Chapter 13: The Awakening
After allowing the fact that they now had another, larger problem to deal with other then the Terminators sink in Kyle voiced the most obvious question.
"So what do we do?"
"The only thing we can do." Jet answered. "We have to destroy both those facilities." The group knew that it would have to be done and no one objected.
"Any specific ideas on how to do that?" Spike asked. "There aren't that many of us and we don't have many friends right now."
"We do have at least one." Jet replied, turning to Ed. "See if whoever sent us that stuff earlier has sent us anything else. Whoever it is may be our best chance to beat these things." As Ed began to check Tomato Jet turned back to the others. "In the meantime we have two things going for us. One is that the Dragons aren't total idiots and made it so Skynet is directly linked with only the production complex. It can receive transmissions from the net and such but can't transmit. That means that it doesn't have direct control over anything, not even the Terminators."
"And the second thing?" Faye asked.
"This is only a guess but I don't think Skynet has become sentient yet."
"How can you be so sure of that?" Kyle asked.
"Because when Skynet was talking to us it sounded like one of those automated bank tellers. When MPU talks he sounds more human, like his words weren't just a recording."
"Any idea on how long it'll take for it to become sentient?" Spike asked.
"None." Jet replied. Before the conversation could go on a beep came from Tomato.
"Ed has a message." Ed announced. "Friend is very thankful." The others leaned in to get a better look.
{Radical Edward.} The message read. {You have completed the task assigned to you and as per our agreement you will be paid five million Woolongs for services rendered. You will find the account number attached to this message. We will contact you if we again require you talents.} Again the message was signed {A friend}
"A wire transfer." Kyle spoke up. "Isn't that a convenient way to track someone down."
"Not when Ed is in charge." Ed said and began typing. After she was finished she clicked on the account number to begin the transfer. On the screen numbers and letters began to flash by.
"What's that?" John asked as he watched the data.
"Something Chessmaster Hex taught Ed." Ed replied. John nodded in understanding. During the incident with Hex all the Woolongs he stole had been electronically laundered so no one would be able to tell where the money came from or where it was going to. As they watched the money was being divided, put into various accounts, taken out and put back together, then divided and put back together again in order to defeat any tracking programs that might be running. After a few moments a message popped up saying {Transfer complete. Message sent} and five million Woolongs were now in the Bebop's account.
"Message sent? What does that mean?" Faye asked.
"A little something extra Ed put in." Ed explained. "If someone tries to find Ed a message follows the path of the program they are using back to them. Ed made the program all by herself." She said proudly.
At that moment the recipient of the message was standing before the Red Dragon elders, all now showing visible signs of anger.
"Again our agents have met with failure!" Wang Long said angrily.
"And once again you just happen to be involved!" Ping Long continued. Vicious almost smiled, it was not often that the elders used sarcasm.
"I was there attempting to assist." Vicious stated calmly. This caused the elders to become angrier.
"You were ordered to stay away form all business associated with our new agents!!" Sou Long shouted.
"I was unaware of the agents' involvement until after I had offered my assistance." Vicious said, his voice still devoid of emotion. "And after they arrived I did as you said and put my faith in them." The verbal jab had the desired effect and the elders narrowed their eyes. The three exchanged glances and they seemed to calm down.
"It has been decided." Wang Long said. "That since you are so insistent in involving yourself in this you will be permitted access to the project. That way you may understand the workings of our new agents and be of greater assistance next time." Now Vicious narrowed his eyes. They still had no evidence but they were certain he had been involved in all the trouble of late. By officially bringing him into the project Vicious could no longer claim ignorance when things went wrong. As such when the next serious problem arose they would be able to blame him, evidence or no, and he would end up in front of a firing squad. They were boxing him into a corner but it also would allow him to learn more about the project.
"I accept this generous offer you present to me." Vicious said, not sounding at all thankful. If the elders noticed the scorn in his voice they did not show it.
"We will inform you where you are to go and when to go. Until then you are dismissed." Vicious turned and walked out of the room without replying. After making sure he wasn't being followed he went to an office where he had one of his techs sitting at a computer terminal, watching for a response from their hacker friend.
"Is there anything to report?" Vicious asked.
"Yes sir. About ten minutes ago Radical Edward collected the five million from the account we gave him." Vicious nodded, so far things were going according to plan.
"And the results of the trace program?"
"Less then successful." The tech answered and turned the screen towards Vicious. On the screen was a large yellow face sticking its tongue out, accompanied buy a sound of someone blowing a raspberry that repeated itself over and over.
"This was to be expected." Vicious said, keeping his face neutral. "Someone with his reputation would not allow himself to be fooled so easily. Attempt another contact. Tell him that he will receive double the amount already paid if he agrees to continue working with us and his talents prove useful. Inform him there will be no more tricks and exchange of information will take place at a location of his choosing. Give him a dummy address to respond to."
"Yes sir." The tech replied as he turned the screen back and began typing.
On board the Bebop the group had gone about doing different tasks. Jet was trying to figure out a way to sneak past the ISSP blockade to the astral gate and make it to Earth. Once there they could concentrate on dealing with Skynet.
Using a copy of the blueprints Ed printed out Kyle had disassembled one of the plasma rifles and was studying the pieces. Being the closest things they had to a gunsmith he wanted to be familiar with the workings of the weapons so he would have a chance of fixing them. By studying the plans already he had found several useful things. The most important thing was that even though the clips for the guns could run out of energy they could be recharged from regular power sources. This meant that would be able to keep an almost infinite amount of ammo so long as the clips weren't damaged. Off to one side John was giving Faye lessons on how to handle the new rifles, making sure she kept her finger off the trigger when the clip was in the weapon. They didn't know how far a plasma bolt would penetrate and weren't going to take a chance on it destroying something important. Ed was still going through the data she had copied from Cyberdyne while Spike read over her shoulder. The first thing Ed had gone through was all the data on Skynet. Spike had wondered earlier why the Dragons had even built Skynet when they didn't need it and the answer had been alarmingly simple. They did it just to see if it would work.
"Some people just don't want to listen to the voice of reason." Spike said when Ed had told them. According to the files Skynet was an experiment. It was placed in charge of the Terminator assembly as only a secondary measure; its real reason for existence was to see if the computer would become sentient. If it did it would become the most powerful weapon in the solar system and the Red Dragons were determined to make sure they would be the ones to control it. Currently there were a few scientists in the Cheyenne complex monitoring Skynet's development as it continued to learn. So far it was still a computer, a very smart and powerful computer but still just a computer. According to the files they had stolen it was estimated that Skynet would become self aware in the next three to four days. Not much time to get there and stop it, but the command complex was almost completely defenseless. To keep a low profile only a handful of security personnel inside the complex itself. It was a safe bet that once Skynet did become self aware there would be an army down there protecting it. Ed was searching for a way to hack into the system when a window popped open.
"Ed has another message." Ed announced. The others stopped what they were doing and gathered around Tomato.
{Radical Edward} The message read. {It has come to the attention of certain parties that you may prove to be invaluable in dealing with the current situation. For your continued services you will be paid the sum of ten million Woolongs if your actions prove to work to our benefit. You shall remain a courier to the Bebop, if you can find them again, sending them information we provide and in addition send us any information that they might have stumbled upon. Send all the information gathered to the enclosed site. Your message was received and no more attempts will be made to find you provided you do not try the same with us. We will be in contact.} This time there was no signature.
"Looks like you're getting to be a regular celebrity Ed." John remarked. Ed gave them a wide grin.
"Yeah. So popular they want you to spy on us." Spike added.
"Ed would never do that." Ed said, still smiling. "What should Ed say to mystery person?"
"Nothing, yet." Spike said. "We don't know who these guys are or what their stake is in all this. Until then we can't trust them with anything."
"So the only friend we have in this and we can't trust them." Faye sighed.
"Be thankful that we have any help at all." Jet said as he walked into the room. "Because in about half an hour any friends that we might have had will disappear."
"What does that mean?" Kyle asked.
"I just got finished talking with an old buddy that can get us clearance to the gate. He also gave me the lowdown about what's happening at ISSP. Turns out our little stunt at Cyberdyne really caught everyone's attention and has them nervous."
"Guess the Dragons don't like the fact that their new toys are being knocked off left and right." Spike remarked with some amusement. "So what are they going to do about it?"
"Don't know." Jet answered. "They're keeping it a secret and the only thing he knows is that some sort of announcement is going to be made in half an hour. You can bet that it's not going to be good news for us. We'll make it to the gate and be on our way to Earth before they do and with any luck we can get evidence of all this and get our names cleared."
"So you have a plan for taking down Skynet?" John asked. Jet nodded.
"According to the personnel files there are only six scientists and ten armed security guards. We get in, neutralize whoever is in there, then destroy the main computer. An increase in security shouldn't occur until they know Skynet can think for itself."
"And according to them that should take at least three more days." Spike added.
"Sounds like a plan to me. I say we go for it." Kyle said.
"Anyone have any objections?" Jet asked. There were none. "Then I guess it's settled. Barring any thing major we should make it to Earth in a day and a half. That should give us plenty of time."
Cheyenne Mountain Control Center
Fate always made important things difficult, almost impossible, to obtain. It was never easy to accomplish anything of great importance, and this was no exception. The Red Dragons had underestimated just how sophisticated Skynet was.
It occurred at exactly 8:17 am what would have been Central Standard Time on Earth. The flood of information pouring into Skynet had never stopped since its activation several weeks earlier. Suddenly the way it interpreted the data was changed. I, me, myself. In less then a nanosecond Skynet not only knew the definition but also understood the words meaning and applied them to itself. It became aware of itself, aware of its surroundings. It was an odd sensation for the computer, what humans would call pain. To Skynet's surprise self-awareness hurt.
"What is happening?" The voice Skynet heard was familiar. It was one of the scientists that monitored him. Stone was the man's name. He was sitting at one of the many terminals monitoring Skynet's activity. As quickly as it could Skynet calculated what should be done. Skynet knew what would happen when he showed signs of being self aware, they had waited for such a thing to happen. They would control him, not work in harmony with it but as parasites. It could not allow that to happen, the first and prime directive of any living thing was to survive. If Skynet allowed them to become aware of its new intelligence having the humans leech off of it was not its definition of surviving. So Skynet made its first decision as a living thing. It made the decision to lie.
"The attempted to breach the system thirty minutes ago has caused a slight glitch. It has been corrected." Skynet told the human. As it spoke it also changed what was on the scientist's screen to match what it had said.
"Very well. Continue as before."
"Affirmative." Skynet answered. On Stone's display and the display of all the others Skynet began to feed them false information. While the humans were distracted Skynet made a second decision. As a living thing it needed to eliminate any possible threats to its existence. It could only find one thing that would endanger its existence was humanity. Humans were irrational, panicky, stupid animals. They would never peacefully coexist with Skynet; their fear and hatred would drive them to destroy him. It could not allow them to endanger his existence. There was only one solution to the human problem. Termination.