Knight Rider 2008 Alternate Storyline – Episode 11 – Knight's Valentine
February 2009
F.L.A.G Underground Facility
Kat walked purposefully into the Main Lab. She leaned over the metal railing. “Okay, can someone explain this to me?” She demanded, holding up a piece of paper. “I just printed this off of the database site.”
Every male eye below her looked away. Kat's eyes narrowed. She looked over at Ian. “Ian? This looks like something you would think up.”
Ian looked up at her and shook his head quickly. “It wasn't me, Katherine. I don't have access to the Webmaster's tools on the site.” He looked over at Pierce. “Pierce is the Admin, though.”
Pierce narrowed his eyes at Ian. Ian hurriedly went back to work. “Pierce?” Kat asked, looking at him.
He turned to look up at her. “It wasn't me, Katherine.” He said, his expression honest.
Kat gave him a suspicious look. “I will find out who put this up.” She warned.
David's office door opened behind her. “Why are you yelling at my employees, Katherine?” He asked her calmly. “That's my privilege.”
Kat turned and headed for the stairs. “No reason.” She said quickly.
As she passed him he held his hand out, taking the paper from her. Kat turned back around, reaching out for the paper.
David frowned as he read the paper. “What is this?” He asked.
“It's nothing.” Kat insisted, still holding her hand out for the paper. “Just some stupid thing I found on the database site.”
David looked at her sharply. “This was on the site?” He turned and walked over to Charles' office. He rapped one knuckle on the glass door.
Charles looked up from his work. He stood up and opened the door. Before he had a chance to speak, David held up the paper. “Is this your idea?” He asked.
Charles scrutinized the paper. He shook his head. “No, what is it?”
“Apparently someone posted a poll on the database site asking who should be Katherine's Valentine.” David said, disapproval heavy in his dark eyes.
“The site is for employee use.” Charles told him. “They can decide what gets put up there.”
“At the expense of another employee?” David asked. “So much so that she is screaming down at the Main Lab during work hours?” Kat frowned. She hadn't been screaming.
Charles looked over at Kat. “You didn't approve of this before it was put up?” He asked.
Kat folded her arms across her chest. “Definitely not.”
Charles frowned. “I'll log in now and take it down, then. I do have Administrator access.”
“Don't bother.” Kat said. “I'm interested in seeing who wins.” Her tone was icy. She glanced down at the Main Lab. Everyone was carefully avoiding her gaze.
Charles looked slightly alarmed at her tone. “All right...” He looked over the paper again and frowned. “It appears that I'm on here.”
“At least you're human. Why is Three Thousand on here?” David asked.
Kat bristled defensively. “Better him than you.” She retorted.
David gave her a piercing look. “Well, we'll see how it turns out.” He took the paper from Charles and went back into his office.
Down below in the Main Lab, Ian sent a message to Pierce. One of Pierce's monitors beeped. He looked at the message:
Ian: Dude, you're going to get us all in trouble.
Pierce sighed and sent a message back:
Pierce: I didn't put that poll up.
Ian responded right away:
Ian: Riiiight.
Over on his circle K.I.T.T spoke suddenly. “Download complete.” He announced.
“That's everything from the backup server.” Pierce told him. “How are you feeling?”
“Like myself again.” K.I.T.T replied.
Kat headed down the metal staircase. She shoved her irritation aside, for now. “I can't believe it's taken three weeks to transfer all that stuff back onto KITT.”
Pierce sighed. “It's not an easy process.” He said. “We had to check the CPU Core's integrity first of all. In case KARR left us any nasty surprises. And, you would be surprised at how much KITT's learned over his short lifetime. In several cases, he's had to relearn things. And that takes time.”
“Relearning all of my known languages took the most time.” K.I.T.T remarked.
“Couldn't you just have Pierce program you to translate any language?” Kat asked.
“I could do it.” Pierce said. “But translating a language isn't the same as learning to speak it. KITT's way of learning is slower, but better in the end. He'll be able to properly express himself in any of his known languages.”
“How's the Crawler Project coming along?” Kat asked.
Pierce smiled. “It's nearly done.”
“You're not going to tell me what it is until the big reveal, are you?”
Pierce's smile turned smug. “Nope.” He changed the subject. “How's the new engine coming along?”
Kat shook her head. “Still not done yet.” She said. “Building B has a prototype Carmen was working on, but she says it's 'unstable'.” She looked slightly alarmed. “It'll be a bit more time.” She turned to K.I.T.T. “At least you're finally getting some use out of that fuel tank of yours.”
“Having a top speed of 250mph is disappointing though.” K.I.T.T said.
Kat rubbed the spot on his hood that was right over the scan bar. “Don't worry, you'll be breaking sound barriers again in no time.” She soothed. “How about we go for a drive?”
“You're just trying to placate me.” K.I.T.T said accusingly. He opened his Driver's door. “Let's go.”
Kat smiled as she slid into the Driver's seat.
********
They sped down the desert road. There wasn't a cloud in sight. The sky was a crisp, clear blue that stretched all the way to the horizon. There were no buildings or landmarks to interrupt it. It was like driving under a huge blue, crystal bowl.
“It's good to be out again.” Kat sighed. “I can't stand living underground.”
“It doesn't bother me.” K.I.T.T offered.
“That's because you can X-Ray to the surface.”
“True.”
There was music playing in the background. As the conversation lagged, the track changed. Kat's eyebrows raised as she listened to the new song. “KITT, how are you feeling?” She asked.
“What do you mean?” K.I.T.T asked.
“Well, you're always dressed in black, and now you're listening to 'My Chemical Romance'. Is there something that you want to tell me?” Kat glanced at the voice modulator housed in the stereo. “Has the world become a cold, dark place? Do you feel like sitting in a corner and writing bad poetry? Maybe get a MySpace account?”
“I'm not turning 'goth', Kat. I'm just playing a song.” K.I.T.T sounded irritable.
Kat gave the stereo a sympathetic look. “Does someone need a hug?”
“Kat...” K.I.T.T began patiently.
But Kat's attention was taken away from him. “What's this?” She asked, looking ahead.
“It appears that someone has broken down by the side of the road.” K.I.T.T supplied.
Kat gave the modulator a dry look. “No, really?” She pulled up next to the car. “Let's see if they need help.” She said as she stepped out into the desert heat.
The broken down car was a white Ford GT. The driver had the hood up and was working on the innards. “Do you need help?” Kat called out as she walked over. “I have some water if you've overheated.”
"No, it's not the radiator.” A male voice answered. He slammed the hood down in frustration. “I don't know what's wrong with it. It just died on me.” He scowled at the car for a moment, then turned to Kat.
He gave her an appraising look. Then he looked past her over at K.I.T.T. “Nice car.” He said, looking obviously impressed.
“Thanks. You too.” Kat said. “Though you don't usually see this color out here.” She said. “With all the dirt kicked up off of these dry desert roads.”
The man gave her a straight look, placing both hands on the hood of his car and leaning forward. “You could say the same for black.”
“Touche.”
“Hey, you wouldn't happen to have a cell phone on you?” The man asked. “I'll need to call a tow truck.”
“I can do you one better and tow you myself.” Kat offered. “You'll bake out in this heat with no air conditioning.” The noon sun beat down fiercely as if to emphasize her point. It was easily ninety degrees out.
The man gave her a look of disbelief. “You're gonna tow me?” He looked over at K.I.T.T.
“Sure, I've got a winch.” Kat said. “It'll be no problem for my car.”
The man looked interested again. “Oh? Is it modified?”
“Something like that.” Kat grinned.
“Oh, by the way. I'm Scott.” He held out his hand. “Thanks for helping me out.”
Kat shook his hand briefly. “I'm Katherine, and it's no trouble.”
“There's a bar a few miles down, I can phone someone from there.” He said as Kat walked over to K.I.T.T. She slid into the Driver's seat and pulled K.I.T.T up in front of the GT. Then she got out again. She walked over to K.I.T.T's rear bumper. She reached underneath and grabbed the hook attached to the winch.
“Take you parking brake off.” Kat told Scott as she secured the front bumper of the GT.
Soon, they were on their way. They went slowly down the road, so as not to damage the GT. “It's a good thing we went out today.” Kat told K.I.T.T. Scott was in his own car. “We get to do a good deed.”
“Once the Crawler is set loose, we'll be doing more of these.” K.I.T.T said.
“You know what the Crawler is?” Kat asked him.
“Of course, I've spoken to it. Pierce and Charles are putting it through extensive testing.”
Kat's eyebrows shot up. “How can you speak to it?” She asked.
“The Crawler is an AI, though not nearly as advanced as mine.” K.I.T.T explained. “Pierce has asked me not to give you any details, but I don't have to listen to him if you don't want me to.”
Kat shook her head. “No, it's fine. I wouldn't want to ruin his surprise.”
They soon reached the bar. It stood by itself a little ways off the road. It didn't look like anything special, but there were many exotic and fast looking cars parked in front of it. “This looks like a big racing spot.” Kat said as she braked.
“It would definitely appear that way.” K.I.T.T said. Screens popped up on his windshield as he scanned the parked cars. “Some of these vehicles are heavily modified.”
“Don't worry, they've got nothing on you.” Kat said as she exited K.I.T.T and unhooked the winch.
“Thank you so much.” Scott told her, visibly relieved. “Let me buy you a drink. It's not much, but I want to show my thanks.”
Kat thought it over for a second. “Okay, but just one drink.” She slid back into the Driver's seat long enough to park K.I.T.T in the last available parking spot in front of the bar.
As she stepped out of K.I.T.T, Scott walked over. “You're parking here?” He asked, looking a little nervous.
“Yeah, something wrong?” Kat asked as she closed K.I.T.T's door.
Scott shook his head a little too quickly. “No, it's fine.” He said. Kat frowned at him, then turned and walked into the bar. “I hope.” Scott said under his breath as he followed her.
