Of course, she might not have done that, just as she had done the first time in the cemetery in front of Catherine Brewster. The system told her that it would be more logical to remain in the guise of T-850 until Connor and Brewster were eliminated. But for some reason that defies logical explanation, T-X decided that she had to return to her original form. You could say she wanted it.
A shot to the head, the last thing the general realized was that Connor's words had been confirmed one hundred percent. And if he had had any vague doubts until that moment, now they were gone. But it was too late: fragments of Brewster's brain, pierced by a bullet, flew out of his skull, and some of them sprayed on Kate. She screamed hysterically loudly, but John, still cool, rose to the occasion.
With a speed that not even the terminators were capable of in every situation, Connor managed to grab the girl and run out the doorway with her without catching any of the bullets he fired at T-X's back.
A chase began through the corridors of CRS, something similar to what they had already done. But then a reprieve, albeit a small one, was given to them by Terminator, who entered into battle with his opponent. Now he is gone, and there is no one to help them.
Kate, still reeling from the shock, moved mechanically, and John had to drag her by the arm. And he also had to look around so he wouldn't run into one of the T-1s or the Hunter-Killers.
A corridor, a room, then a corridor again, a turn to the right, a turn to the left, a turn to the right again... The thought of where to run ripened in the guy's brain by itself. After a while, he began to realize that this was the same route they had taken the last time they had reached the hall where the particle accelerator was located. That means they need to go there again, and if they're lucky, they'll be able to magnetize T-X to the collider a second time. And then the hangar, the plane, and Crystal Peak. History repeats itself this time.
Behind John and Kate, bullets hit the glass, blowing them to pieces. Shrapnel generously covered the floor of the corridor. John didn't look back — he already knew that the terminator was just around the corner and would soon catch up with them. The shots stopped — she ran out of bullets. What now: a flamethrower or a plasma cannon? In both cases, they are in trouble, unless something unforeseen happens. But it happened.
When John and Kate found themselves in the next hallway, a drone flew out of the open doors and hovered in the air — the Hunter-Killer — a drone resembling a futuristic rotorless helicopter, equipped with rapid-fire machine guns and missiles. H-K were designed in CRS for a single purpose: to seek out and kill people, anytime, anywhere.
H-K lurched sharply to the left, tracking them. Two air-to-ground missiles separated from the crossbar and ignited. Connor remembered what to do: he ducked sharply and knocked Kate to the ground. At that moment, T-X ran into the hallway from the opposite end with a plasma cannon at the ready. Since the missiles of this model of drone were not yet homing, they simply hit in front of them, without disassembling the target. Both shells landed directly in the terminator's chest, sending T-X flying against the wall with tremendous force, shattering the thick concrete into pieces.
No matter how strong the armor of T-X was, this incident could not but cause any damage to it. And even if all the systems are able to work normally, it will take a few minutes for T-X to fully recover. But their luck didn't end there: T-X was able to shoot plasma before the missile hit, so only small fragments of the drone remained. They scattered all over the corridor and covered John and Kate, scratching both of them badly. However, there were no serious injuries.
Now they had a few minutes to spare, enough time for John and Kate to run to the hangar and even take off. The main thing is that nothing delays them anymore.
They descended two flights into the basement to the particle accelerator control room. The room is no bigger than a living room in an average house, but crammed with monitors, control equipment, and dozens of keyboards.
The door to the accelerator tunnel was open, revealing a blue tube about six and a half feet in diameter, surrounded by a labyrinth of wires and pipes, giant electromagnets every ten or twelve feet, warning and identification signs along the entire distance.
A large poster hung on the door: "Warning: Strong Magnetic Field."
John rushed to one of the checkpoints and hurried to the display. Remembering what he had done last time, he quickly flipped the switches and entered commands into the computer, following the prompts.
Kate looked down the stairs they had taken to him.
"Do you really think it's going to work with her a second time?" She grunted pessimistically. She wanted to get out of there immediately.
"Maybe not, but it's worth a try," Connor said, glancing at her. He typed in a few more commands and clicked "Enter."
"Okay, that's it. Let's go."
John ran to the entrance of the accelerator tunnel. Kate hurried after him.
The huge mechanism started with a deafening noise. Super-cooled magnets were saturated with liquid nitrogen, electrical circuits began to operate, and powerful vacuum pumps eliminated air from the accelerator tube. Like some crazy factory!
T-X rebooted in less than a minute. Her system completely scanned all the components and displayed the result on the HUD:
Physical damage to combat chassis: 8 percent.
Area of injury: Chest plates.
CPU: Not damaged.
Plasma Reactor: Not damaged.
Condition of the polyalloy shell: Damaged, requires regeneration.
Estimated regeneration time: 6 minutes 42 seconds.
Armament status:
- Plasma emitter: Damaged, needs repair.
- Flamethrower: Not damaged.
- Circular saw 1: Not damaged.
- Circular saw 2: Not damaged.
Overall system availability: 87 percent.
T-X got off easy enough. Despite some damage, she was able to move. However, so far only without its polyalloy shell. But, on the other hand, it does not need it in these conditions. Therefore, the terminator continued the pursuit in the form of a combat chassis reinforced with crystalline ceramic with alternating nanofibers of carbon and titanium. On the chest plates there was a decent-sized dent left by a rocket. However, with the exception of this small detail, the "natural beauty" of T-X was no longer disturbed.
She also ran down to the particle accelerator, knowing that Connor and Brewster would surely go that way again. The probability was estimated by the processor at 96.27 percent.
Bursting into the particle accelerator control room, T-X immediately glanced at the instrument panel. It unequivocally showed that the accelerator had been launched and was currently operating. No, Connor and Brewster won't be able to repeat this trick with her! The terminator turned off the power, after which she had to wait some more time for the magnetic field to finally shut down.
At that moment, the people she was chasing were already inside the hangar, where several small planes and a couple of large helicopters were parked. They appeared to be in good working order, and there was no sign of robots. From here, you could get a better view of the burning vehicles behind the runway and the many bodies.
Kate, who was now fully recovered and able to act rationally, led John to a single-engine Cessna 180 with a blue stripe, fairing wheels, and the civil registration number N3035C on the fuselage, her father's plane, in which she had learned to fly and did it well, as she had already proved once.
She and John pulled the props off the wheels, then climbed into the cab. He fastened his seatbelts, and Kate checked to see if the controls moved freely and if there were any locks. She pushed the big throttle handle forward, the engine responded, and they began taxiing to the runway.
Kate turned onto the path leading to the east-west runway. In the distance, they could see a badly damaged control center with shattered viewing windows and smoke billowing from them. And no sign of life.
The girl looked inquiringly at her companion, as if asking where they would fly this time, although she herself knew the answer.
"To Crystal Peak, Kate," John said knowingly. "Only there will be safety when Judgment Day begins! We must be saved, because who knows, maybe this is the last replay..."
"I hope not," Kate said grimly, and after a while she voiced the question that had been bothering her for the past few minutes.
"Do you think she'll track us down?"
"I don't know, Kate. Maybe—" Connor didn't want to give his friend any disembodied hopes.
Catherine pulled up to the intersection of the runway and turned east into the wind. She checked the controls again by holding the brake, added up to 1850 rpm to the engine and turned on the magneto one. The engine slowed down at twenty-five revolutions per minute and revved again to full force when she flipped the fuel tank switch from the "both" position. Kate turned on the magneto two, the engine slowed down by fifty rpm, and revved back when she switched the tanks.
"Ready?"
"Always ready!" John exclaimed in a feigned cheerful voice, wanting to cheer up his friend.
Kate stepped on the throttle, released the brake, and the Cessna picked up speed on the runway. At sixty miles per hour, Kate turned off the carburetor heater, and the engine accelerated another hundred and fifty revolutions per minute. At one hundred and twenty, the front wheels lifted off the ground, and they began to gain altitude and acceleration as she slowly retracted the flaps.
T-X climbed out of the damaged particle accelerator shaft and inspected the hangar. Some distance to the east, she saw a small plane at the end of the runway.
She amplified the optical circuits by focusing on the aircraft. The database reported that it was Cessna-180, registration number N3035C, owned by Robert Brewster.
The terminator watched for a minute until the Cessna turned northeast.
Her processor displayed several options for their course on the HUD, and showed Crystal Peak with a ninety-five percent probability. Although she herself believed that the probability of this was equal to all one hundred percent. Nowhere else! They will seek salvation only there!
Once again, people showed the incredible will to live and ingenuity that she had expected. T-X made her way to the helicopter she had already used once.
John already knew that there were no robots inside the Crystal Peak, so they entered the hangar boldly and immediately rushed to the blast-proof steel door, past the vehicles lined up in rows and covered with a thick layer of dust, under which here and there you could see the old-fashioned olive color: jeeps, trucks...
The air felt musty and damp. It smelled of stone chips, leaking engine oil, rotten rubber tires, and something else. A smell in the distance resembled an electrical appliance.
Running almost close to the door, they found themselves in front of the security console. Kate opened the panel with a small keyboard with a familiar movement. A dim light streamed from the device, allowing you to see what they were doing. The LED screen above the keyboard flashed, "Wait." A few seconds later, it was replaced by a combination of letters and numbers: "Blue 478."
John and Kate stared at each other. There was fear on their faces: only now did the two of them realize that they didn't remember the right code. This information, so quickly fading from their memory and at the same time so important, was simply erased from their memory, unable to compete with the vast amount of memories, experiences, and emotions that both he and she had carried away during these repetitions.
"I don't—" Kate stopped. John's face spoke more eloquently than words.
"We have to remember! Come on!" Connor's brow furrowed as his brain worked.
Almost a minute passed like this. They were still marking time.
At last Kate exclaimed, "Wait, there was something state-related... Montana, I think, or—"
"Dakota!" Connor shouted. "Exactly! And some more numbers... Wait, wait... Yes! Type: 'Dakota, seven-seven-five!'"
Kate typed in the code, and the screen flashed, "Power On."
The lamps above the door lit up. The keyboard squeaked, and a new prompt lit up.
"We're almost in," Connor said worriedly. He and Kate smiled, encouraged by their success. At one point, the girl glanced to the left, then automatically stepped back, her face instantly turning pale.
The guy, who was still looking at the screen, heard her voice full of terror behind him.
"John! It's she..."
Connor turned instantly, and T-X was standing about thirty feet away. Her polyalloy coating has already been completely restored, so she appeared in front of people in her usual image. The terminator calmly looked at John and Kate and did not take any action yet.
This time, she did not rush into the hangar in a helicopter, but calmly placed it away from the door so that the noise of propellers could not be heard, and then walked inside, stepping softly, like a cat, people did not hear her approach them until the last moment.
There was an ominous silence for a few seconds. John was frantically trying to figure out what to do. But his mind told him a disappointing conclusion: this was the end. Without T-850, they have no chance. It's all over now. Kate, on the other hand, stepped back and stood close to the door, where she stared at T-X with a mixture of horror and hatred. Rather unconsciously, John covered the girl with himself, standing between her and the killer robot.
Finally, T-X spoke.
"There's no one to help you now."
Both John and Kate had already experienced what a human feels before a painful and quick death, but it was impossible to get used to it, so they screamed in terror and instinctively cowered as a jet of fire washed over both of them and then continued to burn, turning them into smoking embers.
T-X felt a kind of euphoria at the sight of the two burned bodies. Her neural networks literally went off scale, threatening the processor with a short circuit. She killed John Connor! Finally, Skynet's arch-nemesis has been defeated! She did it! She has successfully completed her mission!
T-X spun 180 degrees and headed back to the hangar entrance. Outside, standing next to the door, she watched as the missiles launched by Skynet flew in and out of directions. A satisfied smile played on the robot's lips.
T-X then went back inside and took another look at the burned bodies of John and Kate. Suddenly, the feeling of euphoria was mixed with something else. Desolation. The realization that with the death of these people, her existence no longer makes much sense. But T-X did not indulge in such sad thoughts for long, taking a position with one knee and two hands resting on the floor, as she had already done when traveling through time. She went into hibernation mode, intending to wait until 2032.