Raymond Stantz

"82 percent," Bonnie's KARR offered, continuing to watch the system integrity like a hawk.

"Beau-ti-ful Daiiisy Bell," the other KARR sang, then returned to humming for a few moments before finally saying, "Ouch."

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Kitt carefully continued, working on integrating the repairs to Karr's coding - and was gratified to hear the return to consciousness. "A few more moments and I'll be finished," he offered.

Bonnie slid out of the driver's seat. "He deserves a rest for the rest of the day," she said, "but he should be fine."

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gone_byebye

"I'll say he does," said Michelle, coming to her feet. One hand remained in contact with the car the whole time. "After all of that..."

[ooc: It's 2:30 AM. I fear I have to slowtime since I can't give Michelle's speech with any kind of coherence at this point.]

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"88 percent," the Milliways KARR chimed in with again. Progress was definitely being made when it came to the integrity.

"My CPU hurts," the other KARR complained quietly. He paused for a moment before asking, "Why can I not access any parts of the car?"

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"You were caught in a reboot cycle," said Bonnie gently. "When your system integrity's risen past ninety-five percent, I'll disengage the override. AI tech's honour."

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"Ninety-two percent," the Milliways KARR reported again. Close, but no cigar.

"....I do not want to think about why I was caught in a reboot cycle. But very well."

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"My apologies," Kitt said again. "I'm more used to people being used to my human form and my transition between the two."

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"Please do not mention it," he mumbled, finding himself with the sudden urge to very quietly retreat and find a safe spot from the alternate Kitt.

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gone_byebye

"It's okay, big guy. Not gonna happen again, right?" The last word came out from between clenched teeth as she darted a look at Kitt. "It's all gonna get fixed, and then we can tell the nice people from Bizarro World our part of the story."

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"Right," he said, sighing a bit. His CPU still hurt.

"96 percent," the Milliways KARR chimed in with again.

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At that message, Bonnie reached in and disengaged the computer override, the dial clicking softly until it was back in place. "There. True to my word. All yours again."

And she made her way back to her Karr.She couldn't have just stood by.

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As soon as he regained control of the car, Michelle's KARR backed up slightly, looking as if he was trying to take cover behind her. "I think you would be better suited to epxlaining our world at the moment."

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gone_byebye

Michelle patted the Trans Am fondly. "Probably," she agreed, and took a deep breath. "All right, let's start with this... KARR here and I are both operatives for the Foundation for Law and Government. We've been partnered for several years now, ever since his original driver retired. My name is- was- Michelle Long."

She pauses, to watch for a reaction.

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This time, it was Kitt's scanner that went dim.

A few moments later, he transmitted to his brother, [I hope that will lessen the number of the hits to the head you'll give me.]

But aloud, all he said was, "I see."

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[The hits to the head, yes, but your door is still mine.]

The Milliway KARR's scanner changed shades several times before settling down as he thought things over. "That's...rather eerie, actually. And I see you don't have that little 'til death do us part' problem for AIs here."

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gone_byebye

"Sorry," Michelle says. "About the eerie, I mean. The other thing was... well, they were afraid that might be the case, so back when Paul retired they made as complete a backup as they could of KARR here. Just in case. The transition was really, really tricky... he almost didn't make it." She looks down at the car with a worried little smile. "Pulled through in the end, though."

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Bonnie looked over at Kitt, who was markedly silent. She knew that no amount of backing up his memory would leave him the same if he was separated from Michael. Wondered if it would be that way for Karr, because she didn't have Michael's training. Her hand tightened on the lip of Karr's window.

"They're tougher than they look in some ways," she agreed quietly. "But... I've got to ask, you... You're not old enough to be a version of Michael. Too old to be his daughter, I'd think..."

She glanced over at Kitt again. Still silent. She worried.

"Are you... related to him at all?"

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"I am-or was-doing quite well now," Michelle's KARR added in.

"Ah. In our universe, we'd simply die from cascade failure, and that would be that." Bonnie's KARR felt her hand tightening, and he moved slightly to touch her with his prow.

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gone_byebye

Michelle winced visibly at the thought. To Bonnie, she said, "I have very few male relatives. My father's name is Richard, and yeah, I've heard the jokes. My grandfathers are named Tom and Wendell, and my only uncle is named Judd. None of my cousins are named Michael. Sorry."

Ray put up a finger. "Um, Bonnie? Could I talk to you and the guys for just a second, please?"

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Bonnie glanced up at Ray, nodded - and then over at Kitt.

"Yeah," she said. "As long as we're not talking... absolute privacy, I mean..."

She didn't want Kitt to have to move for a while.

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The Milliways KARR's scanner flashed a bit as he picke dup on the wince. Apparently the thought of being related to Knight was..less than appealing. "What is it, Ray?"

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gone_byebye

"Won't be necessary, Bonnie. Just over here, please, and I'll be quiet about it." He glanced at Michelle, who nodded and turned to speak quietly with her own KARR.

"Okay. It's like this." Ray looked back and forth between Bonnie, Karr, and Kitt. "I've been doing timeline research since a little after I arrived at Milliways. I've found that I, personally, exist in at least four different timelines- this one, and three others. For some reason I haven't figured out yet, this is the only timeline in which I was born in the 1970's instead of the late 1950's- and in which all the major events I've had to deal with happened in the early twenty-first century, instead of the mid-1980s." He glances over Michelle-wards, then looks back to the others. "My friend Peter, in the Bar, isn't the Peter native to this continuum. He says the Gozer crisis- the first really big adversary we had to face- happened in his world sometime around 1984 or so. In mine, Gozer happened in October of 2003."

"I think maybe what we're looking at is another twenty-year displacement. I don't know how, but unless you've got a better explanation, I think we might just be looking at one more example of how a truly wacked-out universe can mess with the people and events we know best."

Quietly, Michelle said, "If I never hear the words 'cascade failure' again, it will be too soon."

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Kitt's scanner whispered quietly and finally he bothered to scan Michelle Long-- Or was it Michelle Knight?

He supposed the presence or absence of a certain metal plate he knew of very well would make it obvious just what had happened. If it was an offset like Ray had mentioned.

[The one thing I couldn't have prepared for.]

"It has... set me aback, in either circumstance."

And he thought some time spent in human form would help him deal with it.

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[It's bizarre,] KARR agreed. Outloud, he said, "But if they decided to use an 80s model rather than a new one and there was a previous driver, then the events we know about could have happened in the 80s, and simply led to different results. But I'm no scholar on alternate universes."

Michelle's KARR nudged her with his prow. "You and I both."

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