CONTINUUM
-Common Ground-
Thankyou to TheWizardofOzbourne, justjoe, rnbm, eitam, and wsm021 for your reviews.
There has been a lot of talk about how there hasn't been a lot of character development, and I'd like to point out that this is only the ninth chapter, and each chapter only avrages 2-3000 words. Right now I'm still just setting things up. There has only been the one John/Cameron scene. So all the character stuff you say I'm not doing, it is coming.
This chapter took noticably longer then the ones before it. I'll try to get Chapter Ten out quicker, but I'm taking five college classes right now, so things are going to be a bit slower for the forseable future.
Chapter Nine
-Saturday, March 22 2008 (04:48)
Global Exports, San Francisco
Malia entered her office to find Mathew Baker waiting for her. She went around to stand behind her desk and after studying the man before her for a few moments she finally spoke.
"Mr. Baker, we seem to have a problem. A few hours ago I received word from the head of Yaris that the attack against ZeiraCorp last Tuesday was conducted by one of our prototype HKs. Apparently his company is now under FBI investigation because of it. However he assures me that he has checked and none of their prototypes are missing. Do you have any thoughts you'd like to share on this mystery?" Malia sat down.
"You mean you didn't order us to attack them?" Baker asked in confusion.
Malia went completely still. "What?"
"Last Tuesday morning we received orders to attack the ZeiraCorp building with one of the drones. That wasn't you?"
Malia slowly sat down. "How exactly did you receive these orders?"
"Through your encrypted comm line. The authentication codes were valid."
"And you sent verification that you had received those orders through the same line?"
"Yes, of course!"
Malia thought for several moments. Someone had gotten into their system, it was the only explanation. But that someone could infiltrate them this deeply without detection was disturbing on several levels. Especially since she now seemed no closer to figuring out who or why.
"Ma'am," Baker said, "What's going on?"
"We appear to have a problem."
"You didn't order the attack… what should we do?"
"I'm not sure yet," Malia said. "Go back to LA. Conduct a discrete investigation of ZeiraCorp. If someone is using us to go after them they must have a reason. See if there is someone who might stand to profit from this."
"What if whoever is behind this isn't going after ZeiraCorp at all, but trying to get us to expose ourselves?" Baker asked.
"That would be the other possibility," Malia answered. "Until we know what's going on you take orders from me directly, disregard all normal channels of communication. I'll worry about how we we're breached in the first place; you focus on what ZeiraCorp has to do with this."
"Ma'am, did you order us to kidnap Savannah Weaver then?"
Malia shook her head. "No, I didn't. You thought… did whoever is doing this order you to assist the Connors?"
Baker shook his head. "No. You, well, whoever has breached our systems, ordered us to take the girl, and the Connors showed up at the same time as our operative and as best as I can tell rescued her."
"But they're involved in this somehow?"
"Well we've know that for a little while now."
"What!"
"We're fairly sure that Sarah Connor was involved in the destruction of our factory in Charm Acers. Possible responsible."
"Go on."
"A few hours before the facility was destroyed a woman attempted to infiltrate it. She was stopped by the on-duty guard. They both shot each other. She was able to escape and he was treated by one of our private doctors, which his why he wasn't on-scene when the factory was destroyed. Sometime later the same guard was able to capture her investigating one of our abandoned warehouses. We don't know the details of what happened next, except that someone killed him and the women escaped, though not before he was able to surgically implant a tracker on her. I was going to take her the next day, however… 'you'… ordered us not to. We observed her activates instead, along with that of her son and other members of the house they were living in, the girl who has been identified in all the recent news reports as their accomplice and another man. However I'm guessing this is the first you're heard of any of this."
"That it is," Malia said. "Do you know how she knew about Weaver's daughter?"
"I have a theory, yes. They eventually moved out of the house they were staying in, at which point 'you' gave the order to take them. The team I sent was already preparing to kidnap Savannah Weaver. They were unsuccessful in capturing the Connors though, and I'm guessing Ms. Connor found something on one of them that identified the girl as their next target. Afterward with the original team dead 'you' ordered us to send one of the cyborgs to take the girl. The man the Connors where working with was found dead at the scene, killed by the same gun that took out the private security and housekeeper, and the cyborg reported that three people were able to escape with the Weaver's daughter, and they matched the description of Sarah and John Connor and the girl, Cameron."
"Did the cyborg know who they were?"
"Not that I'm aware of. 'You' then ordered us to send the cyborg after Catherine Weaver. That was on Monday. He obviously hasn't succeeded and I haven't heard from him since."
"You think Catherine Weaver took out a machine?"
"Maybe not her personally. A second one was sent after the attack, he hasn't been heard from either."
Malia leaned back in her chair. "So we were responsible for the attack on ZeriaCorp, but only because someone has infiltrated our communications network and has been giving orders as me, apparently for over a month now. The Connors are somehow involved and we have lost two machines in as many days, which has never happened before."
Baker nodded. "Yes Ma'am."
"Yes, this is so much worse then I thought it was ten minutes ago. Investigate ZeriaCorp. I think it's possible that Catherine Weaver is working with the Connors, so be carful of that as will. I want you to send someone you trust to give me daily reports and really instructions. Don't make any move without my authorization."
"Understood."
"Are there any other problems you think I might not be aware of?"
"No, this is basically it. What about the FBI investigation of Yaris?"
"It's being dealt with. If you receive any more 'instructions', let me know."
"You want to play along with whoever's doing this?"
"It could be useful, it really depends on what they want us to do next. Go back to LA and above all else, be discreet."
-08:12
The Weaver Residence
"So his campaign is being run out of a diner in northeast Portland," John said. "There was some sort of town hall thing yesterday, but as far as I can tell his campaign doesn't have anything else planned for the next two weeks. And I was able to hack into the DMV and get his address."
"So what does he do when he's not running for office?" Sarah asked. She, John, and Cameron were gathered around the coffee table in the Weaver's living room.
"He's an Assistant District Attorney for Multnomah County," Cameron answered.
Sarah reached up, pinching the bridge of her nose between her thumb and forefinger. "Anything there that could be important?"
"Not that I could tell."
They heard the front door open and a few moments later James entered the room. "We may have a problem," he said. "Last night I got a visit from two Federal Marshals."
"Yeah, they're trying to hunt us down, Weaver mentioned it last night," John said. "Where is she anyway?"
"She left at five o'clock this morning," Cameron answered.
"Where'd she go?"
Cameron gave a small shrug. "I didn't notice until she was already in the car."
"Wonderful," Sarah muttered. "So was that your problem, because I kind of guessed that I'd have the government trying to hunt me down again."
"Unfortunately no," James said. "It looks like it's possible that the FBI will reopen its investigation of George Laszlo."
"George… the guy who Cromartie killed for his identity?" John asked.
"Yeah."
"Why," Sarah asked. "As far as they're concerned he was killed by your SWAT team over four months ago."
James went to sit on one of the couches. "When the Marshals visited they asked a few questions about my investigation of you eight and a half years ago. They also asked about my investigation of George Laszlo. I interrogated Derek as part of that investigation before you helped him escape, and since he was found dead here after you took Savannah…"
"…They figured that anything he was connected to we might be involved in as well," John finished.
"Basically. Anyway, the coroner's report showed that Laszlo had been dead for some time before we raided his apartment. I first became interested in Laszlo when his face showed up on security footage at the office of a plastic surgeon who had been murdered. Laszlo had a fairly tight alibi, however at the time I though it wasn't him at all. He had gotten surgery there some time earlier and his files had been accessed. I thought that this guy had forced the surgeon to alter him to look like Laszlo, then killed him. However no anesthetic had been used, and apparently that kind of surgery would have been too painful for someone to survive it."
"That wouldn't be a problem for a terminator," Cameron pointed out.
"Well obviously, but I didn't know what I was dealing with at that point. Anyway, one of the Marshals had the idea that he brought in his own anesthetic, which is why none was missing."
"In which case they might come to the conclusion that Cromartie is still out there somewhere." Sarah said.
"Right," James said. "Of course he's not, but John Henry is using his body, so we run the risk that he could be mistaken for the guy who killed Laszlo, the plastic surgeon, and an entire HRT."
"So what," John asked. "Is his face going to get plastered all over the news like ours?"
"Not unless they actually find evidence that he's still out there, but law enforcement might be warned to keep an eye out. So how's the thing with the Congressman going?"
"Well we still have no idea what he might do that would draw the attention of SkyNet," John said. "We figure he should be in Portland. If you guys leave tomorrow you should be able to get there by what, Monday?"
"If we use Interstate 5 we could be there in fifteen to eighteen hours," Cameron said.
"Alright," Sarah said. "We'll leave for Oregon tomorrow. John, you and John Henry keep working on Kaliba and Yaris. There's nothing we can do if the FBI decide to investigate Cromarite, so we'll just have to be aware of that. Now back to these Federal Marshals, how close do you think they are to finding anything?"
James shrugged. "Well if the FBI reopens the Laszlo case they won't be involved in it. As for how close they are to finding you, as long as you're staying here I think you're pretty safe; it is about the last place anyone would think to look for you. From the news we know a lot of people you've had contact with over the last several months have come forward, so I think they'll be able to paint a fair picture of what you've been doing. Whether knowing that will get them anywhere, well I think you would be a better judge of that then I would."
"Oh, I think most people would find what we've been doing over the last five months pretty incomprehensible," John said. "So you guys go to Oregon tomorrow, and I'll go back to looking at Kaliba," He stood. "Right so I don't think any of us have actually eaten breakfast yet and Savannah should be up soon, so…"
"I've already eaten," James said. "Anyway, if I'm leaving with you tomorrow there are a few things I need to put in order at ZeriaCorp first."
"Alright, I was thinking we'd leave about ten," Sarah said.
"Right. See you tomorrow then."
Hope you liked it, please, please, pretty-please review.