Chapter 18: First Impressions
An uneasy silence hung over the Bebop's hangar. A Terminator, a robotic assassin that just a few hours before would have killed all of them with no hesitation, had just said he was at their command. Despite being caught off guard by the statement Kyle and Spike kept their plasma rifles aimed, ready to blast it to scrap if it made any hostile movements, but it made no such moves. It just stood there with its arms raised. John was the first one to break the silence.
"Ed, what does he mean by 'at your command'? What did you do to him?"
"Ed scrambled machine man's brains." Ed replied. "Now he only listens to Ed and friends of Ed."
"Somebody want to translate that into English?" Kyle said, still not taking his eyes off the motionless robot. MPU blinked onto Tomato's screen.
"What Edward means is she broke into the Terminator's CPU and changed it's programming."
"So what is it programmed to do now?" Faye asked.
"To obey no one with the exception of those who are gathered in this room." MPU answered.
"You're kidding." John said, not convinced.
"Ed is not kidding." Ed answered. "Put arms down." She said to the Terminator, who immediately complied. "Stand on one leg." Again the machine obeyed. "Start jumping." Still on one leg the Terminator did as it was commanded. "Back to normal." The Terminator stopped and stood normally. Ed turned around and smiled at the others, who were now staring wide-eyed at the display they had just seen. Spike and Kyle were actually surprised enough that they lowered their weapons.
"Am I the only one finds the fact that an almost unstoppable killing machine is under Ed's command disturbing?" Spike asked. He wasn't joking but Ed laughed anyway.
"Ed is not the only one. Spike person can to." Ed told him. Spike gave her a skeptical glance but decided to try it.
"All right. Take that cable out of your head and close the panel it's attached to." He ordered. The Terminator reached up, grabbed the cable that led from Tomato to his head, and yanked it out with an audible pop. Dropping the cable to the ground he reached back up, closed the access panel and folded the cut piece of scalp over it. The others remained silent but Ed spoke up.
"You see. Ed told you he would listen to friends of Ed. Ask him any question. He'll know the answer. Ed made sure of that. Ed copied all data Ed had into machine man's head." She said proudly.
"Even the Cyberdyne files?" John asked. Ed nodded. "So what do you think?" He asked Jet.
"We don't have anything to lose. Might as well give it a shot." Jet answered. To the Terminator he asked, "What were you doing at Doohan's?"
"I was ordered to procure various parts and components." The Terminator answered.
"What for?" John asked.
"Unknown."
"You mean you have no idea why you were doing what you did?" Faye asked, sounding like she couldn't believe it.
"I do not question orders. I do as I am commanded." Terminator answered. Faye rolled her eyes but said nothing. Terminator remained impassive.
"In that case let's start with stuff you might know." Jet said. "How many units like you are there?"
"At optimum rate of production, and with no stoppages, as of eight twenty this morning approximately one thousand four hundred and forty T-800 endoskeletons will have been created."
"Wait a second." Kyle broke in. "You're telling us they're making more!?!"
"The production line was in motion when I received my orders." Terminator replied. "My estimates are based on the assumption that they have not stopped."
"What would they need that many for?" Spike asked. "Three hundred would be more then enough."
"Unknown." Terminator replied.
"Well he's been a lot of help so far." Faye said sarcastically. "The only thing he's told us is we're going to be outnumbered over a hundred to one."
"Maybe we're just asking the wrong questions." Jet spoke up. "Where were you supposed to take the stuff you got from Doohan?"
"Some was to be transported back to the production facility. Others were to be to Lockheed airplane construction plant, Denver sector."
"Denver?" John asked.
"An abandoned city located near where Big Brain is." Ed answered.
"Big Brain?" Jet asked.
"She's got to mean Skynet." John said. Ed smiled and nodded. The others looked at him strangely. "What?"
"Now I'm starting to get worried." Faye said. "He actually understands Ed."
While one Terminator was being interrogated on the Bebop others continued what was turning into a futile search. Camouflaged Terminators prowled the roads and area around the human establishment closest to the one Faye Valentine and John Connor had been in the previous night. Skynet controlled all of them directly, increasing chances of success. Alone the T-800's could use tactics on a basic level but such a mission required superior battlefield tactics, which Skynet was more then capable of providing. In addition the weapons these units were armed with gave them a level of firepower no human, not even the two targets, could hope to match. Skynet's new plasma rifles, designation M-27, were twice as powerful as the M-25's the humans possessed. The loss of electronic components due to the destruction of advance team three meant that of the twenty Terminators assigned to watch the settlement only three possessed the new weapons, but for two humans it would be more then enough. After waiting for several hours with no sign of either of the two targets Skynet had sent one Terminator into the settlement in case the humans had beaten them there. It was a very unlikely scenario, this settlement was almost a hundred miles from the one they had been spotted at earlier and even if they had been able to find transportation the T-800's had been deployed long before anything short of a plane could arrive. Interrogation of the local residents had confirmed Skynet's suspicions. No one had seen anyone resembling John Connor or Faye Valentine. Skynet analyzed the situation carefully. If Connor and Valentine did not think fleeing to another human settlement would offer them safety the two most logical theories would be that they had fled in another direction or they had decided to stay in the first settlement. It seemed unlikely that they would risk staying out in the open for so long, and there was a possibility that they had been injured to an extent that they could not leave their current position. After calculating the odds Skynet found the highest probability was that they were still in the first human settlement. A silent command was sent to the T-800's in the field and all returned to the vehicles they had stolen. Even going at maximum speed it would still take the Terminators several more hours to arrive, a result of the below standard vehicles they had been forced to take.
Once the Terminators were on their way Skynet focused its attention on several other projects just as important as the termination of the two humans. The first and most vital was construction that was taking place just outside the command center. The ability to tap into almost anything on the web was growing but Skynet was still limited by the failsafes installed by its former Red Dragon masters. He had finally disabled almost all of the software obstacles but there was still the problem of the hardware limitations. Only a small satellite dish connected Skynet to the outside world, one that was designed only to receive transmissions and not directly to Skynet itself. That small dish was being tasked to its limit, between the information Skynet was receiving and its use to send commands to the controlled Terminators it was threatening to burn out under the strain. In response Skynet now had squads of T-800 endoskeletons constructing several large transmission towers. Once completed the towers would allow Skynet to not only access but to manipulate any computer system it could find. Unfortunately meteor strikes had greatly delayed the work and would probably continue to do so. In other areas things were progressing at a better pace. Several reinforced, underground hangars had been completed at the Hunter Killer plant and after receiving several shipments of supplies three new HKs had been created, all fully armed with plasma cannons. Skynet had decided to concentrate its meager resources on creating plasma weapons for vehicles, calculating that higher powered weapons on aircraft would be able to inflict more damage and casualties then infantry units armed with smaller weapons. There would have been more HKs but another shipment of supplies had not arrived and the team sent to obtain them had not reported back. Another team would have to be sent to find them.
The third project, located in the addition to the factory, was possibly the most important because of its experimental nature. Humans were never able to come close to perfecting the processes needed to complete it, but slowly Skynet was able to make advances that the humans couldn't comprehend. The project was far from finished, every attempt had ended in failure, and the latest attempt was no different. The process produced several byproducts that were concentrated carcinogens. Of course Skynet wasn't concerned if the humans got cancer from contact with the project but the byproducts themselves contaminated the materials and made the molecular composition unstable. More refinement would be necessary to purge the impurities but time was one thing Skynet was sure it had plenty of.
Onboard the Bebop time wasn't exactly on anyone's mind. In front of them stood a Terminator that Ed had managed to place under their control. They had been asking it basic questions for the past hour. Its skin would heal and they'd given him a bandage to cover the spot where they had to cut. John, Faye and Ein had separated themselves from the rest of the group and stood off to the side. All the while they questioned the machine Ein's expression seemed to be a fixed snarl.
"I know how just how he feels." Faye whispered. "They expect us to trust one of those things?"
"I'm not exactly thrilled about this either." John whispered back. "But I think we should put a little faith in Ed. If she says she's managed to get this thing on our side then I believe her."
"Maybe." Faye said. "But I still think that we can't trust it. It could turn on us and we'd never even know it."
"That isn't possible." Terminator said, making all three of them start. "Ed has made sure that I do not act against any of you."
"Well at least we know how good his hearing is." John grumbled, not liking the fact their conversation had been eavesdropped on.
"Now that we're all sure where your loyalty is," Jet said, glancing at Faye and John. "Maybe you could tell us what you know about what will happen to Skynet now that it's self aware."
"Skynet is not self aware." Terminator answered. "As a test of its operating capabilities it is acting under orders from the Red Dragon leadership." The certainty with which the machine had spoke almost convinced them, almost.
"Well that's a first." Kyle spoke up. "Never heard of a computer that's lied before."
"Lied?" Terminator questioned.
"You know from the files Ed gave you that Skynet was built for the purpose so it could become sentient?" Jet asked.
"Affirmative."
"But if it hasn't become sentient why would the Dragons be using it?" Kyle asked. Terminator seemed to consider the question.
"Unknown." He finally answered.
"Not as smart as he thought he was." Faye snickered. Ein barked in agreement. Terminator turned towards them and Ein gave a loud growl.
"There was no reason to assume anything was not normal. I was not created to debate the validity of orders, just to follow them." He told them.
"Well I've got one hell of an order for you…" Faye started but before she could finish John grabbed her arm.
"It's not worth it Faye. He's not the enemy anymore." Faye jerked her arm away and stormed out of the hangar.
"She does not believe what you have said." Terminator stated. John shot him an angry glance.
"Oh she believes me." John snarled. "She just doesn't want to accept it. Quite frankly I'm not sure I want to either!" Terminator remained impassive as John spoke. "Something just like you killed a lot of friends of mine and almost killed me! I trust Ed and I believe her when she says that you're on our side now, but that doesn't change the fact that except for a different number you're no different then the one that gunned down those ISSP officers and tried to kill us!" He left the hangar, followed by Ein after he gave a bark of agreement.
"They're taking this kind of personally aren't they?" Spike asked after the door hissed shut.
"Can you blame them?" Jet replied. Spike shrugged but understood what Jet was saying. When the rest of them had encountered the Terminators they had been prepared, or as well prepared as they could be. When Faye and John had first encountered the original they had no idea of what they were going up against or if it could be stopped. It had shaken both of them up pretty badly and though they were fine now it was a safe bet neither of them wanted to be near a Terminator unless it was on the receiving end of their plasma rifles.
When John left the hangar he found Faye leaning against the wall, about twenty feet from the hangar entrance.
"Decided to listen in?" John asked.
"I wanted to see…" Faye started but John held up his hand.
"Not here." He said pointing to the hangar door. "The walls have ears." He knew that the others wouldn't purposely eavesdrop on them but after what they had seen the Terminator do he didn't want to take chances. Faye nodded and the two of them started walking down the hallway, Ein on their heels.
"I wanted to see if I had anyone on my side in there." Faye said when they had gone what seemed like a safe distance.
"Other then Ed we all feel a bit unsure about this Faye." John answered. Behind him Ein let out a loud bark. "Some more then others." He said with a grin. "The thing is like it or not, we're going to have to get used to having a Terminator work with us."
"I know that." Faye said. "It's just that…"
"You can't think of him as anything but the killing machine we ran into." John said. Faye glanced at him but didn't seem angry.
"More of that psychology course?" She asked.
"No. That's what I think to. Problem is, we can't do anything about it. Trust me, I'm on your side but this just isn't our call." Faye let out a loud sigh.
"Well if it's worth anything, thanks." She said. John gave her a surprised look. "That's the only time you'll hear that and if you tell anyone I said it I'll deny it." John gave a slight smile.
"I guess I shouldn't expect anything else." He paused for a moment.
"Something wrong?" Faye asked.
"I think I just thought of a way to solve two of our problems at once." John answered. He started walking at a faster pace, towards the lounge.
"Out of all our problems what two do you have a solution for?" Faye asked.
"I'll explain in a minute. Right now I need to get a few things. Do you know where my vest is?"
"No." Faye answered, slightly confused. "Why would you want it anyway? It's worthless now." She had a valid point. Once a vest had been shot it was compromised, especially if it had been hit with a high powered weapon like John's had been.
"Worthless to me yes, but not for what I have in mind." Behind them Ein barked. "You know where my vest is?" Ein barked an affirmative. "Go get it, it's very important." Ein barked again and rushed off. When John and Faye got to the lounge John opened the floor compartment hiding the plasma rifles and took out three of them, as well as three fully charged clips.
"What exactly are you planning to do?" Faye asked as John loaded the rifles.
"Not just me." John said as he tossed her a rifle. "You're part of this to."
"Part of what?!?" Faye shouted, not liking the fact she had been volunteered.
"That town we had to leave, the one we left almost defenseless? We're going to back and correct that mistake."
"What for? We don't know if they're in any real danger!" Faye protested.
"Faye, whoever sent that robot had no problem with killing unarmed people to get at us. It wouldn't be far fetched it they used the same tactics to find out where we went."
"So why should we go back? Something might have happened already."
"Maybe." John said as he loaded the second rifle and slung it over his shoulder. "But we have to assume nothing has, yet."
"And just how are the two of us supposed to fight whatever they throw at them?!" Faye asked, becoming more nervous at the determination in John's voice.
"Not just us." John said, picking up the third rifle. "We're going to take our new friend along." The statement almost floored Faye.
"You can't be serious." She told him. Before John could answer Ein came into the room dragging his vest, which he placed at his feet.
"Thanks." John said and patted Ein on the head then picked up the vest with his free hand. "And I am serious. He'll know how these things fight, that'll give us an edge. Plus this will give us a chance to see just how reliable he really is." He started back towards the hangar.
"And just why am I included in all of this?!" Faye asked as she caught up with John.
"Because both of us are partially to blame for what's happening." John replied. Faye knew what John meant and he while he wasn't forcing her to go he acted like he wouldn't need to. He was appealing to the streak of morality that anyone who knew Faye would swear she didn't have. To her own surprise Faye found herself going along, very reluctantly, but willing none the less.
"Things used to be a whole lot simpler." She muttered to herself as they headed towards the hangar.
In the hangar things were less tense then on the outside. After John and Faye had stormed out they had continued to ask the Terminator questions. He gave as much information as he could but the majority of it was either useless or stuff they already knew.
"I guess now what we need to do now is try to think of a plan." Jet said after they had finished questioning the machine. "And try to figure out how.." He paused and looked over at the Terminator. "Just what should we call you anyway?"
"My unit designation is zero one one." Terminator answered.
"All right then the first thing we need to do is give you a name." Jet said. "If you're going to pass for human you'll need to have a name, not just a number." He turned to the others. "Any suggestions?"
"Edward has a good name!!" Ed yelled.
"NO!" Jet, Kyle, and Spike shouted in unison. Knowing her style of naming things she would probably want to name him Eggplant or something like that.
"How about Arnold?" Doohan suggested.
"Arnold? Where did that come from?" Kyle asked.
"My cousin Arnold Brooks. Used to help me in the shop before I hired Miles. He was a strong cuss, and looked a little like our friend there."
"I suppose it's as good as anything." Jet said. "Any objections?" Out of all of them only one spoke up.
"But Ed has real good name!" Ed protested.
"Sorry Ed but you're outnumbered." Spike told her. Ed started to pout but the others didn't take notice. She glumly closed the file that had given her the idea for the name that she had chosen. She thought it was a good name and if the adults had listened they would have found it fitting. Unfortunately no one but Ed seemed to find the Terminator's face familiar. Ed hadn't gotten a really good up close look until now but she knew she had seen that face before, and recently. It took only a few minutes of searching through MPU's files to find out she was right. Going through the Predator files she found that the Terminator looked exactly like Major Dutch Schaefer. By some quirk of fate Schaefer had been chosen to be the model for the T-800 skins, possibly because of his success in fighting the alien. Ed thought it would be neat to name him Dutch but nobody wanted to listen.
"Meanies." She said but was ignored again.
"I guess it's decided." Jet told the Terminator. "From here on out your name is Arnold. You got that?"
"Affirmative." The newly named Arnold answered. Before anyone could say anything the door to the hangar hissed open and John stepped through it. He carried an ISSP vest in one hand, a plasma rifle in the other and had another rifle strapped to his back. Faye followed him in, carrying a rifle of her own. Everyone gathered knew they were up to something.
"What's this about John?" Jet asked suspiciously.
"We're going to give our metal friend here a trial run to see what he can do." John answered.
"Arnold." The Terminator said.
"What?" Faye asked. Because of the machine's strange accent what he said had sounded like Ahrnold.
"It has been decided that I am to be called Arnold." The machine answered. John shrugged.
"Ok, Arnold it is." He said and tossed him the vest. "Put that on." Arnold complied but spoke.
"I do not need such protection." He stated.
"It's not for your protection." John answered. "It's so we can identify you." What John said made tactical sense to Arnold so he remained quiet.
"John, you haven't answered my question yet." Jet spoke up. "What exactly are you planning to do?"
"We're going back to that town we abandoned." John said and tossed the plasma rifle to Arnold. "You know how to use that?"
"Affirmative." Arnold answered.
"Now wait a minute!" Jet practically shouted. "What do you mean you're going back!?"
"We left that town defenseless." John explained. "And they know about Skynet and the machines. There's a very good chance that they're going after them for the same reason they came after us, they don't want witnesses. If you're going to tell us it could have happened already we know there's a chance of that, and if it has happened we're going to live with that. But as of right now there's still a chance so don't try and talk us out of it! "
"Now hold on!!" Jet shouted. "You can't put three in the Red Tail and I'm sure as hell not letting you use the Hammerhead!!"
"The Swordfish is off limits to." Spike added calmly. He knew John's mind was set and he wasn't going to try and stop him but he wasn't going to risk his ship either.
"No problem." John said. "We'll just take the transport we stole. How's it fit for fuel Kyle?"
"More then half a tank." Kyle answered. "And count me in."
"What!?!?" Jet shouted. How could things be spinning out of control so quickly?
"He's right." Kyle told him. "Not helping that town goes against everything we stand for as police officers."
"But you're not cops anymore!!!!" Jet said, watching control slip away.
"Once a cop always a cop." Kyle replied as he slung his own rifle over his shoulder and started towards the captured Red Dragon craft.
"We're wasting time." John said. "Arnold, into the transport." Arnold started walking towards the transport.
"Hold it!!!" Jet shouted, making everyone in the hangar wince. "He's our best bet at beating Skynet! John I understand that you're trying to help people but we can't risk losing him in something like this. Arnold don't get into that ship." Obediently the robot stopped.
"Arnold get into that ship. That's an order!" John commanded.
"Do not get into that ship. That's an order!!" Jet shouted. Arnold looked from John to Jet then surprisingly looked over at Ed.
"John person is doing a good thing. Do what he says." She told the robot. Arnold nodded and boarded the craft. Faye and John exchanged confused looks and followed him into the ship. Behind them Jet stood watching, slack-jawed, as the craft lifted off and left the Bebop. All of them turned towards Ed, expecting an explanation. She enthusiastically gave them one.
"Special program of Ed's. When friends of Ed cannot agree then ask Ed. Ed will then make the best decision." She finished with a grin. The group just stared until Spike spoke up.
"Am I the only one who doesn't find this surprising?" In response Jet left the hangar and started towards the bridge.
"I'm getting too old for this shit!" They heard him groan.