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Chapter 05: Exile
Turncoat
"Exile"
Current Date: December 25th 2027…
‘To think; seventeen years ago families would be enjoying Christmas morning, or so John tells me.’
This was hardly a snowy landscape, however. The desert is not known for its comfort, as Jason quickly discovered. It had been three months since Cameron was sent back to 1999 and Jason had left the Resistance to travel the continent. Where he was exactly he didn’t know, but it was definitely a dead-zone. Jason hadn’t encountered a single HK in days and the last time he saw a Terminator was back in Los Angeles.
Warning: immediate refreshment required…
Jason usually ignored these little warnings, but this time he paid attention, the desert had a tendency to dry him out a lot quicker than other climates, though that was to be expected, being a desert and all. He unscrewed the lid on his water bottle and took a small swig before returning it to his belt.
‘One of the benefits of being partially robotic; increased survival attributes.’
Jason continued his trek through the wasteland, the sun trying in vain to burn his skin. He wasn’t 100% sure about where he was headed, but he continued onward regardless. As he reached the top of a particularly steep hill, Jason was greeted by the sight of an old gas station. Intrigued, he decided to investigate.
Scanning… No machines present…
Once assured of his safety, Jason inspected the rustic refuelling station, finding nothing of any real interest, aside from an old packet of cigarettes, which he discarded after discovering what they were for.
‘Filthy habit.’
An old caravan was parked to the side of the convenience store; it was as rusted as the rest of the place. As he approached the caravan, Jason’s enhanced hearing picked up the sound of ragged breathing. He spun around to find an emancipated man charging him with a knife. In one swift movement, Jason kicked the knife from the man’s hand and then delivered a punch to his mid section, crushing his sternum. The man dropped to the floor, blood dripping from his mouth, yet he was not dead. Jason kneeled down beside him and gave a sigh of annoyance.
“If you’d have been more civilised I might not have had to kill you.”
The man gurgled at him, an obvious attempt at speech.
“You… machine…! I’ll kill…”
Jason looked pityingly down at the ill-fated creature and wondered how long he had lived out here alone.
“No, I’m not a machine. I’m just a man… like you.”
“You… no man… no man out… here… only me…”
“That’s a pity. Maybe you should’ve tried looking for other people, though I guess they are hard to find nowadays. But there still around, if you know where to look.”
The man gave a strangled laugh before succumbing to his injuries. Jason ran his endo-hand over the man’s face, closing his eyes.
“Don’t worry old man. The nightmare’s over for you. Weep for those left behind.”
Jason then got to his feet and continued on his journey to no where.
--
Another three days passed and still Jason was no closer to finding anything of worth. While it was his idea to go on this little expedition and abandon the Resistance, Jason still had a purpose. John wanted him to investigate rumours of Skynet activity on the other side of this oasis. But several weeks of travelling yielded no results. Tonight, however, changed all of that.
The sun had set and the bright desert had become a dark ocean of dust and stones. Nevertheless, Jason continued onward, possessing brilliant night vision. After an hour walking in the dark Jason’s motion detectors picked up movement over the next rise. Before he could investigate, however, two T-600s suddenly burst from the sand at his feet like skeletal undead. Luckily, they were unarmed and were heavily rusted from God-knows how long they spent in their hiding places.
The first lumbered towards Jason, its hand reaching out for him. Jason attempted to utilize his “Anonymity program” but, as his neural implant reminded him, this does not work on Terminators. He instead opted to draw his modified phased plasma pistol and blew two smoking holes through their respective skulls.
‘Pathetic. But then again, who would be all the way out here?’
Jason left the T-600s to smoulder on the desert floor as he slowly climbed the rocky hill ahead of him.
--
Five minutes of climbing and scrabbling later, Jason reached the top of the hill and felt his heart almost skip a beat as he took in the site before him.
‘John was right. This was worth the journey.’
A massive factory filled the entire canyon, its machinations whirring and crunching as hundreds of Terminators, HKs, and FKs were being churned out on assembly lines. A single HK was currently hovering above the factory, making a delivery of what Jason guessed to be coltan. Once its cargo was dropped, the HK flew north, back to L.A. Jason remained crouched and scanned the area, assessing security and counting the precise number of units that had been created.
Scanning… Approx. 356 T-888s, 285 T-900s, 142 HK hovers, 79 FK tanks…
‘Plus change.’
This was not going to be easy. Jason could get past the HKs and FKs, but not the Terminators. And even if he was able to get inside; Skynet would see him the moment he set foot through the entrance.
‘This is gonna take some finesse.’
Suggestion: system “Anonymity” can be reconfigured to broadcast a visual disruption field in close proximities… ‘Will this work on Terminators too?’ Affirmative…
‘What about HKs and FKs? Will they be able to attack me?’
Reconfiguring this system will allow them to recognise you as an enemy if they detect you… Do you still wish to reconfigure system “Anonymity”?
‘Do it.’
Configuring… Complete…
‘Alright then, time for some thrilling heroics.’
--
Jason’s vision scrambler proved extremely potent in the confined layout of the factory. All machines that he crossed paths with suddenly developed a visual glitch for as long as he was near, rendering him practically invisible, not even Skynet’s security systems could detect him.
‘I guess Skynet regrets giving me all those upgrades now.’
The plan was simple. Gain access to the command station and order an immediate shutdown of all facilities, then trigger a meltdown, thereby destroying the entire factory as well as its creations. Finding the station wasn’t easy, however, and Jason ended up having to hack into the factory’s mainframe to download the layout into his implant’s archives, a risky move, but nevertheless successful.
With an overlay of the layout in his peripheral, Jason was able to make steady progress to the command station. En route, however, he discovered one of the flesh growth chambers and was struck with an idea. He entered the chamber to witness a triple-8 having its flesh replenished by a grafter. Once the triple-8 had completed its skin re-growth and left, Jason examined the device and quickly figured out how it worked. He then placed his endo-arm into the device and had it graft new flesh onto it, using a sample of his skin to replicate his own flesh. Once finished, Jason’s endo-arm looked no different than his original and, with a smug satisfaction; he continued his journey to the command station.
Jason finally arrived at the entrance to the station, only to find it being guarded by two T-900s. This was no problem, however, as both suffered from his vision scrambler. Once inside, Jason hacked into the factory controls and ordered and immediate shutdown of all systems. He then removed the safety barriers from the main reactor and raised its levels beyond stability, causing dozens of alarms to activate. The entire factory was in chaos, every assembly line came to an immediate halt; construction machines crashed or froze, some of them exploded. Jason decided it was time to get out of there.
--
Given the chaos that ensued, Jason was forced to take a short cut through the poly-mimetic research labs. He darted through the many rooms, ignoring the various experiments they contained. In the last room, however, Jason found his progress impeded by an overturned rack of computers. Before he could start shifting this mess, however, something sharp and silver pierced his shoulder. Jason turned around to find himself staring into the face of mercury and knew his luck had run out.
‘Suggestions?’
…?
‘Thanks for your help.’
To be continued…
Next: Chapter 06: Endurance
Previous: Chapter 04: Brothers & Sisters
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Veran |
Latest page update: made by Veran
, Jul 22 2008, 3:24 PM EDT
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