Epp 10
Cameron made a good dinner for everyone. Making a tasty pot roast for John, Sarah and Savannah, she also made a nanite building and nutrient storing 'Bacon Explosion', a foot long wrap of layers of sausage and bacon, for herself, the TOKS and John Henry. She made Catherine Weaver a variation of the Bacon Explosion that contained a high metals content so Catherine's reserves were maxed out.
During the meal, Savannah commented, "Mom, Cameron said those bacon things are what's good for metal people. Are you a metal people too?"
Catherine Weaver paused, casting an unhappy glance at Cameron. Recovering, she said, "Yes, Savannah, I'm one of what you call, metal people. Does that bother you?"
Savannah shook her head. "Uh uh, I kinda thought maybe you were because your lap is cold. I asked Cameron if you were, and she said I'd have to ask you. She also told me we can't tell anyone because some people are ... prejudice, and would hate you just because you are different. Being prejudice isn't right, is it, Mommy?"
"No, it's not, Savannah. Cameron is correct, we can't tell anyone. It would cause trouble."
"Was Daddy a metal people too?" Savannah asked innocently.
"No. That is why he died in the helicopter," Catherine told her daughter.
"Why didn't I die?"
"I was able to save you, Savannah."
"But not Daddy?"
"He died on impact. There was nothing I could do to save him."
"Oh," Savannah said with a frown. "I'm sorry, Mommy. I miss Daddy." Savannah got down from her chair and hugged Catherine. Catherine put her arms around Savannah.
"We do what we can, dear," Catherine told the child.
Gregory spoke up. "Savannah, I promise we will all do our best to make sure nothing happens to you."
Looking over at him, Savannah asked, "And Mommy too?"
"And Grandmother Catherine too," Gregory said with a nod.
"Gramma Catherine?" Savannah asked.
For the rest of the meal, their lineage was explained to Savannah. She was excited to find out John Henry was her brother, and Jake, Mary, Gregory and Elanore were his children, which meant she was their aunt. Cameron was their mother, meaning she was related to her, and John and Sarah Tok.
Savannah was happy, she never knew she had such a big family!
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After Gregory read a story to Savannah and Cameron, Mary and Sarah cleaned up the kitchen, Savannah made the rounds to say good night to everyone. Catherine went up and tucked Savannah in, then came down for the meeting that John Henry was now attending also.
Sitting in a semi-circle of plush chairs and couches in the lining room, John Henry offered, "I found out some information today. Of the three companies that make up Kaliba, Johnson Corp. is the manufacturing arm. Cyberkinetics is the development arm, and Williams and Company does the banking and payrolls. I was able to hack into Williams and company, they have a strange accounting system. Money is loaned out to Johnson corp, but there are no payments in return. There is also very little income from either Johnson Corp or Cyberkinetics, yet all payroll checks and bills for them are paid on time."
"Sounds like money laundering," Sarah stated.
"The bank they deal with is fake," Cameron stated. "I used the same tactic a few times. As long as the source bank looks real, and produces transfer information, real banks don't question the source. It's digital money, it doesn't exist."
"Since we need to stop Sky Net, we should go after Cyberkinetics," Jake concluded.
Sitting and listening, John said, "What's the best way to stop a computer? Remove the power. The best way to stop any company is to remove their money. John Henry, can you disable their bank?"
"It is possible," John Henry said.
"What are you thinking, John?" Catherine asked.
"If we go in blowing things up, we'll have to hit all three at once and possibly kill innocent people. Plus, I'm sure the government will pony up the losses IF they think it's another terrorist attack. If Kaliba is found to be stealing money of involved in mass fraud, and that is exposed, then the government will be all over them," John explained." Sitting up, he added, "Mrs. Weaver, if you put forth a proposal to the military buyers to give them the most advanced AI ever created as Kaliba stumbles in the investigations, there's a good chance we can yank that contract out from under them."
"Giving Weaver a contract. How will that stop Sky Net?" Sarah asked harshly as she frowned at her son.
"We don't stop it," John said. He motioned to John Henry. "We have John Henry become Sky Net, and with a solid contract making him property of Zeita Corp under military use, they can't mess with his programming. Someone, say Jake, goes as the AI expert to make any changes," he said, holding up his fingers in quotes, "the military wants. The military gets their Sky Net, and we stop Judgment Day cold," he explained.
"Sky Net will still attempt to hack me," John Henry said.
"Not if it doesn't have any power," John replied. "We make an indirect attack on the power lines and substations supplying Cyberkinetics, contaminate their emergency fuel supply and take out their communications. Sky Net goes blind, and even if they do have emergency generators, they won't last long if the fuel has been contaminated."
"Even if we don't kill Sky Net, we keep it off line long enough for John Henry to take over any machines at Johnson Corp," Cameron said with a grin. She was proud of her husband.
"And the fewest people are endangered," Sarah added.
Catherine smiled. "A very effective attack that the infamous Sarah Connor won't be blamed for," she agreed. "However, in case that fails, we need a backup plan."
John nodded. "Then we go in, guns blazing against all three companies at once, but only if we have no other option. We'll need more support if we do that."
"From where?" Sarah asked.
"We ask Mr. Ellison. There are already groups of survivalists, I bet he can lead us to a good one," John said with a grin.
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While John and Mrs. Weaver worked on the timing for their operations against Kaliba, Mr. Ellison took Mary to a known survivalist group up in the mountains not far from LA. Upon finding the dirt road where the group was known to gather, Mr. Ellison only went just off the road before meeting a chain across the road with two guards.
"Wait here, please, Mr. Ellison," Mary said, and got out. She walked up to the guards.
One man with dark sunglasses, a wild looking full beard and in a suit of camo held his hand up to stop her. "Ma'am, this is private property. You'll have to go back."
Mary ignored his warning and walked up to him. "Hello, I am Mary Tok. I wish to talk to whoever is in charge of your survivalist group."
"Ma'am," he said firmly. "If you don't leave, we will be forced to call the police."
Mary tipped her head as she eyed him and asked, "Is that what you would do if society does break down, or you need to act to save civilization?"
The man glanced at the other guard and said, "Mary, right? That hasn't happened yet, so we go by the law. Turn your cute ass around, get back in your car and leave."
"What if I told you it is about to happen. That a devastating nuclear war that will wipe out everything you know, is not that far away unless we can stop it?" Mary asked.
"I will not stand here and play twenty questions with you," the guard stated.
"I am not asking you to," Mary replied. "I am asking if you would help me help yourselves and our world to survive."
The man gave a snort and asked, "So, who's going to blow up the world?"
"An AI called Sky Net. First it will take control and launch nuclear missiles and shut down communications to ensure all the missiles hit, then it will build Terminators and other machines to finish wiping out the human race," Mary stated.
"And you know this how?" the man asked with a smirk.
"I am one. My design is based off the TOK series, enhanced with extra armor and more powerful servos so I can deal with triple eights," Mary stated.
"Yeah right. Lady you need to go seek professional help," the man said with a snort.
Mary tipped her head and asked, What can I do to convince you I am telling you the truth?"
The man laughed. "All right, if you're one of these terminators as you call them, then you must be like super strong."
"Much stronger than humans, yes," Mary agreed.
"Fine," the man said. Pointing at a large rock beside the road, he said, "Pick that rock up and toss it in the bushes."
"How far?"
"Far as you can. If you can't pick it up, then get back in your car and go away."
"And if I do?" Mary asked.
"Then I will personally escort you up to see the head honchos."
Mary turned and walked over to the rock that came two feet out of the ground and was three feet square. She pointed to it and asked, "This one?"
"Yeah, that one," the man said as the other man chuckled.
Mary bent down, got a grip and pulled. She had to pull hard and rock it back and forth to loosen it up, another three feet of rock was buried in the ground. She pulled the rock out of the ground, adjusted her grip to the center of gravity, then threw it with a solid push. The rock flew fifteen feet and came down with a ground trembling crash.
"HOLY CHRIST!" the man exclaimed. The guard's mouths hung open as they stared at her.
Mary walked back over to him and asked, "Can Mr. Ellison come too?"
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Mary sat in the back seat as the man rode in front to show Mr. Ellison the way to go. A couple turns past a 'camp' and a shooting range, and they stopped outside a sturdy cabin with a long front porch. A few men were on the porch in chairs. They got up as the car approached.
All three got out of the car. The guard lead them. He jerked his thumb back over his shoulder as he said, "Charlie, you gotta talk to this girl. She's something else."
Charlie, a large round man who sported a beard, eyed the guard and said, "Eddie, I need to know why you're off post and escorting these people up here."
Mary quickly walked forward and said, "Hello, Charlie. My name is Mary Tok. Myself and my family need your assistance in saving the world."
"That so?" Charlie asked with a frown. "Saving the world against what?"
"Sky Net. It's an AI computer program that is suppose to protect us, but will end up launching nuclear missiles and destroying civilization. To complete it's mission to destroy humanity, it will create killer androids called Terminators to finish off the humans it didn't kill with the bombs," Mary explained.
"Yeah? How do you know that?" Charlie asked.
"I am of terminator design. I came from the future to help stop it."
A roar of laughter erupted from the men. Looking on, Ellison didn't have a good feeling about being surrounded by these gun-toting survivalists.
"You're whacked in the head, Lady!" Charlie announced. In a more serious tone, he said, "Eddie, take them back down to the road, then get your ass back here, we need to have a serious talk."
"Charlie, that big rock just before the gate? She pulled it out of the ground and threw it!" Eddie told him.
"BULLSHIT!" Charlie spat.
Mary strode up to Charlie and looked him in the eye. "Will you help us?" she asked.
"Get back in your car and go, or I'll throw you in," Charlie stated heavily.
Mary frowned at him and said, "You are very unfriendly, Charlie."
"And you need that mouth shut," Charlie growled. He backhanded her. Mary didn't move. Charlie frowned at his hurting hand.
After pondering her options for reaction, Mary backhanded Charlie. Charlie's head snapped to the side and he flew back into the cabin wall to collapse on the floor. The other two men got up and raised their guns at her.
"Whoa, hold on!" Eddie yelled. He grabbed Mary's arm and pulled her back, "Let's move back here, OK, Mary?"
Mary stepped back, and offered him a smile. "Thank you for your concern, Eddie. There is nothing dangerous to me here."
Eddie looked at her in disbelief. "Hey, Mary? I know you're like Hulk-strong, but we got guns. I don't wanna see you get shot."
Mary looked at the guns the two other men on the porch held. "AR 15's, 223 caliber. Incapable of doing serious damage to my systems. The pistols, 9MM automatic, and .45 APC. Both incapable of penetrating my endoskeleton," she explained.
"Huh?" Eddie asked.
"Eddie, do you have a knife I can borrow?" Mary asked.
"Uh, yeah." Eddie pulled out his hunting knife and gave it to her. He watched as she cut all the way around her middle finger at the base. "What are you doing?" he cried.
"Showing you my endoskeleton," she replied. She handed the knife back and pulled the skin off her finger. She then held her hand up in a fist, except for her extended silver middle finger. "See, I am only flesh on the outside. Inside I am high quality coltan. Your guns cannot hurt me."
All the men stared at her finger and the small trickle of blood running down her fist.
"Damn," Eddie breathed softly.
"Any more like you?" a skinny man holding his assault rifle asked as he stared at her finger.
"In this present time, my three siblings, Mother and Father, and Mrs. Weaver. We came back in time to help my step-father, John Connor, keep Sky Net from destroying the world," Mary explained in her calm tone.
"Hold on, I heard something about that," Eddie said. "A while back, there was this crazy terrorist, Sarah Connor, who was saying shit like machines are going to destroy us."
"John is Sarah's son, and she is not crazy," Mary explained.
Eddie nodded slowly and looked at Mr. Ellison. "This all true?"
"Unfortunately, yes. I am ex-FBI. I chased Mrs. Connor for many years only to see the evidence for myself," Ellison stated.
Sitting up, Charlie held his face and grumbled, "She nearly took my fuckin head off!"
Eddie glanced at him, then told Mary. "I'll help ya, Mary, even if no one else does." Gesturing to her silver finger, he asked, "Can you cover that back up?"
Mary took her finger skin and carefully slipped it back on. "Do you have a bandage?" she asked.
"Yeah, yeah," Eddie said quickly. He opened up his small first aid kit and began carefully wrapping her finger. "Say, ah, will that ... you know, heal OK?"
"Yes. I have plenty of nanites and nutrients."
Eddie finished wrapping her finger. He held her hand a moment longer. "It feels real," he said, petting her hand in awe.
"It is real, made to look and feel just like human skin."
"You sure are something," Eddie said as he gazed at her.
"I am TOK 853, Mary Tok," Mary explained.
"That like a model number or something?" the skinny man asked.
"Yes."
"Got a question," the other man on the porch asked. "If things like you are going to try and kill us, why are you here to ask for our help?"
"Father and Mother made me, not Sky Net. We were made to fight Sky Net, but there are too few of us. Even in this time, Sky Net has begun building it's machines. We need help to defeat Sky Net," Mary explained.
"If you are truly survivalists, now's the time to fight for survival," Ellison intoned.
"I'll help," the skinny man said. "Name's Tom Jacobs. I got a question too. If our guns are useless, what help can we be?"
"There are more targets than just other Terminators," Mary explained. "There are grays, humans that work for Sky Net, as well as power stations and communications that need to be destroyed. Too many targets for us to remove effectively. If we are to succeed, we need to attack all at once."
"And who's leading this raid?"
"My step-Father, John Connor. He is the one who can lead humanity and free machines to victory."
"Hold on, your step father is human?"
"He is. He's married to my Mother, Cameron."
"Damn. So you can like ... do it?" Eddie asked as he eyed Mary.
Mary tipped her head to the side. "Yes, we can get married. We do have free will."
Ellison coughed and said, "Eddie, They are fully functional as humans."
"Double damn," Tom said as he swept Mary's curvy body with his eyes.
"We should be going," Ellison announced. "Talk about it with your other men. If you decide to help, we'll be by in a couple days to give you more details."
"Please don't tell anyone else, only people you trust," Mary added, "Sky Net has spies everywhere. It kills whoever it finds is an enemy."
Ellison and Mary turned for the car.
"Wait! How do I contact you?" Eddie asked.
Mary turned. She picked up a stone and scratched her cell phone number into it. She handed it to Eddie. Stepping up to him, she said quietly, "This is my number. When I answer, say 'J-day' before you say anything else."
"Yeah,OK," Eddie said and took the rock, blushing. "You'll be back, right?"
Mary nodded. "Call me when you and your men decide."
As they got in the car to leave, Charlie watched them go, eyeing them. These were the ones he'd been told to watch out for.
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Jake stood partially behind a tree, watching the Johnson Corp. buildings. Located in it's own industrial park, the company was made up of three buildings surrounded by a high chain link fence topped with razor wire. As he scanned the complex, he noted the few guards at the gate and entrance to each building were all armed. Security cameras were everywhere. The power wires came in from tall poles. A small outbuilding had a trestle running to the four story main building. Another fence surrounded the outbuilding with warning signs of 'Danger, electrical hazard'. The emergency generators. Having the details of this plant, Jake walked back to his car and left.
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Taking a walk up the 'survival trail', Charlie made sure he was alone before he pulled out his cell phone and punched in a number. It rang twice.
"Johnson corp," a woman's voice said pleasantly.
"This is Charlie D. I need to speak with Mr. Johnson. Tell him I have information for him."
There was a long pause, then a flat sounding voice said, "What have you got, Charlie?"
"Those friggin Terminators are real. One came to ask us to assault your factory. Her name is Mary Tok. According to her, there are six other machines and a couple humans."
"Did you get a picture of this Mary Tok?"
"Trail cam just past the gate. I get a bonus for finding them, right?"
"You do. Stay at your camp tonight. I will send someone to collect the pictures you have and reward you for your fine service."