Chapter Seven: The Metal Men

Travelling only at night, Sarah continued to make trips up to Ensenada. Skynet had levelled a single block and was now building a square metal structure in the middle of the flat landscape, though she didn't yet know what it was. Presently it consisted of four high metal walls making the shape of a square, sitting in the middle of a large, flat expanse of dirt and rubble, the edges of it surrounded by the remaining streets and buildings. She remembered Kyle telling her of the camps used to round up people for mass disposal, and if this site was going to be one of those camps, she fully intended to disrupt it as much as she could.

Looking out at it from her usual spot on the hill, she could see that there was no easy way to approach the structure without being seen. The HK-Aerial continued to patrol the area during the day, but at night it headed north again, presumably for refuelling or maintenance. At night, two scout drones continued to patrol the area, their red eyes dotting the black sky as they floated and hummed in the breeze, ready to call for the HK the moment they spotted anyone. The ground, however, was patrolled by what Sarah determined to be the first Terminators.

Thin and scrawny, close to Sarah's own stature, the metal beings patrolled the outer walls of the structure, armed with weapons much like the ones she had stored. Their movements were slow and jagged, and they appeared to be slightly unbalanced in their movements. Physically, they looked nothing like the Terminator that Sarah remembered. They appeared to be made not out of a hyper-alloy combat chassis, but of ordinary metal. They were thin, their wiring and hydraulic hoses largely exposed to the elements, and their heads were nothing like the refined mimicry of a human skull that Skynet would later perfect, instead looking more like security cameras with two lenses mounted on their shoulders. Sarah could see a dozen of them, half of them patrolling the area with weapons, the rest appeared to be working on the structure, using tools on the metals walls to tighten its bolts and weld its seams.

Target practice.

Controlling her breathing, Sarah lined up the nearest drone through her scope and watched it as it patrolled in an endlessly repeating pattern back and forth across the night sky. She squeezed the trigger and felt the rifle jolt back into her shoulder as the shot fired with a sharp crack. The red eyepiece went out as it was struck by the bullet and Sarah watched the dark form fall silently from the sky, crashing dully onto the ground. The other drone changed its patrol pattern and veered closer to the path of its fallen counterpart, only to be felled by two more bullets bursting from the dark hill.

Two of the guarding Terminators had heard the subsequent crashes on the ground and began to walk towards the source, each of their own slow steps threatening to knock them off balance. They were loud and they were clunky, but there was something threatening and uncanny about how they walked. They didn't pretend to be human as they moved with a relentless purpose and would never waver or hesitate in their tasks. As small and sticklike as these feeble, early models looked, Sarah knew that if one of them got close enough to her it would prove deadly in its attempts to kill her. The pair stopped short of one of the destroyed drones, so still that for a moment Sarah thought they had shut down. She lined them up through her scope.

She could see weak spots. Their lower abdomen was completely uncovered, leaving their hydraulic hoses exposed. Their heads looked almost like they were made of plastic. She fired at the one on the left, aiming for its head. The bullet went straight through the right eyepiece and out the other side. The Terminator fell backwards and landed stiff, still in its standing pose. The second one slowly turned towards the fallen one and looked down at it, slowly processing what had happened. Sarah fired again at this one, aiming instead for its abdomen. It bled fluid and its leg twitched and jerked as it tried to keep its balance. Sarah almost felt pity for it as it writhed on the spot seemingly in an attempt to understand that it was injured. It reminded her of a dying animal that didn't realise what had happened to it yet. She fired at it again, knocking it down next to the first one.

The four remaining Terminators that were guarding the structure slowly but surely made their way towards her line of fire and were subsequently picked off where they stood. The six other Terminators continued to work on the metal walls, oblivious to the gunshots as they welded and tightened bolts. One by one, from one end to the other, they each were knocked over onto the ground as Sarah's bullets forced their way through their heads. Only one remained.

Unsure if it had any combat capabilities within its programming, Sarah got back into the pickup truck and began the drive through the empty streets of Ensenada towards the cleared block where the new structure was being built, certain that Skynet's presence here was now minimal. Still, she had to be quick. She drove down the old streets, crawling between the empty buildings until they fell away to flat rubble. Sarah crossed onto the perimeter of the cleared, empty land and watched the view within her headlights. The structure loomed before her, shiny, reflective, and new. In the middle of the headlight beam stood the last Terminator, seemingly ignorant to the fates of its clones. Sarah put on some leather gloves and pulled out her experimental weapon and examined it. It was a long knife with an electrical wire running up the blade, connected to a set of batteries in the handle—something she remembered Kyle mentioning to her as being an effective weapon in the later years. There was a switch on the handle's end, which Sarah turned on.

A deadly blue spark flashed across the blade, briefly lighting the inside of the cab. Sarah smiled; she was ready. Finally, after five years of waiting in the bunker, she now had an active purpose. She hadn't felt this alive in years, and it was no small accomplishment to take out all of Skynet's units at this mysterious site. Though, she knew, that it would be back stronger than ever and that this ominous structure would still one day be completed. She had no problem in slowing it down as much as she could but knew that her repeated visits could eventually be her undoing. She also knew, in the back of her mind, that the restlessness she had felt over the last five years was the same that John had been feeling now.

Sarah climbed out of the pickup truck and stood next to it, staring it the thin, metal figure in the light of the headlights. It was facing away from her, still working on its section of the wall, unaware of her existence. Unsure of what its reaction would be when faced with a human, Sarah reached into the open door of the truck and pressed on the horn. The sound blared out, echoing out across the flattened rubble. The Terminator stood straight and turned around to face her, its movements unsure and staggering. It stood still for a moment as it faced her, processing what she was, then it walked straight for her, closing the distance between them quickly. Sarah considered shooting it before it got too close, but she intended to bring back a whole unit and to test the weapon in her hand. And, as dangerous as it was, to see how they fought.

Its footfalls were loud and clunky, its pistons hissing with each movement. Its security-camera head tracked her perfectly, gyroscopically balanced compared to the clunky movements of its body. It unnerved Sarah, and as it got closer, it no longer looked so weak. Though shorter than her, it was clearly a precursor to the eventual T-800 that had tried to kill her all those years ago.

Sarah began to step backwards as the Terminator approached her, keeping out of its reach as it stretched out and grabbed for her. She took a wide step sideways and watched as it lurched forwards and stopped, taking a moment to turn around and face her again. It seemed easy to evade, but Sarah could tell how dangerous its hands would be if it caught her. She side-stepped it a few more times, surprised by its predicable movements and its seeming inability to learn and adapt. After ducking behind it, she pushed it over onto its front and then forced her blade into its neck, stepping back from it as the electricity surged through it, damaging the sensor array. It lay there, completely still.

After pressing the switch on the end of the handle to turn it off, Sarah pulled out the experimental blade and heaved the Terminator onto the tray of the pickup truck and covered it with a tarp. The drive back through the dead farmland south of the city was a quiet one as Sarah listened for any sound from the tray behind her. Her only guiding light was from the dull moon above as she was not willing to use the headlights until she was well away from the Skynet structure that she had just interfered with. Once she was far enough away, she turned the lights on and sped up to proper cruising speed.

Sarah liked these drives, especially at night. For these few hours, she could pretend that the world was normal, that this was just a night drive transporting some wreckage for Enrique, and that she would come home to a normal, happy family. She thought of John, and how much he had grown over the past few years. He was no longer the twelve-year-old that had been waiting in the bunker with her on the night that Skynet became self-aware. He had been through his own private struggles, and Sarah often wondered how much of an effect Juanita's death had really had on him. She worried for him more than he knew, and she knew that he feared for her safety every time she went on these trips alone. Every time she left, she told him the same thing:

"If I'm not back by morning, I'm dead. Don't do anything, just listen for the Resistance."

The dirt road turnoff to the base finally came into view. Sarah slowed the truck and turned down it, the outline of the scrap heaps dark against the moonlit sky. She parked in her usual spot in front of the shack and climbed out. At the sound of the slamming door, John came into view and stood in the doorway, a look of quiet relief on his face. He had been inside it all night, the windows boarded up, the only light from inside now creeping through the open door. He saw her untying the tarp and walked over to help.

"Look John," Sarah said. "I brought you back a present."

It was the first time John had seen a proper Terminator—Skynet's first attempt at mimicking human form. He was surprised at how fragile it looked. It looked more like a homemade project built in someone's basement than the result of the world's most advanced military artificial intelligence. They lifted it out of the tray and carried it between them into the shack. They placed it gently on the table, as though it were a passed-out friend being put to bed, and looked at it closer under the light. Sarah didn't like how—unlike the later models—its eyes never glowed red. Looking at it now, it was harder to be sure that it was actually deactivated.

They turned off the light and left the shack, locking the door behind them. They stepped quietly into the moonlit night and walked silently towards the hatch. It was late. They would return in the morning and work on their latest capture when they could better focus on it. The pair climbed back down into the bunker to sleep. It had been a long night.

-xxx-

John was awake early the next morning and was hurriedly eating his breakfast in the small kitchen. He was somewhat excited to work on the Terminator that was locked in the shack above them. The scout drone had been a good haul and had provided useful information, but this was the first proper humanoid Terminator that John had ever seen. He had grown up being told about them and studying the old T-800 arm that Sarah had taken with her all those years ago. It had developed into a fascination that had laid dormant, one which now surged once again when his mother uncovered the machine in the back of the truck.

Listening for the Resistance to broadcast a message to the surviving humans was still the top priority, but after years of silence, Sarah didn't mind leaving the room unattended once in a while. Once they were ready, the two of them climbed up the ladder into the early morning light.

The air was still, and the world was silent. The ground crunched beneath their feet as they walked past the old bus, the place where Miguel had had his final laugh, and around the mobile home that the shack was built onto, talking about the morning's plans and what information the Terminator might reveal. They both stopped dead. Something was wrong.

The front door of the shack was on the ground, having been thrown off its hinges and launched forwards. Messy, clumsy footprints were scribbled into the ground in front of it, leading away past a stack of wrecked cars. Sarah's blood ran cold as she realised her mistake—switching on the knife too early and weakening the charge. It was awake, and it was on the move. For all she knew, it was broadcasting its location to all the nearby Skynet units, and an HK-Aerial was on its way carrying an army of Terminators to their location. Without a word, Sarah gestured for John to follow her back to the bunker and arm themselves. As quietly as they could, their eyes peeled for any movement around them, they crept back towards the hatch. When they returned, they were both armed with pump-action shotguns.

Creeping slowly towards the shack, Sarah and John each had their shotguns raised and ready to fire at any sign of movement. The missing Terminator was an early model, but if it caught them by surprise, it could still prove fatal. Silently, they walked around the pile of wreckage, keeping a wide berth, and made their way to the other side. There was nothing, and the ground here was harder and revealed no more footprints. Sarah and John stood back to back and slowly turned on the spot, looking for anything unusual. They moved across the base, looking for any sign of its presence. A breeze whistled through the wrecked vehicles around them and rattled the loose panels of the shack. The pair crept further across the property and suddenly spotted it.

Standing out in the open, near the dirt road that led to the base, was the Terminator. Facing away from them, it's hunched, still form reminded Sarah of a scarecrow. They approached it slowly, guns raised, unsure if it was still active or not. They stopped a few paces from it and circled around it, watching it closely. It's dull eyes gave no indication of power, and it looked as though if it were pushed, it would simply fall and stay where it lay. They were both standing in front of it, and with no reaction from it, John turned to ask his mother what to do next.

At the sound of his voice, the Terminator's head suddenly lifted and locked onto him. They were so close to it that they could hear every click and whirr as it lurched forwards, arms outstretched, reaching for him. Sarah fired her shotgun at it, but as the Terminator was damaged from the night before, its movements were exaggerated and unpredictable. Her buckshot went over its shoulder as it stumbled forwards, landing on top of John as he tripped backwards, knocking him over. It was reaching for his throat as Sarah launched herself onto it, shoving it away from him. It was on its back, limbs flailing slowly as it tried to process its position. Sarah raised her shotgun again and fired at it in the exposed abdomen and it went still.

John scrambled back onto his feet and took in the scene before him—Sarah, her gun raised, standing over the now destroyed Terminator on the ground—and realised just how unprepared he was for the world that waited for him. He needed to do better.

"Jesus Christ, John! What the hell was that?" Sarah looked at him with furious disbelief and realised that their training had been lacking recently, which she would immediately rectify. They carried the machine back into the shack and heaved it back onto the table.

John pulled out his tools and began to remove the ceramic armour that mostly covered the chest, shoulders, and legs. Within its chest was a large, high-end battery which John removed and placed on a nearby shelf. It would be useful to power the rudimentary computer system that they were putting together to analyse the CPU chips that they were hoping to salvage. The one in the drone had been destroyed when Sarah shot it down, but she had deliberately left the Terminator that she brought back from Ensenada intact. Sarah, happy with the electric knife that she had made (nicknaming it 'the Termination Knife'), had gotten to work on making more while John continued to dismantle the humanoid creature on the table.

It was quite a simple machine, made of ordinary steel not fit for close battle. A solid hit with a blunt object like a hammer could leave the targeted area dented and misshapen. Finally, its limbs and parts now lying scattered on the bench like a grotesque warning to Skynet, it was time to pull out the CPU. John located the cover on the back of the head and unscrewed it. It took many turns, but the long, screwlike cover finally came out to reveal a rectangular shape buried in the bottom. John retrieved it and placed it next to the computer.

After much more tweaking and fixing, using the knowledge that he had acquired through years of reading up on computer systems and robotics while living in the bunker, John managed to power the computer with the Terminator's battery, bringing life to the hard drives and light to the screen. The battery had a fourteen day lifespan, but if only used to power a simple computer occasionally, it could last much longer. After dismantling the Terminator's head, John managed to salvage the CPU slot and attach it to the computer. He plugged it in and looked over the data that the computer brought up.

It was a T-200, Skynet's own first attempt at human mimicry, though they were originally experimental service robots that had been in production for the U.S air force, used only for maintenance. With no human captives yet to repair and maintain the machines, Skynet saw the value of these humanoid robots and made use of them, while also programming them for combat missions and human termination. It appeared that it could receive input from drones, but it couldn't transmit its own information back.

John looked at the pile of parts on the bench behind him. This was Skynet's first attempt. There would be many more, and it would eventually perfect its mimicry. As Skynet grew, so would its ability to mass produce its Terminators, each new factory adding to the overall quantity. They were at the start of a long war, and their current weapons would only work against them for so long.

They were now done for the day. They had gathered as much information as they could from the T-200 CPU, so John shut down the computer and he and Sarah left the shack and headed back down into the bunker. Thinking of the progress that she knew Skynet would make to its Terminators, Sarah planned on incinerating the T-800 arm that she had kept from all those years ago.

There was no sense in giving Skynet a head start.