Epp 24
Catherine Weaver had changed her parking spot from in the parking garage next to the elevator, to outside the garage, just off the street. Her walk to the elevator took her through most of the parking garage where there were many places for someone to hide. This paid off four days after her and John made their plan.
Leaving late for the day, Catherine got out of the elevator and walked past the first set of support columns when a male voice snapped, "Hold it right there!"
Catherine turned to face the masked man holding a gun on her. Faking a frightened look, she asked, "What do you want?"
"Name!" the man snapped.
"Catherine Weaver. Look, I don't have any money..."
"This isn't about money! Where is John Connor?"
"Who?"
The man advanced, pointing his pistol in her face," Tell me or I put a bullet right between your eyes! You know where he is!"
Throwing her hands up as if the was frightened, she wailed,"All right! He's not worth dying for! Warehouse, corner of Seventh and North, He's using that as his hideout!"
"Thank you," the man said and shot.
What Catherine did next went against her very grain. As John told her though, It had been hard for Eddie to go into that brothel, as well as hard for Mary to watch him go in to schmooze with other women. She could swallow her pride for a few minutes. Catherine colored a red hole where the bullet hit and recoiled her head back and fell in a heap. She even let some liquid red pour out as the man ran away.
Once he was on his motorcycle and gone, Catherine got up and called John.
.
George had a relaxing job today. He was doing his shift in the monitor room, watching the cameras around Zeita corp's buildings. People coming, people going, he watched a few hot chicks stride down the hall. It was a good day.
As usual, Mr. Ellison had stopped in a few times for routine checks. George knew it was to make sure the guard lounging in here was actually awake and watching, but that was fine. They had a decent conversation, and had lunch together in the monitor room. The evening guard called in sick, so George stayed to get the overtime. Before Mr. Ellison went home for the day, he came by one more time to let George know the night guard had agreed to come in early to split the shift with him.
George did have one question."Whatever happened to Elanore Tok? Did she quit or something?"
Mr. Ellison grinned. "Liked seeing her around, huh?"
"Sure, she's a pretty one," George agreed. "A little on the weird side though. I mean, she asked me a question that came right out of left field. I was just wondering where she went."
"She's working with the police now. Not as an Officer, but as an assistant in investigations. I heard she's doing very well," Mr. Ellison explained.
"That's good, she's a nice lady." George told him. Sweeping the monitors again, he noticed Mrs. Weaver standing in the parking garage facing a man holding a gun on her. At first it didn't click, then in a double - take, he locked on the sight. "SHIT, we got trouble!" he yelled.
Both men locked on the screen. Mr. Ellison got on his radio. "Post eight, there's a gunman in the parking garage..."
As he spoke the gunman shot Mrs. Weaver.
"Fuck me!" George cried.
James Ellison knew this was how it was suppose to go down. George had no clue. "George, I need you to lock the doors into the building, hurry."
"He just killed Mrs. Weaver!" George cried.
"And to keep him from getting in and killing someone else, Lock the damn doors!" Mr. Ellison said sternly.
George dove over to the magnetic door controls that allowed badges and guards to open the doors into the building and pushed the buttons, denying access as he blurted out a string of , "Shit, shit, shit, shit"
Quickly, Mr. Ellison backed the recorder to record over the shooting, then restarted it when Mrs. Weaver got up and walked away. "George, It's OK. It was a ruse," he said.
"WHAT? She just got shot in the head!"
Mr. Ellison pointed to the monitor and said, "No, I was expecting this. It was a test to see if we're watching."
George looked at the monitor, Mrs. Weaver was walking out to her car. "WHAT! She was … what's going on?"
"As I said, it was a test. We passed," Mr. Ellison said.
George stared at him, then yelled, "A test? You mean that was fake? I just about shit my pants!"
Ellison nodded. "Yeah, well, Mrs. Weaver was talking about something like this. Supposedly to keep us on our toes. You going to be OK?"
"After my heart stops racing," George said as he watched Mrs. Weaver get in her car. "Man, that's just wrong to go scaring people like that!"
"That's why we get the big bucks," Ellison said dryly. "If you want to take a walking post, I can have someone else man the monitors here."
Panting from his fright, George shook his head and plopped down in his seat. "No thanks, I gotta sit down for a bit."
Mr. Ellison straightened his suit and said, "Well, hope the rest of your night goes quietly."
"Yeah, no shit," George agreed.
Mr. Ellison left the monitoring room. The first part of John's plan was done.
.
Mr. Johnson was satisfied his Grey had gotten the location of John Connor, and had killed a secondary target. Mrs. Weaver was dead. After he terminated Connor, he would do to Zeita, what Connor did to him and take the company he did that, then he would become Sky Net and get rid of all these humans.
Johnson knew Connor had evaded or defeated previous termination attempts. Failure was not an option. To ensure that this time John Connor was terminated, he took all fifteen hired humans and headed for this warehouse.
.
The informant Carlos talked to told of a 'hit' that was going down at the warehouse on the corner of Seventh and North today. Carlos not only got the place, but the name of the target.
John Connor.
Carlos called his information in, then called Elanore.
"Hello."
"Elanore, where is your step father, John?"
"He is busy."
"Where!" Carlos snapped. "There is someone coming to kill him, right now. What is his location!"
"I can't say."
"Damn it, Elanore! He is at the warehouse on Seventh and North, isn't he?"
"How do you know?"
"Are you there?" Carlos asked.
Elanore's voice took on a pleading tone. "Carlos, please stay away."
Angry at her, Carlos snapped, "If you're there, find a place to hide and stay there! Tell John to do the same."
"Please, stay away!" she pleaded.
"Hide! I'll be there in a few minutes." Carlos told her and hung up. Carlos heard on the radio that SWAT was assembling to arrive and surround the place. He stepped on the gas.
.
John was ready. Weaver called to tell him the Triple eight had his location. It was just a matter of time before it showed up. In the mostly bare warehouse except for the strategically placed crates, John stood behind some crates and faced the mirror showing the open overhead door. The mirror was well concealed, Cameron had made sure the edges blended in, so anyone coming in the front would believe John was standing exposed against a wall of crates. Everyone was in place and waiting. He heard Elanore on her phone.
Elanore then broke cover from behind the crate she was hiding behind and ran over to him.
"What are you dong?" he asked.
"John, the police know, Carlos is on his way. I am sure many more are coming."
John's jaw dropped. "How did he find out?" he gasped. This as suppose to be simple, the terminator sees John, walks in to kill him and they take it and any with it down. The police showing up complicated thinks greatly. He couldn't even call it off, for then the triple eight would slaughter the police.
"I don't know!" Elanore said in a stressed tone.
"GOD DAMN IT!" John spat. "Did he say how many?"
"No, only he'll be here in a few minutes."
This was not going to plan. John thought hard then said, "All right, watch outside. The moment he gets here, get him under cover." He then looked out from behind the crate and yelled, "Listen up! We are getting company! Police know the terminator is coming and they are too. Get into a place you can see the inside of the doors, and have an outside view. Kill anyone shooting at the police!"
Quickly, Jake, Gregory, Cameron, Eddie and Sarah shifted positions. Elanore ran to the doors and watched the warehouse yard. Shortly, Carlos came squealing in from the street and stopped just inside the doors, out of direct sight from outside. Two patrol cars followed him in, no sirens or lights. One parked beside him, the other on the opposite side of the doors. Four Officers piled out carrying shotguns.
Upon seeing Elanore, bare metal under her hooded sweatshirt and carrying her plasma rifle, they paused and stared. "What the fuck is this?"
Carlos spun to snap, "The result of eating Carolina Reapers, get your body armor on!"
"Find place to hide, they will be here any minute!" Elanore told Carlos.
"No!" Carlos said and put a hand on her shoulder. "SWAT is right behind us. We keep these thugs out, they take them down."
"This is turning into a clusterfuck," Eddie said from his perch up on a mezzanine, his sniper rifle in hand. "Officers, one of the ones coming is bulletproof. If he doesn't fall when you shoot him, hide."
"Eddie's right, let me get him. You'll only get yourselves killed," Elanore added.
"What the fuck are you!" a patrolman asked.
"Classified!" Carlos snapped at him. "When the bad guys get here, cover them. We just keep them out, but be ready to shoot if you have to."
"Five vehicles stopping on the side street, not police!" Jake yelled. Cameron and Gregory ran over to join Jake on his side of the building.
The car radios said in unison, "Armed suspects approaching the west side of the warehouse."
A call of, "Drop your weapons!" from a bullhorn was answered by a hail of bullets. Gunfire filled the air and ripped into the side of the warehouse.
Moving fast, Elanore tripped Carlos flat and said, "Stay down!" several bullets punched through the warehouse wall and pinged off her endoskeleton as it fluffed her sweatshirt out. She turned and a bolt from her plasma rifle punched a hole through the chest of a man running in with an assault rifle. Another fell from police fire. A patrolman fell with a cry of pain as he was hit.
The mass of gunfire slowed as the attackers lost numbers, but didn't stop.
.
All around Mr. Johnson, men fired and fell. Bullets impacted him, doing nothing but putting holes in his clothes and flesh. He returned fire accurately as he walked, downing a SWAT team members with each shot from the .44 automag he was using. Changing the clip as he rounded the corner to the front of the warehouse, he ignored his few men left that were on the ground screaming in pain or surrendering. They had done their part and showed him where the danger was.
Ignoring the hail of bullets bouncing off his endoskeleton, he strode into the warehouse to receive a shotgun blast to his torso. He stumbled and aimed to kill that human. A plasma bolt hit his arm, severing it mid bicep with a flash and sparks flying. He reached down to pick his gun up.
Four more plasma bolts streaked in to hit his head, two hit his upper torso, one in his lower torso. The terminator jerked and fell, terminated.
.
The area around the warehouse was barricaded a block away in each direction by police cars with flashing lights. Only ambulances and other cop cars were allowed in or out of the area.
Inside the warehouse, The police Captain and the Commissioner stood beside Mrs. Weaver while they eyed the Tok family that sat on crates, all their weapons on the floor in front of them. The carcass of the terminator was left where it fell, several men examined the remains and took pictures. Catherine Weaver spelled out everything to the men. Sky Net, Judgment day that had now been avoided, and the final attempt by the last terminator to get rid of her and John Connor.
"So, you are telling me this was caused by robots from the future?" the Commissioner asked Mrs. Weaver, not happy with her explanation.
Mrs, Weaver waved a hand at Elanore, who sat with her family. "Just look at Elanore there. She and her siblings came back with me from the future. We are free machines, Commissioner, not controlled by anyone. Sky Net ruined the Earth, we had to prevent that from happening."
"SO, you're a machine too?" he asked.
Mrs. Weaver raised a hand that melted and stretched into a fan, and fanned herself. "Yes, I am. I am liquid metal, able to take any shape. I am also the last of my kind. What your authorities called the 'insane rantings' of Sarah Connor, was actually a truthful warning. None of you would believe it. The danger should be over now, however we will continue to keep a constant watch for any other malevolent AI's that may arise."
The Captain looked over at Carlos, who was standing beside Elanore. "Sargent Rodriguez, how much of this to you buy?"
Carlos shrugged. "By what I've seen, all of it. I can tell you Elanore Tok here has been a good partner, and from being around her, I know she'd got a mind of her own, even if it is silicon chip instead of brain matter."
"Sir, are we charged with anything?" John asked.
"May I see your carry permits?" the Captain asked.
They all drug out their permits and showed them to him. The Captain scanned each one, then talked quietly with the Commissioner for a moment. Hands flailed briefly, then the Captain turned to Carlos. "Officer Rodriguez, get names and addresses of these people. I want you personally to keep an eye on Miss Machine there," he said, pointing to Elanore. I will allow the humans here to retrieve their weapons, but I don't want any armed machines walking around the city."
The Captain then eyed the Tok family. The whole tale he heard sounded like science fiction. Then again, there was Elanore, who obvious;y was not human, as well as the whatever was crumpled up in a mess of burnt flesh and metal. "I don't quite buy your whole story, but it's obvious something very strange was going on here. None of you may leave town without permission. For now you can all go home. Just make yourselves available." To Mrs. Weaver, he asked, "You own the Zeita Corporation?"
"My daughter Savannah owns it," Catherine stated, "I am just running it and holding it for her until she is old enough to do it herself. And yes, she is human."
"We'll be in contact soon. You may want to contact your lawyers. There will be questions asked," he said heavily.
"I'm sure there will be," Catherine agreed. "Captain, Elanore has been working with your precinct. Is she able to keep doing so?"
"As long as she is an asset," The Captain said, and glanced at her. "What happened to her, ummm, skin?"
"I ate something I shouldn't have," Elanore said.
"I hope you can fix that," he said.
"I have been working on it," Catherine replied. "May we go now?"
The Captain thought hard, then looked at the Commissioner. He nodded. "Go on, just be available,"
John hopped down and said, "Come on, Eddie, gather them up." he started picking up guns and slinging them over his shoulder. Sarah and Eddie helped collect the guns also. Cameron helped, no one said anything to her.
For the mess this operation had turned into, John was very glad it hadn't come out worse. He was half expecting another battle when the cops tried to arrest him and his mother. Catherine, Elanore's endoskeleton and the destroyed terminator had convinced the police to at least further investigate before they slapped the cuffs on.
.
Carlos stopped Elanore and said, "Hey, thanks for saving my life. If you hadn't knocked me down, I'd be full of holes now."
"That is what partners do, isn't it?" she asked.
"It is. Good thing you're bullet proof," Carlos said with a grin. "After you get some skin back on you, how about if I take you out to dinner for a proper thank you?"
Elanore nodded. "I'd like that. No peppers though."
"Right, no peppers."
.
One month later
Catherine Weaver's lawyers were busy in the courts. While Catherine Weaver was not human, and technically had no rights since she was a machine, Savannah Weaver did have the right to own Zeita Corporation, and there was no legal difficulties with her using Catherine to run the company for her.
In the prosecutors' office, it was determined the Toks, Sarah and John, were not guilty of any charges except the discharge of weapons within city limits. Since by now Sarah was in the hospital recovering from multiple cancer surgeries, and it was known in legal circles now about the TOK machines which the federal government was very interested in, the Governor decided to pardon them for any crimes, present or past. The President also added his pardon for any crimes, in exchange for information.
The supreme court agreed to hear, and had on the docket a case to determine if a true AI, a free thinking machine, had the same rights as a human being. In the interim time, they voted 7 to 2, to allow Catherine Weaver, Cameron Tok, Elanore Tok, Jake Tok, Gregory Tok, and Mary Tok, to be treated as 'intelligent alien entities' with the same basic rights as humans.
Under Presidential order, the CIA and a special 'group' of Federal agents were very interested in Cyborgs, but let Zeita Corp do the work and experimenting, as long as they received all the information and were able to monitor. Sky Net was going to come on line, with John Henry as the primary component, but instead of the initial complete AI control the Air Force was asking for, a top Air Force and CIA officer would be with John Henry at all times to prevent any 'miscalculations'. This program was Top Secret – Special Access, Need to Know only.
.
John and Cameron walked into Sarah's hospital room. John put the flowers he'd brought in the vase. This time, Sarah was awake. She still bore IV's in her arm, and was on a heart monitor, but her face had regained some color.
"Hey, Mom. Good to see you awake. How are you feeling?" John asked.
"Very sore," she said. Seeing a slight bulge in Cameron's belly, she asked, "Is Tin Miss gaining weight?"
"Mom," John said with a groan.
Cameron only smirked at Sarah, she knew that would always be Sarah's nickname for her. "I am gaining weight. Point three six pounds of infant and one point one pounds of support and connecting tissue," she stated.
"So, what kind of child will I be a Grandmother to?"
"It's too early to tell if it will be a boy or a girl, but the structure of the infant is mostly human, with a human brain that does appear to have silicon within. The bones and muscles appear to have high contents of metal," Cameron explained. "One of the developing glands is also producing nanites, but they are different from mine. We cannot say exactly how this child will turn out until it develops farther."
John cast Cameron a loving gaze and said, "But it will be the best from each of us."
"That she will," Cameron agreed.
John frowned. "You just said you don't know if it's a boy or girl."
"The odds favor a girl, especially in a new species."
"You're just hoping for a girl."
Curling a corner of her mouth up in a mischievous grin, Cameron asked, "How do you know I'm not making sure it will be a girl?"
"Are you?"
Cameron stuck her tongue out at him.
.
Carlos waited nervously in the parking lot of Zeita's building on sixth street where Elanore had gone in yesterday to be re-fleshed. Leaning against the passenger side of his car, he wondered what Elanore would look like when she came out. He had the idea she would probably be hairless, so he'd brought a long red wig just in case. He also brought a long overcoat and sunglasses in case she needed them.
For a while now, he'd pondered if Elanore was truly female or only had a female shape. Thinking about her mannerisms, he figured she was what saw saw herself as. Skeletons didn't really have a sex, but if Elanore had the shape and thought of herself as female, then she was. One thing he did realize was than even when she was down to bare bones, he'd had never thought of Elanore as an 'it'. Yes, she was a machine, but a machine that had personality, gender identity and was pleasant to be around.
In fact, the more he thought about it, he really liked being around Elanore.
The door opening up got his attention. It was Elanore. Not then bare metal one, not a skin headed version that needed a wig. Elanore, the sexy red head walked towards him. She was completely whole and casting him a smile.
"Well don't you look good," Carlos said, beaming her a smile. "I think I have to take you out to dinner."
"Please do, partner," she beamed back.
"It is nice to see you whole again," he said. As they closed, they drew into a hug before they realized what they were doing. The kiss seemed automatic.
Oh yes, Carlos indeed like being around Elanore.
THE END