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KITT streaked toward the coordinates the General had programmed into him. It seemed he should have been analyzing his data on the target, devising strategies, but these days, he was given little data beyond the identity of his target, and the only necessary strategy was a simple one: strike quickly, and escape. Given the limitations of those who would stop him, his missions required only a fraction of his processor power.
Once, he would have taken the opportunity to analyze the gigabytes of raw data he had collected since being reactivated, but the General preferred he not waste energy on frivolous pursuits.
The courthouse which stood at the programmed coordinates should have been empty at this hour, but a scan revealed lights still on inside, and the heat signatures of three adult males. KITT pulled over to the curb, as far from the streetlights as he could get, and shut down his main scanner; his secondary systems would suffice for this, and with the scanner's red light deadened he knew his position would render him nearly invisible to a human's limited senses.
The sensor echo took him completely by surprise.
For entire seconds, he didn't react. The sensor echo was unlike anything he had ever detected, yet his processors linked it to the Knight Industries prototype vehicle, to an enormous black semi, to danger.
All of his systems came up to full power in nanoseconds, straining to locate the source of the strange reading.
***
"I believe I have located the Knight Two Thousand, Michael."
Mike looked at the map KITT displayed for his benefit. "Why would it be parked outside an empty courthouse?"
"The logical hypothesis is that it's waiting for someone."
"So I guess we need to interrupt." Mike pressed down the accelerator. "How's traffic between here and there?"
"The streets are clear."
"That's just what I wanted to hear. Keep an eye on that thing; I don't want to get there and find out it moved."
It took only minutes to reach the location where KITT had detected the other car; Mike skidded around the last corner, and was confronted by a blaze of headlights and the unmistakable tracking red light of a scanner just before they sailed cleanly overhead.
"Son of a bitch!" He hit the brakes, skidding KITT around a hundred and eighty degrees to give chase. "Why didn't you warn me?"
"I'm afraid the maneuver took me by surprise, as well, Michael."
"I've gotta get Sarah to program you sneakier. Where's it heading?"
"The freeway."
"Tell me you're kidding." Day or night, California freeways were crowded; pursuit at the kinds of speeds the two Knight Industries cars could reach would be risky at best.
***
"What the hell?" Bonnie murmured.
"What's up?"
"KITT was stationary for nearly an hour, and now...the speeds he's hitting have to indicate some sort of pursuit."
"Well, it's not like they're going to catch him." Michael squeezed her shoulder. "We'll get another chance."
"You don't understand. There's no reason for KITT to be moving this fast unless he's being pursued by something comparable to him."
"There is nothing comparable to him."
"That we know of."
***
"If the Knight Two Thousand's programming to preserve human life has been removed, continued pursuit may result in civilian casualties," KITT echoed Mike's thoughts as they reached the freeway on ramp.
Ahead, Mike watched the Trans Am signal and smoothly merge into traffic, slowing even though it had to know they were right behind it. "I have a hunch that won't be a problem."
"Do you have a basis for your hunch?"
"In every attack so far, the only casualties have been at the target. Never witnesses, never random hits, even when there were crowds in the area." The Knight Two Thousand signaled again and changed lanes, then swept around the cars blocking it...cars it could easily have forced out of the way or turbo boosted over. He followed its lead, not giving it a chance to slip away in traffic.
"So you believe some form of the original programming remains."
"That's what I'm hoping."
The Trans Am abruptly cut across three lanes of traffic for an off ramp, as if to make a liar out of him... except that the move was so perfectly timed that none of the drivers it cut off even laid on their horns. Mike swore and followed. "For outdated technology, your daddy's pretty good at this."
"As I have explained before, Michael, the Knight Two Thousand and I are in no way related. However, I share your surprise that such an antiquated system is capable of so complex and adaptive a strategy."
Back in the thinner traffic of the surface streets, the Trans Am picked up speed. "KITT, attack mode. And put up a map of the immediate area; I don't want to risk losing it down some side street."
It quickly became obvious that the car was heading out of the city, toward the open desert. They raced past darkened residential neighborhoods, neither car going above one hundred miles per hour until they reached the interstate, empty road spooling out into open desert.
"KITT, ready EMP."
"Michael, my scans indicate that while many of the Knight Two Thousand's systems are fully operational, there are several showing signs of degradation, probably from his long period of inactivity. The EMP device may cause irreparable damage."
"Yeah, I really care. Unless you have a better idea, ready the EMP."
KITT was silent for such a brief moment that Mike thought he might have imagined it, with most of his attention on the car ahead of them. "Readying EMP device."
The Trans Am vanished.
"KITT?"
The HUD lit up with a night vision display of the road ahead, the Trans Am clearly visible as it pulled away. "The road ahead is clear; he's shut down all lights and is navigating via scanner."
Mike swore under his breath and floored the accelerator. Now that there were no competing headlights blinding his night vision, he thought he saw a shadowy shape, black on black at the edge of KITT's headlights, beyond the digital phantom KITT was projecting for him.
"Why aren't we gaining on him?" he complained, pushing down a little harder even though there was nowhere for the pedal to go.
"Apparently, his engine is not one of the degraded systems."
"Very funny. Are we close enough for the EMP?"
"Yes, but…"
"Activate."
Again, that brief hesitation. "EMP deployed."
***
"Damn it!"
"Now what?"
"KITT's gone!" She typed a few commands, then her hands dropped away from the keyboard. "Every system just shut down simultaneously."
Michael didn't like the sound of that. "Like someone turned him off?"
Bonnie shook her head slowly. "The way I had the homing beacon set up, that wouldn't have stopped it."
She was shaking, Michael realized, and wrapped his arms around her even as his brain refused to believe what she was saying. "It's okay," he said. "It's okay."
No way in hell was he going to believe they could get this close, and lose KITT now. No way in hell.
***
The Trans Am came into the field of KITT's headlights, drifting slightly to the right as momentum carried it forward at incredible speed. Mike slowed, matching the other car's speed, half afraid it would recover and suddenly shoot off into the night.
The passenger side tires touched the gravel shoulder of the road. The softer surface yanked the car sideways; it flipped into the air, hitting the ground on its roof and rolling another hundred yards before it finally came to rest on one side.
"Wow." Mike stopped KITT beside the smaller vehicle; in the bright gleam of KITT's headlights, it was evident that beneath the heavy coating of dirt and bits of brush, the car wasn't even scratched. "Guess they weren't joking about the indestructible shell, huh?"
"I do not understand why you would think anyone would joke about that, Michael."
"Never mind. Scan it and make sure it's not just playing possum, and then call Sarah."
"To inform her that our mission of stopping the Knight Two Thousand was successful?"
"No, to ask her how we're supposed to get this thing back to base."
It took the better part of an hour - time Mike spent watching the Trans Am, alert for any sign of the systems coming back on - before Sarah was able to upload the newest transformation protocol into KITT. After that, it was just a matter of rocking the Trans Am back onto its wheels, and hooking it up to the obnoxiously shiny black and chrome tow truck KITT had turned into.
During the trip to the SSC, a single system activated, unnoticed, in the otherwise dormant vehicle.