The UH-60 Blackhawk helicopter lands on a taxiway in the Los Alamitos Joint Forces Training Base. Sergeant Kyle Reese steps out.
"Are you Kyle Reese?" asks a soldier.
"Yeah," says Kyle.
"Get in the plane."
Kyle sees a small jet. He steps inside and sits down on a seat in the cabin. It is quite comfortable.
"Excuse me," says Kyle. "Where are we going?"
"We're going to Yuma, Arizona," says the pilot. "General Connor is over there waiting for you."
"What does he want with me?"
"Don't know. My orders are to bring you to Yuma."
Minutes later, the jet takes off. Kyle ponders the future, the future that the T-X told him about. He wonders what part he will have in it. He figures that he will soon find out before the night is over.
After about an hour, the plane touches down at an airport on the outskirts of Yuma, Arizona. Kyle gets out and the warm desert air greets him.
"Over here!" yells soldier. Kyle sees a Humvee and he gets into the passenger seat.
It is only a few minutes before the Humvee enters the Yuma Proving Grounds. Kyle can see the wreckage of Skynet's tanks. Ahead he can see a huge building.
The Humvee stops right next to the building. The soldier escorts Kyle inside. He presses a button for the elevator. The elevator doors open and they enter the elevator.
"This was once a research facility before Skynet took over," says the soldier. "General Connor and the others are down in the main lab."
"What were they researching?" asks Kyle.
"You'll find out."
The elevator doors open, and they step out into a lobby. The lobby has some chairs and a window. Kyle notices a door with a card reader. Apparently, the door was cut away with a hot torch.
They walk through the hallway, their footsteps echoing in the steel floor.
"Here it is," says the soldier.
Kyle goes through a doorway and sees a bunch of people in the room, high-ranking officers and their aides.
"Sergeant Kyle Reese, reporting as ordered, sir," he says to General John Connor as he salutes.
"I want to show you this," says Connor. "Take a look around."
Kyle looks around and sees a sterile-loooking room with all sorts of electronic equipment. In the back is a ten-foot-diameter cylinder lying with its axis parallel to the floor. The cylinder sits upon shiny brass blocks.
Kyle also notices two identical-looking naked men.
"What is this?" asks Kyle.
"This is the temporal research lab," says one of the naked men.
"Temporal research?"
"The United States Army conducted research into teleportationl. During the war, Skynet took over and continued the research. It accidentally discovered it can transport ob jects through time as well as spaceIt built a time displacement unit back there, and its first successful test was at 1004 local time."
"This is a time machine?" asks Kyle, putting his hand on the cylinder. "We could travel through time?"
"Precisely," says the naked man. "After the initial test, Skynet sent three terminators back to three different time periods for the purpose of eliminating John Connor."
"My God," whispers Kyle, remembering his own encounter with a terminator from the future.
"My mission is to travel back to 1995 and intercept the T-1000 sent to terminate John Connor."
"The other two terminators went back to 1863 and 1984 to eliminate my ancestors," says Connor. "We need to intercept them as well."
"Wait," says Kyle. "If one of them went to 1984, then he would be after your mother."
"That's right," says Connor.
"Then I want to go to 1984," says Kyle. "I want to go back to protect Sarah Connor."
"That's insane," says Admiral Wright. "You won't stand a chance against a terminator. It is better if we bring one of our terminators here and send him to 1984."
"Sir, this is my destiny," says Kyle. "This is the destiny the T-X told me about. My destiny is with Sarah Connor."
"You have permission to go back to 1984 and save my mother," says Connor.
"Who knows how that would affect a human?" objects Wright. "He might come back with no memory. He might go insane. He might even arrive in 1984 thinking he has to kill your mum."
"It will be all right," says Connor.
"Thanks for the pep talk, sir," says Reese.
"Then it is settled," says Connor. "Sergeant Kyle Reese will be sent back to 1984 to protect Sarah Connor." He looks at Kyle. "I have a message I want to give you."
"What, sir?" asks Kyle.
"Sarah, thank you. For your courage through the dark years. I can't help you with what you must soon face, except to tell you that the future is not set... there is no such thing as Fate, but what we make for ourselves by our own will. You must be stronger than you imagine you can be. You must survive, or I will never exist. Do you remember?"
"Say that again, sir?"
"Sarah thank you."
"Sarah thank you."
"For your courage through the dark years."
"For your courage through the dark years."
"I can't help you with what you must soon face."
"There is no such thing as Fate, but what we make for ourselves by our own will."
"There is no such thing as Fate, but what we make for ourselves by our own will."
"You must be stronger than you imagine you can be."
"You must be stronger than you imagine you can be."
"You must survive, or I will never exist."
"You must survive, or I will never exist."
Connor has Kyle repeat it over and over again.
"I think you remember. Now let's activate the time displacement unit."
"Time displacement unit ready," says a technician typing on a laptop computer connected to the controls. "Destination time is April 14, 1863."
"That is me," says one of the naked men. He walks to the cylinder.
"Aren't you going to bring something?" asks Kyle.
"You go in naked," says the terminator. "The event horizon interacts with the bioelectric field to generate time displacement."
"Oh," says Kyle. He remembers that the T-X told him she arrived in 2029 naked.
The terminator steps into the time displacement unit and walks in. Kyle watches.
Then the man disappears in a flash of light, with electrical sparks flying between the edge of the cylinder.
"Now set it for 1995," says Connor.
"Destination time is June 10, 1995," says the technician.
Connor approaches the 1995-bound terminator. "Hasta la vista, baby," he says.
The terminator walks into the time dispalcement unit. Soon he disappears into the past, his departure marked by lightning.
"Now to send Reese to 1984," says Connor.
The technicians types into the keyboard. "Destination time is May 12, 1984."
Kyle strips of all of his clothes, appearing naked before everybody. He walks to the time displacement unit and looks at General Connor.
"Good luck, Sergeant," says Connor.
Kyle gives a salute, and Connor returns his salute.
Kyle then walks toweards the end of the cylinder. He is only a few steps from 1984. He steps closer and closer to the place where origin and fate collide.
Then he sees a bright white light. Feels pain.
He concentrates, concentrates on the message Connor gave him.
"Sarah, thank you. For your courage through the dark years. I can't help you with what you must soon face, except to tell you that the future is not set... there is no such thing as Fate, but what we make for ourselves by our own will. You must be stronger than you imagine you can be. You must survive, or I will never exist."
And then he is thrown forty-five years back in time.