Knight Rider 2008 Alternate Storyline – Episode 4 – The Knight Before Christmas – Part 2
Chapter 2
F.L.A.G. Underground Compound
Ian was working at Pierce's computer. Pierce had phoned him from his quarters and told him what to do. In fact, he was still on the phone now. “Okay, finished.” Ian told Pierce.
“Quiet.” Pierce shushed him. “Don't let anyone know you're talking to me. I'm not allowed to be working.”
Ian suppressed a sigh. “Technically, I'm the one that's working.” He reminded.
“Hardly.” Pierce scoffed. “You would be lost without me.”
Ian had to give him that, even if it irritated him a little. Pierce's computer ran on it's own Operating System. One that Pierce had designed himself. It was the same OS he used for K.I.T.T. Charles had designed the A.I, but K.I.T.T ran on Pierce's OS, which was designed to work with Pierce's computer effortlessly.
All this meant that Pierce's computer was completely foreign to him in everything that it did, and how it did it. Ian was quick to learn how to use it, but after only a week, some things were still beyond him.
“What's next?” Ian asked.
“Pull up the nano-sensory program. I've been meaning to strip it down.” Pierce told him.
The phone was pulled out of Ian's hand. He looked up as David put his ear to the cellphone. “Stop working.” He said into it, and hung up.
Ian held his hand out for the cellphone, but David pocketed it. Ian gave him a fearful look. “You're not mad at me, are you?”
David looked down at him, as if he just noticed him. “No.” He said. “You were following orders, which isn't a bad trait.” Ian breathed a sigh of relief. David gave him all kinds of the willies. “Back to work.”
Ian looked at the monitor in front of him. He sighed and touched the icon for the program's menu. Pierce had wanted to strip down the Nano-Sensory program. Ian knew that it was probably beyond him, but he would take a look at it.
He brought up the program, taking a look. “Yikes.” He said aloud, his eyebrows raising. “This thing does need to shed a few gigs.”
The whole program was so bloated. It plotted out things like pain, heat and cold sensory, varying degrees of pressure. And all of it was needless.
From what Ian had learned of K.I.T.T's programming, K.I.T.T didn't need all of this. This program was designed to tell K.I.T.T just how everything should feel, when it didn't need to. K.I.T.T's AI could interpret those things on it's own. Not right away of course. But it had the capacity to learn what hurts him and what doesn't.
Ian fell into his work, his fingers blurring over the keys. He didn't bother trimming the old program, he just started up a new one using the basic code from the old one. That was all K.I.T.T needed, just the ability to know when something was touching the nano-skin. He could work out the rest on his own.
It did have the potential to be useful. If K.I.T.T was shut down and something placed on his exterior, when he rebooted, he would know what and where it was. It would be useful as well if someone managed to get around his optical and audio sensors. He could even use it to understand varying terrains better.
It had more potential than what was realized now. Ian was sure of it. He would show this to Pierce, if he was ever allowed to come back from vacation.
Suddenly a red light flashed overhead. All of the technicians stopped their work. Information ran over Pierce's screen. Rei ran over. “What is it?” She asked urgently.
Ian studied the screen. “Uh... something just entered the tunnel.” He said.
“Bring up the cameras.” Rei told him.
“I don't know how.” Ian told her helplessly.
She turned to her brother. “Kai.”
The big screen flared to life, showing many different sections of the ten mile long tunnel that lead to the main lab. A black blur roared past each of them one by one.
“Is that KITT?” Carmen asked, looking up at the screen.
“Whatever it is, it's not responding to communications.” Kai said.
“Maybe something has happened to his comlink.” Rei suggested.
“Do we let it in?” Ian asked. “It's almost at the lift.”
Kai rewound the footage on one of the cameras. He paused it just as the black shape came into view. The High Definition feed froze perfectly. “It's him. Let him in.”
“Why is he coming in at max speed?” Rei asked, worry furrowing her porcelain brow.
“Something must have happened to Kat.” Carmen said. She turned to two of her mechanics. “Get Dustin.”
The circle in the middle of the lab lowered into the floor. When it came up again, K.I.T.T was resting on it. Steam was coming off of his tires. “Have Dustin bring a stretcher.” He said at once. “Kat is unconscious.”
People rushed forward at once. Carmen reached the passenger's door first. She pulled it open and caught Kat as she fell out. She lifted the taller woman up into her arms easily and jogged over to Dustin, who had two attendants pushing the stretcher.
Ian's eyes were glued to Kat. Her face was chalky pale, dried blood ran down her leg from a nasty wound in her thigh. Carmen laid her on the stretcher, but she didn't move. She didn't open her eyes.
Then she was gone, rushed to the Medical Lab. Carmen, Kai and Rei followed. Everyone else went back to work, but shot worried glances at the Med room.
Ian looked over at K.I.T.T. He had left the passenger's door open. The red light on his hood flowed back and forth pensively.
Ian walked over to the car. “Are you okay?” He asked.
“Who are you?” K.I.T.T asked at once, curious.
“My name's Ian. I work for Pierce. I started last week.” Ian said.
“Nice to meet you, Ian.” K.I.T.T said with distant politeness.
Ian frowned. “Are you okay?” He asked again.
“A few of my systems were damaged by an electrical pulse. I was unable to contact FLAG before hitting the tunnel.”
Ian's frown deepened. He looked down the length of the car. He could see where two electrodes had been attached to K.I.T.T, their severed wires dangling. “I didn't mean that.” Ian said. He quickly corrected himself. “Of course it's important. But, you're Driver was just carried away in a stretcher. How are you holding up?” Ian knew a only a little bit about K.I.T.T's AI. But he did know that if you hurt the driver, you hurt the AI.
“I am holding up perfectly fine.” K.I.T.T answered.
Ian placed his hand on the top of the car. “You're sure?”
“I'm a little worried.” K.I.T.T said reluctantly.
“Katherine will be all right.” Ian assured him swiftly.
“I know that.” K.I.T.T replied. He was starting to sound irritated.
Ian gave up and checked for damage. Enrique and another mechanic came over and did the same. They pried off the electrodes, which were covered with a sticky substance. Ian guess it was probably also highly conductive. They placed the electrodes carefully in a container and put it aside.
Ian checked out the interior. The sight of the blood staining the seats made his head swim. He decided to leave things alone for now. “What systems or functions are giving you errors?” He asked K.I.T.T once he was a safe distance from the car door.
“GPS, Communications, Air Conditioning, EMPulse, and I can't access the rear window, or the rear lights.”
Ian's brows pushed together. He went back over to Pierce's desk. “How's your CPU Core?” He asked.
“No errors, but I had to reboot.”
“Any information lost?” Ian asked.
“I wouldn't know.” K.I.T.T replied.
“Right.” Ian said. He tapped at the keyboard. “Charles will have to look at your CPU Core, but I can fix the other errors. We'll reinstall your GPS and Communications programs and I will take a look at the rest.” He would have to get inside of the car, not a prospect he was looking forward to right now. He had dreamed of sitting inside of K.I.T.T for the last week, but not with the seats bloodstained.
“I'll wait for Charles.” K.I.T.T said.
“No worries. I can do at least this much.” Ian assured him.
“I'll still wait.” K.I.T.T said.
Ian looked over at the car. There was definitely something there, something in it's synthesized voice. “You don't trust me.” Ian guessed.
“We did just meet right now.” K.I.T.T replied.
“I work for Pierce.” Ian reminded him, walking over again. “Charles too.”
“They aren't here to say otherwise.” K.I.T.T replied.
“Call them.” Ian suggested. “You can patch into Pierce's computer and reinstall your communications and phone yourself. Give him a call.”
“I've already done all of that. Pierce's cell phone has been disconnected.”
Ian grimaced. “Yeah, that would be David's work. He caught Pierce cheating before.” He held his arms out. “So, what can I do to show I am trustworthy?”
K.I.T.T hesitated. “I'm not sure.”
Ian placed his hand on K.I.T.T's hood. “Scan me.” He said.
K.I.T.T scanned Ian's hand. Information began to pop up on the windshield. “This is you, correct?” K.I.T.T asked.
Ian nodded, looking at the information. “My whole life on paper.”
“You finished college at 19?”
Ian nodded. “It was boring, but it was something to do after I graduated from High School. I was 15 then.” There was a hint of pride in his voice. “Pierce found me a few weeks ago. I didn't even bother completing my term.” He removed his hand from the hood. “It's not enough, is it?”
“My apologies, but no.” K.I.T.T said. “Someone has been using my weaknesses to try to hurt Kat. Someone who knows what they are.”
Ian glanced back at the Med room. He nodded. “She's definitely something all right. I would be protective too.”
“Please.” K.I.T.T said derisively. “You're thinking with your hormones. Something that I, mercifully, lack.”
Ian smiled. “Hormones are fun.” He said. “Maybe I'll make an emulator program for you one day.”
“The very thought horrifies me. It would be nothing but a chaos generator.”
Ian laughed. “Pretty much.”
Charles hurried down the stairs then. “I'm sorry I took so long, I was in the lab in Building B.” He said to K.I.T.T.
Ian knew Building B. It housed the Research and Development Lab, where he had spent the last week.
“Is Katherine all right?” He asked anxiously, looking back and forth between Ian and K.I.T.T.
“They're still looking at her.” Ian told him.
Charles nodded. “And KITT? How are you?”
K.I.T.T ran down his list of errors, and what had caused them. “I've reinstalled my GPS and Communications programs and they are functioning properly.”
“Ian, fetch me a kit.” Charles said as he took off his jacket. “K.I.T.T, revert back from Pursuit Mode.” He unbuttoned his cuffs and rolled up his sleeves to the elbows. Ian went over to Pierce's desk and grabbed a slim black case. He handed it to Charles.
Charles took the case and headed around to K.I.T.T's rear as the car changed back to it's normal shape. Ian watched in amazement. He knew the science behind it was sound, but it was something different to watch it happen.
When K.I.T.T was done, Charles popped open the trunk. He opened the black case Ian had handed him and pulled out a screwdriver. He unscrewed the panel at the bottom of the trunk and pulled it out.
Ian whistled. The amount of circuitry under the panel was mind boggling. “What can I do?” He asked. He felt excitement welling up inside of him.
“Go into the backseat, check the panel on the left. Right on the other side of where that electrical pulse hit him. There's probably shorts all over the place.” Charles said as he began to work.
Ian went and got another kit, then headed back to the car. “You don't mind, do you?” He asked K.I.T.T.
“I guess I have no choice.” K.I.T.T replied.
Ian grinned. He patted the car's top and hurried into the backseat. He tried to ignore the bloodstained seat altogether. It was easier with the prospect of work ahead of him. He was finally going to work on K.I.T.T himself. Yeah, he had only found out about K.I.T.T a week ago, but the wait had been excruciating.
He removed the side panel, shining a flashlight into the gadgetry. Charles was right, it was pretty fried. “Everything in here will have to be replaced.” Ian said. “No wonder the lights don't work.”
“You do circuitry work as well?” K.I.T.T asked. “Pierce just works with my programs.”
Ian shrugged. “I do both, I like it. Charles does both.” He pointed out.
“Charles is a genius.” K.I.T.T said, his voice showing deep respect.
Ian bristled. “So am I.” He said. “I graduated High School at 15.”
“Charles has over 30 years of experience.” K.I.T.T countered.
“I'll get there.” Ian said cheerfully. “We'll get along, you'll see.” He went back to work.
Outside of K.I.T.T, Carmen walked over to Charles. “How is he?” She asked worriedly.
“A few systems are shorted. Shouldn't be too hard to replace.” Charles told her while he worked. For a man over fifty, his long fingers were still deft and nimble. His hands didn't even tremble. “How is Katherine?”
“Still unconscious.” Carmen informed him. She pushed her hands into her pockets. “She lost a good bit of blood. Dustin is giving her a transfusion now.”
Charles looked up at her in amazement. “You don't mean...”
Carmen nodded. “Yeah, he's using Sam's blood.”
“Now that is poetic.” Charles said, returning to his work.
“OK, I'll bite.” Ian said, getting out of the backseat. “What's poetic about a transfusion?” He had a few burnt out circuit boards in his hands. “By Sam, you guys mean the guy that died?”
“Sam was KITT's old driver.” Carmen told him. “His blood type was O.”
Ian nodded. “So is mine. Dustin has already scavenged me for spare blood.” His smile was grim.
“Dustin collects O blood for emergencies.” Carmen said.
“So, the old Driver is retroactively saving the new Driver's life?” Ian guessed. “I guess that is kind of poetic.”
“That's not all of it.” Charles said. “Samuel was Katherine's older brother.”
Ian's eyebrows shot up. “Wow.” He said. Charles and Carmen nodded.
