CH 6
John was glad they were finding Kaliba facilities. By searching and tracking, they were uncovering more this way than by destroying each one when they found it. By listening in on an office building that was run by Kaliba, Cameron found out that the executives were relieved that Sarah Connor was
dead. They had suffered no further attacks and were 'free' to prepare for the future. Their concern now shifted to Zeita and Catherine Weaver.
The office building that went by the name 'Grossburg Accounting' seemed to be the head office of Kaliba. Grossburg was the hub of material and production tracking. The military procurement orders and shipments all went through Grossburg. John Henry had discovered it on the web and got the
physical address. John and Cameron spied on the place, listening with their sensitive audio equipment and took photos of who came and went. Taking Grossburg Accounting out would paralyze all the Kaliba operations.
The only unknown was still, where was Skynet itself. John knew without that knowledge, the most they could do was delay Judgment Day, not stop it. Weaver's plan was to replace Skynet with John Henry. To do that, they had to kill Skynet first. For all of John Henry's knowledge, for him to attack Skynet directly on the web was suicide.
On his encrypted phone with Weaver, that Weaver had provided, John sat in his and Cameron's room that now looked like an animal's jungle gym. A pair of five foot trees stood close together in his room for George to climb on and knaw at was saving the other three legs of John's desk from destruction. George was half way up one tree, hanging upside down off a branch as he happily growled and knawed on a bone suspended by a string. He dropped onto the bone and bit through the string to fall to the floor. It must have been the bone's fault, for George attacked it viciously.
John looked over at him as he talked to Weaver. "They are coming after you again. We didn't hear any names, but they are hiring another assassin."
"Expected," Mrs. Weaver said in her Scottish accent. "Have you come any closer to finding Skynet?"
"Unfortunately not. I do have an idea though," John told her. "Instead of John Henry trying to confront Skynet directly, you might try building several John Henry 'boxes'. Computers with just enough of John Henry's essence to lure Skynet's attention. Spread them out to different locations. Have one box search out Skynet. When that box makes contact, attack that IP with the other boxes. Denial of service attacks, logic bombs, worms, whatever you can think of. John Henry monitors the activity. By the time Skynet wipes those boxes out of takes themover, we should have a physical location on Skynet."
"Very good idea, John. Since I do not know when this attack on me will occur, I am going to send John Henry and Savannah to stay with you."
John watched George climb up the tree and sniff around for another bone. He asked, "Instead of waiting for them, maybe we should attack first? We take the risk that Skynet hardware is there at Grossburg and go all out to wipe them from existence."
"That is bold, but what if Skynet is not there?"
"I was thinking, even if we miss Skynet, Skynet and it's agents will be very active trying to recover ground. And John Henry should be able to get a location so we can go after it," John said in a mussing tone as he watched George hang by his back feet to grab at another bone Cameron had hung from the branches.
"And with Skynet busy, it will be easier for John Henry to be successful."
John nodded. Watching George's antics, he said, "That bone won't stand a chance."
"Excuse me?"
John flushed. "I mean, Skynet won't stand a chance. We'll have it's location."
"Yes. Do you have an attack plan, John?"
"Just a rough one right now. Find out if Skynet is there, blow up the services to shut it down. I'll firm it up with details today. I want to go as soon as we can. Will you join us in the attack?"
"Absolutely. Tell me when."
.
John hacked into the city engineer's office and found the blueprints to the Grossburg building. He printed copies of the structure, the power conduits and telecommunication systems. There were three vaults of interest. The main electrical vault, the communications vault and a third vault in the basement that was not designated. This vault was in between the communications vault and the electrical vault. With any luck, it was where Skynet was being kept.
John made his plans with Cameron and Sarah in the living room while George hung off Cameron's shoulders, sniffing as he growled and tasted Cameron's hair. Sarah was eager to go on this mission, it involved planting explosive charges and shooting.
"Once John Henry begins his web attacks, we begin," John explained. "This tunnel here is the main electrical feed into the building. You can get to it through this sewer here. The service way runs up to the basement wall. Break the wall down and you're in. Mom, wrap the shaped charge around the electrical conduit pipe in the tunnel just outside the building and wait. Cam, you'll have a 50 cal rail gun, we have to assume terminators will be there. break into the middle vault, see what's here. Weaver is infiltrating as a minor executive, I'm in contact with her. She'll find out all she can inside and do what she can to help John Henry as well as hunt for any metal in the building. Mom, Cam, after your charges are set, rip out the communications. John Henry should be telling us by then if Skynet is there or not. Once we know, activate the timers charges and leave."
"If Skynet is there?" Sarah asked.
"That would be great," John said. "We isolate it by cutting off all communications, then John Henry duplicates Skynet's presence and becomes our Skynet. If we don't find it, then we set charges and walk away. The place becomes useless to Skynet, and if nothing else, Skynet will be active in trying to
restore it's network and John Henry will find it."
George tried to climb up on Cameron's head, slipped and flopped into her lap. He got up and climbed up on John's arm and sniffed his hair.
John winced at the feel of a claw in his shoulder. "This is the best plan I can think of. Get it or not, we should be able to deal Skynet a serious blow and find out for sure where it is," he explained.
Sarah noted George climb up and lay across John's shoulders to look at her. George curled his lips back to show his teeth and let out a stronger rattling growl. "We need to return that thing to the zoo," she stated.
"Animals there do not get proper exercise or learn life skills needed as adults," Cameron dead panned.
Sarah ignored her. "So, John, when does this party start?"
"Cameron and I will be home sick tomorrow. Tonight, three AM we go. We need to be in place, charges set by seven when people start the workday at Grossburg. Weaver will come in, give me the latest information and hunt for any metal in the building. I'll be in the van, one block down. When we're done, I'll drive to the front. Just walk out the front doors, get in and we're gone."
"I'm surprised you don't want to be inside," Sarah commented.
John glanced at Cameron, then told his mother, "That is where I'd prefer to be, but we do need to maintain a quick get-way, and I don't think you or Cam want me inside since there is the very real threat of hostile metal in the building."
George growled his agreement and sampled John's hair.
.
Cameron left on her patrol, George running along behind her. Walking at a easy pace, Cameron noticed George would hurry ahead or to the side to investigate something. Only once she lost sight of him. She let out a quiet rattling growl, and George came running. Following the stream, George waded into the water a ways and got a drink. For being a small, wild animal, George was good about staying around Cameron until she got back to the house. When she opened the door, George went in ahead of her, leaving his muddy paw prints in his wake. For his size, George had big feet.
After a long walk and a meal of ribs upon coming home, Cameron was satisfied that George would sleep a while. She got John up to go. Sarah's alarm went off right after that. By three George was sleeping in his spot under the bed and they were in the van.
.
The closest sewer entrance was a block from the Grossburg building. John let Cameron and Sarah out beside a manhole cover. Cameron pulled the cover. Sarah got down in, Cameron passed her the equipment bags and the large rifle, then climbed in and pulled the cover shut. John drove off to park and wait.
In the sewer, Sarah turned on her light and pulled out the map. The tunnel they were in had a little water in the bottom. Pipes ran along both sides and along the ceiling. Leading the way down to the branch they were looking for, Sarah shown the light down the smaller tunnel.
"I go first," Cameron told her. Getting on her hands and knees, Cameron crawled in. Thankfully, this tunnel wasn't very long. The four thick pipes went through the wall blocking the end. Sarah found out why John had allowed 4 hours to get in position. Cameron chipped herself a hole into the building
as Sarah wrapped the pipes with the C-4 shaped charges. Neither was quick work, but long and tedious. The dirt and muck coated pipes had to be cleaned before Sarah could get the charges to stick. Sarah found that squatting down while trying to work overhead was hard on the shoulder muscles. It took her a whole hour to get the explosive in place and the detonators rigged. By that time, Cameron had made a hole large enough to crawl through. The hole was behind power panels, so squeezing out into the electrical vault was worse than crawling through the sewer tunnel.
Lit only by the panel indication lights, the concrete room was dim. Cameron cracked the door to the room open and peeked out. "Sarah, the unknown vault is on this left wall," she said. Cameron studies the wall as she approached it. Finding a flat spot she chose, she began chiseling at it with fast strokes, sounding like a small jackhammer. Sarah stood by with her pistol drawn in case someone came to investigate the noise.
Shortly, Cameron was though. She shown a flashlight through the face sized opening. Cameron then pulled out her cell phone. "No service," she stated.
"We are underground," Sarah reminded her.
Cameron turned to her. "That vault has sever racks and three workstations. With the interconnections and bus cables, this may be Skynet."
"Destroy it," Sarah said automatically.
"We tell John," Cameron stated. "I'm going to go get a signal. Stand by to activate the charges, Sarah." She then walked out the door.
Sarah shook her head. She had missed something important in the last few weeks. John was acting more like the man in charge of the resistance. At the same time, Cameron was vigorously supporting him and carrying out his orders. Yes, they were still horny teenagers, she had more than enough uncomfortable proof of that. Even so, John was taking the lead and Cameron was right beside him. Imagining them getting married was a vision that made her shudder. The way they were going though, that might be an uncomfortable possibility.
John sat in the van, watching the sky lighten into morning. His phone rang. It was Cameron. He heard the code. He punched his in.
"John, the unknown vault has server racks, possible Skynet location."
"Got it. Can you stay where you are?"
"For a few minutes."
"Good, I'll call you back," John told her and hung up. He then called Weaver. After the coeds, he told her, "We're ready."
"Standby, John."
A finger morphed and plugged into a modem, and Catherine Weaver ordered a desktop computer in an empty down town LA apartment to begin searching the internet. Skynet, Judgment Day, every tag she searched for with John Henry's identity sig. The reply was fast, a serious hack attempt. At this,
she had John Henry start tracing from six locations. In a minute's time, the original computer was taken over, and she had the location of Skynet.
"John, Skynet is in the Grossburg building. John Henry has it's ID. There is a triple eight in the top floor office, I'll take care of him. You take it out Skynet."
"Will do, thank you," John said and quickly called Cameron back. They exchanged codes. John said, "Sky net is there, destroy it."
Cameron marched back down to the basement and into the electrical vault. She snapped up her rifle. "Sarah, activate the timer, that is Skynet. We're destroying it."
Sarah went back to the hole and turned the timer on. Cameron bashed down more wall into the Skynet server vault. "Sarah, block the door," she called. A final kick and the hole was big enough to go through.
Cameron ripped out cabling, smashed the butt of the rifle down on server boards and pulled down the racks. She kept stomping on boards and ripping cable and wires free, causing sparks and small arcs.
Sarah crawled through the hole. "Door blocked," she announced. She set her last two blocks of C-4 down in the mess and set the timers.
Cameron and Sarah left out the server vault. Cameron kicked in the communications vault door. "Rip out the wiring!" she commanded.
Sarah used her knife to cut wires from connectors. Cameron wiped a fire panel off the wall and ripped cabling down, yanking wires from their sockets.
.
Catherine Weaver, in the shape of a tall, thin blond, stood by the elevator. She saw it rise up to the top floor. When it started down, she pushed the button. A few seconds later, the doors opened. She stepped in and stood next to the large, powerful looking man. "I heard we're having problems," she said.
"There is a malfunction," the man said in a monotone voice.
"Actually, there are several malfunctions," Catherine told him. She then stepped next to the doors, pointed her arm at his chest and shot a silver spike. The man was thrown back and looked down at himself. Catherine felt her spike spread out. It didn't penetrate.
The man looked at her. "Anti menomic armor," he said and punched. Catherine ducked to the side, his fist dented the door deep. The elevator screeched and came to a halt.
Weaver then tried a decapitation. The terminator raised an arm and blocked it. He punched her chest causing malformation and throwing her back into the wall. He tied again and Catherine turned to liquid and slid up and over his body.
The terminator tried to pull Weaver off, but oly pulled his clothes off. Weaver got to his chip port and popped the cover off. She pulled his chip and it flared up, lighting not just the chip, but his whole head like a flare as the thermite went off.
Weaver screamed and flowed off him to reform to the side. She punched up at the emergency exit hatch and pulled herself through as the terminator fell to burn.
The lights went out.
.
Cameron and Sarah had made the stairs when the explosives blew and plunged the building into darkness. A second later, the emergency lights came on.
"Go!" Sarah snapped.
Cameron charged to the stairs to the first floor. Bursting out of the stairway door and into the lobby, Cameron pulled her hone and called John. "We need pickup."
"On my way."
Hearing someone on the stairs, Cameron turned and pointed her rifle. Catherine Weaver, looking a little smaller appeared. "John is coming, we need to go," Cameron told her.
The only person in the lobby was a single guard who was trying to get a phone to work. He stared at the trio as they went by. Weaver raised and arm and speared him through the head as she passed.
John pulled up by the curb. They all got in, he drove away.
"We got it?" John asked.
Beside him Cameron said, "Yes, the server in the vault is destroyed and communications are out."
Sitting by Weaver, Sarah noted a burnt smell coming from her. "Did you burn yourself?" she asked.
"A T-800 was trapped with thermite. It was only semi-effective," Weaver stated.
Looking through the read view mirror at her, John asked, "Are you all right?"
"I am intact, though there is a little less of me," Weaver told him. "My car is in the lot to the right. You may drop me off there."
.
Elated with finally destroying Skynet, John clasped Cameron's hand. "We did it!" he said happily.
"We should celebrate," Cameron agreed.
"How about we go out?" John asked. "We haven't done that like in forever. Mom, how about it?"
Skynet was gone. The threat hanging over her head for nearly her entire life was over. They had stopped Judgment day. Sarah sat numb, the impact of what they'd just done took time to sink in. When it did, the relief she felt was overwhelming. Sarah burst out crying.
John and Cameron looked at each other.
"I will take care of Sarah," Cameron said and slipped between the seats. Sitting down by Sarah, Cameron did the only thing she knew to comfort someone. She hugged Sarah. To her surprise, Sarah hugged her back.
Slowing her crying to a sniffle, Sarah said, "We did it. We really did it."
"We did," Cameron agreed.
Looking off at nothing, Sarah asked, "What do we do now?"
Confidently, Cameron said, "We go to school, get jobs, live quietly, have sex and raise George."
Sarah frowned at her. "You had to bring that up, didn't you?"
"Yes, we cannot abandon George," Cameron stated.
John laughed. "Taco Bell OK for lunch?" he asked.
.
They got home and John got a call from Mrs. Weaver. Skynet was confirmed off line and there was no traffic from Kaliba. John Henry was on line and doing the 'initial testing' for the Air Force as Skynet. Changing the 128 character pass code to a 640 character pass code in the Coordinated Defense Network that Sky net was the core of, John Henry also ensured that any hacks into his system would be difficult. Finding a back door into the system, John Henry removed it.
Besides John Henry's good news, Weaver offered Sarah 'Collins' a job in her Pasadena retail store where Zeita products were sold. She also wanted to employ John as a cyber security agent. John passed the news to his mother.
Sarah eyed John. "She's giving us jobs?" she asked.
John shrugged, "Why not? We can keep an eye on what's happening, and get paid for it. Mom, we can settle down now," he reasoned.
"And if things go bad with Weaver?" she prodded.
"Then we'll know who's to blame. Mom, I can't think of a better deal," he said with a shrug. "We know there still might be Skynet agents out there, it's best if we keep in close contact. We could use the money anyway."
Sarah had been in that vault and helped Cameron destroy everything in there. Still, it was hard to believe they actually killed Skynet. With John Henry taking it's place, and now had the resources Skynet had, She didn't see how a new AI would be able to come into being and take over.
It truly looked like they had won.
.
Catherine Weaver knew Grossburg had been in the process of hiring an assassin, so she had Mr. Ellison keep security tight in her buildings and around Savannah. John Henry was safe in her out of town concrete building. Being inside a warehouse that was in it's large compound with well trained guards, he was as safe as she could make him.
Before Grossburg execs figured out what was going on, she hacked into their system of shipping facilities that supplied the Skynet factories and rerouted the materials to her facilities. She replaced the superior coltan with aluminum, sending out change orders to the factories in Grossburg's name. Even if they tried to continue with no Skynet, they would be working with inferior materials.
Doing all the industrial sabotage she could safely do, Weaver planned on Kaliba loosing any contracts they had. That would open the way for her company to gain more contracts and lessen the likelyhood of some AI trying to revive the original Skynet.
Joining forces with John Connor had indeed produced very acceptable results, just as the future John Connor had promised.
.
The next day at school, John felt more relaxed than he had in a long time. Even though he had woken up to find George had climbed up on the bed, and was sleeping behind his knees. How do you tell a wolverine no?
Holding his hand as they went into the school, Cameron was in a good mood also. She was becoming better at being social, and today she truly seemed to enjoy it. She smiled and greeted their friends as they came into homeroom, and gave them the latest on her 'dog' George.
"George is fitting in well. He's big enough now to get up on the bed, and he looks so cute lying next to John," Cameron said with a big smile.
"Really?" Cindy asked. "Does he take up a lot of room?"
"No, there's still plenty of room for me," Cameron assured her.
John winced at what she just admitted and lowered his head. "Cam," he said in a groan. They were busted.
Cindy's eyes opened wide, as did Kaylee's. "You sleep with John?" Cindy asked in a squeak.
"That explains why you're so protective of him," Kaylee said with a crooked grin. "I'm surprised you get away with it."
"It's John's house, why not?" Cameron asked.
"You stud," Kaylee said to John, wearing her crooked grin. "I take it you're getting married?"
Cameron looked at John as he looked up at her. He had never even thought about marriage.
"I don't know if we can. Can we?" Cameron asked.
John shrugged, "I never thought about it," he admitted.
Kaylee reached across the isle and smacked him in the head. "What's the matter with you? You're sleeping with Cam, and you haven't even thought about making her your wife?"
John frowned at her, "It's ..." he was about to say 'it's not like she's human' and quickly clapped his mouth shut. THE wrong thing to say, even if he didn't mean it in a bad way but just as fact. He had to say something, so he opted with, "It's just something we haven't thought about."
"Well, you better start thinking about it," Kaylee scolded. "Cam is taking care of you, isn't she? How about taking a little responsibility here?" Rolling her eyes she exclaimed, "MEN, they think only with the little head!"
Cameron looked confused. "John does fine," she said, then sternly added, "And don't hit him."
Kaylee turned to Cameron. "Cam, It's not John that might get pregnant, is it? Do you really want to be an unwed mother? My cousin Kacey is one, and let me tell you, she does not have an easy life!"
"I won't get pregnant," Cameron stated.
"That's what Kacey said," Kaylee countered.
Cindy didn't know if vampires could get pregnant or not. Still, she said, "Cam, Kaylee is only concerned about you."
"Ah, guys? You have given us something to talk about," John offered. "When I said we haven't thought about it, that's what I mean. It's not like I plan to dump Cam for someone else, or anything like that."
"Yes, I am John's. John is mine," Cameron stated.
"So then there's no problem getting married then, right?" Kaylee prodded.
"Maybe they can't because they are different … species," Cindy offered.
Kaylee cast her a hard stare. "Cindy, I love you but you're an idiot! Cameron is NOT a vampire!"
"Maybe she's something else," Cindy offered.
"YOU are something else. Come on Cindy, this is serious," Kaylee begged. Returning to John, she asked, "Do your parents know you're sleeping with Cameron?"
John left out a huff. This conversation was getting way too involved. "Mom knows. My dad died a long time ago," he admitted.
"How about your parents?" Kaylee asked Cameron.
"I don't have any living parents. I live with John and his mother."
"And she's fine with you two being so close?"
"No, but she accepts it."
Kaylee eyed them. "You are living as brother and sister?" she asked.
"Not exactly," John said.
"Right, brothers and sisters don't sleep together, unless you're rednecks," Kaylee said in a grumble. "John, you two really need to talk about how serious you are about each other."
"I am serious about Cameron. I'd do anything for her," John said defensively.
"He has," Cameron agreed as she remembered when he saved her by bringing her back, and not letting Weaver get her chip. She gave him a soft look, and added, "And I would do anything for John."
John smiled and said,"We have have done a lot for each other."
"Yes, we have."
Kaylee held her hands up. "OK, stop before you start kissing! If you are truly serious about each other, then commit!"
John nodded. Cameron was much more than the terminator she'd been when they first met. She was truly a person. Yes, she was coltan under her skin, but within that coltan was a living, feeling being. A being that deserved to be treated with love and respect. Cameron loved him and he loved Cameron. "We do have to talk about getting married." he said as he looked into Cameron's eyes.
Returning his soft gaze, Cameron said, "You mother is going to have a fit."
.
Inside the Grossburg building on the second floor inside a lab, the emergency lights shown on a large electronics box. The LED on the front read : Emergency power on Communications off.
Below the LED display was a small plaque that read : Core unit Mk1 Mod 2 Skynet defense system.
