Memories of a Shadowy Past [knight-2000]

[californiaxknight]

Little Kira Rhianne Knight lived in California under the primary care of her guardian, her Aunt Stephanie. At age 8, her parents died from irresponsible drinking and driving--their carelessness was the cause of their own death. Kira was far too young to understand what happened, but she was still upset when she heard of their death, even though she was upset with them.u Arguably, she was too young to feel such mixed, complex emotions, but it was caused by the immediate sense of rejection she had felt since birth. She was an accident child, but the mother didn't want abortion, so she accepted the fate of pregnancy. Hell, she had been lucky she didn't have some kind of disease from their poor planned parenthood skills. They were drinkers, party-goers, hardly giving any care about their future and preparing for something more than what they barely achieved every day to get by.

It passed by quick for her, being so young-and the tragedy was not so great as what followed barely a year later. By happenstance, her Aunt encountered the rogue AI vehicle KARR, a black and white Pontiac TransAm on the run from police trying to stop him causing more chaos and collateral damage to his vicinity in California. The TransAm was moving at full speeds when it carelessly sideswiped her Aunt's Subaru at the slightest angle, causing it to roll as they were first pushed ever so slightly into the nearest guard rail along the highway. With little Kira in the car, more damage was done to Stephanie than Kira's smaller figure, but shards of ga glass gorged into her legs and sides.

Kira was rescued from the crash but Stephanie didn't survive because of a concussion and major whiplash. The impact affected her in different ways than it did for Kira-she clearly saw what was going on, whereas Kira had only wondered why the scary black car pushed them to the guard rail.

Frequently, when she opened her eyes and she remembered those moments of fear and surprise, she wondered why there had been no driver-but she couldn't be certain she believed what she thought she saw back then.

Devon Miles, manager of the Foundation For Law and Government overhead the report of the accident on the news and was shocked to discover the likely offender of the accident was one of their 'own'. It was an overcast day as KITT and Michael drove to the hospital the Medevac vehicle had rushed her to to speak with her about the accident to confirm rumors were correct. KARR could not get into the wrong hands ever again, so Devon had decided two things: to adopt this girl in hopes she could be a recruit for FLAG later in life, and reprogram KARR so that he could never cause more trouble like that again. After a few words and an awkward moment of which Kira thought Michael was her real dad, Kira was escorted out of the hospital to KITT, where she panicked, automatically mistaking him for KARR until she realized he was pure black, and KARR had a two-tone paint job. It helped the little girl was fascinated by machines and their aesthetic appeal.

Later, when they began to rebuild KARR and adamantly test and retest his protocols and programming, Kira grew tired of waiting. She snuck into an open garage not far from the maintenance bay where they usually kept KITT. She knew Michael parked him there a lot for checkups, and she'd often go with him to interact, because he told her about it. On her crutches, she hobbled along, looking for KITT and hoping he was there. Michael was in the administrative office so he had to be somewhere in the big mansion's premises, right?

A few days had passed after she decided she DEFINITELY wasn't afraid of KITT and liked him. She wanted to get to knuow him, and learn more about the car she feared; she was bored of resting and wanted to know more.

She wandered into the large open hangar/garage, and immediately set her gaze on KITT.,

"Hey, KITT?"

//OOC: so i figured we should do that flashback first-i wanna focus on little Kira's intelligence/perspective-i havent done so in sooooo long since writing that fic. i summed up the accident and the outcome for ya so i hope it makes sense and flows.

She wants KITT to tell her the story about KARR :3. It'd be something he'd remember later when she grows up im sure :). We can skip ahead as needed after they chat. Hope this works for ya...let me know on Plurk or something if it doesnt?

Comments

[knight_2000]

The scanner came to life in a flash of crimson, the entire bar lighting up before beginning its slow, steady sweep.

"Kira? Should you be here by yourself? Is everything all right?" There was a note of concern in his voice, worry for the wandering girl who might get hurt in his garage.

"Come here. You should get inside." To make his point, he swung the driver's side door open wide, inviting her in.

[californiaxknight]

Kira hobbled over to KITT with slight caution on her crutches, which she still needed of course. She walked around from the front of the TransAm and studied the scanner. She was pretty sure the other had been amber/yellow, right? She closed her eyes briefly, tightly, trying to remember. Flicking her gaze to the open door, the curious 9 year old balanced on one crutch as she got herself into the somewhat comfy looking driver's seat. She vividly remembered the difference between the two-her life depended on this observation. In moments like this, the traumatizing significance to this experience with the unique twin TransAm that killed her Aunt was revealed. This was the key thing she remembered from the accident before blacking out, that BLACK AND WHITE TransAm pushing into their Subaru Impreza. Thus, a little trust was instilled on KITT by that fact alone.

Something about this car and its calm voice soothed her. Most of her memories before her incident with her Aunt were of her days hanging out with her Aunt at her shop while she worked in her play pen or in her arms as she supervised. Sometimes she'd let her hold the safer tools for mechanics, like wrenches, those weren't necessarily too heavy for her. It was a very stimulating environment for a toddler, male or female.

"Can you tell me about KARR? Michael-Dad-tells me he was your twin. What happened to him? Wasn't he like you?" she blurted out once she sat down, setting the crutches across her lap.

[knight_2000]

He understood the little girl's hesitation, and let her make up her own mind, neither moving nor speaking. Her trust in him balanced on a knife's edge; either she would accept his invitation or she wouldn't. If it was possible for him to be holding his breath, he would have been turning blue by now. Finally, ever so slowly, she made her way over and sat down, and the world started turning again.

Michael-Dad. That was cute. He wasn't sure how Michael felt about it, but he might get some gentle ribbing from Kitt for it.

"He wasn't like me at all, Kira. He was programmed very differently. I am programmed to protect human life; Karr was programmed to look out for himself, no matter what the cost. Michael and I were forced to destroy him. Or so we thought." There was a note of distress in his voice; he wasn't quite on-board with the idea of reprogramming Karr, wondering if his killer streak could really be overridden or erased. He paused then, a long moment. "I'm very sorry for what he did to you and your family. Are you in very much pain?"

[californiaxknight]

"I'm a little sore, thank you, KITT." Kira admitted. "But the medicine is helping. I was in the most pain yesterday." She winced at the thought, but glad at least the rest of her body aside from her broken leg were feeling better and more relaxed. She felt tense ever since the accident, and didn't enjoy getting in car rides for mere errands with Michael and KITT or Devon in a non-talking vehicle.

"But why was he programmed differently?" Kira tried to spell out the big words, stuttering somewhat, but she managed. 9 year olds were by no means dumb obviously, they were just figuring things out. Her eyes were exploring KITT's exciting dashboard, admiring all the buttons and communications displays. She watched his voice box, still fascinated since the last few times she rode. "Didn't the creator know? Wasn't he the same person that created you?" Kira wanted to know why he was programmed differently-why he had to be the evil one. It didn't seem fair did it? Not to a little girl that was interested in cars, it certainly didn't.

"And aren't you and KARR the same, but not in the programming? Do you think they can 'fix' him?" She had so many questions because of her curiosity. Plus she was trying to keep herself occupied, she may as well find out more about her new friends and her new home, right? Michael was a pretty interesting guy but KITT on the other hand, Kira found him even MORE interesting!

[knight_2000]

"I'm very sorry to hear that, Kira. I'm glad you're feeling a little better today." He felt for the little girl; he understood what it was like to be injured and trying to adjust to the slow process of healing.

While they talked, he kept up a vigilant but passive scan of her vitals, making sure she didn't get too tired or stressed. It wouldn't do to have her condition go downhill because he'd pressed too hard.

"He was the same person who created me, yes, but he didn't realize the consequences of the kind of programming Karr was equipped with. Karr and I are both very expensive vehicles, Kira, much more so than your average everyday car. Mr Knight - Wilton, that is - wanted to insure that his monetary investments in Karr weren't going to be lost or destroyed by those who would take advantage of a naive AI. Karr was programmed for self-preservation. There's nothing wrong with that in and of itself, but AIs tend to be very literal, Kira. There was no compassion or empathy in him. His programming was very clear - save himself at all - any - cost."

He paused, giving her time to think about that and let it sink in.

"Karr wasn't designed to be evil. His programming was flawed. It wasn't his fault, but it became his problem. I was programmed more along the lines of Asimov's Three Laws. Self-preservation has a place there, but it's tempered by the directive to save the lives of humans first and foremost. It is my hope that somehow, someway, Karr could be reprogrammed, yes. But I'm afraid that it might have already gone too far, and become an ingrained personality trait beyond his programming." There was also the possibility that Karr's reprogramming could alter his personality completely, but in Kitt's mind that wasn't necessarily a bad thing.

[californiaxknight]

"What does ingrained mean?" Kira scratched her chin, both out of thoughtfulness and slight tension. She still didn't like the concept of KARR's weaknesses due to the core nature of his programming. She liked to think she understood what KITT was saying but it was somewhat a technical conversation for a young girl. Nevertheless, Kira was smart enough to understand KITT's explanations and began to understand the key reason why KARR was so different than KITT and suffered a different fate. And nevertheless, it still didn't seem fair to her at all.

"Maybe the reprogramming will be successful, and he won't be like that anymore. Isn't that what they're hoping for? We could all learn from KARR and he could learn from us. Wouldn't his former memories be erased anyways?"

Kira sighed, wishing better for the twin AI vehicle. She really liked KITT too, but she was so curious about KARR, and she kind of pitied his misfortune. It was by no means HIS fault his own programming was faulty. Perhaps that's what KITT meant by them being so literal with their directives. KARR couldn't help it, and something had gone wrong, misfired in his complex CPU.

"But I still don't get why there was a mistake-whoever did the programming should have caught it, right?"

Her brain hurt a little thinking about it all, but it kept her mind off the dull pain in her leg and brushes along her side.

[knight_2000]

"'Ingrained: deeply impressed or instilled; firmly established, deep-seated'. Something that is so much a part of something else that the two can't be separated, Kira. I know they're hoping his reprogramming will be successful, of course. And if it is, he will be a very useful ally to have. But I worry that Karr won't be able to be reprogrammed as everyone wants, even so." He fell silent, brooding on the possibilities that lay before them, as well as the potential pitfalls.

Kitt felt much the same way about Karr as Kira, but he was also more pragmatic about the situation. Kira had seen Karr in action, and suffered greatly because of it, but she still had the soft heart of a little girl. Kitt on the other hand knew exactly what Karr was capable of doing, and he feared for them all if Karr couldn't be helped.

"They didn't see it as a mistake, not at first. They wanted him to preserve himself so that their hard work and money didn't get wasted if he was damaged beyond repair. They didn't think through the consequences of that decision to its logical conclusion until they were confronted with it directly." A common human fault, unfortunately, even in the most brilliant of minds.

[californiaxknight]

There was more hesitation as she she listened to KITT. Kira's eyebrows furrowed in thought and slight frustration. "But the programmer knew what they were doing, right? That's what I still don't understand. I'm glad they saved what they could though." The small girl huffed an exasperated sigh. None of it seemed fair, but then again, life surely wasn't, at least in light of many things for her.

"I hope they can rewrite him." Kira said with genuine hope in her voice. "You sound like you don't know what to expect. Maybe itll work, maybe there might be another glitch? I wonder what the chances are. I know nothing about these things, but maybe they're doing the right thing."

For her age and mindset, she was fairly mature. Her mind was working overtime as she tried to process KITT's explanations, and Kira was aware she was too young to understand everything and some of the technical terms behind the issues KITT was describing. Her vocabulary was only so big, so she had to think carefully on what to ask next.

//sorry Ive been so slow! x.x

[knight_2000]

"They thought they knew what they were doing. And for their purposes at the time, they were correct. But as I said, they neglected to think through all of the potential consequences of their actions. That was where they erred. I am thankful they're at least trying to rectify the problems now, rather than leaving him in a warehouse to decay."

Life, fair? There was no such thing.

"I don't know. Will it take? Is his personality so damaged it can't be repaired? Are his flaws too embedded that a reprogram will destroy his essence? I don't know. I hope for his sake, and for all of us, that he can be healed as a whole being." It would be a tragedy if they tried, only to have Karr's programming reject the new code, and him ending up being disassembled and deactivated despite their best efforts.

He could wait until she processed and digested the information, breaking it down into bite-sized pieces she could manage. He had patience, especially for children.

[Not a problem! :)]

[californiaxknight]

"They haven't tried this before right?" Kira was pretty sure this was true as she stared at the electronic, colorful voice box moving. She barely understood how the twins worked, but she was trying out of curiosity.

"If all they did was shut him down before, he must be the way he is still for a good reason." she added, her voice slightly pouting. She didn't like that idea, but at least FLAG had decided on a different approach this time around while KARR was online.

"But I can't wait to see him when he's ready. I'm a little scared. But I want to meet him." Kira said pointedly. Something told her that she had to get over her fears if she wanted to be successful and strong in life. She had to be brave to get through it, and face what she used to be afraid of.

//sorry that ive been so slow, i haven't forgotten x.x