Terminator: Resistance

Chapter Thirty Two: The Observatory

Assembled outside in front of the bunker's main entrance, Rivers and the other soldiers of South Division were all geared up and ready to go while Baron gave them a pre-battle pep talk… however, the Sergeant's mind was on other things at the moment. Not that the Commander's speech wasn't great, full of the usual things about Judgement Day happening because Skynet perceived humanity as a threat and now its prediction was about to come true, but he couldn't stop thinking about what happened a short time before with Jennifer, and… and wondering if he had made the right choice.

Okay, it wasn't like he intended to go in there and sleep with the young woman, it just kind of happened, you know? Everything started off normal enough, with Rivers prepared to give her the full speech about how she needed to take Patrick and leave the bunker as quickly as possible, not that he even had a concrete reason. However, five words hadn't even been spoken when it was Jennifer that made the first move, coming forward and kissing him, and then, well… things intensified, clothes were removed… trying their best to keep quiet… and then it became really awkward to ask her to leave.

At first the young woman thought he was kicking her out, but thankfully the Sergeant was able to diffuse that situation before it got bad, he just had a really bad feeling and wanted to make sure that she was safe. Jennifer didn't like the idea of leaving and finding a place to hide while Ryan and Erin stayed behind to do their part for the war effort, but the young woman also understood that Rivers had a really important job to do, and that his life would have been in even more danger if he was worried about her and Patrick instead of focusing on the mission… so she agreed to take her little brother and leave.

Expecting at first to get that sinking feeling like when Erin and Ryan refused, the Sergeant felt like a massive weight had been lifted off his shoulders, filling him with a sensation of relief that seemed to pass through his whole body like a wave. This feeling told him that this was the right choice, but… there was still doubt, even after seeing the two of them sneak off right before the briefing outside… I mean, what if Skynet found them? What if the Annihilation Line started moving again and they were hiding in some old restaurant instead of the bunker when those… those flame Terminators came through?

No time to worry about that now, since Baron's speech was over and now Rivers found himself leading dozens of men and women on a forced march toward the location of Skynet's core. No helicopters or trucks, this was a stealth advance on foot which lasted several hours, leading them into yet another ruined district of another ruined city. The signs were destroyed, so the Sergeant wasn't sure which of the old cities that they were even walking into, but there was something else going on… among the ruins, the university observatory was standing tall, undamaged by the fires of Judgement Day, and… and it was quiet.

Ordering his soldiers to spread out so that the machines wouldn't see them coming, everyone moved from cover to cover, staying low and keeping their new violet plasma rifles ready, but so far they had encountered no resistance. The streets were partially illuminated by the few remaining light poles that hadn't been destroyed, so the city had power, and that usually only happened when Skynet needed to use the main systems for something. However, there were no HK's patrolling, nor flying above, and when Rivers held up his hand for everyone to stop so that he could listen… there weren't even the mechanical footsteps of a T-800.

"I don't get it." He said quietly. "The observatory's right there, so… why aren't they attacking? Is Skynet trying to make us think we've got the wrong place? Can the machines even think like that?"

"Movement!" Another soldier called out. "Two hundred meters dead ahead… at the gate!"

Readying their weapons and advancing toward the possible threat, the first thing the Sergeant saw was a large metal fence that seemed to go all the way around the visible part of the campus… Skynet design by the look of it… and at the gate was a lone figure who had his back to them. A hooded figure wearing a mask over his nose and mouth, who was… what the hell was he doing? After staying in the shadows and being mysterious as hell for the past few months, why would the Strange come out of hiding now in front of all these Resistance soldiers?

Some of his men were worried that this was another Infiltrator unit, and were surprised when the Sergeant ordered them to stand down. This time, however, instead of giving a cryptic warning and vanishing into the night, the hooded man explained that even though he wasn't supposed to interfere, he just couldn't help himself. He said something about this being a historic moment, and that he needed to be there to see it, but… but then he warned Rivers that once the gate was opened Skynet was going to fight back with full force. After all, its mainframe was in there, and the machines weren't just going to let them hit the shutdown button.

"All right, everyone get ready." The Sergeant said as the Stranger prepared to open the gate. "Let's do this."

Pulling the final wire on the lock that he had been messing with, the hooded man dropped to the ground, aiming his own violet plasma rifle into what was left of the campus as the gate slid open on its rusted track. Rivers and his soldiers did the same, some of them taking covered positions on both sides of the gate while others charged through in an attempt to take the machines by surprise, but… nothing happened. Even after breeching a Skynet barrier and charging through with dozens of soldiers, there was no activity from the machines at all, and… and, actually there were no machines present, at least none that any of them could see.

The Sergeant had expected for there to be a dozen grounded HK Aerials and about a hundred T-800s on standby in case of an attack, but this place was literally empty in all directions. Ruined buildings, random bones of people killed on Judgement Day that hadn't been crushed or buried by debris yet, but no HK's or Terminators, and not even a token force of Drones or Scout Walkers. Rivers turned to ask the Stranger about this, but for once the hooded man seemed just as confused as everyone else. He muttered something about this not making sense, and yeah, it really didn't, but then the Stranger took off running toward the observatory.

"Everyone take defensive positions!" Rivers yelled, running after him. "Hey, wait, where are you going?!"

Instead of answering, the hooded man just ran up to the observatory building, visibly startled that there was just an empty slot where a complicated lock might have once been installed, and then slowly pulled open one of the heavy metal doors. There was power inside the building, just like on the campus and streets surrounding it, revealing a wide, slowly spiraling staircase that went down. Keeping his weapon raised, the Stranger headed down, sounding like this whole situation was starting to make him panic, but so far there was no danger… no turrets, no machines… at all… period.

"Hey, relax, it's all right." The Sergeant said after catching up with him. "We just got some bad intelligence, it happens a lot, actually."

"Not about this, it doesn't!" The hooded man snapped as they reached the concrete floor of the basement. "You don't understand, Jacob, this is the place. This is exactly where Skynet's mainframe was stored, so why weren't there a dozen HK Tanks waiting for us up there?"

Rivers had to admit that he didn't know the answer, nor did he understand how the Stranger could have known so much about this place. Still, they hadn't even seen an old model T-600 around, and no one was calling in any threats from topside, so the Sergeant followed him onward, turning down a darkened hallway, and then pulling open one final door to reveal a massive chamber where… where there was nothing to be found. Brightly lit and covered with heavy power conduits and cables that spanned the floor like snakes, there was a raised position where something big could have once been mounted, but as of right now the place was empty.

"They… they moved it?" The Stranger asked in disbelief. "But how could… oh no… oh no, the Infiltrator. Oh shit, that's why it didn't go after you right away, oh God how could I be so stupid? Don't you see, it must have told them you knew where it was!"

Rivers only had about a hundred questions about this latest ranting, but the hooded man ignored him, instead going over to some of wall panel and messing with the controls. He said that the move must have been recent because this place was still online for the moment, but then the Sergeant was interrupted by a radio call from up on the surface. At first he thought that signal was bad because of the walls in this place, but then it felt like the bottom fell out of his stomach when he realized that it wasn't static in the background… but explosions.

"Something's wrong, we gotta get back up there!" Rivers shouted. "Come on, let's go!"

"No, this is more important!" The Stranger yelled back. "This terminal is still online, so it might be still connected residually to the mainframe, and… yes!"

Ejecting something from the bottom of the terminal, the hooded man ran up to the Sergeant and told him that no matter what happens this data storage unit had to get to John Conner, before pushing it into his hands. With no time to question what it was, Rivers turned around and ran back down the hallway just as the building started to shake, almost losing his balance while running up the stairs, and then reaching the surface just in time to see six of his soldiers go flying in different directions when a rocket struck their position. The others were scattered around the campus, violet plasma fire going back and forth as they exchanged fire with the enemy, but they were no match.

So, what was it that Skynet sent there to ambush them? HK Tanks? Aerials? A whole T-800 battle group? No, it was just a single unit… a shiny metal one that towered over the battlefield as it slowly walked on its two legs… and no mercy shown from its cannons. He had seen this monstrosity before, on his return trip to Pasadena… the walking HK thing that would have destroyed him if he hadn't taken shelter in Jennifer's house… and now it was launching a rocket right toward where he and the hooded man were standing.