Chapter 6: Prodigy
April 2nd, 1993
12:47 A.M.
Oaxaca, Mexico
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Eight year old John Connor let out a slow breath as his fingers quickly tapped across the small laptop's computer. His tongue peeked out between his lips as he struggled to write the code fast enough so that the rich man's security system wouldn't go off. It was a fairly simple code compared to the ones his mother expected him to do but the job was still stressful. The only time he had gotten up from his rickety chair was when he needed to use the restroom and when he had gone to grab something to eat around nine o'clock. But other than that, he had been sitting at the computer for about four hours now.
His tired green eyes stared intensely at the screen, blinking every 20 seconds, as he hunched over the computer. John nodded slowly as some of the cameras on the perimeter of the large house began to power down and leaned back in his chair. However, he reached forwards and grabbed the small two way radio on the table and spoke into it.
"Cameras are down. What's your ETA?"
His mother's stern and quiet voice crackled from the old radio.
"You'll know when I know. Just make sure that the system stays offline."
John rolled his eyes as he agreed and set the radio down on the table. The rich man's security system was good… but it wasn't good enough. John could power down the cameras but he couldn't link the feed to his computer meaning that he had no idea what was going on. He just knew that his mother and two other men from the local guerrilla group were breaking into the house and stealing something the boss wanted. He had had several talks with his mother about the gang but she had assured him that they could work the situation to their advantage together.
That meant lots of late nights and early mornings for the computer prodigy. He hadn't gotten a computer to work on until after they had run away from the Salceda family two years ago which meant that he had progressed enough that he could hack amateur security systems at eight years old. However, that was just one more reason for his mom to talk his ear off about how important he was. It's not like anyone in the future knew he existed anyway. The machine was supposed to kill his mother but instead it created two problems for the computer; his mother and himself.
John often thought about the future, wondering how Skynet would take control of the world. He didn't see how it was possible for a computer to take over the world. He knew that computers had come along way but not so far as to destroy the world. His mother was convinced that there was something special about the company and he had done extensive research on the company and its current employees. And despite his best efforts the only thing he came up with was that the company officially opened in 1986, a scientist by the name of Miles Dyson was a part of one of their biggest, top secret projects, and the owner of the technological company was a woman named Carol Pointe.
"John?"
John shook himself out of his trance and scrambled to pick up the radio.
"Y… yeah?"
"There's a camera moving. It almost spotted us."
"What!?"
John flung back towards his computer, his fingers typing faster than he thought he could.
"I thought you cleared all of them."
His eyes swept over the lines of code in confusion, finding nothing out of the ordinary.
"I… I thought I did too."
Maybe the rich man's security system was better than he thought.
"Hold on, I'm working on it now."
"Hurry."
"I know."
John drew in a deep breath, feeling paranoia keep him awake as he scrambled to find a solution. The camera was disabled. It said so on the screen… but yet, it was still moving around. John bit his lip anxiously and tried every form of code he could to shut it down, praying that it wouldn't recognize his mother and the other two men. He was afraid of what could happen to him if their boss figured out that he had failed. And knowing that he would be facing that situation without his mother, he knew it wouldn't end very well for either of them.
John finally found a back door that worked and exhaled quickly, grabbing the radio.
"Clear to go."
The line was silent for a few seconds and John felt his heart beat quicken inside and was instantly relieved when his mother softly confirmed it. He shook his head slowly and decided to double check every camera that said it was down… just in case. To be honest, John was more worried about his mother's reaction than the gang leaders. He took a quick gulp of his now room temperature water and secured all the systems, triple checking before he let himself relax a little bit.
The moment he sat back, he felt a wave of exhaustion pass over him. His eyes were strained and tired from staring at the computer screen for so long and his body was begging him for rest. He had grown bored of the sour water and crumbly crackers, leaving him with nothing to do but wait for the mission to finish. He sat there in his chair, occasionally walking around or doing a few push-ups to keep him awake and alert.
The second his mother told him they were out, he jumped back in his chair and waited until they were gone to turn the cameras back on and make the feed a continuous loop of the empty yard. There was no way the old, rich man should be able to know something was wrong or that he had been hacked but his mother had taught him that there is always another way. So he had quickly learned to adapt to the situation and look for every possible angle; whether that meant a back door code or the nearest door for a quick exit. His mother had made it quite clear that he always had to be ready to run.