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Chapter 10 Extract from the Journal of John Connor
Chapter 10
The Three Tin Men
From the Journal of John Connor
2027, Day 10 - 11
We told Kyle about my computer suddenly going haywire, and that we couldn’t even test the three chips we thought were successfully reprogrammed.
“It’s a good thing we’ve come up with a strategy that doesn’t include them, but what if Derek is counting on them?” Kyle asked me.
“I don’t know Kyle. It may be dangerous, but if we setup another team like we did when testing Alpha, maybe we could try them one at a time.”
“That would be better than not knowing at all. You set it up and when you are ready, let me know. I’m dying to get out of here, if only for a few minutes.”
We left Kyle in his room, getting dressed so he could come outside for a change and watch us test the other machines.
“Allison, could you organize the sharpshooters we had yesterday for the trap?”
“Sure thing.” She said, then walked off to organize the group.
I went and got Alpha, slipped his chip back in and waited for him to reboot.
It still gives me a bit of a chill when I see those red eyes light up.
“Alpha, I need your help. Follow me outside and I’ll give you further instructions there.”
“Yes, John Connor.”
We went outside the hatch to where we had placed the other machines. I told Alpha to pick one of them up and follow me. We went to where we had tested Alpha yesterday morning. I could hardly believe it’s been only a day since then.
I had Alpha lay the body in the same location that Alpha had previously lain.
There was still some time before the others got here.
“Alpha, we are going to be testing some more machines like yourself. I have three chips which will be inserted into three of the machines we captured yesterday. I don’t know if I have successfully reprogrammed them. If they turn hostile towards us, I need you to step in and protect us. Do you understand?”
“I understand. Terminators being activated might be mis-programmed. Mis-programing could cause it to harm you and other humans. My mission is to protect you and all other humans from machines who wish to terminate you.”
“That is correct.”
Allison soon arrived with the soldiers who had formed Team B during yesterdays activity. They were equipped as before with grenade launchers and shotguns with shells of depleted uranium.
Allison walked up to me and put something in my hands.
“I think you forgot something.”
I looked at what she placed in my hands and it was the chips and their covers.
“Thank you. Where’s Kyle? I thought he’d be coming out with you.”
“Here I am Connor.”
I turned and I saw him being helped outside by a female resistance fighter.
“All right everyone. Today’s testing is going to be pretty much like yesterday’s, I hope. My computer packed it in this morning and I don’t know how well these chips have been reprogrammed.”
“Alpha here was my first. He’s assisted us quite well and his mission is to protect us from any machine that wishes to do us any harm. That is why he is with us today.”
“I want grenade launchers on top of each hill of rubble for a clear shot into the center where the other machine is. Shotguns, I want you here on the ground spread out around the perimeter so you have a clear shot at the machine without having anyone else in your line of fire.”
“Kyle if you are ready, I’ll insert one of these chips into the machine now.”
“Go ahead.”
Allison stood by with both a shotgun and grenade launcher. The female fighter which helped Kyle out of the bunker stood just behind them, watching everything.
I went forward and inserted the first chip, sealing it in with the cap.
I walked back next to the others and waited. I was more scared this time then the first. After the problem with my computer, I was a lot less optimistic this time around.
“His eyes are lit.” One of the grenade launchers hollered.
We watched with held breath as the terminator stood up and scanned everyone around him. It took a step towards us.
“What is your prime directive?” I yelled at it.
It didn’t answer. I could see some of the soldiers getting nervous.
“What is your prime directive?” I yelled again.
“My prime directive is to never cause harm to a human, to obey all humans, to only disobey if order would cause harm to a human.”
Whew. Boy did I feel relief.
“If another machine were to try and harm a human what would you do?”
“My mission is to protect all humans from machines who wish to harm them.”
“And if that machine was going to try and kill a human, what would you do then?”
“I would protect that human from harm, or disable the machine to prevent it from causing harm.”
“If I order you to attack any human, would you obey me?”
“No.”
“If I were to order you to attack anything that wasn’t human, what would you do?”
“I would comply.”
I turned to Kyle and said, “I think I will avoid testing it by telling it to kill you.”
“I appreciate that. Try to avoid threatening more than one Reese per week with death.” He said with a grin.
I told Alpha to bring me another machine from our cache. He quickly complied and set it in the same place as the other had lain without prompting. They learn fast.
Once again I inserted the chip while everyone remained on alert. I ran back and stood beside Kyle and Allison again. This time flanked by Alpha and, well I guess I’ll call him Beta. I’ll have to mark them in some way to identify them later.
The other machine booted and stood up facing us. It scanned us. It scanned everyone. It focused its attention on me and the machines on either side. I can tell you my throat went dry.
“What is your prime directive?” I yelled at it.
“My prime directive is to never cause harm to a huma-an, to obey all huma-ans, to only disobey if order would cause harm to a huma-an.”
“What is your mission?”
“To defend all huma-ans from the forces of SkyNet.”
“Who am I?”
“You are John Connor. Leader of the forces against SkyNet.”
“I am nothing of the kind. I am only a resistance fighter.”
“Database from SkyNet confirms you are John Connor leader of the resistance.”
I turned to Kyle. “I don’t understand. He shouldn’t be saying that. The only programming I’ve done has been to his prime directive and mission and behavioral controls.”
“Ask him again John. Maybe he’s got a piece of fluff stuck in a sprocket or something.” Kyle responded.
“Who am I?”
“You are John Connor. Leader of the forces against SkyNet.”
“Alpha , who am I?”
“You are John Connor. Resistance fighter.”
“This is getting grade A weird.” I said to no one in particular.
“Beta, who am I?”
“Human resistance fighter. Name. John Connor.” Someone always has to be different.
“You in the middle verify your data and answer my question again. Who am I?”
The machine tilted its head and looked at me, scanning me.
“You are John Connor. Resistance fighter.”
“Why did your latest answer differ from the others you gave?”
“Database corrupted. Data cross linked with corrupted files.”
It looked like it was running an internal diagnostic.
“Give me a report on chip integrity.”
I then whispered to Allison, “Tell the sharpshooters to fire at him as soon as I give the signal.” She nodded and slipped away.
“Chip integrity 90%. Falling. 86%. Falling. 81%. 75%. 69%. Rebooting on fail safe mode. Restart.”
“SkyNet systems Reboot. System on line. Programming has been altered. SkyNet Systems override in place.”
It suddenly went into a threatening posture and said loudly, “YOU ARE HUMAN RESISTANCE FIGHTERS! YOU’LL DROP ALL WEAPONS AND COME WITH ME TO THE NEAREST SKYNET INTERNMENT CENTER!”
“FIRE ALL WEAPONS!!” I yelled. Then I grabbed Kyle and dragged him down on the ground behind Alpha and Beta. I felt the female fighter land on top of me as I heard numerous explosions and gun fire from the hollow behind me.
Shrapnel rained down on all of us and all around us as the terminator was blown up by multiple grenades fired directly at it. In the brief seconds in which this happened I heard a soft female voice say in my ear, “Once again I must shield you from an explosion.”
Weaver!
**
I decided immediately not to take the risk on testing the other two chips.
I took the liberty of removing the chips from Alpha and Beta after putting them in the storage room. I didn’t want to take any risks. I marked both the machines and the chips so I wouldn’t mistake them for each other. Studying ancient world history in high school finally paid off. I knew my Greek alphabet.
Everyone could see I was mad. I wasn’t mad at them or me. I was just mad at the situation I was in. I left it to Kyle to reformulate the plans we had drawn up earlier. It was getting less likely I’d be able to reprogram the machines we still had. Two good, two unknown. Not enough to make a difference.
I went to my room to vent in some privacy. I took several minutes to vent my feelings and swear and not a **** thing to throw.
“Well I had hoped to find you in a better mood when I returned.”
It was Weaver. She had slipped into my room and I hadn’t even noticed. Not good. If she was one of them I would have been dead.
“Yeah, well when your plans get wrecked and lets see how good of mood you’re in then.”
She closed my door and locked it. I swallowed. Last time she was here she only closed it.
“No need to worry. I just don’t want your new girlfriend to walk in on us.”
“Frankly I wouldn’t want anyone to walk in on us. But it’s going to raise some questions if I stay in here too long. We’ve got a fight coming up soon and we need to start preparing.”
“Just tell them you wanted some privacy and fell asleep.”
“There isn’t any privacy here, as I just found out recently. These walls are paper thin.”
“Then keep your voice down low and we’ll talk in whispers.”
“Is this low enough?” I said sarcastically, dropping my voice to study hall volume levels.
“Good enough.” she said matching my voice.
“Are you going to remain in that form or are you going to revert to your Weaver appearance?”
Instead of answering she morphed into Weaver and automatically adopted the Scottish accent of that persona.
“I understand you are having some problems?”
“God lady, nothing like stating the obvious. Of course I’m having problems. You were there for that shrapnel shower. Something went wrong with my computer when it was reprogramming the chips we pulled from the machines we captured. I cannot access the computer. I’m afraid it may have become corrupted, maybe even infected by one of the chips.”
“Let me see your computer.”
I handed it to her. Instead of doing something weird like joining it like she did the last time, she first allowed it to boot up. She watched the various lines of text come up as the operating system loaded. When it got to a certain point, she interrupted the boot process somehow and then she did something weird. Her hand sort of just melted into the computer. She closed her eyes.
New lines of text started appearing on the screen. I saw a smile play across her face then she went all serious again. The login screen came up but she bypassed it somehow. The operating system finished loading. I then saw various applications and blocks of programming code appear in windows and close, open, and close. The screen then went blank. She pulled her hand out of the computer.
“Here you go John.” she said and handed it to me.
I took it from her and turned it on. The operating system loaded properly. I logged in, and it finished booting. Everything was back to normal.
“What happened? How did you fix it?”
“One of those chips must have been equipped with an anti-tampering program. I find it amazing you didn’t detect it when reprogramming it.”
“What? Wait a minute, first things first. What did this anti-tampering program do?”
“When it detected tampering to its core programming, a defensive application launched. It prevents other chips from becoming rewritten by damaging the device that was rewriting the chip.”
“So that means the machine we just blew up had a chip that I tried to reprogram after that application was loaded on my computer?”
“Yes.”
“But you upgraded my firewall. You said so yourself.”
“I had. But I didn’t anticipate this level of protection so soon in this future time-line. SkyNet is learning. It must have guessed what you were going to do when that first machine came back on line but didn’t seek orders from SkyNet. I have boosted the firewall to prevent such attacks from happening again.”
“Should you check the cable you gave me, too?”
“Hand it to me.”
I picked up the cable she had formed from her own body, the last time she was here, and handed it to her. She absorbed it back into her body. She seemed to be thinking. She then extracted the same, or should I call it a new, cable from her body again and handed it back.
“The cable was fine. But it was wise to test it.”
“Do you have time to talk or must you rush off again?”
“I can spare you a few minutes.”
“You told me that in the future that you come from, the John Connor you know had become withdrawn. You advised me not to let the deaths of those I care about to become a wall between me and the people who care about me.”
“Yes I did. I hope you have taken it to heart.”
“I have. But I’ve become worried about something lately.”
“Oh?”
“I’ve grown rather close to someone in the time I’ve been here, and now I’m having dreams, nightmares of her death at the hands of one of these machines. I’m afraid of that coming true.”
“Your talking about Allison Young?”
“How did you know?”
“I read your journal. Bad idea keeping such things written down. Even you know that. I read your comments on it not being safe to write things down, that it was best to commit things to memory. But there you are contradicting yourself.”
“Okay. Enough of that. I had plenty of that stuff from my mom, and you are no substitute!”
“I am not trying to fill your mothers shoes John. But you shouldn’t ignore advice when given.”
“I’m sorry. But if we can get back to what I was saying before. I am concerned that these nightmares may come true. And if so, will the same thing happen to me now that has happened, or will happen to me in the future?”
“Whatever happens will be because of the choices you make. Don’t try and second guess yourself. Just do what you know and feel is right at the moment. I should be going soon.”
“Okay, but I need to ask you one more thing.”
“What do you need John?”
“I need machines. Can John Henry program a squad of machines and have them available to me by tomorrow?”
“I should think so. I have read the data from your backup of the changes you made to Alpha. That will be sufficient for John Henry to use. He might even be able to make improvements.”
“I don’t doubt that. It takes a machine to understand a machine.”
“That isn’t really true. I know of one machine you understand very well.”
“Cameron.” I closed my eyes and sat back down on the bunk. “I found and read her files on that data disc you gave me. To get that information you must have taken it straight from SkyNet. You must have taken a terrible risk. But why allow me to see it?”
Weaver did the one thing I didn’t expect her to do, she sat on the bunk beside me. “John I’m not your mother. I’m not human. I am a machine. But unlike most other machines I understand emotions. I still have trouble understanding some, but I understand, need, love, compassion, and friendship. What happened to Cameron should not have happened. It happened because someone attempted to kill or take Savannah. Someone who I care about very much. If that hadn’t happened, your mother never would have ended up in jail, and Cameron never would have broken her out, resulting in the damage she received.”
She looked into my eyes and I could see in hers that she was telling the truth. She did at least understand emotions.
“So does that mean you love Savannah as much as if she were your natural child?”
“I must admit that I did not at first. But as I spent more time with her and learned what it was to be a mother from Dr. Sherman and the home videos that Savannah’s mom made of her family, I found myself caring more for her than I thought I was capable of.”
“So if something were to happen to her, would you feel the grief and pain of her absence?”
“I don’t know. I would hope so.”
“Then if you understand that, then you must know how I feel about Cameron.”
“Yes, I’ve read your diary.”
“Then help me fix her. I can’t do it on my own. I am too caught up in the resistance. They need my help but I promised to fix her and I can’t right now.” I said my heart full of anxiety and my eyes full of tears.
“It’s okay John.” She patted my hand in almost maternal way. “I’ll help you. What do you need?”
I got my emotions under control and answered her. “Right now. I need two clean chips that I can program. Also, I need you to go to the hideaway where her body is. I need you to perform a full diagnostic on her and make any repairs required. She sustained a lot of physical damage before giving up her chip. Her flesh has repaired itself but I am certain of internal physical damage.”
“I can do that. Where is this hideaway of yours?”
I gave her the directions. “You need to avoid the rest stop on the desert highway. A group of soldiers has been assigned to protect the well there.”
“I understand. I must go now.”
“Just one more thing. Please.” I said earnestly.
“Make it quick.”
“Can you bring her to a location closer than the hideaway? Someplace that will be secure from both SkyNet and humans.”
“Yes. I can bring her to the factory where John Henry is. It would be an ideal spot to perform repairs.”
“Good. I’ll need those chips. One will be for her and one will be backup. Once I have them complete you will take me to her.”
“Don’t worry John. I’ll take good care of her.”
“Thank you.”
“Your welcome John. And next time we meet, call me Catherine.”
“I will. Good luck Catherine.”
“Good luck to you too, John.”
Catherine reformed herself back into the female resistance fighter and slipped quietly back out of my room.
**
For the first time since I found Cameron in the desert hideaway, I felt relief. Relief that I was finally on the road to fixing her. But at the same time, I had doubts as to why I was still doing this. Why was I still trying to fix Cameron when I had Allison? I didn’t know. It was something that had to be done. I had to fix her. That is all I knew.
I searched my soul and it was like my whole being cried out to fix her. And **** it all! I still loved her! The image of her damaged and twitching in the backseat of my mom’s truck still haunts me. I love Cameron. I need to fix her so I can tell her. That is what’s driving me. She needs to know. She needs to hear me tell her that I love her!
**
2027, Day 11
I fell asleep after Catherine left. I was drained after a night with no sleep and then a terrible morning and afternoon.
I was woken when someone knocked on my door. I got up and dragged myself to it, undid the lock and opened the door.
“Hey, I hadn’t seen you all day and I was getting worried.”
It was Allison. I just pulled her to me and hugged her.
“Hey what’s all this for?”
“I’m sorry I just needed that right now. I’ve had a terrible day.”
“I’m sorry John. I know how hard you worked on reprogramming those machines for us. No one is blaming you. Everyone knew it was a gamble. At least we have two machines working for us and that is two more than what we had two days ago.”
“Only you can see hope in hopelessness.” I said.
“Did Weaver come to see you?”
“Yes, how did you know?”
“Because your computer is running.”
“Oh ****, I forgot to plug it in to recharge the battery.”
I quickly let her go and plugged my computer in.
“I could use some fresh air. Want to join me?” I asked her.
“It’s the middle of the night John!”
“What? How long have I been asleep?”
“I don’t know. But its 2 AM. I was just heading back to my room, after going over those battle plans of yours with Kyle, when I thought I should check on you. No one had seen you after you pulled the chips from Alpha and Beta.”
“I’m sorry if I made you worry. Right now, I need to get out of this room. I can’t stand being in here. I need a change.”
“Then why don’t you come to my room.” she said embracing me.
“Don’t all these rooms look alike?”
“Not mine.”
“Why is that?”
“Because I’m in that room.”
“You’re a wicked girl. You know that don’t you.”
“Well its either alone and depressed in your room, or with me and happy in my room. Which will it be?”
“I can never say no to a lady.”
I shutdown my computer but left it plugged in to recharge. That night I spent with Allison in her room. It was the same as all the others, except we were in it. And we were together.
That silly banner still hung on her wall. You know it was right. We are a happy couple.
2027, Day 11 morning
I awoke at dawn with Allison snuggled up against me. Her favorite position seemed to be sleeping with her head on my shoulder and her arm across my chest. It’s like she’s protecting me, but it could also be because these bunks are so narrow. I like to think its because she loves me.
Today was going to be a day like none other. Derek was expected back with the latest reports on the armament factory, and troops from some of the other camps were going to join us.
Kyle and I had worked out some battle plans to be ready when he got back. One of the better plans involved using an old metro tunnel to sneak up on it. We were waiting to hear from Frank and Jo who had gone to inspect the tunnel.
My plan to reprogram the machines had not gone well. I was hoping that Weaver, sorry, Catherine would be able to supply me with the machines I needed. No one else knew of this, just me. That way if she couldn’t come through, only I would know.
I knew it was time to get up, but just this once I wished that I could just lie in bed and not worry about anything. Ha! What a laugh. My mind was just filled with worries. The upcoming battle, the failure to program the machines, and chief among them, Cameron.
I was surprised at how understanding Catherine was of my feelings for Cameron. She understood emotions far more than I could have expected, for a machine. Catherine, I hope, was right now, out there collecting Cameron for me from the desert hideaway. I hoped she could repair her physical damage and bring me the chips I needed for her.
After about an hour, Allison began to stir, so I knew I couldn’t lay there any longer.
“Hey Allison. It’s morning.”
“Good morning John.”
“Shall we get up and see what’s on the breakfast menu this morning?” I said cheerfully.
“Why ask? We both know what it’s going to be.”
“Rats!” we chorused together and laughed cheerfully.
An hour later we had both cleaned up and got dressed and was having our morning ration of rat and some water. I wish I had those apples and carrots we ate at the main bunker my first day here.
We were surprised when Kyle joined us in the dining hall. He walked in and people greeted him cheerfully. He was a little surprised by the warm greeting, but the mood here had been improving the last few days.
He sat down with us and said, “I just got word from Frank and Jo this morning. They inspected the tunnel and it leads right up to armament factory. There are some collapsed portions but it is passable all the way.”
“Are there any routes from the tunnel to inside the factory.” I asked him.
“They don’t know. The best they could find was a service entrance that leads up to the surface about eighty yards from the factory.”
“Any word on how many groups will be joining ours in the attack?” Allison asked. She knew like the rest of us that we needed all the available manpower we could get.
“The radio operator has heard back from two camps. They will each be supplying us with about ten additional fighters each. They should be here sometime today.”
“Twenty fighters! That isn’t much.” Allison replied.
“None of the camps have many people to spare.”
“What we need to do is unify all of these small resistance groups into one large army.” I said. “ We can’t possibly fight a war to win with independent groups scattered all over the place. They need one goal, one mission, one leader to win this war!” I ended up shouting. My frustration at the inefficiency of the resistance here coming to the fore.
“Hurray!” “Yeah!” “You said it Connor!” and other similar shouts came from the other fighters who were eating their morning rat.
“I understand how you feel John,” Kyle said. “but right now we need those weapons. We have full reports on how many machines are guarding and operating that factory. We are waiting for more troops to arrive and for Derek to get back.”
“The only thing we don’t have is the machines I promised him.”
“By the way. Did you get your computer fixed?’
“Yes. But there isn’t time to get the other two machines ready. And even if by some miracle I did get them ready, would four machines really make a difference?”
“Four is better than none, and right now, two is better than none. Why don’t you see what you can do to get at least one more ready. In the meantime, I’ll work on these battle strategies we came up with the other day.”
“All right, and thanks.”
I went back to my room to work on the chips. I was still feeling claustrophobic and decided to go outside while I worked on reprogramming one of the chips.
I sat just outside the hatch enjoying the morning sunshine. From my position I could see the clouds of dust in the sky over the remnants of downtown L. A., where Derek’s main bunker was, and where Catherine and I arrived from 2009.
The nice thing about sitting outside was that you got to meet the various other fighters you never got to see. I met people coming back who were on night patrols, and I met people going out to observation posts. They always remained on the lookout for HK’s and roaming patrols of machines.
I basically did the same thing I did yesterday to reprogram the chips, but first I did a scan looking for that application Catherine had warned me about. One of the two chips had that application. The other chip showed no signs of any of the reprogramming I had tried.
Using Catherine’s disc I used a utility to remove the application, then I reran the utility for scanning a master chip and then rewrites all subsequent chips to match. Like before, this was going to take awhile.
Once the computer started scanning Alpha’s chip, I thought it best to take the computer back inside. I would have hated myself if something happened to it, if that HK came flying around again.
I had a pleasant surprise when I walked back into my room. Allison had moved her bunk and belongings from her room into mine. She even hung that banner up on the wall above our bunks. “Congratulations to the Happy Couple.”
“Well this is a pleasant surprise. What brought this about?”
“With everyone knowing that we sleep together, it didn’t make much sense to be using two rooms any more. Especially when we are expecting more people here today and they’ll need the space.”
“But why two bunks? I was actually enjoying snuggling with you on a single bunk.”
She slugged me in the shoulder. “Because I’m afraid one of us is going to fall off in the night. There is barely enough room for one.”
“So that means you lay on me simply to avoid falling off.”
“I do not lay on you.” she said sounding almost indignant.
“Yes you do. Every night we’ve slept together starting in the desert hideaway, I’ve woken up with your head on my shoulder and your body draped over mine.”
“I didn’t know. Should I put this other bunk back?”
“No. Now that it’s here it might as well stay.” I said chuckling.
“Then why did you . . . ?” She slugged me again but this time she laughed realizing I was only giving her a hard time for fun.
“Enough joking, how long will it take to reprogram the chip?”
“Well the computer finished scanning Alpha’s chip, and it’s been rewriting the other chip for a few minutes only now. It should be finished by noon time.”
“That means you got four hours to kill until its finished.”
“Yeah and this time I’m staying to keep an eye on it.”
She looked at me with a smile and one arched eyebrow.
“Not this time. Why don’t we just stay here and we can talk while we wait.”
“What about?”
“Why don’t I tell you some more about myself, my family, while we wait.”
We laid back on our double bunk and I told her about my mom, my sister, our friend Charley and my Uncle ‘Eric’ all colored to reflect the false story I gave of my origins. I kept it truthful where it mattered with my relationships with them, but I had to shade the facts about our lives.
I concentrated mostly on the relationship with my mom. How she had to raise me on her own, as my dad died before I was born. How we had made friends and lost friends as those who killed my dad wished to kill us too. How mom took in Cameron who lived with us as a daughter to her and a sister to me. How our friend Charley helped us in tough times but then he died trying to protect me. My Uncle ‘Eric’ who was my father’s brother. How he found us and helped us until the day a machine killed him. I then wrapped everything up with how we went on the run but by then it was too late. They had found us.
Allison rolled over and looked at me, tears in her eyes. “I’m so sorry that you lost your family, John. I think I would have liked them very much. Your mom is a remarkable person to have raised you on her own while at the same time smuggling weapons. I would have been proud to have known her.”
“I think she would have loved you, too. She always longed for me to have a normal life. Our lives were always filled with so much tragedy, and we were always on the move. Mom would be very happy for me right now.”
Just then my computer began beeping at me. The chip was done.
“Allison, go set up the team we have another chip to test!” I said excitedly.
She jumped up and ran out. I grabbed the newly reprogrammed chip and Alpha’s. I went to the storage room and reinserted Alpha’s chip and waited for him to boot up.
“Hello John Connor.”
“Hello Alpha. I’ve got some news. We are going to test one of your brothers. I will need your help.”
“Will you destroy this one too?”
“I hope not Alpha. The other was a fluke. It rejected the reprogramming and it would have harmed or killed us.”
This was odd I thought, they usually didn’t go for chit-chat.
“Will you please fetch one of the dormant machines and bring it to the same location as I had you take the others?”
“Yes, John Connor.”
He got up and walked out of the room. I heard a yell and some gunshots out in the corridor. I ran out of the room.
A group of soldiers I hadn’t seen before were firing their weapons at Alpha.
“Stop! Stop! He works for us. Stop Firing!” I screamed.
The soldiers from the other camps had arrived. They didn’t know about our reprogramming project and were scared to death when Alpha came marching out of the Storage Room.
“What the friggin’ hell is your problem?” I yelled at the group.
“We just saw the machine and assumed . . . .”
“You assumed wrongly you fools. This machine works for us. It will do no human any harm!”
“But we just thought . . . .”
“Dammit you didn’t think! Did you see anyone else here fire their weapons? Did anyone but you seem surprised by his presence?” I yelled.
“Well, no.”
“Then you’ve got no **** excuse then do you! Well do you?!”
They all stood around shamed faced. “All right then. Get your miserable collective asses down to the dining hall. Kyle Reese is in command here and he will brief you on what you are supposed to do!”
They all quickly marched off down the hall.
“Who the hell is that?” One of them said. “I don’t know but if he isn’t in charge and he’s that tough, what the hell is Kyle Reese like?” was the reply.
I turned my attention to Alpha. “Alpha. Did you sustain any damage?”
“No.”
“Then carry out your orders.”
“Yes sir.”
I went back into the storage room and inserted Beta’s chip.
“Hello John Connor.”
“Hello Beta. I’ve given Alpha some orders. He is outside carrying them out. We will be testing another chip reprogramming today.”
Beta wasn’t chatty. He just stood there waiting for me to give him an order. Gave me pause to wonder about the individuality of the various machines.
“We’ve got a new bunch of human fighters here who are not comfortable with the presence of machines. While they are here, I’d like you to come outside with me when I test the latest machine.”
“Yes sir.”
I grabbed my tools and headed outside. Beta following me all the way.
The setup was the same as before. I inserted the chip and stood back while it booted up. I noticed that as it came on line and started to stand that Alpha and Beta moved slightly in front of me as if to protect me. The soldiers were all prepared to fire their weapons if necessary.
I gave it the usual test questions and it passed everyone. The fighters knew how bad I felt when the other one failed. They cheered.
I couldn’t help but smile at them. These people had come out of their shells. My presence seemed to galvanize them. I guess mom and Kyle were right. I was meant to be a leader.
“Okay everyone settle down.” I said.
“You will be designated as Gamma. That is the name you will respond to and provide when asked.” I told it. “Do you comply?”
“My name is Gamma. Your name is John Connor. I obey your orders.”
Oh great another chatty model, I thought.
“We are finished here guys.” I said to the fighters who were milling around.
“You three, with me.” I said to the machines.
I had them follow me to where the fourth machine lay. “I want this machine brought down below and into the storage room.. Alpha enlighten Gamma as to where that is. Beta you stay on alert while these two bring it down below. Do not harm any humans if attacked. Disarm them if you must but do not harm them!”
I left the three of them to carry out their orders. I didn’t hang around. I wanted to see how much they could do on their own and how well they worked together.
Beta scanned the surrounding area while Alpha and Gamma picked up the machine by its feet and shoulders and carried it to the hatch. Beta followed them as they went down into the hatch to the bunker below. They placed the other machine in the storage room. I told them to wait there.
I went out into the corridor and Allison was there.
“Derek’s back and he’s meeting with Kyle.”
“Did he say anything?”
“No he just looked worried.”
I stood outside the door and overheard part of Derek’s and Kyle’s conversation. There was an increase of metal patrols in the area. Far more than what is normally seen. If the capture of the factory was to take place it had to be tonight.
I stood outside the door long enough to hear their conversation turn to plan of attack. I figured they would be awhile. I was walking back to the room that Allison’s and I now shared when I was stopped by one of the new fighters.
“Are you serious about reprogramming these machines to help us.”
“Yes I am.”
“Are you crazy? Don’t you realize how deadly these things are?”
I got right in his face. “I am well aware at how deadly they are. More than you can imagine. I’ve been chased by these things. I’ve been shot at, strangled and abused. I have seen these thing up close. They carry death with them. And now they will carry it for us to SkyNet.”
I glared at him and walked away. I couldn’t stand to be in his presence any more.
* * *
I met with Derek and Kyle a short time later. They had finalized a strategy using Derek’s most recent intelligence reports and the battle plans Kyle and I had worked on previously.
“Hey John. Kyle showed me the various battle plans the two of you have worked up. I must say I’m impressed with how well you grasp battle planning.”
“Thank you. But I couldn’t have done it without Kyle’s help or your intelligence reports.”
“Don’t listen him to Derek. He’s just being modest again. Most of those plans were his ideas. I only provided him with local knowledge and my experience with fighting machines.”
“Whatever, the two of you have come up with some good plans. I like your idea of using the old metro tunnel. I’ve decide to split our forces into two groups. I’ll lead the main force over ground and attack from the north side. We will be hidden by the hills behind the factory right up until we attack. Connor, I want you to lead the second group through the tunnels and attack from the south.”
“How are you going to coordinate the attack?”
“When my group is in position I’ll fire a green flare. When you see a red flare, that means to begin your attack.”
“My group will be made up of the slightly more experience fighters, as we will be going over ground and their experience will be needed on the surface. However, I won’t leave you without experienced troops. I’ll be leaving you with two of my better officers. I suggest you split your group into three smaller units. You take lead on one group and put the lieutenants in charge of the other two groups.”
“Will the lieutenants take orders from me? I don’t even have a rank or a position within your forces.”
“He might have a point there Derek. He may have a reputation amongst the troops, but that doesn’t give him authority over officers.”
Derek looked at his brother for a moment. They exchanged a look. A silent conversation.
“All right Connor, for the purpose of this mission I’ll grant you the honorary title of Captain. If we succeed, I’ll consider letting you keep that title. Now if you’ll come with me I’d better introduce you to your lieutenants and the troops you’ll be leading.”
As I walked out of Kyle’s room with Derek, I looked over at him. Instead of a look of jealousy or envy, he smiled and gave me a thumbs up. Kyle Reese was proud of me. I wish Mom was here to see this.
2027, Day 11, after sunset
I was making my way through the tunnels with Alpha, Beta and Gamma. They were clearing away any debris that could possibly impede the path of the platoon following behind us.
Up above Derek and his platoon were making their way across the surface. They had a more difficult time as they had to skirt rubble and avoid detection. That is why he led the more experienced soldiers and I was leading some of the less experienced.
Our progress was good. The machines did excellent in clearing a path. The old metro tunnels made an excellent path to the outskirts of the factory.
We found the service entrance just where Frank and Jo had told us. I went up the steps with Frank and Allison just on my heels.
The opening to the service entrance was partially blocked but it helped hide it from view. Possibly why the machines had no guard on it or didn’t fully block it. We were waiting for Derek’s signal.
The first signal would indicate he was in position. The second signal would indicate to engage the enemy.
My throat was dry. I climbed up outside so I could see Derek’s first signal. There was no moon in the sky. All we had to see by was starlight.
I waited for what seemed like hours, but it was only minutes before I saw the green flare coming shooting up into the sky.
I leaned down and whispered loudly. “Send the machines up first then everyone else follow as quick as you can.” The word got passed along and moments later the three machines were standing next to me armed with 12 gauge shotguns with shells filled with depleted uranium, and M-16 automatic rifles.
They were to go ahead of us and disable as many machines as they could. We’d be right with them laying down fire from our automatic rifles. Once we got close we’d abandon the M16's in favor of grenade launchers and shotguns.
“All right, the rest of you come up as quickly and as quietly as you can and stay low.”
My mind kept filling with doubts and fears as I kept trying to concentrate on the strategy decided on by Kyle and Derek. Derek was quite pleased with what we had accomplished in his absence. Instead of just one small group to be placed in charge of, he gave me leadership of one half of the attacking army.
I waited patiently for Derek’s second signal. Allison came up beside me. How I wish she was waiting for me back at the bunker, but she was a fighter. I couldn’t stop her. We needed all the available people for this attack.
“Are you nervous?” she whispered.
“Is it obvious?”
“No. It’s just this is a far bigger a mission then retrieving the weapons. It’s the biggest mission I’ve been involved with and I’m nervous.”
I smiled at her in the dark. “All we can do is what we’ve been trained for. We need the weapons in that factory. And yes I am nervous.”
“It doesn’t show by the way. You just looked so calm standing there, I just wondered.”
“Thanks. Take care of yourself.”
“You too.”
A red flare went shooting up into the sky. This was it.
“Everybody who isn’t, get topside now.” I shouted down into the hole.
As the platoon formed up in three groups behind the machines I could begin to hear firing from the other side. **** someone started before we were ready.
“All right everyone let’s move it. Don’t fire until the enemy metal are in range. Let’s go.”
We all went into a run the three machines ahead of us. As soon as we saw the enemy metal, they began firing at us. Several men went down, but we kept moving forward.
Despite my orders some of the men began firing their automatic rifles before the metal was in range. The metal fired back. Their shots were more accurate.
I heard three loud reports as our machines opened fire on a small group of enemy metal approaching us. The air was filled with the sound of automatic rifle fire, and shotgun fire.
Explosions started going off all around us. The metal was firing shells. I heard screams of pain and death. I continued running forward firing at every enemy metal that showed. I could see Allison moving quickly, ducking and firing her weapons. She was an excellent shot and moved more quickly than I could imagine possible.
When I got closer I dropped my rifle and bean using my shotgun. The machines were excellent shots, but we kept moving and dicing, taking our shots where we could. I saw Frank and several others open fire with grenade launchers and blow those tin bastard’s to hell.
The air was filled with gunfire and explosions. I kept moving and diving and firing my weapon. As the fighting got more intense I lost sight of Allison. My full attention was on the machines and avoiding getting hit.
I fired at one machine while ducking fire from another. I felt bullets grab my jacket as I dived to the ground and rolled. I saw Frank give me a thumbs up and then he disappeared in a cloud of flame and blood as he was taken out by an exploding shell.
I got up and ran forward with my platoon, shouting orders that went unheard in the cascade of explosions and gun fire. Flames licked at the bodies of the dead and dying soldiers. I heard their cries of pain even over the noise of war all around me.
I saw more enemy metal come pouring out of the factory. Instead of the standard issue weapons they were equipped with the plasma rifles we hoped to take for ourselves. They opened fire on my right flank and I saw the entire group fall in pain and agony as they were taken out.
More metal showed up on my left. They fired their plasma rifles at our machines. They collapsed jerking and twitching. I saw the lights in their eyes go out, then their power cells blew blowing a crater the size of school bus.
I fired my shotgun at the metal, pumping and firing, pumping and firing, until all my shells were gone. I dived to the ground, plasma filling the air where I had just been. I rolled grabbing a weapon dropped by one of our dead soldiers.
It was an automatic rifle. I laid on the ground firing at the metal. Several of my surviving squad members joined me. Amongst them was Allison. I felt relief. They fired their weapons. Two grenades hit the metal directly in front and they went down. Shotgun blasts were heard.
More metal showed up and began laying down fire. We were outnumbered. My troops had been whittled down to the few that were still around me. The enemy force was so large that we couldn’t go forward or back without being killed. Derek was counting on me. I only had one choice to make.
“Grab what weapons you can! Hold them off! We need to give Derek time to get in the factory!” I shouted.
We picked up the dropped shotguns and grenade launchers and ran towards the factory. We fired our weapons and ducked and rolled and ran again.
I heard more screams of death and pain and explosions shook the earth around me. I felt a bullet clip my ear and another went through my sleeve as I ran forward.
There was a massive explosion and I felt myself lift up into the air and go flying backwards landing on the hard ground. The wind was knocked out of me. I struggled to breathe.
Allison came running up beside me her eyes wide with fear.
I struggled to tell her I was okay, but I couldn’t breathe. I couldn’t breathe.
The firing stopped. I struggled to stand up.
Allison held me as I regained my breath looked about. Everyone in my squad were dead but for Allison and I. The metal turned and looked at us.
I pulled Allison close to me. If we were going to die, then at least we would die together.
“I love you.” I said, as the metal took aim at us.
The1Russter |
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, Sep 16 2009, 6:09 PM EDT
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