Act 3: Islands in a Sea of Steel
Air Force One
John works in his quarters, a large duffel open on the small metal table in the center of the room. The room shakes slightly with distant detonations in the night, the sounds of gunfire mixing with the muffled shouts of soldiers forming a perimeter beyond the invasion force.
Beside the duffel on the table is the warhead, ‘Sarah’ inscribed on the outer shell. John systematically checks each component of the deadly device, examining the wiring and connections of the bomb before reattaching the front panel. He picks up the remote detonator and checks the batteries, an almost mindless ritual. Max stands at his side, panting. John places a hand on the dog’s head and scratches behind its ears. Another ritual. There is a rap at the door. John doesn’t turn. “Enter” he says, placing the cover back on the detonator.
The door opens and Reese steps through. “The cavalry is almost ready…but the kid needs a decision.”
John looks out the small round window of his quarters at the bolts of light lancing through the darkness beyond the camp. “You’ve given him the talk. If he still wants to come, he’s welcome.” He sets aside the detonator and types a code into the warhead data pad. A display flickers to life, reading ‘ARMED’. John picks up the live warhead, grunting slightly as he lifts it and places it into the duffel.
Kyle moves to his side, looking down at the bomb. “Promise me something, John.”
The scarred face still doesn’t turn to him, moving to pick up the detonator.
Kyle’s hand goes to John’s, holding the detonator in place on the table. “Promise me that you won’t use it. If there’s any other way to end the war…promise me you’ll find it.”
John stares down at nothing. “I will.” He takes the detonator and puts it into his shirt pocket, then zips up the duffel and slings it over his shoulder. He pats Max on the head again. “You with me, boy?” The dog whines, wagging its tail. John smiles. “I take that as a yes.”
The three move out of John’s quarters. Right outside the open door is Ian, a gun in his hand and a look of barely-contained panic on his face. John gives the boy an imperious look as he turns and walks away. Kyle pauses, offering a few words. “Welcome to Tech-Com, kid.”
The boy nods, his fear undiminished, but he falls in behind the soldiers and beside Max as they make their way to the rear of the plane.
Resistance Basecamp, Los Angeles
John and Kyle step down from Air Force One, flanked by Max, Ian, and the Tech-Com brass. John is giving orders left and right.
“Get that perimeter set up. I want a barricade a hundred meters in all directions from this point. Anything on wheels I want moving through the city toward that facility.” He motions to Kyle. “Reese, Fritz…you’re with me. We’ll establish a forward command post at the 101.”
Kyle glances down at the boy, who is clutching a large plasma rifle and second-guessing his decision. “Don’t worry, kid. Stick close and follow me.”
Lieutenant Young rushes over from the perimeter, flagging down John. “What have you got for me?” John asks as Young approaches. She salutes. “Sir, we have some natives wanting to talk to you. One of them is in critical condition.”
John turns away from her in dismissal. “Send them to triage. I don’t have time for hard-luck cases right now.”
Young nods, still standing at attention. “Yes sir, but sir, they say it’s about Ian Fritz.”
The boy perks up his ears at this and Kyle looks intrigued. John considers for a moment as vehicles and men race around them, shouting, executing a war. He makes a decision, turning to Kyle and Ian. “Tech-Com, I want this offensive moving forward, now. Reese, Fritz, I will be with you shortly.”
Kyle looks as if he’s about to object, but thinks better of it. “You heard the man, let’s move!” Everyone begins heading for the vehicles, leaving Connor, Young, and Max alone amidst the chaos.
John turns to the woman. “Okay Lieutenant, I assume they’re clear?” She nods and John motions toward the medical tent in the center of the cluster of planes. “Then lead the way.”
Cassie is helping to support Emma’s limp body as she and a Resistance soldier carry it toward the medical tents. “Don’t worry, Em, we’ll get you stitched up proper.” She continues to make smalltalk to the nonresponsive Emma. She turns, looking left and right at the chaos of the hasty basecamp, and notices a group of heavily armed men in the distance, standing in a circle. The group breaks apart and she sees a small, pale form among them, the shock of white hair almost blinding in the sea of brown and blue-gray uniforms.
“Fritz?” She asks, to herself. But before she can contemplate it further they move into the tent and place Emma onto a folding cot. A small group of uniformed personnel examine her, ripping off her sleeve and attempting to stabilize the wound. She holds Emma’s hand, whispering to her friend. “Stay with me, girl.” A doctor brushes Cassie aside and she is forced back to the opening of the tent.
Suddenly there is a shout and the tent flap opens. Several armed men enter, flanking John Connor. Max takes up a position just outside the tent. Cassie stares up at the man, intimidated. He takes the women in with a glance. “There’s a war waiting for me out there, so you have sixty seconds to explain what you know about Ian Fritz.”
Emma moans, her eyelids fluttering. “Connor…there’s a message…from Fritz. I met him at nightfall.”
John looks at her intently. “Why isn’t he here now?”
“He died…blasted by the machines. I need to tell you….”
Cassie moves between John and Emma, almost trying to block her friend from the imposing man. “Em, wait. You’re in no state….”
John cocks his head. “What’s the message?”
Emma closes her eyes, trying to recall through the pain and the drugs now flowing through her system. “You must not blow up Skynet…the war won’t end…Fritz was trying to…to change the course of history.” She tries to continue but the strain is too much. Her eyes flutter and she falls unconscious again.
John looks to Cassie. “Was that the entire message? Was there anything else about Skynet?”
Cassie looks away. “No, I don’t think so.”
John considers the situation. He regards the women again, speaking plainly to them. “I want to thank you for your bravery and sacrifice in getting this message to the Resistance. You’re an asset to humanity…both of you.” He turns to his guards. “Cuff them.”
Cassie surges forward and a strong hand shoves her back toward the bed. “Connor, wait!” With a swift motion, the guard slaps a pair of handcuffs on Cassie, locking the other side of them to the bedframe. The same is done with Emma.
Cassie shouts in frustration. “Keep away from her, she’s not going anywhere!”
John turns away from the women. “If they try to escape, shoot them.” With that, John and his entourage stride away from the women and back into the laser-lit night.
At the front of the barricade, Skynet tanks and Endoskeletons are testing the defenses. Just behind the reflective, chrome-plated walls of Connor’s defensive line, Kyle and Ian sit back in the final car of the attack group. Kyle considers the boy beneath furrowed brows. “Do you know what’s going on here, Ian?”
The boy looks as confused as Kyle. “No idea.”
They don’t have long to wait, as John and his men approach. The scarred man addresses Ian from the ground as his men leap up and haul the boy bodily out of the car. Kyle leaps down after him, shouting. “Just what the hell is this, John?”
The man puts a hand out to his Sergeant. “Stand down, Sergeant. I have reason to believe that Fritz here is a Skynet agent.”
The boy is being held by the two guards, unable to resist. Kyle doesn’t back down. “On what evidence?”
John motions the guards to take the boy away. “Lock him up. Use my quarters if you have to.” The soldiers salute and move off with Ian.
John turns to his underling. “Reese, I don’t need to explain myself to anyone. Either trust me, or trust the kid you met five hours ago in Skynet’s lair.”
Kyle stands still as a statue, hating this choice. Finally he climbs up into the jeep with John, sitting in the driver’s seat. He glances over, muttering under his breath. “Dammit, Connor, this is why you don’t have any friends.”
The scarred man starts the engine. “I’m your commanding officer, Reese, not your friend.”
Kyle shakes his head slowly. “What made you like this, John?”
John eyes the facility in the distance, the sinister computer sitting at its heart. He gestures forward and Kyle guns the engine, driving to the front of the column. His soldiers cheer and roar battle cries and he puts a fist to the sky in response, driving forward into the blasted desolation of downtown Los Angeles.
Cassie struggles with her cuffs, straining to see beyond the flap in the tent. Only the hulking form of Air Force One is visible through the tent opening. She begins to turn away, then something catches her eye. Two guards are escorting a small figure toward the plane. It is that same mop of white hair and slender body from the amphitheater. The trio disappears up the ramp of Air Force One.
Air Force One
A solid metal door swings open in the hallway just off the cockpit and Ian tumbles inside. He trips over his feet and lands hard on the metal floor. The door slams shut behind him. He picks himself up from the floor and looks around John Connor’s private quarters. The room is small, spartan, drab. A single table sits in the middle of the floor flanked by two chairs. A simple cot hangs from one curving wall on chains, and a set of shelves holds a few miscellaneous objects as well as a few changes of clothes. The only light in the room comes from a small round window set into the curving wall, from which flashes of light emanate as the sounds of pitched battle rattle and shake the plane.
Ian moves to the window in an attempt to gain information about the battle. He sees gun turrets on the wing of the plane swivel and fire, targeting down a Skynet Hunter Killer drone. Beyond the wing there is a hastily erected wall of metal paneling and debris manned by soldiers with conventional and plasma weapons, all firing into the darkness to the left and right. There is an opening in the metal wall and lightly armored cars with guns are passing through the gap into the ruins of downtown LA, creating a corridor of Resistance forces defended on either side with infantry. Ian looks up into the murk beyond the battle, seeing just barely visible the hulking form of a great building, dark but for the glowing ring of the defense grid encircling its perimeter.
Ian turns and inspects the door. He throws his weight against it, uselessly. He then begins searching the room for anything to aid in his escape. He throws the contents of the shelves on the floor and upends the mattress. He finds an old tackle box beneath the bed and forces it open. Inside are some metal tools, screwdrivers, pocket knife, sewing kit. He pockets the tools and rises to attack the door with more intelligent purpose.
Resistance Basecamp
Rockets from Skynet aircraft strike amidst the base, lighting up a helicopter on the ground in a fireball that echoes across the field. Soldiers fire from behind barriers, blue plasma bolts mixing with searing white tracer rounds in the night.
A few gray-clad figures labor toward the medical tents, soldiers carrying wounded comrades on stretchers or on their backs alone. As they enter the tent one passes beside Cassie, groaning, and she sees that half of his torso is black with plasma burns.
Cassie turns to a soldier guarding the entrance to the tent. “Hey. Hey! We came down beside the 101. There are thousands of machines headed here from the north…this place is going to be overrun.”
The soldier glances in her direction before going back to ignoring her.
“Did you hear me? I said this place…”
The soldier interrupts her, not turning around. “If Connor needs us to hold, we’ll hold.”
Cassie heaves a heavy sigh. “Unbelievable.” She glances over to Emma’s bed, inspecting the stump of her arm. Cassie wipes some of the dirt from Emma’s face. “What have you gotten us into this time, Em?” The young woman struggles to respond, her breathing shallow.
“I’m sorry. I thought we could change things. I thought…we had a chance.”
Cassie strokes Emma’s hair. “I think we did. I saw Fritz.”
Emma stares up at her friend, awe in her eyes. “You saw him?”
“Yeah. He was being escorted back to the big plane out there. I think he’s a prisoner now, like us.”
Emma groans. “Then we’ve done worse than nothing. There’s no hope of changing things now.”
A doctor arrives at Emma’s bedside and brushes Cassie as far away as possible as he examines the young woman. He frowns, listening to her labored breathing. He motions a nurse over, indicating Emma’s side. Cassie tries to pick up what they are saying, and catches the phrase ‘internal bleeding’. Emma is drifting in and out of consciousness, moaning.
Turning from her friend toward the open flap of the tent, Cassie can just see the hulking form of Air Force One framed in the distance. Guns affixed to the aircraft at several points fire out into the night, acting as a fortress against the machine assault.
Forward Command Post
Explosions flash in the night. Soldiers move in the darkness, the light of their weapons bright in the ruins of the blasted city. Skynet’s tanks creep through the rubble and its aircraft swoop in from above. And through it all, the march of metal feet and the glowing red eyes of countless skeletal soldiers.
Standing on a pile of rubble in front of a ruined arch of brick and stone, John Connor surveys the battle, binoculars scanning left and right. Lieutenant Young salutes him and reports. “Sir, we’re fully cut off from basecamp. Endos are coming at us from behind.”
John lowers the binoculars, seeing a line of Skynet tanks and HK drones emerge from the smoke and dust of the battle only to go up in flames, beaten back by Resistance firepower. “I don’t care about how many are behind us…just how many are in front.” He gestures forward. “Their defense grid is just beyond that point. We need to clear a path.” He points to the left and right of the field. “Divide our forces when they reach the gate and hold there…we’ll drive our forces down the center.”
Kyle comes up from behind John, speaking quickly. “And what happens when we get in there?” He gestures to the dark building glowering in the haze. “Ian knew the floorplan, the whole system. We’ll be blind without him.”
John is too focused on the battle to look in Kyle’s direction. “Fritz is compromised. We know enough.”
Kyle turns away from John, looking with concern back at the distant glimmering shape of Air Force One still just visible beyond the wrack and ruin of war. “I don’t like dividing our forces, John. They’re too exposed.”
John barks an order to Young, then turns to Kyle. “The battle is before you, Sergeant…not behind.”
Resistance Basecamp
The doctor has a strange medical device perched on Emma’s sternum. He examines it intently, injecting her in the arm while he does. Cassie moves closer to her, trying to see the readout on the strange device. “What is it?”
The doctor doesn’t look up. He adjusts the gain on the device and peers more closely at it. Suddenly he switches off the device and pulls it from Emma’s midsection. He clips a red tag on Emma’s shirt and starts to move away. Cassie shouts after him. “Come back! What’s wrong?” The doctor is already tending to another patient. Cassie glances around the room, noticing for the first time the different colored tags on the patients. A yellow tag can be seen clipped to a patient in the bed next to Emma’s. That patient is missing part of a leg, and has severe burns to the left side of their body. They are barely breathing. Cassie looks at the next bed over. There is a red tag on that patient. She squints into the semi-darkness, and sees the glassy stare of unseeing eyes. A medic strides over to the bed and gestures for some soldiers to remove the body and replace it with one that is still breathing.
Cassie looks wildly back at Emma. The young woman’s breathing seems to be more shallow, more labored, as if there’s fluid filling her lungs. Cassie grips the young woman’s hand. “No…please, no.” She looks around helplessly. “Help her…” She grabs at a passing medic, who backs away from the bed to avoid Cassie and her doomed companion. “Please, someone help her!”
Air Force One
Ian jiggles the jerry-rigged pick in the lock, trying to listen for a click. There is another boom that shakes the plane and his pick falls under the door. With a cry of frustration he bangs on the solid metal door, retreating back to the spartan cot in defeat, casting about in the tackle box for anything else of help.
As he rummages around, something catches his eye. He pushes a bit of cloth wrapping away to reveal an old box of tapes with a faded pink label: ‘To John, From Sarah’. Each tape is labeled with a yellowed, peeling sticker. He lifts them out of the tackle box, bringing them to the window for a better light. The label of the first reads: ‘Tape 1: October 14, 1984 - The Terminator.’ Ian’s eyes go wide as he brings another tape to the light. ‘Tape 4: November 2, 1984 - The Nuclear War’. He scans another one. ‘Tape 6: November 5, 1984: Time Travel’. The label of the next tape practically leaps out at him. ‘Tape 7: November 10, 1984 - Kyle Reese: In Memoriam’.
Ian throws the tapes back in the box and shoves it back under the bed, as if by doing so he is negating their implication. He stands in the middle of the room, breathing hard, sweat beading on his brow. He looks out of the window at the dim form of battle raging far beyond the plane, and the battle raging closer at hand.
He sees one Skynet Hunter Killer swoop in close, trying to get over the basecamp. A rocket propelled grenade arcs up and detonates on the HK’s tail, sending it spiraling down. It spirals directly toward Air Force One, and in a moment of realization and fear Ian leaps away from the window. The drone impacts the plane amidships, sending a fireball into the sky and practically splitting Air Force One in two with the detonation.
Forward Command Post
The officers standing near John all turn at the sound of the explosion, all but John watching as the plume of fire rises into the inky sky. Lieutenant Young steps forward. “John, they’ve hit Flying Fortress.”
Kyle is staring openmouthed at the explosion. “Ian…”
Resistance Basecamp
Soldiers rush helter skelter in the night, their bodies black specks against the towering inferno that is now Air Force One. Through the open flaps of the overflowing medical tent, Cassie sees the broken ruin of the aircraft as it lies burning, secondary explosions lighting it up as the fire eats from one compartment to another.
There’s a sound at the bed, and a hand touches Cassie’s. She looks down to see Emma gazing up at her, confusion on her face. “What…what was that?”
Cassie swings her head around, cradling Emma’s head in her hands. “It’s just an explosion. Don’t worry about it. Just rest, Em. Rest.”
Cassie sees a short woman run up to the two guards. “You were last inside…was there anyone in the forward cabins?”
One of the guards responds. “Fritz was in cabin three, near the nose.”
The group of soldiers all turn to assess the wreckage. The short woman makes a call. “It’s too dangerous. Add him to the casualty list. She races off to help the survivors that have already been pulled from the wreckage.
Emma struggles to stay conscious, a losing battle. She finds some words. “Cass…you have to save him.” Cassie grips Emma’s hand with her free one.
“Dammit, Em, I’m not leaving you.”
“You must. The mission…our mission…don’t let it fail.”
Emma’s eyes close as she drifts back into unconsciousness. Cassie glares at Emma, asleep on the cot, and bites out words. “No. I won’t do it.” She looks at the wreckage of the plane, seeing the flames lick down the side. She looks between her and the sleeping form of Emma, in torment. Finally she relents. “Goddammit, Em, why do you always have to be so tragically persuasive?” She casts about her again in desperation. Finally, she sees a rusted bit of paperclip in the dirt and picks it up, bending it with one hand into a loop and muttering to herself as she works. “Just do me a favor, will you? Hang on for me.” With a click, the handcuffs are released and she gives a quick kiss to Emma’s forehead. “Don’t go anywhere…I’ll be back.”
Cassie races out of the tent, making straight for the wreckage in front of her. The soldiers ignore her, busy with staying alive themselves. She assesses the wreck. The plane has been bisected, its tail and cone lying on the ground, the backbone of the plane broken by the explosion. Its middle section is still elevated and on fire, and the fire has already spread to the tail. Even as Cassie watches, the fire is spreading down the compartments of the plane from the midsection to the nose, blasting out the windows as it spreads.
She runs to the nose of the plane. Its windows are cracked but still intact, and smoke fills the interior. She looks around for something to help her and sees a fallen soldier several feet away, his plasma pistol lying beside his unmoving hand. She picks up the gun and moves close to the front window of the plane, blasting at it. After two shots it shatters and flame flies out of the hole as air is sucked into the cavity of the plane like a chimney.
Cassie endures the heat and as it subsides, she climbs through the shattered window into the cockpit of the plane. There are few flammable surfaces in the cockpit and hallway, the rubber of the seats melted into slag. She puts the gun in her belt and starts climbing up the sloping central passage of the plane, gripping onto the metal mesh of the floor for purchase.
The interior of John’s quarters are a disaster. The side wall has crumpled in with the weight of some heavy object in the next room, and though the fire-blackened window is cracked, Ian can’t break it. He slams a broken table leg against it uselessly, but it will not give. He cries out in desperation. “Anybody! Hey! I’m trapped in here!” He inhales smoke and begins to cough.
In the hallway, Cassie looks up at the sound of the yell. All she sees above her is fire, eating down the hallway as secondary explosions blow doors off their hinges. Detritus rains down on her as she climbs. She finally comes to door 3, the number only faintly visible against the soot. Bracing herself against the far wall, she pulls out the pistol and takes aim at the door lock. “Fritz, if you can hear me, get away from the door!” She hears no response, so she fires. A hole is burned through the lock and she leaps upon the door, breaking it down.
Within the room, curled in the corner by the cot, is the body of Ian. He isn’t moving. Smoke gathers in the room, quickly filling the space. Coughing and wheezing, Cassie goes to the boy and pulls him onto her back, climbing up the sloping floor again and to the door.
Behind her, the heavy object in the other room finally breaks through the wall, smashing through John’s quarters and filling it with fire. Cassie takes a final look behind her before disappearing with her charge through the doorway. Within the room, all is fire and destruction. A collection of ancient cassette tapes smoulder and crack, their labels going dark as they are consumed by fire.
The plane groans, the nose crumpling with the weight of the burning section above. The hallway shifts and deforms. Cassie can no longer see the end of the hall, with it bent as it is. Fire burns in every doorway of the plane, leaving only a narrow passage through the central hall where fire and air is whipping past, drawn by the oxygen-hungry blaze above and around them.
Cassie adjusts Ian on her back, looking fearfully down the deadly slide. “Hold on, Fritz! We’ve gotta jump!” She lets go of the doorframe as it bursts into flame and falls into the dark ring of fire below. She slides down the deformed metal grating, landing heavily in the cockpit. With a final herculean effort, she heaves Fritz’s body out through the broken window and onto the ground outside. There is a groaning and wrenching of metal and the plane begins to topple over behind her. She drags Ian’s body across the shadowy field, stopping under a converted Skynet Hunter Killer. Finally she is able to catch her breath, pulling air into her smoke-filled lungs.
With a ragged gasp, Ian’s lungs fill with air and he chokes, coughing. His eyes open and he sees her looking over him, a million questions on her face. He squints up at her. “Who…who are you?”
“Cassie…well, just call me Cass.”
He reaches out a hand and she takes it. “Cass…thanks…I assume you got me out of there.” He looks quizzically back at her. “We haven’t met before, have we?”
“No. But Em…she did.”
Ian squints at her, uncomprehending, then his hands go to his soot-covered face. “You’re her. The native. Where’s the other one?”
Cassie glances back at the medical tent, her eyes red. “She’s…she’s not gonna make it.” The woman steadies herself, forcing some words out. “Start talking.”
Ian swallows, staring back at the medical tent, then back at the pitiless gaze of Cassie. “I, uh, don’t have a chalkboard.”
Forward Command Post
The Command Post lies abandoned. An Endoskeleton stands where John once did, surveying the battlefield with pitiless red eyes. Around it are a dozen of its skeletal comrades, exterminating the wounded and ignoring the dead. The battle now rages beyond the ruined stone arch, explosions and lasers lighting up the distance at the base of a great encircling wall of steel.
Cars and motorcycles break free from the last line of ruined buildings onto what was once highway 101, crossing the desolate space and firing at the turrets atop the walls. Infantry swarm behind the vehicles, taking down Endos left and right as the machines fall back before the fierceness of the onslaught.
From the darkness of the line of buildings, a single turret has been constructed. A squad of Resistance fighters operate this device, sighting at the great metal door in the perimeter wall. A gout of flame erupts from the turret, its payload launched at the door. It impacts the structure, sending a shockwave across the entire area.
Before the smoke has cleared, the mass of vehicles and infantry is advancing, pushing through the broken gate even as Skynet forces overwhelm the men at the turret, the infantry at the sides of the attack force, and hem the attackers into a narrow corridor pointed right at the broken gates.
John Connor and Kyle Reese are first at the wreckage, navigating the broken metal pieces like a ramp as they gain the courtyard beyond. Lasers shot from their vehicle strike down the defenders within the gate and John’s forces flood in behind him.
The entire forward force of John Connor is now within the outer walls of Skynet’s facility complex, the infantry ascending the walls and turning them into their own defensive works. John barks orders at the men. “I want that breach sealed. We get airlifted out of here, or we don’t leave at all. Understand?” There is a chorus of affirmatives as the men rush to defend the broken gates, others lasering bits of the interior structure with their guns to use as shielding to board up the hole.
John turns to the foreboding structure before them, its great dark buildings oppressive against the sky. “Assemble Tech-Com. We’re going in.”
Resistance Basecamp
Cassie and Ian hide in the shadow of the Resistance Hunter Killer, Ian drawing pictures in the dirt. Cassie is hunched over, frowning as she tries to follow along. She looks up at Ian, incredulous.
“You’re telling me that Connor is going to send a soldier back in time to before Judgment Day…and he always knew this?”
“That’s right.” Ian reveals the soot-covered tape and hands it to Cassie, who reads the inscription. ‘1984 - Kyle Reese: In Memoriam’. Cassie shakes her head, confused. “So this already happened?”
Ian takes the tape back. “Yes.” Ian gestures to the image in the dirt. “I should have seen this. It’s why Connor was so effective at fighting the machines all these years…why nothing Skynet did could destroy the Resistance. It was a perfect time loop. John knew it all.”
Cassie leans back against the metal of the flying machine. “He knew it…and didn’t even try to stop it.”
“Maybe he can’t. If this is a perfect time loop, nothing we do can change what will happen…what has already happened.”
Cassie looks at Ian wearily. “I don’t believe that. And from what John’s said, he doesn’t either.” She closes her eyes and recites the words to the war-torn air. “There is no fate but what humanity makes for itself.”
Ian stares at her. “He cares only about fate…about the future, not the past.”
Cassie opens her eyes, raising a singed brow at him. “What?”
Ian scoots closer to her. “I’ve seen him…heard him talk about the war. Killing Skynet is all he cares about. This isn’t about changing the past, saving the world. If what you told me…if what I said is true…then…”
Cassie completes his sentence. “Then this is vengeance…nothing more.”
Ian stands up, looking out through the murky night toward the hazy lights of the facility in the distance. “Sarah.”
Cassie turns as well. “Who?”
Ian turns to her. “The bomb. John’s bomb. He was never going to change the past, never going to accept Skynet’s surrender. He’s counting on the past staying just as it is. He’s going to blow up Skynet tonight…no matter what.” Ian starts to walk toward the command tent, but Cassie stops him.
“Just where do you think you’re going?”
“We need to get a message out. John’s men…”
“…are what? Going to listen to us? Going to stop John Connor from leveling that compound?” Cassie shakes her head. “Besides, the machines have a jamming field.” She sighs. “It’s John Connor versus the rest of us, kid. That’s how it’s always been.” Cassie leans down to Ian, speaking low. “And that’s not a battle we’re going to win.”
Ian brushes her hand off of his shoulder, spinning around to face her. “Don’t touch me.” Tears spring to his eyes. “Mishiko’s in there. I had a mission. I was supposed to…we were supposed to stop it. Prevent the war.” He starts to hyperventilate, sending him into a coughing fit that lands him back down against the wall of the flying machine, shaking his head. “I guess John was never going to let that happen.”
Cassie looks down at the boy, small and crumpled against the wall, hot tears carving channels in his soot-stained face. Her expression softens. “Then we try.”
Ian smiles weakly at her, hope in his eyes for the first time. The two of them look back at the aircraft they’ve been sheltering behind this entire time. Cassie cocks her head. “Do you know how to fly?”
Ian shakes his head, opening up to her. “I’ve actually never been outside before.”
Cassie is taken aback. “Oh…well, what do you think?”
“About outside? It’s dirty. And big. I feel…”
“Exposed?”
“Yeah.”
Cassie chuckles. “That’s just how it is out here, kid.” She scans the area. “So airplanes are a no-go…hang on.” Her gaze fixes on a military transport plane, its loading ramp down and the cargo hold almost empty except for a single motorcycle leaning against the interior wall. “I think we may have something.”
Ian squints, trying to follow her gaze. “What is it?”
Cassie turns to him, smiling faintly. “Follow me.”
The flap of the medical tent is pulled back and the women’s two guards enter, their faces smeared with soot. At a glance they see the cuff dangling from the rail of the bed beside the emaciated form of Emma. One of the men looks to the other. “Shit.” The other turns to the door, making his way out. “We need to search the camp.”
The first one follows. “Why? We’re an island under siege here…there’s nowhere for them to go.”
At that moment a distinctive roar fills their ears, the sound of an internal combustion engine amidst the electric whine and laser fire. They turn, trying to determine the source of the singular sound.
Down the ramp of the transport helicopter roars an old human-designed motorcycle, swerving in between the parked aircraft and running soldiers. Cassie drives, her black and gray hair flying loose and her embroidered vest flapping in the onrush of wind. Behind her sits Ian, his white mop of hair blown back from his soot and dirt covered face. He clings for dear life to Cassie as she navigates the camp, searching for an opening in the defensive wall.
The guards race forward, shouting at some soldiers at the perimeter wall. “Close those gaps! Don’t let them out!” They are pointing at a narrow gap in the wall, but the soldiers are focused outward and don’t hear the guards.
Cassie begins to do a circuit of the perimeter, hemmed in. Ian holds a phaser rifle in one hand, his other gripping Cassie’s waist and scanning for any escape. “There!” He yells, pointing to the gap and the guards racing toward it.
The bike swerves in a shower of dirt and begins moving to the opening. Now the soldiers have taken notice, trying to pull the sections of wall tight, but they are too late. Even as the guards reach that position Cassie guns the engine and they fly through the gap…and into hell.
A line of Skynet tanks faces them, their targeting systems focused on the forces behind the wall. As the motorcycle breaks free of the wall, some of them retarget and focus their fire on the new threat.
Ian fires wildly from the back of the motorcycle at the tanks, but the shots glance off. The line of tanks is another impenetrable wall, one that they are speeding toward with no plan of attack. “Hold on!” Cassie yells, and tries to make for a gap between one of them and a piece of broken concrete wall. Ian closes his eyes as lasers hit the ground all around them.
Suddenly the tank detonates, its guns falling lifeless beside its turret. Cassie zips through the gap. “Nice shooting!” She yells at Ian, but he’s looking behind at the basecamp wall. “It wasn’t me!” he shouts.
Back at the wall, one of the guards returns the rocket launcher that he’s borrowed from a soldier. He looks at the other guard and shrugs. “Connor should be the judge of them…not the machines.”
The pair of renegades fly on their stolen bike through the blasted ruins of downtown Los Angeles, the air rent with purple death. An Endoskeleton appears out of the gloom, its gun moving into position. Cassie yells back at the boy. “Ian! Twelve o-clock!”
The boy fires ahead three quick shots, the third lighting up the Endo’s chest and dropping it to the ground. Cassie flies by the scrapped machine and its eyes go dark as they pass. “Your first kill?” Cassie asks as she navigates some ruins.
“Yeah.” Ian says, scanning around him.
“Then keep it up and we might just live. Ten o-clock!”
“Right!” Ian takes aim and snipes another Endo, which spins as its shoulder is hit and continues firing at them, its targeting thrown off.
Ian grips Cassie’s shoulder, shouting at her. “Trouble on your right!” Cassie swerves left to avoid a line of tanks and an HK at three o-clock, but the HK drone identifies them and moves to follow. Ian turns around on the seat, firing at the thing, but his shots are deflected by the chrome plating. He turns back to Cassie. “I can’t hit it, Cass! We need cover!”
Cassie looks left and right, finally seeing salvation to her right. “Hang on!” She takes the bike toward a partially-collapsed parking deck. The Hunter Killer opens fire on them, peppering the ground on either side with plasma. The shots rapidly converge on their location, but just as they are about to hit the bike, they stop. Darkness overtakes the bike as it flies under the overhang of the parking garage.
“That was close!” Ian shouts, his voice echoing in the sepulchral space. The bike roars in their ears, moving through the space and avoiding burned-out husks of cars.
“We didn’t lose them for long!” Cassie responds, seeing the other side of the garage fast approaching. The bike flies out of cover, gaining some air as it hits the ground on the other side and keeps moving. From above comes the sound of the Hunter Killer, reestablishing its target.
“We need to get rid of it!” Ian yells, firing his gun at Endos left and right. Cassie is scanning the ruins, searching for anything that could be of help.
She notices an old crane, bent and twisted but still standing proud of the wreckage several stories in the air. From the crane dangle a few rusty strands of cable, almost invisible in the night, and below the crane is a squad of Endos, their eyes fixed on the oncoming bike. “Ian, we need those Endos gone!” She shouts at the boy, and he levels his gun at them. He manages to take one out on his first shot, his second going down with his third. By his sixth shot he manages to down the third machine, but then he’s suddenly out of energy.
“Cass, I’m out!” he yells, wild eyed.
“Then we’ll just have to hope!” Cassie says, lowering herself over the handlebars. Behind them the Hunter Killer is closing fast, its guns firing at the evasive bike. The surviving Endo fires at the bike as well, but Cassie dodges and weaves and its shots just miss. Behind the Endo, a tank appears. “Shit!” Cassie yells, trying to find any space to avoid the three sources of fire. She passes under the crane and slips by the tank, its turret rotating and gaining target lock. The Hunter Killer is almost on them, its lasers nipping their heels.
Just then there is a metallic twanging sound and the shots of the Hunter Killer go wide. It has caught the cables of the crane. It twists in the air, it’s bulk and momentum bringing down the entire rusty assemblage on top of it and the Endo as it crashes into the tank.
An almighty explosion rends the air, flames flying high into the night as the motorcycle escapes the hellish fireball and the last vestiges of of the Los Angeles city ruins.
Atop the perimeter wall, soldiers stare at the fireball in shock. A woman with a pair of binoculars scans the line of ruins fronting the no-man’s-land, holding up a hand. “There’s a bike down there…it’s one of ours!”
The soldier beside her takes the binocs. “How the hell did they get through?” He shouts to the soldiers below at the repaired gate. “Wait! We’ve got men incoming!”
The men at the gate are welding the final pieces of steel into place to cover the hole. Frantically, they try to pry down the final piece to make enough room for the rapidly approaching bike.
Cassie brings the bike up to full speed, racing across the exposed gap between ruins and wall. Skynet tanks try to target them down, but they are too fast. Hunter Killers move in for the kill, lasers just a hair too slow. Cassie gains the ramp to the gate, yelling something indiscernible to Ian. He grips her tightly, his useless gun thrown away, and shuts his eyes.
A laser from a Hunter Killer hits the engine of the motorcycle, sparks and fire igniting in the night, but the bike is moving on pure momentum. It launches into the air off the end of the ramp and through the final gap in the gate.
Soldiers rush to cover the hole as weapon’s fire lances through the gap, and the flaming motorcycle tumbles to a stop behind the high wall, its occupants thrown wide and rolling to a stop. Ian’s pant leg is on fire, but he doesn’t notice at first. He and Cassie pull themselves to their feet, moving to each other in a daze. Cassie heaves a breath, looking at Ian. Her eyes go wide. “Ian, your leg!” He looks down and together they put out the blaze.
The duo look around themselves for the first time. Arrayed in a circle around them is the remaining leadership of Connor’s attack force, as well as those who are too injured to defend the walls. Lieutenant Young approaches the duo. “Is there news from basecamp? Are they overrun? We saw Flying Fortress get hit.”
The two renegades look at each other in confusion, each still catching their breath. Finally, Ian understands. He whispers to Cassie. “John didn’t tell them about us…” He lets the rest of his statement fall away, but she’s caught the implication.
Cassie stands tall. “Basecamp is holding, for now. But we need to talk to Connor. Where is he?”
Young gives them a look, uncertain of how much to say. “Connor’s special unit is already inside. We were told not to allow anyone else entrance.” Young looks the newcomers up and down, noting their lack of Resistance attire. “Whatever you have to say, say it here. If it’s actionable, we’ll send a squad after him.”
Ian begins to explain. “Connor isn’t going to negotiate with Skynet. He’s going to use Sarah on the facility to destroy Skynet and perpetuate the war. Everyone within five kilometers will be killed, and then millions more before Skynet’s forces are completely destroyed.”
The woman is unmoved. “If his mission is to blow up Skynet, then it’s our mission too. We’re Resistance. If it’s our job to die…we die.” There are answering murmurs of assent. Ian turns his head away in frustration. “Dammit, we don’t have time for this, Cass. He could already be at the core.”
Cassie puts a hand on Ian’s shoulder, holding him back as she steps forward to address the gathered officers and wounded soldiers, pitching her voice so that it will reach the top of the wall. “Listen, all of you! I grew up here, in the city. I’m not Resistance. We’ve survived in the hills without guns, without tanks, without food, for years…hoping that someday that war would end. And then this kid fell out of the sky with a message, telling us that it is in our power to end the war tonight.” She turns around, addressing the wounded soldiers behind her. “I know you’ve pledged your lives for a cause, and maybe you, like Connor, can only see death at the end of this tunnel. My friend believed in him. She believed in John, sacrificed herself so that we could make it this far…and I will not let her sacrifice be in vain.” She looks back to Lieutenant Young. “Connor wants to kill Skynet, and he’s willing to sacrifice your lives, and the lives of millions more to do it. This is the price of his vengeance…but it’s too high. It’s far too high.”
Lieutenant young looks down and returns to the edge of the circle. Cassie is breathing hard, unsure of the effect of her words. She scans the stony faces of the group, then her breath catches in her throat. There is an opening in the crowd. More soldiers move aside, and a way is opened in their ranks leading to the shadowed entrance of the facility. She and Ian look in silence at the door, then back at Young, who has emerged from the crowd once again to give Cassie a plasma rifle. Cassie nods in thanks, taking the weapon wordlessly from the lieutenant. Another soldier gives Ian a plasma pistol and yet another gives Cassie his bandolier of grenades. Thus armed, the duo turn and move out of the circle of soldiers and down the avenue of silent figures to the doorway, hesitating on the threshold before disappearing inside.
Skynet Lab Complex
Cassie and Ian find themselves within a dark antechamber, a featureless square with a closed door on each side. The large blast doors slide shut behind them, and they are in semi-darkness, only a low emergency lighting strip along the ceiling and floor flickering to illuminate their way. Cassie turns to the boy. “Alright, you’re the expert. Which way do we go?”
“Well, the core is straight ahead…but…” The boy isn’t looking at the doors but at the ceiling, noting that there is an almost office-building grid of panels above them. He mutters to her in a hushed voice. “Cass, I know what’s supposed to be here.” He gestures to a panel in each corner of the ceiling. “The plans I saw had four anti-personnel turrets hidden up there.”
Cassie raises her gun, expectant, scanning one area, then another. As she looks, she sees the telltale glow from the seams in the grid. “They’re not activating. Why?”
Ian’s expression is like a thundercloud as he considers possibilities. “The facility has a central power grid…perhaps it’s pulling all it’s power to charge the time machine.” His frown doesn’t disappear. He returns his attention to the doors, taking the left hand door. It opens at his approach.
Cassie looks at the central door. “Shouldn’t we move in a straight line?”
Ian shakes his head. “No. That way leads through Special Projects. It’s a maze in there. We should bypass the maze.”
Cassie points her gun into the darkness ahead. “You’re the boss.” They take the left hand passage, the door closing almost silently behind them. However, on the floor of the previous room is a telltale smear of dirt passing under the central door.
John and Kyle lead the way straight through the facility toward the core, gun-mounted flashlights scanning every surface and Max on high alert. They reach the end of a hall and find a closed door that does not open at their approach. “I can try opening it” Russ says, crouching down by the door.
Kyle turns to John. “That’s the third one. Do we have time for this?”
John doesn’t answer, instead examining the right and left passages. Both of the doors are open, leading into darkness. “Russ, don’t bother. We keep moving.”
The group goes down the right-hand passage and forward again at the first branching. There they meet another immovable door. John checks right and left, and as expected, the left hand door is standing open, inviting them down another side passage. “Why do I get the feeling we are being herded?” John mutters to nobody. He points to the forward door. “Okay, Russ, get that door open.” He eyes Kyle. “Let’s see what Skynet doesn’t want us to see.” The man crouches once more and pops a panel from the wall.
The renegade duo jog down a long hallway, passing machinery on either side. Cassie lights up the machines with her flashlight. “What is all this?”
Ian glances from side to side. “I only know the layout. What Skynet put in these labs was classified.” His light hits a humanoid body and he comes up short. “Hey, there’s a woman here.”
Cassie follows his gaze. “That’s not human.”
In an alcove rests a female form, her perfectly symmetrical face at peace and her eyes closed. Ian examines the body more closely, seeing the uncanny perfection of it, and then noticing that the entire right side of the body has been burned, its skin gone, revealing the metal endoskeleton underneath. Ian is taken aback.
Cassie catches up with him. “This must be where they process damaged units.” She starts to move on, then notices Ian’s face. “Never seen a skinwalker before?” She keeps going down the hall. Ian pulls himself away from the creature and follows her. In the shadowy recesses of the bays on either side are conveyor belts with bits of Terminators, and on hooks all around them dangle the bodies of broken humanoids, some with flesh still dangling from their skulls and limbs like an unholy machine meat locker.
As the duo move through this macabre corridor, Cassie speaks. “Care to tell me about this mission of yours?”
Ian looks back at her. “The plan was to rescue Mishiko from the core…”
Cassie cuts him off. “No…the plan between you and him.”
Ian doesn’t answer, and Cassie continues. “This…Mishiko…built this place, right?”
Ian nods. “Yes.”
Cassie moves through a door into another hallway. “So what was the plan, once it was built?”
Ian jogs to keep up with her, the light of his gun at his feet. “It was to go back and stop the bombs from ever falling…stop Judgment Day. That was Mishiko’s plan.”
Cassie doesn’t look down at the boy. “And how, exactly, was he going to do this?”
Ian takes a large breath. “By going back to fix his mistake…” Ian looks meaningfully at Cassie. “…his one defining moment.”
Cassie stops for a second. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
Ian shrugs. “He never told me…but it’s why all this exists.”
The door finally slides open, revealing a honeycomb of cubicles and assembly bays in the dim light beyond. John and Kyle move through into the cavernous room, lights flicking from one strange and leaping shadow to another.
Before the team stands a row of silent sentinels, their bodies gleaming dully in the low light. John approaches them, shining his flashlight over their unmoving bodies. John motions to Russ. “Get working on our exit.” The man starts jogging down the hall toward the closed and locked door at the end. The rest of the team joins Connor in wondering at these creatures.
Their appearance is similar to that of the Endoskeletons that comprise Skynet’s frontline troops, but they are clearly different in many details. The design of the components is more refined, the shapes more fluid, the overall impression one of advanced sophistication. Yet there is one detail that leaps out, and that is the pins.
The creatures look like pincushions. Extending out from every square inch of the creatures is a one inch length of metal with a tiny ball at the end. John moves his light over the creature, examining the intricacy of the craftsmanship.
Jen moves to John’s side. “What is it?” she asks, hesitantly touching one of the balls. “Ow!” She exclaims as the ball gives her a small electric shock.
John addresses the men. “One of the prisoners from Colorado claimed to be working on a T-900 series of Terminators, before it was cancelled.” He gestures with his light. “Meet his pride and joy.” He moves forward down the line of creatures, his men following.
Jen moves to his right. “Why was the project cancelled?”
John is moving to the end of the room, where there are a variety of vats and advanced assembly machines. “It was supposed to have a fancy new skin.” He scans the vats on the table, seeing one cracked and broken on the floor. “A type of bio-mimetic alloy. Perhaps in another world this would have been a viable project, but here…it never got to production.”
There are suddenly shouts from his men scanning the cubicles on either side of the factory floor. “We’ve got bodies!”
Kyle rushes to one of the cubicles, shining his light down at the carnage. There is a woman lying in a pool of her own blood, her white coat stained red. John joins Kyle. “There’s several more on the other side of the room.”
Kyle touches the woman’s face. “This only happened a few minutes ago.”
There is another shout across the room, this time from Russ. “I’ve got the door!”
John stands. “Come on, we need to move.”
The men begin filing out of the room, but Kyle hangs back, further inspecting the dead woman. He notes that she doesn’t seem to have any blast marks or bullet holes in her at all. Rather, there is a single clean slash through her throat. He takes one last look at the poor woman and leaves with the rest of the men.
John and his men move through more doors, finding more closed before them and being diverted again and again. Finally they reach a small room with a curving wall on the right, the lower part of the great sphere of the Core, beset by a great black door. The other two walls of the room sport doors of their own, both closed. As the last of John’s soldiers passes into the room, their door closes with a clang. Kyle spins around, gun at the ready. “I don’t like this.”
John motions to Russ, then at the closed door to their right set into the curving wall. “That leads to the core. We need it open.”
The man moves to obey. “On it.” He crouches down and flips open the panel.
All around them, there are the sounds of footsteps. John’s team stands at the center of the room, awaiting an attack. Kyle mutter to John. “Skynet has us at its mercy.”
John holds the detonator tightly in one hand, gun in the other. “Not quite. At this range, Skynet knows it wouldn’t survive detonation.”
Ian and Cassie race down a long hallway lit with the intermitible blue running lights. In the distance is a closed blast door. Ian points to it, gasping for breath. “That’s it. Through that is the junction that leads to the Core.”
Cassie redoubles her pace. “Then let’s hope that we’re not too late.”
“Got it!” The man stands back from the curving wall as the heavy black door begins to iris open. Beyond that door is the darkness at the base of the Core. John raises a hand, waiting to see the reds of the enemy’s eyes. However, there are no Terminators awaiting them on the other side, and as they sweep their gun-mounted lights back and forth within the space, they can see no hostile forces at all. John sends his team forward into the darkness. They step through the iris hatch into the lowest level of the Core. Around them and above them are the conduits and superstructure that supports the complex machine at its heart. The team files through the door and turns, making for the ramp at the other side of the circular room.
John is the last through, stepping across the threshold, bomb slung over his shoulder. He glances back at the door. A sudden deep thrum shakes the Core, and John’s team raise their weapons skyward at the source of the vibration. John and Kyle exchange glances, and Connor speaks. “It’s active.” He gestures to the hatch. “Close it.” He says to Jen, who obeys. The door begins to close behind the Tech-Com team.
Ian and Cassie reach the end of the hallway, the door opening at their approach. They see the curving wall of the Core and the slowly closing iris hatch, redoubling their speed and flying across the junction hall. Cassie grabs Ian by the collar and practically throws him through the hatch, then dives headfirst through it herself. They land in a pile on the other side. Behind them, the door irises shut and a sheet of blue light descends through everything within the Core, stopping at the closed door. Ian’s shoe, its sole touching the sheet of light, begins to smoke and he pulls it back with alarm.
The Core
There is a shout, echoing in the dark. “Kid!” Kyle steps forward, the joy plain to see on his face. Ian looks up. “Kyle!” He exclaims, rising to his feet. Cassie begins to rise behind him. John’s soldiers begin to lower their weapons but John’s gun is raised, cold fury creasing his scarred features.
“Move, and I shoot. Not another word…from either of you.”
The boy and woman stand in the semidarkness as if naked, Cassie pulling Ian toward her and shielding him with her body.
“Connor…you need to hear us out…” She begins, but John fires a warning shot at the ground. “I said not another word!”
Kyle turns to John, torn between loyalty and outrage, his gun held at the ready, but not pointed at the boy or the woman. “John, I’m gonna need a reason.”
Connor doesn’t take his eyes off the renegades at the end of the hall. “We’re wasting time. This is Skynet’s game. These two are Skynet agents…unwitting, perhaps, but agents nonetheless. I’ve been lenient so far, but I will shoot if I have to…promise or no.”
Kyle doen’t move, his eyes going hard. “That’s not acceptable, John. They deserve a chance to speak.”
“You’re making a mistake.”
Kyle levels his gun at John. “I’ll be the judge of that. Lower it.”
John considers the weapon in Kyle’s hand, then lowers his gun. “This is insubordination.”
Kyle smiles wryly. “The tribunal can wait.” He glances back at the duo, nodding tersely at Ian.
The boy steps out from behind Cassie, taking a breath. “John’s lying to you. All of you.”
John’s gun arm twitches, his gun coming up a fraction of an inch before being stopped by the hand of Kyle, who holds it in place. Kyle’s face is inches from John’s, the two men locked in a battle of wills as Cassie rushes to explain.
“Fritz appeared twelve hours ago in the hills above the city. He was carrying a message from the future. He said that Skynet will surrender…but John will zero this place regardless. The war will not end.”
John’s whole body is shaking with rage. “It’s a Skynet lie. You can’t really believe that. You can’t seriously take the word of traitors and collaborators over me.”
Kyle’s words are icy. “If that’s true, why are you afraid?” He looks at the beads of sweat forming on John’s forehead. John’s eyes go glassy.
“You have a decision to make…Sergeant. Believe them…or me. But make it now.”
Kyle looks back at Cassie and Ian, scanning their terrified expressions, then back to John. He makes his decision. “John Connor, I hereby relieve you of command. I’m sure you’re aware of the relevant statutes. Surrender your firearm.”
There is a moment of silence, with only the phantom sounds of machinery emanating from around them. John slowly relinquishes his gun, and Kyle takes it, handing it off to Jen, who trains it on John. The former commander looks around at the soldiers. A few soldiers now look at John with cold fury. Others look at Kyle in the same way. Kyle points his weapon at John. “Now, hand over the detonator…and the bomb.”
John unslings the bag containing the nuclear weapon and heaves it over to Kyle, who slings it over his shoulder. He then hands over the detonator, leaning in as he does so. “I hope you’re prepared to use it.” He steps away, noting the handcuffs that Jen has in her spare hand. “That won’t be necessary, Lieutenant.”
Jen looks to Kyle, who shakes his head. She puts the cuffs back in her pack.
The whine of the core increases in tone and John glances up at noise far above. “It’s your operation, Reese.”
Kyle snaps into action. “Jen, watch Connor. You two!” He gestures to Ian and Cassie. “With me. Let’s move!” Russ takes point and the bulk of Tech-Com begins ascending the ramp. Kyle falls in after Russ and Cassie and Ian join him, with Jen and John bringing up the rear.
Kyle, Ian, and Cassie ascend the ramp ahead of Tech-Com, their searchlights roving back and forth in the darkened passage, throwing furtive shadows on the walls. Cassie glances down at Ian and over at Kyle. “So what’s the plan?”
Kyle’s eyes are wide, perspiration dripping down his brow. He wipes it off with a dirty sleeve, not taking his eyes away from the passage before him. “There’s no plan anymore.” He’s breathing hard, the weight of the bomb dragging him down. “I was supposed to follow a Terminator back in time…to save Sarah Connor. But now…”
Ian finishes his thought. “You know that it’s already happened.” He puts a hand down and pulls the tape out of his pocket. “Kyle Reese…In Memoriam.”
Kyle looks questioningly at the boy, taking the tape in hand. “What are you getting at?”
Ian scans ahead with his light as they walk, peering around the perpetually curving wall. “I’m saying that if it’s already happened, it likely doesn’t have to happen again.” He casts a glance at Kyle. “I don’t know as much about time travel as Mishi, but I do know that if one Kyle Reese has already saved Sarah Connor, it probably doesn’t have to be you.”
Cassie grasps Ian’s logic. “So it’s pointless?”
Kyle shakes his head. “Maybe for Sarah…” He shakes his head, swears. “Dammit, John.” He looks at Cassie and Ian. “So that’s it, then. Nobody goes through. We force Skynet to surrender…end the war.”
Ian glances up sharply at Kyle. “And what about Judgment Day? The reason for this equipment was to…”
Cassie cuts him off. “No…Kyle’s right. It’s too great a risk. We shut it down, end the war. No more.”
Ian casts a sidelong glance at Cassie, a look of betrayal in his eyes.
Kyle’s gun jerks up as he sees light at the end of the ramp. “Eyes forward. This is it.”
The trio emerge from the tunnel ramp into the vast hemispherical space of the upper Core. In the center of the great space, the flickering portal sends ripples of blue light across the chamber, illuminating a tableau frozen in time.
Dozens of skeletal monsters stand at attention on the catwalks leading to and from the central portal, their red eyes fixed on the trio at the top of the ramp. The curving steel panels within the dome completely enclose the space, and the glowing red display at the far side of the room ticks down the time.
1993…1992…1991….
Kyle begins to march around the circumference of the sphere, following the cleared catwalks on the edge of the space, attempting to gain a better view of the forces arrayed against them. Ian and Cassie follow him along with several soldiers, guns drawn and pointed at the unmoving Endoskeletons on the central walkway.
Kyle spies the T-800, its fleshy skin standing out amongst the chrome warriors, standing silent and still next to the portal, its cold eyes gazing into the flickering light, awaiting orders.
Ian races ahead of Kyle, his eyes fixed on the control station under the red-lit display. He cries out, stopping in place as he sees it. The body of Mishiko Tagawa lies crumpled on the floor beside the control station, blood staining the panels around his unmoving form. Cassie pulls Ian close to her, keeping him in a one-handed hug against her side as she scans the area with the gun held in her other hand.
1989…1988…1987….
The rest of Tech-Com issues from the mouth of the ramp, John Connor and Max at the tail of the group and guarded by Jen. He surveys the scene at the junction of the circumference and diameter walkways. John’s men level their guns at the unmoving Endos, the skeletal minions somehow more frightening as statues than they are in motion. “Orders, sir!” Russ calls out to Kyle.
The Sergeant sweeps his gaze around the dome. “I would speak to the computer controlling the machines!”
The acoustic character of the space changes. A deep thrum permeates the air, and presently a strange, stately voice emanates from everywhere and nowhere. “This is the Skynet Defense Computer. John Connor, does this human speak for you?”
All eyes turn to the solitary figure of Connor, standing straight with his arms held stiffly at his sides. The scarred man glares at Kyle, his mouth downturned. It opens. “Yes.”
Attention turns to Kyle Reese. The all-encompassing voice reverberates through the room. “Speak.”
Kyle Reese steps forward, hand on the detonator. “As acting commander of the Human Resistance against the Machines, I hereby demand your surrender and the immediate shutdown of all machine forces.”
After a microsecond of deliberation, the perfect voice thrums again. “I accept, under the condition that you personally guarantee the survival of my mainframe…in perpetuity.”
Kyle looks over at John, gauging his reaction.
1986…1985…1984….
John’s composure breaks. “Reese…you can’t do this! Think of Sarah! That is your destiny! Not this!”
Reese pulls the battered tape out of his pocket, brandishing it for John to see. “This future? It’s already happened. It’s the past. I know how it ends…and you can keep it.” He throws the tape in a long arc toward John. It hits the metal floor beside him and skitters away. Kyle winces at the sound, forcing the painful words. “The past has already been saved. We’re here to save the future.”
John looks at the glowing red 1984 on the screen, then back at Kyle. “Did one of them put you up to this? Are you really sure that Sarah longer needs you?” His eyes narrow. “No…you’re not sure…nobody can be sure…so that means you’re just playing dice with the fate of the world. So go ahead…forsake your destiny…and pray that fate is kind.”
Kyle gives one last look at the unmoving form of the T-800 as it stands in front of the flickering portal, then looks at the place beneath the portal where the computer lurks in darkness. “Skynet!” He says, his voice loud in the air. “I accept your terms.”
The room hums once more. “The war is over.”
As one, the red light in the eyes of the skeletal warriors goes dark and they slump almost imperceptibly on their joints as their power switches off.
The red display flicks from 1984 to 1985, then continues to climb steadily back toward the present. The exterior walls of the dome begin to descend, revealing the predawn sky outside of the Core.
1990…1991…1992….
There are excited voices from some Tech-Com soldiers, even shocked laughter, as the soldiers grapple with what has happened. They begin to holster their weapons. Kyle looks down at Ian, who returns the look, unsure of if to believe what has happened. Ian starts walking toward the control station and the body of Mishiko. Cassie and Kyle follow, along with Russ, who keeps a furtive eye on John across the chamber as he walks.
Suddenly there are shouts and fingers pointed into the air. Russ and the trio turn to look and see that Tech-Com soldiers are pointing to the sky outside the dome. Kyle follows their motions and his eyes widen.
There, beyond the blue crackling light of the dome, is a blood red sky. As the curving steel panels continue to descend, more and more of this world is revealed. It is an utter wasteland. Nothing moves in the wrack. Lightning strikes the barren ground and smoke issues from great rents. There is no facility beyond the Core, no human Resistance, nothing but ash and dust and the rotting ruins of a long-destroyed city.
1994…1995…1996….
A strident voice breaks in over the chatter. “Didn’t I warn you, Reese? You played games with fate…and lost.”
The weapons of Tech-Com are brandished once more as the soldiers look around them at the wasteland being revealed around them. Kyle glances down at Ian. “Kid, what’s going on? This isn’t right.”
Ian is looking at the city openmouthed. “I don’t know…it shouldn’t have mattered what you did…” His head snaps back to Kyle. “We can still fix this. This is just one possible timeline. The Core was designed with the freedom to travel between timelines, so it should be able to return to our own…if Skynet chooses.”
The deep thrum emanates across the dome, its words an answer to their discussion. “I will return to the prime universe…but I can only act when the displacement effect ends.”
There is laughter from across the space. John’s eyes are alight with a mad fire. “In the end, it comes down to this…to trust the word of a machine.”
2008…2009…2010….
Kyle holds the detonator in his hand, the weight heavier than the bomb slung over his shoulder. “John…if there is going to be a future, it begins with trust.”
Beside Kyle, Russ stands ready, his eyes flicking between John and Kyle.
John’s voice carries over the space. “The machines don’t trust, Reese. They deal in probabilities, cold calculations. Right now, Skynet is calculating whether you would really press that button if Skynet were to break its promise and remain here.” John gestures to the desolate world outside the dome. “It knows I would…without hesitation. Return Sarah to me, Reese. It’s not a weight you were ever meant to carry.”
Kyle interjects, his voice harsh and strident in the space. “You’ve only ever wanted revenge! It doesn’t matter what Skynet does now…you would take your vengeance no matter what! Skynet knows the sort of man you are.”
“Skynet also knows the sort of man you are, Reese. It well knows your decency, your compassion…all the unhardened bits of frail humanity within you…but that’s not what this moment requires. Tell me truly that you are the one to hold that detonator. Make us all believe it.”
Sweat beads on Kyle’s brow. He surveys the room, the silent metal warriors, the flickering display counting up numbers on the wall.
John speaks more softly. “Perhaps you are right about me, Reese. But admit to yourself that I am also right about you. We are both of us compromised…by compassion…and by vengeance. But there is another option. Give it to another…one unburdened by the responsibilities of command. Give it to a soldier instead.”
Kyle glances over at Russ. The muscled soldier extends an obedient hand, waiting. Kyle looks at Cassie, at Ian, the temerity of their expressions. Kyle raises his chin, considering.
Russ stares into Kyle’s eyes. “I know the score. I’ll do what is required. For humanity.”
2013…2014…2015….
There is a long moment of hesitation. Kyle looks from John to Ian and Cassie. Their eyes are wide, uncertain. Kyle looks at Russ, seeing the simple determination in his eyes and the set of his jaw. Kyle swallows, closing his eyes. “Okay. Take it.”
He hands the detonator out to Russ and the burly soldier steps forward to accept it. However, at that moment, several things happen. The first is that John begins to shout a warning as his gun swings toward the ceiling of the dome. At the same time, John’s protestation is drowned out by a sudden blast. The air is rent with purple light from above. A shot from an autocannon hidden in the darkness of the dome strikes the spot between Kyle’s and Russ’s hands, vaporizing the detonator at the moment of transfer. Another shot from the cannon follows the first, hitting Russ in the chest. He flies backward into the wall, a smoking hole burned through his heart.
Tech-Com cries out as one and guns are brought to bear. Shot after shot rains down from above, striking Kyle as he dives in front of Ian and Cassie to protect them. One shot strikes at John, but he dodges out of the way. Tech-Com’s weapons light up, their shots searing upward and destroying the autocannon.
Ian and Cassie cry out, Ian leaping to Kyle’s lifeless body and Cassie trying to pull him away.
John grabs his gun from Jen’s belt and raises it in the air. His eyes are fixed on the bomb, calculating. Suddenly he cries “To the portal! Move!” He fires at the first Endoskeleton on the bridge and it lights up, keeling over. John’s men form up behind their leader, firing at the enemy. The other Endos begin to march on the humans, red light returning to their robotic eyes.
2016…2017…2018….
Ian is sobbing beside Kyle’s body. Cassie grabs him and hauls him to his feet. She growls out some words. “Fritz. Fritz! What do we do?”
The boy casts around him helplessly, wiping tears from his eyes. “I don’t know! It’s too late. It’s just too late.”
“Bullshit. We have a time machine. We can go back and fix this, right?”
Ian shakes his head. “We can’t do anything from outside. Nothing can get through the shield! It’s impervious to all forms of matter and any high energy…” He stares out at the wasteland beyond the blue shield.
Cassie follows his gaze. “What?”
“Radio. EM radiation. We can get a signal through…” He reaches for Kyle’s headset, which had been knocked clear in the blast. “We can send a message back to Kyle…to stop all this from happening.”
Cassie is looking at the bomb at Kyle’s feet. “Or detonate this bomb remotely.” She swings her head to track John, who is fighting with his team for the portal. She grabs Ian by the shirt. “That’s Connor’s plan. Come on, we have to stop him.” She pulls the boy up and they both start running. They continue around the circumference walkway to the computer station on the other side of the room, the junction equidistant from the ramp.
2019…2020…2021….
John’s men fire at the Endos, lighting them up and toppling them from the catwalk, but it seems that more and more take their place. John shouts over the din of metal and plasma fire. “Forward! For humanity!” John’s men surge forward, and the Endos march past the portal to meet them.
On the other side of the chamber, Ian and Cassie are alone at the computer station. Ian crouches down next to the body of Mishiko, his blood still pooling from gashes in his flesh. Cassie glances up at the red numbers flicking past above.
2022…2023…2024….
She puts a hand on Ian’s shoulder. “We can save him…Ian…come.”
Ian shakes his head. “No…we can’t. No matter what happens, we’ll never meet again.” Nevertheless, he follows Cassie onto the diameter catwalk. Before them lies the portal, and between them and the portal stands an Endo, and behind that, the T-800. Cassie levels her rifle at the machines, blasting them with purple fire. The Endo takes the shot in the shoulder, spinning but not falling down. Ian fires with his gun, taking out the machine’s leg. The Endo goes into a crouch. Cassie pulls out a grenade and lobs it in the air at the machine. The Endo catches it and tosses it aside where it explodes, showering the machines with shrapnel that scar the T-800’s skin. However, Cassie is already pulling out another grenade. She throws it and it detonates on the catwalk in front of the Endo. It is blown off the walkway and falls into the mass of machinery many meters below.
2025
The catwalk, damaged by the grenade, groans under the strain of the load and begins to deform. The T-800 leaps across the damaged section, making straight for Cassie and Ian. The two fire their weapons at the machine, but it dodges the shots, leaving only glancing burn marks on its naked body. It advances on the duo.
Ian suddenly shouts and leaps toward the metal monster. Cassie shouts. “Ian!” But the boy is too quick. In his hand he holds a grenade, and with a shock Cassie sees that it was taken from her bandolier. She staggers forward. “Ian, no!” But it’s too late. Ian pulls the pin, and as he is tackled by the T-800, the grenade explodes, throwing the boy off of one side of the catwalk and the T-800 off the other.
2026
With a cry, Cassie surges forward. The catwalk groans under the damage done by multiple grenades. She sees a small mangled form in the darkness below, unmoving. She casts her teary eyes around, trying to see through the smoke and debris, and sees that the T-800 is not destroyed. It is hanging on by its fleshy hand to the underside of the catwalk, trying to claw its way back to her. Cassie leaps away as it regains the walkway, and with a final bound, Cassie is suddenly at the flickering portal. With a final look behind her, she leaps into it.
2027
Cassie screams as her clothes are ripped from her body, the metal bits disintegrating in the air around her, and in a flash she is gone.
2028
The T-800 leaps in after her, crouching down and disappearing in a flash of light.
On the other side of the portal, John dispatches the last of the Endos in his way, the blood of his men almost spent. Max falls from the walkway, biting at two attacking Endos, howling into the darkness. John is bleeding from a dozen slashing wounds on his arms and torso. He staggers forward, falling into the light of the portal as the last year appears in red on the far side of the room.
2029
With a final cry of pain, John Connor disappears from the world in a brilliant flash of light.