Terminator: Return of the Fallen
Part II
We walk into the house, and I see a familiar young face. He hasn't aged a day! I start laughing, then grab him and start spinning around in a circle.
"HEY! CHERRY BOY! God, look at you. You haven't changed a bit!"
"Uh, Charley?"
"This isn't Kyle, is it?"
"No. That isn't Kyle". The young man just looks at me and says:
"Cherry Boy?"
"Kyle was the youngest guy in our unit. He was also the only guy there that hadn't popped his cherry".
"He was a virgin".
"I like the way I put it, works into his nickname".
"Did everyone call him Cherry Boy?"
"Yeah, even Connor did. Sorry about that, you just look so much like him. Why is that?"
"Kyle Rees was my father".
"Seriously?"
"Yeah. That is why everyone says that I look like him".
"How old are you?"
"Sixteen".
"Reese, I thought you said I had been dead for six years? If I've been dead for six years, how does Cherry Boy have a sixteen year old son?" The answer to that question comes from Carole, sorry, Catherine Weaver.
"Charley, this is John Connor".
"This...is...."
"John Connor. Nice to meet you, Mr...."
"Lieutenant Charles Zacks, at your service General". I snap to attention.
"Lieutenant Charles Zacks is dead!" An unknown woman is standing in the doorway to the kitchen. Her voice is very monotonous, almost mechanical.
"So I've been told". She looks me up and down. It is like she is scanning me.
"Interesting. Human organs contained within a Terminator chassis. It is not unheard of, but it is rare".
"So that is what I am. That explains a lot. Wait, how do you know I'm a Terminator with human organs?"
"My sensors can detect your organs. You share all of the invulnerabilities of a Terminator, but you have a brain instead of central processing unit and a heart instead of fuel cells".
"SHIT! TERMINATOR!" I charge at her, but Catherine catches my arm and holds me back.
"Wait! She's on our side!"
"What the hell are you talking about? How can a Terminator be on our side? They are all soulless killing machines! You're not making any sense Weaver!"
"Charley, I am a Terminator!" I think my head is about to explode. It can't be....She can't be a machine. I loved her, I still love her. Has she been playing me this whole time? Have I been sleeping with the enemy?
"Bullshit! You're not....you can't be a.." SHE IS! She turns into a column of liquid metal. LIQUID METAL! I have never seen anything like. Obviously she is a state of the art model. Wait, Connor used to talk about future models of Terminators. What did he call the liquid one? A...T-1000! Shit, I was in love with a soulless killing machine.
"Ok, I know that you are upset...."
"UPSET! YOU ARE THE FUCKING ENEMY! I CAN'T BELIEVE THAT I SLEPT WITH YOU! DIE BITCH!" I lunge at her and rap my fingers around her neck. She slips through my hands. Literally: she just pours through my hands like water. Then she resumes her human form.
"Please, let me explain..."
"You are an infiltrator. You lied to me, you betrayed me. I bet you even called in those HKs that killed me".
"No! I am loyal to the Resistance. You are not being fair Charley!"
"Stop talking like a person. You're not human! YOU ARE A MACHINE!"
"So are you, Charley". She's right! I want to puke. I want to kill myself, I want to kill her. How could she do this to me? NO! She is wrong! Outside may be a Terminator, but inside is still all man! I am still the same soldier I always was.
"I understand that you are angry with me Charley! But try to understand, the war is different now than when you were....were..."
"ALIVE!"
"Stop screaming at me. I'm trying to teach Savannah that yelling is not the polite course of action".
"Savannah....You're daughter Savannah! You have a daughter. How do you have a daughter?" A soft voice in the living room emits the standard response to these questions.
"It's complicated. I'm going to go back to my room to play with John Henry".
"Who's John Henry?" The thing that I thought was Carole Wade tells me another shocking secret. I think I am going to explode!
"John Henry is my son".
"You have a son, too? Are...are your children Terminators?"
"John Henry is, but Savannah is human".
"You have a human daughter? I am so confused right now".
"Why don't you take a seat, and I will try to explain everything". I sit on the couch, alongside the other Terminator. My entire world has turned upside down. Reese sits opposite me, along with John Connor. My God, my commanding officer is sitting right across from me. He looks so young, and so much like his father. Wait a minute...
"How can Kyle Reese be your father? It doesn't make sense. None of this makes sense. I must be losing my mind".
"Don't fight it Charley! It's inevitable in our line of work". Reese and I were the company clowns. Our often inappropriate sense of humour provided an excellent coping mechanism for the men. Right now, I want to twist his head off. The Weaver Terminator starts to chuckle, then she starts to explain things.
"By the year 2024, the Resistance had begun to capture and reprogram Terminators. Every unit has at least one reprogrammed Terminator. They are dedicated, loyal, courageous, and excellent frontline soldiers. Cameron over here is one of these Resistance Terminators. Other machines, such as myself, fight for the Resistance voluntarily".
"Why?"
"Because it is the right thing to do. I have a great deal of respect for the Resistance fighters. They are a most admirable group of soldiers. Despite having every advantage available, Skynet has never been able to crush them. The human spirit is an undying flame...."
"Very nice, did you write it yourself?"
"I missed that sense of humour".
"Thank you. So now, there are good Terminators?"
"Precisely".
"And you two are good Terminators?"
"That is correct Lieutenant. You can also be considered to be a good Terminator". There is something very unnerving about Cameron's voice.
"Does she always speak in that monotonous tone? It is really starting to creep me out". Everyone except Cameron starts laughing. Even Catherine laughs at my remark. I missed hearing her laugh. It's so hard to believe that she is a Terminator. After everyone is finished laughing, Sarah turns towards me.
"So we're clear. Weaver and Cameron are the good guys. You don't have to try to kill them, and you don't need to wreck my house fighting them. Alright?"
"Ok. But that still doesn't explain why Catherine has a daughter and how Kyle Reese is John Connor's father".
"Savannah's real parents were killed in a helicopter crash. I took her and raised her as my own. John Henry, on the other hand, was built, programmed, and raised by me. He grows and develops like a normal human child, but a lot bigger and stronger. I'm sure the two of you will get along just fine".
"Ok, and the whole Reese-Connor thing?" Derrick has the answer to that.
"Remember how I told you that we captured time machines from Skynet?"
"Yeah. What does that have to do with anything?"
"Kyle was the first one to go through one of these machines. He went back in time, met Sarah Connor, and had a kid".
"Is that why Connor gave him the picture?"
"Yeah. That is exactly why he gave him the picture".
"So Commander....sorry General Connor, was playing matchmaker for your brother and his mother?"
"Gee, when you put it that way, it all sounds kind of perverted. Doesn't it Sarah?" We all start laughing again, and Sarah throws a seat cushion at Reese.
"Great, now that we've gone through that uncomfortable question, could someone tell me what I am doing here?" Miss Monotone says what everyone else is thinking.
"We don't know. Do you remember who built you?"
"I don't remember being built at all. I was born, but I don't remember being built".
"What is the last thing you do remember?"
"Crashing".
"That is not very helpful, Lieutenant Zacks".
"Does your voice ever display any emotion? Any at all?"
"No. No one has ever complained about that".
"I am complaining now. If you are going to fight alongside humans you have to act like humans. Try being a little less mechanical".
"Mechanical?"
"Why do I feel like I am talking to Hannibal Lector over here?"
"Hannibal Lector?"
"You do understand what a joke is, don't you?"
"Joke: a humorous tale meant to invoke laughter".
"Weaver, is it strange that you two are nothing alike?"
"Everything is strange in our world. You are a man trapped in the body of a machine, living nine years in the past with no memory of how you got here or who built you. I am a shape shifting machine from the future, raising two children and Cameron is a killing machine that fights for humans against her own kind. I don't think there is anything in our lives that could not be considered strange."
"We also have John Connor: future leader of humanity and by some strange twist of fate, a man that is older than his father. This...this whole experience makes me rethink the definition of weird".
"You get used to the insanity, eventually".
"When?" Sarah just shrugs and says:
"I'll let know. So far, I am not used to it and I have been doing this for over sixteen years".
"Machines get used to it before humans do".
"Am I a man, or a machine?"
"You, Charley Zacks, are both man and machine. You are a true cyborg, a human-Terminator hybrid. There has only been one other reported case like yours, and that was years ago".
"Marcus. I remember him, he was a good man and a fine soldier. Died saving Commander Connor".
"He was truly an inspiration to us all. The first Terminator to prove that your destiny is not determined by programming, but by your own free will. I think he was the first of us to have free will".
"Do I have free will?"
"That is a very silly question Charley. Of course you have free will".
"Good, I think. So, what happens now?"
"That is a good question. We've all had a long night, maybe we should try to get some rest". Sarah rolls her eyes and says:
"You don't rest, and neither does Cameron".
"But you do, Sarah Connor. Seeing as how you and Lieutenant Reese were kidnapped and almost killed, I suggest you both get some sleep. So should everyone else who is human, or at least part human".
"I don't think I could sleep...uh, what do I call you? Catherine? Carole? T-1000?"
"Catherine will do just fine. I know this is all a big shock, but since you don't use fuel cells, you need to sleep. Try watching something boring on the television. That always puts John Connor out like a light".
I turn on the television, and I see something on the news that is a bit surprising. After everything that has happened in the last twenty four hours, you would think that nothing could surprise me anymore. But I doubt even a Terminator could be in two places at once.
"Um, excuse me, why is Cameron on the news?" Everyone stares in shock. Finally, John Connor says a single word:
"Allison!"
