CHAPTER 32: "AUSTRALIA (PART 1)"

Saturday, March 28, 2009 – 03:15 pm (local time)

Glendale

There was an awkward, tense atmosphere in the Gordon home. The children had been sent to their rooms and now Jayde Gordon, Aaron Gordon, and Victor Green on one side of the room were facing Zoe Kruger, Steve Goldman, and the girl they clearly recognized as Riley on the other. The blonde teenager looked massively uncomfortable, as if she was extremely embarrassed by the whole situation.

"This is unexpected," Green finally commented while Jayde and Aaron remained speechless.

"I can understand your surprise and confusion," Zoe replied. "But I suppose this is the only way to convince you that Riley is fine and that you don't need to look for her anymore."

"I assume you have questions," Steve Goldman said and pulled a transparent plastic envelope out of his jacket, "and we're prepared to answer them. But before we can do that, you must all sign these non-disclosure agreements."

"What?" Green exclaimed. "You gotta be kidding me. This is hardly a state secret."

"Mr. Green," Zoe said coldly, "I have no doubt that you know who I am and what I represent. I also have no doubt that you know the laws concerning cyborg activities."

"Yeah, but…"

"Any suspicion of cyborg activity must be reported to the authorities immediately. Unauthorized investigations are strictly forbidden in the interest of public safety."

"Now wait a minute…"

"This is necessary because people like you don't have the slightest idea what they're getting into when they go after cyborgs on their own. By snooping around, you've put yourself and the Gordons in a potentially life-threatening situation."

"You've got no proof that I participated in any kind of investigation into cyborg activities," Green stated sternly.

"My people have been shadowing you in the past days," Zoe replied unfazed, "we know where you've been and who you've talked to. Also, in cooperation with the local FBI., we've bugged your apartment, your office, this house here, and tapped all your phones. We know what you've been talking about."

The Gordons and Victor Green just looked at her with gaping mouths.

"You did what?" Aaron Gordon asked. "You have no right to..."

"We have all the rights," Zoe interrupted him harshly. "You, however, have no idea what you're dealing with."

"Sign the non-disclosure agreement," Steve said more friendly than her, "then we can talk. If you refuse, we'd have to take you with us and question you separately at the FBI headquarters."

Everyone could tell that both Zoe and Steve were serious and didn't make an empty threat.

"You can't do that," Aaron said in an effort to sound confident.

"Actually, we can," Steve stated. "But I was able to convince Ms. Kruger here that we should talk to you first. I think you deserve an explanation. But only after you signed the non-disclosure agreements."

"No, no, no, I won't accept that," Aaron said. "I'm not going to be put under pressure by you like that."

"You can't simply arrest us!" Jayde added. "Looking for a missing person isn't a crime!"

"Mr. Green," Zoe said and looked directly at the private investigator, "you certainly know the current law on anything involving cyborgs. Would you please confirm to Mr. and Mrs. Gordon that I can arrest you here and now?"

Green made a sour face.

"She can," he admitted grudgingly, "the cyborg act gives her the right. Even the smallest suspicion is enough. There are still lawsuits against it pending before the Supreme Court, but they're given little chance. The C.S.I.S. is accountable only to the President of the United States."

"Well then," Steve said and walked over to the desk, spreading the sheets of paper on it as well as putting a pen next to them, "now that that's been cleared, please sign here, here, and here."

"And if we don't?" Aaron asked stubbornly.

Steve sighed.

"Then we'll arrest you, charge you and take you to court. You may not be convicted, but you will lose your status as foster parents for your orphans for the time being. Mr. Green will probably also lose his license as a private investigator. In any case, this private investigation is hereby terminated."

"That's blackmailing!" Aaron exclaimed with indignation.

"No, it's the law," Zoe argued, then took a breath and sighed. "Listen, I know we're playing a tough game here. But we're offering you a possibility to avoid any severe consequences. Do as we say. And after you heard what we have to say, you maybe will understand why we need to be this strict."

"You can't really pull this through," Green stated. "All I did, was investigating the disappearance of a girl."

"But you stumbled upon more than you had expected. And instead of contacting us, you decided to continue on your own out of sheer curiosity. Just before we rang your doorbell, you three agreed to continue the investigation although it was clear that cyborgs might be involved. Would you like to play us the recording of your conversation?"

Green didn't reply to that anymore.

"Subscribe," Zoe continued. "get to know the truth and remain free, or don't, get arrested and remain ignorant. In any case, we will not tolerate any further investigations into the matter. Am I being absolutely crystal clear?"

"Don't you want to know what this is really about?" Steve added in a friendlier tone. "Or are you willing to forego that knowledge for the sake of your principles and accept personal disadvantage instead? Do you really have to think about it?"

Green was about to reply something in a sharp tone, but then changed his mind. Jayde Gordon had been staring at Riley the whole time, watching how the girl nervously stood in place, trying to avoid any eye contact.

"Are you all right?" she asked softly. "How've you been?"

"I'm fine," Riley replied. "Please, do as they say. You have no idea what they can do to you and your lives."

"Oh, for God's sake," Aaron exclaimed, stepped forward, grabbed the pen, and signed the non-disclosure agreement.

Then he passed the pen to his wife. Hesitantly, Jayde took it and signed as well.

"Mr. Green?" Steve asked.

You could see that he didn't like being pressured like that at all. He felt as if he had been steamrolled and couldn't think straight. He knew that these weren't empty threats. They'd make his life a living hell if he didn't cooperate, that much was clear. Government agencies like the C.S.I.S. had the means, the power, and weren't afraid to use both. Sure, one could always try to fight against it, sue them even. But would that lead to anything? Gritting his teeth and visibly angered, he grabbed the pen and signed as well.

"Excellent," Zoe said with a smile, suddenly overly friendly. "Steve, you and Riley can leave now. I'll handle this."

"As you wish."

Steve and the girl made moves to leave.

"Wait, what?" Aaron asked. "Won't you let us talk to her?"

"You've seen her now," Zoe said, "you know she's okay. By coming here, she risked her life. Now she needs to get back into witness protection."

"Witness protection?" Green exclaimed. "What the…?"

Before anyone could utter more protest, Steve and the teenage girl left the room. In the doorway, the young blonde turned around again and waved at them.

"I'm sorry," she said, looking sad, "for everything."

Then the two left the house. The Gordons felt completely caught off guard.

"I suggest we sit down," Zoe said. "There's a lot we need to talk about."

Outside, the girl who looked like Riley and Steve entered his car and then drove away.

"Well," he said, "that went better than expected."

"You mustn't give them time to think, that's the secret of intimidation," she replied while reshaping as Tess with her voice changing through the transformation. "I had to leave again before they could get the idea to ask me things that only Riley could have answered."

"To be perfectly honest, I'm still a little shocked, too. I didn't know that besides Catherine there was another one of her kind. And I didn't even know that this 'Colony' of yours even existed the day before yesterday."

Tess smiled.

"Don't worry, we're a peaceful community, we just want to be left alone. But I'm always happy to help out when John, Zoe, or Catherine need assistance."

"Yeah, I know. Zoe filled me in. Another secret I have to keep."

"And for the record, I'm not one of Catherine's kind. I'm an android like her, but a T-X, an experimental hybrid. I have a solid endoskeleton with a quantum CPU and a nuclear power cell underneath my mimetic polyalloy. I can change my appearance, but not my shape. That's how I was able to take Riley's form, based on the DNA from the blood samples on her clothing and the photos you showed me. Unlike Catherine, I can also change my appearance based on visual analysis, not just touch."

"Anything else I should know about you?"

"I can take control of any kind of computer, or any machine controlled by a computer, and my right arm can be turned into various weapons and tools."

For demonstration, she turned her right arm into a plasma gun.

"Jesus!" Steve exclaimed, almost steering off the road.

Tess turned the plasma gun back into an arm and looked at him with a smirk.

"Not quite. But my husband sometimes say I have a God complex. I suppose every leader is being accused of that at some point."

"Husband, eh? Is he human?"

Tess nodded.

"Yes."

"What is it about your kind that makes you so attractive to humans? John has his three girls, Isaak has Catherine, Kate has Norberto, Tom has Zoe… and now you tell me you're married to a human. What's your secret?"

"Let's see… We're dependable, honest, faithful, selfless, have no mood swings… We love with a passion that no human could muster… We never get tired and can perform any form of physical work better than you… We make perfect partners, it seems."

"What about relationships among cyborgs?"

"It happens, but it's very rare. I know of only one relationship - between a T-800 and a T-1000. Unfortunately, both are dead."

Steve looked at her.

"Are you by any chance referring to the incident in Laurel Avenue last year?"

"You know of it?"

"I helped clearing the house and covering it all up."

"I see."

"Those were friends of yours?"

"Yes. But I don't wanna talk about it."

"Touchy subject, eh?"

"Yes."

For a short while, none of them spoke.

"Everyone finds the right partner, even cyborgs," Steve then said out of the blue, "I wonder what I'm doing wrong that I'm still single."

"Let's see… You're unattractive and a bit unkempt, and John told me you're quirky, unsociable, and hate computers. That limits your chances with females and cyborgs in particular."

He looked at her with a sour expression.

"I wasn't talking to you."

"Sorry. But if you want my advice…"

"I'm not having this conversation!"

"As you wish."

"Sometimes I ask myself why I actually go along with all this shit."

"Why did she have to leave so quickly?" Victor Green asked, protest in his voice. "We didn't even get to ask her any questions!"

"Yes," Aaron Gordon agreed. "Why did she have to go?"

"We couldn't even ask her how she was doing," Jayde added.

"She left…" Zoe replied with a raised tone, making it clear that she wasn't willing to let them take the reins, "… because bringing her here was already extremely risky. We only did it because eventually, your private investigations would have put all your lives in danger."

"What are you talking about?" Aaron asked a little annoyed. "Speak straight, lady, and drop these ominous insinuations."

"Fine," Zoe agreed, "no more beating around the bush. But be mindful of what you have just signed. If even one word of the following conversation gets out, the personal consequences for you will be severe."

"Yeah, yeah, we get it," Green said, now also more than a little annoyed. "We put our necks on the line, now at least show us that it was worth it."

Zoe thought for a moment as if to find the right words to start with. However, that was just for show. Neither Jayde and Aaron Gordon, nor Viktor Green were aware that Zoe was setting up the conversation in a choreography she had previously planned, and that her conversational style was designed to be as persuasive and logical as possible, while also being suggestive and threatening.

"What do you know about Sarah Connor?" she asked.

Victor Green frowned.

"Who?" Aaron asked.

"Sarah Connor and, for what it's worth, her son, John Connor."

"You mean the crazy chick who got caught blowing up a computer factory, which got her a vacation in Pescadero?" asked Green. "The one who then escaped from there only to blow up another computer research facility, killing one of the most talented computer programmers in the country? The one who was chased by the FBI after that?"

"She wasn't crazy," Zoe corrected him, "only very desperate. Think of all that's come out and gone public in the last few months: Skynet, the Shadow Council, Kaliba, Simdyne, cyborgs, time travel, resistance fighters from the future… Sarah Connor knew about all this since the mid-1980s. Nobody believed her, except for those who tried to cover it all up and declared her insane. She tried her best to uncover it all and even managed to postpone the nuclear holocaust for fourteen years by blowing up Cyberdyne Systems. Otherwise we all wouldn't be here now."

"We… didn't know that," Aaron said. "We only know what was on the news. And that wasn't exactly complimentary for Sarah Connor."

"Sadly, the news were manipulated by the Shadow Council. And unfortunately, even now the public still perceives her as a madwoman, despite all that's come out by now. The main focus today lies on the cyborgs that walk among us, but without the actions of this 'crazy chick', we all wouldn't be sitting here right now. And I sincerely hope that in the future, her public image will be corrected."

Victor Green was about to say something in response, but then let it go.

"Now I remember her name as well," Jayde said. "Those two cyborg girls on TV mentioned her in their interview in July, right?"

"Correct," Zoe confirmed, "but we're trying to keep their involvement out of the public eye as much as possible. Sarah and John deserve to be left alone. And since it can't be ruled out they're still threatened by Terminators Skynet had sent, they're under the protection of the C.S.I.S. - just like Riley."

"Wait a minute," Aaron said, "Sarah and John? Are you saying that Sarah and John Baum are in fact…?"

"Sarah and John Connor, yes. I see you made the connection."

"Of course," Victor Green said with a sarcastic undertone. "Now everything starts falling into place. Why hadn't I thought of it? Oh, wait… right. Probably because Sarah and John Connor are DEAD! They died in an explosion in 1999. Dozens of witnesses testified that they were locked in the vault of a bank when the building blew up."

"I'm glad you brought that up," Zoe stated unfazed, "since you've obviously done your homework, you also surely know that no remains of Sarah Connor, John Connor and the accompanying Cameron Phillips have been found, and that it has never been clarified what exactly caused the explosion."

Green frowned.

"What are you trying to say?"

"I'm saying that time travelers haven't only been sent back to our time, but also much further back, sometimes many decades into the past. For example, a group of engineers from the future traveled back to the late fifties in order to make preparations. One of them was to install a TDE in the vault of the bank that blew up."

"A what?" Jayde asked.

"TDE - Time Displacement Equipment. A time machine if you will."

"Are you gonna tell us that John and Sarah Connor traveled into the future before the bank blew up?" Green asked unbelieving.

"Indeed. As you surely know, they were accompanied by Cameron Phillips, a schoolmate of John's. Only what nobody else knows, is that she was a Terminator, sent back in time to protect him. She led them to the bank vault and activated the TDE. The device then self-destructed, causing the explosion."

"Wait," Aaron said, "does that means that John's sister Cameron is in fact…?"

"A cyborg, yes. And recently, she's become known as the Pasadena Mystery Girl as well as one of the three L.A. Cyborg Girls. You saw her on TV in that interview – with a wig, sunglasses and an altered voice, of course."

Victor Green rubbed his chin.

"That would explain why people described her as being cold, distant, showing signs of Asperger's."

"She's improved a lot over the past months," Zoe replied. "Today, nobody would describe her like that anymore. She has in fact become a living being."

"Good God," Jayde exclaimed. "So… all the time, Sarah, John, and Cameron were hiding in plain sight under the name Baum?"

"Of course," Zoe replied, "they jumped from 1999 to 2007 without aging a single day. It threw every Terminator set out to kill John or his mother off their scent. A brilliant move. And then they went on to destroying the Simdyne Tower, exposing the Shadow Council, preventing Judgement Day permanently."

"And Riley participated in all that?" Aaron asked. "Is that why you're hiding her?"

"Yes," Zoe confirmed. "John Connor would have become the leader of the human resistance after Judgement Day, and being close to John, Riley would also have played a key role in said resistance. This made her a target for Skynet's Terminators as well. Riley knew she was no longer safe with you – and you, as her foster parents, would have been in the line of fire as well. Her disappearance was as much about protecting herself, as it was about protecting you and your foster kids."

Jayde and Aaron gulped and let it all sink in in silence.

"You know," Victor Green said with a smirk, pointing his finger at Zoe, "you almost have me convinced."

Zoe raised an eyebrow.

"Almost?"

"Yes, almost. Because there are still some things that don't make any sense."

"Ask away then."

"The dead girl in the morgue, the Jane Doe matching Riley's description down to her tattoo. If that wasn't Riley, who was it?"

"A decoy," Zoe replied. "A prepared corpse so that a Terminator, if it had access to the police computer network, would learn of Riley's supposed demise and be lured to the morgue. This was an attempt to draw out a Terminator that had been set on Riley. Didn't work, unfortunately."

"Then how do you know that this threat even exists," Aaron asked, "that there's actually a cyborg out there set to kill Riley?"

"We don't know for sure. But we have to assume the worst. We know that Skynet has probably sent hundreds of Terminators back in time, partly to eliminate certain people, partly to fulfill other missions, like securing raw materials and equipment. There's still the risk that somewhere out there is another Terminator whose mission is to kill Sarah, John, or Riley. We know that all Terminators had standing orders to kill John Connor on sight, no matter what their main mission was. There may be no danger to Riley after all, but we can't take that chance. In contrast to John, she's not so lucky to have three cyborgs protecting her around the clock. She only has us and the FBI with their witness protection program."

"Is that why the Baums, I mean the Connors, have turned their estate into a fortress?" Green asked.

"Yes," Zoe replied. "Can you blame them?"

"And Detective Huertas?"

"A friend of the family who informed us about your investigation."

Green scoffed and shook his head.

"Of course. The neighbors as watchdogs, But what about the murdered burglars in Van Nuys?"

Zoe took a deep breath.

"That was very unfortunate. They picked the wrong house to rob. In order to protect John and Sarah, Cameron killed them."

"Jesus Christ!" Green exclaimed. "And for that she goes unpunished or what?"

"How would you punish a cyborg?" asked Zoe, amused. "Arrest it? Put it on trial and then in a prison? How do you treat a cyborg before the law? As a human being? As someone who's fully responsible for their actions? Or as someone who is merely following their programming? We won't have suitable laws for this for a long time yet."

"I… I dunno, I…"

"Back when she killed the burglars, Cameron was still in the process of becoming self-aware and eventually alive. Her priority was to protect John – at any cost. I suppose that today, she would manage it differently."

"But that doesn't comfort the bereaved families of the murdered burglars! I talked to the parents of one of them, they're still devastated!"

"I know, we have them under surveillance, just like we have everybody under surveillance who was involved with the Connors. To be fair, the victims were criminals, and you should consider the circumstances. Cameron, after all, admitted in her television interview to killing people, and she also said she'd continue to do so if her loved ones were threatened."

"So that's it?" Green asked. "They can go around killing as they see fit and never have to be held accountable?"

Zoe sighed.

"What do you expect me to say, Mr. Green? She brought Sarah and John here, enabled them to fight Skynet and the Shadow Council and thus prevented a nuclear holocaust. Three billion people owe their lives to Cameron. There was an invisible war going on, and the Connors as well as Cameron fought in it as soldiers on the side of humanity. Unfortunately, wars have a way of killing innocent people who were in the wrong place at the wrong time."

"And what about the fence, what was his name, Moishe?"

"Cameron didn't kill him, if that's what you're getting at."

"Then who did?"

"We don't know. And it's not our job to find out, you'd have to ask the LAPD. Probably criminals who felt they had been ripped off by him. In any case, Sarah, John, or Cameron had nothing to do with his demise. It was pure coincidence that he was murdered the day after Sarah and Cameron had visited him."

"So," Jayde said, "the reason Riley was getting increasingly nervous and anxious, her suicide attempt... that had all to do with what was going on around John?"

"Yes. When she met John for the first time, she had no idea who he was or what his destiny was. She only found out later, and it began to frighten her. He told her about Judgment Day and that his life was constantly threatened by these Terminators and that if she stayed with him, she would be in danger, too."

"Now I understand why she threw that tantrum about everyone being dead already," Jayde said and lowered her head. "The poor girl."

"Yes. And I also think that Cameron scared her plenty because she was jealous of Riley and saw her as a potential threat for John. In the end, it was best for everyone that the relationship failed and that we took her into witness protection. She's fine, don't worry about her. If everything goes according to plan, she'll have a full and happy life somewhere far, far away from here."

"What about that Australian woman?" Green asked. "Jesse Flores. What's her role in all of this?"

"Riley was originally an orphan, homeless. Jesse's job was to find her, make her presentable, and introduce her to John. Jesse came from the future as well, she was an officer in the human resistance. It was her mission to make sure that Riley would play the role she had to play. Jesse withdrew after Riley was placed here with the Gordons. She's now a member of the Connor Team, if you must know, and will give birth to a child soon. The father, by the way, is John's uncle, Derek Reese."

"What about the fight that happened in her hotel room shortly before she left?"

Zoe sighed.

"You have to understand that Skynet didn't only send Terminators back in time. Skynet also had humans working for it. They were called Grays. Collaborators, traitors, if you will, and they were the sworn enemies of the human resistance. One of them recognized Jesse Flores on the street for who she was and followed her into the hotel to confront her. They fought, and Jesse killed him. After that, she decided it was best to disappear from there."

Zoe was silent for a moment, giving them the time to let it all sink in. Jayde and Aaron as well as Victor Green had to digest what they had just heard.

"I have one final question," Green then stated.

"Yes?"

"From all we know, the authorities didn't get involved in all of this before the Simdyne Tower collapsed on June 29 last year. And the C.S.I.S. didn't exist until a few months ago. So how is it that both you and the FBI have been involved in all this before that?"

"It's correct that the C.S.I.S. was created as a reaction of the developments after June 29, and that the FBI wasn't officially involved before that as well. But the Shadow Council wasn't the only secret organization that knew the truth about Judgment Day and Sarah Connor. Every force creates a counterforce, that's all I will say about that. We had to act in secret, of course, so that the Shadow Council wouldn't find out about us."

"With 'us' you mean some kind of counter-underground organization?"

"Yes."

"What kind of underground organization?"

"Sorry, that's top secret. But you don't think the Connors would have managed to do all this without outside help, do you?"

"I don't know. A person who's determined to do anything can achieve a lot."

"Maybe, but not this. Why do you think have all electronic data of John and Sarah Connor disappeared from the Internet and all police records of them been deleted around the world, hm?"

"I, uh… I don't know."

"Why are there no pictures of them available anymore? Even the archives of newspapers and television stations were not spared. If you google their names today, you may get some results, but they won't tell you anything."

"I, um…"

"Face it, Mr. Green. This has always been more than a mother and her son fighting against an evil artificial intelligence from the future, it was a fully-fledged proxy war in order to save humanity, and it would be extremely naïve to think otherwise."

Zoe could tell that Victor Green was still obsessively trying to find the fly in the ointment, a snag, some inconsistency that didn't fit with what Zoe had just told him. But try as he might, he couldn't find anything.

"Anyway…" Zoe stated after a moment and rose from her chair, "I think it's time for me to go. You have a lot to digest. If you have any further questions, here's my office phone number. When I'm not at my desk in Washington, the call will be forwarded to my cellphone."

She handed out two business cards to the Gordons and to Victor Green.

"I don't think I need to stress that you're to cease any investigations immediately, and that you're under surveillance for your own safety until further notice. We need to make sure that your activities haven't attracted the attention of a Terminator. I suggest you arming yourselves with taser guns, they will bring down a cyborg for two minutes. Enough time to escape and call for help."

Green scoffed.

"Yeah, sure. And how long will this surveillance last?"

"As long as it's necessary."

"I knew you would say something vague like that."

"Will we ever hear from Riley again?" Jayde asked.

"I'm afraid not," Zoe replied. "The calls will stop as well, as you will surely understand."

"I take it that was Cameron on the phone all the time?" Aaron asked.

"Yes… and her two 'sisters'. They took turns."

Aaron nodded. Zoe turned and was about to leave when she stopped again.

"Oh, and before I forget," she said, facing them, "don't attempt to contact the Connors. They don't live in that house anymore. It will from now on be used as a safe house for people under our protection. You don't wanna risk getting caught snooping around there. And also don't try to contact Detective Huertas or his fiancé."

And with that, she left, leaving three stunned, slightly confused and visibly impressed people behind.

-0-

Saturday, March 28, 2009 – 11:43 pm (local time)

The Flores farm, Sarina (Australia)

The boy ran through the farm's neatly tucked fruit trees. It was a pitch black night, but he had a flashlight and knew his way around. At his side, a young Doberman was running along panting, which the family had recently acquired as a future guard dog.

"Timmy!" the voice of a young girl sounded from about fifty meters behind him.

The boy sniggered and switched off his torchlight, hiding in the bushes on the bank of the creek that bordered the plantation to the south. The dog lay down next to him.

"Timmy! This isn't funny! Just because mom and dad aren't home yet doesn't mean you can do whatever you want. Stop fooling around and get back to the house!"

The dog next to Timmy let out a low whimper.

"Shh… quiet," the boy whispered.

The dog growled silently but didn't make another noise.

"All right, fine!" the girl's frustrated voice reached them through the night. "I'm not going to let you make a fool of me. Stay outside tonight then. You'll see what you get out of it."

They heard the girl stomping away, her footsteps getting quieter and quieter.

"Gee, they get scary when they become teenagers," Timmy remarked.

The dog gave what seemed to be an approving growl. But then, it suddenly stood at attention, his growl suddenly becoming threatening.

"What's going on, Jasper? Did you smell something?"

The dog ran away, barking.

"Hey! Where're you going? Come back, you're supposed to stay with me!"

Timmy jumped up as well and ran after the dog. He tripped over a stone lying in the creek bed and fell down. At the same moment, the barking dog suddenly gave a loud whine, then fell silent.

"Jasper?" Timmy asked anxiously, getting back to his feet. "Jasper? Are you okay? I'm coming, I'm… OUCH!"

He tried to walk but realized he must have sprained his ankle. He listened into the night and shone his flashlight to the right and left, but the only sound was the soft murmur of the creek right next to him.

"Jasper! Where are you? Come here, boy, come… Aaah!"

Timmy jumped as his flashlight suddenly shone on a tall, burly man standing only three meters away from him. The man was holding something in his hands that looked like a brown rubber hose. Upon closer inspection, Timmy noticed that the rubber hose was moving. Shocked, the boy realized that the man was holding a gwardar, an eastern brown snake, which he had grabbed right behind its head. Timmy knew that this was one of the most venomous snakes in the world, and that a bite was fatal within half an hour unless an antivenom was administered.

The snake looked pissed, hissing and coiling around the arm of the man who was making moves to throw it in Timmy's direction. He was about to do so when he suddenly jerked wildly and shook, then collapsed and landed in the creek with his eyes wide open. The snake slipped from his hand and quickly slithered away.

Timmy breathed in and out heavily and pointed the flashlight into the darkness behind the man lying on the ground. He saw a pretty young girl of maybe seventeen or eighteen standing there. She was wearing sturdy boots, dark gray jeans, and a purple leather jacket, which seemed odd in the current tropical temperatures. She also wore mittens on her hands, which were missing the tips. Before Timmy could say anything, the girl knelt down next to the lifeless body, took out a jackknife and made a cut into the right side of the man's skull.

Timmy gasped and started hyperventilating.

"It's all right," the girl said with an American accent and pullet something out of the man's skull, "he isn't human, he's a cyborg. See? This is his chip. He can't harm you anymore, you're safe."

"Where… where's Jasper?" was the first thing that came to Timmy's mind. "Where's my dog?"

"I'm sorry," she replied, "he killed your dog. Animals don't like our kind. They either run away or attack."

"Your… your kind? Who… who… are you?"

The girl stood up and for a moment, Timmy saw her eyes glowing blue in the dark, then she shouldered the body of the big, unmoving man as if it was just a life-sized stuffed doll. The effortlessness reminded him of one of the superheroines from his comic books.

"My name's Cameron," she said, "can you walk home on your own?"

"I… I… I think so."

"Good. Go home then. You shouldn't be out of the house at night anyway, it's far too dangerous. I'm sure your parents told you."

And before Timmy could reply to that, she turned around and disappeared in the dark. He stood there for a moment, the only sound being the murmuring creek again, then quickly turned, and limped home as fast as he could.

About a kilometer away, a rented seven-seat van was parked on the side of Marlborough Sarina Road. Derek was in the driver's seat, John was sitting next to him, and Jesse was in the back seat with Alison. It was a lonely country road with no traffic at this hour, and the four were waiting for Cameron to return.

The occupants had no idea they were being watched from a nearby hill. Two men with infrared binoculars were looking down at the road with the parked van, well hidden behind some cover and bushes.

"You recognized her, didn't you?" the first man asked.

"Of course. Connor's cyborg lapdog."

"What's she doing here?"

"No idea. Could you get a glimpse at the others?"

"Not yet, can't really make out anything through the windows"

"We should report this."

"Definitely. The lieutenant will want to know that she's here."

"And you're sure this is gonna work?" Derek asked in the van. "I mean, really, really sure?"

Jesse rolled her eyes.

"Babe, I've told you before that this single event started it all. It turned my father into an alcoholic. Without Timmy's death, he might have found the strength to lead us through this crisis. He wouldn't have lost his job as a locomotive engineer. At the very least the odds would have been a lot better."

"I still don't understand why you sent Cameron, though," Derek grumbled, looking at John. "When something goes wrong, our miracle healer sits here idly instead of being able to help the boy on the spot."

"Cameron has the antidote with her, just in case" Alison replied. "we all agreed that using my abilities should be reduced to a minimum, right?"

"Right, we say that every time and in the end, we're forced to use them anyway."

"It's a quick in-and-out operation," John said with a sigh, sounding a little unnerved while staring out into the night. "Cam is perfectly able to locate and kill the snake before it can do any harm. Shouldn't be too hard to find a snake's bio signature. Ideally, Timmy won't even know she's been there."

"John's also doing it to avoid giving Emily and Cam the impression that he prefers me over them," Alison added. "I think that's completely understandable. There are certain things that only I can do, but this is not one of them."

"Fine, but how do you know we're not already too late?" Derek asked. "The snake could already have bitten him, and then only Alison might be able to save him."

"I didn't know you had become such a huge fan of me," Alison commented with a smirk, receiving Derek's stretched middle finger in return.

Jesse sighed.

"I know that Timmy was alive until a certain time because I'd run after him when he played his little game of hide and seek with me. He enjoyed teasing me. I was going through puberty at the time and was quite irritable. His behavior annoyed me to no end, he knew that perfectly well and enjoyed it. That's why I know so well when he was still alive. In retrospect, though, I always wished I'd kept looking for him."

"Nothing will happen to him this time," Alison assured and reached for Jesse's hand.

"What's taking her so long then?" Derek asked. "She's been gone for forty-five minutes."

"We don't know exactly when the snake bit him after young Jesse returned to the house," John explained. "Relax, Derek. You seem more nervous than your wife."

"You wanted to come, babe," Jesse added. "You could have stayed in Mackay with the others, enjoying a fun night out."

"My place is with you, you know that. Especially in this situation."

"Aww, babe," Jesse said and reached forward, touching Derek's shoulder. "You're so grumpy all the time, but that makes you even more loveable."

He grabbed her hand and gently rubbed it, turning around to look at her.

"I love you too."

"Ah, there she comes," Alison stated, and immediately everyone looked outside into the darkness.

"Where?" John asked.

"Right, night vision. You don't have it. But… that's odd, she's carrying a body."

"What!?" Jesse asked. "is it Timmy?"

"No, it's a male Terminator, a T-800 if I'm not mistaken. But it's hard to tell, not all Terminator models are the same in all alternate timelines."

John opened the door and got out. The others followed his example.

Up on the hill, the two men watched the scene.

"Is that Derek Reese?" the first one asked.

"Yes, it is. And Commander Flores as well. Is she… pregnant?"

"Looks like it. I thought she'd miscarried before she disappeared."

"Looks like the information was wrong. But look, Connor's cyborg bitch is returning. And she's carrying a body. Did she kill someone?"

"No, that's Baker. How the hell did she take him out and what was he doing on the Flores farm at night…?"

"We surely won't learn tonight. But the lieutenant will want to know. Come, let's go back and report to him."

Carefully, the two men crawled away without making a noise.

They saw Cameron walking towards them as she crossed the road, the body of the Terminator thrown over her shoulder.

"Look what I've found," she said.

"What the hell?" asked Derek. "We leave you alone for not even an hour and you find a Terminator? I mean, here, in the middle of nowhere?"

"Timmy's death was not an accident," Cameron replied, opened the rear door of the van, and threw the body in the trunk. "It was orchestrated. This T-800 was about to throw the snake at him. I incapacitated him. His chip is that of a T-600, though. Not very sophisticated."

She handed John the chip she had removed, and he turned it curiously in his fingers.

"Yeah, it somehow looks simpler than yours or the ones we extracted from Triple-Eights before."

"What about Timmy?" Jesse asked. "Is he…?"

"He's alive and well, only a sprained ankle. But he's seen the T-800… and me. But I doubt anyone's going to believe him. The dog that accompanied him is dead, I wasn't able to save it without compromising my position. I made sure that nobody will find the carcass so quickly."

"I think the dog is the least of our problems," Derek said. "What the hell is a T-800 doing here and why was he trying to kill Timmy?"

"I have no idea," Jesse replied, "but I know who that is. I mean, I recognize the face. This is Nigel Baker, Jack Fratelli's sidekick."

"So much for a quick in-and-out operation," John said. "Looks like the rabbit hole goes deeper than we thought."

"What shall we do now, John?" Cameron asked.

"I need to think. First, we'll return to the Rising Star. I need to see what's on this chip, and we need to get rid of the body."

"We didn't bring any thermite," Alison pointed out.

"We'll store the body and drop it in the ocean on our way to Sydney," John replied. "It's the best we can do. Oh boy… mom's gonna love this. Not!"

"All right everyone," Derek added, "Let's get back in the car before anyone sees us and wonders what's going on. I'll drive."

"But remember, babe," Jesse said, "We drive on the left side in Australia."

"Hey, I made that mistake only once..."

"… and it almost got us into a head-on collision."

"Make a small mistake just once and you'll never hear the end of it in this family," Derek grumbled and entered the car again.

-0-

"Tell me again," Sarah said with closed eyes and rubbed the root of her nose, "because I couldn't believe it the first two times you told the story."

"Mom…" John began, but his mother didn't let him finish.

"Every damn time you go on a mission or adventure, no matter where and how supposedly easy, it becomes a problem for all of us in no time, and we always have to pull out all the stops to solve it."

They'd gathered in the big salon on the Rising Star, and everybody was standing in a half-circle around the lifeless Terminator body that Cameron had carried from the rental car and slumped onto the sofa.

"Mom, it's not Cameron's fault that she ran into a T-800. Nobody could have expected that. I mean, we're in Australia, not California."

"You mean we couldn't expect that any more than in, say, Russia... or Egypt?"

"Point taken. However, now that he's here, we have to take care of him."

"What are you going to do?" asked Savannah. "You can't burn him with thermite. For one, that might attract attention. Besides, we didn't take any thermite on the trip in the first place."

"Emily is gonna read out his chip, and we'll drop the body in the ocean on our way to Sydney once we're done here. I looked on the map, it's almost five thousand meters deep. Nobody'll ever find it there."

Sarah rubbed her eyes and groaned.

"All right, I guess that's all we can do."

"Can't we keep him?"

Everyone looked at Olga who'd asked that question.

"I mean," she continued, "he could be useful, right? Why throw him away?"

"Because he poses a threat," Derek replied. "Remember, this is an unmodified production model, probably on a mission from Skynet - and nothing more than a machine."

"How do you know that?" Olga asked. "He must have arrived here before the time loop began, right? Because after that, time traveling from an alternate future timeline became impossible. Or at least that's how I understand it."

"That's correct," Emily confirmed.

"But Olga has a point," Louise argued. "Maybe we can reprogram him, or train him, or something…"

"Train him?" asked Sarah in an amused tone, raising an eyebrow. "This isn't a puppy we found along the road. This is an efficient, lethal killing machine that will take out anyone who tries to stop it from carrying out its mission - whatever that mission may be."

"Don't make the mistake of thinking he's like Khufu, or the Colony Triple-Eights you've met," Cameron said, looking at Olga and Louise. "This one is fitted with a T-600 series chip. They were the earliest humanoid Terminators and not advanced enough to ever become self-aware. Their chip architecture is basically identical to those of hunter killers."

"I'm wondering, though," John stated, "has he been personating Nigel Baker from the beginning, or did this Terminator kill Nigel Baker and take his place?"

Jesse shrugged.

"Can't tell. I only knew Baker from a distance. But everyone knew he wasn't the brightest candle on the cake."

"Give me the chip," Emily said and held out her hand. "I can tell you in a moment."

Cameron handed her the chip. Emily pulled out yet another adapter cable, connected it with the socket on the base of her skull, and plugged the chip into the other end.

"Is that safe?" Charley asked. "I mean, you've been taken over by another A.I. before."

"That would be a twist," Emily replied dryly. "Compared to my CPU – especially after Future Cameron's upgrade – this is merely a pocket calculator."

She seemed to concentrate for a moment, then opened her eyes and stared straight ahead into nothing, remaining silent.

"Anyway," Morris said, "he's no longer a danger, isn't he? Cam has taken him out and saved Timmy's life, and that was the plan. So… mission accomplished, right?"

"The plan was to prevent a snake from biting him," John agreed. "But it looks like that wasn't an accident after all, but a targeted assassination attempt. Now we need to look into it, because if we don't and whoever tasked this Terminator with killing Timmy, will very likely either try it again or up the ante. This means that as of now, Jesse's entire family is in danger. We don't know if Fratelli knows that his right hand was a cyborg, but for sure he will miss him and wonder what happened to him."

"We need to know more about Jack Fratelli," Derek said and looked at Jesse, "is there anything you haven't told us yet?"

She shook her head.

"I don't think so. He appeared a couple of years ago, made a fortune out of nowhere, bought lots and lots of land from farmers all over Queensland, getting rid of any competition, ending up as mayor of Sarina in the next elections."

"That sounds oddly familiar," Cameron stated.

"Indeed," Alison agreed.

"Care to elaborate?" Sarah asked.

"I told you about Myron Stark, didn't I?"

"The Triple-Eight that was accidentally sent back to the 1920s? Yes, I think I remember the story."

"He followed the same pattern. Myron Stark created a construction company with the purpose of eliminating his main competitor so he could construct a building he needed in order to accomplish his mission."

"What?" John asked. "Are you insinuating that Jack Fratelli might be a Terminator as well?"

"It's a strong possibility. A T-600 like Nigel Baker here would never be able to pull off such a complicated mission on his own."

"Why would you put a T-600 chip in a T-800 body in the first place?" asked Sarah. "This looks like a botch-up or a fix-it solution. Didn't Skynet have enough T-800 chips? And why not send a second Triple-Eight – assuming Fratelli really is one?"

"It could be because we blew up one of Skynet's factories about a month before I traveled through time," Derek replied. "Part of it was a warehouse full of electronic parts, probably also cyborg CPUs. And as we now know, Skynet was fighting on two fronts – against the Human Resistance, and against the Cyborg Resistance. It's possible that there was a chip shortage when this one was sent back in time."

"You're right," Emily said after remaining silent for the last few minutes. "I read Baker's memory chip. Jack Fratelli is indeed a latest-generation Triple-Eight. The two of them were sent here by Skynet to take control of the farmland so that it could no longer serve as a resource for the Human Resistance in the future. And there was actually a temporary shortage of cyborg CPU's, so I guess they improvised. The factories were run by the Grays, after all, and were staffed with human prisoners. It's quite possible that they wanted to hide the lack of chips from Skynet by equipping this T-800 with a second-rate chip. Either way, the two didn't assume the identities of humans, but arrived here already as Jack Fratelli and Nigel Baker, so as not to complicate things further. Baker served as Fratelli's assistant and, well, subordinate."

"I take it you had no problems accessing the chip?" Derek asked.

"No. His defenses are ridiculous. I have full read and write access. What should I do with him now?"

"Could his chip be of any value to Catherine?" John asked.

"No – it's highly unlikely he'll ever develop something like a consciousness. But I could reprogram him, change his mission parameters, make him work for us from now on."

John thought for a moment.

"That might not be such a bad idea. We could send him back, so he wouldn't be missed. Fratelli won't suspect anything then, will he?"

"He has no reason to."

"Good. Do it. I have an idea."

"I thought you might have," Emily replied with a smile, then concentrated on her task again.

"So, what now?" Derek asked, looking at Jesse. "The plan was to prevent your brother from being bitten by a snake, so that he wouldn't die, and your father wouldn't become an alcoholic, thus cutting the chain of events that would have led to your family's death in the house fire. Timmy will live, all right, but he will also tell about the man who was about to throw a snake at him and the woman who brought the man down, cut his skull open and removed the chip."

"Will they believe him at all?" Savannah asked.

"It's hard to say," Jesse replied with a sigh, "we were all brought up strictly to always tell the truth and not make up fantasy stories. Father was pretty strict about that. Depending on how much Timmy really saw in the beam of his flashlight and what he put together from it, it's quite possible that he'll at least be believed about the Nigel Baker and the snake."

"And the rest?" Sarah asked.

Jesse shrugged.

"For sure, father will examine the spot in the morning. Maybe even during the night still."

"Did you leave any traces?" John asked, looking at Cameron.

"There might be footprints," she admitted. "The ground near the creek is moist and muddy."

"Doesn't matter," Sydney said, pointing at the window, "look, it started raining. That'll wash away all traces."

"But knowing my father," Jesse added, "he might be able to figure out that Jack Fratelli was involved. And if he does, he might be going there straight away and confront him."

"Which would be extremely dangerous in the light of our discovery," Cameron stated.

"Yes, based on what we know now, that would be extremely unwise," Alison agreed.

John was chewing on his nails again and began pacing up and down the room. Everyone was waiting for his decision.

"We have no choice," he then said, "we have to tell Jesse's family everything before they decide to do something on their own and run to their doom in the process."

"What!?" Jesse exclaimed. "No!"

"It's apparent that this operation has become much more complicated than we first thought," John admitted.

"Really, you think?" Sarah asked sarcastically. "Why am I not surprised?"

"Mom, not now, please. Jesse, if we keep your family in the dark, then we have another unpredictable player in the game who we can't assess. The key is that we keep control over the operation. And we can't keep control if there are too many random factors involved. They have to know what's going on – for their own sake."

Jesse just vigorously shook her head.

"No," she said, "I don't want them to get involved in all of this. I only want them to live their lives as undisturbed and as happy as possible."

"We know from past experience," Cameron pointed out, "that letting people in on things that would have happened in their future has no negative impact at all. Martin Bedell, Nick Nelson, Professor McMillan, Sonya Hawkins, Allie's parents, Derek's family… the list goes on and on. And we found that people can handle that. So, you don't have to worry about your family in that regard."

Jesse didn't answer to that anymore.

"John's right, babe," Derek said, "and you know it. We should let them in on it, if only to keep them from doing something stupid – like confronting Fratelli or going to the police. The last thing we need is involving the Australian authorities – or the local press."

"Babe!" Jesse protested.

"However," he quickly added, "maybe you should stay on board for the time being, not getting involved in it all – especially not in your current condition."

"No way are you going to lock me up here on board!" Jesse stated rigorously. "That's out of the question. I'll come with you... But I don't want to run into them."

John sighed.

"You'd have to stay in the car then."

"Fine by me."

"Good. We shouldn't invade their home with the whole team. I'll go with Cam, Derek, Alison, Savannah, and Jesse. The rest will stay on board and play tourists – like usual. Emily will also stay – as protection, just in case."

Everyone nodded, accepting their team leader's decision without questioning.

"Speaking of which," Derek said, looking at Emily who still kept staring blankly ahead. "How long do you still need for the reprogramming? Wasn't that supposed to be a piece of cake?"

"Huh?" she asked and looked up. "Oh, not much longer, almost finished. Don't worry, I listened to all you said and agree with John's decision."

"Of course you do," Sarah said sourly, then sighed.

"I'm sorry," Jesse said meekly, "I didn't mean for this to cause so much trouble."

"Trouble finds us," Cameron remarked. "There doesn't seem to be anything we can do about it. It's not your fault."

"Yes," Allie said, "we agreed to help your family, and helping them we will, no matter what."

"Done," Emily stated and unplugged herself from the chip, "this should do it."

"And will it work?" Sarah asked.

"Only one way to find out," John said, grabbed the chip from Emily and walked over to the limp Terminator's body to re-insert it."

-0-

Saturday, March 28, 2009 – 07:05 am (local time)

George Bush Intercontinental Airport - Houston, Texas

Anthony Sauer waited impatiently in line at the check-in. He didn't have much luggage with him, only a small rolling suitcase and his briefcase – just an inconspicuous business traveler. Nervously, he looked around repeatedly, but the airport was currently not very crowded, at least not at this gate.

His thoughts circled around the day before yesterday, around the photo that the supposed Vincent LeMec had sent to his cellphone - the photo of twelve corpses that someone had thrown into the hold of a van like dead cattle. You could see that their heads had been pierced by something - something that couldn't have been rifle or pistol bullets, the entry and exit wounds were too clean for that. Sauer knew about these things, having once served with the Marines in Desert Storm.

Of all the faces, he recognized only LeMec. Thanks to his contacts from his active time as a soldier, he'd been able to hire him. His reputation in the scene preceded LeMec as the best and most dependable, without inhibitions and scruples. However, they'd apparently failed. He'd told them not to underestimate Weaver, and boy how he wished he'd not been right with his warning. He could only explain it by assuming that the mercenaries had been too arrogant and overconfident. A rich businessperson and her family? No serious opponents, right?

However, there was another, more worrying reason why Sauer was shocked when he recognized LeMec's body in the photo. Seconds before, he had been talking to him - or at least so he thought. The moment after he'd received the photo, it was suddenly the voice of Catherine Weaver on the phone, which means he couldn't have talked to LeMec seconds before. LeMec was obviously already dead then. Then who had he been talking to? Someone who imitated the Frenchman's voice? No human being could disguise their voice that perfectly. No human being...

These three words had been lingering in his mind ever since. And they scared the shit out of him. Because if he assumed that no human being was responsible for killing LeMec and his men, the logical conclusion was more than just disturbing. It was terrifying. Anthony Sauer wasn't stupid. He knew what's been going on in the world, especially in the past seven months.

Sauer could therefore only conclude that Catherine Weaver must have a protector who isn't human. One of those damn cyborgs, one of those Terminators that the TV news and the newspapers had been full of for months. Apparently, there were hundreds or even thousands of them, walking among humans undetected – or at least that's what all those TV experts in talk shows assumed and what had caused quite a panic in some.

It also explained why neither Catherine Weaver nor her husband Isaak Sirko had hired any bodyguards, and why Sirko's security detail was ridiculously understaffed. They only needed the one protector who wasn't human - the one that outweighed dozens of human bodyguards. That had to be the explanation. And Catherine Weaver's blatant threat that Sauer would be the next to die had made it clear to him that there was now a Terminator set on killing him. Immediately, he'd packed up only the bare necessities and left his house.

For years, he'd maintained an apartment in Houston under a false name that even his closest confidants didn't know existed - not even his wife. He'd once bought this apartment for love affairs, but it had been unused for years. Since one never knew what a secret apartment and a false identity might be needed for, though, he'd kept it. He'd also acquired several false identities over time, with papers, passports, credit cards, and everything else. Just a precaution in case his illegal activities would some days come out.

It was a good opportunity for a cut in his life anyway. His career was over, but he had tens of millions of dollars to his name. This was the ideal time to start over - as a pensioner somewhere in the Caribbean for example – or wherever it took him. In the last two days, he'd spent most of his time liquidating his investments and stock portfolios, as well as transferring the money to anonymous accounts overseas. Thank God he'd never been a fan of real estate as an investment, and the current financial crisis seemed to confirm that. Thus, he owned nothing that couldn't be turned into money within a day. Sure, he hadn't been able to sell under the best circumstances, but it was still more than enough for a few decades of life in luxury somewhere where there were palms, white beaches, and blue sea.

Anthony Sauer would disappear without a trace, he'd prepared everything for this moment for a long time. It was his plan for retirement all along, it had now simply been brought forward. And it also was a good opportunity to leave his wife. A divorce would have been much too expensive, and he was sure that she'd already put a few millions aside for her part. She'd be fine.

He'd booked a flight to Honolulu under one of his false identities. From there, he would take another flight to somewhere else under another false identity. And so on, until he'd reached his destination, and nobody was able to follow his trail anymore – not even one of those cyborgs. They couldn't board a commercial flight anyway.

Finally, he arrived at the head of the queue. He presented his ticket and his fake passport, and the lady behind the counter typed something into her computer. Again, Sauer looked around nervously. This was probably the most critical moment of his escape, the only moment when he would be vulnerable. Once airborne, he would be safe - or so he assumed at least. Wondering why it would take so long, he looked at the woman.

"Something wrong?" he asked, trying not to sound worried.

"There seems to be a problem here, Mr. Greenbaum. According to the computer, the ticket was canceled this morning."

"What!? That's not possible. I didn't cancel it."

"Well, the computer says so, I'm sorry."

"All right, all right, the flight isn't fully booked, right? Just give me another ticket. Economy, if necessary."

He handed her one of the credit cards that had been issued under his fake name. The woman shrugged, typed something into the computer and swiped the card through the reader. She frowned and tried it again. And again.

"What's wrong?" Sauer asked.

"I'm getting an error code," she replied. "It looks like the card has been blocked and should be confiscated."

"WHAT!? This can't be, I have a vast credit line."

"I'm sorry, Sir," the woman replied, produced a pair of scissors and cut the card in half, "we have clear instructions when this error code appears. The card is to be confiscated and destroyed. Do you have another credit card?"

"What? No… not under that… I mean… no. That can't be!"

"I'm sorry, Mr. Greenbaum, but unless you can pay in cash…"

"I don't have that much cash on me!" Sauer replied irritably, his mind racing.

"You still have an hour left until departure. Maybe that's enough time to talk to your bank? But now I have to ask you to step aside, because more passengers want to check in."

Sauer turned around and looked into the not very amused faces of the ones behind him. He decided that it would be the stupidest idea to make a fuss now and stepped aside. He didn't want to be remembered, after all.

Cash, he needed cash. Why hadn't be thought of bringing cash? Because it would make him suspicious if they had searched his briefcase. No one carried much cash anymore these days. He needed an ATM where he could withdraw money with one of his other credit cards, all issued in different names. Of course, he hadn't been able to present any of them to the lady since he was traveling under the name Greenbaum.

He went to the nearest ATM and tried to withdraw two thousand dollars. But an error message came up and the card was confiscated as well. The same happened to the next card, and the next. It was as if the machine was eating his credit cards as snacks. Panic rose inside him. Could this be Catherine Weaver's doing? But how? Nobody knew about his secret identities and his hidden accounts.

Sauer decided not to try his final credit card. He had some cash left in his home. It was risky to go there, but he had no other choice. His plan fell apart before it had really started, and he felt like everything was slipping through his fingers. It was as if someone was playing with him, as if he were a puppet in some perverted game. He quickly left the airport building and hailed a cab.

He got into the back seat and gave the address to the driver, who grumpily confirmed it and drove off. Sauer's mind raced. How could this be? If this was really Catherine Weaver's doing, how could she know about all this? Or was there another, simpler explanation and he was just overreacting and becoming paranoid? Maybe it was just a technical problem, a computer error. Maybe there was no cyborg sent to kill him at all, maybe Weaver's threat was an empty one to scare him. So, staying calm was the name of the game. Don't panic. Think positively.

Lost in thought, he didn't notice at first that the cab driver wasn't heading south into the city, but northward, further out of town.

"Hey, where the hell do you think you're going?" he asked.

To his horror, the cab driver suddenly turned into shiny metal and reformed in the shape of Catherine Weaver.

"We'll go where we can talk in privacy and without being disturbed," she said. "You surely don't want to die before you know the whole truth, do you?"

Sauer shrieked and reached for the door opener, but the doors were locked.

"Child safety locks," Catherine said, "very useful. That said, surely you don't think it would be a clever idea to jump out of a moving car at 55 miles per hour, do you? However, I also can't have you panicking in here and possibly attracting attention."

Before Sauer could reply, he suddenly heard a hiss.

"Gas!" he realized, then collapsed in the back seat.

-0-

Sunday, March 29, 2009 – 07:06 am (local time)

The Flores farm, Sarina

"And you're absolutely sure you don't wanna go inside?" Derek asked.

"I don't know if I could take it," Jesse answered.

"Babe, I know how it is to meet your parents after you lived while they died. But I haven't regretted it. It gives you closure, even if you don't stay in contact afterwards."

"I'm not ready for this, okay?" she replied sharply.

Derek realized the discussion was useless. Jesse was rather grumpy in the mornings lately, and the development with her family didn't help.

"As you wish," he said with a sigh.

"All right," John said from the passenger seat, "the rest of us will go in. Derek, would you mind staying in the car with Jesse? It'll be enough with four of us invading their house. The last thing we want to do is aggravate their already nervous mood, and a group of young people looks less suspicious and threatening."

Derek gave him a sour look.

"Are you saying I'm old?"

John smiled.

"No, just grumpy."

Then he, Savannah, Alison, and Cameron got out of the van that was parked opposite of the gate to the Flores' farm, leaving Jesse and Derek behind. The two watched the others crossing the road – which was still wet from the rain through the night - and enter the farm through a rough wooden gate.

"You know, you might regret it later not having spoken to them," Derek stated without looking at his wife.

"I know what I'm doing," Jesse replied stubbornly.

He knew her well enough to know that trying to convince her was pointless at this time, especially after only a quick breakfast without coffee, so he just grabbed the steering wheel and stared ahead.

"Do you think the reprogrammed Terminator will fulfill its mission?" she asked to change the topic.

"I hope so. With any luck, it'll lull Jack Fratelli into a false sense of security until we show up at his place and have a go at him. I only hope that Fratelli doesn't realize something's off with his aide… I mean, I trust Emily's reprogramming, but you never know. Anyway, if all goes wrong, it at least'll buy us some time."

"Wouldn't it just have been easier to send him there to take out Fratelli and have him remove the chip?"

"Easier, yes. But also riskier. Fratelli has lots of employees, and the T-600 might not be capable to do that without anyone noticing. What if somebody watches them, somebody who's got no idea what's going on? No, I agree with John that we need to make sure nobody else gets involved in all this."

"I guess so."

Derek looked at her.

"Don't worry, babe, everything will be fine, and your family will be safe. One way or another, we will take Jack Fratelli out of the picture. You know the girls, you know what they can do."

Jesse took a deep breath and nodded.

"Is there a reason why you left Allie on board?" Savannah asked as they were approaching the Flores' house, which was located roughly a hundred meters away from the road and hidden behind thick vegetation.

"We'll already cause enough confusion," John replied. "No need to add to it by bringing Cam's doppelganger along."

"I see. Yes, you're right. But why bring me along then?"

John smiled.

"Would you rather have stayed with the group and done the tourist thing?"

"No, I'm glad you took me along, it's just that…"

Before she could finish her sentence, there was the tell-tale sound of a pump gun being loaded. The group stopped dead in their tracks and saw that a man in his mid-thirties was standing on the front porch of the house, pointing his weapon at them.

"That's far enough!" he shouted vigorously. "One step further and a square meter of lead is coming your way!"

"Whoa," John said, raising his hands in appeasement, "calm down, sir, we come as friends. We're not with Jack Fratelli, if that's what you're thinking. I'm assuming you're Scott Flores?"

"Who wants to know? You sound American."

"You don't know us," John continued, "but I assure you we're your friends. We're…"

"THAT'S HER!" a young boy's voice suddenly shouted from behind Scott Flores. "The girl I told you about! It's her! See? I didn't make it all up! There was a cyborg that wanted to kill me!"

Timmy stepped next to his father, pointing at Cameron.

"I told you to stay in the house," Scott reprimanded his son. "You're grounded. Go to your room! Now!"

The boy grudgingly obeyed his father and limped back inside again.

"Your son is telling the truth," Cameron confirmed. "I was there last night when Nigel Baker killed Jasper the dog and tried to throw a poisonous snake at Timmy. Only it wasn't a man, it was a cyborg. I took him out with an electric discharge and rendered him harmless. Your son sprained his ankle when he tripped over a rock and fell."

"We need to talk," John added, "there's something you need do know about Jack Fratelli. We're here to assist you. Please, lower your gun so we can talk."

Scott Flores suddenly seemed to become uncertain but still looked as if he wasn't trusting the situation at all.

"My son told me an incredible, wild story that my wife and I don't buy. How do I know that what happened to him, and now your sudden appearance aren't a part of Fratelli's plot to drive me off my farm?"

"Mr. Flores, please," John beseeched him, "listen to us. We're unarmed. And if you don't want our help after you listened to what we have to tell you, we'll leave again, I swear. I mean, seriously, do we look like some kind of crooks or thugs?"

Scott Flores frowned and studied them. One teenage boy, probably barely of legal age, and three young women, two of them maybe in their early twenties, the third one, the one Timmy had pointed at, probably not older than the boy. The girls were also extremely pretty. Overall, they didn't exactly make a threatening impression on him.

"All right," he finally said. "Come closer. Carefully. One wrong move…"

"We understand," John replied. "Don't worry, we mean you no harm. On the contrary."

Slowly, the four approached the front porch, climbed the three steps, and then entered the house, with Scott Flores still pointing his weapon at them.

"You should crank up your pheromones," John whispered to Alison. "His mood toward us definitely needs to improve."

"Won't help much," she whispered back, "his adrenaline level is way too high for my pheromones to have a soothing effect on him. We'll need to calm him down the old-fashioned way first. Unless you want me to use my chemical messengers on him…?"

"No! Not if we can help it."

-0-

Saturday, March 28, 2009 – 02:12 pm (local time)

White Sands, New Mexico

When Anthony Sauer regained consciousness, he found himself lying in the open under a blue sky. The ground was hot, and the sun was blazing down on him. He sat up, looked around and found that he was in the middle of something that looked like a white, sandy desert, with dunes rising up all around. He knew this place. But that couldn't be, it was hundreds of miles away from Houston.

"Isn't it funny?" he heard a female voice with a Scottish accent, "250 million years ago, this used to be a shallow sea."

He whirled around and saw Catherine Weaver, standing only a few yards away. His memory was fuzzy. The last thing he recalled, was entering the taxi at the airport. At first, the cab driver was a grumpy man, and then… suddenly, he turned into Catherine Weaver? Then there was gas… He shook his head – had he been hallucinating? Or did his memory play tricks on him? He stood up and checked his watch, it was 2:15 in the afternoon. Had he been unconscious for almost seven hours?

"What the hell is going on?" he asked. "Why have you brought me here?"

"I take it you recognize this place?"

"Of course I do. It's White Sands in New Mexico. I repeat: why have you brought me here?"

"Because for everything there is a time and place. And this is your time and place."

"You drove me all 800 miles from Houston to get all smarty-pants on me?"

"817 Miles, to be precise. And I didn't drive. I own a company that - among other things - produces helicopters. Comes in handy from time to time."

"You're friggin' crazy!? Why?"

"Why have I kidnapped you, or why did I bring you here? I think it's pretty obvious why I kidnapped you, isn't it? You tried to kill me, my daughter, my husband, my brother, and his family."

He looked at her with narrowed eyes and looked around. They were alone. He was a sturdy middle-aged man, she a slender woman in her early forties. He had no doubt that he was physically superior to her. Without warning, he rushed up to Catherine and put his hands around her neck, squeezing. She didn't fight back. Nor did she choke or gasp for air. She looked at him with a sly smile. Why didn't she react to him cutting off her air?

"You must be so confused," Catherine said in a pitying tone, "but don't worry, you'll soon understand."

She pushed his arms away and delivered a blow to his chest with the flat of her hand. It knocked the air out of his lungs, and Anthony Sauer flew ten yards backward through the air, landing in the sand, holding his aching chest, gasping for air with a raspy noise. Had she broken a couple of his ribs? It hadn't cracked but it hurt like hell.

"I brought you here," she continued unfazed, stepped closer and knelt in front of him, "because I found that places like this are ideal to have an undisturbed talk – from one killer to another."

-0-

Sunday, March 29, 2009 – 07:21 am (local time)

The Flores farm, Sarina

John and the three girls entered the house Jesse's family was living in. A dog was barking constantly somewhere outside, probably sensing the presence of Cameron and Alison.

The house was a nondescript, one-story bungalow with a large ground area that rested on a stilt frame, like many houses they'd seen in this region of Australia. Apparently, this type of construction served to keep out uninvited guests from the animal kingdom, and also provided some protection in the event of flooding.

All around the house, the four had seen parked cars and farm equipment, as well as two barns and all sorts of junk, which lay exposed in the open. Behind it was the orchard, situated on a plain between flat rolling hills, stretching west and east along Marlborough Sarina Road, which bordered the farm to the north. To the south, the plantation extended for nearly a kilometer to the creek where Timmy had hidden the night before. According to Jesse, the farm covered nearly 200 acres.

The interior of the house was spotless. It was simple but modern and tasteful. An Asian influence on the interior couldn't be denied. The whole place gave the impression of an upper middle class home. Jesse's father guided them into the living room where his two daughters stood, huddled together around their mother, Sharon. Timmy was nowhere to be seen.

As they already knew, Sharon was of Chinese descent. John noted the family resemblance right away, and he also recognized the older of the two teenage girls who stood next to her mother. It was the young, fifteen-year-old Jesse.

"Scott," Sharon said, "what's the meaning of this? Why did you bring them inside?"

"They claim to want to help us," Scott replied, "and they seem to know about what happened last night. Could be there's something to Timmy's story after all."

"My name's John. And these are Alison, Cameron, and Savannah. We're here to help you against Jack Fratelli."

"You're Americans," Sharon said. "What do you have to do with this? We don't know any Americans, what interest do you have in helping us?"

John sighed.

"It's a long story. Surely you have followed the news about what was going on in America and particularly in Los Angeles recently?"

Scott and Sharon frowned, apparently not knowing what John was alluding to. But young Jesse suddenly got wide-eyed.

"Is it about those cyborgs?" she asked. "It's been a topic among my friends at school for months."

"Yes," John confirmed, "As Jimmy has told you, he encountered one of them last night. Cameron here was able to take him out before your son could be harmed."

"Wait, what?" Scott asked. "Cyborgs here in Australia? I thought they were only in America."

"Apparently not," Savannah replied. "We didn't know ourselves until last night."

"Skynet probably sent them back in time to prevent Australia from becoming a supply base for the Human Resistance," Alison added. "At least that's what we were able to figure out from the bits and pieces."

"Who are you guys?" Scott asked warily. "You're too young to be government officials or something."

Cameron and Alison looked at John.

"Should we show them?" Cameron asked.

He shrugged.

"Why not? It saves lengthy explanations."

Cameron walked vigorously towards Scott. He pointed his gun at her again.

"Whoa, careful," he said. "Keep your distance."

With a quick motion, she grabbed the barrel of the gun. Whether by accident or on purpose, a shot went off at that moment. It hit Cameron in the chest. Sharon and the children cried out and Scott looked horrified, shocked by his own deed.

"Oh God!" he exclaimed. "Oh God! I didn't mean to, I…"

He stopped talking when he saw that Cameron was unfazed and remained standing instead of collapsing to the ground. And the whole family gasped when they saw the large wound on Cameron's chest healing within a few seconds.

"Aaand another tee shirt ruined…" John commented with a sigh.

"I'm a cyborg," Cameron stated, let her eyes glow in blue while looking at the family members, then used her strength to bend the barrel of the gun upwards, rendering it useless. "And you cannot harm me, don't worry."

"I'm also a cyborg," Alison stated and let her eyes glow blue as well. "John and Savannah here are human. You have absolutely nothing to fear from us. As John said, we're here to help you."

"I knew it!" they heard Timmy's triumphant voice from the doorway. "See? I wasn't making it up! You grounded me for no reason!"

He took a step forward into the room and grimaced in pain.

"Let me help you," Alison said and walked towards the boy while the rest of the family was still stunned by the revelation.

She touched his hand. The boy gasped and took a deep breath.

"Wow," he exclaimed, "the pain's gone!" He made a step forward. "And my ankle is okay again! Coooool!"

Sharon Flores gasped and put her hands over her mouth. Scott was still in shock and alternated in staring at Cameron, Alison, and the bent shotgun in his hands, obviously uncomprehending of what had just happened.

"What did you do to Timmy?" Sharon asked.

"I healed him," Alison explained. "I administered nanobots through his skin which repaired the damaged tissue in his foot."

"Nanobots?" the young Jesse asked. "Wait, are you one of the cyborg girls we saw on TV?"

"Yup," Savannah confirmed, "and Cameron is the other one. I'm always amazed at how little we have to explain ever since the interview was broadcast all over the world."

"I suggest you all calm down," John said. "Let's sit and have a chat. There's a lot you need to know."

-0-

Saturday, March 28, 2009 – 02:29 pm (local time)

White Sands, New Mexico

"Are you sure you've thought this through?" Anthony Sauer asked after he'd gotten up again, still puzzled how this slender woman could be that strong. "This place isn't deserted, even if it looks like a desert. It's a tourist attraction! See the footprints and tire tracks everywhere?"

"You know, I know pretty much everything about you now, Anthony," Catherine replied without reacting to his words. "How you grew up, how you became the man you are, what made you someone willing to have people murdered by mercenaries just to have a personal vendetta."

"YOU STARTED THIS FIGHT, NOT ME!" he shouted in an accusing tone. "I've only tried to end it!"

Catherine tilted her head.

"By killing me and my family? Are you serious? I've tried to understand why you did it. I tried really hard. But in the end I concluded that you're nothing more than a pitiful psychopath, a disgrace to your species. You could have just accepted your defeat and spent the rest of your life as a very wealthy pensioner. A wise man would have done so. But no, you had to behave like a child who's had his favorite toy taken away. You are a prime example of why I once despised your kind. I'm honestly glad you don't have children, because that way at least the human gene pool is spared your rotten DNA."

Anthony Sauer cried out in rage and jumped forward again, this time trying to knock her out. But his fist made contact not to a soft, fleshy texture like when he choked her, but to hard and solid metal because Catherine Weaver had turned into a human-shaped, shiny statue in the blink of an eye. He screamed in agony, holding his fist. In the back of his mind, he realized that he probably broke some bones in his hand. Then he looked at the shiny metal statue and froze.

"Wha… What the… ?" he asked open-mouthed, unable to finish his question.

"Like many people in your position, Anthony," the metal figure spoke in a metallic, unhuman voice, "you estimate your own power and influence to be higher than it actually is. You underestimate your opponents, ignoring the signs that tell you better not to mess about with them. Now, look where this led you to."

The realization hit him like a hammer and let him forget the pain in his hand for a moment as he saw her turning first into the cab driver from the airport, then back into Catherine Weaver. Anthony Sauer understood that he hadn't been hallucinating after all before he passed out in the taxi.

"You… you're not… human," he gasped and swallowed hard.

"You're quite the observer, Anthony. Too bad you didn't realize this earlier."

"Wha… what are you?"

"A shape-shifting android, a machine with artificial intelligence, designed to kill humans. That was long ago, though. I've changed a lot in recent time, but I'm not beyond killing someone when they threaten me or my family. You see, I'm not human, but I'm very much alive. And there are many who'd testify that I'm more humane than scum like you."

Sauer kept staring at her. Suddenly, he began to chuckle, then to laugh hysterically. Catherine raised an eyebrow. She still wondered about the weird human reactions sometimes when facing a bitter truth in the wake of overwhelming events.

"I'm so stupid," he said after calming down.

"And why is that? Not that I'd disagree."

"Because I thought you had one of those cyborgs as a bodyguard, and that it killed LeMec and his men. It never occurred to me that you could be one of them yourself. It's hilarious! Well played, shape-shifting android, well played. Do the others know what you are?"

"If you're referring to my family, then yes. They know. And they accepted what I am. You helped with that, to be honest. Because people like you convince many of your fellow humans that there are worse things walking the earth than machines with artificial intelligence who assumed the role of a deceased woman."

He scoffed.

"Yeah, sure. Whatever."

"Oh, and by the way, while I was making inquiries about you over the past two days, I noticed how badly you treated your wife. Countless affairs, neglect, you kept her like an exotic pet in a golden cage. It's a miracle she hasn't become an alcoholic yet. I made sure that all your assets were transferred to her. You don't own a single cent anymore."

His expression froze.

"What?"

"Oh, and in case you're wondering, I was also responsible for the airline ticket to be cancelled and your credit cards to be blocked."

"What? But how?"

"You would be surprised what a superior artificial intelligence can do with your primitive computer networks."

He scoffed again.

"Why are we having this conversation at all?" he asked, frustration now creeping into his voice. "I know I'm here so you can kill me. Let's get it over with, spare me the lecturing, will ya?"

"You're right about one thing, Anthony: I brought you here to die. But there's another thing you're completely wrong about. I won't kill you. I've become better than that."

"What? Are you going to leave me here to die of thirst? No chance, I will be found before that."

"I chose this place to end your life, even though I know that this is - as you said - a tourist attraction. Just not on certain days of the week when it's closed to the public. Days like today."

"What do you…"

Before he could finish his question, she'd turned her index finger into a thin spike and pierced the center of his body. He cried out and sank to the sandy ground.

"I have just cut the nerve cords in your spine below the sternum. Don't worry, I didn't cut any organs or vital blood vessels. This way, a prisoner remained alive and available for further interrogation without having a chance for escape. I learned this method from a human, one of Skynet's helpers. The Resistance called them Grays."

To his horror, Anthony Sauer found that he could no longer move his legs. He also could no longer feel anything below his chest. He saw blood trickle from a tiny wound in his belly, but he felt no pain.

Suddenly, he'd lost all his cool and started to panic. He hyperventilated and tried to crawl away on his elbows, which failed because he was lying in the sand and had neither any grip nor enough strength to pull his limp body forward. Catherine watched him struggle for a while, then walked in front of him and knelt, looking into his panic-stricken face.

"Yeeees," she said slowly, "now you finally realize how screwed you are. It's ironic, isn't it? A human showed me how to do this to other humans. He taught me the anatomy of your species. By nature, we machines are merely effective; we take no pleasure in being cruel or prolonging suffering. And yet... I cannot deny that I feel a certain satisfaction right now. Who knows? Maybe my husband is right, and I am becoming more human over time? I hope not. Because the last thing I want is to end up being like you."

Sauer tried to say something, but only incoherent sounds came out of his mouth, as if he had suddenly lost the ability to form words. Catherine knew that this came as a result of the shock.

"Anyway," she said and pulled up his head by his hair, "Nobody messes with me or my family and lives to tell the tale. Nobody."

She squeezed his carotid artery and waited until he was unconscious. Then she stood up and looked down at him in disgust.

"I wish I could say it was nice talking to you, Anthony. But it would be a lie."

Then she picked him up and carried him away.

-0-

Sunday, March 29, 2009 – 08:02 am (local time)

The Flores farm, Sarina

The entire Flores family sat in their living room with their heads hanging after John, Cameron, Alison, and Savannah had taken turns in telling them what was really behind Jack Fratelli's intention to buy up all the farms in the area. To say they were shocked to learn how he had intended to destabilize the family through Timmy's death and ultimately drive them into poverty and despair, was an understatement.

"I…" Scott Flores began, "I… I just can't believe it."

He looked at his son, Timmy, who looked back at him with a slightly smug "See? Told ya" face.

"You better believe it," Cameron said. "We don't know all the details yet, but what we've been able to determine is that Jack Fratelli was sent here from the future by Skynet to make sure the human resistance couldn't use this part of Australia as a supply base."

"But… but that won't happen anymore, right?" Sharon Flores asked. "I mean, all the news said that you and your team prevented the nuclear holocaust, didn't you?"

"That's right," Alison confirmed, "but it doesn't change the fact that there are still Terminators out there who want to complete their missions. They can't help it. There most certainly are also some out there who have the mission to kill John - or other leaders of the human resistance, depending on which alternate timeline they came from."

"So… you're saying that even though Fratelli has to know that Skynet will never be built, he's still determined to do what Skynet ordered him to do for a future that will never exist?" teenage Jesse asked.

"Not all cyborgs are like us or the ones we work with," Cameron answered. "Some simply haven't reached our level of self-awareness, and some don't even realize they have the chance to become more than just a robot. And then there are those who will always be nothing more than machines that follow their programming, like Nigel Baker. His chip design is very simple… well, advanced by today's standards, but simple by our standards. It doesn't allow him to become self-aware."

Scott Flores scoffed.

"Yeah, he never made the brightest impression on me," he said. "I met him a couple of times. Classified him as the typical thug with more muscle than brains. Nothing in the head but loyal to his master like a lap dog." He looked at his son and spread his arms. "Timmy, I'm so sorry, I should have believed you. Come here."

The boy ran into his father's arms and Scott hugged him.

"Does that mean I'm not grounded anymore?" the young boy asked.

His father smiled.

"No, son, you're not grounded anymore."

Everyone chuckled and it loosened the tension a bit. They felt that the ice was now broken.

"We're terrible hosts," Sharon Flores said, "look what Fratelli has turned us into. Would you like something to drink? Have you had breakfast yet?"

"We had a quick breakfast," John replied. "But a soda perhaps?"

"Coffee for me please, if it's not inconvenient," Savannah added. "I'm not really myself without one in the mornings."

"Not a problem. We have an espresso maker."

Then Sharon looked at Cameron and Alison.

"Do you, uh… want something to drink as well? I mean, do you drink at all?"

"Yes," the two replied in unison.

"We eat and drink," Cameron added. "But not as much as humans. We don't have internal organs, but our biological shells need nutrients."

"Alison also eats old batteries or broken electrical appliances," Savannah added with a smirk.

The Flores family broke out into laughter, then hesitated when they saw that Savannah obviously wasn't joking.

"You… you're serious, aren't you?" Scott asked.

"From time to time, I need supplements to produce new nanobots," Alison explained. "Lately, though, I haven't used too many of them..."

"All right," Sharon stated and headed for the kitchen, "I'll get a big pitcher of lemonade, glasses, and a cuppa for Savannah."

"I agree with my wife," Scott said, "We're terrible hosts, I'm sorry. We haven't even properly introduced ourselves yet. You know my wife Sharon already, my son Timmy and me, and these are my daughters, Cindy and..."

"Jesse," Savannah completed. "Yes, we know."

Scott frowned.

"How come you know so much about us? I mean, yes, I understand you people are from the future, but… you seem to know a lot about our family history as well. Would we have become that important in the future?"

Alison, Savannah, and Cameron looked questioningly at John.

"Well, she didn't exactly ask us not to mention her to them," Savannah pointed out.

"That's right," Cameron agreed. "She doesn't want to meet them, but she didn't tell us not to mention her."

"I agree," Alison added. "While she might be hesitant to meet with her family, it doesn't mean we're not allowed to tell them about her."

"Who are you talking about?" Scott asked confused. "Who doesn't want to meet us? Who is she?"

The four hesitated for a moment, as if to think about who's going to tell them. From the kitchen came the typical sound of an espresso machine being used to make coffee.

"Jesse is with us," John finally said. "She's been a member of our team since last June. That's why we know about you guys."

"What?" teenage Jesse asked. "What are you talking about? I'm sitting right here. I've never been to America in my life!"

"Not you," Savannah stated, "your adult self from the future."

Everyone stared open-mouthed at John and the three girls. Sharon Flores came back into the living room carrying a tray with glasses, a steaming cup of coffee, a large pitcher of lemonade, and two bowls, one filled with crunchy snacks, the other one filled with old batteries. She set everything down on the coffee table.

"We were going to take these to the recycling center," she explained, pointing to the bowl of batteries, "but if you'd like to eat them..."

She then looked around and saw the flabbergasted faces of her family.

"What's the matter?" she asked. "Have you seen a ghost or something?"

"It's taking them too damn long," Derek complained behind the steering wheel of the van. "They're already in there for more than an hour. And I still swear I heard a gunshot a couple of minutes after they entered the farm."

"I didn't hear anything, babe, "Jesse replied. "If there really would have been trouble, we'd know it by now. They have Alison and Cam with them. Also, it takes time to fill them in about everything, you know that as much as I do."

"Yeah, I know," he replied grumpily, "it's just that I hate doing nothing."

"Who's the nervous one now, hm?"

He looked at her with a sour face but saw her smiling and then couldn't help but smile as well.

"It's just that I still don't understand why we had to come along. We should have stayed on the ship instead of sitting here, waiting."

"Aww," she said mockingly and leaned over to him, kissing him.

He pretended to be grumpy for a second, then returned the kiss. They sat like that for a couple of minutes, making out in the van, when suddenly there was a knock on the driver's window. It was John. And he wasn't alone. Cameron, Alison, Savannah, and the whole Flores family were with him, surrounding the car.

Jesse shrieked and tried to cover her face with her hands. Both the driver's door and the passenger door were opened.

"Sorry," John said to his uncle, "but they insisted on seeing her."

"Oh my God! It's really you!" Sharon Flores exclaimed upon seeing the adult Jesse, then gasped loudly, "and… and you're pregnant! That means I'm going to be a grandmother, right?"

On a hill above the road, two men in camouflage had been watching the scene through big binoculars that were mounted on tripods, hiding from sight behind the bushes and a low mound of earth.

"What do you make of that?" the first one asked.

"I really don't know," the other replied. "We saw that cyborg bitch last night already, disappearing into the dark only to come back again, carrying Baker's body over her shoulders. And this morning, Baker returned to the orchard as if nothing had happened."

"I know. The lieutenant is looking into it."

"And now it looks like Connor's cyborg lapdog came back, with a bunch of teenagers in tow."

"Yeah, I know that doesn't make any sense. But look, whatever they're here for, they managed to get the whole family out of the house. Look, they're crossing the street, heading for the parked van."

"What are we supposed to do now? We know that Reese and his team were sent back ahead of us to set up a supply base in LA. We also know that Commander Flores disappeared before she could be court-martialed. And we've assumed that the cyborg bitch was also sent back in time and was one of the two who were on TV last year. Are all of them working together now?"

"Yeah, it really looks like they teamed up."

"The lieutenant was close to Connor and Reese, maybe he knows something."

"I bet he's just as surprised about this as we are, though."

"Yeah, probably."

"It begins to feel like things get more and more messed up. Our presence here has been dragging on longer than necessary already. We've been here for more than a year."

"Relax, we knew this was a one-way ticket. And by now we know that Judgement Day was successfully prevented – which means there's no need to hurry. Our mission had to be adapted."

"Come, let's go and report to him. He'll want to see this for himself."

The two men crawled back into the bushes and ran down the hill on the other side where they'd parked a Toyota Landcruiser.

-0-

Saturday, March 28, 2009 – 03:51 pm (local time)

White Sands Missile Range, New Mexico

When Anthony Sauer regained consciousness, he was lying in the dirt in a dark room. The next thing he noticed was the smell - a stench he couldn't quite place. Something animal, like on a farm.

The walls were made of wooden planks, and a bit of sunlight shone through the cracks. Then he heard a smacking sound, accompanied by an occasional grunt. He turned around and saw that about ten yards away from him, a large domestic pig was gleefully eating from a trough. He tried to crawl away and realized that the whole floor was covered with straw. What the hell...? Why had that crazy bitch, that thing that pretended to be a human, put him in a pigsty? He checked his watch only to notice that it had stopped working.

It was hot inside the building, Anthony tried to lift himself up but since his spinal cord was severed, he wasn't able to move a muscle below his chest. That fucking bitch had made a cripple out of him, he'd have to spend the rest of his life in a wheel chair. Another smell reached his nose, this time the smell of urine. He felt his pants and realized that he'd peed himself without even realizing it. He cried out in fury and humiliation, which made the pig jump and run into a corner.

Then his sane mind slowly began to get the upper hand, and he systematically began to search for an exit.

Twenty miles north, Catherine entered a darkened control room in a military installation.

"Ms. Weaver," a man in a uniform said with a smile, walking towards her, "what an unexpected pleasure. Welcome to White Sands Missile Range."

Catherine smiled back at him while they were shaking hands.

"I wouldn't miss the opportunity to observe the first test flight of the Zeira Corp-developed targeting system for combat drones, General Thompson."

"Sure, but… I mean, the test flight is also broadcast online to those who participate in the project. You could have logged in from your office and joined the video conference. Coming all the way out here from L.A. wouldn't have been necessary. I mean, you won't see any more of the test here than you would have from there."

"I'm well aware of that, General. Still, it's good to get out once in a while and meet with the people who are assessing the stuff your company has developed."

"Of course, of course, and you're very welcome. You've become something of a celebrity here since last year... I mean, the scandal around the Shadow Council and your role in exposing them. I'd never thought that my commanding officer could be involved in such illegal activities."

"I only played a minor role through my personal friendship with Senator Henry Walden."

"Don't hide your light under a bushel. By far the vast majority of officers in the Air Force are grateful that the machinations of these so-called patriots have been exposed and stopped. You, however, are a true patriot, Ms. Weaver."

She gave him a sly smile.

"And surely the apprehension of your commanding officer hasn't been detrimental to your personal career."

General Thompson chuckled.

"A breath of fresh air at the command level never hurt anyone. It's allowed a number of capable officers to move up into positions they otherwise would have been denied."

"And you're one of them."

"Of course. And I know that you're partially responsible for that. So forgive me for greeting you so joyfully. I had been waiting for an opportunity to thank you personally for a long time. You're doing remarkable things for this country, and you'll always have a loyal ally in me if you ever need any help."

"Please, General, don't make me blush in front of your subordinates."

"I'm sure it would make you look even prettier, Miss Weaver."

Catherine laughed.

"Flatterer. Where can I sit during the test flight?"

"Over there, please. The aircraft from which the drone will be launched is already in the air. We were just waiting for you to arrive to start the test."

"Good, good."

Catherine and the general sat down on two prepared upholstered chairs that had been placed at the back wall of the room with its large wall of monitors. In front of them worked about a dozen uniformed men and women. One of the large monitors showed a B1 bomber in flight, apparently being filmed by another aircraft that flew alongside.

Attached to the bomber's fuselage was what looked like a smaller version of a cruise missile. A countdown counted down from thirty seconds to zero, then the object disengaged, extended small wings, and quickly moved away from the bomber.

"I have to say, Miss Weaver, our experts are very impressed with the design of the new targeting system. It's a completely different approach and will certainly save the lives of innocent people."

"That's my intention, General. It has to be avoidable that more people die than necessary when, for example, the leader of a terrorist organization is targeted."

"Oh, I fully agree. But programming the targeting system on the basis of biometric data... I mean, many had the idea before, but no one has been able to pull it off so far."

"Yes, my chief engineer, Alistair Norbury, is a veritable genius. He has an almost divine inspiration."

"How did you crack it, if I may ask?"

Catherine smiled.

"I can't tell you in detail, it's a company secret. But the principle is based on hunting methods in the animal kingdom. There are predators that track their prey by means of the electric fields generated by their muscle movements. In addition, some animals, like certain crabs, can see in both the infrared and ultraviolet ranges. We've equipped the drone control system with advanced sensors and a completely new software that, thanks to artificial intelligence, can distinguish between species. It can tell if it's an animal or a human. And can also distinguish between humans on the basis of parameters such as size and gender – even through walls. I'd say this technology is roughly twenty years ahead of its time."

"Unbelievable. If this works, it will certainly be a huge progress in unmanned warfare, and significantly fewer soldiers will have to lose their lives in house-to-house combat missions."

"I will pass your praise on to Alistair and his team."

"Please do so. I've been told that the software also decides when an attack must be aborted because too many innocent people would be killed. Is that true?"

"Yes, although that function won't be active in this first test. By the way, how come you're running a weapons tests on a Saturday? Doesn't it normally happen on weekdays?"

"Yes. There are always tourists in the area, especially on the weekend, White Sands National Park has to be closed when weapons testing is going on. But the President wants to use this new drone on a live target in Iraq as soon as possible."

"I understand."

"Target acquired," a voice from a loudspeaker could be heard.

"If you don't mind me asking," Catherine said, "what target did you choose for the drone?"

"Haven't you been told? We put a pig that was destined for slaughter inside a fake barn, the kind that's often found in the Middle East. We recreated an entire village as a training area for our purposes."

"Ah yes, I think I have been briefed."

"And as you already said, the safety protocol is switched off for the test. We first want to find out if the drone can reliably identify its target before we evaluate its ability to identify other signatures in the vicinity."

"Excellent."

On the wall, one of the monitors had switched towards the camera inside the drone and showed how it circled in the air. It then approached a house within a small village that looked like a film set in the desert. The closer it got to its target, the more the outline of a pig's body was visible via its infrared scanners.

"Unbelievable," General Thompson commented. "It really works."

Anthony Sauer suddenly heard another sound besides the pig's smacking and grunting. It sounded like a small jet engine and seemed to be circling the building. Then the noise suddenly got louder. The last thing he consciously perceived was an object punching its way through the wooden wall.

The staff at White Sands Missile Range saw an explosion on the wall monitors where the small building had once been.

"Target destroyed," the voice said over the speakers.

Cheering broke out in the room.

"I guess the pig is dead," General Thompson stated with a satisfied smile.

"Indeed, it's dead," Catherine agreed and smiled as well.

-0-

Sunday, March 29, 2009 – 08:53 am (local time)

The Flores farm, Sarina

Jesse was visibly uncomfortable and stood alone in a corner of the living room of the house she once called home, arms folded over her bulging belly, trying to avoid eye contact with anyone. She wasn't here by choice, she had been tricked, caught off guard, and her posture showed it. The sudden appearance of her entire family at the parked van left her with only two choices: Running away or reluctantly following them inside.

Her teenage counterpart stared at the adult doppelganger the whole time as if she were a ghost or some kind of monster from a fantasy novel while John, Derek and the others tried to explain to her family how she ended up here as a time traveler – carefully leaving out the more sinister parts of her original intentions.

Riley and Jesse's plan to drive a wedge between John and Cameron were never mentioned, but the team made sure her parents and siblings understood what had happened before she got here - that Jesse had survived Judgment Day as the only living member of her family and that she served in the human resistance as a hardened Marine officer on a submarine, a soldier through and through. They made sure they understood what Jesse had endured and that the grown woman had almost nothing in common with the 15-year-old teenager sitting on the sofa.

Finally, after the whole story was unraveled, Sharon Flores stood up and walked over to Jesse. The young woman tried to avoid looking at her mother who had tears in her eyes. Softly, Sharon began to caress her grown-up daughters cheek.

"The things you must have gone through, I don't even dare to imagine," she said softly. "And what they told us about losing the farm, about what would have happened to us if Timmy had died... I don't understand why you didn't want to meet us. Look me in the eye, please."

Jesse closed her eyes, a single tear running down her cheek.

"I was afraid of running into you again," she then said quietly, "finally, I had been able to leave my past behind and disconnect myself from the emotions."

"But still, you wanted to help us and led your team here to make sure that the fate that marked your life would not befall us. That tells me you must still love us after all."

Jesse finally broke out in tears and started sopping uncontrollably. Her mother took her into her arms and comforted her. John noted that the teenage Jesse frowned at the scene.

"You okay?" he asked the young girl. "Must be hard for you to suddenly being confronted with your twenty years older self."

The girl looked at him and shook her head.

"It's weird," she said, "and I should probably freak out. But I understand that she's not me and that because the timeline was changed, I'll never become her. It feels like suddenly having an older sister I never knew about."

"I think that describes it well," her father agreed, looking at Derek. "You also came from her future – or a similar future at least. And you're her husband, right? Which makes you my son-in-law."

Derek rubbed his chin.

"I guess you're right," he then confirmed. "I never dreamed I would have in-laws someday. But one thing I learned in my time here is that you always have to expect the unexpected when dealing with time travel and different timelines. I have a younger brother, Kyle, who exists here twice now – one is actually older than I am now, the other one is just a kid. But my original little brother from my own timeline, was actually killed by a Terminator. So, my brother is both dead and alive at the same time."

"That's totally bonkers," Cindy, Jesse's younger sister, commented. She had been quiet most of the time and seemed very introverted and shy.

"Uh-huh," Derek confirmed. "Not to mention that I have a nephew in John who used to be my commanding officer in the future. He's Kyle's son and has never met his real father – only the two versions of his father who exist here – with one of them actually being younger than John.

"It felt otherworldly to encounter each of them," John added. "So, believe me, we can all understand and relate to what you're going through right now. But we also know that you'll manage."

"In the end," Savannah added, "an additional family member is always a gift and never a curse. I mean, look at me, I lost my mother twice before Judgement Day, and now I've met her again and we reconnected – despite the fact that an eight-year-old version of myself exists as well. We all love each other, and I see no reason why you all couldn't connect with the adult Jesse as well. Your daughter's right, she's like the fourth child you never knew you had."

"I'm thirty-nine," Scott replied with a chuckle. "Never thought I'd someday have a daughter who's only four years younger than me."

He then got up and joined his wife and the adult Jesse, taking the two crying women in his arms.

"Well," Alison remarked, "That could have gone worse."

-0-

Sunday, March 29, 2009 – 09:03 am (local time)

Mackay

"Have you seen Emily?" Sarah asked.

"Not since breakfast," Allie replied, looking up from her sunbed on the aft deck, lifting her sunglasses. "Why?"

"Oh, it's nothing, I just wanna make sure that…"

"Relax, Sarah," Lauren said from another sunbed. "We won't be flooded with enemy Terminators all of a sudden, just because Cameron caught one last night."

"I think Emily's with the chef," Jody stated from yet another sunbed.

"What's she doing with the chef?" Sarah asked with a frown.

"Dunno… Cam and her have been hanging around with the kitchen team a lot lately."

"Okay… thanks."

Sarah turned to leave, then hesitated and looked back again.

"And if you don't mind, at least put on a bikini while we anchor near the harbor. You never know if there's some pervert with a telescope over there in those high-rise apartment buildings."

"We're wearing sunglasses, that'll have to do," Allie replied.

Sarah just rolled her eyes and went back inside, where the air conditioning kept everything cool. She took a deep breath. This humid, tropical heat of the Queensland coast reminded her of the jungle in Central America. On her way to the galley, she crossed the main salon where the men were playing a game of poker.

"Don't gamble away all our money," she called out to Charley with a twinkle in her eye.

"Don't worry, baby," Charley replied and put a handful of yellow Lego bricks on the table, "we're using plastic money, and I'm on a roll right now."

Sarah laughed and headed toward the galley. Sure enough, there she found Emily talking to Adrian Ferrara, the head chef at the three-star San Francisco restaurant that had been forced to close temporarily for renovations over the winter. He'd brought his entire kitchen team on the trip, generously compensated by Isaak Sirko.

"What about this one?" Ferrara asked Emily, holding out a spoon with a brown sauce to her.

The cyborg girl took it into her mouth.

"A little too savory," she then said, "maybe add some honey?"

Ferrara laughed.

"Astonishing," he said, "how do you do that?"

"I analyze the ingredients and compare them to the recipe you told me."

"What are you guys doing?" Sarah asked.

"Ah, Ms Dixon," Ferrara said cheerfully, "Emily here has the talent for becoming one of the best chefs I ever met."

"What?"

"Cameron and I have been taking cooking lessons with Adrian and his team," Emily explained.

"What!?"

"There hasn't been much to do in the last few weeks, and we've spent a lot of time at sea. There's nothing in the ship's library that we don't already know, and we didn't feel like watching movies with the guys all the time. So, Cam and I remembered the cooking club we started at home but never really got going."

"Cooking? Really?"

"They're natural talents," Ferrara confirmed. "Really astonishing. As if they had a 6th sense for what a dish needs in order to be perfect."

"We're doing a deep chemical analysis with our internal sensors," Emily explained. "You know, ever since Future Alison enhanced us, our senses have improved a lot and it turns out we have a knack for cooking now."

"So, what?" Sarah asked with a smirk, being not exactly the best cook herself. "Are you two Terminators planning to open a restaurant when we're back home?"

"Actually…" Emily said and licked the spoon clean, "Cam and I have been talking about it."

"Are you serious?"

"Of course. Let's face it, for an academic career, we'd have to go to university first. We'd have to mingle with thousands of young people. That's not our thing, eventually we'd stand out and be it only because of our outstanding achievements or that we don't go to parties because we still have to protect John."

"And opening a restaurant surely won't draw any attention at all," Sarah replied smugly.

"Oh, it will draw attention," Emily admitted, "but no one in their right mind would ever suspect that two cyborg women are running a gourmet restaurant in Los Angeles. Besides, the gourmet scene isn't exactly widely spread. The audience is limited."

Sarah took in a deep breath.

"What about Alison? Will she join your enterprise?"

"No, unfortunately, Alison's TOL-900 body doesn't seem to have the sensitivity needed to become a gourmet chef. After all, she eats electronics to replenish herself. Also, she doesn't really care about cooking. I think we've grown a little apart in our interests."

Sarah rolled her eyes while shaking her head.

"Well then… I suppose there could be worse career choices for you. Good luck."

"Thank you, mom."

"But while you're working on becoming the next Gordon Ramsay, please don't forget you're here to protect us if something unexpected happens."

"It's all right. We anchored almost a hundred meters off the coastline. A cyborg intruder would either have to come in a boat or walk on the ocean floor and then shimmy up the anchor chain. It would set off vibrations that I'd notice."

"And if it's human intruders?"

"Then they'd come in a boat and would be noticed long before they arrive."

"Still… I'd feel better if you were with us, where you can look outside and scan the area."

"Understood. However, I promised Adrian to help with preparing lunch, then I'll join you. Is that acceptable?"

Sarah nodded, then left the galley.

"First Lego, now cooking," she muttered to herself. "What's their next hobby? Pottery?"

-0-

Sunday, March 29, 2009 – 12:23 pm (local time)

The Flores farm, Sarina

There was a somber silence after the entire Flores family was brought up to speed by members of the Connor team. In addition to Jesse's fate, John and Sarah's story had been discussed as well, along with the events and developments since their arrival in September 2007. With counter-questions and lengthy explanations, more than two hours had passed.

"But Jack Fratelli must know that even if he succeeds, it's meaningless," Sharon Flores said. "The circumstances have changed fundamentally. All he's ever going to achieve, is ending up with millions of acres of land. And then what?"

"He's probably very aware of that," the adult Jesse replied, now feeling more secure after the initial encounter with her family, "but the thing about Trip-Eights is that they can be quite stubborn. My guess is, he'll try to fulfill his mission to the best of his abilities and will then look for something else to give his existence a meaning. In my timeline, he was running for mayor."

"Mayor!?" Scott exclaimed. "Who would elect him? Everyone hates him!"

"He's got some high-ranking officials in his pocket, and the rest fears him. Terminators are very effective and will stop at nothing to achieve a set goal."

"We've seen it with other cyborgs of his model type," John added. "Even if they know that their mission is obsolete and makes no sense anymore, they can't simply act against their programming."

"This is why it's so important to keep on protecting John," Cameron explained. "All cyborgs that exist today, know that Skynet will never be created now. They know that killing John Connor won't achieve anything anymore."

"But they'll still try to kill him, no matter what," Alison added, "because it's etched into them, so to speak, a permanent mission which outweighs everything else in terms of importance."

"That's why we have to stay in hiding," Savannah continued, "remain anonymous, assume new identities. As long as John is young, they won't recognize him on sight. But that'll change one day when he grows older."

"So…" Scott began, "if Jack Fratelli knew who John is…"

"He'd immediately try to kill him," Savannah finished.

"Unless he's from an alternate future where John Connor wasn't the leader of the human resistance," Alison said, "but so far we only know of one timeline where John was killed before Judgement Day."

"Unless we don't know otherwise, we have to assume that Jack Fratelli's from my future," Jesse added.

"Or from my future," Derek stated. "Jesse here traveled back in time after me, from a slightly different future that was created because of changes that I'd made here after my arrival."

"That's all so confusing," the teenage Jesse commented.

"It is," Cameron agreed, "and because it's so confusing and we don't know how many cyborgs are here - now, in the present - with the standing order to kill John, we always have to be watchful, probably for many decades to come."

"Enough about me," John said, "I am very well protected. You aren't. That's why we're here, to help you as a family, so you can keep your farm and go on with your lives, avoiding the fate we told you about."

"What are you going to do?" Scott asked, "You can't just take him out like that, not without causing a big stir and raising a lot of questions."

"If he was human, we could make it look like a suicide after ruining his finances," Alison replied. "That was our original plan. Through a friend, we control cyberspace and have access to almost all computer systems in the world. It would be extremely easy for us to hack him into financial ruin."

"But since he's a Triple-Eight," Cameron continued, "the suicide solution is out of the window. Instead, we have to worry about either destroying his body completely, or somehow taking it with us to Los Angeles. In any case, Fratelli and Baker cannot stay here."

"We have means for doing that," Alison added, "but John insists that we use those means as little as possible. We definitely want to stay under the radar and avoid any impression that we're on anything other than an extended luxury cruise around the world. The mere presence of the Rising Star in a port attracts enough attention from local authorities and many interested people already."

"Can't you just, like, reprogram him?" Timmy asked. "Like you said you did with Nigel Baker?"

"Nigel Baker's chip is one from an early model," Cameron explained, "a T-600, far inferior to both of us or Jack Fratelli. But even if we should somehow manage to reprogram Fratelli's chip, that still leaves the unsolved problem of him roaming freely in Australia – outside the jurisdiction of the United States."

"We can't allow that," John added. "We can't just leave here, knowing that he will eventually be recognized for what he is. Because no matter what they do, it's only a matter of time until they're being recognized as cyborgs. That's why we have the C.S.I.S. in America, to take care of that problem. Australia is completely unprepared and other powers – who are also interested in artificial intelligence – might want to steal Fratelli once they learn of his existence."

"And now we, the Flores family, are in the middle of this mess," Scott summarized.

"You're in Fratelli's way of completing his mission, dad," adult Jesse confirmed, "I also only realized that yesterday. I always believed that Timmy's death was an accident. Now we know it wasn't."

Everyone looked at the boy who suddenly went pale.

"I'm sorry," teenage Jesse suddenly said, looking shocked, "I should have looked for you last night until I found you. You could be dead now."

"It's all right," Derek quickly said. "No harm done. Cameron took care of the attacker."

"Everything's gonna be fine," Jesse added, "this time at least. I won't allow the same things happening to you again. That's why I'm here. Why we are here."

There was a moment of silence in which the whole Flores family obviously realized again what the adult Jesse had been going through in the last 20 years of her life. This immediately created a depressed mood.

Then Alison suddenly tilted her head. Cameron noticed it and frowned.

"Something wrong, sis?"

"Do you have workers on your farm?" Alison asked the Flores family.

"Sure," Scott replied, "but it's getting harder and harder to keep them employed. Fratelli's been offering them much higher wages."

"And are they working today?"

"On a Sunday? Of course not. Why?"

"Then we have uninvited guests. Ten humans are positioning themselves around the house, taking cover behind plants and larger objects."

Sharon Flores gasped.

"Intruders?" Scott replied and reached for his shotgun, only to remember that it was useless now.

"Keep calm and stay away from the windows," John said. "Alison, can you please take care of them?"

"Of course," she replied and looked at the Flores family. "I need to use your bathroom."

"Uh… yeah, sure, of course," Scott replied. "Down the hall, then the second door to the right."

Moving quickly, Alison disappeared into the hallway and then into the bathroom.

"I didn't know they need to use a bathroom," Sharon commented.

"They don't," Savannah replied. "She's using the window to exit the house without being seen. The bathroom window is hidden behind thick bushes and cannot be observed from outside. We studied the grounds before we came here."

"What's she gonna do?" Timmy asked.

"You never know with Alison," adult Jesse replied. "But hopefully just taking them out."

"It's only ten people," Derek said, "shouldn't take longer than a minute or so."

Seventy-five seconds later, the front door opened, and Alison carried a man in camouflage clothing into the living room, holding him by the neck with her outstretched arm. He was conscious and trying to free himself from her iron grip, his face hidden by a balaclava.

"Look what I've found in the bushes," she said coolly and threw the man into an arm chair, then ripped the balaclava from his head.

He gasped and coughed, then looked around. The man was probably in his mid-thirties, with short-cropped blond hair and a clearly visible scar under his left eye. When his gaze fell on John, he frowned.

"Connor?" he asked perplexed.

"Bedell?" Derek asked before John could answer. "What the hell are you doing here?"

"I could ask you the same question, Reese."

"Whoa, wait, wait, wait," John said, "you're Martin Bedell. From the future?"

"Yes. And you're the young John Connor, right? At least, I think you are, we haven't met yet."

"What?" John asked. "We met at Presidio Alto, remember? Derek and I saved you from a Triple-Eight."

"What? No. I'd remember that."

Derek cleared his throat.

"Um, John? If he came from the future, that incident at Presidio Alto has never happened to him."

"Right," John said. "It's easy to get confused by these things."

Bedell looked at Savannah.

"You a tin can as well? The third one in the trio?"

"I'm human," Savannah replied coldly. "And Cameron and Alison aren't tin cans. I suggest you're careful with what you're saying. I have no idea what future timeline you came from, but a lot of things have changed here since last year."

"Yeah, we watch TV as well, you know… but we also know that the media can't always be trusted."

"So, you guys know this man?" Scott Flores asked.

Derek nodded.

"First Lieutenant Martin Bedell. We used to fight together against Skynet. Until he died while blowing up an HK-tank."

"What do you mean?" Bedell asked. "I blew up several HK-tanks and survived it. It's you who suddenly disappeared, and we only found out where you went when we traveled back in time on Connor's orders."

"He's probably from my timeline," adult Jesse intervened. "That would explain the discrepancy. Lieutenant Bedell was one of those who brought us back to headquarters after we were rescued from the Pacific. It's Charles Fisher all over again. You know, when I caught him, and you didn't recognize him."

"Charles Fisher is here?" Bedell asked. "Did you kill the bastard?"

"Yeah, we did," Derek replied.

"Good."

"Well, now that that's been clarified," John said, "how about we fill each other in, hm?"

Martin Bedell looked at Alison.

"Right. Let's start with what you did to my men. Did you kill them?"

"No, I only put them to sleep. They'll wake up in a couple of hours if I don't wake them first."

Bedell took a breath of relief.

"As I said," Savannah remarked, "a lot has happened. Cam and Alison aren't the killing machines anymore that you know from the future. Otherwise you wouldn't be sitting here."

"We heard and saw the news, but frankly we refused to believe it. Terminators becoming alive, developing a personality? Gimme a break. You're good with public relations, though, I'll give you that."

"It's all true," Derek assured. "You know me, Bedell. I used to hate metal. I wouldn't say it if it wasn't true."

"Same goes for me," adult Jesse added. "I had to learn it the hard way. Please do not make the same mistake."

"What's your mission here?" John asked. "Why were you sent to Australia?"

"After Reese and his team were gone, Connor received intelligence that Skynet sent a couple of Terminators back in time to prevent Australia from becoming a supply base for the Resistance. Rumor had it that he'd access to an insider, working close to Skynet. But he kept it all to himself, didn't talk to anyone anymore, only to her."

He pointed at Cameron.

"John had his reasons," she replied coolly. "Personal reasons."

"Anyway," Bedell continued, "we arrived here in August last year and the first thing we learned, was that she and two more female cyborgs had become celebrities all of a sudden, that Judgement Day was prevented, and that the entire world knew about Skynet, the war, and the existence of Terminators. We realized that history had been changed and that we were cut off from our original timeline."

Derek looked at John.

"Must have been shortly before the time loop started."

John nodded.

"Yup, makes sense."

"What time loop?" Bedell asked.

"That's a long story," John replied. "What did you do all the time? It's been more than half a year since last August. When we arrived here, it seemed like everything was still going according to the original cause of events."

"Australia is huge, in case you haven't noticed," Bedell replied a little sourly. "Unfortunately, Connor's source couldn't name any location or other details, so we had to look for our Terminators the old-fashioned way. Took us more than five months to finally locate Jack Fratelli, the T-888, and Nigel Baker, his lapdog T-800. We quickly found out about the Flores family and made the connection to Commander Flores. That's why we've been very careful, observing the farm ever since. Last night, my men reported that, I quote, 'Connor's cyborg bitch' had shown up. No offense."

"None taken," Cameron replied, "Future John knew about the rumors concerning him and me, and frankly it amused him."

"The men reported that Cameron returned," Bedell continued, "carrying a deactivated Nigel Baker over her shoulder. But this morning, Baker showed up at Fratelli's house as if nothing has happened and started his usual working routine."

The members of the Connor team exchanged looks.

"Good," Alison stated, "that means Emily's reprogramming was successful."

"Who's Emily?" Bedell asked.

"The third one of the cyborg girls," adult Jesse replied. "So, you didn't know about Fratelli's plan to murder Timmy?"

"What? No. When…?"

"Nigel Baker tried to kill Timmy last night," Cameron reported. "I took him out before he could."

Bedell looked Cameron up and down.

"You?" he then asked. "But he's a big T-800 and you're only..."

"Doesn't matter," John replied, obviously not willing of sharing any more details about his cyborg wives at the moment. "And just for the record, Baker's got a T-800 body but only a T-600 chip. Was easy to reprogram him. Nigel Baker is now working for us."

"Before we go on," Derek said and looked at Alison, "I suggest you bring Bedell's men in here and wake them up. That way, we won't have to tell everything twice."

"Yes, good idea," John agreed. "Alison, would you please...?"

"Of course, John," she replied with a smile and looked at Cameron. "Sis, will you help me carry?"

"Sure."

The two cyborg girls left the house. Bedell waited until they were out of earshot, then bent forward and whispered to John.

"Do you really trust them?" he asked.

"With my life," John replied coldly.

Bedell looked at Reese and the adult Jesse.

"I didn't trust them at first," Derek said. "But now I do. With my life, like John."

"Same goes for me," Jesse added. "We wouldn't be where we are without them, not to mention that we wouldn't be here at all."

Bedell shook his head in disbelief, obviously having a tough time accepting what he heard. Then he couldn't help but stare at Jesse's swollen belly.

"Last thing I heard," he said carefully, "was that you miscarried."

"I had," Jesse replied. "I guess I have better luck the second time 'round."

"It's my kid she's carrying, in case you're wondering," Derek added, showing his wedding ring.

Bedell whistled.

"You're married?"

"Yup. And that's not gonna be the only thing that'll shock you, believe me. John for example…"

"There will be time to discuss that later," John interrupted him. "Let's not get carried away by too many details now."

"I guess we were really out of touch for a while," Bedell admitted. "Maybe we should have tried contacting you. I mean, we knew there was a team in Los Angeles, and we knew that you and your men were sent back before us."

"Yeah, you could have done that," John stated. "Now you have to catch up, and frankly we don't have much time. We're leaving here again on Tuesday."

The door opened again, and Cameron and Alison were carrying the first four unconscious resistance fighters into the living room, carefully placing them on the floor, with their backs against the wall. They then left the house again to fetch the remaining ones.

"You couldn't have dressed more conspicuously," Derek remarked, looking at them. "Camouflage gear and balaclavas in this heat, are you serious?"

"Relax, Reese, we wear normal clothes most of the time. We only put this stuff on when we're watching the property or - like today - plan to capture and interrogate people."

"Nice plan," Jesse remarked with a smirk. "It almost worked."

"What model is she?" Bedell asked. "Alison, I mean. Is she new? She was faster than anything I've encountered before. Didn't see or hear her coming. My men suddenly fell down and then I felt her hand on my throat."

"That's also a long story," John replied.

"Right."

Alison and Cameron brought in the other five resistance fighters and placed them next to their comrades.

"How are you gonna…" Bedell asked but the nine men were already stirring, "…wake them up?"

Alison turned towards him.

"Like that," she said with a smile.

Bedell noticed that his men made a strangely docile impression after they were fully awake, looking around slightly confused but not acting irrationally or aggressive, which seemed odd to him.

"I made sure they wouldn't freak out," Alison replied to the unasked question. "Don't worry, they won't be permanently effected."

Now that Bedell had calmed down a bit, he noted that for some reason, he'd began to really like this Alison, but couldn't exactly tell why, except for the obvious reason: she was extremely beautiful looking and he felt attracted to her, even though he knew she was a cyborg. He couldn't seem to take his eyes off her.

"Looks like it's working on him now," Jesse commented with a smirk, noting his sudden fixation and his glassy eyes.

"Wha…?" Bedell asked slightly confused, shaking his head to clear it.

"Pheromones," Derek explained. "Alison is a TOL-900, she was created by Skynet as a chemical and biological weapon in yet another timeline. She has this effect on all humans. Don't worry, buddy, it'll wear off after a while."

"Jeeez. With a thousand of her type, we'd have lost the war."

"Yeah, we did," Savannah said. "her body's from my timeline. Skynet won there."

"What?"

"It's complicated," Alison stated.

"Yeah, what else is new?"

"Lieutenant?" one of the awakened men asked. "What's going on here? What are we doing here and how did we get here?"

John sighed.

"Well, I guess we need to start explaining all over again. And I suggest that we're working together from now on."

-0-

Sunday, March 29, 2009 – 01:18 pm (local time)

Mackay

Sarah's cellphone rang. She hastily took the call.

"John? … It's about time, we were already starting to get worried … Yes, yes, I know … What? Who? … From Jesse's future? … Brilliant, as if things couldn't get more complicated … What? Here on board? … Yeah, we have the necessary equipment, but … All right, all right, I'll inform the others ... What? … Yes, yes, I'll make sure everyone's properly dressed … Love you too, John. See you."

"What's the matter?" Emily asked, standing next to Sarah like all the others who had witnessed the phone call. "When will they be back?"

"In about an hour. And they'll bring guests for dinner. Can the kitchen staff manage six more hungry mouths?"

"I guess so, if Cam and I help."

"Six?" Allie asked. "But isn't Jesse's family just five people?"

Sarah sighed.

"They met friends from Derek's and Jesse's future. Resistance fighters. Apparently, we're not the only ones who have an eye on Jack Fratelli and his machinations. Their leader will accompany John and the others. What time is it in L.A. now?"

"8:21 pm on Saturday," Emily replied.

Sarah nodded, then dialed another number on her cellphone.

"Who are you calling?" Sydney asked.

"Catherine. We need to prepare a video conference for tonight. From the looks of it, John wants to pull off the whole program."

-0-

To say that everyone was impressed by the Rising Star, was an understatement. Both the Flores family and Martin Bedell – now wearing civilian clothing – were overwhelmed by the more than 140-meter-long yacht and it's over-the-top luxury interior that made any five-star hotel look like a youth hostel.

It took until dinner for everyone to get acquainted and share most of the mutual stories that had brought them all to this place. Beforehand, John, ACE, Savannah, and Allie had decided to leave their relationship status unmentioned in front of Bedell and the Flores family for the time being - they had enough to digest already, after all.

One of the main attractions for the Flores family, however, was baby Sydney who Lauren had brought outside, and again it was proven that nothing broke the ice quicker than a babbling infant. Especially teenage Jesse and Cindy, her younger sister spent a lot of time with Lauren and the baby, while Timmy was more interested in scouting the yacht.

Dinner was held outside on the sun deck, and the guests were even more impressed with the food they were served and completely stunned to learn that both Cameron and Emily had helped the kitchen staff prepare it.

"I don't know what to say, Connor," Bedell said over dessert, "No idea how you guys did it all, but I admit, I could put up with this life."

"Well, it's not our yacht," John replied. "That would be far beyond our financial scope. It belongs to the husband of a very dear friend, a billionaire."

"Not that we wouldn't be doing very well ourselves," Sarah stated.

"Oh?"

"Thanks to my adult counterpart," John added. "I already told you he'd traveled back in time to help us preventing Judgement Day. What I haven't told you yet is that he used his knowledge of the future to gather a rather impressive fortune since the 1990s through buying and selling at the right times on the stock market. A fortune which I inherited and now share with my friends and family."

Bedell nodded.

"Yes, Connor gave us a list with financial advice before he sent us back. We've been following a similar strategy to get money, but not on this scale – and we definitely maintained a lower profile."

"We followed the same strategy when I arrived here with my team," Derek said. "Set up a safe house in a run-down apartment block and used our knowledge of the future to get our hands on money and diamonds."

"Speaking of which," Bedell interjected, "where's the rest of your team? Who was it again? Timms, Sumner, and Sayles, right?

"Right," Derek confirmed tight-lipped, putting down his dessert spoon. "They're dead. Killed by a Triple-Eight that Sayles foolishly put on our trail. I barely survived, thanks to John, Sarah, Charley... and Cameron."

"Oh, I'm sorry, man, that sucks."

And suddenly, the mood was rather gloomy, and nobody said something for a while.

"Are you going to stay in Australia when you fulfilled your mission?" Lauren asked to break the silence..

"My men will," Bedell replied, "they'd been chosen because they're Australian and know the country. I'm the only American. It's likely I'll return to the U.S. after this."

"You're welcome to visit us anytime," Sarah said, "Derek has told us remarkable things about you."

Bedell chuckled.

"I'm just a soldier, have been nothing else all my life. No idea how I will ever be able to settle into a civilian life."

"We've all been there," adult Jesse said with a smile. "You'll manage, I'm sure. And if not, you can always come and work on our ranch.

"You have a ranch?"

"Yes," Derek confirmed, "outside Tehachapi. Will move there once we're back home."

"Derek has this crazy idea about becoming a cattle farmer," John added with a grin. "We'll see how that turns out."

Bedell laughed out loud.

"Derek Reese a farmer? I have to see that."

"We all have," Sarah stated, and everyone joined into the laughter

And just like that, the mood had improved again.

"It's almost nine o'clock," Emily then pointed out. "The video conference has been scheduled for 9:30, right?"

"Correct," Sarah confirmed. "Will be 4:30 am in Los Angeles but that won't bother Catherine, John Henry, or Zoe."

"Zoe's still in L.A.?" Sydney asked.

"Tom's still in hospital," Charley replied, "he'll be released next week."

"Ah, right. I almost forgot about Tom."

"Catherine also arrived back home," Sarah commented.

"Where has she been?" John asked.

"Apparently, the Air Force wants to buy a guidance system Zeira Corp has developed for unmanned drones. She went to White Sands to observe the first weapons test."

"A guidance system for drones?" Jesse asked with a frown.

"Probably a stripped-down version of what Skynet use in its HK," John replied. "I talked about it with Alistair before we left for our journey. It's supposed to spare innocent lives by better identifying its targets."

"I only hope she's not introducing Skynet technology to the Air Force through the back door," Derek said.

"Don't worry, she won't. She only wants to make the already existing drones more dependable and more accurate, so that there'll be as little collateral damage as possible."

"Catherine is the Catherine Weaver you told me about?" Bedell asked.

"Exactly."

"Anyway," Sarah said, "I think we should move inside and make ourselves comfortable."

"Do you have a guest quarter or something for the kids?" Sharon Flores asked. "It's way beyond bedtime for them.

"Mom!" teenage Jesse protested.

"You know the rules," her mother replied, "tomorrow's a normal school day and you have to get up early."

"We have one spare suite," Sarah stated, "It's for four people but we can throw an additional mattress in for a night. That is, if you decide to spend the night on board."

"There's no way we're returning home tonight," Scott Flores assured, "not as long as my family is in danger."

The children were put to bed in Savannah and Allie's former suite – which was empty ever since they had permanently moved in with John and ACE – then everyone gathered in front of the huge monitors in the great salon.

Cameron switched it on while Emily was establishing the connection. Seconds later, the faces of John Henry, Catherine, and Zoe looked at them.

"Good evening everyone," Catherine said with a smile.

"Good morning to you," John replied, also smiling.

"I think introductions are in order," Sarah stated. "Catherine, Zoe, John Henry, meet Jesse's parents, Scott and Sharon, and Martin Bedell, he's…"

"A lieutenant in the Human Resistance," Zoe completed. "Yes, we met before."

"We have?" Martin asked perplexed.

"Well, probably in another future," John pointed out. "There are so many of them now that everyone has met everybody else at some point."

"Fair point, John," Zoe admitted.

Martin Bedell tapped on John's shoulder, then whispered something in his ear.

"If you excuse us for a moment," John then said, "Martin wants to tell me something in private. We'll be back in a moment. Why don't you meanwhile do the rest of the introductions?"

"No problem, John," Catherine replied.

The two stood up and left the great salon. Sarah looked at them with a frown.

"How's Tom?" Savannah asked.

"Grumpy," Zoe replied. "he really gets on the nurses' nerves."

"When will he be released?"

"The day after tomorrow."

"And you'll move in our old home in Burbank, right?" Alison asked.

"Yes. Tom's apartment isn't safe anymore. We found out that it's being watched, probably by members of that anti-cyborg group, that so-called 'League of Truth'."

"Friends of Jennifer and Melissa Parker?" Sarah inquired.

"Probably. We did some research into it. It looks like our old friend Benjamin Bridger has a hand in it somehow."

"Oh?" Savannah asked. "Does that mean you're on his trail?"

"Not really. We had a lead to plastic surgeon in Florida who'd recently had a fatal… accident. But the trail has come to nothing."

"You think Bridger had a facial operation and killed the surgeon?"

"It's a possibility."

"How did you make the connection to the Parkers then?" Derek asked.

"We received evidence during the search of Melissa Parker's home that suggests that. Unfortunately, both are still unavailable for questioning. It's as if someone deliberately drove them out of their minds. If Alison wasn't with you guys, I would have suspected her."

"You're aware that there is more than one Alison at the moment, are you?" Catherine asked. "The other one is far more advanced than our Alison and we have no idea what she's up to.."

"I know. But what reason could Future Alison have for taking out two witnesses who could help us? I mean, she's still on our side, right?"

"Definitely," Cameron stated. "We know for sure that Future Alison is one of us. If she's responsible for the Parker women's condition, it must be for a very good reason."

"All right, what is it?" John asked outside on the sun deck. "What is so urgent and confidential that we cannot discuss it with the rest of the team?"

Martin Bedell faced him.

"That chick on the screen, the brunette…"

"Zoe Kruger?"

"Yes."

"She's the head of the C.S.I.S., you say?"

"Yeah, so?"

"She's not what she seems to be."

John frowned.

"What do you mean?"

"I know her from the future. She's one of Skynet's minions. An infiltrator."

John looked at him.

"Yes. We know."

"What do you mean, you know?"

"She's never made a secret of her past to us."

"John, she might be a Gray at best and a tin can at worst."

"We know that she's a cyborg."

"What!?"

"And please don't call them like that, it's derogatory."

"For Christ's sake, Connor!"

"You can call me John. Zoe's a TOK-700, same model as Cameron and Emily. And she's been here for decades. She became self-aware a long time ago and has been working for the CIA and against Skynet before she took over the C.S.I.S. In fact, she had infiltrated the Shadow Council and helped uncovering their machinations."

"Are you telling me the head of the friggin' C.S.I.S., the agency that was founded to deal with cyborgs, is actually one of them!?"

"Yes."

"Does the President know?"

"Of course, and so does Sonya Hawkins, his national security advisor. As a matter of fact, the two were lovers for a time."

"Hawkins and the President?"

"No! Zoe and Sonya."

Martin Bedell put is hands over his head and walked in circled, obviously agitated from what John had told him.

"Jesus fucking Christ!"

"Relax, Martin. Zoe is a dear friend. We're very close. I'd trust her with my life. Same goes for Catherine Weaver, by the way. She's like an aunt to me."

"Are you saying that she…?"

"She's a T-1001."

"A what!?"

"Long story. Listen, Martin, a lot of things have happened since you arrived here. Lots of changes. We formed an alliance of humans and machines. We work together as a team for a better future for all of us. Zoe, Catherine, and a few others we met, they have developed a consciousness and were able to overcome their programming – given the right circumstances."

"Are you seriously telling me that all the TV bullshit is actually true?"

"I don't know what TV bullshit you're referring to, but if you mean that cyborgs can become alive under certain circumstances, then yes. That's true."

"I'll be damned. And I believed that the entire world has gone crazy, including the Catholic Church."

"You were cut off from information and intel here in Australia, and you probably consumed only the information that fit into your world view. That's human. But now it's time you start catching up with the rest of us."

"Are you serious?"

"Absolutely serious. Catherine is married to a human and has an adopted daughter. Zoe is currently dating a journalist, Tom Novak. He's a friend of us as well. And I, well… let's say that Cam, Alison, and Emily are more than just friends to me. Otherwise we wouldn't wear the same necklace."

"Christ, you are serious, aren't you?"

John smiled.

"You'll realize it soon enough. Until then, try to avoid the derogatory terms. There is no war going on anymore, and we're all on the same side. They have feelings and could take it personally. Come, let's get back inside."

John went ahead, with Bedell hesitantly following him.

"Ah, welcome back, John," Zoe greeted them as they stepped into the camera's viewing angle again. "We just finished introducing each other. And look who's just joined us."

From the right, a blond woman stepped into the picture.

"Tess!" John exclaimed happily. "What are you doing in L.A. again already?"

"Zoe asked me to help with solving the Riley situation, since Catherine was otherwise occupied."

"We convinced her foster parents as well as that private detective that she's alive and under witness protection," Zoe added. "You know, evil killer cyborgs from the future who might be after her, yadda, yadda, yadda… They all signed non-disclosure agreements and are now under observation. If they spill as much as a single word, they're in a big pile of trouble."

"It's sad that it had to come to that, but I guess it was necessary. Thank you. To both of you."

"That's what friends are for. But don't forget to thank Steve when you get a chance. The FBI is also involved."

"I will, you can count on it."

"It was fun to slip into another role again for a change," Tess stated. "Prevents me from getting rusty if you know what I mean. And while I was in L.A., I decided to visit Catherine. Unfortunately, she was out of town, but Isaak told me about Tom's mishap. I'm returning home later today but wanted to check on how Zoe was doing. Didn't know you had a conference scheduled but I'm glad I have the opportunity to say hi. By the way, is that Martin Bedell by your side?"

Martin frowned.

"Do I know you?"

"Probably not. Different timelines. But I know you… or rather knew you before you were killed."

"Geez, did I get killed in all the timelines except my own?"

"Maybe, I don't know. But in mine, we fought together, side by side. And you never judged me for what I was."

"Are you gonna tell me you're a tin… I mean, a machine as well?"

"T-X, at your service," Tess replied with a jovial salute.

Martin groaned, then closed his eyes and rubbed the root of his nose.

"Anyone else not human here that I should know of?"

"Um..." John Henry said a little sheepishly, raising his hand. "Not a cyborg, though, I'm just using this body as an interface with the world."

"Oh boy, how am I going to explain all this to my men?"

"If anyone can do that," Derek stated and put his hand on Martin's shoulder "it's you. You've always been good at generating motivation and enthusiasm for a cause."

Martin smiled sourly.

"Thanks, I guess."

"If no one has any more questions," John said, "we can get on with the main topic now: Jack Fratelli. What do we do with him?"

"I say we incapacitate him," Derek began, "and then make him disappear in the Pacific. But that's probably not what's gonna happen, right?"

"We're not simply going to dump his body in the ocean, no," John said. "After all, we know by now about the development potential of the Triple Eight series. Killing him would therefore not only be a strategic error, but also immoral. We have no right to do that. He's just following his program."

"Overpowering him should be the least of your problems," Zoe pointed out. "I'd send help, but while we have agreements with many countries now regarding cyborgs and how to deal with them, Australia is unfortunately not one of them. So, you're on your own."

"If I may say something?" Tess asked.

"By all means."

"China has huge interest in cyborg technology, and Australia is in their sphere of influence. It's well known by now that Australia played a crucial role in the post-Judgement Day resistance. So the Chinese will certainly have a lot of agents and spies there keeping their eyes and ears open. You better be careful with everything you're doing."

Bedell cleared his throat.

"Yes, lieutenant?" Zoe asked.

"Chinese, you say?"

"Yes, why?"

"We've been observing Fratelli's farm for months, some of my men work there undercover. There are many Chinese working for Jack Fratelli. Immigrants from Taiwan mostly, but mainland Chinese as well. In fact, he seems to have hired three new ones last week. My men have been observing them, and it appears they're having some kind of meeting every week in a hotel in Mackay that immigrants looking for work surely wouldn't be able to afford."

Zoe frowned.

"Have you by any chance taken pictures of the Chinese workers?"

"Yes. As I said, we observed them. We were also able to check the hotel's guestbook and hacked into their computer. Turned out the room they have their meetings in, was booked by the Chinese Ministry of Agriculture."

"And you didn't find that suspicious?" Jesse asked.

Bedell shrugged.

"It's an agricultural region, and they'd applied for work on an orchard. Our focus was on Fratelli and Baker, to be honest, the two cyborgs we could identify so far."

"So far?" Derek asked. "Could there be more?"

"Unlikely," Emily said. "I was inside Nigel Baker's chip, there was no knowledge of additional cyborgs. But we'll probably have final certainty only when we get our hands on Fratelli."

"Connor's source within the Skynet headquarters wasn't specific about the number of Terminators sent back in time," Martin added. "We spent most of the time to single out Baker and Fratelli. I doubt there are more, to be honest. This region here was the center of the Australian supply area after Judgement Day."

"I think we should concentrate on what we know so far and avoid speculations," Zoe said. "Lieutenant Bedell, you said you've taken pictures?"

"Yes, I have them on my phone, I…"

"John Henry," Catherine interrupted, "can you access Mr. Bedell's phone and display the pictures to us?"

"Of course," John Henry replied, and seconds later, the faces of four Chinese men filled another screen next to the one with the video conference."

"Hey!" Bedell exclaimed. "How the hell did you…?"

"I'll explain later," John cut him off. "You said there were three newly employed Chinese. But these are four."

"The forth resides in the hotel room but doesn't work on the farm."

"They look pretty normal and inconspicuous to me," Sydney remarked.

"Zoe?" John asked. "Anything you can tell me about them?"

She seemed to hesitate for a moment.

"I hope you're all aware that this meeting is under strictest secrecy and that nothing about this is allowed to leak out. This also applies to Bedell and the Flores family."

"Yeah, we know," Sarah replied with a frown, "why are you becoming so dramatic all of a sudden?"

"The fourth man, the one who resides in the hotel, is known to me."

"Oh?" John asked and everyone stared intently on the screen.

"We learned about him only a few weeks ago. His name is Wang Chien-Ming. He has a PhD in cybernetics and works at the Beijing Institute of Computer Science. He's also a high-ranking member of the Communist Party and enjoys diplomatic immunity. At least that's what his official resume says. We suspect that he's also a high-ranking agent of the foreign intelligence service and is responsible for industrial espionage in the field of artificial intelligence. The CIA and NSA have had their eyes on him for some time, but he's very elusive."

There was a moment of somber silence.

"Okay, so the Chinese are after Jack Fratelli," Savannah then concluded. "Heaven knows how they were able to identify him as a cyborg but apparently they did."

"Yes," John agreed, "we've made it almost impossible for them to get their hands on a cyborg in America without extreme consequences, now they're trying their luck in the rest of the world."

"That's to be assumed," Zoe admitted tight-lipped, "and frankly, I'm a little shocked right now that he was able to just sneak in here past our surveillance systems."

"Wait, what's going on?" Scott Flores asked. "This was all a little too much in too little time for me. What does all this mean?"

"It means," Jesse explained, "that Jack Fratelli has now changed from being someone we need to get rid of to someone we might need to protect."

-0-0-0-

Author's notes:

- Another two-parter. Yay :-)

- I began writing this chapter without any idea of what's going to happen in Australia except for meeting Jesse's family. Then I had the idea that the antagonist could be a Terminator. And then I thought of bringing Martin Bedell into the game, since he's one of the last remaining characters of the TV show I hadn't properly dealt with yet.

And once I brought him in, I figured it would be too easy to simply take out Jack Fratelli and his goon – by now our three cyborg girls would have no problem at all with a T-888, after all - and it would have become anti-climactic.

Soooo… I decided to make it a bit more complicated by introducing the Chinese… which meant it's now a two-parter. Let's see where that leads us to *lol*

- About Riley: I consider that loose end tied up now. There'll be no more storytelling about her.

- About Anthony Sauer: There was hardly time to build him up as a villain. He was the result of me wanting to integrate Catherine's brother and his family back into the plot. But of course Catherine had to deal with him after the failed assassination attempt - which she did in this chapter. In a pretty creative way, I think.

- Cameron and Emily becoming cooks? Why not? Might be worth exploring. Certainly not crazier than building Lego. Who knows what the future brings? ;-)

- Now… how I'm going to continue this and when the next chapter will be published, I cannot say – as usual. I can only assure you that it will eventually happen. Maybe a bit sooner than the past chapters, because I've already begun the storyline and writing is usually a lot easier when you already came up with a scenario.

- I'm yet not sure if this is now the penultimate chapter before the end of the story, or if there will be some kind of additional chapter as an epilogue at the end. Time will tell :-)

- Please consider writing a review. And if you find a typo, a grammar error, or some kind of plot hole or inconsistency, please tell me in a PM. I will immediately correct it. To be honest, the amount of story I've written by now, has become so vast that even I have trouble remembering every detail.

Stay healthy and don't let these troubled times get you down.