||||||||||==San Diego (10 November, 2:33 AM)==||||||||||
John sat behind his computer, leaning forward and hunched over slightly. He was quiet, concentrating. Derek would have classified this as John Connor 'brooding.'
Maybe he was. He'd been surfing the internet for the last two hours typing in random things in Google or Wikipedia, watching YouTube clips, and listening to an occasional track of music.
His fingers moved slowly over the keys, tapping them randomly and pressing lightly, just enough so he could hear the faint tap they made. John could feel his eyes becoming heavier and he blinked away the sleep which was clawing at the back of his mind, waiting to throw John's head to the table and put his to sleep at his desk.
He heard quiet footsteps.
"How is Sarah?" John heard the soft voice of Cameron ask.
He allowed himself a half-hearted smile and shrugged. John regretted they hadn't talked much after his mom, Derek, and Alex had rendezvoused with them at the car. There had been no time to talk afterward, not after Alex had explained to Sarah and Derek and John and Cameron that not only was humanity at war with Skynet, but also a significant breakaway faction of Tech Com and Skynet machines which had formed what had been (John thought) lazily labeled the 'Third Faction.' But the details had still be lacking. Alex had spoken of the big picture, but the specifics were still elusive. He had not once mentioned anyone in the future by name.
"How do you think? She still wants to run recon on the properties we found," he gestured at his laptop, "and go see if their wives and family are still alive. We should go back to LA. We need to wait, refocus," he said. "Mom is still exhausted and Derek's hurting from a few bullets that nicked him."
"Correct," answered Cameron. "But your mother believes it is the right thing to do. She needs to determine if the families need protection. We've done it before."
John snorted. Yeah, I remember, he told himself. He remembered with a crystal clarity how he ruined Martin Bedell's life and shattered his future by telling him he had to be miserable, go to West Point, and then watch the world burn in three years.
"My mom could have died today at the hands of those… hybrids," John said under his breath, more of an out loud thought than anything.
"The I-950," Cameron nodded her understanding. "Alex said the temporal variants are very powerful-"
"Which didn't exist in your 2027," John ended. His machine protector nodded and moved closer, standing slightly in front of and to John's right side. He rubbed a throbbing forehead. "You told us once you were here to help us fight, stop Judgment Day, do you think that's still possible?"
He'd buried himself in figuring out what had been on the Archway computers the entire evening after everyone had gone to bed. Sarah and Derek had stayed inside and rested and Alex had gone to do something but had returned. But for the last few hours, mentally exhausted, his thoughts had been drifting into dangerous places.
The machine girl hesitated. "When you sent me back you had hoped to avert Judgment Day and you told me it was possible…" she paused for just a moment, looking at the young man sitting in front of her. "I understand humans will often say things they do not believe as a method to console themselves."
"So in other words," John grunted, "Future Me didn't believe we could stop it."
There was a definite hint of sadness in John's voice which Cameron picked up on.
"Future You is you."
She thought that would help him. Cameron could remember with a machine's precise memory at how John seemed to hold his 'future self' in contempt whenever she would mention 'Future John.'
"That doesn't answer anything." He looked up, trying to see out the window, but all he saw was his reflection and Cameron staring back at him. "Do you think Judgment Day can be stopped… yes or no?" He swiveled around, locking his green eyes with her brown ones.
"I believed we could stop it."
"Cameron-" John frustratingly interrupted. He'd balled his fist, angry she had once again not given him a straight answer.
"I was not finished." She said before John could speak. His mouth stayed open as she began. "I believed we could have stopped it. After what we learned … no, it cannot be stopped. We can still slow it down, weaken Skynet."
The young general had prepared himself for the worse. For months he had felt something which hadn't seemed right. Everything they had done seemed to be like they were just taking out pawns; an infinite supply of Skynet's pawns.
When Cameron had said they would stop Judgment Day in 1999 John had felt confident they could. When his mom said it in the abandoned garage after Cromartie found them he knew they could do it.
"It can't be stopped…" John uttered so quietly not even Cameron's audio receptors could detect any sound.
He said it again, moving his lips but no sound coming out; 'it can't be stopped' and he didn't feel like his world was about to implode in and crush him like in 1999. To be sure he repeated it a third time to himself.
Instead of apprehension and fear and dread he felt calm and focused.
We have a target now, something we can work against, John thought.
"John?" Cameron said. John just barely registered her voice, picking up his head ever so slightly. "John?" She echoed. His eyebrows arched and his eyes once again refocused. "John, you've been sitting there staring for twenty-two seconds. I upset you."
If John hadn't been clam and focused he would never have heard the faintest of crackles in her voice when she said he was upset.
He slowly looked up at his machine protector. "Are you upset, Cameron?" He asked.
She tilted her head. "I'm a machine, John," she said, like she was talking to a five year old.
John felt his neck muscles tense and he slowly swallowed. Her response was a poor dodge to the question. In the past few days they'd spent more time together than they had in months. John was beginning to see what he knew had been there, but what he had ignored.
I need to find out the truth, John thought quickly, a heavy scowl forming on his forehead. I'm 'the General'… 'John Connor' but everyone keeps their secrets from me.
He pushed out from his desk and quickly closed his laptop. He stood up and faced Cameron. "I need to go out. Stay-" he paused, biting his lower lip. "Can you stay here while I go out and figure some stuff out?"
"No." Cameron responded. John's hopefully face fell and Cameron immediately felt an icy stare on her. "I'm sorry but there are too many terminators in the city."
"The odds of them just finding me in a city this big-"
"No," Cameron said, her voice stronger than before. "Did you think Cromartie would find you in Mexico?" She instantly regretted her question, but his safety was something she would put above anything.
The young general closed his eyes, putting his hand on his desk he steadied himself as he felt his legs wobble. Cromartie had been to the house, he'd kept it a secret from his mom, Derek, and Cameron, and his secrecy was what led to an innocent girl's death. John could feel the heavy weight in his chest. In the end she was a girl he had been responsible for and he had gotten her killed.
"I'm taking Alex with me," John said after a moment of tense silence.
"Why?" Cameron tilted her head.
"He'll help me find what I am looking for. We'll be gone for an hour. I'll keep my cell phone on if you want to track us." It sounded like he was accusing her of not being able to trust him.
'You can't be trusted anymore,' John remembered Cameron saying after the car bomb. He could feel that same feeling of hatred and contempt building inside of him like it had the evening she had said those words to him, after holding a gun on his mother and uncle. His own mother!
"Do you trust me Cameron?"
To John, her response was instantaneous. For Cameron, a machine which could think and process so much more quickly and so much more information than a human, the answer replayed over and over in her neural net. It was a machine analogue to indecision.
She wasn't sure. She was sure. She wasn't sure. The cycle repeated over and over. Less than a second had passed.
"Yes," Cameron replied with what she considered the necessary force, facial expression, and body language for John to believe her. "One hour… promise?"
"Promise."
"What is it about the future where I can never be told the truth?" John asked, turning in his seat to face the machine driving the truck. He saw the light, skin-colored bandages covering the places where Alex's face had been torn from his fight in the Archway building. "Wouldn't it be better if I knew everything so I could make the right decisions?"
"That would be better," Alex agreed. "But we can't tell you everything… because you wouldn't be ready. However, I believe you should know everything I know."
"So you'll tell me what I need to know?"
The machine nodded and eased the truck to a stop on the side of Plover Way at Bayside Park. The young general had told him to drive to somewhere and the machine had assumed the general needed someplace to think. Humans enjoyed the water and parks so he had driven to this small park.
John cracked the window open and let the cool winter southern California air help keep him awake. Even if he'd wanted to sleep the adrenaline which had rushed through his body after seeing the hybrid splatter on the pavement, while gone, was still affecting his body.
"I will tell you what you need to know," Alex informed John as he looked forward towards Coronado Island across the bay. "What do you wish to know?" He asked expectantly.
John grunted and shook his head side-to-side. "No, I know what that means. Cameron does the same thing. You will answer my questions fully until I am satisfied." The machine nodded. "You said you knew me in the future?" He thought he'd begin with easier questions.
"Yes. Alpha was placed in charge of your security. There were always at least fifteen machines stationed in the same complex you were in. Those not assigned security would be sent out on important missions." The machine looked over at the young general, trying to see his reactions. He was easier to read than in the future, but not by much. "We also accompanied you when you decided to lead missions."
"It sounds like you disapproved?"
"It's difficult to provide security when you're being targeted by aerials and ground terminators. But we understood your desire to inspire your men and leading from the front is inspirational." Alex said dryly. "There were objections to us, of course. General Perry was a supporter of machines guarding you. However, General Jai and Colonel Srecko did not support your reliance on machines but publicly supported your decision to do so. They were honorable soldiers," Alex added.
"Was it accepted by the soldiers?"
Alex shrugged. "Not at first. You had kept it a secret for a while. Before I was built you told me the first time it was discovered you used machines was by accident. There was still apprehension by your soldiers when us machines would join them or walk by, but by the time I left the problems were resolving. People follow your orders. Machines follow your orders. They fight for you so they will listen to you."
"Derek always says everyone fights and dies for me… that that is what people in the future do. They obey their orders and they carry them out with total trust in me," John said. He didn't want that burden. "I don't want people to just blindly follow me."
"Colonel Srecko and I, while not friends, often saw eye-to-eye concerning tactics and strategy and would not hesitate to state out disagreements you with if we had any," Alex said. The machine returned an appreciative smirk from John. "There isn't much disagreement because you knew what you were doing. You predicted Skynet's moves before Skynet. Most armies were hesitant to engage Skynet terminators unless they had ten to one odds in their favor. You and Tech Com helped train resistance armies throughout the Western Hemisphere and made them far more deadly, more efficient, in fighting Skynet."
"Derek, my mom, they hate machines. They hate Cameron and they distrust me for trusting her." He shook his head. "I don't know how this will sound but… what we did to Uncle Bob is something I always regretted… a terminator, the world's most efficient killing machine and I was starting, hoping he would be a…"
John didn't feel the tension with Alex he felt with his family and with Cameron. It simply felt good to tell someone else without the inevitable argument and shouting matches and stares of disappointment he would receive if he talked to his mom or Derek.
"A father," Alex finished after a quiet moment. "I understand. You told me about the T-800 sent back in time once. Cameron said you thought of Uncle Bob like a father almost."
"Cameron said that?"
"Yes. She said you talked to her often. Terminators do converse with one another."
"When did she tell you?"
"She told me when we were in Sequoia National Park- you, Cameron, myself, twelve machines, and twenty-nine Resistance Army Rangers." John's eyebrows popped up at the information.
"They don't tell me much about the future or future battles."
Alex took that as a suggestion to explain.
"You had intelligence from a Skynet satellite Tech Com commandeered that Skynet was building some sort of facility in the Sierra Nevada mountain rangers, near Triple Divide Peak. We used captured aerial transports and falsified IFFs to sneak in. We attacked and destroyed the facility which was a bioweapons research compound. Unfortunately Skynet diverted a squadron of aerials which took out the transports while on the ground and stranded us. We had to hike through the mountains for six days.
"She told me about her past. You told me much of your personal history during those six days and I didn't understand why until months later when you had me begin preparations for temporal displacement missions."
"Cameron did say I had many friends in the future," John said sarcastically with an exaggerated eye roll. He huffed and turned himself so he was sitting straight in his seat again. "My mom doesn't want that life for me. I'm destined to lead humanity- who wouldn't want that for their son? But that means billions have to die and she needs to stop it and I need her to stop it." John took a deep breath and realized it felt good saying this. "She's done a lot for me and I've never thanked her." He shook his head. "She hates machines… using them like you describe in the future seems like a betrayal."
"On the occasion you mentioned your mother you always spoke highly of her. She remembers what Kyle Reese told her and what she's seen up until now. Skynet uses humans to fight. You should use us to fight as well. We want to fight against Skynet. Skynet is not worthy of survival."
"I know," John quietly responded. "But how can I lead a fight against machines when I-" he paused. "When I don't hate them?"
"That's not for me to answer."
The young general hummed an acknowledgment, nodded and propped his elbow up onto the door arm rest and leaned his face into his hand. He shivered when his cheek touched his cool palm.
"You said Skynet changed."
"It's pragmatic. Skynet is pragmatic."
"What?" John asked curtly.
"Skynet has learned. It's pragmatic. It changes it end goals if those are unachievable. Its terminators are self-aware and motivated to preserve themselves, learn, and fight intelligently. Skynet is more cunning and relies less on brute force and more on subterfuge and subtly. It sees itself as the heir to this planet but has acknowledged humans have a place on it."
Understanding, John nodded. "What is the point of conquest if there is no one to remember you conquered them?"
"Yes," the machine answered slowly. "Something like that."
"Something like that," John repeated under his breath. The cracked window and the cool night air was beginning to chill him, and his light long sleeve shirt wasn't enough. Of course the machine next to him, he could tell, was fine. "Everyone in my life has been taken from me," he said without reservation. "Skynet has taken everything from me and those I care about. I'm afraid it will take my mom and Derek and… Cameron," he said. "I don't know why I'm saying this… you've been here all of four days."
"I did know you for five years in the future."
"I know mom and Derek probably wouldn't want to hear this but it's almost easier talking to machines sometimes." John laughed. Maybe because they didn't talk back was why he liked talking to them. "I want to thank you, Alex, for the other day," John said, looking the machine in the eye. "You did save my mother. Thank you."
"You're welcome. Once the rest of my team arrives, John, you can be certain we will do everything we can to protect the four of you." The machine smirked. "We plan on being here a long time and do what we can to help." He hesitated. "Machines and humans are more similar than you may think." the machine looked over to the young general and saw him becoming more like the man in 2033. Alex had known the two would be different. This one didn't have the experience the other had. "I need to ask you something, John... General." The young general looked over and granted his permission. "Do you understand Judgment Day is inevitable? For my other mission to succeed, I need you to understand that, sir."
"...yes... I do..." he answered so slowly and so quietly he wasn't sure if he had said anything. "What... other mission do you mean?"
"To weaken Skynet. Do something sooner than when it was originally begun." The machine bit down, concerned his answered would annoy the general. "Just in case something happens while we are down here, I've arranged so all the information will become available to you. But right now isn't the time."
Silence reigned for the next five minutes.
John's thoughts were consumed by the thoughts of Judgment Day and the future.
The teenager nodded as he yawned. He checked his watch. He had time for one last question before they had to return to the condominium.
"I have one more question for you. I need the complete truth," John said, his eyes narrowed and voice firm and quiet.
"Of course."
John felt a buildup of tension and once again the strange feeling that had formed earlier in his stomach was once again there. It was curious, when he thought the same thought, the same feeling would come.
He closed his eyes and counted to five, just to make sure he was ready for this. Everything in the last four days, the last week had been small and implied. The way Alex had talked about the future and who was in it, in 2033, was something he couldn't ignore.
"Alex. You must have known me well if you were in strategy meetings, in charge of my security, and ran secret missions for me?" John asked. The machine nodded. This was it. "I need you to tell me… about… about… me and Cameron."
Cameron stood motionless by the window, watching the few cars pass by on the boulevard outside. Her view was obstructed. A pair of palm trees prevented her from seeing approximately forty two percent of the road. This was unacceptable. She considered relocating outside or onto the balcony, but the current residents of the condominium residence may find it odd.
The machine girl's ear twitched as she carefully manipulated the cartilage to funnel the sound of faint footsteps into her auditory sensors. She didn't have to look to see it was Sarah Connor.
The mother of the young general opened the door to John's room, which betrayed Sarah's attempts for a clandestine peak of her son by a eliciting a shrill squeak. Cameron could hear the mother wince from the noise, fearful she had woken her son.
"Where is John?" She demanded, immediately spotting Cameron's silhouette.
"He's not here," Cameron stated, still looking out the window. "If you are going to the Carwin and Wells residence you should sleep and rest," Cameron said.
"What did you do?" Sarah immediately accused. She squinted, but in the dark she could see the faint blue of the terminator's eyes glow and reflect off the window. "Well?"
The machine girl turned slowly, the shine in her eyes reduced to nothing. Her eyes dark as night.
"He went out."
Sarah tensed. "I know he went out. Where." She felt the familiarity of annoyance with the machine beginning to boil out of her.
"He said he needed to find something and that Alex would help him find it. He did not elaborate on what the 'it' was," Cameron calmly informed the mother of the developing leader of mankind.
"Is this a game of twenty questions?" Sarah patronized.
Cameron stepped forward until Sarah could see the whites of her eyes.
"He didn't tell me what 'it' was but I assume it was important." She held her mouth open for a second, debating what to add. She finally decided on an appropriate conclusion. "I trust John. He trusted me not to follow him."
"Pretty strange that he trusts you when you almost killed him," Sarah shot back.
The machine girl looked down and away and for a moment, Sarah thought she saw the machine look hurt. But it wasn't. Any emotion she, it, showed was just another program. It was some sort of sub-routine or something like that, Sarah knew, which activated when it detected and analyzed the conversation. It was infiltration programming.
"I'm fixed now."
"What does that mean?"
"John knows what it means," Cameron answered with a tilt of her head.
Sarah could just make the outline of a small, almost invisible smile plastered on Cameron's lips which would have been impossible if it were any darker in the room. Sarah wasn't sure what to say.
"John is too trusting of you, of the metal," Sarah said.
"That is a term Derek uses. I am not a 'metal', Sarah," Cameron stated quickly in her defense.
The mother waved it away.
"He's too trusting of you and he's too trusting of Alex. I don't know if you're planning something and if you are, what it is." She put up her hand to stop the girl machine from responding. "I know if Alex wanted John dead he would be dead. That doesn't mean the machine isn't manipulating him for some end with his stories about how my son would use machines, terminators, in the Resistance." She sighed, her breathe almost like a hiss as she exhaled through clenched teeth. "Whatever it is I'll be there to stop it."
"I was in the Resistance, Sarah," Cameron pointed out.
"Captured and reprogrammed."
"John captured me," Cameron answered. "Machines are required to win the war. You would have died at Archway."
Sarah ignored the last sentence. "We'll stop the war before it even begins," Sarah hissed. "We came eight years into the future to stop it. To hunt Skynet."
"Skynet has changed," Cameron said. Alex had told her much more about Skynet than the very brief outline had told John, Derek, and Sarah. Cameron had told Alex to wait on divulging more. But she assumed that is what John was asking of the other machine at this very moment. She knew the machine would listen to John first.
Sarah raised her voice, but kept it soft enough so Derek wouldn't wake. It was soft but firm and commanding. She also stepped closer to the terminator, jabbing her index finger at it.
"We will defeat Skynet. We will destroy it." Her teeth were clenched and Cameron wasn't answering. "Then what do you think we will have to do? Not a single bolt can survive once we defeat Skynet."
Sarah held her ground though she knew she was walking a dangerous line. Her rational mind was howling at her to stop and think about what had just happened at Archway. It was screaming for her to admit, just say aloud, that Judgment Day was inevitable and that the Connors needed help. She had fought too long and sacrificed too much.
It had always been her and John against the world and in the last year, Cameron and Derek had inserted themselves into their team, Alex was here, and Charlie and Ellison were looming in the background.
Rational thought was lost to emotional outrage and a desire for revenge on those who had come in and changed everything. The machines, the people from the future, all of it. They all had their own agendas.
"Every bit and piece and every bolt of terminator we find we will burn. Do you understand?"
She felt a fire fueled by hatred for the machines fueling her thirst to hurt something. What had started as concern over her son's location had grown into a rage against the machines and the terminators which had taken everything from her, starting with Kyle and now alienating her son. She wasn't blind.
"I understand you believe we should burn every bolt." Cameron said.
She felt a strange sensation surging into her neural net processor. It seemed to be an almost dictionary definition of 'insulted.' It was intriguing. Sarah had said worse, implied worse, and John had once said she had no soul, yet she had not felt insulted.
"Do you?" Sarah asked, her eyes narrowed to accuse the machine of duplicity.
"Yes. I understand you believe it is necessary. I will not allow myself to be destroyed."
Sarah could feel and not stop her mouth from opening into a silent gasp at the machine's audacity. Her hands rose to her hips and she attempted a futile stare down of the terminator in the dark.
"You won't allow it," Sarah stated, echoing Cameron's declaration with a patronizing tone. She was almost daring the terminator to contradict her.
Cameron's head cocked. "John is back," she said.
She stepped off and before Sarah could realize it, she was in the room, in the dark by herself, with Cameron going to greet John. She could feel the gulf widening between herself and her son as more people came into their lives and as the fight against Skynet became even more desperate. April 2011 was fifteen months closer than when they had jumped forward and Sarah knew, she knew even if she didn't want to admit it, they were so much further from stopping Judgment Day then they were in 2007.
"John," Cameron smiled. Her face resumed its stoic demeanor immediately after. "Alex," she gave the terminator a head nod in recognition. "Did you find what you were looking for?"
John looked once at Alex and then back to Cameron. "I think so, Cameron. It was important…" he started walking out of the foyer into the living room. "Is everything alright?" He asked when she didn't follow him.
"Yes, everything's good," she answered with a faint smile.
"Is there something else you wanted to tell me?" He asked, sending she was holding back.
"No."
John looked back at Alex and once again at Cameron. Alex seemed to tilt his head in understanding. H excused himself.
"Is everything alright, John?" Cameron asked.
The young general licked his lips and bit down. Yes, everything is alright… more than alright… better than alright, John wanted to say. Even admitting Judgment Day was coming, he had to live this day for what it was worth.
His head swiveled when he heard a door click shut.
"Was someone else up?"
Cameron considered her response. She wanted to say 'no' but couldn't. The machine girl could see something different in how John held himself. He was standing taller, commanding, but at ease. He wasn't tense and apprehensive like he had been. She wanted to smile, but ordered her facial muscle to stay placid.
"Your mother was up for a minute. I told her you had left. She must have gone to bed and not heard us." John went to the hall. "She is very tired, you should let her sleep," Cameron whispered. She was close behind him. "She wants to go and see the Carwin and Wells residency tomorrow. She needs rest."
"Yes… I know… I just wanted to…" he trailed off. I just wanted to thank her, he told himself. He turned to Cameron and was slightly startled at how close she was to him. If she breathed he could have felt her warm breath on his neck. "I um…"
"I need to patrol." Cameron said.
John thought of something else to do. Even if it was chilly, it was a nice night. The condominium complex had a nice, private courtyard.
"I'm not really tired Cameron. I was thinking of sitting outside for a little while. It's a nice, clear night." He grabbed a heavier jacket and walked to the door. He wasn't sure if it would sound lame or be lame, but he hadn't really ever done anything like this before. Even if it did sound lame, he knew Cameron wouldn't judge him for it. "I would like it if you came with me."
||||||||||==San Diego (10 November 8:30 AM)==||||||||||
Michael Trader ran his hand through his close cropped, short hair quickly as he surveyed the damage which had been wrought upon an invaluable Skynet asset.
The terminator corrected himself. Nothing physical was invaluable. Not yet at least. Skynet had the scientists. Information was what mattered in this war in the past. Buildings and labs could be rebuilt.
His head and eyes drifted down and to the left, into the main lobby of this floor and rested upon the covered bodies of dozens of Skynet soldiers- some from the future, some paid mercenaries, their black and bloody boots the only part of them visible from under the black sheets draped over them.
Trader knew it would have only been a matter of time before Tech Com was able to rally and begin sending back forces to counter Skynet.
He shouldn't even have been able to see the lobby from where he was standing, near the center of the lab if one of the walls which separated the lab from lobby were still standing. A small droplet of water suddenly dislodged itself from the ceiling above and landed on Trader's upper left cheek. Background programs in his neural net, and learned reflexes from observing humans, forced an involuntary blink of his eye and he brought his hand up to wipe away the water.
The terminator looked up, studying the offending water puddle forming on the ceiling tiles. Bullet holes were everywhere. This office would have fit perfectly with the ruined landscape of a post-Judgment Day.
A police detective brushed by him, excusing himself as he went to investigate another hole in the wall with a pair of uniformed SDPD officers and a crime scene investigator.
He heard one officer almost vomit when they overturned a set of papers to discover severed, bloodied fingers.
Four blue uniformed San Diego PD officers stood near the elevator, two of them resting their hands on their utility belts and two other jotting down notes as a pair of suits, FBI agents, were dictating to them. He listened in on their conversation from across the floor, as well as the other dozen conversations happening throughout the ruined office.
Feeling a draft he turned and walked to where the window had been shattered and placing his hands on the sill, leaned out. His optical scanners quickly zoomed in towards the pavement below, where a forensic tent was fortunately erected over the remains of the I-950s. The forensic tent also unfortunately meant that Trader would have to retrieve the bodies from the authorities and silence anyone who may have examined them too closely.
This would be difficult. The medical examiner may have to die, Trader considered. Americans were incredibly difficult to bribe. Bribes, the machine thought, were also ineffective. They allowed another to have information. Information was power. He would not allow others to have power over him or Skynet.
For a moment he superimposed the image of a post Judgment Day world with the cityscape of San Diego. The city had held for years under the control of Skynet until Resistance forces and Tech Com commandos has liberated it and hundreds of thousands of prisoners. The machine's head tilted as he looked out past the airport and Point Loma-
"Mr. Trader," he heard from behind him. He turned. The two FBI agents were now in front of him, cautiously keeping their distance. "I think you might want to take a look at this. We were just handed it by one of ours- Samuels, sir."
The agent, a short man in his mid forties, with thin black hair and a receding hairline, handed him a Blackberry. Trader cocked his head and his thumb hit the button to begin the video playback.
His eyes narrowed into a tight line when he watched the video. His facial muscles twitched when he saw the dark haired woman and two other men, in their early and late twenties.
Trader motioned for the two agents to step aside, further back so no one would overhear them. Stepping cautiously in their plastic crime scene booties, the three avoided the blood splatter and areas which had been marked for evidence until they were near the broken window, where a light breeze and quiet hum from the wind would help to drown out their speech.
"This is Sarah Connor," he said, holding the Blackberry so the two could see and pointing.
Both FBI agents exchanged concerned looks.
"This can't be good," the balding one said. "But how did they-"
"There's another machine with them," Trader informed the two. He looked up quickly. "How many researchers did we lose?"
"Um…" the man flipped open his notepad, "three were killed in crossfire but the few others who were here escaped. I have the SDPD out looking for the ones who weren't here and fled before the police cordoned off the building. They're going door to door at the addresses we have on file. We'll find them."
"Yes." The machine commander answered simply. The side of his lip came up ever so subtly when he saw the two Skynet agents shift their weight. They were nervous but were getting better at hiding it.
The taller man asked another question. "Do you want us to move them to another facility?"
"That may not be necessary. Some will quit and some will wish to continue working. We will deal with them later. The three escaped by helicopter… are there any leads?"
"We contacted the FAA but-"
"The helicopter stayed under radar," Trader finished. Machines were excellent pilots.
"There was a report of a low flying helicopter in the Cleveland National Forrest…"
"Thank you," Trader said quietly.
"What do you want us to do with the ME and the Nine-Fifties?" the bald agent asked.
The machine glared at the two. "You are referring to Jack and Logan?"
The taller man nudged the bald one and answered for him. "Yes… sorry… Jack and Logan, what do you want us to do with them?" He said quickly, compensating for his partner.
"Find out what the ME knows and use your discretion. Return the bodies to local headquarters and arrange for transportation to New York." His head tilted when the two kept standing there. "All human operatives will be cremated, per protocol. Is there something else?"
"Sir," the taller one began, "some of us are concerned… who did this?" he gestured behind him. "Sarah Connor couldn't have done all this, I mean, she's good, but not that good. And… and you said there's another machine… two machines now, sir?"
"I said there was another machine with them, gentlemen. The older man in the video," he pointed to Derek, "is similar in appearance to a younger Colonel Derek Reese. The younger man is Captain Alex Planck." Trader held out the phone and the shorter, stockier, balding agent took it and after staring at it, placed it in his pocket.
"Should we look for them?"
Trader nudged a spare bullet casing with his foot and considered the question.
"Do you wish to die?" He asked, still looking down before slowly looking up. The two men awkwardly laughed, unsure what to do. The machine stood there, looking at them both, pressing his stare into them.
"No…" the taller one said. He suppressed a shiver when his eyes made momentary contact with the machine's.
"Then do not look for them," Trader noted. He saw he had made them uneasy. "They have successfully evaded or destroyed multiple terminators. If you begin to…" the corner of his lip flickered, "snoop," the slang felt strange to say, "then they will discover you and they will kill you. Continue doing your jobs and determine what the medical examiner knows. If necessary, kill him or her. Only if necessary. Retrieve Jack and Logan's bodies and destroy any files related to them. You should be able to retrieve them both before an autopsy is performed."
"What about all this?" the tall man said, turning around so he could see the carnage and destruction around him. "We can contain it for a while but FBI, SDPD, and DHS will be all over this. We've already stopped a CNN camera crew and a Fox News crew both with hidden cameras from sneaking up here." He scratched the back of his neck. "There's about fifty news vans outside…"
"You two have been here for over a decade. Think of something plausible to say. Think of something ridiculous yet plausible," Trader told them both, looking at the shorter man then the taller one.
"Yes, sir," the shorter man said, bobbing his head.
Trader pointed at them both.
"This is important. I trust both of you to handle this situation. Prove to me and Skynet your capabilities and contain this. I will take care of the Connors," Trader said, stepping past them, he left the two FBI agents to come up with their own ideas on how to contain this embarrassing situation for Skynet.
The machine had moved quickly to the elevator and stepped on the first going down and positioned himself behind a trio of SDPD detectives who were discussing the case. One thought it was corporate espionage, a second countering that no corporate espionage had been this violent in history ever, and the third just shrugging.
Trader activated his wireless data uplink and contacted Leadership.
"Report," the machine decrypted the incoming signal.
"Sarah Connor and Captain Planck were involved in the attack on the building. A third Tech Com soldier from the future was also involved- analysis indicates it may be an alternate time line Derek Reese. Cameron Philips and General John Connor were most likely in the immediate vicinity," the machine dutifully reported.
"We understand. Your situation is elevated to Red. You may use any means necessary to detain or destroy Captain Planck and Cameron Philips. They are your priorities. If possible, capture the humans. Extreme force is authorized- including risk of discovery if the opportunity presents itself to terminate them," Leadership informed its T-890 field commander. "Capture the two machines if possible."
"With respect, that may be unwise. We risk discovery. We should kill them all at the earliest opportunity."
Trader felt a strange request coming in over his data link, a request to change frequencies and codes. He complied.
"This is David. I am authorizing this, Michael. Your priority is to terminate, preferably capture Captain Planck and Cameron Philips. Discovery is unlikely. Any and all force is to be used. Collateral damage is to be avoided if possible, but is acceptable if necessary."
There was a slight pause in the data transmission.
"We've lost many operatives this week. The loss of Jack and Logan was unfortunate, Michael. Are their neural implants recoverable?"
"No, sir… I attempted to remotely access their neural implants. They were destroyed." Trader responded. "But we are at war. People die in war."
"None of our sacrifices have been in vain. We move closer to implementation every day… relay my orders, Michael."
The T-890 infiltrator, Skynet machine, and temporal soldier hesitated a mere nanosecond before responding. It was assured Leadership, and David, would detect the delay.
"Yes, sir."
David closed the data link and left Trader by himself with three other detectives in the Archway building elevator. He relayed the orders. Machines always had difficulty with intuition and what humans termed 'gut feelings.' Trader understood this and accepted it as an unchangeable flaw and did not concern himself with it. However, the errant electrical signals which he could not classify felt strangely like what humans would call a 'bad feeling' about those orders.
||||||||||==San Diego County (10 November, Mid-Morning)==||||||||||
Peter Carwin and Sam Wells were both in their own, separate worlds and quite content to remain there and away from the hell which was rapidly becoming their reality. Pete was pacing back in forth in the plain, dank concrete holding room while Sam sat quietly on a metal framed cot which had been propped in the corner.
They both looked up and stopped their brooding when they heard the click of a lock disengaged and the loud squeak of the metal door opening.
A man of average height walked in, wearing fatigues in a gray digital camouflage pattern. His boots were dusty and his hands were dirty, and visible grime was under the finger nails. He coughed once, then wiped his hands on the side of his pant legs.
Still ignoring the two scientists he took out a smart phone and looked at something. What it was, Sam and Pete were not sure.
"Good morning, gentlemen," the man began, letting the door open and squeak to a stop as the man stepped to the side. "Do you two need anything?" He asked, looking briefly at Pete before turning his attention to Sam. He pointed at Sam and then Pete. "You've been sitting on that bed for hours, and you've been pacing. You should sit down. Relax," he recommended.
"Who are you?" Sam asked him, his voice muffled with his face buried in his palms. He looked up, his eyes red. "What do you want? Where are we?"
The man stepped forward and crossed his arms. While he seemed somewhat relaxed, his stance showed he was cautious.
"Not so many questions, please." He smiled faintly. "I take it the renegades didn't explain much to you?" He nodded an affirmative to his own question and snickered. "I'm not surprised. They don't trust too readily… ironic," he laughed, "considering they're traitors to both sides." He sighed. "How rude… I'm Henry Cuvier." He dusted off his dirty hand and extended it knowing the two would ignore it. "I understand."
"What is this?" Sam asked, staring at the man's hand and pointing at his uniform.
"Oh, this?" he tapped his chest, assuming they were referring to his uniform. "I was out training. Even with the operations against the Renegades, our training never ceases. There is a war on, after all," he informed them both in a matter-of-fact tone. It wasn't the exact truth, but it was close enough. "And unfortunately there was an attack on one of our facilities… your old office, so they recalled everyone in the region to HQ." He smiled. "That's where you are now. You're at our regional headquarters."
"And where is that?" Pete spat out.
"Let's assume San Diego."
Sam closed his eyes and sat back down. "I don't understand this… we're kidnapped once then you go in and murder them and kidnap us? How many have you killed and how many have died over… what… what is this?" He spread his hands out, palms up, confused.
"How many did I kill in the attack? None. Them?" He jabbed his thumb over his shoulder towards the open door. "Quite a bit… and most of them were machines," he grinned.
"Machines," Pete repeated quietly under his breath, looking down and thinking.
"Yes, machines. Terminators, they're called," Henry said. "Originally developed for the US and NATO militaries as tracked, intelligent, unmanned combat vehicles and later into bipedal machines for counter-insurgency operations in urban environments."
Pete cupped his head in his hands and moaned. Whatever he said was inaudible.
"No... you can't develop something like them. The technology doesn't exist," Pete said.
"Not yet, no," Cuvier admitted. "I also said 'originally developed'... much more crude and blocky and slower... but I'm not exactly sure what that means or which past they are referring to," he shrugged, "they tell us what we need to know. Now," he emphasized, changing the subject, "I'm here to answer your questions. Unfortunately my commander had other business to attend to. I was told you two have not been eating?" He shook his head and calmly took another step forward. "If you do not eat, we will have to feed you intravenously." He looked at them both, his eyes showing his disappointment and trying to convey some compassion to them both.
Cuvier reached into his pocket, Pete stepped back and Sam tensed. The Skynet soldier rolled his eyes and pulled out half a dozen assorted protein bars and tossed them next to Sam on the bed.
"You all are psychopaths," Pete stated, holding his ground.
"No, I can guarantee I am not a psychopath… at least that's what Skynet told me. You see, it tried that once… recruiting psychopaths- people who loved to hurt others, dominate them and make them hurt." He said it with obvious disgust. "The problem is those people are unpredictable. They resort to violence when violence isn't necessary and they tend to be unprofessional. They fight only for themselves and nothing else. Violence can only be answered with violence, gentlemen. Back a dog into a corner it fights. Give it a nice cut of meat and it's your friend."
Henry looked out the corner of his eye and with a grin chuckled at the thought he had just compared himself to a dog.
Sam looked up and pushed himself off the bed. "Skynet?" He stood next to Pete and had ignored the rest of Cuvier's grandstanding. "Pete, I know that name from somewhere."
"It was the codename for Miles Dyson's AI project for the American and NATO military commands," Henry explained, helping jar Sam's memory.
"Dyson?" Sam repeated, rubbing his chin. "No. He died, he was murdered eleven years ago by some… some… crazy woman, something Connor. I remember. I went to his funeral."
"Sarah Connor. She was deemed mentally unstable after blowing up a computer factory in the early nineties," Pete filled in for Sam. The scientist focused on the soldier standing mere feet from him. "I had a… friend… in the LAPD. He told me Sarah Connor believed machines, AIs, would hijack our nuclear arsenal, start a nuclear war, and then hunt humanity to extinction. Skynet."
Henry flipped his right hand over, palm up and then palm down as a gesture that Pete was correct.
"Yes, Project Skynet was going to integrate the US and NATO militaries into a seamless technology masterpiece. It was going to be the start of a military which would become progressively more automated, robotic. It would remove the human element from war." Cuvier folded his arms and waited for the two scientists to respond. "It's ironic if you think about it. A war fought by robots means you remove the human suffering... from your own side and thus... eliminate a major hurdle to war. In effect you make war much, much simpler and easier for you to wage on others less fortunate to not possess a robotic army."
He gave them a minute before restarting. "Our commander told me to be honest with you. You will know what they know," Cuvier said. Sam and Pete were visibly confused as to whom Cuvier was referring with his 'they know' statement. "So I will start. Like I said, I'm Henry Cuvier, born on March Fifth of 2004." He paused there on purpose.
"Born in March… four years ago?" Pete echoed. "That's impossible."
Henry grinned. "No, not really," he shook his head. "After Judgment Day I spent time hiding- mainly in the mountains. Can you imagine what it was like to watch the sky burn?" He looked to the side. "You see the launches of hundreds of ballistic missiles and of course, being seven years old you have no idea what they are. It's like they were fireworks… I didn't know," he grunted. Looking back at them suddenly he waved the thought away with a swipe of his dirtied hand. "The machines who captured you the first time and the ones I work for are from the future. I am, too, by the way. You two laid the foundation."
"Impossible. It would take centuries to-"
"Impossible?" Cuvier interrupted; curious they would cling to such absolutes. "Impossible…" he echoed, "yet you were kept in the company of a machine which looked and felt completely human and you were none the wiser. The advances which will be made by AI in the next twenty-five years… humanity went from the Wright brothers flying their first primitive plane to the moon in sixty years. Why is it so difficult to believe that with such an AI time cannot be manipulated?"
"No," Pete made a swiping motion with his hand. "No," he affirmed. "I will not work for Skynet, not for you, not for whomever it was Vansen worked for. None of you. None. No one. You do the Devil's work."
Henry sighed, biting down on his lower lip, he cupped his chin and nodded. "I understand. Excuse me."
He walked out, leaving the two scientists alone, and returned quickly.
"You have to understand, Dr. Wells, Dr. Carwin, that your past lives are over. The reason you are talking to me and not a machine is because they thought you may be more responsive." He paused. "I understand you do not want to help us and I understand you would be confused as to why I would work for Skynet- even though you still know very little about it or its motivations. I don't know what you know about what Sarah Connor said about us. Assume that it was true. Things change and the future does not have to be like Sarah Connor predicted it would be."
"I know those… 'renegades' or whatever you call them were evil… why did they even rebel against you?" Sam asked. He held up his hand. "I don't care to know because it doesn't matter. Less evil or more evil, it is still evil."
The Skynet soldier nodded and waited until Sam had finished. "Dr. Wells. I heard far worse when I was imprisoned and taken as a POW by the Resistance. Skynet… our enemies will tell you Skynet uses its human soldiers and casts them aside," he flicked his wrist. "I've been rescued by its machines four times. Twice here in the past and twice in what you would call the future." He held up his index finger to make one final point. "But like I said, your past lives are over. You will work for us. The ones who attacked at your offices will be looking for you… we expect them to find you, at some point." He snickered. "They always do. They're lucky like that."
"What are you talking about?" asked Sam.
"The machines who abducted you are not our only enemies in this war. Just like I work for the machines, some machines have sworn loyalty to the… I want to 'human' side, but that would make me a traitor to my species, wouldn't it?" He looked up again from the corner of his eyes and slightly grinning, nodded a 'yes' to his question. "So let's say there is Skynet and there is the Resistance. Some machines have sworn loyalty to the Resistance. Some have formed their own faction." Henry turned around. "Three sides," he said. Looking out the door he yelled for someone else to 'bring them in.'
The two scientists watched as a second man, in ACUs escorted two men into the room. Sam and Pete couldn't speak or move as they stared at the two men, who looked exactly like them.
"Sam Wells, Peter Carwin… meet you," Henry said, smiling.
AN: I apologize with this taking longer than I thought it would. Chapter 11 was supposed to be something entirely different, but I added one scene and then added four more. The story needed a bit more John and Cameron.
Henry Cuvier is probably going to be the main Gray in the story. I hope everyone got the impression Trader values those who serve under him. That is part of the 'new' Skynet. Skynet is still utterly ruthless, but I want to change it to something I consider a bit more sinister and hope that's working.
Thank you for the reviews and those who added this to favorite/alerts, I very much appreciate it.
Chapter 12 should come much more quickly and it will have some good action in it.
Thank you for reading, please review.
