Terminator: Return of the Fallen
Part XXV
Have you ever had a dream that you just can't escape from? For me, it is the same dream every night: I am on patrol with an infantry division in post-Judgement Day Los Angeles. Without warning, a plasma blast blows the head off of the man next to me. A firefight ensues between Resistance infantrymen and SkyNet T-700s, with both sides carrying plasma rifles. All around me, men are being blown to pieces. As I turn to issue orders, I get shot in the middle of my back. Paralyzed, I watch helplessly as the unit is torn apart by a volley of plasma fire. When the last soldier dies, she turns so that I may see her face, and it is Allison! From a nearby building, Catherine and John Henry attempt to reach me and get blown away by plasma rifles. One of the T-700s walks over to me, and I beg it to kill me too. It replies, in Charlotte's voice, that there is no need. That is when I wake up, drenched in sweat and praying to God that this isn't a premonition.
I know that Commander Connor never believed that the future was pre-determined. He always said that there is no fate but what we make, or something like that. I never really paid much attention to those speeches, because I believed they were hypothetical. I mean, who could have believed that you could actually try to change the past? But, what if the Commander was wrong? What if you really can't change your destiny? After everything we have done, Terminators are still in production, SkyNet still exists and Judgement Day could be just around the corner. Sarah's attack on Cyberdine postponed Judgement Day, but it did not prevent it. Are we all just wasting our time, trying to prevent the inevitable? Or, an even scarier thought, are we all making things worse? It's no wonder that I can't sleep.
In an attempt to clear my head, I take the non-armoured car into Los Angeles and drive around for a while. Normally, I try to avoid other people when I take a drive down town. This time, I notice a large, bulky man stumbling around like he is drunk or hurt. For some reason, I decide to help him. Something about this guy seems very familiar.
"Hey buddy, you need any help?"
He turns around and I see his face, only, it is not a face at all; it is a rubber mask! I knew he looked familiar. Shit! It's a T-600! If I understood correctly, T-600s can't use time machines. This guy is fresh off of the assembly line. Shit! He turns to run, and I leap out of the car and chase after him.
Fortunately, I am faster, stronger, and more agile than he is. I catch him without any trouble at all. He swings at me, but I catch his fist with one hand and break his arm with the other. Those glowing red eyes glare at me, staring straight into my soul. I shove the metal brute into a nearby wall and grab him by the throat.
"All right, you metal mother-fucker! Who built you? Answer me, or I will take you apart piece by piece!"
"Self-destruct initiated".
"Don't give me that crap! I know that T-600s don't have self-destruct mechanisms. Who built you?"
The bastard explodes, tearing apart my clothing and my flesh. Stupefied, I land flat on my ass in the middle of a dark alley. My M82 has been blown into the alley, but God only knows where it landed. Christ! I think I have T-600 fragments up my nose! I reach for my cell-phone to call the others, only to find out that I had landed on top of it. Now I have no weapon, no cell-phone, and no clue as to where that thing came from. Great!
After combing the alley for what seems like hours, I finally collect my M82 and all of the pieces from the destroyed T-600. I shove them all into the trunk of the car and head out towards the strip club where Charlotte the Terminator works. We meet a new Terminator and within a week, the T-600 comes off the assembly line! That can not be a coincidence. The song Hero is playing over the radio, and I keep trying to think of waves to interrogate a Terminator. This will not be easy. As I listen to the lyrics to Hero, I can not help but think of Commander Connor. This song fits him perfectly; he really should have made it his official anthem. I should bring this up the next time I see John, because he is the hero that will save us all. Ok, time to focus on the Terminator and think about this stuff later.
It seems like an eternity before I reach the strip club, but it has only been a few minutes. The back door is locked, so I break it down. A security guard tries to confront me, but I knock him out. No point in killing him, he is no threat to me or the Resistance. Charlotte is another story; I might have to kill her. I barge into the dressing room, scarring the crap out of all of the strippers.
"You! Tin-woman! We need to talk!"
"Later, ok. I have to go to work right now". I grab her by the throat and push her into a wall.
"You see my chest? It doesn't have any skin because a T-600 just blew it off! What do you know about this?"
"You're mistaken! The T-600 is non biological, so it can not time travel. You must have seen something else".
"Don't give me that bullshit! I know what a T-600 looks like. I've been chased by T-600s, I've nearly been killed by T-600s. Don't tell me that I am mistaken, because I know what I saw. Now, tell me what you know or I will rip out your power core and shove it down your throat!" Someone picks up a crowbar and strikes me on the back of the head. I just turn towards her and, as calmly as possible, state the following words: "Don't do that again, unless you wish to die".
"What the hell are you?"
"I'm a scary robot. Just like the one that BLEW UP IN MY FACE TONIGHT! Now start talking, turbo-bitch!"
"I don't know what you are talking about? T-600s should not exist yet. You are not making any sense". I punch her in the stomach as hard as possible. She doubles over as the wall behind her cracks. I'm not sure if I can actually rip out her power core, but I am going to try. "Please, I don't know anything". Maybe she is telling the truth, maybe she is not. Another woman tries to clobber me over the head with a tire iron, which is very irritating.
"KNOCK IT OFF!"
The women in the room are not sure if they should charge at me or run away from me. Charlotte actually looks like she is in pain, but I know for a fact that other Terminators can not feel pain. Cameron can not fell pain and neither can Catherine or John Henry. Suddenly, the sound of a Gatling gun echoes through the strip club. Charlotte and I just stare at each other.
"It...can't be".
"You really didn't know?" Ok, new plan: kill the T-600 and work this out latter.
I have no idea who or what the T-600 was looking for, but it has already killed everyone in the audience. This is not a targeted assignation attempt, this is a massacre. The T-600 notices me and sprays me with Gatling gun fire. Fortunately, the first T-600 destroyed my nerve endings, so I don't feel a thing. As I run towards it, I swear that I see fear in its red glowing eyes. I knock the Gatling gun out of its hand and into a nearby wall. The T-600 attempts to flee, but I grab its right arm and rip it out of its socket before doing the same thing to its left arm.
"I don't suppose you would be willing to tell me who sent you?"
"Negative".
"I didn't think so".
I kick the murdering machine and knock it flat on its ass. Bending over, I grab its head and I pull until it has been ripped from its chassis. Target neutralized! The sounds of police sirens echo through the night, announcing the arrival of the LAPD. Ironically, the first officer on the scene is one of those that I helped save from the T-1s.
"What the hell?"
"Sorry officer, another robot went on a rampage".
"This one is different from the others".
"New model. It won't bother anyone ever again". I keep my back turned towards the police officers, so that they do not see that I am a robot.
"Who are you?"
"Lieutenant Charles Zacks, Air Force, at your service".
"Figures the military would have something to do with this. Your people sending someone to pick this up?"
"No, I will take it back to base. I have to ask you to cordon off this area. National security; you understand, right?"
"Yeah, yeah. How do you plan on explaining this one?"
"Mob violence: that is the usual B.S. for this kind of massacre".
"Mob violence? With a Gatling gun?"
"Just do it!"
"All right. I hope you people know what you are doing".
"So do I, officer. So do I".
After the police have closed off the area, I pick up the dead T-600 and head out the back exit. After shoving the second T-600 into the trunk of my car, I notice that Charlotte has followed me out. Is she going to try to repair the T-600, or does she want to help me? Damn it, why do Terminators have to be such good liars? I can't tell if they really are on our side or not. It was so much easier when I thought they were all evil.
"You going to take that back home?"
"Of course I am. Do you want to accompany me?"
"Well, my clients have all been killed. So..."
"Fine, get in. If you betray me, I swear to God that I will destroy you".
"Understood, let's go".
As we drive back to the Safe House, I hum the song "Green Fields of France". Charlotte asks me about the song that I am humming, and I tell her that it is an old Scottish song about a soldier killed in the First World War. A song that I used to sing it to Catherine back when I was still human. Though it was written about the First World War, it was quite applicable to our situation. Charlotte keeps nagging me to sing the lyrics, and I eventually give in.
"I do have a lousy singing voice, you know".
"I don't care; I just want to hear it. Besides, Catherine has such fine tastes".
"Yes, she does. Well, here goes nothing:
How do you do, young Willie McBride? Do you mind if I sit here, down by your graveside? And rest for a while in the warm summer sun, I've been walking all day and I'm nearly done. And I see by your gravestone you were only 19, when you joined the great fallen in 1916. Well I hope you died quick and I hope you died clean, or Willie McBride was it slow and obscene? Did they beat the drums slowly? Did they play the pipes lowly? Did they sound the death march as they lowered you down? Did the band play the last post in Chorus? Did the pipes play the flowers of the forest?
And did you leave a wife or a sweetheart behind? In some loyal heart is your memory enshrined? And though you died back in 1916, in that loyal heart you're forever 19? Or are you a stranger without even a name? Enshrined forever behind some old glass pane. In an old photograph, torn, tattered, and stained. And faded to yellow in a brown leather frame. Did they beat the drums slowly? Did they play the pipes lowly? Did they sound the death march as they lowered you down? Did the band play the last post in Chorus? Did the pipes play the flowers of the forest?
The sun shining down on these green fields of France. The warm wind blows gently, and the red poppies dance. The trenches have vanished long under the plough. No gas, no barbed wire, no guns firing now. But here in this graveyard that's still no man's land, the countless white crosses in mute witness stand. To man's blind indifference to his fellow man and a whole generation who were butchered and damned. Did they beat the drums slowly? Did they play the pipes lowly? Did they sound the death march as they lowered you down? Did the band play the last post in Chorus? Did the pipes play the flowers of the forest?
And I can't help but wonder, no Willie McBride. Do all those who lie here know why they died? Did you really believe them when they told you the cause? Did you really believe that this war would end wars? But the suffering, the sorrow, the glory, the shame, the killing, the dying it was all done in vain. Oh Willie McBride it all happened again, and again and again and again and again. Did they beat the drums slowly? Did they play the pipes lowly? Did they sound the death march as they lowered you down? Did the band play the last post in Chorus? Did the pipes play the flowers of the forest?"
When I have finished singing, I look at Charlotte. To my surprise, she is crying. A Terminator, crying! She tells me that the song was very beautiful. I thank her and tell her that Catherine thought so as well. It is the only Scottish song that I know, but I know it by heart. We start to actually talk to each other, and ride seems to just fly by.
When we reach the Safe House, Charlotte helps me unload the wreckage of the two T-600s from the trunk. I walk through the door first, just to make sure that everyone is all right. Allison is the first one to see me, and she looks concerned.
"You look like shit! What the hell happened to you?"
"We have a problem. A really big problem".
