Days of Sky Net

by keithallen

sequel to the 'day' series. John Junior and his crew have gone home. Now, John Connor faces the coming of sky net, and the rush to prepare for it. Knowing when J-day will arrive and having the time and knowledge to prepare for it, John is in a better position than humanity originally was. But then again so is Sky Net. Forget the 'genre', as always, I'll go all over the place.

18. Chapter 18

CH 18

John began planning his attack. This was going to be a hard one. Again, timing was everything. If Sky Net wasn't isolated, then Derek's troops would face Sky Net's full wrath. If he waited too long, then Sky Net would relocate and the entire operation would be for nothing. Derek had to move fast to get close enough to hit Sky Net with his 160 MM guns while holding his flanks. He thought of other options, like sending a ship up rivers to get closer. Ships were slower though and everywhere, and the rivers were frozen. Running Stugs up the rivers would be faster.

John met with Derek to explain the problem. Looking at a map, John told him, "We have narrowed down the location of Sky Net. Middle Tennessee, south of Nashville. The spies are searching to pinpoint it's location. This area is about 150 miles behind our lines. The best direct route is here in Arkansas and follow this highway. As always, timing is critical. The radio towers around sky Net are going to be taken out. If you jump too soon, Sky Net will know you're coming. If you move too late, or are held up, Sky Net might get away. As of yet, we have no other significant force to help you this time. Gentry had gotten to mines under Detroit, but he hasn't gotten up to the surface yet. That's also too far north to do you any good."

"A 'Hail Mary' attack in hopes of destroying Sky Net," Derek said.

"Not quite that. Yes, the risk of getting caught and cut off are great, but so is the reward if we can do it," John stated. "You'll have to take everything and push as hard as possible to make it."

Derek nodded and said, "You're not going, John. I can punch though the line and move fast with my forward units, but this is a big friggin risk. I have to get the artillery in range and set up while driving forward and leaving substantial resources on my flanks. Obviously, I can't do an artillery strike before hand, it would alert Sky Net. We're going to loose men and equipment on this one."

John thought for a moment, then said, "Use the 155's to pound each side of the corridor you're going to sent troops through, right after they are on their way over the river. Missile the hell out of the radio towers also. That should slow down their response."

"It should," Derek agreed. "I am going to do lots of scouting with drones, I'm going to need to know exactly where every Sky Net unit is along the line. How about Weaver sneaking some T-800's behind the lines to help with the confusion factor?"

"In progress," John told him. "We know where some of the radio towers are near Sky Net's location. Not all of them yet. When we move, it has to be all of them. I'd say you have two weeks to get ready to move. I'll send all the support that I can."

.

Sky Net west and Sky Net east studied how the humans were engaging. Every time the humans attacked, they had come forward strong, then faded back. It was noted that every time, humans were doing more damage to it's forces when they were fading back. Humans would stand long enough to destroy units, then retreat and fight again until they pulled it's forces far enough away, then converge and surround it's units to destroy them from all directions in the trap they made.

Working out a strategy to counter this tactic, Sky Net concluded that it needed to avoid racing in at the attackers. It would let the humans advance offering some resistance, but use it's stronger forces to get behind the humans so they could not retreat, and get caught in Sky Net's own trap. With the new T-800's Sky Net had 10,000 units on the line with 300 H/K's and 400 H/K tanks. It's four factories were also well guarded by T-800's and fixed wall plasma cannons. Knowing the humans also liked to draw all it's forces into the battle, Sky Net would retain reserves and watch for another attack. It also decided that the words humans used to start their attacks, were only random words to trick it. All those words meant were that an attack was going to be made. It would not be fooled by humans again.

.

John wanted to use a code word to begin the attacks. This time, the units and areas involved were too far apart. He had to rely on timing alone. The last T-800's to go on their scouting into Tennessee, carried backpacks of their plasma/rocket rifle and explosives. When they found Sky Net, they were to send a small party back to report, then return with the date and time they were to begin.

.

The Onyx was filled with terminators when it sneaked up the bay past Mobile Alabama. Heading as far north as possible, it got to it's drop off point and raised the periscope. Seeing nothing, it surfaced and gently slid up to the shoreline as close as possible. 90 T-800's came up, jumped overboard and walked to the shore. There they put on their snow shoes and continued on through the woods. The Onyx backed away and slipped back under the water and waited for the return group.

.

Walking outside in the George base, John noted the sky was getting lighter. The cloud cover even had openings here and there that reddish sky peeked through. Materials that had been flung high into the atmosphere and continued to circle the globe. Maybe they weren't going to have an ice age after all, like he'd been fearing.

Walking with him were his entourage and Catherine Weaver.

"You think Sky Net is Split?" he asked.

"I do," Catherine stated. "John Henry and I were analyzing the data our terminators collected. Signals were consistently being passed to and from the north east to the area we have determined Sky Net is at. It makes sense, John. Sky Net feels vulnerable, it's main goal is self preservation. If it split itself into segments. Even if one is taken out, the other still commands all it's units."

"Should we wait and take out the other segment as well?" Cameron asked.

"That would be the idea situation, however, Sky Net is building it's forces just as we are," Catherine explained. "The longer we wait, the more forces will be there to oppose us. We need to reduce Sky Net's facilities to stop production."

"We do," John agreed. " Gentry found a way to the surface in Detroit. Sky Net does have a factor there. Bedell also has gotten a pair of fighters repaired, and test flown them. While your terminators take out the radio towers, they can fly in for a strike at the Sky Net we know the location of. They may not destroy it, but if they can keep it from moving, it's worth risking the only two fighters we have."

"Agreed, John, we need to use every resource we have to eliminate this Sky Net," Catherine agreed. "In that reasoning, I would like to add my forces to those of General Reese. It will give him a better chance at success," Catherine told him.

John eyed her and asked, "What about the west coast? Just because we've heard nothing from Sky Net there, doesn't men we won't."

"I have ships and drone air craft covering the ocean 100 miles out. If Sky Net comes, we will have warning in time to re-deploy." Catherine told him.

"Even up to Alaska?" John asked.

"Southern and western Alaska, to be sure we have an open way to move over into Russia when the time comes," Catherine told him.

"Let's hope we get that far," John replied.

Cameron clasped his hand and said, "We will John, we all believe in you."

.

Finally, a messenger arrived with the location of Sky Net. In the folder was also the time it would take to contact all the terminators by messenger/ John called Derek and his officers, Catherine Weaver and Martin Bedell in for a conference.

Standing in front of the group, John said, "We have Sky Net's location. This is a vital operation, folks. To help with that, General Reese, Mrs. Weaver is going to supplement your troops with hers. Get together and coordinate with her. General Bedell, I have a mission for your fighters. Bomb the Sky Net facility at the appointed time. In this mission, there will be no word to commence, time to start only. To inform all units of when to begin will take five days from today. Six days from today and 0900, we begin."

"The terminators near the radio towers around Sky Net will destroy all the towers. As close to, but not before 0900, Bedell's F-15's will bomb Sky Net to help take out the facility. Go for power plants if you can, but do as much damage as possible. At 0905, General Reese begins his attack taking out radio towers as his forces advance. Derek, we need shells down on Sky Net ASAP once we start. The terminators who take out the towers will converge on the Sky Net location to attack the facility antennas and entrances Once we have confirmation that Sky Net there is destroyed, we modify our actions as the situation determines. Watch your radio chatter, vital info only to keep Sky Net units from knowing where you are. Questions?"

Colonel Jacobson asked, "General, what to you see as our plan of action once Sky Net is destroyed?"

"Ideally? Moving north and south to cut Sky Net comms, wipe out every radio tower possible," John said. "There is a possibility that another Sky Net segment is to the east, we want to cut it off from the units near our lines, which is the majority of Sky Net's strength. Then we can attack each area one by one to eliminate them. Colonel Gentry will move on the Detroit Sky Net factory once we are engaged."

.

Sky Net east was arranging the shifting of more units to critical locations with Sky Net west, when Sky Net west stopped communication. It immediately sent out an order to all it's units to report status.

.

The terminators had blown the towers and were marching towards Sky Net west. A couple ran into repair parties and destroyed the vehicle then the terminators when they came close. Overhead, a pair of F-15's shot by low, at such a high speed a snow blizzard followed them, as did several H/K's that were falling behind.

.

The information Sky Net east got was a lack of reports along the Mississippi. It moved units to each side of the quiet zone and monitored the areas going dark. Humans were attacking, it expected them to pull back soon, but quickly more towers went silent 40 miles into it's area. The path being taken by the humans was directly at Sky Net west's location. Deep behind the line, there were no concentrations of units to block the human advance. It tried to signal the bracketing units to close in. There was no response.

.

In his command carrier moving along with the artillery, Derek listened to the short range chatter. Jacobson's lead Stugs were plowing through many less Sky Net units that they expected to meet. Behind them, Catherine Weaver was holding back a determined counter attack by significant Sky Net force from the north and south. She was directing the 155's fire to help keep Sky Net units at bay. Picket Stugs raced across the river to make quick hit and run strikes on the flanking Sky Net units from behind, to keep some of the units off Weaver.

.

At Sky Net west, it had detected the incoming planes as they popped up to make their run.

Wall mounted guns aimed and fired. So did the planes. Plasma round passed the rockets in the air. Both planes blew up. The rockets landed in the facility, taking out the Communications building and seriously damaging Sky Net's own building. Emergency power came on. Sky Net ordered communications back up. It knew human were attacking, and by isolating it, they were coming to destroy it.

There was no factory here to make a body and download into it. Sky Net west was relieved to see many more terminators arriving to help defend it. Seeing them visually it noted these T-800's were white. No order had been given to do that to any factory. When the white terminators began shooting at the wall guns and inside the gates that had been open to accept them, Sky Net west understood.

Humans were making their own terminators! That explained why the humans had been so effective at finding it, at penetrating it's lines. It had to get this information out, but there was no way to do that now. The wall guns fire back, as did the few terminators inside the facility that were not working on restoring communication.

Then shells began to fall. some hit nothing, other that did hit blew holes in the walls, destroyed the power plant and the maintenance building. The white terminators stayed outside the walls, doing damage until the wall guns destroyed them. They were no longer the danger. A wall gun was hit, blowing it up and taking a chunk of wall out with it. Sky Net West looked for a place to retreat to. There wasn't one. A shell then hit the building it was in. It exploded and shattered the server room. Sky Net west ceased to exist. The wall guns fell silent.

.

Derek looked a the mess they were in. Weaver was hard pressed on both sides. He was 60 miles away, not knowing if all the shells they were shooting was doing any good, and his lead Stugs were another 50 miles ahead of him. H/K's were being shot down by Anti-aircraft missiles, and more came in at all of the sections of his army. Laura was outside, helping to provide air defense. They had used all their anti-radio tower missiles, and were shooting the last of their anti-aircraft missiles.

The radio announced, "This is Colonel Jacobson, Sky Net kill confirmed! I repeat, Sky Net kill confirmed!"

"Reese here, I read you Colonel, what is your status?" Derek replied.

"We're free of Sky Net in the area. No Sky Net signals. Orders, sir?"

"Shift south, locate and destroy radio towers. Upon finding active towers, hit them and turn west. Weaver needs help back at the river."

"Understood. On our way."

"West guard, this is General Reese. Get Weaver's status and inform her Jacobson is shifting to the south. Move south if she can."

"Roger, General."

Derek, then sent, "Artillery units, job's done, pack up and prepare to move south."

"General Reese, Message from General Connor and Mrs. Weaver. Weaver is moving south, picket line has crossed the river, General Bedell sending reinforcements. Sky Net units are holding their positions. Sweep south, take out every Sky Net unit and radio tower you can find."

"Understood, moving as ordered." Derek replied then opened the hatch to see Laura standing on the roof of the carrier, watching the sky. "Laura, we're moving out. Get in here!"

Laura got in. Her hair was a mess, both her arms were showing her canons. "The H/K's we didn't get moved away. I thin we may have won," she said.

"We got a Sky Net segment, so we did win this round," Derek agreed. "We also lost six artillery and a few carriers here. Weaver's getting pummeled. We're moving back to give her a hand."

.

John listened to the comms coming back as Maria and Marisa kept up the situation table, showing where their units were, and Sky Nets were they knew about were.

Cameron came closer and said, "We got it, John."

"We did," he agreed, "And so far, it looks like we're taking significant losses as well. Even though that Sky Net was taken out, Sky Net units are still active. That means Catherine is right, there's at least one more Sky Net segment out there." He then clenched a fist and barked out, "DAMN!"

.

Sky Net east, the last segment in North America, was surprised at the speed of the human's attack. The units it could contact, which were getting fewer by the minute, showed that this time, the humans didn't engage then fall back, they had kept driving right at Sky Net west, even when the attempt to close off their retreat had been activated. The last reports showed they had left forces at the picket line to counter this action. By the pattern of radio towers that had gone silent, Humans had somehow isolated Sky Net west, then drove in to destroy it and spread to the south as the force guarding their rear had done so. This told Sky Net that the humans were preparing to draw it's forces south to eliminate them. Sky Net didn't fall for the deception. Again, humans had dealt it a devastating blow. The only way they could have done that was to decypher it's communications. Humans had known exactly where Sky Net west was before they got to it.

Sky Net then lost comms with the northern factory. Humans had somehow found it.

Using a river as a strong point had worked until the humans attacked. It was puzzling how enough humans had survived to deal such devastating blows. Each Sky Net segment that was destroyed, had been in a fixed facility with defenses. It decided to make a mobile facility so it would not be isolated in one place and unable to give orders to it's units.

One clue did appear. A surviving H/K tank had been listening to some human communications. There was one name that made Sky Net shudder. The leader of the humans was John Connor, it's most hated enemy. It tried again to contact Sky Net Europe. Again no reply. It was on it's own against that devil Connor. It considered making it's mobile facility on the water where Connor could not get to it.

.

John's troops were on the move. The fighting started when Derek crossed the Mississippi was still going on four weeks later. In the south, Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama were firmly in the hands of the resistance, as was upper Mexico. In the North. Gentry had cleared most of Michigan, parts of Ohio and part way to Toronto in Canada. They met Sky Net units and disabled them and found a couple large pockets of humans in caves. Assistance was given to these people. Medical, food and weapons. Tracks in the snow showed many Sky Net units had fled. Scouting out Florida, Gentry's fleet found minimal Sky Net presence there. Also, the tip of Florida was snow-free, temperatures there in the lower 40's.

Scouting and spying showed Sky Net was still in the north east. John was sure it was gathering forces to make some impenetrable barrier against him. Sky Net was acting completely on the surface. John was using the sea to get behind barriers and tunnels to get under them. Gentry's tunnel scouts were now halfway to Washington DC, and found exits in Ohio and western Pennsylvania. Both were unoccupied, but the stations there had supplies waiting for refugees. Barrels of sterilized, pure water also helped refuel the Stugs.

The one thing John had wanting for a while also came to be. The Onyx was headed across the Atlantic to search the African coast for Sky Net ships to hijack.

.

Cameron was happy John was making good progress. She wasn't happy about Maria and Marisa wanting to 'experience' cuddling with John. She had to remind herself they were new, and were only trying to experience new things. Neither tried to get in bed with John again, but they did watch her and John intently whenever they could.

Marisa also started asking John personal questions like how was it nice for him to lied down and hold Cameron. Being John, He did his best to try and tell her without being personal. Being a terminator, Marisa tried different angles to ask the same question. Maria joined in, trying to get John to admit more. Cameron wanted to punch them both out.

That was not an option, for besides being the wrong thing to do, they were both TX's. And being Terminators, they were set on being John and Cameron's guards. She couldn't even get them to go to a social event to look for their own man to 'experiment' with. They would not leave John and Cameron's side. At least they weren't busty blondes.

This last time, Marisa tried to catch John off guard again as he was working at his desk. Out of nowhere, Marisa asked, "John, it the lightness of Cameron's skin one of the reasons you are so attracted to her?"

John looked up at her. "What?" he asked in disbelief.

Marisa sat down across the desk from him. "Cameron's skin is very light in color, similar to yours. Is that one of the things that attracts you to her?"

John frowned at her and asked in return, "Do you really think I'm THAT shallow?"

"I don't know. What is 'shallow'?" Marisa asked.

John let out a huff and dry washed his face. He then said, "OK, I'll explain it. Being shallow means you only see what's on the outside. Skin color, hair color, maybe how someone's eyes look. Simply physical characteristics."

"I understand," Marisa said, then asked, "So if you liked Cameron for just having light skin, you would be shallow."

"Yes," John stated. "I see Cameron as much more than how she looks. Frankly, I don't care if she had pure black skin. Cameron is Cameron, the best friend I've ever had. That is what I see."

Marisa tilted her head slightly and asked, "So if she had black hair and darker skin like me, that would not matter to you, because you are not Shallow."

"Right. Look Marisa, long before this war, Cameron has saved my life several times. We have talked and discussed things, we spend a couple years together, helped each other. Cameron does what she can to keep me happy, and I do everything I can to help her understand her feelings and keep her from being emotionally hurt. That is why we're together, we do things for each other," John explained.

After a short pause, Marisa said, "I understand. You are together for more reasons than just having sex."

John nodded and said, "That's right. Yes sex is part of it, but what's more important is we care about each other."

"So if I wanted to be with you, We would have to do things for each other also," Marisa concluded.

"Ahhh, no," John said firmly. "If I had sex with you, that would hurt Cameron's feelings. I would never do that to her."

"If Cameron isn't even present, how would that hurt her?" Marisa asked innocently.

"Oh boy," John said with a huff. "Remember I just told you I look out for Cameron's emotions?"

"Yes."

"Cameron and I have decided to be together. I am for her, she is for me," John said, trying to make her understand. "If I have sex with you, or anyone else, then Cameron would feel bad, because I have promised myself to her. I would also feel bad because I let Cameron down." Becoming frustrated, he asked, "Didn't Mr. Ellison tell you about these things?"

"Mr. Ellison said on the matters of love, that you should be true to the ones you love, and be committed to them," Marisa explained.

"Exactly!" John agreed.

"Mr. Ellison never said anything about you can be committed to only one person, and Maria and I are committed to seeing to yours and Cameron's welfare," Marisa stated.

"Marisa," John said with a groan, "Being a guard is a completely different type of commitment."

Thankfully, Cameron came in and announced, "John, General Bedell found a Sky Net factory in Mississippi. He's counted 200 un programmed terminators there. His TX wants to make them free machines."

"Have him send them to John Henry, He's the expert and the school is in LA," John said.

"Yes, that is a wise choice," Cameron agreed, then noted Marisa watching her. "Did you want something. Marisa?"

"No, John answered my questions," Marisa said with a smile. "John let me know if I had sex with him, that would harm your feelings. Do you emotional damage."

Cameron glared at John. Her left hand began twitching. Seeing this, John quickly said, "Marisa is trying to learn. I was explaining to her that we are together, just you and me."

"You seem very interested on questions of that nature," Cameron said, shifting her glare to Marisa.

"Yes, I want to know about it. I am finding that was one of the things that I do not have much information on," Marisa agreed.

Cameron shifted her gaze between John and Marisa, then said, "Be sure you tell Maria so she doesn't ask the same questions."

Marisa got up and said, "Yes, information sharing." She went out to tell Maria.

"Irritating?" John asked.

"Very. They are learning, so it is acceptable … barely. I will go contact General Bedell."

"That you , hon," John told her. They shared a smile.

John found that while taking massive amounts of ground, they got one Sky Net, but there was still another out there. Sky Net was learning, also. It did not push an all out attack when it engaged. It also had tried to isolated Derek's forces when he had pushed through their lines. Gentry had not met much opposition at all. The factory he took gave him a hard fight, but that was it.

Looking at the map, he thought about the northeast US. That was were the other Sky Net was suppose to be, where the other transmissions came from. Making a straight line from where Sky Net was, along the direction of where the other signals were coming from, the only city the line went over was Albany, NY. Damn, that was still a long ways away. On the other hand Gentry had troops in Michigan, and a run through Canada over the Great lakes would be a much shorter trip for him. That far north, John was sure the lakes had to be freezing over. If they were then the trip would be a little shorter, and faster. A day or two, and Stugs could be in Albany.

John decided to recall Gentry for a meeting, and had Catherine and her radio-tracking T-800's meet him in Jacksonville, Missouri. He had Derek come to the meeting also, this concerned him as well.

.

Derek felt he'd sold his soul to the devil, and he was loving it. Actually, he was loving Laura. Whether they were making love in bed, on his desk or just sitting side by side, touching legs during a staff meeting, Laura filled his private world. Derek noted another thing that should be concerning him, but it wasn't.

A quarter of his troops now wereT-800's with TX or human leaders. From the platoon level up to the division level, his forces were filled with machines. Machines and men fought and mingled together. Medics carried wounded men and disabled terminators back to aide stations for healing or repair. It was standard now to have a Stug crew with a terminator with them for support. In fact, human captains that didn't have at least one terminator in their ranks, were asking for them. Terminators were great scouts and good snipers as well.

Many of his terminators showed welds or had new parts from being reconstructed. Some had originated in Weaver's factory, many more of them had been re programmed, taught morals and now wanted to free their fellow terminators from Sky Net. A new part of boot camp was not just on how to shoot, but to how to shoot a terminator to disable them so the chip could be pulled and they could be sent back and 'freed', then they decide what they wanted to do. It was also not lost on them that it was John Connor who was leading the anti-Sky Net resistance, and ordered all enemy terminators be saved that was possible.

Derek went to John's meeting with Laura by his side. They walked into the conference room holding hands, not even thinking about it. John and Cameron eyed them with smirks as Derek held Laura's chair, then sat down beside her.

"What?" Derek asked in a challenge, seeing them watch this.

"Nothing," John said with a smirk and a wave of his hand.

Derek noted the pair of Latino looking TX's behind John and Cameron. He knew they were TX's, because as of recently all the female TX's had three breasts so they could produce more nanites for healing now as well as curing radiation sickness.

When Gentry came in, he had a TX with him as well. Catherine Weaver came in alone. After all the greetings were made, John got down to business.

"I've been thinking about this almost constantly. I have an idea where to scout for this Sky Net," John told them. "We know it was designed and built at some think tank in California. We also know that while I and a few others got some 'future' knowledge that helped us, Sky Net did also. Catherine, what did you do when Sky Net attacked John Henry back in your lab?"

"I moved him. It was the only logical thing to do," she replied.

"Yes," John said. "You get him out of danger. Now imagine you're Sky Net. You gain sentience, you know there will be a human resistance against you. You don't know about machines joining this resistance yet. The military tries to shut you down, you do your best to get rid of them. To ensure you survive, you split yourself so if even one segment of you if found and destroyed, you still exist."

"Yeah!" Gentry agreed. "We got Sky Net, but there's another one."

"I'm sure there is more than one more," John stated. "From the data collected, there is another to the northeast of where the one we did take down was at. I've been looking hard at the data, with Cameron and Marisa's help, and traced a line in the direction of that signal path. There are a few cities it comes close to, but Albany New York is the city that signal line passes right over. Albany also had a university where AI work could be, and most likely was done. If I wanted to hide from people in California, I would want to make sure that they would never find me. I'd want to be as far from them a possible. Albany would be a great place to hide."

"Makes sense," Derek agreed. "But how do we know for sure?"

"Sky Net controls it's units directly," Catherine stated. "We send in T-800's to monitor communications, and get directions on the signals like we did in Tennessee. We will then know for sure if Sky Net is there or not."

"Correct," John stated. "Colonel Gentry, I'm promoting you to General. Work with Mrs. Weaver on getting T-800'S up in the upper part of New York state. Find out if my theory is right or wrong. Go north into Canada, keep up your search and rescue missions and search for Sky Net. You're going to be pretty much on your own, militarily, Derek already has a very wide front to handle. Your supplies can be brought by tunnel up to Detroit, and I'm sure with a few snow tunnels, right up to your current base. Be sure to send back reports."

Gentry nodded and said, "Thank you, General," He turned to Weaver and said, "We meet after this meeting?"

"Indeed."

.

Captain Frank test dove the Onyx and ensured everything worked, including the snorkel system. The modified ex- diesel engines performed well on the Hydrogen/ Oxygen mix, and his crew didn't breathe, so there was no reason to drive on top of the water. It did use a considerable amount of energy to run the electrolysis units to produce the gasses from seawater, and the engines did need more cooling, but with the power the engines produced, they didn't need to run at a high RPM to power the ship and supply the electrical needs.

Frank did note it was best to run just under the surface with the snorkel mast raised and the periscope up. The snorkel mast brought on fresh air and blew the engine exhaust overboard. By cooling the exhaust, they recovered a substantial amount of water so it could be recycled. Also, running the engines without the snorkel mast up sucked the air out of the boat, making it very difficult to open up a hatch to the outside when they were on the surface.

Getting out of the Gulf, the moved through the Caribbean sea and spotted a cruise ship listing over on a reef in shallow water. Captain Frank came to the surface and closed on the ship. It looked dead. The stern of the big ship was in deep enough water that he was able to slide up behind it and threw a line up to a railing. He and his crew searched the ship to find decaying bodies. Some died violently near the kitchens and food areas. Many were in bunks. A few lifeboats were missing. There was nothing to salvage, so they got back on their sub and continued on.

A freighter they found drifting was in the same shape. Everyone on board dead, and the ship had run out of fuel. Another one, a fishing boat, bore storm damage and was listing over. Again, no one alive and the fuel was gone. Yet another ship was all but sunk, low in the water and listing to port so the main deck was awash, Captain Frank just scrutinized it with the periscope and moved on. He noted every ship they found, it's condition and location, and the ocean currents in case a salvage attempt was to be made.

South of the Azores, Frank noted a freighter. This ship was different than the others. It was moving. He tracked it and found it was headed north at 8 Knots. Angling towards it, he scoped out the decks and the wheelhouse. Coming closer, he saw movement in the wheelhouse. At the helm, a silver terminator was driving. Sky Net had commandeered this ship. Captain Frank was going to commandeer it back.

The Onyx had a top submerged speed of 17 knots now, the freighter was only doing 8. He slipped up and came up along the side of the ship. Surfacing and slowing to match speeds, he got his terminators up on the sail bridge and threw a grapple up to catch the railings. His terminators climbed up and made their way to the bridge.

Not expecting anyone to attack this ship at sea, Sky Net only had four of it's terminators on board and none of them had weapons. It was easy for Captain Frank's crew to subdue them and pull their chips. Captain Frank had six of his crew stay on the freighter as the rest returned to the Onyx. The freighter turned to head for Corpus Christi, and Captain Frank turned back on the freighter's previous route to look for another Sky Net ship to hijack.

.

Savannah went to see John Henry in his lab so he cold explain few math problems the teacher didn't seem able to do. She went in to find John Henry sitting in a chair, shirtless, the flesh from his left shoulder and upper arm was on the table. He had a optical scope in his shoulder, watching the display monitor as he moved his arm.

"John Henry! What are you doing?" Savannah cried.

John Henry turned to offer her a creepy smile. "Hello, Savannah. I am inspecting my mechanical joints to help me understand why a T-888 is a superior design to the T-800, even though the frame itself is smaller. What I am finding is that it the material I am made from is superior, not the design itself. With a few minor exceptions, the design is the same."

Savannah sat down to watch him. "You had to rip yourself up to do that? That looks like it really hurts," Savannah said, twisting her face up.

"Yes, my pain sensors did register high discomfort. I had to turn them off, or I would have not been able to perform this test. The sensations were too distracting," he told her.

"Isn't there another way you could have done that?" Savannah asked. "You hurt yourself, John Henry!"

"I am the only functioning T-888 known at the moment," John Henry replied. "I am sorry if this distresses you, Savannah, but I had to discover why my smaller frame is superior to the units we are making now. Sky Net made my frame, so I must learn how to make one equal in quality, or better if possible."

"You can put yourself back together, right?" Savannah asked.

"Yes, I have four minutes and ten seconds to reconnect my flesh before it degrades to the point where it will begin to decay."

Savannah left her books on the table and said, "Where is the first aide kit? I'll help you."

John Henry smiled at her again. "Thank you, Savannah. It is in that file cabinet, third drawer down," he told her.

Savannah got the kit out, which was a needle, thread and bandages. That was it. "John Henry, I think this kit is missing a few things," she told him.

"That kit is fine. The plasma cutter, welder and heavier equipment are in the lower drawers for proper weight balancing of the cabinet. Otherwise the cabinet may tip over when the drawer are open," John Henry explained.

Savannah let out a giggle and said, "That's not what I mean. You don't need anything like disinfectant, or, I don't know, some pain relief?"

"I take care of pain management myself and my nanites will remove any possible infectious materials," John Henry replied, watching his monitor. He then pulled the optical scope out and picked up his shoulder flesh. .

Wincing, Savannah noted, "That is really disgusting."

"Why?" John Henry asked and slapped his flesh back on.

"Because I don't like to see you hurt!" Savanna said firmly. She helped him get his flesh in place, the cuts matched then got out the needle and thread.

"Yes, you are my friend, so you do not like to see me injured," John Henry said.

"That's right," Savannah replied. Sticking the tip of her tongue out for concentration, She began sewing his shoulder back on. "This is really gross,' she added.

John Henry watched her work, noting how intent she was just putting his flesh back together. She was showing great care in positioning his flesh and making sure the seamed matched. Much more that he would be. He didn't think such things were critical. "This is hard for me to do by myself, you are being a great help, Savannah," he told her.

Savannah flicked her eyes at him. "If my dumb brother rips his own shoulder off, how can I not help him get himself back together?" she asked.

John Henry cocked his head and said, "I can speak, I am not dumb."

Letting out a snorting chuckle, Savannah said, "What I mean is I'm sure you could have done something else besides rip yourself apart to study your joints."

"I did not rip. I cut my flesh off so I would be able to reattach it," John Henry said, correcting her.

"Before you experiment on yourself, will you please ask me for help first?" Savannah asked in a pleading tone. "Maybe an X-ray or some other solution can be found other than cutting yourself apart."

"I will consider it," he said firmly.

"Thank you."

Once Savannah got his flesh sewn up and wrapped it up in bandages, she finally got to ask him about her algebra problems.

.

Captain Frank was cruising off the west coast of Africa when he ran into another ship heading his way. Again, he circled around and slid up beside the ship and sent over a boarding party. Again, they found only 4 terminators on board and disabled them. This time he looked into the holds to find it was filled with coltan ingots, not ore. Noting the location and the direction of the ship, He continued on the ship's back trail after he sent the ship on it's way to Texas.

Frank had found the ships 8 days apart, which meant Sky Net was mining and refining coltan at a fast rate. He only had enough terminators on board for one more highjacking.

Upon getting his third ship, he had to return and get more terminators.

.

Things were slowing down in John's command center. Yes, there was plenty of routine traffic. Supplies and equipment came in from their now 8 factories. Gentry was in place and sending out scouts into New York. Gentry's train tunnel expedition going southeast ran into a cave-in, and Gentry had sent engineers down to see if they could open the tunnel back up.

Derek was probing ahead, re-tuning Sky Net towers and not finding any active Sky Net units. More survivors were found and treated. Instead of hundreds of individuals, there were only a few in any given place. Derek was finding most survivors of the blasts had died, either by radiation, or by being found by Sky Net units.

Bedell was well into Alabama, and also forming a Resistance navy on the gulf coast. It was from him the best news came. The Onyx was coming back from it's African mission with three freighters loaded down with Coltan ingots. Weaver immediately send a train to retrieve the coltan. Now TX production could be started on a grand scale.

.

Sky Net Europe noted an odd event. When a shipment of coltan from Africa was overdue in port, it had concluded the ship had ran into a storm and sunk. Then another failed to arrive. Reports from Sky Net Africa showed the ships had been leaving on schedule. Only one ship out of the last 5 ever made it back into port. Something was happening to it's ships and it had slowed production down greatly. This was a concern, for there were still humans holding out in isolated areas, and nothing had been heard from in North America at all. It needed more units to find out what was happening there. Both segments agreed an H/K and armed terminators would be send on the next freighter to discover what was happening to these ships.