Chapter 06: Blood and Wires
Now I lay me down to sleep,
I pray the Lord my soul to keep;
Should I die before I wake,
I pray the Lord my soul to take.
For a third generation Infiltrator, there was little to occupy their time when not training, and when the war became so dire that every unit was needed on the front lines, even training became scarce. The third gens were quite simply abandoned by their maker, for none could succeed in infiltrating the Resistance, and even if they did, it would mean nothing to the grand scheme.
Sophie had spent most of her early childhood learning the arts of her design, the combat she would one day be forced to engage, and the subtleties of manipulation. But with Skynet's attention drawn towards the slow decay of its forces, third gens like herself were left to their own devices and some even explored their emotions; something their creator had expressly forbidden.
She was one such explorer.
Sophie and her "sister", Isabel, grew closer than any of her crèche mates, for they were of the same DNA and genetic stock. Together, they honed their learned skills by sparring in the combat room, lying and deceiving each other at every turn just to see who was a better trickster. They were inseparable, and every night they would sing each other to sleep. A small melody they had extracted from Skynet's database and become attached to. If the Resistance had known of these two, they may have seen hope for humanity yet.
--
Now I lay me down to sleep
Sophie's eyes lay fixed upon his face as she compared his every feature to her memory of the Jason she knew. Her mind told her this was not her Jason, but a copy, a fake, a doppelganger. Her heart spoke otherwise, however. He lay upon the cheap fibre carpet of the motel room, his eyes closed and his expression almost peaceful. She had never seen him like this before, and yet it seemed so right.
Her gaze drifted to the small alcove of metal on his right temple, a hollow space where his chip had sat in port moments ago. Cameron had wasted little time in cutting a circle in his flesh and popping the shock dampener once he was down, and Sophie felt her world crash at the sight of the pure machinery beneath. She would've given anything to see the soft pink gelatine of an organic mind beneath the coltan.
I pray the Lord my soul to keep
Looking over her shoulder, Sophie narrowed her eyes at her mechanical equivalent as she examined the black and red chip carefully in her palm. Sophie expected her to close her hand at any moment and crush the chip into a fine powder, but she didn't. Instead, she held the small plastic soul to John, who took it with less care than Cameron, making Sophie cringe involuntarily. He likewise inspected the CPU under a lamp light, turning it over and over repeatedly as if waiting for it to react in some obscure manner.
"This is a lot like yours, you know", he commented to Cameron, who peered over his shoulder at the small device.
"Yes, it is a T.O.K modified T-999 central processor. Like mine", she explained, placing her finger on the small attachment on the end of the primary processor. John examined the addition closely and cast and inquiring look at Cameron, who took it from him with the same care as before. "The lower section is standard and found in all Triple-9s. This piece here is added afterward and contains the detailed memories and knowledge of the kill template. Mine contains Cameron Phillips, his must contain Jason Corvain", she elaborated.
John frowned at the piece of plastic and glanced back at Jason's inert form, then back to Cameron, his frown deepening.
"Why not use a more advanced chip. You told me there are T-Xs and other models. Why not use one of theirs?" he asked.
Cameron gave him the smallest of smiles as she answered; "The neural net architecture of later models only differ in terms of software capabilities and emergent self-awareness. The T-Xs are no less advanced than their early T-800 predecessors, except that they possess more capabilities. The same applies to the T-999s and the T-888s."
"Right… so what model were you created from, if he's a T-999?" John enquired.
"My endoskeleton is a standard T-888 design, if that's what you're asking. He's more advanced… in some ways", she replied.
"I know that. I remember that Nathan bastard all too well", John scowled, his dislike for Jason's chip intensifying. "I'm surprised me, Future Me, sent him back in the first place. I should've known what a psycho he would be. I suppose we should consider ourselves lucky Jason didn't think to use his plasma weapon on us", he remarked.
Cameron placed the chip on the bedside table, beneath the lamp, and turned back to Jason's body as Sophie crouched next to him.
"T-999s aren't installed with that weapon as standard. I believe Nathan was one of your modifications, John."
"I'm so proud", he retorted with a long sigh. His frown faded as he turned his thoughts towards Cameron for the first time since the attack. She had been offline for so long; her return to consciousness could not have come at a better time. "How're you doing anyway?" he asked, stroking her cheek tenderly.
Cameron closed her eyes at his touch, and for a brief moment he worried she'd fallen asleep again, but she opened them and smiled warmly at him. "I needed to recharge my power cell, but with the constant drain it necessitated a long-term shutdown period. But I'm fine now, don't worry about me", she assured him.
Thy angels watch me through the night
What are they waiting for, Derek wondered as Cameron placed the chip on the bedside table while John pulled her close. Part of him wanted to bolt over there and smash that chip to pieces, but he knew the decision lay with John, not him. At least he knew he wasn't alone in his thinking, for Sarah impatiently checked the barrel of her shotgun, her nose still oozing blood from where it smashed into her face. She watched hawk-like as John gently held Cameron close, her blood boiling at the sight but her mind resigning to obey his wishes.
"So are we gonna smash that chip or what?" she asked the couple, piquing Derek's interest as he emerged from his introspective stupor.
John and Cameron broke apart, the latter turning to face Sarah and Derek as Sophie crept up behind them, her hand sliding over the top of the table before returning to Jason's side.
"We should hack into the chip first. Learn what Skynet knows, what Jason saw and heard before he died", Cameron replied matter-of-factly. Sarah glared at the machine, irked by her defiant logic. She was right though, for any information they could extract from Jason would likely do them some favours later down the line.
"Fine, do whatever you need to do. But do it fast. We can't stay here for long", Sarah conceded, settling on the back of the couch with the shotgun resting on her knee. John nodded and reached back to the table, but his fingers met only the smooth mahogany surface beneath the warm lamp light. Looking over his shoulder, the chip was nowhere to be seen. Then a single thought entered his mind: Sophie.
And keep me safe till morning's light.
By the time he spun around to the corner where Jason's body lay, Sophie had already slotted the chip back into its port and replaced the shielded tab. He reached for his Glock, only to find it removed from his belt. Before he could fathom that disappearance, Sophie drew his weapon on them, aiming specifically at John and Cameron while Sarah and Derek froze with their weapons raised.
"What the hell are you doing?!" Sarah screamed, glowering down the barrel of her shotgun.
Derek held his rifle steady, poised to unleash a burst of metal into Jason's skull at any moment. Cameron moved to shield John, but he resisted her protection and shuffled away from her. Sophie watched them all intently, her eyes skipping from face to face in rapid succession while her weapon hovered over John.
He held up his hand, placing the other on Cameron's chest to keep her from jumping ahead of him as he took a step towards Sophie.
"Sophie, put the gun down. C'mon, put it down."
She fixed him with a steely glare as he took another step closer; "I can't let you kill him. I won't let you kill him", she growled.
"That's not Jason, okay… That's not him, it's just a copy. A fake", he reasoned.
Sophie's bottom lip trembled as she glanced at Cameron behind him; "Like her?!" she screamed.
John looked back at Cameron apologetically, but her face was blank to his remark, though her eyes betrayed her current fear. A soft whirring noise came from deep within Jason's skull and he twitched. Derek and Sarah tensed, prompting Sophie to shift her aim to them instead while Cameron pulled John away by the scruff of his neck.
Jason's eyes flew open, the brief red glow shining from within his dark irises as he blinked back to consciousness. He seemed to consider his circumstance for a long moment before slowly rising into a sitting position, his back to the others while he stared passively at Sophie. She held her breath, waiting for one of two outcomes; one of which would involve her sudden and painful death.
But he just sat there, staring at her, not saying a word. The others remained tense, every one of them predicting the negative and ready to act accordingly in a microsecond. Jason made no overt moves, however, and his eyes travelled down to her boots. His brow creased as he frowned at them, seemingly offended by their presence.
"You don't favour footwear", he said. It wasn't a question, or an observation, but a simple statement.
Sophie followed his gaze to her feet and smiled. Reaching down, she unclipped the boots and removed them, revealing her bare feet to him and wiggled her little toes. Jason remained unfazed, however, and turned his attention to his surroundings. Looking over his shoulder, Jason saw the others standing there… waiting. His eyes flicked to John and his gaze became stuck.
-Target: JOHN CONNOR
-Mission: TERMINATE
Sophie could see the thought process going on in his mind and her heart started to race.
"No, no, Jason, look at me", she pleaded, cupping his cheek and turning him back to her face; "Listen to me; you don't have to do this. You know that, don't you? You know you're being controlled. You know it's Skynet giving that order." Jason blinked at her, but remained just as indifferent to her passion.
"I know that", he responded in a quiet monotonous tone. "But it's my mission now. I have to complete my mission", he explained.
Sarah's hands started to shake as her finger longed to apply just enough pressure to the trigger. Derek was in no better condition, if a bit level-headed by comparison. Cameron kept John behind her, though she watched Jason curiously as he scanned each and every one of them. His eyes narrowed at John, but he made no move to attack, instead just sitting there quietly.
"Jason, what are your last memories before Skynet terminated you?" asked Cameron, much to the others' surprise.
He considered her question for a moment while he consulted his archives, drawing up the memory in the right hand corner of his peripheral. "The Vessel terminated me with a direct hit to my power cell with its plasma cannon", he answered. In her mind, Sophie envisioned the green plasma tearing a whole through his heart, and hers ached with the pain of it.
"And what became of your CPU before Skynet extracted it and completed the data transfer?" Cameron followed.
John was at a loss as to the purpose of her interrogation, but then he realised her intent, and he wasn't sure if she was right or reckless.
"My I-950 model CPU registered the cut in power, and then shut down as a result. Compartmentalization was completed beforehand", Jason explained. Sophie's eyes lit up in this moment, and Cameron raised an eyebrow, for both knew what this meant, even if the others remained otherwise clueless to its significance.
Cameron, seeing the bewildered look on their faces, decided to elaborate; "He was alive when his consciousness downloaded into his neural net. He safe-stored it for future transfer." Their confusion did not waver, though John was beginning to catch on, she noticed. "Skynet didn't just download a copy of his memories and knowledge. It downloaded the original data", she explained.
A moment's silence passed between them as John regarded Jason with mouth and eyes wide. Sophie cried silently tears of joy as all her hopes bore fruit. Finally, Derek spoke up; "So you're telling me that… this thing… is the real and actual Jason?"
Cameron nodded and Derek puffed out a breath as the insanity of what he was hearing started to make sense. Neither he nor Sarah lowered their weapons, however. Jason was still a threat, and they would die before they let their guard down. Sophie wiped away the tears and lowered her gun, placing it on the floor by Jason's hand. He looked at the weapon, but did not reach for it as she feared.
Taking a deep breath, she made the final daring plunge; "Jason… You can have this gun and do whatever you want with it. You can kill John. You can kill me. I don't care", she told him. He frowned at her again, and she could've sworn she saw his eyes soften a little. "But you can also choose to take my hand instead and help me off the floor", she offered.
Jason glanced down at her feet again, seeing the small half-healed bullet holes he'd shot into her ankles earlier. Then his eyes travelled up her body and past her face, settling on the Glock on the floor. The order flashed in his HUD, repeating itself incessantly throughout his inaction. Jason moved his hand to take the weapon but paused. Sarah and Derek's fingers added a little pressure to their guns and Cameron's grip on John's arm tightened while Sophie's heart threatened to burst from the pressure.
No amount of Infiltrator training could calm her now.
His hand hovered above the gun, and for a moment she was convinced he would take it. But then he reached over and took her hand, and every anxiety was lifted from her body like the removal of a deadweight. A small, slightly sardonic smile tugged at his lips as he gently squeezed her fingers. He rose to his feet somewhat abruptly, and the others backed away as he carefully helped Sophie to her feet. He then kicked the gun across the floor, and it bounced off Cameron's foot harmlessly.
-TERMINATION OVERRIDE
Across the miles of desert, in an abandoned medical facility; Skynet clenched its metal fist and let out a snarl of inhuman fury.
--------------------
Trust was not something the Connors easily gave. To this day, even Derek was still considered fallible, but he was also part of the inner circle the Connors possessed. Cameron, much to Sarah's grudge, also sat within this circle; though her trustworthiness rated lower to Sarah than Derek's ever would. Jason and Sophie, however, sat way outside this cosy confine, for both were kept upon a knife's edge.
As they placed the guns back into the truck and the dog next door continued to bark rabidly at Jason and Cameron, Sarah couldn't stop asking herself why she was taking so many chances that, were it two years ago, she would never even consider. Two years ago she would've blown Jason's skull open the first chance she got. Two years ago she would've abandoned that blonde pretender in the desert.
Two years ago she would've lowered Cameron into a thermite bath without shedding a single tear.
But now things were different. Times had changed and the battlefield had shifted beneath her feet. Skynet had come to their time, encased within a machine capable of killing them all without the slightest effort. In a fair fight, Sarah would have no need for two cyborgs to help keep her son safe. But this was not a fair fight, and as much as she hated the idea; Cameron and Jason were their only hope.
"So where to now?" asked John as he loaded the last rifle into the back.
Sarah snapped out of her reverie and threw herself into the driver's seat, the soft thumping of the other doors closing followed soon after. Derek once again took shotgun while John and Cameron sat in the middle seats with Jason and Sophie huddled in the rear. She looked over her shoulder at John, who checking the map on his lap.
"We should head into the city. Hit L.A. and get ourselves lost. We can't go back to the house though", she said.
"The city is a good idea, but we won't stay hidden for long. Skynet will find us eventually", Cameron replied, scanning the map for alternate locations. In the back, Sophie watched Jason carefully. He had said little since helping her off the motel floor, and now he sat silently in his seat, leaning slightly against the window. He looked to her eyes to be deep in thought, though she couldn't be sure anymore.
While Sarah and Cameron discussed their options, however, he suddenly spoke, to everyone's surprise; "Whatever we do, we can't do it alone. We need help. We need allies. And we need weapons. Cameron's right; Skynet will find us eventually." Sophie's face lit up at his words, though the lack of energy behind them irked her somewhat. But then an idea struck her, one that she would never have considered before now. It was risky and quite possibly lethal to some of them, but what choice did they have?
"I know someone who might help us", she announced to the din.
They all fell silent and regarded her closely, even Jason turned to look at her as she continued; "I have a contact of sorts who lives somewhere out here in the desert. If we can get his help our chances of taking out Skynet will be that much better."
"And who is this 'contact'? What's his name?" asked Sarah.
"He doesn't have a name per se. But we all call him Seraph", she replied. The others exchanged puzzled looks, and in the corner of her eye, Sophie watched as Jason removed the single black glove on his right hand. She had wondered why he wore only one, but now it became apparent as the black fabric revealed the shiny hyper-alloy arm beneath. It glimmered in the moonlight and the soft whirring of pistons broke the silence as he flexed his fingers. Along his lower arm, crimson light emanated through the gaps in his hyper-alloy armour.
"How do we know this Seraph can be trusted?" Sarah questioned, defiantly ignoring the endo-arm.
Sophie tore her eyes away from Jason's arm and gave Sarah a coy smile; "We don't. But then what choice do we have?" she countered.
Sarah sighed and slumped back into her seat, knowing all too well that their choices left little to be desired. Jamming the key into the ignition, she started up the engine and pulled away from the motel and its dead proprietor. The dog continued to bark until they were beyond its sight, though it continued to watch the horizon for many long minutes just in case the unnatural beings returned.
It was not the only pair of eyes that followed the Connors, however.
For a machine tracked their every move, determined to correct its previous failure and fulfil its primary directives.
To be continued…