milliways_bar | (no subject)

(no subject)

Nick comes down from his room. He's cleaned up since...the last few days. He looks a little lost, but his clothing and hair and appearance is otherwise impecable. He nearly stumbles on the way to the bar, eyes staring at anything but the actual environment around him. He sits. He stares.

He orders some food and begins to sip.

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Nick takes Kitt's hand in his own.

"There are no happy endings, Kitt. There never are, there never have been, and there never will be. There is happiness. And you have to appreciate it when it's there. And when it's not there, remember it and cherish it and thank...whoever you have to thank that you had it. And then look for it again."

"That's how it works for people who aren't like me," Kitt said softly. "I'll blow my own CPU before I try to survive that way."

"That's how it works, Kitt. Michael knows it as well, I'm sure. And Bonny. And Karr is an example of it."

"Karr wasn't programmed like I was. They never found his dr--"

Too much. He had said too much. He went cold even as he realised it, looked intently at his watch. The number wavered - fell. Just one percent, but that was one percent too much. At least he'd stopped broadcasting that integrity level to Michael. His fresh programming was still too new for him to risk this.

No. No, no.

"I can't talk about this anymore."

And Nick knows what that word was. He knows, and because he was a car...a car betrayed, even, he knows. ~~Nick's gotta stop knowing this stuff...it's hurting MY head and I know I'm smarter than he is...~~

"Why?"

"When Karr reprogrammed me, he nearly changed my primary function. That, along with the emotional impact, kept me unstable. My system integrity dropped. I had a high probability of cascade failure." ... Then he paused, with the technical explanation out of the way, and decided that he needed to speak as if he were explaining it to Devon. Not to Michael. That would likely involve the phrase, "Computer go boom."

"Between Karr's reprogramming and the emotional impact from that reprogramming's effects, I gained what was close to a terminal illness. My software could have failed, one program after another, until there was nothing left of me, unstoppably. The new programming is still very fresh and I'm... stretching my legs, as they say. I'm still slightly at risk."

Nick nods.

"Okay...but...this discussion is postponed...not over."

Kitt nodded. "Postponed. I will.. be back later tonight." Another small nod.

"We will talk."

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