One More Knight Please

Chapter 9: Knight Scare

I got out of the car, and Micheal and Bonnie ran straight to me.
"Good Luck," Kitt said.
"Don't run off on us again like that Susan, I understand that you're upset, but still." My Grandmother said, immediately upon my arrival.
I put my hand in my pockets and fiddled with the slip Bo had given me at the car show.
"Where did you even go?" Micheal said.
"Car show," I said.
"Without me?" He joked.
"Susan, I'm sorry I didn't tell you sooner, I wanted you to be protected, Micheal's last name is a very commonly hated one." My Grandmother tried to explain.
"Where did the 3000 go?" I asked, looking back to see the Mustang wasn't there.
"He went to look for you," Micheal said.
"Should we power on Karr now?" My Grandmother said.
"No." Kitt interrupted.
"Kitt, it will be fine." Micheal tried to reassure the car.
"Famous Last words Micheal, famous last words," Kitt said.
"He has family issues," I said.
"I guess so, come on, let's get this over with." My Grandmother said as she ushered us into the garage. She had opened the door, so you could see the rear end of the Trans-Am's bumper peeking out.
I walked back over to the car, and got under the front end, looking for the aforementioned switch.
"What does it look like?" I asked, not being able to find it.
"It should look like a switch on the back of a toy." My Grandmother described.
I looked a little longer, then pulled out my phone and used the flashlight to find it.
I found it quickly, it was camouflaged with black paint, and very small.
I tried to switch it on, but it was stuck.
"It's stuck," I said.
Micheal handed me a flathead screwdriver. "Maybe this would help." He said.
I used the screwdriver to push the little switch, and with a click, some crust came off of it, and it switched on.
I got out quickly, the scanner glowed a yellowish-orange color.
"I am the voice of the Knight Automated Roving Robot, the prototype of the car of the future, Karr if you wish." The car said immediately.
Micheal jumped back a few feet.
The car scanned around for a minute.
"Where am I?" It finally spoke.
"You're in Bonnie Barstow's garage," I said.
"Who are you?" He asked me.
"Susan," I said. At this point, I didn't know what to introduce myself as, Susan Barstow, or Susan Knight.
"What is your last name, Susan?" He said, his voice reminded me of The Terminator.
"Good question, I don't even know," I said.
"Why am I here?" Karr hissed.
"We thought we would give you another chance." My Grandmother announced.
"I do not like you Bonnie, or Micheal." He said.
"Well, Kitt doesn't like you either," Micheal said, probably annoyed.
"I do not care about Kitt, he will always be a clone of me." He said.
He was very different from Kitt, right off the bat, I could tell he had no tone to his voice, Kitt could change his tone and sound comforting, assertive, etc. He just sounded like a robot.
Karr started his engine, it sounded exactly like Kitt's. If you want me to be completely honest, they kind of sounded like vacuum cleaners.
Karr started to back out of the garage but got stopped by Kitt.
"Hello again, Karr," Kitt said.
"Go away," Karr said.
"Why? Am I not allowed to visit an old friend?" Kitt said, using a falsely friendly tone.
"You are not my friend." Karr corrected.
"Why are you so mean?" Micheal mumbled.
"Well, you did almost kill him, twice, I would be salty too," I said.
"I don't know who you are Susan, but I do like you," Karr said, out of nowhere.
"I have that kind of effect on people, don't worry," I said proudly.
"Susan, I am not a people," Karr said.
"Person Karr, You are not a person." I corrected.
He remained silent for a moment.
"Why did you bring me back, Bonnie?" Karr said.
"I don't know... it was a bit of an impulsive decision," Bonnie said.
"I am grateful, but I still do not like you," Karr said, His voice still robotic.
"Karr, wouldn't Kitt be like your younger brother?" I said.
"I suppose that would make sense, but I find it hard to refer to him as a brother after what he has done to me," Karr said.
"Karr, I hope you forgive me, I don't want any more drama with Knight Industries' Machines. " Kitt tried to explain
"That will be hard," Karr said.
"That wasn't a no," Micheal said.
"Perhaps we can go somewhere and talk?" Kitt said.
"Why would you want to talk to me, after all, I am the problem-ridden prototype." He said.
"I just told you, I don't want any more drama or Susan to call me a girl," Kitt said.
"Kitt, do you even have a gender?" I said.
"I suppose not, but I guess I have just gotten used to everyone calling and referring to me as male," Kitt said.
"I have an idea," My Grandmother started. "We can take out my Oldsmobile to go out to eat, and let Kitt in the garage."
"Sounds good to me," Micheal said.
"I'll go get my keys." She said
She had had the same car for what felt like forever, a red 1985 Oldsmobile Cutlass.
She came back shortly, Karr didn't talk as much as Kitt did, and neither of them talked as much as the 3000 does. I swear, he could talk to me for hours at a time about the news. Sometimes it's easier to just Google things than ask him.
She unlocked the doors and invited us in. She keyed the engine and it started right away. She backed out of the garage, I sat in the back seat, and Kitt replaced her spot.
She used her remote garage door opener and closed both doors.
"Either one of two things is going to happen, they are going to make up, or they are going to try and murder each other," Micheal said.
"I hope his new program works." My Grandmother said from the driver's seat.
"He didn't yell at me or Kitt the way he used to," Micheal said.
"He may have feared that we would disable him again if he did." My Grandmother said.
"Or he didn't want to ruin my opinion of him," I said.
"He knew you would sympathize with him," Micheal said.
"I expected you to sympathize with him." My Grandmother said.
"Am I seriously that readable?" I said.
"When you were a little kid, you always begged me not to kill the ants that were infesting my house. You reasoned that they are living things too, and don't deserve to die." My Grandmother said.
"That was 17 years ago!" I exclaimed.
"How about more recently, when you let the 3000 come with us, despite having killed people," Micheal added.
"That wasn't his fault, someone changed his program," I said.
"Point proven," Micheal said.
"Speaking of the 3000, why hasn't he come back yet?" I said.
"He may still think that you're on the run," My Grandma said.
"Wouldn't Kitt have told him he returned?" I said.
"Does he have his tracking number?" My Grandma asked.
"He should, he was collaborating with him on our way home," I said.
"He was?" Micheal said.
"Yeah, we were both asleep, I woke up before you, we were in Illinois, and they were debating waking us or not because they didn't know where the new Foundation Building was," I said.
"I thought they hated each other," Micheal said.
"Oh they do," I said.
"Why do they hate each other?" My Grandmother asked.
"Because Kitt's introduction to the 3000 was getting rammed," Micheal said.
"Is that what Kitt told you?" I said.
"Just about," Micheal said.
"Where are we going?" I asked.
"There is this 50s-style diner, I thought I would take you guys there." She said,
"Oh okay," I said, I drifted back into my seat, gazing out the window. The environment around us was not nearly as dead as California. It was green and flourished with life, birds sang beautiful songs, trees danced in the wind, and everything was peaceful, 100% peaceful. My watch buzzed on my wrist, someone had texted me. I looked down at the little screen. It was a combination of random numbers and letters as the 'phone number.' The text itself said.
"Susan, this is Ki3T, Ki2T has told me you have made it back safely. I, on the other hand, have run into some trouble. Someone has hacked into my program again and changed it. I don't know what it is yet, but just be warned."
"Oh no," I said out loud.
"What?" Micheal and my Grandmother had said at the same time.
"The 3000's program has been changed again."