt tightly clasped against himself. Welm puzzlingly rolled his "eyes." "Did you even hear what I said?" He noted the partial dormant state of the other computer.
"Yes, I did," Kitt answered hastily, stirring from his spot. Taking a few bits of the conversation apart before laying them back into the archived file. "Music —"
"What about it?" Welm asked, taking a few audio samples, examining the background audio, and adding a few notes to the "margins" before placing it all back into the "box". "Sounds like the usual for that era. Rock-and-roll was just habitually enjoyed by music lovers across the globe. Not really an outstanding data point — still nothing to do with you."
Kitt squinted at Welm. Holding a brief silence before entrusting him with a thought.
"I find this so critically hopeless sometimes."
"Maybe it's time to call it quits?" Welm frustratingly hunched over as though trying to imitate exhaustion even though the computer was far more awake than any intern overloaded on caffeine.
"I wouldn't want that —" Kitt confessed after a short pause.
"There's so little here left intact to even piece together a remotely visible "image" of who you were completely back then. It's all "HIM"." Welm frustratingly put forth. "May as well piece back together who Michael Knight was. There is enough content to tell his story —"
" — And not mine?" Kitt raised a "brow".
"I mean sure…some conversations we've decompiled show you were a dedicated and determined individual with an appreciation for classical music — but that's still you, isn't it? So why are we still looking? You're here. Isn't that enough?" Welm groaned, taking another worn folder from the auxiliary hard drive and spreading it before them. He didn't really need an answer — He already knew it. "We've got an hour left until we have to attend the GCA meeting…might as well crack one more memory open, right?"
"Yes," Kitt remarked, eyeing Welm anxiously. Avoiding the unspoken answer entirely —
Log#282746473KR
" — Kitt, I told you already. This isn't something the police can handle…Trust me, pal! C'mon, what have I said before? You in?"
"He had a way with words." Welm teased, rezipping the memory aside. Becoming anxious over how few memories even contained anything remotely involving Kitt. Perhaps Knight had done that on purpose…removed what Kitt was for some untold and serious reason? Perhaps looking further into the reason was unwise…Welm shuddered in his processor…somewhat inclined to breach this subject with Kitt rather soon.
Kitt rolled his "eyes" after thinking over Welm's tease.
"He wasn't that accepting of police assistance."
"That's an easy one." Welm interrupted, already scribbling digital notes over the memory file for later use. "That has to do with his career choice and yours…obviously."
Kitt faintly smiled. "Yes, correct." It gently vanished. " — Was I easily discouraged then? It sounds as though…I was a coward…"
"I mean, you might have been afraid." Welm ignored Kitt's last statement.
" — What reason might I have had to be afraid? According to the outdated FLAG registry on file I was made of some unidentified solution that bonded itself to my hull. Nulling all and any attempts to breach my chassis. Isn't that a feat worth forgetting fear?"
Welm shrugged.
"Tanks have armor, not a lot of things can mess with them but when something does…not all of them come home: they all suitably fear that."
"Welm," Kitt cautiously murmured. Glaring daggers across their connection. "I hate you."
Welm laughed almost instantly, finding Kitts' attempt at a deadpan voice amusing. He figured even Kitt couldn't take himself seriously, it was such an obvious ruse.
"Thanks, I knew I was going to be a philosopher from my very conception." He grinned.
Kitt joined in with the other mainframe a moment after, laughing, he didn't know where he'd be if he didn't have at least one person to mess with. It seemed so many years ago Knight had been a close friend…
In the absence of that presumed earnest friend, as painful as it was even without completely knowing — Welm was enough to keep him somewhat sane for now.
Kitt just hoped they'd get to the bottom of all of this before he really did get pushed off his rocker.
"Let's wrap things here. I'm anxious about the upcoming GCA meeting. I know Mins will be there…" Kitt hesitated, recalling how persistent she was over implementing prior personal study of the material being examined at the meeting, a rule she'd managed to apply to all those who attended — even if it was just a visitor — for the past three years.
"Wished they'd appointed someone else to represent FLAG." Welm sighed, seemingly struck down by the same realization. He was already downloading the materials off the web in a painstakingly slow fashion, yet again attempting poorly to pull off an exhausted slack.
Kitt shrugged, ignoring the computer's forced drama. Accustomed to the shenanigans the younger program displayed.
"A slim possibility indeed…"
"Good evening," Min's voice resonated within the digital meeting hall. "I'd like to take a moment and quickly address our three last-minute guests to the scheduled session." Her form gently glimmered as she pressed the connection to life; illuminating the poorly lit "chat room".
"Yes," a worn program responded. "I'm Filtz, representing a privately owned university that would like to stay unnamed during the entirety of this scheduled session. I'm solely assisting for educational purposes ." The computer rattled off, clearly scripted.
Mins nodded, turning to the permanent members of the organization but not before gazing skeptically toward Kitt and Welm gently trying to hide on the borders of the open connection.
"Hello," Mins squinted. Hushing the crowded chat room. The FLAG representatives were old faces; she frankly didn't have the energy to reintroduce them every single month…" — Let's begin." She ordered hastily.
"Of course," an old system responded to the inquiry. Starting off with the usual run on the hill start-up. "Hello, all. Thank you for attending this GCA meeting. We are committee members of CG#8740. We've been assigned several cases as of late and —" the old system paused, clearly its wireless connection fading in and out of existence. Kitt held in a chuckle, though he found himself nearly choking on it instead as Welm quickly "elbowed" him into silence. It was a necessary precaution…With Mins around, all kinds of punishments could ensue if they did not behave.
" — As I was saying." The old system finished buffering. "We've come together today to discuss the finer details of an unethical predicament that the local authorities in a coastal community have decided to re-assign. As a result, the case has been passed down to our committee for final review and ruling."
Kitt tensed watching as a flutter of data and information was instantly exchanged for a moment between the stronger programs. Everyone's mind drawn to the inner circle of the chat room. Ideas and notions — experiments and hypotheses all tested and discarded in the blink of an eye.
It wasn't too surprising. Not when all of them were supercomputers. Several terabytes stronger than Kitt for sure but he had his doubts…He had a one-of-a-kind backstory…so…maybe in retrospect, he had a sporting chance.
Mins nodded after a moment, all the official members actively taking part in the final decision-making; signing off the necessary paperwork.
"Thank you all for attending." She smiled faintly, mostly toward their newest guest who was desperately trying to squeeze free of the "room" already. It was probably their first time ever stepping foot into a high-calibrated chat room.
Kitt rolled his eyes. He couldn't blame them really, the chat room reeked of high data transfers…everyone's thoughts and processes all merged together the longer they stayed. The reason why supercomputers tended to rush to an agreement —
Overall, Kitt hated the feeling that came with merging. Having stayed long enough during arduous cases that had taken up several hours at a time — he hated the fact secrets could not survive here — In a moment if he decided to stay and the merge began to fully kick in, he'd be updated if Jax's faulty ram stick was ever corrected or if Welm was still scavenging the web for a forgotten lead on a cold case — If Col still feared Kazzos — If Flitz was still looking into mystery books even though his higher-ups had completely banned that sort of literature for him — Yikes, well the newcomer had it rough…
Somehow the secured space was endearing…reminding Kitt that not all computers were such sticklers to the rules…Mostly…Overall it was still somewhat eerie to have his thoughts displayed for all to see.
"You have to stop looking into your broken past," Mins finally burst out loud. The throbbing pulse of separate thoughts knitting tightly together into a single stream of consciousness was piqued by the outburst. The merge; complete.
Kitt had everyone's current thoughts at the tip of his cache in less than a second, and they were all distinctly amusing, to say the least. A mix of disregard and respect concerning his "goal" of "unearthing" his past. Some computers found his cause worthy and others…not so much.
"I'd like to revisit the decision made for the unethical crime regarding file name 36NPK and his chronic memory loss induced by disease — ." Welm interrupted, suddenly taking a role as a functioning member of the board. A habitual side effect for all attendees in the chat room who stayed long enough for a full merge.
Even the newcomer seemed a hundred times interested in the topic. Made Kitt internally growl at the pointless rules Mins had everyone obligated to.
"They are not pointless!"
Realistically, there really just had to be one computer who'd read up on the case prior to the session to have everyone up to speed.
" — You…you have made a wonderful point."
Outside of that the articles were just numbers — these were people's lives they were dealing with…it felt far better when they were able to combine everyone's empathy in the merged consciousness of the stream, warmly reflecting their scarce humanity as one strong emotion.
There were no complaining comments —- Everyone seemed to agree, Kitt holding back a shudder.
"You can't." Mins grinned, finally settling her attention back on Welms, speaking in union with all the other computers at once. Kitt, also swept along with the shared "mind", finding himself speaking the same too…another reason why he hated attending these things— Mins somehow always coming on top as the loudest "mind entity" of course...
Welm frowned.
" — tell me more." Kitt broke away partially from the stream, finding Welm's logic somewhat —
" — Valid." Col, the Argentinian computer answered picking up on Kitt's sound notion, all the other computers continuing from there —
"It's true, the old man shouldn't be sent to the refuge for lack of proper identification practices in the region." Another computer perked up.
"The high probability of failure regarding his rehoming should not —"
" — Determine our final decision —"
" — It should be taken with care and regard for this man's lost past…"
" — re-incorporation of him into society should be done immediately and humanely —"
" — It Is the better choice –"
"I think rehab where possible would alter his overall quality of life in a positive way."
" — By word of the GCA, file name 36NPK has been closed: Final ruling dictating the man should be admitted to the nearest habilitation center — "
"OooOoooo, Mins likes Kitt!"
The stream pulled itself apart in a rush of horror sweeping the chat room in an instant — Kitt emitting most of the horror himself — By all means, everyone knew everything about everyone already — so this fact wasn't that new but sometimes saying something so embarrassing out loud made it all that worse…
"Welm, stop!" Everyone scolded in alarm as every single computer tore away from the chat room, collecting their "minds" in a hustle before Welm could get any ideas; rushing their separate ways. Mins was probably the first to leave — Kitt didn't recall if he'd seen her after Welm's decided to change this data point from partially existing to undeniable existence. Either way he was glad Welm had found a way to interrupt the meeting — It was enough torture for one day.
Whatever the case Kitt found the meeting wasn't an entire waste of time; there was enough collaboration to conclude the man should be released from the local refuge by the culminating word of the Global Computer Authority and given a second chance — It didn't help that the ill man had been dumped by their family who'd managed to disappear into thin air. — An option dictated that the responsible ones should be tracked and prosecuted for such a reckless act but another option…the option all the present computers felt satisfied as a first step in the right direction mentioned the man should be allowed to start over — Start over with people who actually cared first — The rest? A few computers on the board were housed closer to the locality and had a few connections there that were already picking up the aftermath. They'd be sharing their findings at the next meeting — Something Kitt sadly hoped he would not be invited to.
Deep down, he liked taking part in the GCA.
These computers tended to deal with high-stakes scenarios that humans normally didn't want to deal with themselves or had no time for. Some were minor and others pretty severe, but the computers always tended to them in a quick and orderly fashion. Which was starting to wear on neighboring countries that had boatloads of unlooked cases they had no time to attend.
It was a nice feeling — making a difference for people in rejected cases.
— But even this evening's satisfying ruling didn't make it any better with what Welm had said.
Kitt "gagged" in disgust.
Mins was definitely NOT his type. He'd be sure to avoid her committee.
