Episode 214 – Thirteen Terabytes

John was now back in the Zeira building labs, stepping out of the TARPE and collecting his clothes so that he could change out of the bio-suit. He stared at Cameron, remembering everything he'd felt before turning to watch technicians go over the suit and begin plugging in a data cable at a port in the back armor.

Finally changed, John walked back over to the metal frame of the suit, so caught up in it that he was surprised when he heard John Henry. "You were able to generate thirteen Terabytes of combat data, including audio/visual records. We can use this to assess the prototype Mark III's potential."

He'd nearly chuckled at the irony. He'd felt so many emotions, yet it was only thirteen Terabytes to them. "Since I'm already registered, I guess this one's mine, huh?"

"Yes, that will be an honor we'll bestow upon you. We're preparing several new modular load-outs which you can try in further trials."

"What kind?"

"We've experimented with creating an automated folding and unfolding system of a .50 caliber rifle with explosive shells that can swivel and become a powerful shoulder mounted weapon. Once empty, it can be dumped as a pack and forgotten about. There is a similar system being prepared for a Javelin missile launcher."

"One of those micro-missile launchers packed a huge punch."

"We're creating a forearm mounted array which is going to expand the number of missiles you can carry and launch."

"Good. We'll need this, in the future."

"Then you're convinced we can't stop it?"

"Maybe, maybe not. Do we have any targets at all?"

"I've been tracking data on CRS, and they've lost the contract and have moved onto what they think are bigger and better things. They're now focusing on cybernetic integration with the human body."

"It could still be a threat."

"Unlikely. They have little to no research on the subject. It's doubtful they'll invent anything of use before Judgment Day. Though, they have enlisted the help of an LA Prison Inmate to assist in their trials of cybernetic implants in the human body. He really has no choice in the matter, facing the death sentence. His name is Marcus Wright, and I suggest you talk to him sometime, try to get some sense of how far CRS has advanced their research in this area."

"Anything else?"

"I've discovered a company named the Massive Technological Corporation. They've created a useful fusion reactor, and have discovered that it's easy to miniaturize it. I've also been able to uncover limited files on their development of combat drones, using a Quantum Processor known as a Blue Box. It functions similarly to a QCP, only it's a large cube, similar to a desktop computer tower."

"Will it become Skynet?"

"I don't know."

"Okay, then how would we go about this?"

Cameron was now examining the suit herself, when it donned on her. "Use this. Again. Break in. We have to be aggressive, John."

Sarah shook her head in disagreement. "No, now's not the time. The risk of loss is too high. You could kill innocent people."

One of the techs began to remove the arm unit of the machine in order to reload the missile and replace a malfunctioning servo, and he gave Sarah an idea while he worked on it. "I can begin equipping non-lethal weaponry. In this arm, we can replace the missile launcher with a TASER device. The Fluid and Pneumatic levels can be adjusted by the suit AI for non-lethality."

John Henry nodded slightly and a wireframe hologram appeared over a central table in the large lab. "This is a layout of their building. Cameron can enter here," A red circle marker appeared near the lobby entrance. "And cause a distraction while John enters through the back alleyway in order to make it to their labs. You must wait for the alarms to go off beforehand, so guard attention will be diverted."

"Wait, why assault the place? How do we know they're doing what we don't want them to?"

Sarah grunted slightly. "John, that Blue Box thing, it can power Skynet. It can be Skynet. We have to stomp it out."

"Wait, does this place give tours? Some tech companies give tours."

John Henry nodded and caused a date and time display, the tour schedule, to appear over the building. "Tomorrow, from noon to 5 PM..."

"Okay, we can tour the place, get a handle on the situation, their tech, and we can form a plan for assault or infiltration after that, based on what we learn. Cameron, you go in. Try to take restroom breaks often or otherwise be alone so you can feed us intel via an ear wig." Sarah pulled one out of her purse and showed it to her. "Fresh batteries."

John Henry changed the hologram to a wireframe of one of their vans. "This is equipped with a technological espionage and electronic countermeasures suite, along with bullet resistant ablative armor. Disguised as cable TV installation van, we can remain relatively unnoticed."

John pressed a holographic key which caused the entire display to close and began heading toward the door. "We need to rest up. Come on."

John stood beside Cameron as they waited for the elevator. Sarah lingered a few feet down the hall. "Were you lying to me?"

"What do you mean?"

"You kept the endo parts, before. Do you remember?"

"I remember everything."

"Good. You wouldn't tell me why. You just told me that I told you to do so, in the future."

"Yes."

He sighed and paused for a second to think. "Was this why? To make these suits?"

"I don't know."

"You... Don't know?"

"You didn't tell me. I think Derek was supposed to know."

"But don't I trust you more than him?"

"I don't know." There was a ding as the elevator doors slid open, and they all entered it.

At home, John stood in the kitchen, piling ham, cheese, ham, and then more cheese on to bread before sliding it in the microwave above the stove. Sarah entered right as he closed it. "Hey, what are you eating?"

"Oh, ham and cheese sandwich."

"Don't want any real dinner?"

"Nah, this is okay."

"What was that about, earlier? In front of the elevator?"

He chuckled and ran his hand through his hair as the microwave beeped. He didn't open it yet, but turned toward Sarah. "Nothing."

"Nothing? John, it wasn't nothing..."

"No, it was nothing."

"Do you love her?" He was silent. "John, I need to know if you..."

"Yes, mom. I do."

"But does she love you? Can she?"

"I do." Sarah turned around to see Cameron standing at the kitchen entrance. "I can. John, you need a carbohydrate that makes up at least fifteen percent of your daily allowance. I can make you something."

Sarah chuckled and John looked at her awkwardly. "What's funny?"

"Nothing. I heard that in a dream, once."

"Weird thing to hear in a dream."

"Weird dream."

"Yeah, I bet."

"Come on. Let's go eat. I know a nice place."

"Mom, it's fine." He began to grab the sandwich, but she took the plate and dumped its contents into the trash can.

"You need good food."

"Okay. If you're buying."

"No, someone else is."

"Who?"

"You'll see."

They'd arrived at a diner, one John wouldn't know but one Sarah remembers, the one at which she'd worked before she met Kyle, all of those years ago.

Inside, they saw Eric Wilson at a table and sat down with him as he waved them over.

Eric laid a folder down on the table and John sighed. "Mom, Skynet stuff now? Why?"

"John. Skynet's always there. So we're always working."

John slid in beside Cameron opposite of Eric and Sarah, as John began checking out the file. "What is this? Group intelligence? It doesn't sound anything like Skynet."

Cameron corrected him. "That's how Skynet works. The more drones it produces, the smarter and more powerful it is. Skynet and the drones share processing power, at least before the T-800 series."

"What does this mean?"

"Six T-600s grouped together are smarter than one. The optimal number for human level intelligence is 157. The connection to each other only works over a few kilometers. The connection to Skynet is nearly worldwide through use of GPS Satellites."

"Wait, it sounds like you're saying Skynet can't even function without drones?"

"Barely."

"So, is that why the metal in the warehouse was stockpiling the endos?"

"I don't know. It's possible."

Sarah scratched her head as she looked at the menu. "Great, more tech stuff I don't know."

The waitress walked up beside Sarah. "Is everyone ready to order."

Sarah nodded. "I am. Don't know about them."

The young woman brought her pen up to a notepad. "What would you like?"

"Number 6, with fries."

"And to drink?"

"Water."

"Okay. I'll be right back with your order, and when you guys are ready, just let me know."

Sarah nodded as the woman walked away. "Nice. Reminds me of me."

Eric put his hand on Sarah's shoulder gently. "I need to go to the bathroom."

"I'll let you out."

He strode off to the restroom and left the other three alone. John looked at Cameron as something came to mind. "Where's Geller?"

"I'm not sure. He had a lead."

Suddenly, John's phone rang and the caller ID said that it was Geller. "Hey, Geller?"

"I'm chasing a Trip Eight. Where are you?"

"In my mom's old diner."

"Hamburger guy out front?"

"Yeah, why?"

"Metal's coming your way. Stay low."

Outside, a machine using the 101 skin template strode toward the diner, scanning through his sunglasses and into the walls, getting a thermal map of the area. He could see the heat outline of every one inside and was prepared. An indicator locked onto the signal of John's phone, as he was still on the line.

Suddenly, the door went flying across the room, its glass shattering and several waitresses dropped over, dead. John ducked down under the table of the booth and Cameron confronted the machine.

"John Connor is here." Its thick accent filled the air and it pointed its handgun at Cameron. "Where?"

She didn't say anything and instead took the rest of the machine's magazine into her chest as she dived at him, pinning him to the ground. Quickly, John and Sarah headed off to the kitchen, which she was sure had an emergency exit. They'd almost gotten to it when Cameron was sent flying through the wall, barely avoiding the hot stove surface.

She rose up, blocking the machine from chasing after John and Sarah as they shoved open the emergency door, triggering the loud alarm.

They ran for the vehicle and piled in, driving off. "Mom! Cameron?"

"Leave her."

"What, mom? No, we have to go back!" He saw her turn down a street and was confused. "Where are you going?"

"Zeira... We have to save Cameron, John. You get in that thing and help her!"

He dialed John Henry's number. "I need the suit ready. Quick!"

By the time they'd arrived and were in the basement, the suit was prepared and the inner bio-suit lain out, ready for John to put it on. He rushed into the bathroom, quickly coming out and placing himself inside of the machine, activating it as he pulled his fists in.

Once the mask was on, he forced it to dash to the stairs and was quickly outside.

Though, by the time he'd arrived at the diner once again, the battle was just wrapping up. In the parking lot, the 101 was being stabbed through the chest by... A machine posing as a female Naval Commander.

Eric stared at her in awe. "Commander Larson?"

The suit's systems scanned her in great detail, providing a quick tactical assessment. After the body of the machine dropped, the Commander took on a silver sheen, changing shape and color, becoming Catherine Weaver.

John shook his head as his words came through the suit's speakers. "But you're vapor. I watched you get blasted away!"

She smirked and looked at Cameron, who was just now rising off of the ground. Sarah had no reaction, as she hadn't seen what they saw that day. "Wait, you were dead?"

"No, Ms. Connor. They thought I was."

John pointed at her and activated the missile systems. "I want answers, now."

"I did it for John Henry. I thought he was ready for my job, so I resigned."

"You call being blown apart resigning? How did you survive?"

"I set the bomb on a timer and hid it before the machine arrived. I gave it a fight enough to knock it out for one hundred and twenty seconds and then escaped into a tunnel network underneath the building. I believe it will be a Resistance hideout in the future."

John lowered his arm, deactivating the missile system. "That's good enough."

"I see the suits are a success."

"They work just fine. We need to get back to the lab. I'm sure John Henry and Ellison will want to know you've survived."

It was now later in the day, as the sun had already begun to set when they arrived back at the lab. The technicians were removing John from the suit and downloading the small amount of data it had accrued as he left to get dressed.

When John walked back into the room, Weaver was examining a holographic display which showed their plans for the next day. "There is no need for this."

"Why?"

"I've been there. Acting as a military officer, the form you saw me in earlier."

"And?"

"It would be a waste of time to investigate them any further."

"But now we're out of leads."

"Maybe. Maybe now all we can do is wait."

"For it? For Judgment Day?" He picked up a piece of the suit which was on the table and absentmindedly fiddled around with it. "I won't accept that. I can't. There has to be something we can do. Some way to prepare better."

"We're working on a special contingency plan. I hope we won't have to use it."

"What is it?"

"No one can know. Not even you. It would jeopardize the entire operation."

"Are you planning something big? Because if you are, I need to know."

"You think we can plan something bigger than Perfect Metal? You have an abundance of confidence in my company, Mr. Connor."

"Not your company. John Henry's. You resigned, remember?"

"True. May I assume that you remember the destruction of Skynet Central?"

"Yeah. Vividly."

"Do you remember anything specific about that place?"

"No one was there."

"And why do you think that is?"

"Are you saying it was automated? By Skynet?"

"That is precisely what I'm saying."

"But why was there a break room? There was food, everything."

"It's possible Skynet had infiltration units stationed there, and they would need to keep up appearances in the event of a human visitor."

"Well that makes sense. But I blew the place, so what does it matter now?"

"Everything, Mr. Connor. Everything."

"What do you mean?"

"You'll see, in time." She grabbed the piece from his hands and sat it back down on the table. "Go home. We'll inform you of anything you need to know."

"I need to know it all."

"And you will."

John simply nodded and stepped out of the room, finding Sarah and Cameron in the hall. He grabbed Cameron's hand as they headed to the elevator.

They needed to be prepared, and the first step was to find rest.