Salvation

Saturday

Juli 30, 2018

10:07

The time machine passed the border of time with a big blast. T still ran full speed and accelerated even more. Then at last he hit the brakes and turned the car in a tight circle. The sudden stop threw the T-1000 off the roof. Without waiting for him to hit the ground, T stepped on the gas again.

Doc just sat beside him, clinging to his seat. When he saw the shape of Hill Valley through the windscreen he gasped. Most of the buildings were damaged and the clock tower didn´t exist anymore. Instead of it there was just a heap of ruins.

"This is the Hill Valley of 2018?" he asked horrified.

"It is." T answered simply. "It wasn´t a main target so most of the citizens survived the attack of Judgment Day. Though they were captured later by the machines and brought into slavery."

Doc shook his head and pressed his hands over his ears. "Don´t tell me. I don´t want to know about it." he said.

"We must go to the house of my activators." T continued. "There we can use the space-time-portal to get to Los Angeles."

Doc didn´t say anything. He just let T drive on and remained silently stunned until they reached the place. He couldn´t tell in what part of the town this house was set. Everything seemed so strange in the destructed shape all around him. This was definitely not the town he had grown up and lived in. That this should be the future that was meant to be, almost scared him to death.

T stopped the car in the driveway of the house. Nobody was around. No sound was to be heard. Not even a bird was singing. It was like life itself had left this once so vital town. In this once familiar streets, Doc could feel nothing but shadows. Ghosts of the dead.

A strange feeling for a man of science like him.

He entered the house with T leading the way. A certain nervousness came up inside of him. This was the house of whoever had activated T. Doc was almost afraid of the person he would meet upstairs. Though he followed T without hesitation.

The futuristic cyborg lead him into a room with a big machine in its center. At least one wall was completely covered with consoles and screens. On the other side there was some sort of platform, framed with four pillars, covered over and over with wires. This had to be it. The space-time-portal T had spoken of.

T immediately went to the console – it was still working – and entered some codes. Soon the lights went on and the computer was ready. T pushed some more buttons and typed their destination into a part of the console that looked suspiciously familiar to Doc. It had a strange resemblance with the time circuits of the DeLorean.

"Ready." T informed him. "We can go now."

"W... Wait a minute." Doc said. "Didn´t you say this is the house of your activator? Who is he?"

"My activator went over to Los Angeles right after I went back in time." T explained. "We must hurry. The T-1000 will find us soon. This is the only power source in town. He will be able to localize it."

Doc agreed and followed T onto the platform. Though it was a strange feeling, being surrounded by that flashing and humming pillars. He felt an itching on his skin, when the flashing grew stronger.

"Are you sure this is safe?" he yelled over the noise of the engine.

"We´ll be fine." T assured him. A striking sound exploded around them and Doc´s ears started ringing. The room around them seemed to disappear and then everything went dark.

...

John Connor switched off the system. It was done. He did it. He really sent back an assassin to kill a person. Someone he´d never met his entire life. Now he was a murderer just like the machines. But he would live. His mother would live so she would give birth to him, the great leader of the resistance. The best good hope of human kind.

But what kind was this? What was left for human kind when its best hope is a murderer? Someone who put his own life over someone else´s? But he´d had no choice, right? He simply had to do it. Right? His life was too important. Wasn´t it? He had a destiny to fulfill. That´s what everybody always told him, ever since he was born. How could he doubt that destiny? He couldn´t allow the machines to destroy that destiny. He mustn´t.

He turned away from the time portal. He couldn´t stand it any longer.

"John?" his wife asked, and he hesitated. What was he supposed say now? I´m sorry? She wasn´t the one who needed his sorry.

"I need some fresh air." he said and left.

On his way out he passed some of his people. All of them brothers in arms, through endless fights and battles. All of them friends the one way or the other. Everyone of them believed in him. They believed in their leader. The man. The only problem was that he´d never felt like this man. He´d taken on that role because he had to.

People need a leader. Always. For some reason he was the one who had to be it. And somehow he had managed to be it. But right now he couldn´stand their gazes. He felt like he betrayed them. You really think you now the guy you look at? Surprise. He´s the biggest cheater this world has ever seen.

John hurried to get out. He swung the door open and almost jumped to freedom. The guard spun around, alarmed but lowered his gun when he saw his commander. John raised his hand to calm him down and just went on.

He made his way along the front side of the building. It was late in the afternoon and he could see far ahead over the city. The ruins. On days like this he almost thought of it as a ghost town. None of the shattered buildings looked as if it could still harbor any people. But they did. Their own headquarter was destroyed on its highest floors. The base was in the cellar. This way they avoided to be detected by the machines. Everything looked just dead. And it was good that it did.

John Connor reached the corner. Could dare to round the building? Usually it wasn´t their way, going anywhere alone. They always left at least with one more other soldier. But today John felt like breaking the rules. Perhaps he even thought, that if something should happen to him right now, he would deserve it.

So he rounded the corner and ran straight into someone, who´d appeared from out of nowhere. When he looked up to face the guy, he expected to see one of his guards. But instead he looked into a very familiar face – at least the half that was left of it.

The first reason why he didn´t call for his men at once, was the shock. The second was the big hand that grabbed his face. John found himself pushed against the wall, before he even finished thinking: He came to kill me.

"No." he gasped but much too quiet, muffled my the big hand. None of his guards at the door would ever hear him.

He struggled but it was useless. The Terminator´s grip was too strong. John gave it up and stared into the face of a man he once considered his friend, almost a father.

"So that´s it?" he said, almost calm. "You´re here to kill me."

The Terminator didn´t give a response. He just stared at him. Then he stepped aside, just a little, to let another man have a look at John.

"No." this other man said. "I just wanted to have a look at the man who wants to see me dead."

John couldn´t believe it. This man. He´d never seen him before, not even a picture of him. By all means, he couldn´t possibly know who he was. But he did. He knew instantly who stood before him.

This was Dr. Emmet Brown. The man he´d just decided to terminate. He was here, and very much alive. That could only mean his plan had failed. His Terminator didn´t make it. Time travel would be invented and … and …

"How did you get here?" he asked. "What do you want from me?"

"Just talk." Doc said. "But perhaps a little more privacy would be better than this place."

The grip on his face relaxed and finally let him go. John looked at the Terminator in disbelieve.

"I´d never expected to see you again." he said.

When he faced the scientist again he saw a puzzled expression on his face. John´s words must have sounded pretty strange to him. He scrutinized him, very closely.

"Would you allow us to come inside?" he asked, eventually.

"Inside?" John repeated. "What do you mean inside? I can´t just let you in. Especially not him. He is a Terminator." He faced the distorted cyborg: "What are you doing here anyway? And with him."

"My mission is to protect Dr. Emmet Brown." he answered, as emotionless as always. "I will continue that mission. Even against you if necessary."

John felt a sudden stab inside his chest. They really knew it. Of course they knew. That was the reason why they were here. He looked at the Terminator and finally at Dr. Brown, the man he´d condemned to death.

"I won´t kill him." he promised and he meant it.

"Good to know that." Doc responded.

The stab came again and this time it went a little deeper.

"All right." he said. "You want to talk? Okay. Follow me."

...

He led the way, back to the door. And just as expected when the guards spotted the Terminator, they jumped and aimed their guns at him. John threw up his hands, as calm as he could.

"No!" he shouted, demanded. "Don´t shoot. They are my … guests."

"Your guests?" the man repeated. "John. This is a machine."

"I know what he is." John said and gave his man a serious look. He knew the guy. His name was Fred and he was a good man.

"John." Fred said now. "You know what … You told us yourself not to trust him. Especially not him. He would come to kill you, you said."

"I know what I said." John agreed. "But if he would want to kill me, I would be dead already."

Fred wasn´t convinced yet.

"Look." John said. "Give me one of your hand grenades." After the man obeyed John lifted the explosive for everybody to see.

"If anything happens," he said. "If he should try anything or whatever … then I will blow him up, all right? The machines won´t get a chance to infiltrate our system. Trust me."

After a few more seconds of weighing up the pros and cons, Fred finally unblocked the way and let them in. John led them to a room that looked like a bunker, transformed into a conference room.

John sat down. The Terminator of course didn´t sit down. He took his place behind Doc, who took his seat vis-à-vis with John.

"Okay." John said. "First tell me … how did you get here?"

Doc barely smiled at him. "I have a time machine."

John hesitated. "Yeah but … what I mean is … how did you beat my … you know."

"Your assassin?" Doc finished the question for him. "We didn´t."

John blinked. "You what? You left him there? In your time?"

"No. We brought him back with us."

"Here? He is here?"

"Not exactly." Doc corrected him. "So far he´s in Hill Valley. What´s left of it."

"But he will follow us soon." the Terminator reminded, and of course he was right. This was what John had programmed him to do. Follow his target to the end of the world if necessary.

"That´s why we came to you." Doc explained. "You have to stop that terrible machine, before it can cause even more damage. Though … after what I saw today I don´t believe that´s still possible."

"Stop. Out." John shouted and jumped up. "You´re telling me that the Terminator I sent after you … will come here?"

"Precisely."

"And he will come here soon." T repeated.

"You are his operator." Doc reminded him. "He will follow your orders. You´ve got to stop him."

John grabbed his forehead, trying to think. "It´s not that simple." he said. "I´m not connected with him. It. I sent it back in time. With an order to destroy himself after he finished … his mission. I never thought of controlling him. Or giving new orders to him."

"You mean you can´t stop him?" Doc cried, agitated for the first time since John had met him.

"That is insufficient." T said. "The T-1000 will not hesitate to kill your men to get to his target. He doesn´t make any difference. He´s a killing machine."

"I know that, all right?" John shouted.

"When you know that why did you take advantage of him in the first place?" Doc wanted to know. "That is not a wise behavior, son."

John threw a sharp look at him, and pointed with his finger. "I am not your son!" he almost screamed. Doc flinched a little at this sudden outburst. "My father was Kyle Reese. He traveled back in time to save my mother´s live and DIED fighting a Terminator. Him!"

"Your father was from the future?" Doc asked surprised.

John nodded. "I´m destined to send him back in time very soon. I didn´t meet him yet but I will. Soon."

Doc couldn´t help but smiled helplessly about this new information. "So … why did you send an assassin after me?" he asked, already knowing the answer, better than this young man knew it.

"We took a base of the machines." John explained tensed. "Three days ago. We caught them right in the moment when they were about to send a Terminator back in time. To kill my mother. We´ve been able to stop them but they would try again. I couldn´t allow that."

"But didn´t you just say, your father would save your mother?" Doc was confused.

"It wasn´t that Terminator. It was another mission. They planned to kill her as a child. Long before my father would meet her."

"I see." Doc understood at last. "But still … It doesn´t make any sense why you should want to prevent the invention of time travel."

"Didn´t you listen to me?" John shouted.

Doc remained completely calm, just smiled at him, nodding. "I did listen." he assured him. "You just told me that you … would have never been born without the technology of time travel."

A sudden flash stroke the mind of John Connor, leaving him utterly helpless and numb.

"It´s difficult, isn´t it?" Doc said. "To calculate every single contingency that could be influenced by a minimal change of time. If time travel had never been invented, how would your father ever be able to meet your mother in the past?"

John felt sick. His legs turned to rubber and he had to sit down. God, how could he have been so blind?

"I was just …" he stuttered. "I just thought of all the things that happened because of … of the Terminators that traveled through time. Judgment Day. Skynet. I thought … I thought we could make it undone. Correct the mistakes."

Doc shook his head in sympathy for this broken man. "If you would know anything about time travel, then you would know that there is no mistake that could be corrected in the natural course of time. You can´t just go back in time and change things that went wrong. Even if you could, the consequences would be disastrous. Believe me. The space-time-continuum is irrepressible. What ever you may change, it will find a way to counterbalance it."

John looked at Doc desperately. "So what am I supposed to do?" he asked. "They´ll try to kill my mother. I can´t let them do that."

"No." Doc agreed. "Of course not." He started to walk up and down, trying to think about a solution for this paradox. There was always a solution. He only had to find it.

"I thought if I could stop them from traveling through time, I could stop it all." John repeated, more to himself than to Doc or T. "I still don´t believe that I have to fight them in two different times. The present … and the past."

"You can´t fight your battle in the past." Doc objected sideways while he was still trying to think. "That is ridiculous."

"Is it?" John shouted. "But that´s the way it happens. They´re doing it ever since I was born. Even before that. It wasn´t my idea, it was theirs. And yours." he stood up again and headed for Doc in anger. "You and your damn time machine."

T stepped forward, blocking his way.

"You have to think about it." Doc begged. "If you would send someone back in time to prevent the invention of time travel itself, how would you possibly be able to send this person back in time in the first place? It is just not possible."

John sighed in anger and turned away from him.

"Besides." Doc went on. "The space-time-continuum would be altered in a way of impulsive …"

"Please just stop the lesson, all right?" John interrupted him. "This is no school unit, Doctor."

"That´s exactly what it is." Doc objected. John threw up his hands and turned away from him.

"Don´t you understand?" Doc went on. "I´m trying to convince you about something important."

"About what?" John demanded to know. "Huh? About my failure? That I was a fool? That I made every mistake a human being can possibly make? By taking the machine´s way and turning away from my own? That I can´t change history?"

Doc just nodded. "This and one more thing." he said.

John´s breaths were heavy and fast. "What?"

Doc gave him an absolute serious look when he said: "I´m the only hope you have."

John just didn´t know what to say. He stared at this weird old scientists from the past and found himself unable to respond anything.

He didn´t get a chance to think any further. Their talk was suddenly interrupted by a blast that came out of nowhere. All three of them jumped and watched a giant gray ball appearing in the corner of the room. When flashes began to spread Doc and John ducked behind the table. T didn´t move at all.

The door flew open and Fred stormed in along with some other men. They aimed their weapons at the ball but knew of course they couldn´t fight it. Not like this. The ball began to glow and then it disappeared into thin air, leaving an angry looking T-1000 behind.

"Stop him!" Doc yelled at John. "Tell him to stop or he´ll kill us all!"

The T-1000 already headed for T, who stood straight against him, ready to fight. John jumped out of his hiding place.

"Stop!" he shouted at the T-1000. "Stop the mission. I repeat. Stop the mission."

The T-1000 stopped one inch before T. The men still aimed at him, unsure what it would do. One more man entered the room, holding some technical equipment in his hand. He hurried to the T-1000 and put the tool at the back of his head, before the Terminator could react.

The thing didn´t move but there were visible sparkles in his eyes. After a minute, he simply broke down.

John gave his friend an asking look. Mike shrugged.

"I located a powerful raise of energy in here." he explained. "I knew it could only be him."

"Thanks." John said.

"What about him?" Mike wanted to know with a look at T.

"He´s all right." John answered and looked down on the T-1000 again.

"Shouldn´t he be naked?" he wondered. "I mean … I thought …"

Mike shook his head. "Only if he traveled through time. When he just traveled through space, the portal can transport artificial tissue. My instruments told me he came here from somewhere in California."

"Yeah. Hill Valley to be precise." John agreed.

"How do you know?" Mike asked him.

John just looked at Doc and T for an answer. Mike gasped when he saw Doc.

"You … you are Doctor Emmet Brown!" he said and reached out his hand. Doc took it instinctively. "I studied all your blueprints, Doctor." Mike told him. "You were a genius. Are. I think all the technology we use today is somehow based on your notes and records."

"I´m not so sure if I want to hear about that." Doc replied. Then he paused. In his head there was suddenly an unexpected brainstorm.

"What is it now?" Mike asked confused.

Doc hit his own head, laughing in release. "That´s it!" he shouted. "That´s the answer! Of course! Why didn´t I think of that earlier? I must be out of my mind!"

Mike and John shared a disturbed glance.

"Doctor?" John asked carefully.

"I know!" Doc shouted. "I know how I can solve your problem. But I will need your help." He addressed Mike.

"My help?" the technician repeated in disbelieve.

"Yes. You have to tell me how this time portal works. I need to know what parts of it are related to my original construction."

Mike shrugged. "No problem." he said. "I can show you. It´s right over there at the end of the corridor. But …"

"Show me."

Doc just couldn´t believe it. Amazed he followed the young man to a small room, where he found the same construction he´d already seen in Hill Valley.

"Great Scott!" he gasped.

"We rearranged the furniture a little to get this thing in here." Mike explained.

"Do you have any blueprints of that?" Doc asked him.

"No. You see, we stole this one and unfortunately the operating instructions weren´t included. But I can tell you everything you want to know about it."
"Please." Doc nodded. "Do it."

...

Doc listened very carefully. What he heard was amazing, some of it even shocking. Obviously his own construction would be expanded by a microprocessor the military was about to invent in the nineties, in order to create a time portal. A technology Mike called the Dyson-Microprocessor. For Doc that meant he had to calculate more than just his own constructions, including the development of technology and other people´s further work on his invention. Not the easiest way to do what he had in mind. But at the end he had an idea where he could start.

While the technicians were talking, John went over to have a word with T.

"So …" he began, a little uncertain. "How are you doing?" He got a questioning look. "Forget it." he said. "It´s just … this situation is somehow very familiar. Do you remember? I mean …"

"My subroutines stored every experience my predecessors made." T answered.

"That means yes?" John guessed. "You do remember me?"

T looked at him with a motionless face and simply said: "Yes."

And just in this moment, Kate entered the room, through the door in John´s back. When she saw the Terminator she stopped, dead in her tracks.

"JOHN!" her first instinct was to drag her husband out of harms way, away from this Terminator, that surely was here to kill him. T just stood there, watching and didn´t move at all. When Kate raised her gun, John pushed her arm down.

"No, Kate." he cried. "God. He … he´s not here to kill me."

On the other side of the room, Mike exhaled in relief. "I guess it´s about time to hang up a sign." he said. "Don´t shoot the Terminator."

"What´s going on here?" Kate demanded to know. "What is he doing here?"

"He came with me." Doc answered her question and stepped forward.

When Kate saw him, her eyes widened and she instantly searched the gaze of her husband.

"My plan failed." John admitted frankly. "He brought him here. My Terminator lies in the conference room. Deactivated."

Kate still didn´t understand. "But …" she tried to say something. Her eyes shifted back and forth between John, Doc and T. "This doesn´t make any sense." she finally said. "Who activated him? It was none of us. So who did …?" She frowned and looked at T suspiciously. After a moment of consideration, she aimed at him again.

"The machines sent you, didn´t they?" she said. "They alone had a reason to spoil our plan."

"Not just them." a new voice spoke behind her and everyone in the room spun around, facing this unexpected newcomer.