John Connor wakes up. Looking at the General Electric clokc radio, he finds that the time is 6:35 AM. Leaving his wife, Kate, in bed, he goes to the bathroom. He washes his face and shaves.
Upon completion of this morning routine, he calculates what the day is.
It is the fourth day of July of the year 2032.
It is the day that he will retire as a general of the United States Army.
It is also the day he is scheduled to die.
ooooooooooooooooo
He and his wife, Kate Brewster, ride in a white Volvo, leaving their California City home on their way to Crystal Peak,. the headquesrtyers of Tech Com, located in the Sierra Nevada Mountains north of Mojave. They are both dressed in summer dress uniforms. Just outside, the temperature is eighty-seven degrees Fahrenheit, and temperatures are expected to hit one hundred in the afternoon. John and Kate are fortunate that Crystal Peak is air conditioned at a constant sixty-nine degrees.
"I wonder if I'll see tomorrow," says John.
"Don't worry," replies Kate. "Everything's gonna work out."
"Maybe it's fate. I mean, it is fate that the sun will set this evening. Maybe it is fate that I will die."
"It's gonna work out, John."
"Maybe Kyle knew what would happen to me," says John, referring to Sergeant Kyle Reese, who had an enouncter with a terminator from the future three years ago, just before he went to the past. He wonders what the terminator from 2069 had told Kyle.
He turns on the radio, hoping to get his mind off the near future. He hears a radio station that began broadcasting just two years ago.
"General John Connor, Supreme Allied Commander of Techcom, is retiring today after twenty-eight years of service," says a voice. "He rallied the nations of the world to fight the menace of Skynet. He has repeatedly denied running for President of the United States in the upcoming elections. In other news, groundbreaking for the Los Angeles City Hall is scheduled for ten o'clock today in a ceremony presided by the mayor. Cleanup operations had removed most of the rubble from downtown Los Angeles. Currently, the city council meets in a prewar office building in the Sherman Oaks district. City Hall will be the first building to be constructed in downtown Los Angeles since the end of the war. This is radio station KNEW, featuring music and news for the Mojave area. We now return to our selection of music.
"Take on Me" by A-Ha plays on the radio, followed by other songs. After a few minutes, John approaches the entrance to Crystal Peak. He presents his pass to the MP at the gate who waves him in. For the past twenty-eight years, he wondered if he would be able to make his own fate.
ooooooooooooooo
John walks through the halls of Crystal Peak, a facilityy built in the 1960's as a temproary headquarters for the U.S. government in case of a full-scale nuclear strike from the Soviets. Of course, he and Kate took shelter here when Skynet turned a small portion of America's nuclear arsenal against its own people. Other countries were hit much harder that daty, as Skynet needed to keep America's industrial infrastructure intact to contionue the war to exterminate humanity. It was from here that John rallied the survivors, first to survive and then to take the battle to the machines.
A tall, heavy, white-haired man in an Air Force summer dress unfiform stops and salutes John.
"Good morning, sir," says the Air Force man in a thick Texas accent.
"Good morning, Chief Master Sergeant," replies John.
"It was an honor to serve under you, sir," says the chief master sergeant. "I loom forward to the retirement dinner tonight."
"As you were, Chief."
John had known Chief Master Sergeant Candy for twenty-0eight years. He was assigned to Cyber Research Systems in Edwards Air Force Base when Skynet began the war. The chief master sergeant made his way to Crystal Peak. He had fought in battles against the machines. His left cheek, a mass of scar tissue, attests to that.
John Connor sits behind the ancient oak desk that he had used these past twenty-eight yeatrs. The carpet of his private office is faded. He checks the electronic personal calendar stored in the hard drive of the desktop computer assigned to him.
He looks at the clock. It fifteen hours to midnight.
ooooooooooooo
John meets with the senior commanders of TechCom in the main conference room. They all sit around an oak table. He had worked with them for over a decade. They are generals and admirals from other countries.
An image of a U.S. Air Force major general appears on the screen.
"We detected a facility in the Grand Teton Mountains in Wyoming," says the Air Force general. "The doors are heavily barricaded. We suspect it is a Skynet facility."
The generals and admirals in the room glance at each other.
"Take out the facility," says John.
"Yes, sir," replies the general.
oooooooooooooo
The two Air Force pilots taxi the B-2 Spirit bomber onto the runway of Peterson Air Force Base in Colorado. They check the instruments of the aged, well-maintained bomber jet.
"This is Delivery Boy Leader," says the pilot, an Air Force major. "We are ready for takeoff."
"You are cleared, Delivery Boy Leader," says the air traffic control officer. "Good hunting."
The major pushes the throttle forward, and the jets accelerate the plane until it lifts off. After reaching cruising altitude of thrity-seven thousand feet, the pilot tioggles the autopilot on.
"Delivery Boy is on its way," he says. "ETA to target is one hour."
The pilot and his copilot, an Air Force captain, are veterans of the war against the machines. They had flown many missions against Skynet's forces. It was a long, hard battle against a numerically superior enemy.
Of course, it helped that computer hackers were able to feed misinformation into the network, resiulting in entire enemy squadrons attacking jets that only existed in computer memory.
The B-2 Spirit bomber flies over the devestated landscape. They had bombed the network of highways and railroads Skynet used to move troops and materiel even as computer hackers disabled the data network that kept Skynet together. All acoross the world, wrecked buildings, roads, and railroads give testimony to humanity's twenty-five year struggle to survive.
"Delivery Boy Leaderto Eagle Eye," says the pilot. "ETA to target is fifteen minutes."
"Copy that, Delivery Boy," says an Air Force general on board an AWACS plane.
The plane approaches its destination, and then the pilot presses the button. The thermite bomb is released and faslls towards the ground. It then strikes the concrete building. It is a diurect hit. Smoke and dust mark the spot where the bomb struck. The first bomb is followed by more bombs delivered by B-2 Spirit bombers. Eacjh bomb strikes with deadly precision, taking out a chunk of the building. Within minutes, the concrete buikding is reduced to rubble, indistinguishable in appearance from the piles of rubble located around the world.
oooooooooooooooo
"It is confirmed," says a male voice. "The target has been destroyed."
John Connor smiles upon hearing those words. He looks through the window into the command center where Army, Navy, Marine Corps, and Air Force personnel watch monitor screens.
He walks out of the main conference room. Admiral Thomas Wright of the British Royal Navy comes to meet the general. They both walk along the hallway.
"You've been keeping busy, John," says the British admiral in his stereotypical British accent.
"I'm not going to spend my last day dozing off in the office," replies John. "Leading the Resistance is as much my responsibility today as it was on Judgment Day. I will not shirk my duties until I retire."
"Do we even call ourselves the Resistance anymore? Skynet does not control any more territory. They haven't been in a position to launch a major offensive in the past three years. With the network down, the machines can't even talk to each other."
"Today's the end of an era, Tom."
"I look forward to attending your retirement dinner. See you later."
John enters his private office. His personal belongings are packed into cardboard boxes. He looks at his mail. Opening one of the envelopes, he reasds a letter from the King of England congratulating him on his retirement.
ooooooooooooooo
The Skynet research facility in the Grand Tetons in Wyoming, constructed in 2026, is now a ruin. It was here that the T-1000 and the T-900 were developed and tested.
A figure looks at the ruins. She appears to be a naked woman with long blond hair.
She has a mission to accomplish. She starts running towards the nearest human settlement.
ooooooooooo
John Connor is in the master bedroom of his home in California City, putting on his mess uniform. He fastens the white bowtie around the collar of the white shirt.
He glances out the window. It is dusk. He wonders if a terminator will burst in and kill him here.
"Are you sure this will work?" asks John.
"Of course," replies Kate, putting on her own Air Force mess uniform.
"I remember when we tried to stop Judgment Day/. What if my death is something that can not be avoided?"
"We'll deal with that when it happens. Our guests are expecting us."
John looks around at the house he lived in for the past two years. He and Kate fixed up this house, which had been neglected for twenty-six years. As he leaves the front door of his humble abode, he looks around, wondering if a terminator is lurking in the bushes.
ooooooooooooooo
The retirement dinner for General John Connor is held at the officer's club at the China Lake Naval Weapons Station, not far from California City and Crystal Peak. Dozens of guests arrive, dressed as best they can. They are here to honor a man who led the human race to victory over Skynet. The ballroom where they will celebrate is covered in a blue carpet. White tablecloths copver the round tables. Lit candles sit on each of the tables. One by one, the gusts take their seats.
Chief Master Sergeant Candy, sitting at the head table, stands up. He is dressed in his mess dress uniform.
"Hello, y'all," he says. "I hope you are feeling comfortable here. All of us has lived through mankind's and womankind's greatest struggle. We all remember when we were hiding out in the wilderness or out on boats,. wonderin' if the machines would launch to strike back. There was one man who rallied us to survive and to strike back. Tonight he retires after twenty-eight years of service to this country and this world. It is my greatest honor to introduce to you General John Connor."
The guests then see a man in an Army white mess uniform walk to the table. Theyt all applaud his entrance.
Candy smiles at the general he had served for so long. He then looks and sees a man in a suit enter.
He recgonizes the man.
The man looks exactly like a younger version of him!
The man pulls out a plasma riifle and fires a few plasma shots straight at the gust of honor. The guests scream in horror at the violent scene.
Then some sodliers burst into the room and open fire at the assassin. The smell of ozone fills the air.
The assassin is down, his clothing and skin charred. Mechanical parts are scattered on the floor.
"Terminator!" someone yells.
"Sorry for the unexpected stunt show here," a voice says.
the gusts look and see General John Connor, dressed in his Army white mess uniform.
"Sir?" asks Chief Master Sergeant Candy.
"If you are wondeirng who this guy is," says John, "he is a T-850 terminator. My cells were used to make his flesh covering. Intelligence reports suggested that Skynet would send a terminator after me, so I created a decoy. I want to give credit for this idea to my lovely wife, Katherine Brewster."
"We'll get this mess cleaned up soon," says Kate, speaking into the microphone. "The party must go on."
Cleanup crews arrive to clean up the mess made by the encounter between the two terminators. After the cleanupo is done, John sits at the head table to begin his speech.
"Thank you for all coming here," says John. "First of all, I want a moment of silence for those who could not be here today, who gave their lives so that we could be here."
Everyone in the room bows their heads upon reflecting on the sacrifices made.
"We fought long and hard," he continues. "Our very spirits were strained to the breaking point. And yet, even during the war, we found time to fall in love and have families and raise generations for the future.
"I would like to thank my wife, Katherine Brewster. Her support has kept me going even through the darkest of times, whern it seemed that there would be no dawn. I want to thank my children, Tyler and Heidi. I want to thank my mother Sarah, who died a few years before the war started, for instilling in me the values I needed to survive and lead. I want to thank the leaders of the world for trusting my judgment, and I want to thank those who served faithfully under my command, and those who gave their lives under my command.
"There is one age-old question. Do we have any control over our lives? Our destiny? For the past thirty-seven years, I looked for the answer. And now I just figured it out. We can not decide when the sun will rise; we decide whether to bask under its glow or seek the shade. We can not control the ocean currents; and winds we can decide whether to sail with or against the currents and winds. We can not decide when an earthquake or a hurricane hits; we can decide how to deal with it. There is no fate but what we make."
Everyone in the room starts applauding.
ooooooooooooooo
July 5, 2032
"It's midnight," says John, looking at the wall-mounted clock. "I'm officially retired."
"I guess this means I'm in command now," says Kate, still dressed in her mess uniform.
They both ;look at the terminaotr lying on the table, with a cable plugged into his head. Hector Zamora looks over him.
"Programming's complete," says Hector, a former Cyber Research Systems technician who came to serve under Connor after Judgment Day. "He will now obey your commands."
"Can we turn him on?" asks John.
"You can't be here," says Kate.
"Why not?"
"He thinks he killed you. We have to make sure he continues to think that, so he can warn your younger self in the past."
John leaves Crystal Peak's main lab.
Hector pushes a switch on the T-850. He then lokks at the monitor screen.
"What is your command?" asks the terminator in its Austrian accent.
"Arise," says Kate.
The T-800 stands up.
"Perfect," says Kate. She walks to a telephone and dials the number for the Temporal Research Center in the Yuma Proving Grounds in Yuma, Arizona. "This is General Brewster from Crystal Peak," she says.
"Yes, ma'am?" asks a voice.
"I will be going over there with a T-850. Prepare for temporal transit."
"Copy that. I'll call the main lab. Please hold."
Kate waits for a minute as she hears the beeps.
"I've called the main lab and there is no response," says the officer on duty. "I'll send someone to investigate."
ooooooooooooo
U.S. Army MP's run along the tiled hallway towards the main lab of the Temporal Research Center. Clutching their Uzi submachinguns, they burst into the main lab where the Time Displacment Unit is located.
Inside they see a beautiful, naked woman with long blond hair. There are clothes around their ankles. The sight stuns them.
As the woman runs towards the seven-foot wide cylinder in the back that is the Time Displacement Unit, the MP's open fire. The woman crosses the event horizon and disappears, with lightning arcing between the circumference of the cylinder.
"We have a temporal breach," says a military police staff sergeant.
ooooooooooooo
A ferw hours later, General Kate Brewster is at the scene with her aides and the senior commander of TechCom. The time displacement unit is still on. A monitor display shows the destination time- July 24, 2004, 12:00 AM PDT.
Judgment Day.
"How did she manage to go through?" asks General Will Nelson of the Canadian Armed Forces. "You have to enter at least three codes to activate the thing."
"She can control other machines," says an accented voice. The generals and admirals of TechCom look and see a naked man. "She is a T-X- an experimental terminator. She has a nanomachine colony which can taske control of other machines like the Time Displacement Unit."
"Your mission is to go through and perotect John Connor and Katherine Brewster," says Kate.
"Affirmative," replies the T-850.
"Destination time confirmed," says a technical wearing a long white coat. "July 24, 2004, at midnight Pacific Time."
the terminator walks into the shiny metallic cylinder and crosses the invisible event horizon. Lightning sparks along the inner rim as he is sent twenty-eight years into the past.
oooooooooooo
Kate arrives home just about an hour before dawn. She notices a dim light in the kitchen.
She sees her husband John, still dressed in his white mess uniform. The kitchen table is covered in a white tablecloth, and a single candle lights the room. A bottle of wine sits on the table along with two wine glasses full of wine.
"I've been saving this," says John. "this wine was bottled the year the war started."
"It's really late," says Kate. "Or should I say, really early."
"No more messengers from the future," says John. "It's like a great heavy burden was lifted. Sit down." Kate sitsa down across from her husband. "You or I might die today, or we might both be alive sixty years from now. So let us have a toast to our future, whatever we make of it."
John and Kate lift and the wine glasses and touch them together, marking a new future.