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.

27. Chapter 27

CH 27

Sky Net Europe continued to send all it's available units to the mountains bordering Spain and France as it conferred with the other Sky Net segments. Since there was no reply from Sky Net Spain and it had discovered armed humans in the mountains, it concluded that Spain was infested with humans again. Not much was known about these humans except the were all through those mountains and since some terminators had been lost, the humans had plasma weaponry.

That was odd, for it meant humans had obtained plasma weaponry roughly the same time as it did. Sky Net had gotten a boost in tech from some who came from the future. Apparently humans did as well. That also meant the main threat to Sky Net, John Connor, was alive and well and leading these humans. The big question was, was John Connor in Spain? Since Sky Net Australia was also silent, was John Connor there, and Spain was only a diversion to draw off forces for an attack on Asia. Sky Net South America had gone silent only months after the purge began. That was a possibility also. Logic stated that this human, like other humans would attempt to protect himself from termination. He had avoided every attempt to terminate him so far. That would put him in South America.

The attacks on the coltan supply in Africa supported this theory. Connor had use of some ships and grabbed the mined coltan for himself. He had then somehow attacked the harbor and sunk the cargo ships there. Even after all that damage was repaired, it was now up to 10 ships that were taken or sunk by Connor.

The more Sky Net theorized, the more it pointed to Connor being in South America, and orchestrating these other attacks. Sky Net North America was sending units to the South and so far, had not run into humans. Sky Net North America also proposed the idea that John Connor may be in Africa, on the grounds of it would be easier to get to Spain from there as well as 'hide' from Sky Net Africa due to all the jungle and remote places there. Sky Net Africa agreed that was a possibility, but also made the point since nothing had been heard from South America, that was the most likely place.

Sky Nets came to the conclusion that both South America and Africa needed to be searched in detail for John Connor. Since Morocco was the only place humans could escape to from Spain, units from Asia and Europe would go there and reinforce Sky Net Africa to block any human attempting to escape before Sky Net Europe attacked into Spain.

.

Hector swore the drone of the engine was vibrating in his brain. It was dark now, only the illumination was the dash lights in his cockpit and weak starlight from above the thin clouds over him. He was at 30,000 feet, the engine was turning 2900 RPM's and with a fully 'aggressive' pitch, he was flying along at 145 Knots, his prop taking the biggest bites out of the air as possible. The level of the drop tank was just under half. He was also cursing himself for waking up early in the morning, for he was getting very tired, and by dead reckoning, he was almost half way there.

Far below him, was the flat horizon to horizon blackness of the ocean. Although he was no stranger to flying, that black expanse below reminded him of how alone he was up here. That drop tank was his biggest fuel supply. Once that was gone, he was down to the main tank and the nose and rear add on tanks. Again, he wondered why in the hell did he volunteer for this. He was tired, and worse yet, bored. The temptation to drop off to sleep was held back only by the fact of if he did fall asleep long enough for the drop tank to empty, he'd probably crash in the sea and never wake up again.

There was no autopilot, for which he was glad. The temptation to use it and take a nap was great. Focusing on his gauges, he made slight corrections. He's drifted up to 31,000. No good! Too high and the engine wouldn't be able to breathe. The service ceiling for these planes was 32,000 feet. He was brushing the top now.

Wouldn't that be a silly-assed way to die? "Ah, Hi God, yeah I was just flying along a little over the service ceiling of my plane and well, the engine just kinda cut out and died. I wasn't going very fast so I kinda took a big nose dive and didn't see the ocean coming at me. Silly huh? ... Can I go back for another try?"

Yeah, he was sure that would work out well.

Getting back down to 30,000, he noticed he'd picked up a couple knots. It slowly bled off though. Shame, he'd give anything to get there faster. Once the drop tank was gone, he knew he could cruise along at 200, and the plane would be lighter. Unfortunately, the fuel would be burning up faster as well.

"See kiddes," he said aloud as if teaching a class. "There are four forces that act on an airplane. Lift, gravity, thrust and drag. The larger the wing area, the more lift you have to offset gravity. Thrust is the pushing power that makes the plane move forward. Drag is the air resistance that holds it back. Now the more thrust, the more lift you can generate with your wings as well as make the plane go faster. Why I'm way the fuck up here, is that the air is thinner than at sea level. The higher you go, the less drag, Which makes the plane more efficient. Right now, that's really critical, because with the more thrust, the more gas you use, and I have no friggin idea if I got enough gas. Once this drop tank is sucked dry, I toss it, which will also reduce drag. Less surface area to try and slow my plane down and make it a little more efficient. I'm also this high so when I do run out of gas, gravity is gonna grab my ass and pull me back to Earth and I go down. But! due to the glide path, which is using the pull of gravity to keep up some speed so the wings can do their lift thing, I won't drop like a rock but will have a 1.5 glide ratio." Holding up a finger he said, "THAT means for every mile I drop, I gain a mile and a half of forward motion. Not too bad of a deal. Jets loose power and it's over for them. Might as well be riding a rock." Hector chuckled and said, "The F-4 Phantom proved you can make anything fly if you push it hard enough!"

Hector kept up his rant of teaching to an invisible class so he'd stay awake as he flew on into the night.

.

Derek lay with Laura cuddled up beside him, her head on his chest as he held an arm around her.

"You're still awake," she said.

"I am," he agreed as he stared at the ceiling.

"You're worried about all those Sky Net forces on the other side of the mountains."

"Very," he agreed. "I know Marisa will do everything she can to hold them back. John taught her well and we went over the most efficient way to keep them back and take bits out of them. The thing is, they will get through due to mass of numbers. Unless we can break through their line of advance and hide enough forces to come at them from behind ... even that won't do be enough. We don't have near the amount of troops and equipment. Fight, pull back and set up again is all we can do, and we may get half of them. We'll still be slowly pushed back across Spain until our feet are wet and whatever remains of us are faced with a last stand or drowning in the ocean."

"There must be something we can do," Laura said.

"Tina escaped the disaster on the coast by hiding in the ocean," Derek said in a musing tone. "When things look bad, I want you to take whatever T-800's and TX's are left and do the same."

"No" Laura stated. "I will not abandon you."

"I will not let you die for a hopeless cause," Derek replied firmly.

"I will not die for a hopeless cause. I will die to protect you. That is not a hopeless cause," Laura replied in the same firm tone.

They were silent for a moment, just hugging each other tight. Laura then said, "That's it!" as she sat up.

"What's 'it'?" Derek asked eyeing her.

Leaning partway over him with a wide grin, Laura said, "The real target is not all those units, but Sky Net itself, right? And Sky Net is set to roll over Spain, it must be collecting units from all over Europe to wipe us out, right?""

"That's the general consensus," Derek agreed.

Laura grinned at him and said, "Do I have a plan for you."

Derek listened to what Laura's plan was. He grinned back at her. He loved how his Laura thought.

.

Flying along in the pre dawn sky, Hector sang a made up as he went song as he switched tanks and released the drop tank.

"Oh there goes the drop tank

my fuel is mostly gone

Why am I singing

this really stupid song?

I'm bored off my ass

that is really why

I will be so happy

when I can end this fly!

Might be in the water

I might crash on land

If I do survive this

someone please shake my hand

might as well be silly

soon I might be dead

God save me a place

that's pretty as can be

If you deny me

on you're head I'll take a pee

who fuckin cares if I make a splash

Hope I end up face down

so you can kiss my ass

I think I know now

where hell might be

right here in this seat

would suck for eternity!

Hector noted a dot coming at him. He paused his song. He went to look at his radar. Right, it was gone as well any chance of defending himself. Watching the dot, he said, "Oh? Now who's this? If that fucker makes me evade, I'm gonna ram his stupid ass. He might get me, but I'll get him too, I got plenty of fuel left to out maneuver this jerk."

Hand on the throttle, Hector watched another ground attack plane grow big then race past him. He picked up his pack radio. "This is Major Hector Gonzales, Air Corps commander for General Reese. Who just flew by me?"

A voice came on. "Lt. Richfield, second Squadron attached to the USS Lexington. What are you doing this far out, Major?"

"Ha! a Compadre!" Hector announced. "I have a vital message for General Connor. I've been flying since yesterday to get here. How far am I out from the est coast?"

"You have 480 miles to go, Major. How's your fuel?"

"Just under 200 gallons left. Looks like I will at least make landfall. Gotta say, I'm damn glad to see ya."

The other plane pulled up beside him. He could see the pilot as he asked, "200 gallons? we only carry 80!"

"A normal plane, right. Mine's stripped out to fill it up with fuel tanks. Just got rid of my drop tank a short time ago. working on an interior tank now," Hector told him. "I've been flying high and slow to minimize fuel usage."

"Let me contact the carrier, back in a minute."

A short time later, Lt. Richfield came back on. "Major, have you ever landed on a carrier before?"

"Si, a few times."

"The flight officer and Admiral agree you need to take a break. Follow me back to the carrier. We're only 85 miles out."

"Lead the way, Muchacho!"

Hector followed the Lt. holding his speed. Not long after, he saw a warship cruising off to his right. Then that big, beautiful carrier came into view. Another plane passed under them as they descended. Another voice called for a clearing of the pattern and directed him to land.

"It will be my pleasure!" Hector told him. "Making my approach." Hector then tried to lower his tail hook. The lever was gone. "Shit!" he spat. "SHIT SHIT SHIT!" he roared. Why in the hell did Jake have to take his tail hook! Hector was going to slap him for that one! He got on the radio," Lexington, I have no tail hook! I do have enough fuel to make the coast. The message I have for General Connor is vital."

"If you can last a while longer, wave off is granted."

Hector pulled up and added some more throttle. "I thank you greatly for the attempt. I'm really tired of being in this seat, but I do have to get this message to General Connor with my plane more or less in one piece."

"Understood Major. Set your course for 273, distance to the airport is 510 nautical miles. Sure you can make it?"

"Pretty sure, I have to regain altitude. Thanks again for the attempt." Hector told him.

"We will contact Charleston field that you are incoming and send General Connor a message you are on your way. Good Luck Major."

Hector could smell the coffee he almost had, and maybe a pastry or two as well as the long stretch and limbering up he had missed. Stabbing a finger at nothing, Hector grated, "Jake, when I get back I'm gonna rip your DICK off for this!"

.

John was just getting into his command center in the morning to check on the status of things, Cameron right beside him, Maria trailing behind. A messenger came up to him. "General Connor, a plane is inbound carrying a message from General Reese, priority vital."

John eyed the man and said, "General Reese is in Spain."

"Yes sir, this plane flew from General Reese's headquarters non stop. He passed by the Lexington moments ago. He will be landing in Charleston South Carolina in approximately two hours, sir."

"This message has to be hot if Derek risked sending a single plane across the Atlantic," Cameron noted.

John nodded absently. "Get Charleston on the line. The moment this man sets down, I want him on the fastest plane available straight to the Denver airport," he told the messenger. To Maria, he said, "Pick him up at the airport in Denver and bring him straight here."

"Yes, General," Maria said and left.

John waited anxiously as he went though his morning, wondering what this vital information was. As far as he knew, Derek had taken Spain and had the mountain passes blocked. "Something must be wrong," John said absently as he looked over the night's reports.

"Yes. Sky Net had been using only cargo ships. perhaps it had seen our fleet and is making it's own warships?" Cameron asked. "Derek does not have enough troops to cover the entire coast of Spain."

"No, he doesn't. A beach landing would be bad," John agreed. "We can't get to Sky Net either, it ran back and holed itself up in some BIG bunkers."

John had to read almost every report twice to understand it, his mind was on what was happening in Spain. He got the news when the Major landed, and was escorted right to the back seat of an F-14, and was on it's way to Denver. Super sonic speed. When the jet landed, Maria sent the message she had him and was on her way. John had the gate officer notified to let them in.

John finally got to meet Major Gonzales. The moment Hector stepped into the command center, Cameron said, "Stop! Maria, is he clean?'

"He is, General."

"Proceed then," Cameron said and stepped to the side.

John met the ragged looking Major who handed him the metal folder.

"General Reese insisted you have this ASAP, General," Hector said.

"Thank you for delivering it. You look like hell," John noted.

"Si, I left Spain yesterday. Thanks to my lead mechanic, I got here. He had to strip everything out of my plane and fill it with fuel tanks. I was still all but on fumes when I landed in Charleston," Hector explained.

John held his hand out and said, "Damn good job, Colonel!"

Hector shook his hand. "I'm A Major, Sir."

"No, you're now a Colonel. That was a very risky and long trip you took. Very brave of you," John replied. "We'll do the ceremonial stuff later. Right now you look like you could use some sleep."

Hector grew a tired looking grin, "Yes, indeed."

John motioned Maria over and said, "Maria! Take the Colonel here down to get something to eat and get him quarters so he can get some rest before he falls down."

"Yes, General," Maria said. She motion out the door and asked, "Follow me, Colonel."

"Sir seniorita," Hector agreed eagerly. He would follow Maria anywhere.

John opened the metal folder. Within, he saw maps and lists of Sky Net numbers and another sheet that explained the 'Marisa Morse code'. John had to agree, a machine would have a very hard time breaking the code with digital thinking. From the perspective of battle, things in Spain looked dim for Derek. Something would have to change fast before Sky Net moved. "Cam, we have a message to send, high power."

.

Derek received the incoming message. Even knowing the MM code, it was hard to decipher for one had to know who the message was from and to for it to make any sense. The short message from John gave Derek two options, break out and go after Sky Net, or evacuate. Whichever Derek chose, John would support him.

Derek thought hard, Laura had a good plan, but he was going to loose people. Then again, being evacuated may loose many more, and the object was to destroy Sky Net, not fight with it's minions. The reply Derek sent was shorter. He remembered seeing a movie that fit their situation almost perfectly. The 2 words Derek sent back, he was sure John would understand.

Kelly's Heroes.

Laura also was sure that the Connors would understand. Derek was Kelly, after the gold. The 'gold' would be Sky Net. And they would have to burn every bridge behind them to keep Sky Net troops from catching up to them, and this was going to be a race.

Derek met with Laura, Tina and Marisa. Colonel Tina was taken off support duty to lead the force of T-800's and TX's into the water. Marisa with her forces would be the initiator. Although she was not pleased about it, Laura did agreed to take care of shipping out everyone who was not vital to the operation and had to get started getting civilians and non critical personnel out of Spain. The Azores were islands fairly close by where they could put people and their supplies for a few months.

John approved of Derek's plan and sent small cargo ships to help evacuate Spain as well as send more radio jamming units, anti-aircraft missiles and ammunition on the ships coming to help move people. Like many of John's plans, Derek's plan was a risky one that most military commanders would not attempt. That also meant Sky Net would not see it coming.

.

Marisa was nervous. Even with a telescope, the far end of the Sky Net groups were hard to see 10 miles back from the mountains. The Flying H/K's were the priority target. All her terminators had been siphoned off to form Tina's brigade. That meant the retribution after they opened fire was going to hurt. With her artillery units on the first ridges on the Spanish side, she got ranges and good triangulation on the Sky Net artillery units. Once they had that information up and down the line, and all the new anti-aircraft batteries were in place and zeroed in, Marisa gave the order to open fire.

Her guns shot as fast as they could be loaded, sending shells down onto the Sky Net artillery to blast the guns apart and set off ammunition, making big explosions up and down the line. Once all the targets were hit, her guns were packed up and moved down the mountains and to the north as fast as possible.

The attack drew out the H/K's as planned. Hundreds of H/K's took to the air to come destroy the aggressors. As the H/K's closed on the mountains, hundreds of missiles streaked up to intercept them. Marisa and everyone with a plasma rifle blasted the H/K's that had gotten through the rain of missile fire. Marissa downed a few H/K's and another round of missiles on the second ridge flew up to down more H/K's.

Once the few surviving H/K's had retreated, Marisa had the anti-aircraft batteries to retreat back down the mountains and head north. This was the part Marisa was nervous about. Except for enough Stugs and Carriers to get her troops back down out of the mountains quickly, she had everyone else retreat.

Below, the mass of Sky Net began moving forward, just as Derek had predicted. Marisa watched as the mass surged up the first tall hills. She had the radio jammers turned on. Instead of just a multi frequency static, it was intently loud music that played, signaling the beginning of the operation.

After the military style drum and bugle opening, the singing began.

Friends all tried to warn me
But I held my head up high
All the time they warned me
But I only passed them by

They all tried to tell me
But I guess I didn't care
I turned my back and
Left them standing there

All the burning bridges that have come fallin after me
All the lonely feelings and the burning memories
Everyone I left behind each time I closed the door
Burning bridges lost forevermore

Joey tried to help me find a job
A while ago
When I finally got it I didn't want to go
The party Mary gave for me
When I just walked away
Now there's nothing left for me to say

All the burning bridges that have fallen after me
All the lonely feelings and the burning memories
Everyone I left behind each time I closed the door
Burning bridges lost forevermore

Years have passed and I keep thinking
What a fool I've been
I look back into the past and
Think of way back then
Although that I lost everything I thought I that could win
I guess I should have listened to my friends

All the burning bridges that have fallen after me
All the lonely feelings and the burning memories
Everyone I left behind each time I closed the door
Burning bridges lost forevermore

Burning bridges lost forevermore

Upon hearing the music begin to play, the southern section of Marisa's troops blew the bridges and set off landslides, then turned and retreated as fast as possible out of the mountains. As soon as they were on the road to the west, heading north, the next section did the same, pulling back and going north. Stugs and Carriers loaded with men fled north as fast as they were able to.

At the Northern most pass by the sea, M-1 tanks drove up the road along the road towards France, leading the long columns behind them. 15 miles up the coast on the French side, 17000 white T-800's and TX's came up out of the ocean to run into the Sky Net terminators headed for the pass. A solid river of plasma fire flooded the air, downing thousands of Sky Net units before they realized they were being attacked. In a short time, Tina's terminators had cleared the road and scooped out a wide corridor of the Sky Net line. Being spread out along the entire French/Spanish line, the million terminator army of Sky Net only had 11000 terminators in the immediate area. Caught by surprise on the side, they lost numbers rapidly. With the dual shots from each of the TX's, H/K tanks and Sky Net terminators didn't last long. Their last ordered command was to attack the mountains, so all of Sky Net's terminators that were able to, did so.

The M-1 tanks ran up the coast road past the terminator battle, seeking any H/K tanks to deal with. Past the growing fight, they turned and made a line off the road to target any Sky Net units in sight. Behind them came a solid line of Stugs that raced down the road to scout ahead and stand guard at side roads. Marisa's line kept peeling back to head for the now mile wide open gap as supply trucks and carriers ran through the opening.

Marisa noted half her line was collapsed in an orderly fashion when Sky Net units were finally getting close enough to run into the first traps. Avalanches rained large rock down on terminators climbing the slopes. Other were stopped by activating mines and being blown in the air to tumble back down the mountainsides. A log stack released and rolled over others. Terminators stumbled and were trapped. They kept struggling up the first hills. By the time they topped the first hills, only a third of Marisa's line remained. Marisa herself went to the next most southern group to tell then when to leave. Here they noted terminators trying to climb over each other to get up the 100 foot vertical walls. All day, Marisa kept sending people down as she went north, making sure it was a constant, even flow to the coast road and on into France. By the time she left with the last of her mountain forces, the mountains were full of terminators and H/K tanks struggling to get though.

While Sky Net's large army attacked into the mountains, Derek's forces raced through the opening they made and into France. Even if Sky Net knew what was happening, there was nothing it could do with it's forces tied up in the mountains.

.

The powerful jamming music changed to let everyone, and Connor, know the operation was a success.

East bound and down, loaded up and truck'in

We gonna do what they say can't be done

We got a long way to go

and a short time to get there

I'm east bound, now watch ole bandit run

put your foot hard on the pedal

son never mind them breaks

let it all hang out cause we got a run to make

There's a net up a bunker

that is where it's hunkered

We'll bring it down no matter what it takes

East bound and down, all our wheel's are rollin

We gonna do what they say can't be done

We got a long way to go

and a short time to get there

I'm east bound, just watch ole bandit run

Ole Smokey's got his ears on,

and he's hot on your tail

he ain't gonna rest until we've failed

you got to punch-em you got to hold-im

you gotta keep the Stugies rollin

so put the hammer down an give'em hell

East bound and down, loaded up and truck'in

We gonna do what they say can't be done

We got a long way to go

and a short time to get there

I'm east bound, now watch ole bandit run

.

Laura was at Marisa's original command post near the docks, ensuring every ship was being as loaded down as possible. If there was a square foot of space left, something was packed in there. The two large freighters were packing people on. So far, all the civilians were on the ship that just left. The Spanish volunteers were packing onto this one with all the supplies they could stuff on board. supplies in the holds and people filled the decks. The Lexington was off the coast, taking on all the aircraft they had left. Launches from the Lexington were taking aircraft parts and what supplies they could out to the ship. On the docks, barrels of fuel and more supplies would have to wait for the next ship on as the freighter here was stuffing on the last people it could hold.

Derek told Laura they had two days once Sky Net's attack began to finish getting everything they could out of Spain. The attacks had started this morning, and from what Laura was seeing so far, it was going to take another four days to evacuate everything. The chances were not everyone would make it was high, so she was shipping out the highest priorities first. After military equipment, it was women and children. As a freighter pulled out, there were maybe a couple hundred women left with their children on the docks. So far, none of the watches assigned to watch the roads had reported anything from Sky Net. That was good news. As fast as ships came in, they were loaded down and sent back out. Day and night, Laura pushed to get people out of here.

Laura did not like being separated from Derek. She would just as soon ride with him into battle, but he had convinced her of a very good point. He needed someone he could trust completely to head this evacuation. She was it. The question she asked him though, he had avoided answering.

"If you destroy Sky Net in the middle of Europe, how will you get back?"

Derek didn't have an answer for her question. He had just went back to business. Luckily, Laura knew there Derek was going. Being at the briefings, she knew the location of Sky Net. Even though Derek's army had a head start, any army could not move as fast as an individual. Movement on land was not the fastest way to travel.

Everyone knew the importance of leaving Spain as fast as possible, so getting the ships loaded fast and back out to sea was not difficult. The evacuation went on through the night. In the morning, the last freighters were loaded down and there was nothing but people left, destroyers came in to load up as many people as they could get on them. Out on the sea, the destroyers transferred these people to cruisers then cane back in to pick up more. Laura called in her lookouts when the destroyers came back into port to get the last people. She was on the docks to ensure the last of the people were loaded up onto the cramped ships, then cast off the lines of the ships herself.

The destroyers were pulling out. Laura ran down to a boathouse and opened the doors to show a long, thin racing boat. It was an older Cigarette boat, but the engines did run and the tank was full. An ocean run up to St. Nazaire and she was going to head up the river to Orleans, or until the gas ran out. Derek was a brave man, but she decided she needed to give him some help. She just didn't believe he could move his whole army that fast.

Laura got the boat out into the water. Firing up the engines, she pulled out, steered onto a course of 013 then pushed the throttles all the way up. The speed boat roared, throwing a rooster tail 30 feet in the air and rocketed off for St. Nazaire, skipping on the waves at 120 Knots.

.

The first 60 miles went smoothly. Traveling at 50 miles an hour, the lead Stugs ran into the first problem. A gutted French tank was blocking the road. They had to stop and get it out of the way. While he Stugs pushed and pulled to get it off the road, the mass of terminators and TX's running to catch up, did. Even packed up in line, The rear units were ten miles behind the lead Stugs. The only good thing Derek saw was that no Sky Net units were chasing them yet. Not even an H/K had been seen. The Sky Net army was still fighting it's way over the mountains. In the pause Marisa set watches to the sides and a close eye on the sky.

Not long after the white clad terminators caught up, and as many as possible found rides on carriers and on Stugs and M-1's so they could keep up, the long column got moving again. They went another 40 miles and came to a blasted bridge with more ruined military equipment and skeletons in uniforms scattered everywhere. There were some older terminator ruins on the battlefield, but not that many. Stopped again, Derek's forces had to spread out to look for another crossing point. It was getting dark, so Marisa and some TX's began building a bridge from the battle scrap that was lying around. Derek was planning to make 3 to 400 miles a day. They hadn't even made a hundred. As least his plan, or rather, Laura's plan had worked. They were out of Spain and had left the bulk of Sky Net' forces behind tangled up in the mountains.

.

Laura did make St. Nazaire by nightfall and found the mouth of the river. She did have to slow down due to debris in the water, floating as well as chunks of building and bridges that had been blown up. Continuing on with her infrared vision, she stoop up in the back, steering around obstacles and making her way inland, most of the time heading west. Once she was clear of the ruined city, she was able to go a little faster. Coming to a stretch of clear river that had farms on both sides, she was able to increase speed again enough to form a decent bow wake and lift the bow out of the water. By morning she was coming upon another city and the motors began missing.

Laura was out of fuel. Before she drifted to a stop, she saw a boat ramp and used the last of the boat's fuel to drive up and beach the boat onto the ramp. The boat ground up the ramp into the snow, the engines coughed and died. Laura jumped out and walked into the marina, looking for another vehicle she could use.

In her search, she noted some heat sources inside a warehouse. Going to a side-opening door, she went to pull it open, but a chain on the inside stopped it.

From inside a terrified voice whispered in French, "Everyone, hide!"

Laura called into the warehouse in French. "I'm not going to hurt anyone! Can someone tell me where I am?" she asked.

"Who are you?"

"Laura... Reese. What city is this?"

"Orleans. You don't know that?"

"No, I'm not from around here. I came from North America."

Footsteps ran over to the door and an old man with whispy white hair and a long beard peeked through the door at her. He shut the door, she hear the chain release. He opened the door, grabbed her arm and pulled her in. "It's not safe outside!" he chided. "There are these skeletal machines around that kill anyone they see! How did you get here with them running around?"

"By boat. I need another boat," Laura told him. She noted a boy peeking out at her from behind a crate. She noted the radiation wasn't that bad here.

"Those things took everything useful," the old man told her. "The shot and killed my daughter, her husband and both of my grandsons! They kill and they steal. We have a safe place here, stay with us."

Laura cast him a tiny smile. "Thank you for the offer, but I have a mission, I must keep going. I need transportation."

"There is none," the old man insisted. The road are blocked with show, and even if you do get a boat, not much farther, the river is frozen over. That is how we found this place. We have very little food, Juane was going out to bring us food, but he was found and killed by those horrible machines!"

The words 'horrible machines' did irritate Laura, but she knew Sky Net machines were he only ones this man had seen. He didn't know were were good ones as well. "Where was Juane getting this food?" she asked.

"A store a few blocks away. None of us are very healthy, he was the only out who could go. He could run away when he saw them. Last time he was caught," the old mans said, looking sad.

"I'm sorry," Laura offered. "I'll get you some food when I go look for transportation." She turned to leave.

"No, if they find you, they will kill you!" the old man stated.

Laura cast him a crooked grin and said, "No, I will be killing them. Hide while I'm gone. I will beat on the door three times when I come back."

"But ... you are a healthy young woman! It would be such a shame if they got you," he insisted.

Laura put a gentle hand on his shoulder. "I will be fine, don't worry. I'll be back."

The old man swallowed and said, "I will pray for you."

Laura left, shutting the door behind her. One thing she noticed here, there were no cars. She searched the marina, then made her way out into town where she did find some snow covered cars. brushing the snow off, some were burned, others had bullet holes and bodies in them. She also noted tracks in the snow, terminator's who'd been on patrol around town. Coming to a car dealership that still had those triangular flags flying around the empty lot, the glass wall of the showroom were shattered. She went inside and looked in the garage area. Nothing. Leaving the dealership, she did find the grocery store. Going in, she found some bodies. At least she knew where the food was now. She still needed something to travel the snow covered roads.

At an auto garage, she found a wrecker. There was a plasma hole in the door, and frozen gore inside it. She pulled the remains of the body out, and found keys in the ignition. She tried to start it. The engine kicked over. It was rough, but it did run. It had a half tank of gas. Leaving it running, she went looking for gas. She found empty cans at the station, and a four foot tall gas tank out back. The float on top said it was a quarter full. She backed the wrecker up to it and filled the tank, then gathered the six cans she found and filled them up too and put them in the back.

Driving to the store, she pushed a cart around to grab the rest of the canned food, then a can opener. She grabbed other utensils, bags of charcoal, then every box and bag of cereal to fill the cart. She took the cart out and lifted up onto the back of the truck, tipped in towards the lift so it wouldn't fall out, then went back in to grab another cart and fill that one up with lots of bottled water, some soda and snack chips. The bread couldn't be trusted, some of it looked green. She did take all the peanut butter she could find and the rest of the canned vegetables. Figuring two cars full would last them a while, She put that cart on the truck.

"You stealin from my store?" a hard voice said from behind her.

Laura turned to see a man pointing a shotgun at her.

"Gimme the keys to your truck, Now!" he snapped.

Laura frowned at hm. They were fighting a war, and this guy planned on robbing her. "This food is for people who can't come get some themselves," she stated.

"Keys, now, or I run over your dead body on my way out!" The man snapped.

Laura formed a plasma canon as she raised he arm. He had time to stare at her arm before she shot and obliterated his shotgun and half his head. he fell backwards, dead. Laura got in the wrecker and drove back to the Marina to give those people some food. On her way out, the rear tires ran over the rest of his head. Laura knew life was sacred, but that guy was willing to shoot her just for having something he didn't. Let God figure out what to do with him.

.

Laura hauled the two carts over to the warehouse door and banged three times on it. This time, it was a thin blonde woman who peeked out. "I got food," Laura told her.

The woman's eyes went wide. She opened the door. Laura hauled the two carts inside. "I got enough to last you for a while," Laura told her. "If I can come back, then I'll get you out of here to someplace safe."

The woman gaped at her. "Why can't you stay? Those metal things will kill you out there!"

"No," Laura said in a musing tone, "I'm going to kill them." She then winked at the woman and shut the door on her way out.

Getting into her wrecker, Laura drove away, found the main road out to the east and blazed a trail though the snow in her wrecker.

.

After two days, the radio static cleared up. Sky Net Europe got reports that the jamming signals had been found and stopped, and it's forces were in Spain. Human equipment had been found, but leaving the mountains, no further contact with the humans themselves had been discovered yet, other than a battle to the north. The humans were retreating. Sky Net gave the order to ensure every inch of land was covered. Apparently the resistance in the mountains had been their only defense. Soon, it's units would destroy any humans in Spain and put an end to those resisting.