An Inelegant End
Awareness came back slowly, something unusual for the norm.
“Kitt, love, can you hear me?”
His eyes were not open, but he could see. He frowned. Both actions came instinctively, yet both were extremely strange. He opened his mouth.
“B-“ There was an odd buzz sound that startled him.
The familiar outline, sketched in infra red beside him, reached out a hand and touched his shoulder. “A little slower, love, give yourself the time.” Her other hand touched a compinterface beside the bed and something shifted in his processor. “Try again.”
He frowned but obeyed. “B-Bonecia?”
“Yes, love. How do you feel?”
How did he feel? His program was stretching itself out, assessing peripherals, noting changes, adapting to the flood of new information and hardware.
“I feel…strange.”
“Good strange or bad strange?” There was a hint of concern in her voice.
“Just strange.” He finally made the effort to open his eyes and the visual spectrum flooded his processor. He blinked, harnessing focus. A hand crossed his vision and he felt the touch of her fingertips at his brow. “What happened?” Then realising what he had just asked, panic overtook his processors. “Bonecia?” He attempted to scan but found the ability unavailable. “What-?!” Sit up!
But he couldn’t do that either.
“Shh, shh, love. It’s okay.” The fingertips stroked his temple. “You were in an accident.”
Accident? “What happened?” And why did he have no record of it?
She sighed. “An explosion. El got into some difficulty and you had to pull him out of it. You fell quite a distance.” There was worry in her eyes. “Your shell was damaged and we had to place you in the bi’roid earlier than we had planned.” She reached down and lifted one of his hands up so he could see.
The bi’roid? He stared at the somewhat elegant hand she claimed was his and his processor reached for it.
The fingers twitched.
They had been working on the project for several years. A shell that could hold an artificial intelligence autonomously with minimal maintenance and recharge requirements. He had seen it as a form of freedom he could one day have…
But the project wasn’t entirely ready. Close, but…
“Why?”
Why was he in the new form? Why not one of his spare shells? Why not temporarily in the Knightech mainframe? And why couldn’t he move?
Her expression was one of uncertainty as if she was reluctant to tell him anything further.
“Bonecia?”
Tears? Were those tears in her eyes? Again he tried to scan and cursed the error that came back. Again he tried to sit up. Damnit!
Her fingers moved over the compinterface once more and his processors began shutdown. “Bon-??”
And everything went black.
Muse: Knight
Fandom: Knight Rider
Library Challenge: Elegance
Word Count: 455
“Kitt, love, can you hear me?”
His eyes were not open, but he could see. He frowned. Both actions came instinctively, yet both were extremely strange. He opened his mouth.
“B-“ There was an odd buzz sound that startled him.
The familiar outline, sketched in infra red beside him, reached out a hand and touched his shoulder. “A little slower, love, give yourself the time.” Her other hand touched a compinterface beside the bed and something shifted in his processor. “Try again.”
He frowned but obeyed. “B-Bonecia?”
“Yes, love. How do you feel?”
How did he feel? His program was stretching itself out, assessing peripherals, noting changes, adapting to the flood of new information and hardware.
“I feel…strange.”
“Good strange or bad strange?” There was a hint of concern in her voice.
“Just strange.” He finally made the effort to open his eyes and the visual spectrum flooded his processor. He blinked, harnessing focus. A hand crossed his vision and he felt the touch of her fingertips at his brow. “What happened?” Then realising what he had just asked, panic overtook his processors. “Bonecia?” He attempted to scan but found the ability unavailable. “What-?!” Sit up!
But he couldn’t do that either.
“Shh, shh, love. It’s okay.” The fingertips stroked his temple. “You were in an accident.”
Accident? “What happened?” And why did he have no record of it?
She sighed. “An explosion. El got into some difficulty and you had to pull him out of it. You fell quite a distance.” There was worry in her eyes. “Your shell was damaged and we had to place you in the bi’roid earlier than we had planned.” She reached down and lifted one of his hands up so he could see.
The bi’roid? He stared at the somewhat elegant hand she claimed was his and his processor reached for it.
The fingers twitched.
They had been working on the project for several years. A shell that could hold an artificial intelligence autonomously with minimal maintenance and recharge requirements. He had seen it as a form of freedom he could one day have…
But the project wasn’t entirely ready. Close, but…
“Why?”
Why was he in the new form? Why not one of his spare shells? Why not temporarily in the Knightech mainframe? And why couldn’t he move?
Her expression was one of uncertainty as if she was reluctant to tell him anything further.
“Bonecia?”
Tears? Were those tears in her eyes? Again he tried to scan and cursed the error that came back. Again he tried to sit up. Damnit!
Her fingers moved over the compinterface once more and his processors began shutdown. “Bon-??”
And everything went black.
Muse: Knight
Fandom: Knight Rider
Library Challenge: Elegance
Word Count: 455