(no subject)

[gone_byebye]

A door opens in the side of the old Hook and Ladder No. 8 building, and Ray stepped through. Holding the door open, he gestured for the others to follow him into the alley.

Comments

[steadfastknight]

"I've found found the sensor echoes of our telemetry as well. We should begin to the west and separate apart to get a clear triangulation." Or so Kitt said as he swung his door open for Ray. Already, his windows were tinting. He remembered Ray's preference, after all.

[gone_byebye]

Ray slid into Kitt's driver's seat. "Thanks," he said. "What are you picking up on? Any idea how far it is?"

The signal reaching Karr was- at best- intermittent, patchy. It had the hallmarks of a passive mode background scan. At least, it did at first.

And then it picked up on Karr. And it changed, very simply and clearly:

!!!

[prototype-karr.livejournal.com]

KARR snorted, his scanner flaring. He backed up slightly in a reflex, but stopped just as suddenly. "..I think we've surprised them."

He paused for a moment, then sent, Hello?

[iwasalevel6.livejournal.com]

Exclamation points are decidedly not good. Tony frowns, looking over to Bonnie, perplexed. Talking might not be a good idea right now.

[prototype-karr.livejournal.com]

KARR-the KARR native to Ray's universe-was attempting to keep his nerves in check. It was rather difficult at the moment, given the fact that he'd not only picked up on telemetry echoes, but also got a message back. "Michelle! I have a response."

It didn't take long for him to send back, Your telemetry echoes mine. Explain.

[steadfastknight]

Kitt was silent, but his scanner whispered regularly side to side as his engine started, waiting for Karr's word - Karr contacting Karr, after all. That made Karr their 'leader.'

He did, however, send a tracer back along the signal to get a precise position. On his screen, maps cycled.

[gone_byebye]

The driver whistled softly. "Could be good, could be bad," she murmured. "How far away are we talking about?"

She shifted uncomfortably in her seat, the hairs on the back of her neck prickling.

[iwasalevel6.livejournal.com]

Guess that meant he, KARR, and Bonnie were in the lead. Which was somewhat fine if they were attacked—although, Tony notes, he would have preferred to be on the sidelines. Ambush. Never send too many men out where they could get hurt.

…and the driver’s name was Michelle? He closes his eyes for a moment, hoping this will be a peaceful encounter. Because there’s another woman named Michelle who’d be none too pleased to get him back in two, three, four pieces.

[not-a-surgeon.livejournal.com]

Bonnie waited, Karr's door pulled closed behind her. First contact. Now came the 'fun' part. "Have we got a position yet?"

[prototype-karr.livejournal.com]

"Thirty two miles away," both KARRs went to their respective drivers.

The KARR familiar to the group started his own engine, eager to start moving-but cuatiously. No point in getting himself killed, yet. "He's in Mahwah, New Jersey."

Back with Michelle, the other KARR's scanner picked up speed. "He hasn't responded yet."

Repeat-explain yourself.

It echoes yours because I happen to be the Knight Automated Roving Robot, the Milliways KARR snapped back.

[gone_byebye]

Michelle stared at the instrumentation. "He did not just say that! Did he just say that?"

Back in Manhattan, Ray fidgeted in a fashion reminiscent of a small child with too much sugar. "Can you hear any of what's going back and forth, Kitt?" he asked.

[steadfastknight]

"I hear all of it," Kitt answered. "That they haven't noticed me yet must mean that my signals are blending with Karr's." But Kitt pinpointed their position on his map. "We should head toward their position. There is a higher probability of open road."

[gone_byebye]

Ray nodded. "Right. Let's get out of here before the Tunnel traffic gets out of hand."

[prototype-karr.livejournal.com]

"He did," Michelle's KARR said to her. "Do you think he-however he is-went...like Kitt went? I don't like the possibility, but..."

You cannot be that AI. I am the Knight Automated Roving Robot. You must be mistaken.

If I'm mistaken, then you're a damned Pinto. I am, and things will be explained soon enough.

To Michelle, the other KARR sighed. "..I don't think that sounds very good."

Meanwhile in New York, KARR had taken Kitt's advice and started moving. "Let's get this over with."

[not-a-surgeon.livejournal.com]

Bonnie let Karr drive. She trusted him, and if any male didn't need directions, it was him. "Stay calm," she murmured to him, a hand lifting to rub over his dash. "We'll deal with this a bit at a time."

A glance into the side mirror showed Kitt falling in behind them. It would be rather hard for the New Yorkers to miss two 82 Trans Ams in convoy with one another, but they went on like it was normal business.

Then Bonnie asked what might've been a fateful question. "...Are they moving toward us or waiting?"

[gone_byebye]

"No," Michelle agreed, "it really doesn't. Pretty hostile, in fact." She glanced out the window. "We need to find out what's going on, but I'd feel better with a more secure position- this is a Burger King parking lot, for cripes' sake. Somewhere a little less public." She paused. "They're on the move already, aren't they."

[prototype-karr.livejournal.com]

"They are," he said to Michelle. "And moving rather quickly. Where do you suggest we go?"

The Milliways KARR, meanwhile just growled at the rubbing and the question. "They aren't moving yet. I wouldn't be ssurprised if they started to. That's what I would do."

[gone_byebye]

"That salt repository we passed on the way here- nobody but the highway department pays attention to those during the summer months, and there's cover. And multiple exits."

[steadfastknight]

"They have yet to notice me," Kitt observed. "It may be better that way. This is Karr. Twice over. If Karr is the primary Knight vehicle here..."

He let the sentence hang. Most of the ones gathered understood what it meant.

[gone_byebye]

It took Ray a while to realize it. "Oh," he said after a bit. "Then you wouldn't... they wouldn't have you, would they." He shook his head.

"And I thought my family reunions were weird."

[iwasalevel6.livejournal.com]

Somehow, the concept that there were two KARRs in this world struck Tony as worrisome. Oh, he liked KARR. KARR was his friend. But KARR was a violent and ruthless entity, and two of them in the same place might mean nothing but destruction. Turning to Bonnie, he asks, “Got a good feeling about this?”

[prototype-karr.livejournal.com]

"Very well." With that, Michelle's KARR was on the move out of the parking lot and heading towards the salt repository.

"They're moving," the Milliways KARR announced. "And it's still possible that Kitt might exist here in a different form." Or state, such as 'dead'.

[not-a-surgeon.livejournal.com]

Bonnie exhaled as she sat there, watching the route and considering.

"There's Karr here, and Karr there." She pointed out the windsheild. "The difference is that Karr, there, is - like Kitt said... he's the primary Knight AI here. We have no idea how he'll react to seeing Kitt. Even though it was Kitt he first detected.

"Good feeling... maybe not. But I'm not as on guard as I thought I'd be, either."

[gone_byebye]

Ray ran a hand over his face. "As long as we're on our way," he said, "I don't suppose you're picking up any other signs of possible hostiles? Or support vehicles, or anybody else we should be careful about? I don't know how these things work..."

[prototype-karr.livejournal.com]

"I'm not picking up on anything. Although they've stopped moving now there at...a salt repository, it seems. Hm."