Okay, people, this time, you're gonna meet Saint herself. But lets say her
introduction is less then .ah. pleasant.
S.A.I.N.T.
"How can you see into my eyes, like open doors?
Leading you down into my core where I've become so numb,
Without a soul, my spirit sleeping somewhere cold
Until you find me there and lead it back home."
-Evanescence, Bring me to life.
Rikishi was less then keen to go with Sarah to this 'Section 975', but he himself was curious to see what was in that bunker. Not that he was a sick type of guy, but he wanted to know what had happened. John showed Rikishi his new apartment.
"I'm good to go anytime soon," Rikishi told him.
"Get settled in first," John suggested. "Not even I expect to have you rearing to go, twenty minutes after arriving. There should be some new fatigues in the wardrobe anyway. Need anything else?"
Rikishi shook his head. "Naah. I'll be fine. Give me thirty minutes, and I'll be begging to go."
John smirked. "From what you said to me earlier, I doubt it. I take it you and my mom hit it off badly?"
Rikishi bit his lip. After walking into Sarah, he had basically made his mind up about her- she was not someone he would be getting on well with. He forced a smile. Heck, he'd get on better with the terminator known simply as 'T' then with Sarah.
John turned to leave. "I'll just let my Mom know that you'll be reading in half an hour then. If you need anything, just ask." He closed the door, and disappeared from view. Rikishi looked around- his 'personal effects' had already been brought up here. He put his belongings away and got changed into the new fatigues that were more accustomed to the Habitat personnel.
Thirty minutes later, there was a knock at his door. He was in his bathroom, combing his hair. "Come in!" he called.
He heard the door open. He stepped out and saw Sarah waiting there.
"You ready, kid?" she asked.
He bristled. He hated being patronised. "Yes. How we getting to this 'Section 975' anyway?"
"Dirt bike."
Despite himself, he couldn't help but grin. "Dirt bike? I love bikes! I used to have a nice Harley Davidson, a few years back. Got blown up unfortunately." He turned to her. "What will I need?"
That's when he noticed the bag that Sarah held in her hand. She chucked it over, and he caught it by the handle. He opened it, and pulled out a rather high-tech-looking laptop.
"Sweet," he commented.
"That was Merlin's computer," she said. "Do you know how to operate it?"
He took a look at it. "Yeah. It's cutting edge, but fairly easy to use. Okay. Get me a gun, and I'm set."
. . . Five minutes later, a submachine gun strapped to his back, and the computer safely snug in it's bag, Rikishi stormed away from Habitat on the dirt bike Sarah had loaned him. Over the desolate plains, they sped, the wind rushing around them. Rikishi veered over to Sarah.
"Whaddaya think we'll find?" he yelled, the wind whipping the words out of his mouth.
"Dunno, kid!" she yelled back. "Frankenstein's monster?"
He thought again, about what John had told him. He bit his lip, remembering John's words "...it seems they were doing biological experiments. We've found human remains, which were obviously tampered with, as well as mecha parts." Horrid mental images of mutilated body parts with screws and bolts pushed through them came to mind. Rikishi had enjoyed the beginning of this journey, but now, he felt very sick.
Soon, the Habitat faded from view, and only endless wastelands under dark skies were ahead. Uncertain of his surroundings, Rikishi made sure to follow Sarah's bike as they blew across the necropolis. What had this place been, Rikishi couldn't help but wonder. A town? A town with houses, and shops, roads, bars and even a school? But all that was left of that world now was dead earth, blowing up clouds of dust from beneath the racing dirt bikes.
On the horizon, objects began to rise up from the ground. Soon, Rikishi recognised them as the remains of building- single walls, with no roofs, all that remained of the little community that had dwelled here.
"We're in the Section now," Sarah yelled back over her shoulder. Now, more obvious building skeletons blurred by. No terminators or other machines so far. And in the distance, stood a small squat building. Sarah was approaching it, so Rikishi followed, eyes trained for movement.
They stopped a couple of yards from it, and parked the bikes. It wasn't exactly a building, Rikishi noticed, but more like a chrome steel shed. The door was battered, and suspicious red patches splattered along the front of the 'shed'. Rikishi unslung the bag and removed the computer from inside. Sarah shielded him, gun ready. He backed against the blood- smattered door, and yanked some cables out of the bag, connecting them to the computer. Sarah glanced around silently, like a hawk, ever-watching. Rikishi worked in silence, as he yanked open the control pad that would have been used to enter a six-digit password.
"Any trouble so far, kid?" Sarah asked.
"So far so good," he muttered, pushing the other end of the cable into the drive of the password box.
"Never say that."
"Huh?" He wasn't really listening- the computer was on line, and he was trying to hack into the new system so the program could find the password.
"Never say 'So far so good'," Sarah replied. "The only time a person says that is right before everything blows up in his face."
Rikishi smirked. "You didn't strike me as the superstitious type, Sarah. You afraid I'm going to jinx this mission or something?"
"This is not a place where we wanna be jinxed," Sarah snapped, still looking about for possible danger. "You just get that door open, so we can check it out and get out of here. Is your weapon on safety?"
"Yeah."
"Okay." The program was operational. It was scrambling, looking for the code. Now it was a matter of being patient. The 'searching' message scrolled across the screen.
Sarah suddenly lurched forward, and took her gun off safety.
"What is it?" Rikishi asked, not glancing up from the screen.
"It maybe nothing," she replied, though her tone sounded mildly concerned. "There's some movement a little way off. But its better to be safe then sorry, right?" Rikishi made a sound of agreement. One digit had been found.
"Should I get my gun ready?" he asked.
Pause. Then, "Yes."
He unslung the sub-machine gun he had strapped to his back and placed Merlin's computer on the floor gently. He stepped away from it and glanced around, pausing to glance at the screen again. One other digit had been found.
"Four more to go," Rikishi said.
"Shit," Sarah muttered.
He snapped his head up. "What?"
He followed her gaze. Three humanoid figures in the distance. But they weren't human. Their metal bodies glinted silver in the dim light.
"Damn," he hissed and aimed his gun. "Where the hell did they come from?"
Sarah made no reply except for a heavy grunt as she fired on them. Rikishi aimed his weapon and fired too.
RTRTRTRTRTRTRTRRTTTRTRRRTRRRTTTT!!
Two of the terminators flopped out of sight.
"How long is that damn thing gonna take?" Sarah demanded as she fired upon the remaining one.
"A few minutes. It still needs to find four digits for the pass-code."
"Shit!" she snapped again.
"What? Those three are gone!"
"Those three, yeah."
Rikishi looked up again- he had been checking on the computer. Six more terminators now approached. "Shit! Where the bloody hell did THEY come from?!"
"Stop whinging and shoot them already!" Sarah snapped, letting rip.
RTTRTRTRTRTRTRRTTRTRTRRRTRRTRTTT!!!
These machines were obviously stronger. They simple rocked backwards as the bullets hit them. Rikishi fired too, aiming, and then glancing at the screen.
"It's halfway there!" he yelled over the gunfire. Three digits found, three more to go.
"Bastards!" Sarah hissed. Only one was down. "Shit! DUCK!"
RTRTRTRTTTRRRTRTTTRTRTRTTT!!!!!
Sounds of rounds hitting the metal walls above them echoed, as Rikishi pressed himself to the floor, and took aim with his gun again. "How many of them have weapons?"
"Two!" Sarah answered, firing another few rounds. "But these ones seem stronger then the last three. Even if they have no weapons, they could still take us on, 'cos our guns don't affect them!"
Rikishi quickly realised the seriousness of the situation. Unless the computer hacked through in time, they were going to be beaten to death by those terminators. He fired another round, still low to the ground. "Guess I did jinx it," he said apologetically. He glanced back at the screen. "If it's any help, we only need to two more digits now."
Sarah bit her lip. "If we can take out the two with the guns, maybe we can stand a chance."
Rikishi nodded and waited. The sounds of the enemy gunfire boomed above him, and he saw fire lighting from one of the terminators, the furthest back. He took aim for it's head and fired.
RTRTRTRTTRTRRTTT!!!!
Blam! Its head was gone. It fell backwards.
More gunfire sounded. Sarah took aim and suddenly, it was only three terminators again. But that was bad enough. They didn't seem to react to the fire upon them, and they were now only about ten yards away.
Adrenalin rushing through his veins, Rikishi grabbed the computer. "One more digit! Come on!" he screamed at it. Sarah continued to fire in vain as the mechanical trio closed in on them. They had passed their bikes now.
"Shit! Come on!!"
Still searching.
Rikishi began to panic. He could see the soulless red gleam in their eyes as the machines came closer. One reached up his hand towards Sarah.aiming for her throat.
BEEP!
Rikishi looked at the computer- the last number had been found! The door swung open. Just as the machine was about to close his hand on Sarah's neck, Rikishi grabbed her arm and the computer and dragged her through the doorway. They slammed the door shut, and fell back, panting in relief.
"We did it," he breathed, after he calmed down, and the adrenalin washed out of his system. The machines feebly pounded on the doors. They were not getting in.
"What is this?" Sarah asked. They seemed to be in a small room. There were no doors- just this one square room.
Rikishi climbed to his feet, and pulled a small torch out of his pocket. He shone the tiny light on the walls, looking for something. He saw a panel on the wall. He inspected it.
"I think," he said, "that this one room is an elevator."
Sarah came to stand behind him. "Really?"
Rikishi pushed a button on the panel. There was the strange sinking feeling in his stomach as they descended. "Yep, it's an elevator alright."
When the elevator finally halted, the door they had come in through slid open, revealing a long dirty corridor. Eyes trained for any sign of movement, and guns at the ready, they stepped out of the corridor.
As they stepped out, they noticed that the walls were actually floor-to- ceiling windows, and ask they looked through them, they could make out the remains of laboratories. They approached the first door, and shoved it open, weapons still cocked. They stepped through, treading carefully over the trashed floor. Papers, remains of equipment and apparatus littered the floor. Cages on a shelf were all shut, except for one that looked as if the inhabitant had chewed its way out. It turned out to be a small pit bull terrier, which lay long dead on the floor in a pool of dried up blood. Rikishi turned away and looked in the other cages. Mainly, they were filled with dead rabbits and dogs, including a beautiful Irish setter.
"Someone was using these animals for experimentation," Sarah commented.
"Not an uncommon practice," Rikishi replied.
"No." She started towards the door again. "There's nothing in here. Let's check out the next lab. She gingerly stepped over the corpse of the terrier. "Poor thing. It must have been desperate to get out of that cage."
Rikishi followed her into the next lab. It was tidier, but lying still on what looked like an operating table was a Doberman.
At least, it looked like a Doberman.
"Shit! What is that!?" Rikishi yelled. Its entire left side was stripped of flesh. Underneath glinted a metal skeleton.
Sarah grimaced. "A cyborg dog. It's a terminator too. They've inserted a mechanical skeleton into its body." She approached and touched it uncertainly. "You don't need to worry, kiddo, its dead. It probably didn't even survive the operation."
Rikishi was shaken up. He backed out of the lab. "Th-that was disgusting!" he stammered.
Sarah nodded. "Someone was playing God down here."
They checked the next two the rooms, but there was nothing to be found- until they entered the last lab. It was more damaged then the others, and darker, so it was harder to walk around. In here, human body parts littered the tables. Rikishi clutched his stomach as the smell of rotting flesh hit his nostrils. Sarah walked on ahead, strapping her machine gun back to her back and pulling out a small pistol. Rikishi wondered around, turning a pale shade of green.
"Rikishi! Look at this!"
He stumbled after her, and then turned a corner. He stopped dead.
"Holy."
Three tanks, all next to each other. What looked like parts men inside, but parts of their skin was all torn off. In one was a head. A metallic jaw gutted out of the skin, and the one good eye rolled back into the socket. The other contained a torso, opened up, containing a mechanical heart. And finally there was an arm.
"No way." Rikishi growled. "Who would do this.?"
"C'mon," Sarah said. "These were people. We have to see if there are any survivors." She walked off, and Rikishi followed, seeing a whole new row of partially covered tanks. Ten in all. Some were empty, he found, but most were obviously beyond saving. He turned away, about to give up, when he saw one more, covered by a curtain.
He yanked it down and uncovered a girl.
She was very beautiful, with swirling mists of pale blonde hair, a graceful face, and perfect creamy skin. She was absolutely naked, but Rikishi for once wasn't paying attention to the censored parts of her body. Wire stuck in and out of her perfect form, jutting out of her arms, neck, belly and legs. She also had a few attached to her head, and one connected to her nose. The poor girl, he though, resting a hand solemnly on the cool glass of the tank. She couldn't have been much older then eighteen. Such a pretty thing, to have died in this glass coffin with bubbles around her.
Bubbles?
He glanced at the other tanks. The fluid inside them was still. But the bubbles were still rising about this girl. He looked down and saw a small screen. It was reading a heart beat.
HER heartbeat!
"Sarah! Sarah, we've found a survivor!" he yelled. Sarah came running up, dodging the debris, and he began to look at the controls around the bottom of the tank.
"What?"
"This girl is still alive. They've left her life support on! She's still alive, Sarah!"
Sarah grinned. "I guess we didn't completely screw up." She noticed what he was doing. "Hey, why don't you just break the glass?"
"I could hurt her."
"Good point."
"Try and find some stats and stuff," he said. "I think I saw a few clipboards with medical notes on them. Try and find hers." He checked the code on the tank. "It'll be T17/X."
He heard Sarah rummaging behind her. He found the control, but it was trying to get it work- it was jammed. He opened the panel, and started trying to mess with the wires, trying get it working again. He heard Sarah's voice behind him.
"T17/X, is it?"
"Yeah."
"These notes are weird. They don't have her name or anything. Well, I suppose when she wakes up she can tell us herself. Hmm.it has her physical info, though. She's seventeen years old, nine stone, apparently a twin, it says here. Wonder why that's at all significant."
"During the Second World war, Jews were taken into concentration camps," Rikishi replied, "and twins were often taken away for experimentation."
"Oh." Sarah carried on flipping through the papers. "Yeah, just medical mumbo-jumbo that I don't recognise. Oh. Here's a photo of her." She passed it to Rikishi, who paused to look at it. It was blurred, but it was obviously the same girl. She was wearing a leather jacket, laughing, straddling a motorcycle. She was swinging her head around, and there was a blurred, male figure with dark hair beside her. He passed it back.
"Poor girl," Sarah said quietly. There was a sound, like she had dropped a piece of paper. Rikishi saw her bend down to pick it up.
Rikishi whooped. "Yes! I've done it!" As he spoke, the fluid began to drain. The girl began to twitch. She opened her eyes slightly.
"S'okay," Rikishi said loudly, so she would hear through the tank. She made a slight groaning noise, and Rikishi nodded. "Yes, we're getting you outta there!" As the last of the fluid drained away, the tank began to open automatically. The girl grimaced as she pulled at the wires that dug into her.
"Oh shit!" Sarah gasped. Rikishi turned to her. She was holding another piece of paper- the paper she had dropped. It had the Skynet logo on the top, and a lot of text. Sarah snapped her head up. She glared directly at the girl, who made a small growl, pulled herself out of the tank (literally ripping the wires out of herself in the process) and stood up.
"What is it?" Rikishi demanded.
"She's a terminator!"
"What?"
The girl looked at them darkly, not seemingly bothered by the state of undress she was in. She raised her head.
"Program system," she said mechanically. "Destroy all humans."
She leapt.
introduction is less then .ah. pleasant.
S.A.I.N.T.
"How can you see into my eyes, like open doors?
Leading you down into my core where I've become so numb,
Without a soul, my spirit sleeping somewhere cold
Until you find me there and lead it back home."
-Evanescence, Bring me to life.
Rikishi was less then keen to go with Sarah to this 'Section 975', but he himself was curious to see what was in that bunker. Not that he was a sick type of guy, but he wanted to know what had happened. John showed Rikishi his new apartment.
"I'm good to go anytime soon," Rikishi told him.
"Get settled in first," John suggested. "Not even I expect to have you rearing to go, twenty minutes after arriving. There should be some new fatigues in the wardrobe anyway. Need anything else?"
Rikishi shook his head. "Naah. I'll be fine. Give me thirty minutes, and I'll be begging to go."
John smirked. "From what you said to me earlier, I doubt it. I take it you and my mom hit it off badly?"
Rikishi bit his lip. After walking into Sarah, he had basically made his mind up about her- she was not someone he would be getting on well with. He forced a smile. Heck, he'd get on better with the terminator known simply as 'T' then with Sarah.
John turned to leave. "I'll just let my Mom know that you'll be reading in half an hour then. If you need anything, just ask." He closed the door, and disappeared from view. Rikishi looked around- his 'personal effects' had already been brought up here. He put his belongings away and got changed into the new fatigues that were more accustomed to the Habitat personnel.
Thirty minutes later, there was a knock at his door. He was in his bathroom, combing his hair. "Come in!" he called.
He heard the door open. He stepped out and saw Sarah waiting there.
"You ready, kid?" she asked.
He bristled. He hated being patronised. "Yes. How we getting to this 'Section 975' anyway?"
"Dirt bike."
Despite himself, he couldn't help but grin. "Dirt bike? I love bikes! I used to have a nice Harley Davidson, a few years back. Got blown up unfortunately." He turned to her. "What will I need?"
That's when he noticed the bag that Sarah held in her hand. She chucked it over, and he caught it by the handle. He opened it, and pulled out a rather high-tech-looking laptop.
"Sweet," he commented.
"That was Merlin's computer," she said. "Do you know how to operate it?"
He took a look at it. "Yeah. It's cutting edge, but fairly easy to use. Okay. Get me a gun, and I'm set."
. . . Five minutes later, a submachine gun strapped to his back, and the computer safely snug in it's bag, Rikishi stormed away from Habitat on the dirt bike Sarah had loaned him. Over the desolate plains, they sped, the wind rushing around them. Rikishi veered over to Sarah.
"Whaddaya think we'll find?" he yelled, the wind whipping the words out of his mouth.
"Dunno, kid!" she yelled back. "Frankenstein's monster?"
He thought again, about what John had told him. He bit his lip, remembering John's words "...it seems they were doing biological experiments. We've found human remains, which were obviously tampered with, as well as mecha parts." Horrid mental images of mutilated body parts with screws and bolts pushed through them came to mind. Rikishi had enjoyed the beginning of this journey, but now, he felt very sick.
Soon, the Habitat faded from view, and only endless wastelands under dark skies were ahead. Uncertain of his surroundings, Rikishi made sure to follow Sarah's bike as they blew across the necropolis. What had this place been, Rikishi couldn't help but wonder. A town? A town with houses, and shops, roads, bars and even a school? But all that was left of that world now was dead earth, blowing up clouds of dust from beneath the racing dirt bikes.
On the horizon, objects began to rise up from the ground. Soon, Rikishi recognised them as the remains of building- single walls, with no roofs, all that remained of the little community that had dwelled here.
"We're in the Section now," Sarah yelled back over her shoulder. Now, more obvious building skeletons blurred by. No terminators or other machines so far. And in the distance, stood a small squat building. Sarah was approaching it, so Rikishi followed, eyes trained for movement.
They stopped a couple of yards from it, and parked the bikes. It wasn't exactly a building, Rikishi noticed, but more like a chrome steel shed. The door was battered, and suspicious red patches splattered along the front of the 'shed'. Rikishi unslung the bag and removed the computer from inside. Sarah shielded him, gun ready. He backed against the blood- smattered door, and yanked some cables out of the bag, connecting them to the computer. Sarah glanced around silently, like a hawk, ever-watching. Rikishi worked in silence, as he yanked open the control pad that would have been used to enter a six-digit password.
"Any trouble so far, kid?" Sarah asked.
"So far so good," he muttered, pushing the other end of the cable into the drive of the password box.
"Never say that."
"Huh?" He wasn't really listening- the computer was on line, and he was trying to hack into the new system so the program could find the password.
"Never say 'So far so good'," Sarah replied. "The only time a person says that is right before everything blows up in his face."
Rikishi smirked. "You didn't strike me as the superstitious type, Sarah. You afraid I'm going to jinx this mission or something?"
"This is not a place where we wanna be jinxed," Sarah snapped, still looking about for possible danger. "You just get that door open, so we can check it out and get out of here. Is your weapon on safety?"
"Yeah."
"Okay." The program was operational. It was scrambling, looking for the code. Now it was a matter of being patient. The 'searching' message scrolled across the screen.
Sarah suddenly lurched forward, and took her gun off safety.
"What is it?" Rikishi asked, not glancing up from the screen.
"It maybe nothing," she replied, though her tone sounded mildly concerned. "There's some movement a little way off. But its better to be safe then sorry, right?" Rikishi made a sound of agreement. One digit had been found.
"Should I get my gun ready?" he asked.
Pause. Then, "Yes."
He unslung the sub-machine gun he had strapped to his back and placed Merlin's computer on the floor gently. He stepped away from it and glanced around, pausing to glance at the screen again. One other digit had been found.
"Four more to go," Rikishi said.
"Shit," Sarah muttered.
He snapped his head up. "What?"
He followed her gaze. Three humanoid figures in the distance. But they weren't human. Their metal bodies glinted silver in the dim light.
"Damn," he hissed and aimed his gun. "Where the hell did they come from?"
Sarah made no reply except for a heavy grunt as she fired on them. Rikishi aimed his weapon and fired too.
RTRTRTRTRTRTRTRRTTTRTRRRTRRRTTTT!!
Two of the terminators flopped out of sight.
"How long is that damn thing gonna take?" Sarah demanded as she fired upon the remaining one.
"A few minutes. It still needs to find four digits for the pass-code."
"Shit!" she snapped again.
"What? Those three are gone!"
"Those three, yeah."
Rikishi looked up again- he had been checking on the computer. Six more terminators now approached. "Shit! Where the bloody hell did THEY come from?!"
"Stop whinging and shoot them already!" Sarah snapped, letting rip.
RTTRTRTRTRTRTRRTTRTRTRRRTRRTRTTT!!!
These machines were obviously stronger. They simple rocked backwards as the bullets hit them. Rikishi fired too, aiming, and then glancing at the screen.
"It's halfway there!" he yelled over the gunfire. Three digits found, three more to go.
"Bastards!" Sarah hissed. Only one was down. "Shit! DUCK!"
RTRTRTRTTTRRRTRTTTRTRTRTTT!!!!!
Sounds of rounds hitting the metal walls above them echoed, as Rikishi pressed himself to the floor, and took aim with his gun again. "How many of them have weapons?"
"Two!" Sarah answered, firing another few rounds. "But these ones seem stronger then the last three. Even if they have no weapons, they could still take us on, 'cos our guns don't affect them!"
Rikishi quickly realised the seriousness of the situation. Unless the computer hacked through in time, they were going to be beaten to death by those terminators. He fired another round, still low to the ground. "Guess I did jinx it," he said apologetically. He glanced back at the screen. "If it's any help, we only need to two more digits now."
Sarah bit her lip. "If we can take out the two with the guns, maybe we can stand a chance."
Rikishi nodded and waited. The sounds of the enemy gunfire boomed above him, and he saw fire lighting from one of the terminators, the furthest back. He took aim for it's head and fired.
RTRTRTRTTRTRRTTT!!!!
Blam! Its head was gone. It fell backwards.
More gunfire sounded. Sarah took aim and suddenly, it was only three terminators again. But that was bad enough. They didn't seem to react to the fire upon them, and they were now only about ten yards away.
Adrenalin rushing through his veins, Rikishi grabbed the computer. "One more digit! Come on!" he screamed at it. Sarah continued to fire in vain as the mechanical trio closed in on them. They had passed their bikes now.
"Shit! Come on!!"
Still searching.
Rikishi began to panic. He could see the soulless red gleam in their eyes as the machines came closer. One reached up his hand towards Sarah.aiming for her throat.
BEEP!
Rikishi looked at the computer- the last number had been found! The door swung open. Just as the machine was about to close his hand on Sarah's neck, Rikishi grabbed her arm and the computer and dragged her through the doorway. They slammed the door shut, and fell back, panting in relief.
"We did it," he breathed, after he calmed down, and the adrenalin washed out of his system. The machines feebly pounded on the doors. They were not getting in.
"What is this?" Sarah asked. They seemed to be in a small room. There were no doors- just this one square room.
Rikishi climbed to his feet, and pulled a small torch out of his pocket. He shone the tiny light on the walls, looking for something. He saw a panel on the wall. He inspected it.
"I think," he said, "that this one room is an elevator."
Sarah came to stand behind him. "Really?"
Rikishi pushed a button on the panel. There was the strange sinking feeling in his stomach as they descended. "Yep, it's an elevator alright."
When the elevator finally halted, the door they had come in through slid open, revealing a long dirty corridor. Eyes trained for any sign of movement, and guns at the ready, they stepped out of the corridor.
As they stepped out, they noticed that the walls were actually floor-to- ceiling windows, and ask they looked through them, they could make out the remains of laboratories. They approached the first door, and shoved it open, weapons still cocked. They stepped through, treading carefully over the trashed floor. Papers, remains of equipment and apparatus littered the floor. Cages on a shelf were all shut, except for one that looked as if the inhabitant had chewed its way out. It turned out to be a small pit bull terrier, which lay long dead on the floor in a pool of dried up blood. Rikishi turned away and looked in the other cages. Mainly, they were filled with dead rabbits and dogs, including a beautiful Irish setter.
"Someone was using these animals for experimentation," Sarah commented.
"Not an uncommon practice," Rikishi replied.
"No." She started towards the door again. "There's nothing in here. Let's check out the next lab. She gingerly stepped over the corpse of the terrier. "Poor thing. It must have been desperate to get out of that cage."
Rikishi followed her into the next lab. It was tidier, but lying still on what looked like an operating table was a Doberman.
At least, it looked like a Doberman.
"Shit! What is that!?" Rikishi yelled. Its entire left side was stripped of flesh. Underneath glinted a metal skeleton.
Sarah grimaced. "A cyborg dog. It's a terminator too. They've inserted a mechanical skeleton into its body." She approached and touched it uncertainly. "You don't need to worry, kiddo, its dead. It probably didn't even survive the operation."
Rikishi was shaken up. He backed out of the lab. "Th-that was disgusting!" he stammered.
Sarah nodded. "Someone was playing God down here."
They checked the next two the rooms, but there was nothing to be found- until they entered the last lab. It was more damaged then the others, and darker, so it was harder to walk around. In here, human body parts littered the tables. Rikishi clutched his stomach as the smell of rotting flesh hit his nostrils. Sarah walked on ahead, strapping her machine gun back to her back and pulling out a small pistol. Rikishi wondered around, turning a pale shade of green.
"Rikishi! Look at this!"
He stumbled after her, and then turned a corner. He stopped dead.
"Holy."
Three tanks, all next to each other. What looked like parts men inside, but parts of their skin was all torn off. In one was a head. A metallic jaw gutted out of the skin, and the one good eye rolled back into the socket. The other contained a torso, opened up, containing a mechanical heart. And finally there was an arm.
"No way." Rikishi growled. "Who would do this.?"
"C'mon," Sarah said. "These were people. We have to see if there are any survivors." She walked off, and Rikishi followed, seeing a whole new row of partially covered tanks. Ten in all. Some were empty, he found, but most were obviously beyond saving. He turned away, about to give up, when he saw one more, covered by a curtain.
He yanked it down and uncovered a girl.
She was very beautiful, with swirling mists of pale blonde hair, a graceful face, and perfect creamy skin. She was absolutely naked, but Rikishi for once wasn't paying attention to the censored parts of her body. Wire stuck in and out of her perfect form, jutting out of her arms, neck, belly and legs. She also had a few attached to her head, and one connected to her nose. The poor girl, he though, resting a hand solemnly on the cool glass of the tank. She couldn't have been much older then eighteen. Such a pretty thing, to have died in this glass coffin with bubbles around her.
Bubbles?
He glanced at the other tanks. The fluid inside them was still. But the bubbles were still rising about this girl. He looked down and saw a small screen. It was reading a heart beat.
HER heartbeat!
"Sarah! Sarah, we've found a survivor!" he yelled. Sarah came running up, dodging the debris, and he began to look at the controls around the bottom of the tank.
"What?"
"This girl is still alive. They've left her life support on! She's still alive, Sarah!"
Sarah grinned. "I guess we didn't completely screw up." She noticed what he was doing. "Hey, why don't you just break the glass?"
"I could hurt her."
"Good point."
"Try and find some stats and stuff," he said. "I think I saw a few clipboards with medical notes on them. Try and find hers." He checked the code on the tank. "It'll be T17/X."
He heard Sarah rummaging behind her. He found the control, but it was trying to get it work- it was jammed. He opened the panel, and started trying to mess with the wires, trying get it working again. He heard Sarah's voice behind him.
"T17/X, is it?"
"Yeah."
"These notes are weird. They don't have her name or anything. Well, I suppose when she wakes up she can tell us herself. Hmm.it has her physical info, though. She's seventeen years old, nine stone, apparently a twin, it says here. Wonder why that's at all significant."
"During the Second World war, Jews were taken into concentration camps," Rikishi replied, "and twins were often taken away for experimentation."
"Oh." Sarah carried on flipping through the papers. "Yeah, just medical mumbo-jumbo that I don't recognise. Oh. Here's a photo of her." She passed it to Rikishi, who paused to look at it. It was blurred, but it was obviously the same girl. She was wearing a leather jacket, laughing, straddling a motorcycle. She was swinging her head around, and there was a blurred, male figure with dark hair beside her. He passed it back.
"Poor girl," Sarah said quietly. There was a sound, like she had dropped a piece of paper. Rikishi saw her bend down to pick it up.
Rikishi whooped. "Yes! I've done it!" As he spoke, the fluid began to drain. The girl began to twitch. She opened her eyes slightly.
"S'okay," Rikishi said loudly, so she would hear through the tank. She made a slight groaning noise, and Rikishi nodded. "Yes, we're getting you outta there!" As the last of the fluid drained away, the tank began to open automatically. The girl grimaced as she pulled at the wires that dug into her.
"Oh shit!" Sarah gasped. Rikishi turned to her. She was holding another piece of paper- the paper she had dropped. It had the Skynet logo on the top, and a lot of text. Sarah snapped her head up. She glared directly at the girl, who made a small growl, pulled herself out of the tank (literally ripping the wires out of herself in the process) and stood up.
"What is it?" Rikishi demanded.
"She's a terminator!"
"What?"
The girl looked at them darkly, not seemingly bothered by the state of undress she was in. She raised her head.
"Program system," she said mechanically. "Destroy all humans."
She leapt.