(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

[prototype-karr.livejournal.com]

"And I have no interest in being taken apart in the quest to find out how I work," Michelle's KARR said firmly. "It is against my programming." His scanner dimmed a bit for a moment. "We have been on the run from them for some times. It is quite grating; I do not like traveling by train."

[not-a-surgeon.livejournal.com]

Bonnie nodded and considered, her weight rested against her own Karr's fender. "Yeah, that's what we're constantly worried about... too much government interest leads to nothing but trouble. The first thing they'd want to do is break the partnership."

Her hand automatically went to Karr's headlight.

"How do they track you?"

[gone_byebye]

"Different ways." Michelle shrugged, looking down at KARR. "Surveillance cameras in populated areas. Traffic copter footage- okay, it's not real time, but they're patient and they know our approximate travel capabilities. Weird news reports. Discussions on Internet message boards with geographical clues in them. Reports from county and state cops who find themselves getting impossible numbers on their radar guns. For a while they had a lock on the radio interference generated specifically by KARR's CPU- that was pretty hairy- but we managed to turn the tables on them when we got our hands on Federal TEMPEST hardening specifications. He's shielded now. They can't pick up on his outputs unless he wants them to, for whatever reason."

[prototype-karr.livejournal.com]

His scanner brightened a bit as Michelle looked down at him. "Which I don't, at the moment. I like not being chased."

Bonnie's KARR, meanwhile, nudged at Bonnie a bit, popping his headlights as one was touched.

[not-a-surgeon.livejournal.com]

Bonnie gave Karr a little smile as he did that, fingers shifting to actually hold on.

"Well... From my point of view, I could tell you... Radar's hard to fool unless you work on getting some sort of... modifications, maybe adding some stealth panels, but that's more difficult than its worth. There's always the option of planting false info through about a thousand different proxies, but even then, they might find a way around it..."

It was quite a problem they'd gotten themselves into, but Bonnie, typically, was looking for a way to solve it.

[gone_byebye]

"We're working on it," Michelle said. "Believe me. The proxy idea's a good one, though. What we'd like to do is find a way to put their appetite off us once and for all, but in the meantime, keeping them chasing shadows is enough. For now, anyway."

[prototype-karr.livejournal.com]

"I hope they do not find our Kitt while shadow chasing. He may be dangerous to us now, but I would not wish for him to be taken away by agency. I do not think he deserves that."

[gone_byebye]

"Nobody deserves that," Michelle said quietly, but sternly. "Especially not from these guys."

[not-a-surgeon.livejournal.com]

And then, it was Kitt that spoke. "Have you thought of asking them, over an encrypted line of course, exactly what it is they want?"

Bonnie blinked, but then shrugged. "He's got a point."

[prototype-karr.livejournal.com]

"I believe I know what they want-me." He paused. "And I am not sure if my being in one piece matters or not."

[not-a-surgeon.livejournal.com]

"What you believe and what you know are two different things," said Bonnie with a shrug. "There's no substitute for knowing for sure."

[gone_byebye]

Michelle opened her mouth, but several things happened before she could answer- Kitt, Bonnie, KARR. She closed her mouth and waited for the others to finish.

"We're pretty sure he's right," she said quietly. "Everything we've ever run into when we've encountered these guys two-on-two has indicated that. And the last thing we want is to give Nonesuch any further technology. Echelon is bad enough- sorting through our allies' radio and television signals for potentially sensitive espionage-worthy information? That's pushing national security's limits a little too far. The NSA isn't investigators like the FBI. They're spymasters. We're pretty sure they want KARR as the forerunner of mobile, nearly undetectable spy-tech platforms."

[not-a-surgeon.livejournal.com]

That, Bonnie had an answer for.

"So offer them a true drone. Cars can be made self-mobile without AIs, and if I can put MBS on a hearse..." She shrugged. "But it's probably the AI they want more than anything. These boys are more advanced than any other AI out there. I'd put money on it even here."

[prototype-karr.livejournal.com]

"And I do not like the idea of potentially being pried apart so those could be made, or the idea of simply being taken for research. I am quite happy working for FLAG and being partnered." His scanner flashed at Bonnie's comment. "That is the most likely thing."

[gone_byebye]

Michelle rested a hand against KARR's side. "It won't happen," she said. "They won't get you- I won't let them." Then she glanced over at Bonnie. "I don't know that I even like giving them that much, but... you know, after a couple of thousand miles at the mercy of Amtrak, plus all that time hiding when we could be doing stuff that's needed..."

She kicked at the ground with a frustrated sigh.

"... wait. On a hearse? what?"

[not-a-surgeon.livejournal.com]

Bonnie smirked a little and nodded toward Ray. "The Everlasting Ecto. I saw to it for him. In exchange for some technology from this timeline to use on these two."

[prototype-karr.livejournal.com]

"Thank you," KARR said, before adding "I hate Amtrak," in a grumble. Just because it had helped keep them safe didn't mean that he particularly liked it.

[gone_byebye]

"Everybody hates Amtrak," Michelle said in as soothing a voice as she could manage. "Which is why we did it, remember? Who would believe anybody with a car like you would be willing to put it on one of those god-awful trains?"

Then she looked over at Bonnie, and Ray. "Wow," she said. "I've seen the specs on that thing you guys bomb around in. How long's the body? Twenty-one feet stem to stern?"

"Something like that, yeah," Ray said.

Michelle shook her head. "Wow," she repeated. "You're one lucky bunch of spook hunters, if this woman's done that kind of work for you. Very lucky."

"Believe me," said Ray, "I know."

[not-a-surgeon.livejournal.com]

"We've got Ecto fixed up with MBS and I upgraded the engine... Completely overhauled the exhaust, cooling, and fuel systems - it was a great week's project." Bonnie smiled. "I really enjoyed it."

"We enjoyed it," said Kitt, barely interrupting.

Bonnie chuckled. "Yeah, we enjoyed it. Kitt helped."

[prototype-karr.livejournal.com]

"I know," Michelle's KARR said, mollified. "But I'll be happier when we don't need to ride one any more."

The Milliways KARR just chuckled, his scanner flicking slowly. "I mainly just provided commentary, or watched."

[not-a-surgeon.livejournal.com]

"Paperweight," said Bonnie with a smirk.

[gone_byebye]

Michelle sighed. "All right. We'll find some way of contacting Nonesuch without giving ourselves away. If I'm right about what they want..." She looked off into the distance. "I hate giving these guys a leg up on spying on their own people, but given what they'd do if they had half a chance... this might at least slow them down. If it gets them off our tail, we can at least figure out a few countermeasures ahead of time, if need be. Or something. Drone it is."

[prototype-karr.livejournal.com]

"A very good looking paperweight," he shot back, smug.

The other KARR's scanner flashed for a moment. "Should I contact Mr. Miles? The sooner we can give them something to distract them, the sooner we should be able to go back to work."

[gone_byebye]

"Please? No offense-" She glanced apologetically over at Ray. "But this part of the country feels so cramped. There's too much that needs doing out West to run around here with our heads down much longer."

[not-a-surgeon.livejournal.com]

Bonnie lightly thumped Karr's side. "That's beside the point.

"But really, about the drone... Wireless control from a safe hub... But make it impossible for it to gain self-awareness. And, just as a hint, make sure you keep a backdoor into the system, in case bad goes to worse. And you two head out where things are a little less dense, by all means -"

"-But if you hear reports about another black car this way, it may be me instead of your Kitt," said Kitt, barely able to butt in.

Bonnie patted his fender.