CH 25
In the dark skies over Tibet, the gargoyle flew along, flapping his wings at a steady pace. On his back, protected by a shield Allison was holding up over them, Cameron watched the GPS display while Allison held onto the bags of food and the large jug of water they'd brought.
Again, Allison shifted position to find a better way to sit on the bumpy ridge on Apollo's back.
Apollo looked back and asked, "Will you please sit still?"
Allison replied with a sigh of, "Are we there yet?"
"Ten miles to go," Cameron replied.
Allison shifted again. Apollo roared, "Sit still!"
Frowning, Allison called, "I can't help it, you're all bumpy!"
"Kids," Apollo grumbled.
"Allison, come sit on my lap," Cameron told her.
Irritated at her discomfort, Allison stomped her way up to her mother and settled down into her lap. Cameron shifted the GPS to keep watching it as Allison sat. Looking off into the distance, she announced, "Apollo, on the horizon, can you see that heat spot five degrees to your right?"
"The heat spot in front of me?"
"Yes, head for that. That is the generating plant for the tower and the area."
"We should destroy that also," Apollo stated.
"That plant does not matter, the communications hub is our target," Cameron replied.
As they approached, Allison scanned the sky around them. "No H/K's?" she asked.
Cameron zoomed in on their target she could now see and said, "Only two terminators on the grounds. That is not sufficient for a defensive force for such an installation."
"It might be a trap," Apollo noted. "Allison, can you stay up here with your mother?"
"Yeah," Allison said, curious. "Why?"
"I'll go down and take out those terminators and get in the building. When I find the control room and no trap is sprung,, I'll come back outside and wave you down," Apollo explained.
"And if there is a trap?" Allison asked.
"You won't be caught in it."
"But you will be," Allison pointed out.
"I can take it," Apollo said firmly.
Allison reconfigured her shield smaller, just above her and her mother, then wrapped one mind arm around her mother and brought out her propeller arms. Knowing the extra weight, she brought out four. "OK, ready when you are!" she announced.
Apollo dove down. Allison lifted her mother and their belongings up to stay high above. They watched Apollo pounce on one terminator, then the other. He shrunk down to human size and went inside.
In the distance, the thunder of artillery sounded out. "It IS a trap!" Allison announced. Apollo was still inside as Allison felt the rounds coming. There were too many, coming from too many directions for her to stop. If she went down to help Apollo, her mother would be in danger. "Incoming artillery fire!" Allison warned in a yell. She was so far up, she doubted Apollo could hear her.
The shells came in like rain, obliterating the site. The tower folded and crashed to the ground. Wincing as a hundred shells pounded the place into churning rubble, Allison whispered, "Ouuuuch."
"Allison, are you hurt?" Cameron asked.
"No, I was 'ouching' for Apollo. That has to hurt."
Once the rain of projectiles stopped and the flying debris settled back to the ground, there was nothing left of the communications station.
"Allison, take me down there," Cameron told her.
Allison did, keeping her ears and sensors open for any other incoming rounds.
Other than bomb craters and debris sticking up, the area was flattened. They had been watching from above, and had a hard time finding where the building used to be standing. Landing, Allison kept her arms out for a fast escape.
"Apollo, are you still alive?" Allison yelled at the rubble.
"He did what he could, and sacrificed himself for us," Cameron stated.
"No, I still feel him, I just can't find him," Allison mussed as she looked around. Sensing him in one direction, Allison walked that way. She focused on a mound of rubble, and a hand poked up out of it. Reaching out with a mind arm, Allison pulled. Apollo came out. He was naked and bloodied. His wounds healed as she watched, wide-eyed. She'd never seen a naked man before.
"What's those things between his legs?" Allison asked.
Apollo shifted into gargoyle form. "Thank you for assisting me, Allison," he said.
Allison let out a giggle and said, "Wow! You survived that!"
"Yes, but you might not. That's why I told you to wait up there," Apollo said firmly.
Allison nodded, and asked, "Why do you have a finger and a sack thing between your legs?"
Apollo stared at her briefly, then turned around. "OK, get back on, we still have many more to do."
"It is pointless to take them over now," Cameron said. "Destroying this station means we won't be able to link to any others further east."
"We can still destroy them," Apollo countered. "And we have to get up off the ground before Sky Net attacks again."
"We go north, Mom," Allison said, giving up on pondering why Apollo would have a finger down there in such an odd place. "We backtrack one tower, then continue on to maintain the link."
Cameron consulted her GPS. "There is a station fifty miles to the northwest." She then pointed and added, "That way," for Apollo's benefit.
They got on and Apollo took to the air. Cameron had Allison sit in her lap.
.
John Connor had planned the invasion of eastern Russia taking into consideration Byron's suggestion. After the pre-invasion bombardment of the city, he had ordered one group under General Wallis to attack directly into the city to find and destroy factories. Twenty miles to the south, General Matsumoto landed his paratroopers, gliders and VTOL craft. Twenty miles to the north, General Rogers landed his attack forces. On the way to help them was every warship the Japanese could scrape up along with forty supply ships, split between the three forces. General Matsumoto and General Rogers were to envelope the city to keep any other Sky Net forces from reinforcing whatever they had inside the city.
John's original plan was two forces to either side of the city to attack in a classic pincer. John Henry and Bryan concluded that Sky Net would probably put more the bulk of it's forces outside the city to keep them from being bombed, then attack when the human troops arrived. Byron suggested one force to go straight into the city just before the other two forces landed on either side of the city to fool Sky Net.
While his troops were still making their way to the ground, General Matsumoto's drones and attack aircraft flew right into an air base filled with H/K's in the south and got caught up into a huge furball right over the base. General Wallis' forces landed basically unopposed at the docks in the city, save for a few terminators. General Rogers' aircraft found a large collection of H/K tanks and mini-Stugs to the north, and attached the ground machines, all but destroying them at will.
"Way to go, Bryan," John mussed as he listened to the reports and watched the action unfold on his digital map. Apparently, Sky Net had pulled it's forces back to let them land, then come back in to crush them from all sides. The kid had called it perfectly.
Neither the north or the south attacks went very far. They got bogged down with Sky Net machines counter attacking in force. In the city, General Wallis was taking ground nearly unopposed and swept deep inland. He got far enough inland that John send a message to him to break south and come at the southern Sky Net forces from behind. General Wallis hit resistance from the west, Sky Net's farthest inland forces. It had turned into a fight near the outskirts of the city, but it wasn't the crushing counter-blow Sky Net had planned for.
General Matsumoto had lost all his attack aircraft, but not encountering any H/K's General Rogers sent half of his planes and drones to support General Matsumoto. While the city itself was won, and air combat only in the south, John watched as the lines of combat slowly drove inland. Casualties were heavy, but his armies were also dealing massive blows to Sky Net's split up forces. Attacks from behind and flanking attacks made the battle lines surge and retreat, then surge farther from the shore.
That was one thing John was glad of. Sky Net had yet to realize the battle was lost, and kept pouring everything it had onto the front line until it had nothing left. Seven hours after landing, the break came and the lines expanded into a large semi-circle fifty miles outside Vladivostok. His generals were smart, they stopped and dug in to resupply and brace themselves for a Sky Net counter attack. Reinforcements and supplies were at the shore now and unloading. In the area, Sky Net had nothing left to attack with.
With that battle won, John instructed his Generals to focus on finding and destroying Sky Net communications first, and pushing into China second. If the communications were taken out, Sky Net would be severely hampered with reacting to their advance.
.
At the next communication tower, Apollo again dove in first and got inside the buildings. This time, there was no artillery barrage. Apollo shifted back to Gargoyle form and waved. Allison brought Cameron down. Allison stayed outside to keep watch with Apollo. Cameron went into the control room and reconfigured control over to John Henry.
"We'll stop here for the night," Cameron told Apollo when she came back out.
"Why here?" Apollo asked.
"There are no Sky Net machines, and Allison needs rest. I know the signs when she is getting tired. She's also hungry," Cameron stated.
"Mom. I can do one more," Allison complained.
"And if we run into trouble there?" Cameron asked.
Allison thought for a moment. She was getting a bit tired from using her Arms all day long and she didn't want to pass out from overexerting herself again. "I am a little tired," she agreed with a huff.
They went back inside. Since there was no bunk room, Cameron found a way into the attic and spread out Allison's bedroll. Apollo didn't have anything to wear so he opted to stay outside in gargoyle form.
After she ate, Allison found there was no bathroom either.
"Go outside and dig a hole," Cameron told her.
She did, walking around to the opposite side of the building Apollo was sitting down in front of, watching out at the dreary landscape. When she was done, Allison walked back around to look up at Apollo.
"Apollo, I have a question," Allison asked, and pointed at his groin. "Why do you have that finger way down there?"
"What?" Apollo asked, shifting his gaze to look down at her.
"That finger between your legs. Why is it all the way down there? I tried to think of what it might be for, and other than scratching your butt, I can't think of anything," Allison said innocently.
Apollo let out a huff and looked off into the distance.
"It's OK if you're like a mutant or something," Allison assured him.
"I'm not a mutant!" Apollo grated as he glared at her.
"So, why won't you tell me?"
Apollo let out a grumble and looked away. "Ask your mother," he replied.
"She doesn't have one. How would she know?"
"She knows, believe me."
"Why won't you tell me?"
Apollo shifted in place, and glanced down at her. "Because your parents are the ones who should tell you about thinks like that," he said in a huff.
"Do other people have fingers down there?"
Apollo shifted again, not feeling comfortable about this topic. "Look, Allison, you mother is the one who should explain things to you. Not me."
"But it's your finger," Allison countered.
"ALL guys have one, OK?" Apollo said in an irritated tone.
"OK, but what good is it?" Allison pressed.
"Ask. Your. Mother."
"Fine, don't tell me!" Allison snapped and went back inside.
Allison found her Mother in the control room busy reworking some wiring. Not wanting to bother her, she went up into the attic and puzzled about what that finger might be for. If all guys had one, that meant Byron had one too. She'd never seen him use it. It had to be for something special, she just couldn't figure out what that use could be. Allison liked solving mysteries, so she decided she would try to solve this one on her own.
.
Sky Net reconfigured it's machines parameters. It had noticed before attacking, the human controlled machines would give off a signal. It programmed it's machines to attack anything giving off that signal. This stabilized the situation. The same problem was in the South China sea. The factories it had in Korea that made the sea machines now was adding this program to everything coming off the production lines, as was every factory in China. Instead of controlling it's armies via it's communication network that was now breaking down, it programmed in instructions and had the communications set to report only. It wasn't as efficient as two way communications, but the humans could not take the new machines over.
Sky Net also discovered another disturbing fact. The line of towers that were mis-communicating was coming directly at it and not closing around a section of land mass like it had computed the humans would do to 'get land back'. The humans were changing their tactics. It had seen nothing of Allison Connor. Sky Net feared she was the one messing up communications, and since she survived the trap to destroy her, it had no knowledge or theory of what it would take to stop this pint sized monster.
To protect itself, Sky Net recalled the mini-drones to keep a close watch in the area over itself, and sent the newest reinforcements to itself, instead of Russia's east coast where the humans had now gained control of some land. The first T-900 series it made, complete with human looking skin, it modified as a get-away vehicle for itself, should the humans get too close. It also planned an escape route to the north.
.
In the morning Allison climbed down out of her attic bedroom to find Apollo in the control room with her mother. He was in human form and wearing a skirt type wrap around his hips and thighs. "Morning," Allison said as she rubbed the sleep out of her eyes.
"Good morning, Allison," Apollo said from his seat by Cameron.
Cameron's attention was on a couple monitors screens showing rolling lines of code. "Allison, get ready to fight," she said tonelessly.
"I'm ready, what's up?" Allison asked.
"Sky Net units are moving from our south in a northeast direction. They will pass within two miles of us," Cameron said in a monotone voice. "All the units are new, John Henry can't gain control of them."
"Ground only, or air too?" Allison asked.
"Ground units. Terminators, transports and H/K tanks,"
"Then I'll attack them from behind," Allison said with a shrug. "Mr. Finger there can drop down on them from above towards the middle. We'll roll the rear part up between us, then move to the sides to flank and crunch the rest after we make the others junk."
Apollo raised an eyebrow at Allison and asked, "Mr. Finger?"
"No," Cameron stated. "I got a transmission from John's armies, other units are heading inland. We wait until your father says to go. Not before."
"Why wait until then?" Allison asked.
"Myself and John Henry believe Sky Net is calling units to itself. John is standing by for a coordinated artillery attack by rail gun once the destination of all these units is found," Cameron explained.
"Won't that be many more units to fight us all at once?" Allison asked.
"Fighting them now will let Sky Net know where we are, and possibly alert it we know where those units are going. We stay inside and do nothing until we're called for," Cameron told her.
"Hokay," Allison said with a sigh. Want some breakfast, Mom?"
"No, but thank you for asking," Cameron told her.
"How about you, Mr. Finger?"
"My name is Apollo, NOT Mr. Finger," Apollo said firmly.
Cameron glanced back at Allison and said, "Allison, don't poke the bear."
"What does that mean?" Apollo asked, casting Cameron a hard eye.
"You either, we need to keep this station intact for a while," Cameron told him.
In the back of the control room, Allison got out the MRE's and noted they only had eight left. Somewhere, they had lost a few. "Hey, Mom? We have eight meal packs left. That's only two days worth if me and ... Apollo," she said, resisting the urge to call him 'Mr. Finger'. "Eat at a normal rate. Maybe we should skip breakfast."
"No," Cameron said firmly. "Split one between you."
Apollo waved a hand at Allison and said, "I'll be fine. You go ahead."
"That's not fair," Allison told him with a frown.
"I'll be fine. You need it more than I do. Go ahead," Apollo insisted.
"He's right, Allison," Cameron said as she watched the digital information scrolling down two monitor screens. "You are still growing. Don't forget your nutrients."
Allison frowned at the food package. "I feel guilty eating by myself," she said in a huff. "I'll wait."
"Allison, listen to your mother. You need to keep up your strength," Apollo said firmly.
Hearing an engine and the rattle of tracks outside, all three froze in place. Cameron quickly entered a message to John Henry.
"They're here," Allison sang quietly. Apollo shushed her as he listened.
Allison tipped her head slightly and listened closely also. "Three H/K tanks ... ten sets of feet ... sounds like weapons being readied to fire."
Cameron shot up and said, "We're leaving for the next station to the north. Apollo, Allison, we need to take those units out now!"
"You got it, Mom!" Allison replied and blasted a hole in the wall as she slung herself outside. Apollo made a bigger hole as he transformed into the Harbringer as he followed.
.
Sky Net's units opened fire, but against Allison and Apollo, they were soon turned into scrap metal. The only damage they did was to bring down the tower and the buildings from misses and deflected shots aimed at a fast moving Allison.
Once the machines were scrap, Allison saw the ruined buildings. "MOM!" she cried and raced to the rubble to fling debris aside. Noting more machines coming, Apollo flew off to deal with those as Allison dug her mother out of the rubble.
Throwing the roof and some timbers aside, Allison noted a pile of debris rise up. She threw the pieces aside to uncover a bloody Cameron in riped clothes. "Mom!" she cried and lifter her mother up and out. Horrified at the blood and missing skin on the side of her mother's face and one shoulder, she asked in a frantic tone, "What can I do?"
"Get us out of here, fast!" Cameron stated.
Wrapping her mother ni her arms, Allison shot them into the air, and formed four propeller Arms to drive them skyward. Seeing a small drone on the way up, she smashed it. She also felt projectiles coming at them. She flew higher.
"Allison, head north," Cameron said tonelessly.
"OK, Mom," Allison replied. She used another Arm to cover her mother's bare metal shoulder, bare cheek and side of her head.
Below on the ground, artillery shells began to land in a rain. Allison noted this, and Apollo, who was fighting another bunch of Sky Net machines. "Should we go help him?" Allison asked.
"No, he knows where we're going. He'll find us. Head north. Quickly." Cameron told her. She looked back at the communications station being bombed. All the instruments, everything they had, was back there. A place they could no longer go. It was now just her and Allison with only the clothes on their backs.
Calculating where they needed to go from ground references, Cameron pointed a metal finger in the direction they had to go in. "Allison, fly that way."
Allison nodded and adjusted her course. "I hope Apollo is OK," she said.
"He will be. Allison, you don't need to cover the places I am damaged. I am fully functional. Use your Arms to get us there and watch out for attacks," Cameron told her.
"But Mom, you look terrible!" Allison whined.
"I am fine. Get us there."
.
One thing Allison noted was below them small drones were doing their patrols. She also noted a line of vehicles. "Mom, see those?" she asked, pointing down.
Looking at the direction the vehicles were headed in, Cameron triangulated their path with the ones that she had picked up before going past the commutations station. She knew where Sky Net was.
The communications station they were headed for had drones in the air over it. Cameron knew the instant they were seen, there would be another artillery barrage attempting to destroy them. "Allison, can you deflect those shells Sky Net has been shooting at us?" she asked.
"Yes, but not in the volume they have been shooting them. I have to whack each one, I don't think my shields will stop them, they have too much energy," Allison told her. "Sky Net will know if we go down there, right?"
"Yes," Cameron stated. "Allison, I have the location of Sky Net."
"You do? Great! Let's go kill it!" Allison said eagerly.
Cameron cast Allison her blank look and said, "It is not that simple. I don't know how many units are protecting it, or when your Father will attack that location. To attack it means we may not survive. There is no data to confirm we may even get close enough to destroy it."
Allison thought about all the people dead, and all those who would die if they didn't destroy Sky Net. Not just the masses, but Daddy, Gramma, Byron and all her friends back home. "Mom, we have to," Allison said in a serious tone.
"I don't want you to die," Cameron stated.
"I don't want you, or anyone else to die, Mom," Allison replied. "But if we die and save everyone else, then it's worth it. How far away is Sky Net, and the closest place we can call John Henry?"
"Sky Net is fifty three miles away. The closest safe station to call John Henry is two hundred, thirty one miles away."
"Then let's go Kill Sky Net," Allison said firmly.
Cameron pointed they way. "This way. Stay high up. We're at nine thousand feet. Go up to ten thousand five hundred, that is as high as we can breath freely."
Allison changed course again, flying up just under the cloud cover as Cameron explained, "When we get there, we try to identify the facility holding Sky Net. Once we have it, go down fast. We'll have to find Sky Net and take it out before it's units can retaliate. IF we can't find Sky Net, we'll have to pass the information to your Father."
"We'll win, Mom. We have to."