Ellison had led John and Catherine deep into the underground bunker. He had taken great care to make sure that no one else followed them. Once they had descended to the lowest levels, he unlocked a door and stepped into a large room. The tables inside the room were covered with old computers, the Turk, and the equipment that use to be in the basement with John Henry.
"Sarah had me take the equipment right before we left. She thought that you could use it. Your mother also wanted you to have this." Ellison walked over to a large bed covered with a sheet. He ripped the cover off to reveal Cameron's body. the skin had healed from the wounds she had gained from breaking Sarah out of prison. She also looked like she had aged twenty years.
"Cameron!" John ran to her side. "I am glad to see that you took care of her."
"This is my equipment." Catherine said as she walked in. "It is all hooked up wrong. Mr. Ellison, I will need someone to give me a hand if I am to have this running before tomorrow ends."
"Very well, Mrs. Weever." Ellison walked towards the door. "I'll send someone down. John, we need to go. If Skynet is really as close as we fear, TechCom is going to need you to lead us."
"I will send for you once I have the Time Displacement Equipment running." Catherine said. "Mr. Ellison, please send John Henry down here. He should be close to me so I can make sure he does no' fall into Skynet's hands."
"What do we know?" Martin asked, slightly out of breath. He had just arrived and was attempting to strap on his body armor while balancing his rifle in his arms.
"Our scouts have found a mass of medal moving towards our southern flank." Lauren said as she pointed to a map. "They will be here by this time tomorrow if they keep their pace."
"How are our defenses?" Martin finally gave up the balancing act and dropped his rifle onto the table.
"Thin at best." Derek said with a grunt.
"We have such a small number of troop and such a large area to cover." Ellison shook his head. "If they hit us on the flanks, our lines will collapse. Our centers are not much better. There is a lot of confusion on the southern flank."
"We are trying to clear up the confusion," Derek said as he stood to his full height and crossed his arms across his chest. "The problem we are running into is the officers are all attempting to take command. There is no union. I'm going to meet with them as soon as we are finished here."
Martin finally had his armor strapped on. He adjusted it slightly and then looked over the map. "Our lines will not hold. We are going to have to redeploy these troops." He pointed to the western flank. "The west is fairly uneven terrain. The Machines will not send their forces that way. They will lose most of their shock troops if they come that way."
"Which is why those troops are there." John said, finally speaking up. "We know there is someone in our ranks who is a Gray. If the enemy has any brains among them, they will know that we have these troops on the west. I would send enough T-600's and Grays into that area so that we don't re-deploy them."
"Which is why we leave them where they are." Derek said quickly. "We can redeploy them in a matter of minutes when we need them but if move them now, we could find ourselves out flanked."
"We will also move the medical equipment and the hospitals into the bunker." Lauren said and she tapped the map. "It is going to take a lot of manpower but it will be better in the long run."
"Command will set up our main radio hub in this room." Ellison said. "Savannah, John, and I will man this room. With our communications, we will be in constant command of the whole battlefield."
"Ok," Martin said as he began sipping on a cup of cold coffee. "I'll talk with the officers on the southern flank. They will no longer give you any lip, Reese."
Derek nodded in response.
"Then we have a plan." John said quietly. "We all have jobs to do."
"Yeah." Ellison said. "Maybe we can stop them here. Remember, we just have to hold them long enough for Mrs. Weever to get her equipment running. Getting John back to his own time is our only priority. We do that and we stop Skynet. May God bring us out of this alive. Everyone, lets get things done. John, there is more I need to discuss with you."
Command quickly separated themselves. John remained in his seat until the room had been cleared. Once he was alone with Ellison, John stood. The older man was leaning up against the table. His eyes were closed and signs of an old, tired soldier could be seen.
"John, there are a few things I think you should know." His voice was soft and just more than a whisper. "There is a way to stop this from happening. Sarah and I spend years trying to find Danny Dyson. He was taken by Skynet around three months before you left. While in the possession of Skynet, Danny was forced to finish his father's work. Despite our efforts, Danny finished his father's work. When he succeeded in building the AI and giving the cursed thing free reign of the world, he was terminated. We found his body a week later. Two days later, Judgment Day happened. We found Danny in an underground complex beneath a warehouse in Northern LA. Sarah and Martin had searched the building once before, but they failed to find anything there. We only went back once Skynet went online. We were able to trace it back to its origin. If you can stop Dyson from building Skynet, we win this war."
"So we stop Dyson…again. What stops someone else from building another AI? From creating Skynet again?"
"I don't have those answers. I just believe God will not let His children perish without a fight. He gave us you. He gave us another chance."
"Besides, I have the answer to your question."
John and Ellison looked up to see Catherine walking in. She had the blank face that John had seen Cameron used many times.
"And what is the answer?" John asked.
"My children." She raised an eyebrow. "I created John Henry so there would be an AI on our side in this war. Mr. Ellison taught him to value human life. Once he is fully operational, he can battle Skynet virtually. If Skynet is destroyed, he can integrate into every system in the world. He will watch for future threats and be able to stop them before they become Skynet."
"What are the chances he turns into Skynet?" Ellison asked.
"I created him. You raised him. He is our son. What do you think?"
Ellison sighed. He looked down at the map and said nothing for several minutes. Finally he said, "He will not turn on us. He might make questionable decisions from time to time, but so did Cameron."
"Cameron is still inside her chip." Catherine said, her eyes falling on John. "He may not fully recognize her presence, but she is influencing John Henry. He has a strong desire to protect you, John."
"Very well. He will be our weapon in this war." John looked at the terminator. "Ellison, tell me everything I need to know to stop this future from happening. Mrs. Weever, we need that equipment working now."
