(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]

"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.

[prototype-karr.livejournal.com]

"All right," Michelle's KARR said, and quietly ste to work with contacting Devon and transmitting the idea back. The explanation of how they'd gotten the idea could wait until later. His attention returned to Kitt for a few moments. "We will keep that in mind. But it is still a good diea to be on alert for our Kitt."

[gone_byebye]

Michelle nodded. "He's seemed worse the last time or two we've encountered him," she confided. "Poor guy... You should be careful, too, while you're here. I don't know how he'd react to encountering himself. Especially not a version of himself that had somebody at the wheel."

"I'm not his driver," Ray began, but Michelle shook her head.

"Doesn't matter. He lost it because someone else had his purpose and his driver. Running across a car who not only had his purpose and a driver, but had his actual identity... I don't think that would be good for him at all. Or anyone, really."

[not-a-surgeon.livejournal.com]

"I hate to draw this out, but I've got to ask... what do you mean 'worse'?"

[prototype-karr.livejournal.com]

"He has become...steadily more erractic. He is more hostile as well, and is likely to try to hurt someone if he thinks you are trying to take his freedom." He paused. "I'd suggest you avoid that subject around him."

[gone_byebye]

"what he said," Michelle said, nodding towards KARR.

[not-a-surgeon.livejournal.com]

"And thus a danger to himself as well as everyone else," Bonnie filled in with a sigh. "I see."

And she didn't want anything bad to happen to the Kitt here, either - but in such a situation, what could she do? Have Karr turboboost into him and leave him wreckage to pick a CPU out of? Such things only worked once over, even with more than one reality to choose from.

[prototype-karr.livejournal.com]

"Yes. It is an unfortunate situation, and one that we have yet to solve."

[not-a-surgeon.livejournal.com]

"And one I can't figure out either. But... you have a private line where I can reach you if I get an idea? I can send messages through Kitt... Our Kitt."

[gone_byebye]

Michelle hesitated a moment, then nodded. She fished a worn-looking receipt out of one pocket. "If anybody's got a pencil, I can give you- thank you, Dr. Stantz- the contact information for my mobile unit. Voice, data, and GPS decryption code in case we have to be located personally." Her mouth twitched. "Just because every mobile unit sold in the country for the past three years has to have global positioning tech in it, doesn't mean it has to be easy."