She was certainly not expecting the car to launch foreward with no difficulty crossing the sand. Soon she was on the road, carefully following the speed limits. It was surprisingly easy to keep the car in control. It was almost as if the car was helping her drive. "Almost makes me thing this thing could drive itself."
"I can."
Had Nabiki not been wearing the seat belt, she would have launched herself through the sindshield, considering how quickly she stopped. "Who said that?"
"I did."
Nabiki this time noticed the LED on the dash just above the steering column that lit up about the same time as the CAR, it seemed, spoke. "Am I dreaming or did this car just....TALK to me...?"
"You are not dreaming. I am the Knight Automated Roving Robot. KARR, for short."
Nabiki thoguht back to the vanity palte that read "KARR," now realizing it was more imaginative than she gave it credit. Nabiki, who had maintained her Ice Queen reputation all the way up until graduation, was actually struggling to maintain her cool. "Okay, KARR... WHAT are you, and how did end up buried in the sand?"
"As I said before, I am the Knight Automated Roving Robot. The first in a bold new experiment by Knight Foundation for Law and Government."
Nabiki had never heard of them, but they sounded important. She filed away the information for later checking.
"As for how I ended up on that beach, I am uncertain. The last event recorded in my database before reactivating minutes ago was being tricked into driving over a cliff."
"I sense a long story behind this one."
"Not very long. My primary programming is for self-preservation. When first activated, my creator deemed me too unpredictable and had me shut down. When I was reactivated by two thieves, I soon discovered another like me had been created. I felt it necessary to destroy it and its operator to maintain my own existence. I was tricked by them into driving over the cliff."
"...Ouch."
"I am unfamiliar with that term. What is 'ouch'?"
"Huh? Oh... It's a word used by humans to express pain. A human would find a fall like that very painful."
"I understand. Now that I have had a chance to think of what happened during my last reactivation, I must conclude the ebst course of action would be to hide myself among the human population. Would you care to assist me in this endeavor?"
Nabiki thoguht about it. On the one hand, she could contact the Foundation KARR had earlier mentinoed and let them know about this. She was sure there would be a reward for it. Or... She could agree to KARR's offer and have herself a nice set of wheels. A pair of wheels that could make her a LOT of money...
It took her all of two seconds to come to a decision, "KARR, I would very much enjoy helping you."
"I see. Thank you."
Nabiki could only stare at KARR's vocal modulator in confusion. Had a COMPUTER just THANKED her?
"Is that not the proper usage of words to express human gratitude?"
It was then that Nabiki understood. In order to HIDE himself, he would need to UNDERSTAND humans better. Clearly he was making an effort. "Yeah, that's right. Oh, by the way, my name's Nabiki. Nabiki Tendo."
"I understand."
"Okay, now that introductions are complete... What else can you do?"
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(Posted Wed, 14 May 2003 06:41)
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