Terminator: Return of the Fallen
Part XXXV
Hours go by, and there has been no sign of the enemy. We patrol the convention center, waiting for the Terminator to return. Around midday, we hear the sounds of gunfire. This is followed by the sounds of automatic weapons fire and men screaming. Its back and it brought some friends along.
The front doors come crashing down as two T-600s barge into the convention hall. They immediately begin to spray the area with their Gatling guns. Everyone hits the floor and tries to find some form of cover. The walls of the convention hall begin to resemble the surface of the moon, and the primitive robots that are scattered throughout the hall are being demolished. I can't spot the T-888. Rather than waste the few railgun projectiles we have on T-600s, I decide to take these guys out the old fashioned way. I look over at Cameron, and I can tell that she has the same idea. We swing our weapons over our shoulders and prepare to engage the enemy.
We get up simultaneously and charge at the T-600s. They focus on us and open fire. The bullets from their Gatling guns shred our flesh and splatter our blood all over the convention center, but they are unable to puncture our armour. We continue to run towards them as our skin is torn away and our metal bodies are exposed. When we finally reach the bastards, we knock the weapons out of their hands and twist their heads off of their bodies. To make sure that they are dead, we both crush their heads like tin cans. Unfortunately, the T-600s were only a diversion.
"A very impressive display, but it was ultimately futile". The T-888 had slipped by us while we were preoccupied with the T-600s, and it now has a female hostage. "Drop your weapons, or I will kill her".
I have no idea who this young woman is. She might be important to the Resistance, or she might be one of the countless individuals who died on J-Day. Whoever she is, she is not going to die today. The T-888 has foolishly chosen to stand in front of the McGill robot. I look at Theo and I nod. The T-888 thinks that I am admitting defeat, and thus lowers his guard. I motion for Cameron to throw away her rifle, which she does without complaint. As I reach for the railgun, Theo hits a few buttons on his control panel. The robot from McGill brings its fist down directly on the T-888's head.
"WHAT THE....."
Stunned, the T-888 releases his hostage and she quickly drops to the ground. I level the railgun and fire a single projectile at the T-888's chest. The projectile rips straight through the T-888, destroying its power core and most of its internal systems. My stricken foe collapses on the floor with an exit wound large enough to shove my arm through. The gun worked perfectly, and the T-888 has been destroyed.
"WAAHOO! Scratch another Terminator!" As I survey what is left of the convention center, Cameron rushes to the entrance of the building. She looks around and then returns to the spot where I am standing.
"The security guards are dead".
"Courtesy of our unfriendly neighbourhood Terminators. Is anyone hurt in here?"
"Negative. My sensors do not detect any human injuries or fluids". I turn towards her with a puzzled look on my face. "No one is bleeding".
"Except for us. You look terrible. Are you hurt?"
"My armour has not been penetrated. Are you damaged?" A few immature individuals begin to giggle at this.
"I'm fine, and very mature people! Like you've never heard the word penetrated before". These are our best specialists on robotics?! Humanity is doomed.
Cameron and I both look horrific. Large chunks of flesh are missing and our shiny metal body parts are showing in various places. I am now missing my left cheek, and Cameron is missing patches of skin all over her face. Our shoulders and chests are shredded. Fortunately for both of us, the T-600 Gatling guns lack the firepower to damage our internal systems. We will both be fine in a few days. However, repairs will have to wait until these eggheads are safely returned to wherever the hell they came from.
"Attention please! May I have you attention", someone is speaking over the convention center's intercom system. "Due to recent events, the robotics competition is herby postponed until tomorrow. All teams are to return to their hotel rooms immediately. That is all". After the announcement has ended, Catherine turns to speak to me.
"I am going to check on Savannah at the babysitters. Do you think you can last through the night without me?"
"I can last through anything. Bon voyage, mon cheri". We kiss each other goodbye and then head off in separate directions.
This should make protecting the engineers a lot easier. First, Cameron and I grab the dead T-600s and carry them to a truck that Reese has.....appropriated. John Henry takes care of the dead T-888, so that he may hack its hardware and find out where the other ships are. Then, Cameron and I head to the hotel where the engineering students are staying and begin to guard their suites. The rooms are all on the same floor, so Cameron takes up position at one end of hall and I take up position at the other. The rest of the Connor clan will drop by later to relieve us.
"HALT OR I SHOOT!"
"Hold your fire, it's me!" I know that voice, it's Allison.
"Sorry, I guess I'm a little jumpy. Come on up". Allison walks up the stairs and stands next to me. "I was expecting someone a little more....invulnerable".
"I wouldn't hang up your railgun just yet; I'm not your relief. I just came up here to see how you are doing".
"I'm fine. Don't let all of the scars and missing flesh fool you, I am operating at 100%". She looks at me like I am full of shit. What does she know that I don't?
"So the machine part of you is fine, good. What about the man part of you?"
"I beg your pardon?"
"There are people from your past behind that door. How are you handling it?"
"Trust me; those are the days that I would rather forget". Allison sits down on the floor next to me.
"Really? Why is that?"
"Before J-Day, I was a complete failure. It was not until the world ended that my life really began. Can we talk about something else?"
"No. I want to hear about your old life. Why do you say it was a failure?"
"Because I was a failure. Let's start at the beginning: ever since I could walk, I always wanted to be an astronaut. For the first nineteen years of my life, everything I did was geared towards that goal. During elementary and high school, I was the best of the best. After high school, I learned that I wasn't smart, everyone else was just dumb. I lasted for three years of college before I finally flunked out of the sciences. My lifelong dream died on a Friday afternoon in an examination room".
"Then what happened?"
"Well, I was depressed for a long time after that. I even thought about killing myself. My dream had died and I wanted to die with it. Then one day, an old friend of the family needed someone to tutor her son about science. I took the job, the kid did great, and I loved every moment of it. My passion turned from science to teaching. That dream fizzled out during the first year of university".
"Why? What happened?"
"I'd rather not talk about it. Let's just say that the students were never in any danger with me and everyone just overreacted".
"What do you mean by overreacted?"
"Did you know that the doors of a squad car can not be opened from the inside?"
"You're kidding!"
"I wish. It all went away, eventually. I got booted out of the education program, but they kept me at McGill. So, I switched to history. History has always been a passion of mine. Military history in particular: I have studied everything from Alexander the Great to Patton. But even if I had graduated, that would never have amounted to anything".
"Why didn't you graduate?"
"Oh, right! You weren't in the living room when we had that conversation. Montreal was destroyed before I could graduate. But even if I had, there was never a future in history. In fact, Judgement Day was the best thing that ever happened to me".
"That has got to be the strangest thing that I have ever heard".
"But it's true. Everything that I had spent my entire life stressing over about was completely worthless after J-Day. All that mattered was that you could load a rifle quickly, shoot straight, and hit your target before it could hit you. Grades, resumes, good standing and studies, all of these things just disappear. The thing that I am best at is something that I never prepared for: being a soldier. Now, the boy who had no future is fighting for the future of all humanity. If I could see myself now, I would say: stop worrying about your grades and about how other people are thinking of you. All of that is going to disappear in a very short time. All that matters is that you can kill things faster than they can kill you". Throughout my life story, Allison just sat beside me and smiled. When I had finished, she stood up, kissed me on the forehead and said:
"Charley, you are the most unusual person I have ever met".
"I've always been unusual Allison. The difference is: I have finally found something that I am good at, something that matters. Fighting in the Resistance has been the greatest and most meaningful time of my life".
"If you say so. Everyone is staying in the hotel tonight, is it ok if I sleep here?"
"Sure, I'll introduce you". I walk over to the door and perform the secret knock. Theo opens the door to let us in. "Theo, this is my good friend Allison".
"Hello".
"Nice to meet you".
"Theo, Allison is someone that I love like a sister. If anyone touches her, anyone at all, I will kill them. Their death with be extremely slow and painful. Do we understand each other?"
"Touch your friend, we die. Got it".
"Good. Have a good night, little sister".
"Same to you, big brother. You are a bit overprotective sometimes".
"Only sometimes? I must not be doing my job right". Allison starts to laugh at me and then kisses me on the cheek.
"Stay safe, big brother".
"You too, little sister. I will see you in the morning".
The night is extremely boring. Nothing happens: no Terminator attacks, no paid assassins, not even a single drone strike. I guess losing three Terminators was enough to convince SkyNet that the egghead convention is too heavily defended to attack. I can't wait to get back to the Safe House so that Cameron and I can repair ourselves. Life is so much easier when only your enemy is afraid of you. People see me and then run in fear, and it's not because of the large gun that I am carrying. They run because I am not human. The maid actually fainted when she saw me. At first light, John Henry arrived to replace me while Catherine went to replace Cameron.
"We just need to protect them for five more hours; then they are home free".
"How are they getting home, anyway?"
"My mother has arranged special transportation for them".
"Which means?"
"Heavily guarded convoys. They will be protected by a small army".
"Will that be enough to defend against SkyNet?"
"Since we can not protect all of them after they leave the convention, it had better be. Don't worry, Charley. I think it is SkyNet that should be worried".
"You found the ships?" John Henry smiles and nods. "Great. Tomorrow, we start to destroy them. Excuse me while I check on Allison".
I open the door and let myself in. The hotel will probably bill Catherine for the lock I just destroyed, but I can probably intimidate them into leaving us alone. To my surprise, I find my old friend Theo sitting on the couch next to Allison.
"What the....?"
"Sorry, Charley", quips Theo, "We were up all night talking".
"About what?"
"Many things", replied Allison. "Your friend had a lot of nice things to say about you, Joshua".
"Don't call me that. That person died many years ago, I'm not him anymore".
"Too bad, he sounded like someone I would have liked to have met".
"You were a year old when I was him".
"This is true". Theo starts to laugh at this.
"This whole time travel thing, it is such a confusing subject".
"She's still underage, Theo".
"Not in Quebec".
"We're not in Quebec, are we?"
"Touche. Au revoir, Allison".
"Theo, we have been friends for a very long time. Don't make me kill you".
"Noted. See you at the convention".
The rest of the convention went off without a hitch. For five hours, I watched over the young engineers like a hawk. Anyone that I thought was suspicious was thrown out the door, quite literally. I had Reese spy on Theo, just to make sure he didn't get too far with Allison. When the time came for everyone to leave, Allison said goodbye to Theo as he boarded the bus home to Montreal. She insists that they became good friends during the night. I hope that is all that happened, but I guess I will never know. Anyway, I have bigger fish to fry. After I have helped everyone destroy SkyNet, I just might give Theo a little visit.
