Knight Rider 2008 Alternate Storyline – Episode 11 – Turnabout
Chapter 2
F.L.A.G Underground Facility
“You can't stay here.” David said firmly.
Alex sat in the chair behind Charles' desk. He looked up at his father calmly. “Then, where am I going to stay?” He asked.
David paused for a second. “There has to be some place. A friend's house, somewhere.”
“Jaime is away with his parents. Some kind of nature retreat.” Alex answered. He frowned disapprovingly.
“It's too dangerous for you to stay here.” David said, feeling rattled. Too much was happening all at once that was beyond his control. He didn't like things that were beyond his control.
“David...” Charles interrupted. “The boy will be perfectly safe here.”
“We can't take any chances. In case you haven't been paying attention, we have been under attack quite a bit recently.” He turned back to Alex. “When is your mother supposed to be back? She's not answering her phone.” He frowned. That had probably been intentional on Karen's part.
“She said she would be back in three days.” Alex said. “She also told me to remind you that I'm allergic to strawberries, and not to let me stay up past ten.”
“Does she think I'm an idiot?” David muttered to himself. He looked at Alex warningly. “Don't answer that.” He hated being backed into a corner like this. He headed to the door. “Let's go.”
“Where?” Alex asked, looking a little wary as he got out of Charles' chair and followed his father.
“I have to find someplace where you won't cause any trouble for the next few days.” David said. He opened the door and stepped out onto the metal walkway.
“I get to stay?” Alex's expression brightened. “Will I get to meet KITT?” He asked hopefully.
“No.” Charles and David said at the same time. Alex's face fell.
********
“Charles, do you want to push the button?” Pierce asked him. Kat sat on K.I.T.T's hood, watching the two men by Pierce's desk.
Charles thought for a moment. “No, I think not. I was the one who activated KITT for the first time. You do the honors.” He smiled.
“Why thank you.” Pierce said. He reached over to his keyboard and hit the enter key.
The big screen flared to life, Kat turned her head and looked up at it, craning her neck. At first the screen was black, but then smaller screens began popping up, information scrolling up quickly on each one. “What is it?” Kat asked.
“Katherine, meet the Crawler.” Pierce said, gesturing at the big screen. “The second most advanced AI in the world.” He smiled at K.I.T.T. “This one doesn't have much of a personality, though. It only has one function, and all of it's resources are devoted to it.”
“What is it's function?” Kat asked.
“Information.” Pierce said, leaning back in his chair and steepling his fingers. “The seeking, analyzing, and recording of information. It's designed to scour the Internet, to 'crawl' through news websites, blogs, forums, you name it. No passwords can stop it. If it's out there, then the Crawler will find it.”
Charles walked over to Kat. “It searches for a series of keywords all over the Internet. When it finds a large concentration of the words it seeks, then it analyzes the context of how those words are used. That is where the AI aspect comes in. The Crawler can comprehend what it reads.”
Kat felt a little stunned. This thing was powerful. The Internet contained near limitless information, information that would be disastrous in the wrong hands. “What do you have it search for?” She asked.
“Missions.” Charles smiled broadly. His blue eyes twinkled. “In this day and age, everyone records everything. If someone out there needs KITT's help, then we'll find them.”
“For now, I've just set it loose inside of ROOC's Mainframe.” Pierce's smile was mischievous. “We'll find out what they know about KARR soon enough, I should think.”
“Excellent work, Gentlemen.” Kat complimented them. Charles looked flattered, Pierce looked smug. “So, how long will it take?”
Pierce sat up straight in his chair. “Looks like we've got something already.” He said. He put his hands to his keyboard.
Kat looked back up at the screen. It was filled with documents.
Pierce typed at his keys. “Looks like we have the Police and Fire Department reports from the factory.” He said. He pulled them up into greater prominence.
“There's Forensics.” Kat said as another file was found. She frowned at it. “How could they think the explosion was caused by a gas leak? There must have been traces of the explosives used. KARR had them all over the place.”
Pierce pulled out his cell phone. He flipped it open and dialed a number. “Let's get Diana down here, she can give us her expert opinion.
********
Diana felt her lab coat pocket buzz. She looked up from her microscope and retrieved her cell phone. She had received a text message from Pierce: 'Please come down to the Main Lab. We require your expertise.'
She sighed heavily. She hated leaving her work. Still, this promised to be interesting. Outside of Sam's 'death', she hadn't gotten anything to really sink her teeth into since she had left the Las Vegas Police Department.
She exited her lab, making sure it was locked tightly behind her. The rest of the Team didn't know about Sam yet, and she wasn't about to let something slip out. David had been very firm about that, and she would do anything for David.
She hurried down the metal staircase. Pierce was waiting for her. 'Yes?' She signed to him.
Pierce looked a little guilty, he gestured over to K.I.T.T. Diana frowned. It looked like K.I.T.T was translator again. Pierce had promised her he would learn how to sign.
'Greetings, Diana.' K.I.T.T flashed the sign language hand signals to her from his windshield.
Diana smiled at him. 'I see that someone around here is making an effort.' She signed back.
'I try.' K.I.T.T signed modestly. 'If I use the signs, perhaps the others will learn them as well.'
Pierce frowned at K.I.T.T. Apparently he was speaking aloud while he signed to her. Diana gave a breathy laugh. She had no voice, just like she had no hearing, so it was only a whisper of sound to anyone else.
'What do you need from me?' Diana signed.
'We need you to examine the Forensics report the Police made for the factory I was found at.' K.I.T.T replied.
Diana looked up at the big screen. Her eyes ran quickly over the report. 'Well, this is all wrong.' She murmured silently to herself. She turned back to K.I.T.T. 'Either this report was written by a complete moron,' She signed to him. 'or it was forged.'
There was movement all around as everyone nodded to themselves. Diana guessed that K.I.T.T was speaking for her as well.
'What can we do?' K.I.T.T asked her.
'You'll have to go to the site, analyze it yourself.' She said. 'See if the pieces of your body are there, and see if KARR left behind any evidence. But you can't do it alone.'
'I'll have Kat with me.' K.I.T.T said.
Diana shook her head. She couldn't let K.I.T.T and Katherine go alone to that site. There might be evidence of Sam there. Katherine couldn't find out about him. She decided quickly. 'You will be very apt at discovering how much of your body is intact, but you'll need help unearthing any other evidence. You'll have to take me with you.'
There was a sudden commotion about the Main Lab, Pierce was shaking his head. 'It's too dangerous.' K.I.T.T signed to her.
Diana felt something like a cold shadow pass over her. She looked up at the metal walkway. David looked down at the group. His dark eyes settled on her. She turned to him fully, looking up at him.
David nodded slightly. 'Go.' His mouth formed the word.
Diana nodded back at him. She turned back to K.I.T.T. 'I'll need to prepare a kit to take with me.'
'Kat and I will also make preparations, to ensure your safety.' K.I.T.T signed back.
'Thank you.' Diana replied. She hurried back up the staircase.
As she passed David, he reached back. His hand clasped hers briefly, unseen by anyone below them. It wasn't a reassuring gesture. It was a warning. Diana swallowed and hurried back to her lab.
********
Carmen was currently in Building B, still working on K.I.T.T's new engine, so it fell on Kat to restock the glove compartment. She sat in K.I.T.T's passenger seat. The door was open and two large trunks sat on K.I.T.T's circle next to her.
Kat rifled through one of the trunks. “This will come in handy.” She said, holding up a Phoenix P.D badge. She tossed it into the glove compartment. She also found spare contact lenses. She tossed those in as well.
She was busy rummaging when K.I.T.T spoke. “Greetings.”
“KITT, who are you-” Kat looked up and paused. “Hello.” She said to David's son.
Alex stood on the metal staircase, on the second to last step. He lifted his foot to take a step down.
“I'm pretty sure your Dad doesn't want you down here.” Kat told him warningly.
“I'll stay right here, then.” Alex said.
“How did you get away from him?” Kat asked as she went back to her rummaging. As long as the boy stayed where he was, Kat didn't have a problem with him. She did have to admit that she was also curious about him.
“He told me to stay with Angela. I convinced her to let me go for a few minutes.” Alex answered. He sat down on the steps.
“How did you manage that?” Kat asked absently.
“I have my charms.” The boy said.
Kat looked over at him, arching a brow. He looked back at her solemnly. Kat held up a small package. “Gum?”
“Sure.”
She tossed the pack of gum to him. He caught it in both hands and undid the wrapper. “What's your name?” He asked her.
“Katherine. Your name is Alex, isn't it?” Kat asked.
“That's right.”
“How old are you?” Kat asked as she pulled out her 9mm. She tossed that and a couple of clips of wax bullets into the glove compartment.
“I'll be eleven in October.” Alex answered.
“You look so solemn for a young boy.” Kat said. “Don't you ever smile?”
Alex shook his head. He was chewing on a piece of gum.
"Why not?” Kat asked.
Alex shrugged. “Habit.”
Kat's red eyebrows pushed together. “You make a habit of not smiling? Are you trying to emulate your father?”
Alex shook his head. “No. The opposite actually.”
“Okay, I'm lost.” Kat said.
Alex's dark eyes glittered in an all too familiar way. “It's not that complicated.” He said.
“Oh, but you won't explain it to me.” Kat said knowingly.
“Sorry.” Alex said, not looking the least bit apologetic. “That's KITT?” He asked.
Kat nodded. She placed a hand on the dash. “Alex, meet my partner, KITT.”
“Greetings again, Alex.” K.I.T.T replied.
“Pleased to meet you.” Alex said. “What kind of cool stuff can you do?”
“Tons.” K.I.T.T said smugly. “What's your definition of cool?”
Alex thought for a moment. “Do you have a laser?”
“Doesn't every Supercar?” K.I.T.T asked.
“Do you fry bad guys with it?”
“Of course not, that's what I have my machine guns for.” Kat rolled her eyes. K.I.T.T had omitted that his light machine guns were non-lethal.
Alex's eyebrows raised, he was impressed. “How fast can you go?” He asked.
Kat could see the boy was getting excited, the first real display of emotion she had seen. She smiled. “Boys are all the same, deep down.” She murmured to herself.
Alex and K.I.T.T talked for a few more minutes. Kat was surprised by how intelligent Alex was. The questions he was asking K.I.T.T were getting more and more complex. “Do you run on a standard OS? Or a custom one?” Alex asked.
“Custom of course. Do you think I would have something off the market?”
“No, of course not.” Alex mused. He checked his watch. “I should go, Dad will check on me soon.” He stood up and brushed off the back of his jeans. He looked over at Kat. “Katherine?”
Kat looked up from her work. “Yes?”
“I'll see you again.” Alex said with certainty.
“Is that so?” Kat asked. He nodded. Kat smiled at him. “Don't get in trouble.”
Alex rolled his eyes. “That's not likely.” He said. He turned and headed up the stairs. He checked his watch as he walked into Angela's Studio.
Not two seconds after Alex was gone, David's office door opened. He walked over to Angela's Studio. He opened the door and spoke to Angela for a few seconds. Then he walked back to his office.
Kat shook her head as she went back to work. She stifled a laugh.
