Chapter 12: Escape
"That's the last of them." John reported as he set several more plasma rifles in a pile. "In total we have twelve rifles and twenty four clips for them. How many are we taking with us?"
"All of them." Jet answered.
"All of them?" Faye asked as she came into the room carrying a think stack of folders. "That seems like a bit of overkill Jet." She remarked as she dumped the folders into an ever-growing pile around the van. For the last half an hour they had been putting the finishing touches on what they hoped would be a major blow to the Red Dragons and the Terminator program. All the still functioning radios on the Red Dragon gunmen and the Terminators had remained quiet, they hoped that meant whoever was in charge of this was expecting someone to report in when all of them had been killed. The transport on the roof had not moved and no reinforcements had been dropped in, a good sign. Using a torn sleeve from his uniform they had bandaged Kyle's head and right now he and Spike were standing guard at the roof entrance, ready to shoot anything that came through it. John's ribs appeared to be cracked, not broken, but until they knew for sure they couldn't risk injuring him further so along with Faye they had combed the building for any hard copies of the project data while Ed copied and deleted everything from the computer systems. By putting all the hard copies next to the explosive filled van they guaranteed everything vital would be vaporized.
"Those are the only weapons we know that work on Terminators." Jet explained. "We don't know how to make more or how long they'll last, so we've got to take all that we can."
"Makes sense." John agreed as he stuffed the weapons and power cells into two large gym bags they had found in the guard's locker room. "But all this fire power isn't going to do us much good if we can't get out of here. You still have yet to explain this great escape plan."
"That's because it wasn't time for it just yet." Jet answered. "You almost done Ed?"
"Edward has just one more to go." Ed answered. "Place where they make machine men."
"Then I guess now would be the best time." Jet said. "You wanted to know what the great plan is John? Well this is it." He nodded toward Ed who typed a single command. John and Faye exchanged confused glances.
"What exactly did she just do?" Faye asked.
"Edward has just called a taxi!" Ed announced before Jet could say anything. When Ed had typed in the command across the city in a run down "parking lot" for ships the engines of the Swordfish, Hammerhead, and Red Tail began to power up. Slowly they began to lift off and following a route preprogrammed in by Ed they set a course for Cyberdyne, leaving any onlookers gawking at the sight of three craft that seemed to know exactly where they were going despite the fact none of them had a pilot.
As the three craft rushed towards their destination Jet was explaining how Ed had programmed them to come here by remote control. Faye was less then enthusiastic.
"And just when did Ed hack into my flight controls?" Faye asked, not happy that her personal craft had been tampered with.
"When you and John were becoming drinking buddies." Jet answered. Faye gave him an angry look. "Hey, if we had asked you would have said no." He reasoned. Faye didn't say anything but still looked angry. "Look, the important thing is that they'll be here in about ten minutes. It doesn't look like they brought in air support so we should be able to get out of here long before they're able to get in. You going to be able to finish in time Ed?"
"No problem captain." Ed answered. "Ed will be in and out as easy as …." Tomato's screen went blank. "pie?"
"Unauthorized user access." A voice came from Tomato.
"MPU this isn't the time for games!" Jet shouted. He caught himself when he realized something. "MPU, when did you change your voice?" The voice did bare a slight resemblance to MPU's but there was a difference. This voice seemed more mechanical then MPU's, more detached.
"Program designation MPU is incorrect. Designation MPU does not compute with any known commands." Now they were sure it wasn't MPU, he never talked like this.
"If not MPU then who are you?" Ed asked, voicing the question that was on everyone's mind.
"Skynet." The voice answered. Before anyone could say anything it spoke again. "User identification necessary for further information. If you to not have proper authorization within the next ten seconds you will be in violation of …" As it began to rattle off a list of felonies John turned to Jet.
"You do know where this place is don't you Jet?" Jet nodded, still a little stunned at what he had just heard. "Good." Grabbing the wires that connected Tomato to the guard's computer he yanked them out before the countdown had even started. "Sorry Ed, but after what that Terminator AI did it's best if we don't take chances." Ed didn't object but she did seem a bit disappointed.
"So now we have to deal with a sentient supercomputer. Can anything else bad happen to us?" Faye groaned.
"With the talent you guys have for attracting bad luck I'd say that's a safe bet." John remarked. Faye glared at him and Jet sighed in response. "Kidding, just kidding!" He said, mostly to Faye. "So we know about Skynet. What do we do about it?"
"We'll burn that bridge when we come to it." Jet answered. "Right now we need to concentrate on getting out of here. The C4 is armed and ready. You do have a remote detonator right John?" John opened one of his vest pockets and took out what looked like a remote control.
"Kyle and I both took one, just in case." John said.
"Ok, when we're clear of the building blow it. Once we get out of here we head for the Bebop. Once we're in space we'll try to make sense of all this. Ed, how soon until our ride gets here?"
"Exactly four minutes and twenty six seconds." Ed read from Tomato's screen.
"Then we need to get going." Jet said and grabbed one of the bags that contained the rifles. Not wanting John to risk further injury Faye picked up the second bag. Ed shut down Tomato and the four of them headed towards the roof.
"Not to rain on anyone's parade." John said as they climbed the stairs. "But what are Kyle and me going to do? We can't all fit into the Red Tail."
"And you're not going to." Jet answered. "You two are going to hijack that transport and follow us back to the Bebop."
"What about Edward?" Ed asked.
"You're riding in the Red Tail with Faye." Jet told her. Faye started to say something but Jet cut her off. "Inside Faye! We don't have any other options." Faye remained quiet. When they got to the roof entrance Spike and Kyle were still at their posts.
"Time to go?" Kyle asked. Jet nodded. "Best news I've heard all night. What's the plan?"
"First," John replied as he drew his sidearm. "You and I are going to steal that vehicle outside."
"Why us?" Kyle asked.
"Because we're the ones that are going to be flying that thing." John explained as he stepped onto the roof. "Keep that rifle ready. We don't know if any other Terminators are in there." Kyle shook his head but followed. As they approached the ship they kept their eyes peeled but didn't see anything and went up the lowered ramp. The back was empty and in the front they saw only one person sitting in the pilots seat.
"About time you guys got back." The pilot said. At least they knew he was human. No Terminator talked like that. "Did you get all of…." He started to look over his shoulder and when he saw that they weren't part of the team sent in he went for the gun in his shoulder holster, prompting John to fire three shots through the back of the seat. The pilot jerked three times then slumped down. Holstering his gun John went forward and took the dead pilot out of his harness. The craft secure Kyle walked out of it and signaled an all clear to the others. As the others came onto the roof they heard the sound of engines and one by one the summoned craft landed. Spike ran for the Swordfish and Ed ran for the Red Tail. Faye and Jet went into the transport and set the weapons down.
"Any trouble?" Jet asked. Before anyone could answer John came out of the cockpit dragging the pilot's body, which he dumped outside the craft like a sack of garbage. "Guess not. So who's going to fly this thing?"
"He is." John said, jerking his thumb at Kyle, who gave him a suspicious glance. "Hey I'm not going to sit in a blood covered seat. Besides, you're always bragging that you're the better pilot."
"Now that that's settled here's the flight plan." Jet told Kyle. "You follow the rest of us and land where we tell you." He picked up Ein, turned and headed towards the Hammerhead before Kyle could object. Kyle looked at Faye, who just shrugged and sprinted for the Red Tail. John strapped himself into the empty copilot's seat and Kyle just sighed and sat down in the pilot's seat. After finding the tracking beacon for the craft he smashed it on the floor. The controls were unfamiliar but he was able to get the hang of it and after closing the ramp and starting the engines he turned the radio to the frequency the others were using.
"We're ready back here Jet, just lead the way." Kyle said. The other three craft lifted off and Kyle began to follow them. From the ground the Red Dragon enforcers started shooting at the fleeing craft. As bullets were whizzing by them John took out his remote detonator, and waited for the go ahead.
"This is far enough. John, start the fireworks." Jet said. John smiled and pressed the button. Inside the Cyberdyne building the three hundred pounds of C4 detonated all at once. The security doors that had sealed the building had an effect that neither the Dragons or the Bebop crew could have known about. Being solidly built to withstand attack from the outside the metal walls were actually able to withstand the blast. As a result of not being able to go out the explosion had only one way to go, up. Inside such a confined place the blast was actually magnified, vaporizing most of the inside and making the building erupt like a volcano. When the shockwaves hit their craft all of them turned to see a fireball shooting up over two hundred feet into the air.
"Now that is a beautiful sight." John said. He would have also enjoyed the sight that was now happening on the ground if he could see it. Enforces now ran away form the building as fast as they could, trying to get away from falling debris. Miraculously there were few serious injuries, but one rather large chunk of roof fell on one of the remaining cars and squashed it flat.
"That's the best thing that's happened in two days." Faye responded.
"Maybe, but it won't take them long to figure out what happened to us." Jet told them. Their radars were empty now but that could change very quickly. All of them put all the speed they could into their respective vehicles and headed for the Bebop.
"So how are we going to do this?" Kyle asked. "All of us can't land at once."
"Jet should land first." Spike answered. "That way he can get the ship moving before all of us have to land."
"Ok Jet goes first." Kyle answered. "That would put…"
"Faye and Ed second." John interrupted. "They have all the information we've gotten so far."
"All right." Jet agreed. "They come in second, then you two. Those plasma guns are almost as important as the information Ed's carrying."
"Guess that puts you in last Spike." Faye remarked.
"Doesn't matter to me." Spike answered with a tone of indifference. They flew for a few more minutes when Jet's spoke again.
"We're almost there. You three fly a holding pattern until it's your turn. Kyle, can you see where the ship is?" Kyle scanned the bay looked in the direction Jet was headed before answering.
"Behind the garbage scow?" Kyle asked. There was dead silence on the radio. A second later over the radio came the sound of Ed giggling hysterically, accompanied by the sounds of laughter trying to be muffled. Next to him John was trying to hold back his own laughter but when Kyle looked over at him in confusion he couldn't help it and burst out laughing. Kyle shook his head as he patched things together. "It is the garbage scow isn't it?" He asked John, who was still laughing but nodded his head, not wanting to get on Jet's bad side. "Oh man."
"I guarantee you are going to pay for that." John said when he was able to stop laughing. Getting back to business they watched as the Hammerhead descended and went into Bebop's hangar. Once he landed Jet jumped out and began sprinting towards the bridge. Outside the Red Tail had begun to descend when they started taking fire from the ground.
"I don't believe it. Can't we get just one lucky break!?!" Kyle shouted. As soon as the words left his mouth whoever was shooting at them found their range and bullets began to impact on the craft. "Ask a stupid question." He mumbled as he began to make his approach, still under fire from unseen shooters.
When the Red Dragon squad had taken up positions they had chosen them very carefully. Being too close to the ship in question would tip off whoever was coming back to it. Too far away and they wouldn't have time to get many shots off before the targets could get under cover. So they had taken positions on vessels around the Bebop and on rooftops from the shore. Armed with long-range semiautomatic sniper rifles they had been authorized to shoot anyone approaching the vessel but had not been given details on how they would approach. Shooting anyone who came near it would draw unwanted attention so they had to wait until someone actually headed for the vessel. Once they saw one of the group that had just passed over them head for the ship they knew they had their targets and opened fire.
Getting closer John and Kyle could see the Bebop picking up speed in preparation for take off.
"You have landed on a moving ship before haven't you?" John asked as he tightened his harness.
"Once." Kyle answered, not taking his eyes off the Bebop.
"That's very reassuring." John remarked. The Bebop lifted up out of the water and Kyle lowered the landing gear and aimed for the hangar. Skimming the deck he went through the hangar entrance, killed the forward momentum and activated the braking jets to keep them from running into the wall. The craft bounced and shook with a force that would have thrown its two passengers out of their seats if they had not been strapped in but once on solid ground it began to slow. Kyle had to swerve to avoid hitting the Red Tail and another to miss the Hammerhead. The craft came to an abrupt halt and as soon as they had stopped Kyle lowered the ramp and both unhooked their harnesses. Temporarily forgetting about John's injuries both grabbed one of the weapons bags and ran down the ramp. Behind them they could hear Spike coming in and at the hatch leading to the ship they saw Faye and Ed. All of them waited until Spike had landed then went inside.
"You call that a landing?" Faye asked Kyle sarcastically as they started down the hallway.
"Ah shut up." Kyle shot back. The ship shuddered and they had to brace themselves against the wall to keep from falling all over each other.
"I hope that wasn't what it felt like Jet." Spike said into his radio. Their plan was to escape and avoid, if the Dragons had finally gotten missile armed fighters after them they would be at their mercy. And mercy was something the Red Dragons were known to have none of.
"I'm trying to make escape velocity faster then this ship was designed for." Jet's voice answered. They started to move forward slowly, everyone keeping one hand on the wall to keep their balance as the shaking increased. As suddenly as the shaking had started it stopped, and they felt the familiar sensation of zero gravity as the Bebop broke orbit and headed into space. Now able to move more freely they headed towards the bridge, where Jet was setting their course.
"Are we in the clear?" Spike asked.
"Looks it." Jet answered. "No one is following, and the scope is clear in front of us."
"Incredible." Kyle said. "We actually got away with it."
"Partially got away with it." John said. Kyle and Spike turned towards him. "Ed tried to hack into the computer system where the Terminators are being made. Not only was she not able to get in but what stopped her is a hundred times more dangerous the Terminators." He took a deep breath before dropping the bombshell. "They built Skynet, and it looks like it's in charge of creating the T-800s."
"Oh great." Kyle sighed. "That's the just what we need, another challenge."
"You sure it's Skynet?" Spike asked. "What would they build it for? They don't need it."
"It may or not be the real Skynet." Jet answered. "It could be that they just took the name and gave it to the computer running the plant but from what we saw we can't be sure. There is some good news."
"We could use some of that." John remarked.
"When Ed was in Cyberdyne's mainframe she managed to get information about the construction facility. It should tell us everything we'll need."
"Nice to see something good came out of all this besides these." John said as he hefted the bag he was carrying, wincing as he did.
"First things first. You two need to have those injuries taken care of. After that we'll take a look at what Ed managed to get." Kyle and John nodded and began to walk out. "One last thing Kyle."
"Yeah?" Kyle asked. Jet walked over and threw his right arm around Kyle's shoulder. Kyle tensed up, remembering what he had said earlier about the Bebop.
"I know you're new here and you don't know how things work. Because of that I'm not angry." Kyle relaxed slightly and before he could react Jet had him in a headlock. He wasn't choking Kyle but he wasn't letting him breathe too easy either. "But here's a little friendly advice." He said calmly as Kyle was taking ragged breaths. The others just watched this thing play out, some of them more amused then others. "If there's one thing I don't like, it's people insulting my ship. Are we clear on that?"
"Crystal." Kyle managed to choke out. Jet let go of the headlock and he began coughing himself hoarse.
"Now that we've got that settled let's see about patching you two up." Jet said and left the bridge. Kyle tried to say something but ended up coming out as a grunt. Spike and Ed left without saying anything but John and Faye stayed, smiling.
"Maybe next you can make another joke about his age. He hates those almost as much as he hates jokes about the ship." Faye said. "Then he'll skip the formalities and throw you out an airlock." John laughed and Kyle gave her an angry glance.
"You're on thin ice already Kyle." John warned him. "I don't think making them angrier would be a smart move." Kyle just growled and left, followed by a smirking Faye and John.
On Mars Red Dragon operatives tried to secure the Cyberdyne building. Or more specifically what was left of it. The fire was now out but the building had been gutted and the walls seemed ready to collapse in on themselves. A search through the wreckage yielded nothing salvageable, even the Terminator endoskeletons had been turned into lumps of slag. In a black car several blocks away Vicious sat listening to the radio chatter, all of it furious. Knowing an attack on Cyberdyne was inevitable Vicious had made sure to put himself in a location so he could 'be of assistance' when the attack began. Of course when he had tried he wasn't allowed near the building but that hadn't stopped him from 'assisting'. When the squad of Terminators was sent in he was able to convince the ones in charge of this endeavor that no other reinforcements would be needed. He faked changing his mind and said those machines would be all that was necessary. When the personal craft had started to land on the roof Vicious had used his influence to make sure that the ISSP radios would begin to have 'problems'. A disgruntled ISSP clerk with high explosives and access to the radio towers could do quite a lot of damage. Of course where he got the explosives and how he had gotten such easy access to the towers would never be known. Oddly enough it was his own idea to blow himself up along with the towers, one less end for Vicious to tie up. After that everything had degraded into chaos. With no air support of their own they would have to depend on ISSP to catch the fleeing craft. Short-range radios still worked but communication with anything in the air was impossible. A few ISSP vehicles had attempted pursuit and lost them almost immediately, narrowly avoiding a mid-air collision with each other.
"It appears everyone has underestimated this group." Vicious mused to himself. So far they had done the impossible. First they had managed to hide both themselves and that police officer after they had helped him escape. They had managed to destroy six T-800 battle units; the most lethal machines ever built and designed to be unstoppable. Finally they had managed to attack and completely destroy Cyberdyne, then escape without a single loss. Even with the help he had given them he hadn't expected them to succeed. He had planned to go in with a team of his own and destroy the building after the two sides had finished slaughtering each other. Instead they had escaped with their lives, a double win for his side. They were still alive and could be used again instead of him handling things personally; in addition it was another slap in the face to the corpses. He regretted he would not be there to see the reactions when they were told that a group of low life bounty hunters and two rogue policemen were systematically wiping out their most valued and secret project. That thought brought him back to his current problem. According to his spies all the information from all the databases concerning the Terminator project had been deleted. What gave him cause for concern was that not even he knew where these machines were being constructed, or how many more were left.
"Sir." The driver's voice broke his concentration. "The elders are ordering that you report to them at once."
"It was just a matter of time." Vicious replied. He nodded his head and the driver headed back to headquarters. "Has there been any word about the situation with Radical Edward?"
"No sir. He hasn't accepted the transfer yet and he's made no attempt to contact us."
"Very well." He was beginning to think it would another message would need to be sent to Radical Edward, and soon.
On board the Bebop the situation was not much better. They had bandaged Kyle's head and tapped up John's ribs but that was all they could do since they wouldn't be able to get anywhere near a hospital. The Bebop itself was just beyond Mars orbit, out past any ISSP patrols so they should be safe. Currently they were all in the lounge waiting while Ed turned on Tomato.
"We were able to get some basic information about this place as we were going through Cyberdyne's mainframe." Jet explained as Tomato booted up. "It turns out it's broken into two main structures. A command center and a construction center, both of them on Earth."
"Earth?" Faye asked. "That seems like a pretty dumb place to put something so important."
"Actually it makes perfect sense." John replied. "Who would ever think to look for something that's actually important on that mudball of a planet?"
"They still have one major problem." Spike broke in. "If they did build these things on Earth odds are they would have been flattened by meteors in about a week."
"Which is why they got creative." Jet said as a building schematic appeared on screen. "This is the construction facility, about fifty miles from the command center. It's built about a hundred feet below the ground, enough protection to survive all but the largest meteors. It's composed of two main sections, assembly and storage. The T-800s are put together on an assembly line then put into storage until they're needed. Once a unit is designated it gets its skin then transported to wherever it's needed."
"How many T-800s do they have now?" Kyle asked. Jet hesitated before answering.
"The last count put the total number at over three hundred." The others remained silent. "And there was no information on whether the assembly line was still going or not."
"There's nothing we can do about the numbers." Spike spoke up before anyone could lower the moral anymore. "What about the command center? Maybe we can find some way to use that against them." Jet said nothing and brought up a picture of a mountain pockmarked with craters.
"This is the command center. Cheyenne Mountain, an old air defense compound that the Dragons took over and rebuilt. It was designed to survive near hits from a nuclear weapon and was the perfect place to put something like this. There's no real information on how they've changed the inside of it but what we do know is that some AI program is running it."
"Skynet." John said dryly.
"We don't know it's actually Skynet." Jet defended. "And without getting into the system we can't find out."
"There is one way." MPU's voice said.
"How?" Jet asked.
"When Ed was in the system I did a passive scan of the programming format of the AI in question while it was busy conversing with you. Skynet had a unique programming format and I had intended to compare it with the format in the original Cyberdyne files. Would you like the comparison done now?"
"Go ahead." Jet answered. Tomato's screen spit into two halves; one side containing the programming format from the Cyberdyne files and the other from the AI they had encountered.
"A computer being sneaky." Kyle said with some amazement. John just shrugged and the others seemed indifferent. "Guess I shouldn't be surprised." A few seconds later a message appeared on Tomato's screen.
Comparison complete
Probability of match: 100%
Everyone was silent, even Ed and MPU. Now in addition to the Terminators they would have to deal with possibly the most dangerous AI program in existence.