"Talk to me, Will." Jocelyn sat in a wicker chair on Will's patio with a glass-top table between her and the matching chair he sat in. "What happened with KARR?"

"It looked like he was having a PTSD episode," Will stated, nudging the bowl of mixed nuts as he elaborated. "He started to get fixated on how he failed and how the last time that happened he got put in a box."

Jocelyne winced and frowned. "So he started feeding everything into that fear."

"Looked like it was heading that way so I made RC kill the simulation. Thought getting him back here where it's low stress might help." Will offered.

"I have no idea how an AI can get stressed. Aren't they supposed to be super logical?" Jocelyne stood up and walked inside. "You stay here. Maybe a fresh face will help."

⁂ ⁂ ⁂

"Jocelyn," KARR stated when she entered the workroom. The black box that housed everything looked far and away more professional than the mass of disconnected boards clipped to the inputs of a smaller black box that was the last time Jocelyn saw the AI. "You are looking well. Though, lacking many of the sensors from my original shell I cannot verify this."

"I'm doing alright KARR," She pulled up a rolling chair and gestured about before sitting. "Where's RC?"

"Reginald said he had calls he needed to make." There was a hollowness to KARR's voice. The TV was switched off. "I suppose this will be where things end and I am put in another box."

"Will won't let that happen, you know that. Right?" Jocelyn asked, reaching out to gently pat the box that housed KARR's components. "Also I remember you being a lot smaller. Something the size of a stack of iPads. Now you're the size of a Four Yew server rack. What gives?"

KARR sat there for several moments. "In answering your second question. Reginald had helped Will first by installing a Westgate memory expander, and an additional sensor cluster, and integrated all of this into a condensed shell similar to what the KI-Six vehicles use. My primary casing has been placed in an internal vibration-dampened sub-enclosure with the intent of mounting the entire unit into my new shell." There was a pause before adding. "As to your first. I am certain attempts will be made by yourself and Will, but they have more money, manpower, and lawyers. Once the reality of this resource disparity is made clear I am certain that I will be handed over to preserve your own continued existence."

Jocelyn frowned at the inevitability KARR gave this statement. There was a fair bit to process, but she only focused on the finality and certainty of what will happen.

KARR took this pause as deliberation on her part then continued. "While it is clear my programming dictates self-preservation. Humans have a similar sort of self-preservation imperative. Will and yourself are faced with the modern equivalent to an unkillable jungle predator that your ancestors would have survived by remaining beneath notice."

"Africa actually." Jocelyn corrected as she looked KARR's casing over. It contained a smaller version of the three LED strips that were on his other voice processor.

"Pardon?" KARR asked, a note of curiosity seeping in.

"Humanity evolved in West Africa, according to what they've dug up and viewed through a less overtly racist lens. I'd have to get Will to hunt a few videos down to sum things up but it's actually pretty interesting. Also, it's a bit beside the point. You don't know Will as I do."

"Explain." KARR wasn't requesting.

"To leave out a lot of messy details? His grandad didn't like that we were dating." Jocelyne continued to examine KARR's casing. "Mostly because I'm black, but also because he wanted Will to stay on the farm."

"Disappointing," KARR stated. "Wilton rarely spoke of race relations where I could hear, but he did seem to indicate there was an ongoing disparity caused by socio-economic factors that he hoped his foundation could help treat the symptoms of until the root cause was addressed."

Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit.

"Wouldn't that be lovely," Jocelyn muttered. Then, in a more normal voice. "Point is Will doesn't give up. If he did he'd be content to live with his folks happy to be just another farm hand. Don't get me wrong he still enjoys visiting and if they need help both of us pack up and head over, but it's not an all-hours at a moment's notice thing."

"Your point feels somewhat moot given the opponent you face," KARR stated. "However given my prior interactions with those that had physical possession of myself, it is gratifying that even with the outcome all but a guarantee, the effort is being made."

"So, while we wait." Jocelyn offered. "Nothing says I can't take you for a drive. Put one of your cameras to the headrest so you can get a little bit of the world."

"I would like that," KARR said.

KARR was unplugged, strapped to the frame Will used earlier, and Jocelyn grunted as she walked across the house and into the attached garage. "KARR. you're heavy."

"Unlike you, my weight is purely a result of functionality." KARR teased.

"...Are you calling me fat?" Jocelyn said in mock outrage, "You do realize I could just leave you in the middle of the road right?"

Before KARR could respond, she gave a low whistle at the garage. Either Will or RC had parked the mera there and had a large black slab near the hood. "Huh. They didn't clean up from the tests."

She grunted as KARR was unslung and leaned against the wall closest to the car hood. "That means you should be a slide-in install. Any chance you could talk me through it?"

"I can," KARR confirmed. "What do you have in mind?"

For a time Jocelyn ignored him. Instead of checking how much charge the car had, untangling the cabling went from it to the black box. Then and only then did she respond. "You can't drive. Nothing in the papers Will got said anything about you not being installed and observing."

"I'm failing to see how me not being where I am expected will assist in-" KARR protested, but was cut off as the unit he was in was pulled from the backpack, unclipping it from most of the cells that had been powering KARR in the process, then slid him into a compartment beneath the passenger seat. The fit was tight, and it took more than one attempt, but eventually, he clicked into place.

When Joe settled into the driver's seat KARR's primary voice modulator lit up. "Oh... My."

He sounded surprised as the garage door opened. "Diagnostics are good. GPS puts us well within the range of several chargers, assuming correct readings."

"They should be," Jocelyn backed the mera out slowly. As she started driving she clipped her phone to a cradle above KARR's modulator and called Will. "It's going off data I helped put in when places started adding fast chargers."

"Yea what's up?" Will sounded somewhat busy.

"Taking KARR out for a drive to try calming him down." Jocelyn accelerated. "And whatever voodoo he's working fixed that catch you had on startup."

That got a laugh from Will, "RC hasn't even put the new tires on either. He's taking me to fill some paperwork out. Lemme know how he does."

There was a pause before starting. "Pothole."

This confused KARR briefly before he asked. "Why is there a phallic drawing around that road imperfection?"

"Because when they chose to respond to complaints, they, quote un quote, fixed it by putting a traffic cone over it and calling it good." Jocelyn's voice was more than a touch amused as she drove around the pothole. "Road crews should arrive tomorrow morning."

"Curious," KARR stated. "Where are we going?"

"Just, out." jOcelyn non-answered. "How're your inputs?"

KARR mulled over the inputs he received. Checked over the randomness and 'messy' nature of what he was receiving and came to conclude that this was real. "Everything is within acceptable tolerances."

"Good." Jocelyn grinned as the vehicle sped up.

She drove for a time. No specific destination. Radio playing slack-guitar music, and the sun was out. KARR continued to observe incoming data, querying this 'blue tooth' connection that piped audio from Jocelyn's phone to the speakers inside the car.

He pondered what else it could do and tried to send commands to override the limits the little device had placed on what information could be passed from one to the other.

Jocelyn glanced at her phone when it beeped. "KARR. Please stop trying to access my phone."

"I intended no harm. I was simply... curious." The AI sounded positively apologetic.

Jocelyn's phone beeped again. "I know, but it might not go over well if you do that to someone else. Also, any headway?"

"None," KARR stated flatly. "Just lines and rows of dead ends. Too many false leads and as there are potentials for later exploration, I dislike that I am thwarted by something this ubiquitous."

"Technology marches on," Jocelyn stated as the car rolled to a stop next to a Tesla.

KARR's assessment sounded less than glowing when they watched it drive off under auto-pilot. "Look what others must do to achieve even a small fraction of my capability."

"No kidding." Jocelyn gave an amused chuckle before the pair rolled up to a free charging station.

Once plugged in she settled back into the driver's seat. "Will said he was filling out paperwork. He sounded happy."

"Oh?" KARR sounded almost like he was sulking. "How does this help me?"

"Because he wouldn't sound happy if it were papers to give you up. RC wouldn't have modified the car Will's grandad gave him, and I have a good feeling about things." Jocelyn positively beamed as she watched the converted fuel gauge raise until it indicated full charge.

"I remain less than optimistic, but for once I hope that I am incorrect" KARR stated.