Z Plus Seven Years Fifty Three Days
Lisa came into the Dorms, and found Carla at the far end of the room, lying on her cot, curled into the fetal position. Lisa came over to her and sat down on the end of the cot. "Hand it over."
Carla sighed thickly and handed over the bottle. "Kate send you?"
Lisa snorted. "Nope. I just wanted to get a little drunk."
Carla opened one eye. "Bad day?"
"Tony woke up."
Carla opened her other eye too. "And?"
"And he told me to take a long walk, preferably one way."
Carla sat up, head between her knees, fighting vertigo. "Ignore him. Stick around."
"What?"
Carla snorted. "You two never figured it out did you? You started out as survivors. And you keep surviving. He wants you to go away because you never signed on for a guy that lost an arm. He's embarrassed."
"I don't care about that. You're right. We were…" Lisa slugged back a drink straight from the bottle again. "Survivors survive. I… I needed someone. Someone to feel, to touch… And he was available. But… he has to survive too right? I mean, he's got to need someone too. Like I do?"
Carla nodded. "I think there has to be more to it than that though."
"Like what?"
"I don't know. But… after I saw you two holding on together like you were… I tried to find something like that too. Remember Paco?"
Lisa drank again. "Heh. Yeah. Poor bastard."
"It didn't work. Not like with you and Sherrin. There has to be something more than just survival. Because it works for you, but not for me."
Lisa thought about that, but didn't say anything.
"And after Paco… I just stopped wanting. Till Martie. And he was a goddamn Machine!" Carla was off on her own tangent now, and she took the bottle back and drained a third of it without pausing for breath. "Man, I sure can pick 'em huh?"
Lisa let Carla take the bottle back, and the nurse promptly and curled around it protectively, lying back on her side.
Kate was expecting riots to break out the second news of the infiltrators became public. She wasn't sure if she was relieved or nervous when they didn't come. What she did know was that the instincts that had saved hr life out on battlefields were now screaming at her every second she was walking around the base. She could feel eyes on her every second, and half of them were coming from her own guards.
The Main Tunnel in Crystal Peak was the hub of the underground. And yet it seemed to be near a ghost town. What few people there were acted truly feral, sticking with the people they knew personally, watching everyone else. The silence was so oppressive and the tension so thick that Kate fought not to look over her shoulder every second.
"Ma'am?"
Kate fought not to jump out of her skin. She turned casually. "Baz?"
Basil came running up to her. "Ma'am… I don't know how to ask this. Is Carla still part of the Medical Staff?"
"Of course she is!"
"Well… I ask, because she had a shift this morning and she didn't show. She was in talks with The General last night, and I didn't know if she was under arrest or anything…"
"She's not." Kate said pointedly. "She's just having a bad week."
Basil nodded curtly. "Not so bad as some."
Kate didn't like the tone, but he was far from the first person to say such a thing. "Was that all you wanted to ask me?"
"No Ma'am, I wanted to let you know that Colonel Walters has returned. His unit… what's left of it anyway, is coming in at the Main Door now."
"Got the K-9's set up?"
"We haven't constructed the sealed entrance for their compartment yet. We've been running incoming people past the K-9's at the elevator."
"We'd better get up there, see to any wounded, calm things down."
Even with warning, even when she was expecting it, Kate was stunned at how few people were coming in. The casualty rate had dropped so dramatically over the years… in one day; Skynet had made up the numbers. There had to be less than twenty of them. The looks on their faces were disbelief, even a day later. People survived by rolling with the punches. And none of them could look at each other.
Kate moved down the line of people, checking a bandage here, or giving a smile there…
When she saw Eric, and his weary exhausted smile unchanged, she felt immeasurably lighter, relieved.
"Eric! A friend at last!" Kate called cheerfully.
Walters grinned tiredly. "I heard you guys needed some adult supervision back here." He came over and gave Kate a friendly hug. She was a little surprised, until he put his lips near her ear and whispered. "I think we have another Infiltrator in my unit. Big guy, wearing the leather jacket."
Big guy? Leather jacket? Kate felt her heart rate spike and returned the hug, looking over Eric's shoulder. No. It wasn't him. It wasn't 'their' Terminator.
Kate broke the hug. "Okay! Everyone, I'm going to ask you to line up over here before you put your things down. With the Infiltrators about, we can't risk them putting anything in anyone's bags. You may be carrying something and not know it."
That was the official reason to have the dogs marched up and down the row of them. Nobody believed it. But they all wanted to know if there were machines in the line. Everyone obeyed, looking at each other suspiciously.
"Mom?"
Kate spun and saw Robbie over with the K-9 Units. He was always with them, or in the Orchard. "Robbie! You shouldn't be up here!" She told him. The response was instinctive, unplanned. She hated herself for it instantly. She was acting like everything was still unthinkably dangerous, and even their own doorstep wasn't safe.
Robbie froze. "Where should I be?"
Kate took the opportunity. "I want you to go down and check in with the Tunnel Rats, make sure they know what's going on."
The Tunnel rats often spent every minute with the adults, and then vanished into the lower tunnels without making contact for weeks at a time. Nobody had seen them since the first infiltrator, and Kate was the closest thing to a mother that they all had.
Walters gave her a jaded look. "When was the last time you slept?"
Kate never took her eyes off the K-9 unit as it walked it's way up and down the length of the row. The dog didn't bark, didn't attack. Kate felt herself relax the tiniest bit, and realized with Eric's words how exhausted she felt. "Sleep? I remember that. Vaguely."
"Take a few hours." Eric told her. "I slept on the way back. I can handle things for a while."
Z Plus Seven Years Fifty Four Days
The fear that Kate felt when she realized that her kidnappers had taken her to a graveyard was muted when she saw John's face. His mother's grave? And it was full of guns?
Kate was an Army Brat. She knew from the first moment which gun was loaded, which one would work. She snatched one of them and pointed it at the biggest man. He was the dangerous one. "Let me go, or I shoot you."
John was mildly amused. "Go ahead. See what happens."
Kate sent him a look, thrown by how blasé he was about it, when the big guy moved, quick as a rattlesnake for her gun. It was too fast for her to react, but pulling the gun from her hand moved her fingers against the trigger.
BLAM!
Everything. Stopped.
The huge man worked his jaw, like there was something in his mouth. He spat it out.
It was the bullet, flattened by the impact.
The… whatever he was, didn't even seem annoyed. "Don't do that."
Kate's brain was reeling. It wasn't a trick. There was no time for him to fake it. It was real. Like that blonde woman who could tear the door off her car and get back up again when hit by a truck.
He wasn't human. But he had to be human. He looked human. But he wasn't…
Kate woke up, gasping for air. God she hated dreams like that!
She reached over on the bed. He wasn't there. She knew it already. If he was there, she wouldn't have been having a nightmare. He would have woken her up before the cold sweat started.
She checked her watch. He wasn't on duty; not that the clock ever stopped him…
Then memory caught up, and she knew where he was.
Kate came into the Tech lab. The machine was lying dead on the table, with two techies disassembling it.
And it was covered in human skin.
It was not their Terminator, not the one that had saved her life. This was a different face, a different machine. One of them. Kate shivered.
Connor glanced over his shoulder at the door and saw her. "Men, give us a few minutes."
The soldiers quickly made their way out of the room, leaving them alone with the machine.
"Kate, shut the door please."
Kate noticed idly that she was one of the few people that he had to say 'Please' to; but she shut the door and came over to the table to join him. She threaded her fingers through his gently. "It's just a machine." She whispered.
"I know." John sighed.
"How... I mean, you knew what he was, before he did anything."
"The first machine I ever met was identical to the one that came after my parents. When we came to free my mom from the Psych ward... it's the only time I ever saw her scared Kate. She was screaming like a terrified six year old. My bodyguard was every nightmare she'd had for ten years. The H/K's I had to learn about. These machines I understand. Mom didn't teach me to watch for H/K's, she taught me to watch the guy next door."
"First machine I ever saw was the TX. We still haven't seen anything close." She gestured at the one they had killed. "Is it... like him?"
He knew what she meant. "No. Getting there though. Skynet learned guerrilla warfare."
"Skynet learned that from us."
"The ground game isn't working for Skynet. We're under its feet, and it can't dig down fast enough, and it can't fight its way through the entrances with the soldier's alone."
Kate shivered. "How does this change things?"
"It'll start sending Infiltrators in all over the place. The war isn't about territory any more. Now it's... attrition. They'll grind us out. One by one."
"The H/K's for when we go overground, the infiltrators for when we go underground." Kate shivered. The gloves were off. "The paranoia's getting to me too John."
"Yeah?"
"I can't help but think that if I was Skynet, and I had a Time Machine, I wouldn't have to send my assassins back to Pre-Judgment Day alone. For all we know, Skynet sent a Terminator back, programmed to live a human life, just so that an Infiltrator could be above suspicion; one of the people we've known for years."
Connor smirked. "What about you Kate? The only time I've seen you with anything resembling a K-9 unit is when you had me locked in a cage in your veterinary clinic. The dogs were going nuts the whole time."
Kate smirked. "What about you Connor? You were in the clinic too. And it's remarkable how much you seem to know about Machines…"
Connor looked over his shoulder quickly. "Hey, careful with that talk, even in fun. Seems like every two years I have to convince everyone I'm not secretly Skynet in disguise."
"No, far better that they think you're clairvoyant." Kate snorted and rubbed her eyes. "Some extraordinary rumors flying around. This is going to be all kinds of bad."
John wasn't looking at the Terminator any more, he was staring at her.
Kate didn't speak for a while. "John... um, it's... it's the first infiltrator we've seen."
"Won't be the last." Connor agreed.
"This is why the machine's pulled back behind the their lines. It wasn't to defend itself, it was to buy time... it was because they had a new game-plan." Kate said. "They spent five years preparing this exact moment. Every battle fought for five years was just them keeping us busy."
"We're gonna have a problem with sabotage for a while." Connor said.
"Almost certainly." Kate agreed.
"And we've gotta screen the rest of the survivors once they get back."
"I've already sent Jason's K-9 team to meet them at Checkpoint Niner."
"Good." Connor said sullenly.
Kate sent him a look. John hadn't been like this since he realized stopping J-Day was a lost cause. "John? Talk to me."
Connor seethed. For a moment, Kate expected to see fire coming out of his eyes. "Five years." He said finally.
"Yeah?"
"Five years they've been preparing this. And so have I! K-9 Units in every sector, rotating people across the Units so they all know each other… It took us how long to tame those feral pups? And for what? I've known this was coming since I was ten years old, and they just walked through of it like it was nothing!"
"It's not your fault John." She told him seriously.
"Just like stopping J-Day wasn't my fault." Connor sighed. "Mom was spewing prophecies about the end of the world my whole life, and I still couldn't stop any of this. What is the point of being Sarah Connor's son if I can't fight fate?"
"Your mother knew it was coming for the exact same reason you did: Because it had happened to her already. She knew about the infiltrators the same way she knew about any of this. You told me five years ago that the future was so fragile now that things had changed. I told you that nothing had changed. She never said you would stop the war. You were meant to win it."
He was still staring at her, and she suddenly realized he was borderline furious. "I would really think Kate that you'd want to be careful tossing around arguments like 'fate' around me."
"What do you mean?" She asked awkwardly.
"The gun went off, and you screamed, 'Go Nova' and ten guys jumped up and surrounded me. 'Nova' is not a codeword I recognize. The reaction was trained. Kate. Is there something you want to tell me?"
Kate suddenly felt about ten years old and looked down at her feet. "I... about six months ago I started training a small group from your own Unit, people who were almost always on assignment at Crystal Peak..."
"You put together a team of bodyguards."
"Yes."
"For me."
"Yes."
"Anybody else?" he already knew the answer.
"Just you."
John's face twisted. "And you didn't tell me this because...?"
"Because it needed to be done and you would have said no."
"Don't handle me Kate!" John yelled. "Jackson is dead! You should have told me about this!"
"And how would he have been better off if you'd taken the hit instead?"
"He'd be alive."
"Not for long he wouldn't." Kate snapped. "Not without you."
Nuclear silence.
"Kate..." John said in a suddenly hollow whisper. "Don't. Don't say that, don't ever think that. I... I cannot have this from my wife. From the refugees, I can handle it, from the soldiers; it's almost helpful, from my wife... If you start telling me about how 'I'm too important'..."
"You are."
"DAMMIT KATE!" John exploded.
Kate clapped a hand over his mouth. "Eric couldn't have done this. Uncle Chet couldn't have done this. Every single one of those prisoners, those refugees, trapped in brain-lock, staring at the hell left after Judgment Day, frozen in terror at the sight of a machine army... for you it was just another day. I don't care what you think, you are important!"
Long beat. John's face had hardened, his back straightened... somehow he was two feet taller and just... bigger. He was The General suddenly. Something he never was when it was just them alone together. She had brought the war into their private little world. Kate knew she couldn't leave it like that.
"I promise; to me, you're still the kid who tripped on the stairs in Mike Kripkie's basement."
It wasn't enough. Connor smirked, just a little, but it wasn't enough. She pushed a little harder.
"You bit my lip that night too." Kate continued, deadpan.
Connor snorted, amused. "Oh really? Don't lay it all on me. I believe it takes two."
"Don't laugh. It's a damn good thing you learn fast; because you set a very low standard for all my future make-out sessions."
It was enough. Connor laughed, and just like that he was her John again. She went over and gave him a hug.
"I don't mean to interrupt."
John and Kate spun. Eric was in the door. "I have been looking for you two over half the base."
"Eric?"
"They're on the move again!" Eric reported. "The H/K's are rolling this way. A full Company of them. Over twenty five at least."
"They're headed here?" Kate repeated. "Man, they've gotten bold."
"They're probing. They want to see if we've got anything left that can stop them, and where it is." Connor explained. "We've gotta cut them off before they get here. If they have other infiltrators in the base we'll be sealing ourselves in with them when their rollers get close enough."
"I don't know if we can." Walters admitted quietly.
"Who do we have out there?"
"Nobody strong enough yet. The H/K's are rolling from the east. We don't have anybody out there yet, because we're covering all the good ground down south. Everything to the east was shredded by the Infiltrators."
Connor sighed.
Kate glared at him.
Connor reacted. "What's that look for?"
"You know where we can get somebody to cut them off faster."
Connor sighed. "Yeah. Yeah, I do." He turned to Walters. "Eric-"
"We've already set up a secure line in the Mess."
Lisa came back into the Medbay. Sherrin was unconscious again. Lisa struggled not to fixate on the bandaged stump where his arm used to be.
"Back for round two, huh?" Basil quipped.
Lisa smirked. "Have I ever let him win a fight, ever?"
"Not that I can remember." Basil rubbed his eyes. "God, what a week."
"I hear you."
"You think there are any more of them?" Basil asked. "In the base I mean?"
"In the base? I doubt it. They made their move here already."
"Unless that's what they want us to think."
"Crystal Palace calling Castle Keepers. Come in Castle Keepers."
"This is Castle Keeper. Connor? You still alive?"
Connor smirked. "Good to hear from you too Noah. Put The General on."
"Uh... Connor, can you verify your identity please?"
"Noah, you're a frosty, snarky, sarcastic, machete-mouthed, uncompromising bitch." Connor said without hesitation.
Silence.
"Please hold for the General." Noah said politely.
Kate smirked at Connor when her radio buzzed. "Medical Emergency in the Shower Block!"
Kate bolted for the door.
Connor looked after her sadly. "It's started."
When Kate made it to the Showers, Basil was already there. "Baz! What have we got?"
"Single stab wound to the stomach." Baz reported. "Medbay got an anonymous tip off." His hands were covered in fresh blood. "Tell me that you've got an emergency kit."
Kate unslung the medical bag from her shoulder and got to work. "It's deep. Looks like it punctured his stomach." Kate said, getting to work quickly and efficiently. "WE NEED SOME HELP IN HERE!" She hollered.
Curious people answered her call and the victim was quickly carried toward the Medbay.
As they walked, Kate noticed people glancing at each other. Suspicion was spreading. Paranoia was close behind. It was going to get so much worse before it got better.
The radio picked up again. "Crypt." Whickham's voice said first thing.
"Eskimo." Connor responded with the appropriate code-word. It was not the first time he'd had a quiet word with the US Army remnant. "General Whickham. Have you been following recent developments?"
"Machines are flooding across the battlefields like the country sprang a leak. What happened?"
"Terminators can look human now."
"That's not funny!"
"It's not a joke. The reason Skynet is getting so far across the territory, is because all our people are getting blown away."
"What the hell happened?"
Kate and Basil were working over Haskin. Kate had his chest open, massaging the heart. "Blood Pressure?"
Basil checked again. "Barely registering." He checked. "It's gone."
Kate sighed, and pulled her hands out of his still chest. "All right. Make a note in the log. Time of death..." She looked at the clock on the wall. "9:16 PM." Kate set down her tools and sighed hard. She looked at Basil. "You were the first one on the scene. Was there any sign of who did it?"
"Nothing I could see."
Kate looked around. "Where's Stacey?" She asked finally. "Usually that pixie is here at night."
"Haven't seen her." Basil admitted. "Matter of fact, I haven't seen any of the Tunnel Rats since the Infiltrator announcement."
Kate swore under her breath. "It's so hard to get those kids to trust anyone, even five years later…"
"They trust you. They trust Connor." Basil said quietly. "But there are lots of other people here too. The kids can't be sure about all of them."
"We give in to fear and Skynet wins." Kate said.
"We die and Skynet wins." Basil pointed out. "I don't like what paranoia is doing either ma'am, but what's the alternative?"
"We've got one being taken apart by our techs now." Connor reported. "Everything, and I mean, everything on the surface looks human. We were completely taken in. They hit across all my Units at once. They've been feeding Infiltrators in for months. If you have refugees you'd better check them too."
"How? If, as you say, they look so real, how can we tell them apart?" Whickham's voice asked.
"The K-9 Units." Connor explained. "They can fool our eyes, but not bloodhound noses."
"Connor, you understand of course that this story is more than a little fantastic. We found the laboratories where they tried this sort of thing. They all gave up on it. And frankly… we've seen no sign of the Infiltrators. If, as you say, they made a coordinated assault all at once, then why have none of my people been affected? We're both active in this theater, we've both taken in refugees; we're both in the engagement zone. Why are you under attack and us not?"
"I don't know." Connor admitted. "It's possible that they never found you. You've been very mobile for most of the last year. In any event, this call isn't just to warn you."
"What then?"
"We've received word that there's a Skynet attack force moving through sector nine."
Silence.
"We're aware of it." Whickham's voice said finally.
"It's on its way here." Connor explained. "But you're much closer, and if you've escaped the Infiltrators..." The tone was clearly leading.
The War Room's radios started to buzz. "Security to the Mess Hall! Lots of Security!"
Walters took off. "Oldham, Let's move!"
Walter's and Oldham had picked up some soldiers on their way into the Mess Hall, and they knew what they'd find when they got there.
The roar was audible from halfway down the tunnel.
"Safeties on!" Walters barked, and led the charge.
It was unavoidable. Tensions were spiked, and the inhabitants of the Underground were not exactly relaxed when they knew who their enemy was.
There was a free-for-all riot underway in the Mess Hall, with no clear indication of who was on whose side. Soldiers were at each others throats, the civilians too. Food and trays were scattered everywhere. Benches and tables had been shattered under the thrown bodies, wreckage being used as clubs... Silverware was being used, and Walters saw steel, thrown food and spilled blood everywhere he looked.
Walters sent Oldham a look. The instruction was clear. Break up the violence.
Walters and his men charged forward, pulling apart various combatants forcibly. As they were pulled apart, most of them noticed they were being held back by senior officers, and cooled off. The civilians didn't and the fight intensified quickly, knocking them down.
Eventually, the battle settled enough as people noticed there was Officers trying to break it up.
Most of the civilians had come from places where violence and civil unrest was not uncommon. They knew the rules. When the battle started to go sour, disappear.
Walters and his men were too tangled into battle to chase them all down. The civilians vanished into every side tunnel, and the soldiers still rioting pressed the fight, too wild on the fight to notice it was a bad idea to try and punch out your superior officer.
The fight was effectively left between two groups. Walters tried to pull two of them apart, when the one he had a grip on whipped around and slugged him to the floor.
From the floor, Walters took it in quickly and saw that some of the Units were loosely sticking together and beating each other senseless.
Eventually though, Walters rolled free of the fight, pulled his gun, flipped off the safety, and fired a shot into the ceiling of the Tunnel.
BLAM!
Every soldier dropped instantly, diving for the floor in a well trained response.
There was no sound but heavy breathing for several seconds.
"Who started this Dust-Up?" Walters snarled. His lip was bleeding.
"They did!" Both units yelled in unison, pointing at the other side of the room.
Kate came into her room, looking tired. Her shoulders were always so tight after losing a patient.
"Mommy?"
She jumped. Spun around. Two small pairs of eyes were peeking out from under her bed. "Hey." She said softly. "What are you doing under there?"
Sarah and Robbie crawled out from under the bed. "I talked to them like you said." Robbie said. "The Tunnel Rats say we can't trust grown ups any more. They say that grown ups are Terminators now."
"Is that true?" Sarah demanded, scared. "Mommy, are you a Terminator too? Is Enrique? Uncle Eric?"
Kate felt worse. How was she supposed to tell them about this?
"You think she could be a Terminator?"
"Why not? Who knows how long they've had Human-looking machines. They made it into Crystal Peak, they could have made it into every base. I heard that we're falling back all over the place."
"I think that's because of the casualties though."
"Exactly! If I was Skynet, I wouldn't have my Infiltrators reveal themselves all at once. They could have been here for years!"
"Spend a lot of time thinking how to take Tech-Com out do you?"
"Don't give me that look! It's clear that the Machine means more to her than to any of the other Techs."
"You could say that about Connor too."
"Connor saw through the disguise. Of course he spends a lot of time studying it. But there's no reason for her to be so interested. What if she's not studying it? What if it's misinformation? What if she's hiding things we could learn because she's one of them?"
Connor came into his room, feeling wrung out.
Kate was waiting for him. "How did it go?"
"Well, he's going to take them on, but I don't know if he believed me about the Infiltrators."
"What possible reason would you have for lying to him?"
"He doesn't think I'm lying... He just doesn't know if I'm right. You remember the laboratory you and Carla were kept in? Not a one of those machines was a success."
"Well, they figured it out!" Kate stressed. She noticed he was staring at her. "What?"
"The riot got put down. But that was the Mess Hall, not the Shower Block. How did your thing go?"
Kate sighed. He was too perceptive when it came to her. "We have our first victim of paranoia. Haskin didn't make it."
John sighed and held her. "It's going to be a long week."
"I'm afraid it's not over yet." Kate said quietly. "You've got two more soldiers in there who need their General."
John sighed again. "How are they taking it?"
"I told them. They're freaked."
"Them and the rest of the Base."
The Presidential Suite had a private office. It had been converted into a bedroom for their two kids.
Neither of them was immediately visible. John went over to the closet and opened it. Sarah and Robbie were curled up under their blankets with their backs to the wall, pretending to sleep. "The closet?"
Robbie sat up. "We thought we heard something hiding in here. We figured if we were hiding in here instead, it might not come back."
Irrefutable child logic. John thought.
The General sat down between his kids. It was cramped in the closet, but there was nobody left in the human race that could be deemed 'normal weight', so there was room enough.
"I don't have any bothers or sisters." Connor said finally. "When I was your age, the monsters in the closet bothered me a bit too. So I told my mom. Mom came into my room, pulled a gun, and shot three holes in my closet."
Sarah and Robbie giggled.
"Monsters are terrified of kids with big brothers and sisters. You know why? Because big brothers and sisters have already faced the monsters, and gown up big enough to scare them away. There's no monster alive that can beat someone who is unafraid. So Robbie, you're safe. You've got Sarah here to scare the monsters away. Okay?"
"Okay."
"And Sarah, you're safe too. You know why?"
"Because you're my daddy."
"Thatta girl."
They sat quietly for a little while.
"Daddy… are there Terminators in the base?"
How does a five year old live like this? Connor asked himself, not for the first time. "Sweetie…" He said finally. "How many Terminators are there in the world?"
"I don't know." Sarah confessed.
"How many of them want to kill me?"
"All of them."
"And how many of them do I protect you from?"
Sarah smiled. "All of them."
"Good girl." His daughter was so much like her grandmother sometimes. "Now, Robbie. Do you remember that time you slept down with the Tunnel Rats?"
"Uh-huh."
"Remember they used to make scary noises while you slept? They were playing practical jokes. We're you scared?"
"Nope."
"Why not?"
Robbie shrugged. "If you can hear something, then it can't be dangerous. Dangerous things don't make any noise if they want to hurt you."
Connor couldn't help but smile. "There's been a lot of noise today. Grown ups, most of us come from a time when scary noises would keep you awake in the middle of the night. You kids are lucky. You're too smart for that. Grown ups that lived Back Before get scared of things. They were scared of things that weren't really there. But you two are too smart for that right?"
Two pairs of eyes were watching him intently, learning. "Yessir." They said honestly. The Children of the Dust had a whole new idea on what was scary. The human race had been reformed in the space of one generation.
"The only scary Terminators you have to worry about are the ones outside the base. And they won't get past me. They never have."
The kids nodded.
"Good. Now can we get out of this closet? It's tight in here."
The young ones giggled again and followed their dad out. The Presidential Suite had a study, converted into a children's room, complete with bunk beds, made from two cots and salvaged pipes.
Connor tucked his kids in. "You guys want me to send one of the K-9's in? They like you guys, and they can sniff out Terminators a mile away."
Robbie nodded. "Yes please." It wasn't fear. He liked the dogs.
"I'll go get one. I'll be right outside."
Connor left them alone for a minute.
"Sarah?" Robbie asked quietly. "Does Skynet get scared too?"
"Yeah."
"What's Skynet scared of?"
"Dad."
Walters came into the Motor Pool and found Lori there, giving some of the kids a quick lesson in how to drive, and how to siphon gas.
Lori noticed him come in, and noticed the fresh bruises forming on his face.
"Somebody forgot to duck." Lori commented by way of greeting.
Walters smirked. "Yeah. Riots in the Mess Hall."
"Anything in particular start it off?"
Walters shrugged. "We'll never be certain. Two guys in the Mess Hall were getting worked up over something, one threw a punch and the other had the rest of his Unit see it happen, and they move to defend their guy, the other guy had friends among the civilians in the room..."
"And the man in the back yelled 'everyone attack' and it turned into a bar room blitz?" Lori quipped.
"Something like that."
Lori nodded. "We've got the same thing going on in my Base. I've got civilians from all over staying with us. Most of them... they say this is how it starts. It starts with tension, violence starts... Somebody in charge goes too far... and then everyone's running again." She looked miserable. "It's happened again and again."
"It won't happen here." Walters promised.
"How do you know?"
"We've got Connor. He'll figure it out."
Lori rolled her eyes at him. "You've gotta stop that. He's an ordinary man, not the Second Coming."
"Never said he was."
"Eric, I gave up everything to join this little Army. I turned my family of survivors and refugees into a Unit of soldiers. I joined a war that I never wanted to join, and... and I did it all because John Connor said so. I need to know it's going to hold together."
Walters grinned. "So... You never wanted to join. You never wanted to fight. You never wanted to tell your little band to do the same. But you did it because in a world where everything was coming part, Connor told you to do it."
Lori nodded exactly once. "Yeah?"
Walters grinned. "Don't tell me he's just an ordinary man."
There was a light knock at the door. "Come in." Connor said quietly.
Loud enough to be heard. The door opened, and Enrique let himself in. "Wasn't sure if you wanted to talk in here."
Connor waved him over. Enrique sat down on the edge of the cot, as Sarah and Robbie snoozed in their cots, the K-9 stretched out in front of their Bunks. "I like watching them. It's not healthy, I know. But mom did it too… freaked me out some days."
Enrique smirked. "What do you need fearless leader?"
"You remember when we managed to get the cartels to take over what was left of the Mexican Army?"
"I remember."
"Well, now we need them to stop working for us, and start working with us."
"What do you mean?"
"I mean, we've had our people spread too thin to keep the intelligence coming from the South American continent. It's because the soldiers down there fight under the Tech-Com banner, but that's mostly a letterhead. Our people are covering half of South America with the Cartel Union. So far south in fact that I had to farm out an operation like stopping an H/K invasion toward Crystal Peak. If Whickham was still holding a grudge, they would be here in days. We don't have anything left that could do the job after this week. The forces we could have called on were in South America running around like Mall Cops."
"The Cartel Union was put together by a nasty bunch of people Johan. They ran a fair hunk of that country long before John Connor came along and gave them permission. They're stone killers sir; they ain't cuddly like me. And they don't like playing with others."
Connor nodded. "I know. But the civilians all across their country were glad to have us there because the Union men were sucking them dry with protection rackets. Now we're feeding them. We can make a case."
"For what? Taking control?"
"Not control, just... authority. Let the Cartels run the place. They're Stone Killers. I have no problem with them patrolling down there. Most of Skynet is to the north. We've cleared out the South. We don't need to put all our people in secured areas just to keep the Union in line."
"What do you want to do?"
"Make a deal. Put someone we trust in charge. Someone who will keep us informed, and who will trade the resources in and out."
"They won't like that."
"Tell them that in return, they get Tech-Com out of their backyard. They have direct control of their territory again."
"You're giving them the entire South American Continent!"
"Well I don't have any choice!" Connor hissed, mindful of his kids sleeping close by. "The Protection Rackets got broken up. If we pick someone who they'll respect, he can play sheriff without us, and keep us informed. I'd rather have them at my back and all my own soldiers up north where they have an enemy to fight."
Enrique nodded, conceding to the logic. Then he paused and his nose wrinkled. "Wait."
"Here it comes." Connor said to himself.
"'Tell them that in return...'" Enrique repeated. "Those were your exact words. As if... as if you were planning to send me to do this."
"Well... now there's an interesting idea. Thank you for volunteering."
Enrique whined. "Are you... are you benching me? Promoting me out of the way? I'm an old man John... but..."
"I'm not benching you. If I were, I would make you Governor."
"Governor?"
"Well, whatever title they want."
Enrique just looked at him.
"I mean it. This is strictly a one time deal. Convince them to do this, just like you convinced them to come on board."
Enrique was silent a moment. "Once... before you were born, I was on rotation in Burma. I was on deep recon, when suddenly out of nowhere this tiger jumps me. Just up and lunges. I was freaked. The thing had me cold. Somehow I got my rifle up and blew a hole through it's head. I searched for game, I searched for cubs... I couldn't for the life of me figure out why it attacked. Predators in the jungle only hunt while they're hungry or scared. Then I got a look at the tiger. It was... old. It was so old for a cat. Tigers... when they know they're getting past it, sometimes they'll wander off from the pride and pick a fight with something. They go down swinging. John... I'm an old man. Lots of old war heroes make the switch to leadership... I'm not one of those guys. I'm the Tiger. Promise me John. One soldier to another. I'm a warrior."
John reached out a hand and caught him in a hand-clasp. One that only soldiers used. "I promise."
"I'll get them in line. I'll make them listen. I'll make them pick someone I trust to follow you and lead them. They'll cover your back. And then I'll come back here and go back to the war. Promise me."
Connor looked back at him with open camaraderie. "Enrique... what am I once this war ends? Since the day I was born I have lived and breathed this war. What do I do when it ends, win or lose?"
Enrique took that in. "Well. You and me Connor. We're the old soldiers."
Connor smirked. "You think there's any chance at all I'll get to just fade away?"
Enrique smiled sadly. "Nope."
Kate was dictating a report. With paper not coming in ever again, and what trees they had far too precious to cut down, most reports were recorded, and then storied in the disembodied Hard Drives of the captured Terminators. Without a machine connected to any of them, it was safe.
Kate felt a tugging on her uniform and looked down. "Mac." She smiled. "What brings you down here?"
"Is mommy dead?" The boy asked. He didn't seem scared, didn't seem angry. He was just asking for the facts.
Kate reacted. "What? No! Of course not sweetie, why would you say that?"
"Nobody will tell me what happened to her. Nobody will tell me where she is!"
Kate felt her stomach twist for the thirtieth time that day. "Your mom… is sick. That's all."
"Will… will she get better?"
"Of course she will. But until then, she wants you to be looked after."
His eyes flashed. "I don't need looking after."
"I know, but you know how mothers are." Kate shared a conspiratorial wink with the kid, and he seemed mollified enough by that.
Kate's radio crackled. "Medical Emergency in the Kitchens."
Kate was up instantly. "Stay here!" She told Mac, running for the kitchens, knowing what she'd find. "Maybe one day I'll able to finish a conversation without someone getting stabbed!"
Kate came running into the kitchens. There was a body on the floor, and she grabbed the first clean looking dishcloth she could find. The body was face down and not moving. A single stab through the stomach. "I NEED SOME HELP IN HERE!"
The kitchen Staff came running in. The first medic through was Basil. "Ma'am?"
"Baz! Do you have an Emergency Kit?"
Basil hefted it off his shoulder and knelt down next to Kate quickly.
Kate stormed into the Conference Room, ignored the other lieutenants gathered around, and threw the medical bag against the wall a little harder than was wise, dropping into her seat. "Connor, you gotta get this base sorted the hell out!"
Connor nodded. "I know. What's the count?"
"We're up to thirty-five outbreaks of violence. The casualties are flooding in given that we haven't actually been engaged in combat. We have a total of five dead, forty six wounded. The wounds aren't overly severe, but the deaths are worrying me. The first three of them… have abrasions around their necks, pretty much identical, and they all came in after the first riot. My guess is… they were hung. And then cut down again. Or at the very least strangled without warning."
"Lynching." Connor said darkly.
"That's the way it looks. But of course there's no way to prove it, or to prove who did it. It could have happened during the riots. Haskin is the only isolated fatality so far, but there's something that's been worrying me. The Haskin attack is not isolated."
"Well, obviously…"
"Nono, that's not what I mean." Kate stopped him. "There's been violence, but mostly it was tension or suspicion getting the better of people, leading to fistfights and such. The riots apparently included three people getting lynched… But Haskin was ambushed with one fatal blow. No sign of violence or offensive wounds. Just a quick stab."
"Another infiltrator?" Gould suggested.
"If I had to guess, I'd say no." Kate said. "A Terminator would go for a fatal blow. A stomach wound is slower and much more painful. There's riot style violence… and there's whoever's stabbing people in the dark. So far we have two victims." Kate took a breath. "There's also been an alarming trend of mutilations."
"Mutilation?" Walters said in surprise.
"A lot of people have been… carving each other open to check for metal. Consensually. There's a spot behind the ear, above the ankle… You slice in and peel the skin back. People see bone and not steel, they let you go. I've got fourteen people in Medbay with infections. Dirty blades. That's not even counting the two dozen people who cut too deep or in the wrong place. " She rubbed her face. "People are freaked. They're good at hiding it nowadays, but they're losing it. People who knew each other before the war, or at least before the base are teaming up, people who cut each other open are sticking together… The lines are being drawn out there!"
"Eric, do we have any magnets in base?" Connor asked suddenly.
"Magnets?"
"If we do, let the word get out about them, then turn your back for about five minutes. Given the choice between blades and magnets being waved at people, I'd rather the one that doesn't make people bleed."
It would have been funny if it wasn't so serious. "That… might actually work."
Connor nodded. "Tactical Situation?"
"We're falling back on every front." Walters reported. "We've got people who can't even get a ride here because their units were chewed up so bad. Skynet isn't marching, they're charging. All offensive units will have to be redrawn. The forward points were surrounded in the first few hours, because their backup was taken out. Skynet knew exactly where to put it's infiltrators to do the most damage. Forward units were hit by the Main Skynet Forces. Everything in between, all our mobile bases…We may not have a casualty list for weeks."
"Anybody who walks in on foot will be suspected as a Terminator coming in alone." Kate pointed out. "We've got to have everyone checked before they get inside."
"We're pulling people back as fast as we can to get some kind of numbers back, but we're being spread pretty thin."
"Our Scrubbed Machines are losing ground too." Gould reported. "Every machine fighting on our side was programmed to avoid people at all costs. They don't have an uplink to Skynet any more, so they don't know about the Infiltrators. They see something with skin coming and they go the other way. Skynet's herding them into kill-zones. And with the upgraded battle chassis... Our machines have the numbers, the infiltrators have everything else."
Silence.
"In most wars…" Connor said quietly. "In most wars, soldiers are trained to try and turn off that human part of themselves. That part of themselves that gets scared, freezes on battlefields… and most importantly, wants to make friends. We want to make friends, get close, but we try to distance ourselves from people we meet on battlefields, so that it doesn't cut us as deeply when we lose them. But that distance cost us a lot today. And I fear that it will make it harder for us to stand together ever again." He turned to the people around his table. "You have to… encourage that kind of connection. It will make the war harder, but knowing every soldier like a brother is the only way we can find out who's actually on our side."
"Well I hope that's enough." Eric said quietly. "Because as of this moment, we are losing the war."
Silence as that thought went through their minds for a long time.
There was a swift knock on the door.
"Enter." Connor called.
Amil came in quickly. "General, we've lost contact with General Whickham's forces."
Kate's gaze swiveled to her husband instantly.
Walters also sent Connor a look. "We… shouldn't." He said quietly. "I don't mean to be cold about this, but we can barely keep our own survivors ahead of Skynet's charge now. We called Whickham because his forces were a good distance away from here. There's a reason we couldn't make that counterattack ourselves. We are running out of Army. And frankly… Whickham's people made their choice. They are not a priority!"
Enrique piped up for the first time. "And we don't even know for sure if there's a problem. They're off the air, but that doesn't mean anything."
Silence as every eye turned to Connor for a decision.
Connor nodded. "But they're human beings. We're still an endangered species. A little more so today. Us against them. Eric, get the 52nd together."
"The 52nd is the only complete Unit still at the base sir." Walters said carefully. "Taking them that deep into uncontrolled territory would leave us defenseless, except for your Unit...and frankly sir, I don't know if one Unit will make it."
"I know that. Which is why you're taking the 57th." Connor said. "By the time you get out to the Front-Line, it will have come closer enough to us that I can rope the survivors together enough with the 52nd to give you a window. Make your way to The Castle Keepers last known co-ordinates and do not engage until you have assessed the situation."
"Yessir." Walters was taken aback. It was the first time that Connor's Own would be going into battle without Connor himself present.
"Where are they now?"
"Amil?"
"Sector eighteen."
Walters spun on Connor. "They got that close?"
"They've been mobile a while, but they're like that because they're running. It's just good sense that they come away from Skynet."
Kate glanced at Connor.
Connor looked right back. I don't want you out there Kate. The war's going bad for us!
Kate sent her husband a look. Please!
This all past between them in a second, and Connor spoke. "Kate. Get your people together. Round up anybody who needs medical attention."
Connor's Own were legendary. They had never failed a mission. They had never taken casualties over 5%, and they had torn down the walls that all had deemed unbreakable. In all of them was confidence. Unmatched, well-earned confidence. But this mission was the first that they would undertake without Connor himself. Everyone understood why. Connor had already briefed them on the mission plan, and on what their General was going to be doing to get them in. They all accepted it. If he wasn't to command them, then he was at least their guardian angel.
Nevertheless, when they saw Carla in fatigues, laying out her gear with Kate, the unspoken tension spiked through the roof.
"Uh… Ma'am are you sure you want to take her with you?"
Kate turned on him. "And why wouldn't I?"
"Well… It's already bad luck going without Connor. And… Well, you know how she is about Machines."
Hushed silence. A lot of soldiers had some superstition in them. It wasn't unusual for people who were inches from death on a regular basis to have traditions to keep themselves thinking positive, but this...
Carla shrank somewhat into her uniform. "It's okay. I can stay here if it's going to be a proble-"
"The hell you will."
"Ma'am, I don't want anyone to-"
"Carla, their opinion doesn't enter into it. And neither does yours. It's an order."
"Y-Yes Ma'am." Carla looked down sickly, and lowered her voice as low as she could, unheard by any of the others. "Please order me to stay here."
Kate looked around. There was awkwardness; there was concern, even suspicion. The problem seemed less that people didn't trust Carla, as it was they didn't know how to act around her any longer. Everyone was walking on eggshells around the Head Nurse.
And they were going into a potential war zone. Awkwardness around each other was not something that could be easily tolerated on a battlefield, where a seconds hesitation could get you killed. She couldn't pretend their feelings didn't matter, no matter how much she hated it.
Feeling like a traitor, Kate nodded. "Carla, stay here and get things set up. We may be coming back with casualties."
Relieved, Carla stepped away from the others quickly. "Yes Ma'am."
As Carla left, Kate turned a level glare at the others. Not one of them could return her look. Not even one of them.
Kate hefted her Medical kit in one hand, and her Plasma Rifle in the other. "Let's move!"
Unseen by any of the others, Connor was standing just inside the door. He had never left them after wishing them luck, watching them leave. He reached out a hand without looking and caught Carla. "Something wrong?"
"Colonel Connor ordered me to stay here and set up…"
"Carla."
Carla didn't look at him. Couldn't look at him. Her eyes were red with barely restrained tears. "Nobody's talking to me any more. Nobody likes me any more." She said quietly. "I brought IT to lunch that day. I brought IT into our Mess hall, sat it down and gave it a plate. I was... I was close with it. He even smelled human. It. Not he. It." She shook her head and gave a bitter chuckle. "I wouldn't want me around either. I don't blame them. What the hell do you say to me?"
Connor took his friend in a tight hug. "You were duped. You're not a traitor Carla. You were a victim. A victim of their lies. And if they don't understand that; they will soon enough, because I can promise you this Carla: It will not be the last infiltrator we see." He hugged her tighter. "And if they don't get that, you've still got me and Kate, and Sarah, and Robbie. We all love you."
Carla sniffed and very slowly, lifted her arms to hug The General back. "Thank you sir."
"General Connor to the War Room." Crackled the PA.
Connor released Carla. "I have to go now."
"Yes sir."
Connor headed out. Carla went back to her room, went over to her cot and fished a flask out from under the mattress, ripping the top off and draining half the flask before pausing for breath.
"Mom?"
Carla turned around and saw Mac peering out from under the bed. "Hey baby."
"Are… are you okay?"
Carla struggled not to cry. Took another deep pull off the bottle to fortify herself. "Y-yeah."
Z Plus Seven Years Fifty Five Days
With both Kate and Walters gone, many more of the minutiae fell on Connor, and he covered them as best he could. The walk between The War Room and the Presidential Suite was a series of conversations.
"General?" Isabel Saint was the first. "Is the Route between here and the Yuba City still open?"
"Should be." Connor responded without breaking stride. "But it's not a secured area any longer. So if you want to slip further south and raid Sacramento for supplies, you had better think twice. Boiled sweets are popular, but it's not worth losing people."
"What makes you think I want to slip into Sacramento for ransacking purposes?" Isabel asked innocently.
Connor grinned and held out his hand. Saint gave him his watch back with a grin and headed off in another direction.
Lori fell into step with him in the same breath. "Have you two ever had a conversation that didn't end with her trying to swipe your watch?"
"Several. But during those conversations I took my watch off when I saw her coming." Connor quipped.
"I understand there have been some... unscheduled rowdy parties going on." Lori said. "I'm getting the same thing back in my base. Is there any way to know who's a Terminator or not?"
"We're working on that." Connor said.
"Would you mind telling me know the hell you knew about the K-9 Units?" Lori asked easily. "Because you had them with all the Mobile Units, and parked at attention outside all the entrances before we knew Infiltrators existed."
Connor let out a breath. Lori was too sharp sometimes. Fortunately, he'd been preparing cover stories for a while, this one wasn't that hard. "Before I met up with Walters, Kate and I spent a night in the home of Carla, her brother, her niece, and their friend Mac. That night we got picked up by Terminators. There were wild dogs in the area, and they all went berserk. You know any animal left that doesn't know to stay silent when there are predators around?"
"Not one." Lori conceded.
"And the day before we left LA, Kate and Carla got captured again. The laboratory they were in had Machines trying to upgrade to Infiltrators." Connor shrugged. "I figured I should play it safe."
"Ahh. Great job." Lori snorted sarcastically. "That was five years ago!"
"I like to plan ahead." Connor said plainly. "Lori, when you're in charge of a large group of people, you have to juggle things. If you can't make your point in thirty seconds, odds are I've moved on to other things in my head. This conversation is taking quite a bit longer than your alloted time."
"Is there any way to tell Terminators apart from humans other than K-9's?" Lori made her point.
"Not yet, but we're working on it."
"Thank you." Lori peeled off in the opposite direction...
...as Lisa slipped into place after her. "So, thirty seconds was it?"
"Bachelorette number three, your time starts now." Connor made a show of looking at his watch. "Go."
"Is Tony going to be benched?"
"You think?" Connor asked her in disbelief. "I get that our standards have dropped in the last five years, but we like our soldiers to have four limbs on the front lines."
"He's gonna hate this!" Lisa mourned. "Can't we just bend the rules this once?"
"For him or the thirty odd guys in his unit who will be put at risk when he can't point a gun and do something else at the same time?"
Lisa sighed mournfully again. "I figured."
Connor stopped walking long enough to turn and face her. "Lisa, we'll figure it out. He's not the first Soldier to lose an arm or a leg in this war. This isn't Back Before. We can't rotate them home again like we used to. He's smart and he's brave and he's strong. We're not sending him away. Just away from the Front."
"He knows that, and he's accepted that. The only thing that worries him is that he'll be given make-work."
"Lisa, I swear to whatever's left in heaven, there's no such thing as make-work any more." Connor said seriously. "There hasn't been since J-Day, and there won't be for quite some time."
Lisa smiled a bit. "Thank you sir."
Connor started walking again. She followed. Connor noticed her still at his elbow. "Was there something else?"
"Colonel Kate asked me to make sure you regularly eat while she's away."
Connor chuckled. "Too many women follow me around when my wife's not here."
"We're very protective sir. Men are helpless without us." Lisa said seriously.
"No doubt. Go away now."
"Yessir." Lisa said immediately and turned around as Connor let himself into his room.
Connor shut the door firmly and sighed like he'd been holding his breath for a week, rubbing the bridge of his nose.
"General?"
Connor turned at the tiny voice, and saw a familiar face poking out of from behind the door. "Mac!" He called cheerfully. "It's good to see you. You haven't been around the last few days. If you're here to see Sarah or Robbie, I'm afraid they're both working."
"I was hiding."
"Terminators got you scared?"
Mac didn't answer.
Connor waited. The Commanding Officer was father to the base. This base was the first where civilians and children were as much a part of life as soldiers. He had more kids than just his own to raise.
Mac came forward finally, shuffling shyly. "Sir... mom scares me."
Connor sighed, and sat down, patting the bed slightly. Mac came over and sat next to him. "Mac, did your mom ever tell you about where you got your name?"
"No sir."
"Mac was a friend of ours. I only knew him for a few months. He lived with your mom and her brother and niece. Before Tech-Com, before we were soldiers, Mac took us in one night, gave us somewhere to sleep. Not many would have done that. We were captured one day, and Mac helped us escape. Back then, there was nobody fighting back, no way to even try. Lots of people without hope. You got your name from the man who always had a joke or a smile, and that was no small trick. He made people feel better. He led a lot of people away from fear." Connor gave the kid's shoulder a squeeze. "Now Mac... He was killed by a Terminator. And your mom missed him, a lot. And then she got right back up again and helped us fight back. We lost some people this week. A lot of them. Some of them on this base. And they were killed by a Terminator."
"Mommy let him in." Mac whispered.
"Your mom was fooled. It's not her fault." Connor said seriously. "But she blames herself. Now Mac, you were named after someone who helped people find their way back. And your mom is in a pretty dark place. She's going to need lots of help. Okay?"
"Okay."
"Sarah and Robbie been keeping you company?"
"Yeah. Robbie's been kinda busy though."
"With what?"
"The orchard. Most of the grown-ups are busy."
Connor leaned back in his chair a little. "Really?"
The Orchard was in its fifth year of growing. Connor had personally planted the first Oak tree. They had plenty of growing to do, but the rows of saplings were sprouting healthy green leaves. In a post-nuclear wasteland, there was very little vegetation left, let alone the good green kind.
Robbie Connor had taken to growing like a fish to water, and seemed fascinated by it. Connor was surprised to see his son was the only one still there, watering the leaves carefully. The fruit trees in particular had been started off indoors, where the lights could be manipulated artificially to make them grow faster. Eventually though, they had become too big for indoors, and an Orchard was planted outside the base, when Connor's 'pay-dirt', donated years ago by Enrique, had been put to use.
"Looking good." Connor called to his son.
Robbie waved back, smiling at his father's attention.
"Robbie.. I haven't had a lot of time for you the last couple of weeks."
"It's okay Dad." Robbie said uncomfortably.
Connor looked around. "I understand you've been keeping this place going almost single handed."
Robbie looked down bashfully. "Actually, the Tunnel Rats helped me a lot."
"Where are all the others?" Connor asked.
"They're inside. They're scared."
"But not you?" Connor asked his boy lightly.
Robbie shrugged. "They're scared of Infiltrators. I'm here alone. So why do I need to be worried about other people?"
Connor laughed at that. His kid was sharp. "Well, I got one more set of hands for you."
Robbie looked over and saw Mac. "Mac!"
"Robbie."
Connor nodded lightly. "Look after him for a bit."
Connor came in at a quick march, didn't even slow down before he made his way to the bunk, and kicked it hard.
Carla moaned and rolled over. "Buzz off."
Connor gripped the edge of the cot and overturned it, spilling the hung over woman to the floor.
Carla clutched at her aching head and looked up. "Sir?"
"On your feet Major." Connor snarled, quietly furious.
The voice cut through the fog around Carla and she rolled to her feet, somewhat unsteadily. "Sir."
Connor reached out, took the bottle off her and threw it against the wall so hard it shattered. "Carla, you've had a bad time, and we've been patient. But now we're sending out offensives, and casualties will be coming back. You said Kate left you here to set up the Medbay? Have you done that?"
"Sir… she left me behind because nobody-"
"I don't want people bleeding on my floor because the head nurse is drowning herself in self pity and moonshine. You keep doing this, and I swear: you'll get it worse from me than they will from Skynet."
Carla swallowed thickly. "Yessir."
Connor let the hardness fade a bit. "It's time to get up off the mat. You're worrying Kate, and you're scaring your son."
Carla's eyes focused again. "Mackie? Is he okay?"
"He's fine. We've been handing him around the base like a hot potato, trying to keep him from realizing what going on with his mom. He needs you more than any of us."
Carla smiled a little. "I need him too. But how do I explain this?"
"I had to explain Infiltrators to my kids. They understood. So does Mac. You were fooled, by a trick that had never been tried before. He's four years old-"
"Four and a half." Carla put in. "He would want me to say that."
Connor smiled. A real smile this time. "Four and a half and even he gets the idea of 'fool me once, shame on you'."
"Guess so." Carla said softly. "None of the others were willing to go out there with me. Kate had to leave me behind."
"You know how you beat that feeling? You show them whose side you're on. You show them you're one of us. And you don't do that by getting drunk." He paused for effect. "It might be a fairly human thing to do, but still..."
Carla snorted a laugh, despite herself.
Connor clapped a hand on her shoulder. "Don't ever forget the battles we've fought and won." He said gently.
"Yessir."
"Feel better?"
"Yessir."
"You sober?"
"Sober enough."
"Get back to work."
"Yessir."
"And go see your kid." Connor added on his way out. "He's in the Orchard with Robbie."
Carla changed into a clean uniform, went into the head and scrubbed her face till she looked halfway human again, and then brushed her teeth savagely. Dental work in the mountain was a serious subject. Feeling better simply by being clean again, she practically sprinted through the base, back to work.
Kate was still and calm in her seat. She wanted to pace but knew to saver her energy for when she got there. She tried not to think about the clock ticking. Tried not to think about what it meant.
"Hammer! Hammer!" The radio crackled.
Walters pulled the jeep over quickly and the convoy stopped at the side of the road. Every soldier, every medic, every person jumped out of the vehicles and headed for the side of the road. 'Hammer' was the warning code. The scouts had encountered something.
Kate hugged the dirt beside the road and strained her eyes. "Eric? You got anything?"
"No Ma'am."
Kate keyed her radio. "Report."
There was silence for a few moments. "Blackbird." Came the answer. "Repeat, we have a Blackbird."
Kate and Walters glanced at each other. 'Blackbird' meant a friendly.
"Any of our units in this area?" Walters asked.
"None." Kate said instantly. "At least… none that survived."
"A survivor? One that got separated from his unit?"
"One that took out his unit?" Kate thought out loud. It was not paranoia. Nearly all the units in this area had been taken off the map, the only survivors were the Infiltrators themselves…
Leading with his gun, Walters signaled his people silently to stay behind. Kate went back to the rest of them and collected a K-9.
The scouts were a good way ahead. It took them almost ten minutes to walk the distance. In the dark, it was getting harder and harder to keep nerves under control.
"I keep looking at my men." Walters said quietly. Soft enough that only Kate could hear him. "I keep wondering who'll break first. There are limits. Limits to what any human can take."
"Exhaustion, hunger, pain." Kate said quietly. "There are limits on these things. But fear is another matter. Some people can pick it up and put it down again. Some people are just immune to it. Wont process too deeply on what their brains are telling them."
"I know… but how do you know which ones are survivors?"
Kate smiled a little shrugged. "I remember asking John that question, our second month in Crystal Peak. He told me it was simple. You put them through something like this war, and the ones still keeping it together after a few weeks? They're survivors. We were lucky Eric. We were locked up safe in a fallout shelter when all the elderly or disabled people who needed help died off, and then the chronically ill who needed regular meds, and then the ones that just couldn't take it... When we first left Crystal Peak, we already had the strongest stuff to work with."
"You really believe that?"
"During World War Two, the British were expecting huge amounts of psychological damage during the Blitz. They were expecting thousands of people losing their minds because of the Terror of the Blitz. It never came. Turned out there was a practical limit to how long people were willing to be scared, and then they just got stronger. They just refused the fear. The world took care of anyone not strong enough long ago. There are no points for second place."
"Never thought of it like that."
"Feel better?"
"I don't know why, but yeah."
That said; the two of them resumed walking again.
After another few minutes, they met their scouts on the road. Two Tech-Com soldiers had a man down on his knees, hands on his head. "Report." Walters said as they got closer.
"He was on the side of the road in a camouflage suit. He was armed, and when we approached him, he went for a flare gun. We managed to stop him before he could get a shot off."
Crack!
Everyone ducked as the sound of a Plasmarifle split the air. Walters brought the rifle around. "Anyone got a visual?"
Kate was looking too. "No."
A hard voice cried out of the darkness. "Let my man go, or the next shot goes through you!"
Kate reacted. "DON'T SHOOT! NOAH! IT'S ME!"
Silence.
Kate swatted the soldier they had captured. "Tell them!"
The soldier shouted back. "It's true! They're Tech-Com!"
Silence.
"Advance and be recognized." A voice Kate didn't recognize shouted.
So far Noah was playing the handbook step by step. Walters put a hand out and stopped her. "They can mimic voices. They have plasma-rifles. They might be playing you."
Kate considered that. "Boy you miss John when he's not around, don't ya?"
Walters conceded that as Kate unslung her rifle and handed it to him. She started walking into the dark on her own, with her hands up.
Silence. Walters was counting in his head, wondering how long it would take him to get to her…
"All Clear!" Kate called back.
Walters waited for a moment. Terminators could mimic voices. If they'd caught Kate without a fuss, they could just keep playing the same trick over and over…
But after a moment, three figures came walking out of the darkness into view. Kate was one of them. The second was a soldier Eric didn't recognize, the third was Colonel Erica Noah, looking a lot harder after five years, still in US Army green.
"Colonel Noah." Walters said formally.
"Colonel Walters." Noah returned, equally frosty. By virtue of the Generals they had followed, they were enemies, or at least mistrusting rivals, but they had fought together in battle, and that left them in a certain limbo. Noah lifted her radio. "One to Two. They're Friendlies. Stand down." Her radio clocked twice, and Noah gestured at the man next to her. "This is Major Horner. Major, this is Maj-" Noah Saw Kate's collar. "This is Colonel Katherine Connor, and Colonel Eric Walters."
They all nodded greetings.
"What is Tech-Com's Command Staff doing out this far?" Noah asked. "Is Connor with you?"
"He's at Crystal Peak." Kate said before Walters could stop her. "We were on our way to Castle Keep. We lost contact with them yesterday."
"Wasn't aware you were keeping in such close contact." Noah commented.
"We weren't. The General was." Walters said.
"Your General, or my General?" Noah asked.
"Both. They kept themselves aware of each other. Just so that we didn't…"
"Didn't run into each other in the dark one night and start shooting?" Noah remarked snidely.
Kate felt her instincts scream again. If the whole point of knowing where Castle Keep was active, was to keep this from happening, then why didn't John know this time? "Noah…" she said uncertainly. "Did Whickham tell you what was happening with the infiltrators?"
"What Infiltrators? What are you talking about?" Noah demanded. "I've been on maneuvers for the last week taking out a Skynet attack force."
Walters and Kate traded a horrified look. The attack force she was talking about was the one heading for Crystal Peak. When Connor contacted Whickham's forces, he'd spoken to Noah, and had to identify himself. He had not returned the question. So if Noah had already been out hunting Skynet's latest offensive when Connor contacted them...
"Then who were we talking to on the radio when we called Castle Keep?" Walters finished Kate's unspoken thought in horror.
"Oh hell." Connor snarled into his radio. "I must be an entirely new and completely unclassified level of stupid!"
"We wondered why he wouldn't take your word for it. Now we know why. We were never talking to him, or Noah, or anyone at Castle Keep; were we?"
"The only things Whickham said to me was not to worry about the Attack Force, his base wasn't affected, and how did we identify the Infiltrators. And I gave them the answer they wanted. They had the code words Kate. They had the codes, they had the frequency... If we were talking to Machines the whole time, it means they've been in their base a while…"
"I know. So does Eric. So does Noah. It doesn't change her mind. What do we do Chief?" Kate's voice came over the speakers. "Noah's going to go charging back with or without us."
Connor took half a second to weigh it up. Kate wanted to go see if Whickham was still alive as badly as Noah did. But there was likely nothing left to save... "It screams 'ambush' to me Kate."
"I know. Me too."
Connor made his decision. "Fine. You go with her; tell Eric to keep everyone alive, and tell Noah that there's always a place here for her people."
"Oh, she'll love that." Kate drawled.
"You still think she's a Machine?"
"No. But I think The General's Wife is a little too chummy with her given that she's a possible collaborator."
"Collaborator? Will you listen to yourself? This isn't The Cold War."
"Isn't it? Can you tell whose side every soldier is on now? You know there are Terminators in the Ranks somewhere."
"You don't know that!"
"How long did Carla's boyfriend wait for the right moment to start killing people? They could all be waiting for just the right moment. We have to find them first. We have to stop them while we still can."
"And how do you do that?"
"You'd rather just let them all come in and start shooting people? There are kids on base!"
"I know. Most of them wear uniforms. You want to go start cutting people at random? See if they bleed enough to prove they're one of us?"
"You do what you want with your back. I'm putting mine up against a good solid wall and keeping my eyes open."
AN: I'd like to thank my beta, Chris Dee. One of the best authors on the Site. If you agree that she does good work, I would direct your attention to the convenient and easy 'Review' button.