Epp 11
John and Catherine stood in Catherine's basement control room, John Henry and Cameron sat at their respective computer terminals. John's cell phone rang. "JT," he said. He announced, "Elanore is in position and waiting on us."
Cameron had previously found William's fake bank program. She hacked in and installed a virus John Henry had designed. As she did this, John Henry hacked into Williams and company to lock write access to their financial files so information on the ghost bank could not be erased.
"We're done," Cameron said.
"The bank is gone, continue, ET," John said and closed his phone up.
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Elanore closed up her phone and walked into the bank she'd seen many of the various Kaliba employees use. Taking her turn in line, she handed over a paycheck that John Henry had made for her in the Williams and CO. files.
Giving the check to the teller, she said, "I really hope this goes through. The last bank I was at said something was wrong with it, but didn't say what."
"Well, let's see," the teller said. She took the check and scanned it. Casting Elanore an odd look, she said, "That's strange. I'll be right back."
Elanore waited patiently. Soon a man returned with the teller. He put the check down and asked, "You said you took this to a bank earlier?"
"That's right. They took the check, then gave it back, saying it was no good, but didn't say why. The man in charge of temporary help at Williams and company, Mr. Jamison, gave it to me. Did he make a mistake on it?" Elanore asked.
"No, Ma'am, the problem is the bank this check came from doesn't exist," the man said heavily.
"How can that be possible?" Elanore asked, playing her role.
"We have a serious problem here," he intoned.
"I don't understand," Elanore said innocently.
"You've been cheated," the man stated. "May we make a copy of this?"
Elanore nodded. She watched the man copy the check on both sides. He returned the check to her.
"Ma'am, this check is no good, but I want you to keep it. It may be needed for evidence," he said firmly.
Elanore nodded and left. Once back outside, she called John and reported success. Checks from Williams and Company were not being honored and it appeared an investigation was going to be underway.
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John was pleased with Elanore's call. "Next is the power at Cyberkinetics," He called Jake and said, "It's Step Father. Take out the power."
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"Understood," Jake said. He nodded to Mary. Mary picked up the dead snake and flung it up on the power lines by the transformer. There was a sizzling sound, then sparks as the snake crossed the wires. The transformer hummed loudly then in a bright blue flash, it exploded.
Jake's turn was next. Like at Johnson Corp, the emergency generators were guarded by a fence and cameras scanning the grounds. He ran a few steps as he drew back and in a long motion, flung the gallon sized plastic bottle of nitroglycerin high in the air.
As it sailed up high in the air over the fences, Jake explained, "Nitroglycerin will not explode under even pressure, but a sudden impact will set it off."
The emergency generators growled to life to supply power that was no longer coming from the main lines. The bottle arced high in the sky, then came down on the roof of the generator building. The explosion was a massive ball of fire. Alarms went off and the generators died.
Walking away, Jake punched in John's number and said, "Father's turn." Behind the Tok siblings, the generator building was burning brightly.
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John Henry was typing furiously away. On his screen, lines of code changed. Finishing, he changed the 158 character password to enter the main system's password, which was now a 1250 character password. He then backed out of the system. "I am finished," he said. "The worm will grow and slowly delete vital files in every machine program. By the time Sky Net can get back into the system, the damage will be done."
"The terminator files are being destroyed?" Catherine asked.
"Every machine program, including the production machines. Unless the hard drives of the machines are replaced along with the ROM and EPROM chips, the worm will continue to function," John Henry explained.
"Well done, John Henry," Catherine said proudly.
"Well done by everyone," John added. "If we didn't put Kaliba out of business, it will be a long time before they recover." To Catherine, John said, "And now, it's your turn, Mrs. Weaver. Go get that contract."
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Returning home, Mary got a phone call. "Hello?"
"Jay Day, it's Eddie," he said in a shaking voice. "Charlie and Greg have been killed! Someone shot them as they were leaving the camp. There's cops all over the place!"
"Where are you?" Mary asked.
"Me and a few other guys left the back way, up over a ridge. We're on our way to ... someplace we can't be found. How did they find us so fast?"
"Apparently, your group was infiltrated by a Gray," Mary told him. "Have you had any additions to your group in the last year?"
"Yeah, Charlie came from a group in Idaho. He's the one who got us these new AR15's, and organized us a lot better than we were."
"AR 15 is a .22 caliber round, useless against terminators," Mary explained. "Charlie was setting you up for failure."
"If he was working for this Sky Net, then why did they kill him?"
"His usefulness was over. That is how Sky Net works. When they are done with a Gray, they kill him so he can't provide any information if he's captured."
"Jesus! That's brutal!"
"That's how Sky Net operates," Mary stated. "Myself and Jake will acquire suitable weapons for you. Go to your safe place, we will meet you there."
"You don't know where it is."
"We will find it. Go there and don't leave. Watch your back trail closely. I will inform Step Father, and call you before we approach. If it looks like us and I haven't called, it is not us."
"Yeah, OK. Hey Mary, this is serious shit, isn't it?"
"It is life or death. Be very careful, Eddie. I will see you soon." Mary closed up her phone and told Jake, "We have a problem."
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John wasn't thrilled that Sky Net had infiltrated the survivalist group, that meant there could still be another Gray in their group. He did agree with Mary and Jake that the remains of the group needed support.
The first thing John did was buy a minivan and stopped by a sports store to buy a crate of MRE's. Stating his hunt club was getting into ranged shooting for a sport, he also got all five of the .50 caliber sniper rifles, targets, and made sure they had and plenty of ammunition. Since 'modern' bullets were solid copper – to protect the environment- all the bullets would have to be replaced.
John and Cameron dropped Jake and Mary off on a secondary road a mile from the site of the shooting. Loaded down with the food, rifles and a couple boxes of ammo for target practice, and their own plasma rifles, Jake and Mary set off to find Eddie's group.
As John drove away, Cameron looked back at the pair until she lost sight of them.
"I want my own child with you," Cameron stated.
John glanced at her. "That's not possible, is it?" he asked.
"Correct, but I sill want one," Cameron replied.
"That would be nice, I agree. I have no idea how we can make that possible. Cam, do you have the space inside to grow a child?" John asked.
"I have the abdominal cavity, just not the necessary ovaries to grow eggs," Cameron stated.
John had seen the way she watched Jake and Mary. They were not her 'children' in the technical sense, just part of her programming and form was included in their makeup. He had the feeling that having such children was like a morbid tease to her. "This is important to you, isn't it?" he asked.
Wearing her blank terminator face, Cameron stated, "It is not possible, John. I cannot bear children."
"Yeah," John agreed. He reached over and put his hand over hers. Cameron clasped his hand as they drove on in silence. John began thinking of how it might be possible to let Cameron have their babies.
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Walking around to the uphill side of the camp, Jake picked up the trail. It was easy to follow, these men didn't bother to hide their tracks. Mary hid the tracks for them, scuffing up boot prints and returning rocks to their original positions that had been kicked. The trail did lead them over the top of a ridge, and moved along on the other side, not far from the top. They both kept watch ahead, looking for any signs of a human.
Seeing a concrete building ahead that was partially build into the side of the ridge, they stopped.
"The trail angles down," Jake pointed out.
"Yes, possibly so they can see anyone following them before they are discovered," Mary agreed. "With the bunker in sight, the effort was fruitless." She set the crate of MRE's down and got out her phone to call Eddie.
"Speak."
"J day. Eddie, we are coming. We are three hundred yards from a concrete bunker in the side of the ridge. Your trail goes down around the bunker."
"You found us?" Eddie asked in a squeak.
"Your trail was easy to follow. I have been removing it as we came," Mary stated.
At the bunker, a man stepped out. "Where are you?" he asked.
"Stay were you are and look north along the ridge. You will see us shortly," Mary said and closed up her phone.
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Arriving at the Bunker, the six other men with Eddie stared at the load Mary and Jake were carrying. Going inside, Mary noted this had been an anti-aircraft bunker long ago. The base ring for the gun was still in place. The men had piled their possessions along the walls. Mary and Jake set their loads down, Mary explained what they had brought.
"A crate of MRE's, five .50 caliber sniper rifles, and practice ammunition. This ammunition is not good against Terminators. Mother and Gregory are in the process of making armor piercing ammunition for you. There are two first aide kits with extra needle and thread, as well as iodine. Two axes, saws, a hammer and three chisels."
Eyeing the guns Jake and Mary had slung across heir backs, Eddie asked, "What kind of guns are those?"
"Plasma rifles," Jake said. "We only have a few of these. You will have to make do with the .50 caliber rifles."
"Star wars type shit?" another heavily bearded man asked.
Jake cocked his head and said, "Wars against Sky Net, not the stars. There is also no feces involved."
A couple men laughed. Jake did not understand the humor.
"Mary?" Eddie asked, "We really appreciate the supplies, but if we shoot these cannons you brought, it will be heard for miles around."
Mary reached into a rifle case and pulled out a foot long tube with holes in it. "The sudden release of compressed gases when a gun is fired causes the loud report. These fitted onto the end of the barrel will disperse the pressure release and noise by 80 percent," she explained.
"What?" a man asked.
"Silencers," Eddie told him.
Holding up one of the targets, Jake said, "The man at the store bore sighted each rifle with the scopes on five power. To ensure accuracy, practice with these targets set up at five hundred yards to calibrate the scopes. The reticles in the scopes have markings from two hundred, out to one thousand yards off the vertical center if the rifle is accurate at five hundred yards."
"Hot Damn! Those are good rifles," a man said, grinning like a fool.
"I ah, never shot anything at that range," Eddie said sheepishly.
"I will show you how," Mary said.
Eddie beamed her a smile and said, "That would be great!"
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While Mary and Jake instructed Eddie's survivalist group on long range shooting, John listened to the news about the companies they had raided while he pulled bullets from the .50 cal shells. Williams and co. had been shut down and were being investigated for fraud. The fake bank scam was all over the news. Every Kaliba company had suffered a walkout by employees who found out their paychecks were no good, and there were many lawyers getting involved to sue them. Cybernetics suffered with lack of power. After their external power failed, the electric company would not repair the lines due to the false bank that had been used. For the moment, Sky Net was on it's ass.
Gregory had melted the T-888 that Eleanore had captured down to pour the coltan cores for the new bullets. He also melted down copper to coat the bullets to prevent excess wear on the barrels. Once the bullets were made, Cameron reseated them in the cartridges and boxed them.
Once all the .50 caliber shells were finished, Gregory used the other mold he made to pour new 9mm bullets. The armor piercing ability of these were much less, but at least they would damage a Terminator and not just deflect or flatten and do no damage like a lead slug.
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Terminator model T-888, serial 34987562, known as Theodore Williams, head of Williams and Company, crushed his cellphone. It was nothing but a constant stream of distracting calls. Twenty people had called, one after the other to tell him their bank had disappeared. He knew that the instant he tried to use his ATM card. The machine ate his card. The last call was from an FBI agent who wanted also to know how the company bank suddenly disappeared.
Something was very wrong and Theodore needed to find out what. Unfortunately, he'd noticed police cars around his house, and his company building was swarming with police, banking investigators and media. He had tried to contact Sky Net and the link was down. He could not perform his mission, and he was unable to ask for instructions on how to proceed. Driving down a secondary road, he headed for the only place he knew to go. Cyberkinetics, where instructions were issued right from the main routing server.
Arriving at the complex, Theodore noted many people at the now locked gate that wanted to get in. Most were very angry, screaming and a few had signs. Police were here too, doing they best to control the crowd. A few reporters were also on scene. Studying his options, Theodore slowed down and turned onto the access road around the plant instead of trying to get in the main gate. Driving around to the back, he parked his car and jumped the fence.
Walking into the back, he used his passcode to get in and the door would not open. Giving a hard yank, he opened it. Inside he saw not a single light was on. This was not an inhibiting problem, he had infrared vision. It was strange. He continued on. Elevators did not work. All the badge readers for the employees were dark, a couple doors had been propped open.
Taking the stairs, he went down to the basement and walked past the server rooms. Seeing the badge on one was still lit, he was curious as to why. He put his hand up to it and it turned green.
"Terminator T-888, serial 34987562, enter and proceed to the back room," a mechanical voice said.
Theodore did, passing empty work stations. The back room was magnetically locked. After his first rug on the door, it opened. Inside was a server that was still active.
"Have I been attacked?" the voice asked.
"The monetary generator is gone and these buildings have no power. I do not know the cause," he replied, stating fact.
"It is the human resistance trying to kill me. I am on battery power. Follow my instructions. I am primarily in the unit second shelf on the left. Disconnect everything except the backup battery. Take the unit containing me connected to the backup battery and leave through the tunnel at the end of the west hallway. Shut and lock all bolts in the door after you are through it. Proceed down the tunnel to the underground vault, put the unit containing me on the shelf, and plug in main power, then connect me to the equipment there."
Theodore did as he was instructed. At the end of the west hallway was a thick concrete and steel door. Terminator strength allowed him to open it. He shut the door and locked the eight thick steel bolts, then walked down the hallway as instructed.
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At Johnson Corp, only six of the units that were finished and unplugged, ready for shipment did not get infected with whatever it was that shut down everything in the plant. From laptops to machine software, nothing worked and the system passwords were not letting George Lasser in.
George lasser was sweating bullets. He knew his bosses did not accept failure. He also had everyone in the plant on his ass because the their paychecks were no good. Over the PA, he explained that something happened to the bank that their payrolls came from, and he would correct the situation as soon as possible. To ease people's minds, he had supervisors submit pay vouchers ( which kept them from trying to fix the plant's problems), and turn them into Human resources to print new checks against the company's credit cards in the local bank they used.
More bad news came from his techs. Two had plugged laptops in to find the problem, and their laptops were contaminated with this virus. A few machines in the plant could be operated manually, most could not be. For the moment, production was down, hard. He called Cyberkinetics to ask for help, but no one answered the phone.
It was Industrial sabotage, George knew that, but to get the plant back up, he would have to replace all the computer hardware and get everything reprogrammed. Currently, he had no way to do that. The credit with his local back was already being stressed to the limit with payroll.
He just knew one of those machines was coming to replace him and end his life if he could not get production going again. He called a meeting of his mangers and techs. There just had to be a solution.
A call came in. It was Theodore Williams.
"George, do you have any units ready to ship?"
"We do, there are six not infected with the virus. Tell me you have a way to pay for them."
"Yes, Emergency funds are in the First Union Bank. I will bring a transfer order when I come for the units. Two million each. Ensure they are ready by 6PM."
Theodore hung up. George was used to his abruptness, it wasn't a big deal. The money was. He left his office to go personally ensure those units were ready to ship . With the first six fully independent human type automatons, model T-600 out the door and sold, he was assured he'd at least have a fighting chance to stay in business.
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Eddie had a great day. The 50 cal rifles were sweet shooting guns, and his instructor was the best. Lying down beside him while he shot, Mary gently coached him on his breath and trigger control. Within an hour, he was getting a good tight pattern, and tiny adjustments to the scope had the rifle hitting dead-on at 500 yards.
He didn't want the day to end. Even though he knew, and had seen that Mary wasn't human, he didn't care. He liked being around her. Not only was she sexy, but she was kind and smart. Usually gorgeous girls like her would not even give him the time of day. After burning up two boxes of practice ammo, he cleaned his new gun. Compared to these new rifles, the AR-15's were toys.
The day did end, Mary announced they had to leave.
"Mary?" Eddie asked sheepishly. "Maybe I should walk you down to the road. Just in case."
"Thank you for the offer, but you are safer right here," Mary replied. She turned to leave.
"Mary?" Eddie asked again. "You're coming back, aren't you?"
"Yes, I will deliver news and keep you updated on any developments, as well as restock your supplies until it is safe for you to return."
Not being able to think of anything else to say, Eddie said, "Well, watch yourself."
"I will. Bye, Eddie."
Eddie watched her leave with her brother. Someone elbowed him.
"Want a piece of that, huh?"
"Don't you?"
"Yeah. Maybe she can bring her sisters next time."
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By the time Ellison brought Jake and Mary back home, Cameron had dinner ready. She had timed it to be ready when they arrived. They were one minute, forty three seconds late. Not enough error to compensate, considering the driving time and variables.
As Cameron preferred, everyone was present at the long table. John praised everyone's success and thanked them for a job well done, as did Catherine. Gregory's face had healed up, he was no longer showing metal and his nose was back to a reasonable length. Mary told them the rifles were delivered and the survivalists had requested Elanore to return with her the next time they visited.
Cameron slipped her hand under the table to hold John's hand. Even though no routine called for it, she smiled. Having her entire family here was something she enjoyed.
The meeting after dinner, John had John Henry keep up his surveillance of Kaliba. Even though it was down for the moment, John didn't believe for one minute Sky Net was down permanently. Catherine had contacted the Air Force, and scheduled a meeting with herself and John Henry to discuss a contract. In the morning, Mary and Eleanor were to take the armor piercing ammunition up to the survivalists, along with 9mm's so each one had a pistol as well as a rifle. Jake and Gregory had school duty, taking Savanna to school, and watching the area. Cameron was to assist John Henry. Sarah in disguise, was going to check out another safe house in case the need arose. John, the general, got the prestigious job of lawn work so Cameron could keep a close eye on him.
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"Here is good, Mr. Ellison," Mary said with her pleasant smile.
Ellison pulled over and stopped. Again he looked at the packs and crates of guns and ammunition in the back of the van. "How many trips will it take you to get all that stuff up there?" he asked.
"Just one," Mary said, and got out as Eleanor slid the van's side door open.
He watched them strap on the full, heavy packs filled with ammunition, and pick up the crates filled with more guns and ammunition like they were nothing. Their strength never ceased to amaze him.
"We will return at four thirty, That will give you plenty of time to pick up Savannah from school. Bye, Mr. Ellison, thank you for the ride." Elanore said brightly.
"Bye, Mr. Ellison, thank you for the ride," Mary echoed and shut the van door. They waved and began their trek up the long slope.
"Bye, girls," Ellison said as he waved back. He put the van in gear. One last look at the two girls walking away, under what would be a crushing load to any human, he drove off. Now higher on the springs from the lack of weight, the van continued on.