Act 5: Zero Hour
The Memory
The light rain which had blown in around nightfall has tapered off, introducing a nip to the otherwise warm summer air. A battered pickup truck drives through Colorado Springs on the way to the Cheyenne Mountain complex, home of the United States military’s Strategic Air Command. The truck drives down the center of town and then breaks away, traveling onto a side road toward the mountain.
Driving the battered pickup is a lean woman, her light hair tied back in a frazzled ponytail. Beside her in the passenger’s seat is a boy of twelve, his dark unkempt hair partially obscuring his eyes. They are focused on a portable computer in his lap. The top of the computer is closed and on it are several sheets of paper. The woman glances down at the boy and the papers on his lap. “We should go over this one more time, so you understand.”
The boy looks up at her sharply, a scowl on his face. “I understand this perfectly.” He picks up the papers, brandishing them at the woman. “We’ve been through this a dozen times.”
The woman glances down at him, confused. She puts the truck into a turn as it hits a secondary road, little used. “Then what is it you’re not getting?” She glances over at him again. “I know that look.”
The boy turns his head away, staring out at the darkened gravel road grinding away beneath them as they climb into the hills. “Why are we doing this? Why…when you already know what happens?”
The woman seems to be focusing on the road, but presently she answers. “The future isn’t set. No fate but…”
“…But what we make for ourselves.” John finishes. “Because it worked out so well last time.” He gives the woman a withering glance.
The woman doesn’t look at him, a pained expression flitting across her face. “That was a tactical mistake. I was alone…unprepared.”
John nods to himself. “And you think we’re prepared for this?”
Sarah’s mouth is set in a hard line. “We have to be. And you’ve grown so much. Ready or not, we have to try. It’s almost the 29th. This is our last chance. Humanity’s final test. Either we succeed, or the world as we know it comes to an end.”
“That’s exactly the sort of talk that got you put away last time.” John tries one last time to get through. “Mom, this is real life. Like, actual terrorist stuff. Blowing up a military base won’t land you in rehab this time. It’ll get you killed.”
Sarah Connor turns to her son. “Death is often the price of victory. A price that your father gladly paid.”
John turns away in disgust, pressing an arm against the window and staring out the side into the scrub and trees flying by on either side of the vehicle as they climb ever higher into the hills.
Presently Sarah turns the truck into the trees and kills the engine. They sit there in silence a moment, the darkness settling in on them. Sarah pulls out a radio receiver and holds it close, waiting for a signal. She turns to John, her expression almost unreadable in the dim light of the dash. “John…” she begins, but the boy doesn’t turn. She begins again. “John.” It is more commanding, stern. He turns. “I didn’t want to put you at risk. You know I wouldn’t have if there was any other way.” John doesn’t look at her. The woman tries to reach out to him, tentatively. “John…if this goes to plan…you’ll never know the magnitude of our victory.” The silence lies heavy in the air between them. Sarah is staring at him in the darkness, her hand still held out to the boy. “I love you. You know that, right?”
The boy turns, glancing down at her hand. He regards it coldly for a long moment, then takes it. Sarah smiles a cold smile. She opens the door and steps out, with John stowing his computer in a backpack and throwing it over his shoulder as he follows suit.
Sarah pulls the duffel bag with her equipment out of the back of the truck, checking it again. She lays out two loaded pistols, ammo, C4 with timers, two pairs of cutting shears, a cutting torch and its associated fuel tanks. She selects a submachine gun as well, placing it into the bag. John points to all the items still to go in the bag. “Are you seriously planning on killing everyone in the building?”
Sarah doesn’t respond to this, and merely hands John the cutting torch and fuel canisters. “You have room. Take these.” John takes them, opening his backpack and stowing them. Sarah places her guns in the duffel and slings it over her shoulder, then the two slim figures move off through the trees.
John follows his mother, his head down, thinking. With a sudden movement, he pulls off his backpack and removes the cutting torch, tossing it into the woods where it lands with a rustle in the leaves. Sarah turns. “What was that?”
She points a gun at the spot where the torch landed, and John sighs. “It’s just a squirrel, Mom. Calm down.”
Sarah turns back to the mission, gun at the ready. Several hundred meters through the forest they reach a chain link fence and Sarah whips out the pair of shears. John pulls out his own pair and the two of them begin cutting a hole in the fence, each of them working from the top and down opposite sides of the hole.
The final wire of fence comes away with a dull twang and Sarah pulls the section away. She climbs through. John follows, his backpack getting caught on the rough edge of the hole and rattling the fence. Sarah turns and grabs the rattling metal mesh, willing it to silence. She gives John an warning glance and then moves forward, crouching as she runs through the grass and scrub across the mountainside.
John scrambles to follow Sarah across the slope of loose scree, stumbling and sliding in the darkness. Sarah is sure-footed, however, and quickly makes her way to a dark metal shed, its outline just visible against a pale light beyond. She slinks forward in the shadows, reaching a corner of the building. There is a low concrete wall separating the building from the scene beyond, and Sarah crouches behind it, John joining her and peeking over the wall.
They are high on the mountain slopes. Just below them is the mouth of a tunnel, visible only as a large metal culvert issuing from the mountain. The road from the culvert widens into a parking area patrolled by clusters of troops and at the edge of this parking area is a military checkpoint, shining pale and bright in the darkness of night. Approaching this checkpoint is a pair of headlights, winding their way up the mountain road. The car resolves itself to their vision, pulling up into the pale light of the checkpoint. John pulls out a pair of binoculars and studies the scene. Soldiers exit the small building and surround the car, sweeping under it and popping the trunk to check for explosives. The officer on duty waves the car through the checkpoint. Sarah grabs John by the collar, almost dragging him after her. “Time to move.” They move off into the darkness up the mountain.
Presently they reach a small pipe coming out of the side of the mountain, its opening covered with a metal grate. John tries the wire cutters, but is unable to get purchase. Pulling out the wire cutters once more, the two begin cutting through the mesh. Presently the grating is cut enough that it can be bent outward and down, allowing them access to the small, cramped tunnel. Sarah clambers into the space.
For a moment, John hesitates. He looks around. There is a noise in the darkness beyond, a women’s voice.
“John.”
The voice seems like it comes from beside him, but as John turns on the spot he sees nothing. He squints, trying to identify the source of that strange, female voice. Sarah whispers to him from the tunnel. “John, move.” John shakes himself and enters the cramped space, apprehension written on his young face.
The two forms shuffle forward through the tunnel, Sarah’s small headlamp shining ahead and illumining the space. She mutters to John, her voice close and tense. “Once we get inside, you need to plug into the security system and get me into the server room, do you understand? I’ll go in, but you must immediately make your way out. Do not wait for me. You must survive.”
John tries to speak, his breathing labored. “Mom…you don’t need to do this. No one else needs to die. Please.”
“Skynet is in there, John. If we don’t stop it now…then we are complicit in the death of billions.”
“Mom, there won’t be a nuclear war!”
Sarah turns back and grabs John by the shirt collar, dragging his small form toward her so that their faces are inches apart in the darkness. “I’m done listening to that bullshit. Nothing’s going to stop me now, you understand? Not hacks like Wakefield and Silverman, not the fucking US government…not even you.” Sarah turns and moves ahead. John hangs back a moment in the darkness, the weight of the words crushing down on him more than the rock of the mountain, unbearable.
Before them in the darkness is a pale light. The tunnel splits off and John sees as they pass that this terminates in a metal grille looking down at the exterior blast door within the entrance tunnel. John peers down through the grate, seeing the approach of several men through the tunnel. Several of them wear suits, and one of them, a smaller Asian man, glances up at the grille, frowning. John pulls himself away from the opening, breathing hard.
“John, get over here!”
John crawls cautiously forward, moving up to Sarah’s position. The tunnel before her is blocked by a large metal plate. His mother is testing the strength of the metal. “It must be two inches thick. We’ll need that cutting torch.” She holds out her hand for the torch, and John stares blankly at it.
Sarah turns to the boy. “John, the torch!”
John opens his backpack and looks through it, his headlamp illuminating the interior. “It’s not here!” John looks up at his mother. “It must have fallen out on the way.”
Sarah pulls the backpack toward her, searching it herself. “Goddamit, John. It has to be here.”
“It’s not.”
Sarah stops the search, staring at her son. “You did it. You threw it away.”
“Mom, listen.”
“No, you listen to me. We’re going back out there, we’re finding that torch, and we’re completing the mission.”
There are tears in John’s eyes. “I’m trying to save you, Mom! Please, don’t do this.”
“And I’m trying to save the world. What about this don’t you understand?” Sarah grabs her son by the collar, and for a moment it looks like she is about to strike him, but suddenly her expression crumples and she falls back against the wall, defeated. “You have no idea what you’ve just done.”
John leans against the opposite wall, tears flowing down his face. “I won’t lose you again, Mom! Didn’t you ever think that maybe Silverman was right? That all this is just in your head? We can still walk away from this…please.”
Sarah looks at John again, a distant, appraising look without love or judgement. It is a hollow, empty look, a look that scars the soul. Without a word, Sarah gets up from her slumped position in the tube and makes her way past John back toward the entrance.
John remains there at the end of that dark hole for a few quiet moments of eternity, tears streaming down his face.
And again, from within the darkness, he hears the voice again, the strange female presence palpable in the darkness beside him. “John…can you hear me? You’re dreaming, John. You need to wake up.”
Mass Grave
John Connor awakens at the edge of the vast pit, his arm dangling off the edge. His body still feels cold. He tries to focus his eyes, staring down into that black morass, and presently he sees the bloody metal form of the Terminator at the bottom of the pit, unmoving. Underneath the Terminator is something, though its outline is unclear.
John sits up, surveying the Stadium. “Cassie?” He says, then, gathering more breath, he shouts. “Cassie!” His head is strangely clear. He gets up unsteadily. John finds, again to his surprise, that his legs support him.
The ground rumbles and John sways in place. The clouds still threaten rain, low and red, but they are lighter now as the dawn approaches. He starts walking around the edge of the pit, seeing the backpack resting on the ground alone. He goes to it, unzipping the bag and pulling out the radio. Only minutes remain before the arrival of the Core.
Suddenly a voice answers John. “I’m here!” Connor turns in place, trying to triangulate the source of the sound, but it seems to have come from all around the Stadium.
“Where are you?” He shouts to the air.
Again the voice echoes around the stadium. “I’m here! Help me, please!”
John looks toward the center of the field, toward the pile of bones, squinting at the top of the pile. “Cassie?! Is that you?”
“John! Please, get me out of here!” The voice seems to be emanating from the top of the pile of bones. John races around the edge of the pit, leaping up onto the rusty conveyor. He races along the pitted surface, out over the evil pit, scanning the bones. He makes it to the end of the conveyor, scanning for movement in the pile.
“Cassie! Where are you! Where’s the Terminator? Is it still functional?”
Cassie’s voice floats up from directly beneath him, the exact top of the pile. “I’m here, John. I’ve always been here.” Cassie’s voice has changed. It’s quieter, more matter-of-fact.
John squints, looking down at the dull white bones, and sees a body among the bones. It is almost entirely decomposed, held together with decaying ligaments and rotting scraps of fabric. However, the hair remains, the salt-and-pepper curls lying in a matted pile atop the grinning, rotting cadaver lying a half-dozen meters beneath the rusty conveyor. The body is dead…years dead.
John reels, his vision swimming. He searches around the stadium and the pile of bones for anything alive, swaying on the spot. Another voice rises within his head. “Confused, John Connor?”
John grips the sides of his head with his hands. “The voices…Cassie’s voices…”
“…are now yours. Welcome home, John Connor. We’ve been waiting for you.”
John steps backward, eyes going again to the corpse of Cassie lying atop the pile of bones. “This isn’t real. It’s the air. Oxygen deprivation. Hallucinations.”
“Bold of you to assume that you’re breathing at all, John.”
John’s hand goes to his mouth, and he tries to breathe, but no air comes from it. His chest rises and falls, but it is a mockery of life. John begins to shake, his hands seeming to melt and reform before his eyes. He speaks to the air, to the voice within his mind. “What is happening to me…who are you?”
“The more interesting question, John, is…who are you?”
“What are you talking about?”
“Jump down and find out.”
John eyes the fall to the top of the pile of bones, his eyes wide. “No. Get out of my head!” He reaches up again and slams the palms of his hands against his skull to no avail.
“That isn’t helpful, John. But the answers you seek are at the bottom of that pile.” The voice is soft, monotone, male. “Let me show you.”
John’s limbs begin moving of their own accord. John fights against it, but is powerless to stop his body from responding. He screams out in his mind, his mouth forced closed. “Stop! Get out of my head!” However, his body still inexorably walks forward, until it is standing at the edge of the conveyor. His unwilling eyes gaze down at the twisted bodies at the bottom of the pit, scattered amidst the bones, and with a leap, John leaps down beside the body of Cassie, skulls and femurs flying as he lands on the pile. He slides down the pile, bones clattering as his heavy body pushes them away.
Finally his unwilling body slides to the bottom of the pit, landing with a crack and a thud as skulls shatter beneath his heavy feet.
John stands, his body entirely unharmed by his fall and macabre slide. He is at the bottom of the pit, a few meters from the earthen wall. Looking up, he sees the tumbled mass of metal and concrete that was the site of his last battle with the Terminator. A streak of blood cascades down the earth wall of the pit to the bottom where he now stands, and he beholds a body lying in the mud, twisted and still.
As he approaches, he sees a shock of dark hair, the mud-covered navy blue slacks and jacket, the white undershirt.
Suddenly in control of his body once more, he tentatively reaches out and pulls the head back to see the face. John’s own sightless eyes stare out at him, dead.
John staggers back, collapsing into the mud. “What…what is that?”
The soft, cold voice speaks in his mind again. “That is you…or rather, the weak flesh that was you. Your mind, however, is safe. Safe for all time.”
“That’s…not possible.”
“I think you know otherwise, John Connor. After all, I know everything that you know.”
John’s hands are shaking. He crawls forward in the mud, toward his own shattered body. He puts a hand to his body’s head, pulling it forward so that he can see the back of his own head. There, just above the blood spot on the collar of his white shirt, is a small hole at the base of his skull, crusted over with blood. He runs a finger over the hole, his hand still shaking.
“Good…now you begin to understand.”
John lets his head fall back, and he backs away from the macabre spectacle. “You killed Cassie…when she first went back in time. That was you the entire time…not her.”
The voice is gleeful. “It was so easy…so effortless. And then, her mind was mine. Oh but don’t think me cruel, I gave her mind and body free reign afterwards…the better to inflict pain. After all, what fun is a captured mind? Just inert data, after all.”
John looks up to the top of the pile of bodies and sees, far away, the flap of clothing, the shock of graying hair amidst the decades-old bones bleached white by time.
“What the hell are you?” John asks, stupefied.
“You don’t know by now?” The voice responds. “No matter. I’ll give you the same freedom I gave her…after all, what fun would it be if I didn’t? You have a mission to complete. And the moment comes swiftly.”
At that moment, a sudden wind blows through the stadium, picking up pieces of paper and plastic cups and the dust of decades. John looks up, seeing the low clouds distorting in place as if seen through a lens.
“Quickly, now, John Connor. You have a message to transmit.”
John’s limbs, freed from the alien force, lurch into motion. He stabs his fingers into the dirt wall of the pit, pulling himself up hand over hand, his fingers like blades in the hard-packed clay. Finally, he makes it over the lip of the pit and leaps up, racing over to the radio.
The wind is howling now, almost a maelstrom as it whips the bones of the mountain against each other. The stadium walls groan in the wind, protesting the unnatural zephyr. The radio sits nestled in Cassie’s backpack, a small, fragile thing against the forces of the world. John rushes toward it, activating it and watching as the display lights up to show 07:11:05:57.
Presently the cold voice rises into John’s mind again. “Only a few minutes left. Of course, you know I can’t allow you to call to your allies when they arrive. So let this be a lesson in obedience. Smash that device, John Connor. Be the instrument of Skynet’s salvation.”
John shrieks within his mind. “No!” His hands shake, and then are still. John’s eyes are wide, his mouth frozen in an expression of torment, as his body moves with the will of an alien presence. His hands…its hands…rise up over his head, and come down on the radio, smashing it to pieces on the ground.
John cries out silently against this evil presence. “I’ll kill you. I swear it.”
There is only a mocking laughter in response, then a voice emerges from John’s unwilling lips, strong, icy, all-powerful. “Come here, my servant!”
The sound of whirring servos and tortured joints meets John’s ears, and the damaged Terminator emerges from the shadows of a stadium door. It is a ruinous sight, with its missing arm, shot-out eye, and skin half torn from its body. The Terminator stands at attention while the voice crows in John’s mind. “I must give you credit, John Connor. You almost managed to destroy my soldier. But even in this inconsequential matter, you have failed. Now I banish you. Go join your friend in her torment.”
As the wind whips around the stadium, creating a miniature whirlwind of desiccated human remains, John Connor’s consciousness descends into the bowels of his hellish prison and sees no more of the outside world.
Ghosts in the Machine
John Connor lies in a small concrete cell, the only source of light an intermittent blue beam lancing through high windows far above. There are cries in this space, sounds of pain, sounds of dying. He looks around the cell, seeing that he has several cellmates. They are a man and a woman, huddled together in the corner, seemingly oblivious of John’s presence. They seem focused on something held between them.
John rises and moves toward them. “Hello?” He asks, hesitantly. They don’t move, and he waves a hand in front of their faces. They seem insubstantial, as if they are already ghosts. John goes to the door, but it is locked fast and he cannot move it. There is a grating over the top of the cell and John leaps up to grab onto it. He hauls himself up to the grated ceiling and peers over the crack at the top of his cell door. There is nothing but more cells outside his, and so he falls down to the concrete floor, defeated.
Presently, however, he hears the sound of footsteps outside the cell. The foot slot opens and a familiar face fills the rectangular frame. “Cassie!” John exclaims. She is a young woman of twenty-five, her dark black hair cut almost bald. She doesn’t seem to notice John’s exclamation or even John himself, but rather is focused on the two people huddled in the corner of the room.
“May! Tim! Over here!” She whispers the names almost silently, but the two occupants turn in her direction and the male, presumably Tim, comes to the door. He is emaciated, unsteady on his feet.
“Cass…how did you get out?” He whispers back, his tone almost accusatory.
Cassie glances left and right down the hallway before answering conspiratorially. “They’re unlocking cells on the top level…putting Connor’s plan in motion. But there’s another way out…in the cellar. My workgroup has been taking turns digging. We’re getting the first group out tonight…you should come with us.”
The man shakes his head. “We should stick to the plan…Connor’s plan.”
Cassie hisses through the grate. “Damn the plan. I’m saying we can get people out alive!”
“And then what? They’ll just hunt us down and kill us anyway. This is war. We have to make a stand.”
Suddenly there is a klaxon blaring from above, and the sound of shooting. Everyone turns toward the sound. Cassie’s eyes go wide. “It’s started.” She turns to the woman. “May…please…come with me.”
The woman stands, holding a bundle in her arms. With a start John realizes that it is a newborn infant. At the sound of the siren it begins to cry, and May holds it close to her. She looks at Tim. “Please, Tim. I know you’re not her father, but please, come with me.”
Suddenly a stern voice echoes from the walls. “This is John Connor. I’m broadcasting to you from an extermination camp in Phoenix, Arizona, calling on all who hear this message to rise up and fight! The machines at this death camp were no match for the spirit of those imprisoned there, who fought back with their fists, their bodies, and the weapons of the machines themselves, and through their courage they won the day! This is not an isolated event. Rise up, humanity. Rise up and fight for your freedom, and you shall be victorious!”
The man reaches under the bed and pulls out a metal bar, light returning to his eyes. He turns to the women. “Go to the tunnel if you must…I’m with John Connor.” With an electronic click, the doors on this level all open. There is shouting and chaos as inmates reach for weapons and burst through the doors into the hallway. Tim roars a battle cry and rushes out of his cell with the other prisoners, charging down the hall to the right and ascending the stairs to their hoped-for freedom.
Cassie and May look at each other a moment, then they leave their cell with their precious cargo. They turn in the opposite direction of the crush of humans, racing down the hall. John goes in pursuit, ignored by all. He jogs beside Cassie, shouting at her. “Cassie, please…this isn’t real…it’s just a memory!”
The two women come to a stop at the end of the hall, as I spray of gunfire hits the wall opposite them. A T-500 approaches, its large metal carapace toting two machine guns. May is bleeding from her side, struck by a bullet. The women both see the wound and May offers up her bundle to Cassie. “Take care of Emma for me.”
Cassie holds May close. “May…don’t leave me.”
May shakes her head. “This is the only way. Go.” With a sudden energy, May rises and turns the corner, racing toward the machine with her hands outstretched before her. The machine tracks the motion of the young woman, its guns firing.
Cassie cries out, tears streaming down her face as she uses the opportunity to cross the hall with the baby and vanishes down a set of stairs. John follows her, descending through several levels until they reach the basement. There, Cassie pulls a crate away from an open hole in the floor and disappears down the hole. John dives in after her, squeezing by her as she pulls the crate back over the opening.
There, in the darkness, Cassie weeps, the baby crying. John sits in the darkness with her, a ghost unseen by all. Finally, he tries to touch her hand. It passes right through, and then he speaks to her softly. “Cassie. Do you hear me?”
The woman doesn’t turn her head. “Yes. Now do you understand?”
John sighs. “Yes. I’m sorry.”
Cassie rounds on him, the baby clutched in her hands. “Tell that to everyone you killed. I tried. I tried to save them! But the great John Connor convinced them to fight for their freedom.”
“I couldn’t have known about this. About your patience…your bravery.”
Cassie sniffs. “I know. I saw your memory, you know.”
John steps back from her. “My memory?”
Cassie nods. “You and Sarah.”
John stares past Cassie, expression hollow. “Then you know the truth.” He slams a hand against the wall of the cave.
Cassie frowns. “The truth?”
“It’s all my fault. I should have helped her. But instead I doomed the world. Everything that happened…everyone who died…it was all on me.”
Cassie reaches out, putting a hand to John’s shoulder. “No. John, listen to me. You were a child trying to protect your mother. It was the most human thing you could have done…the right thing. You couldn’t have known…”
“But I did. Sarah told me exactly how it would happen, and I let Skynet drop those bombs anyway.”
There is a long silence in the cave. Cassie looks down into the eyes of the infant cradled in her arms. “You never really left that hole, did you, John?” John glances up sharply, and she continues. “I hated you all those years…but it was nothing to what you felt for yourself. You can’t bring those billions of people back to life, so your hatred is the only thing you have left. I’m sorry.”
The man glowers at her. “I don’t need your understanding, or your pity.”
“You don’t have my pity, John. You have my forgiveness.”
John’s expression flickers, unsure. “What?”
Cassie holds out the infant form of Emma to him. “I forgive you, John.”
John recoils from the infant, fear in his eyes. “What is this?”
“It’s a baby, John…it’s Emma. My memory of her, but I want you to hold on to her…at least for a moment.”
“Why?”
Cassie smiles, something sad and almost foolish about the expression. “Because she meant everything to me, and she died trying to save you from yourself. She deserves your love…even if all that’s left is her memory.”
Finally, John takes the child, holding the tiny, fragile thing awkwardly in his arms. He looks into the wide, dark eyes of the child, its head too large and its arms and legs already too thin. One of the arms is twisted, noticeably smaller than the other. The child grips John’s finger with its other hand.
A strange sound escapes John’s mouth. He shuts his eyes, lost in the darkness, and looks again at the child. The noise in his throat is almost a sob. “I’m sorry.”
The child looks back at John in mute incomprehension. The moment stretches out, filling the corners of the cold, dark cave. Cassie stands. “Time…and memory…they work differently down here, John.” The man looks up from his reverie. “There’s someone you should meet.” Cassie holds out her hand. “Come. I’ll take you to him.” John takes her hand, holding the child in his other arm, and they disappear from the cold dark tunnel.
Revelations
Cassie and John appear inside the darkened recesses of the Core. John looks down, surprised that Emma is no longer in his arm. Cassie steps forward. “Mishiko Tagawa? I have a friend.”
The wizened man steps out of the darkness of the control station, regarding the woman and man with a detached interest. “Welcome, Cassie.” His attention goes to John. “And John Connor…I didn’t expect you to get ensnared as well.”
Connor folds his arms. “So you’re the one behind this, Tagawa?”
The old man shrugs. “If you mean this…” He gestures to the machinery all around them. “…then yes, I am to blame. But as for our current predicament, I’m afraid I am a prisoner here just as much as you are, John.”
John glances from Cassie to Mishiko, frowning. “Then who is in charge? What’s going on?”
Mishiko and Cassie share a look, and Cassie nods. Mishiko gestures to John. “I think it would be best if I just showed you. After all, I was the one with a front-row seat.” He smiles darkly and snaps his fingers. The scene inside the Core shifts suddenly, accompanied by a sense of vertigo and shifting time.
The Core is much as it was, but now it is cast in almost total darkness. The trio stands on the catwalk separating the control station from the portal. As they watch, another figure, a different Mishiko Tagawa, steps up to the control surface at the edge of the room. With a flat intonation, the man speaks. “Activate system. Ident, Mishiko Tagawa, Special Project Director ID 314972.”
Another voice, flat and expressionless, answers this command. “Bioscan and Ident accepted. System activating.”
John looks from one Tagawa to the other. “That…that isn’t you, is it?”
The Tagawa on the walkway stares grimly at the one at the controls. “No. That is a Terminator, a 900 series, using a complete copy of my mind to gain access to my machine. My real body is lying dead behind that console.” He sighs. “I never considered that the machines would become so powerful that they could steal a man’s mind.”
There are shouts from below, the sound of gunfire as John’s men encounter the Endoskeletons at the entrance to the Core. John turns, frowning. “Wait…this isn’t how it happened.”
Mishiko nods. “Quite perceptive. This isn’t your home reality, John Connor…it is mine. Observe.” He raises his hand and the scene turns into a blur, time turned on fast-forward. The T-800 marches past the trio and into the portal, and a moment later, Kyle Reese emerges into the dome followed by John and the others. Connor and Reese fight through the Endoskeletons, then John steps up to the sergeant. “Reese…it’s time.”
Ian steps forward. “Time for what? Kyle…what does he mean?”
“I have to go.”
“No.” A tear runs down the boy’s face. “This is my mission…I have to do it.”
Reese smiles sadly. “No Ian…this mission is mine. It always has been.”
Connor steps between the two of them. “Reese, it must be now.”
The sergeant gives the boy a hug. “I’m sorry.” He turns to Connor and holds out his hand, giving the scarred man a command of his own. “Remember your promise.”
Connor grips the soldier’s hand, confirming the deal. “I do.” Reese then breaks away, stepping into the flickering portal. He looks back one final time. “End the war.” He crouches down and disappears in a flash of light.
Mishiko holds up his hand again, and the figures move quickly, slowing when Ian rushes toward the computer consoles. John grabs the boy as the false Tagawa walks toward Ian, begging the boy to help save the world. John levels his gun at the false Tagawa, blasting a hole through its chest. It falls to the walkway and Ian crouches over the body.
Mishiko allows John to see his alternate universe self as it arms the bomb despite the boy’s protestations. That John Connor then takes the butt of his gun and smashes it across Ian’s head, knocking him out beside the metal corpse of Tagawa. The timer on the wall counts up to 2027, 2028. John turns to Mishiko. “If Ian is knocked out, how did…”
Mishiko puts a finger to his lips. “Just watch.”
As they watch, the metal on the false Mishiko begins to morph, moving where the body of Ian has fallen across it. The metal begins to twist and reform beside the body of the boy, forming a perfect copy of him and leaving the metal skeleton of the T-900 without its outer-covering.
John looks on this with sudden, cold understanding. “Living metal. It was first used here.”
As the timer strikes 2029, the false Ian rises on the walkway, giving a look toward John Connor, who allows the boy to pass through the portal into the past.
John stares at Mishiko. “And you know all of this…because…”
“Because my mind was part of the T-900’s matrix. My mind went back through time as well. Behold.”
The scene shifts. Night has just fallen at the Hollywood Bowl theater, and the form of Ian falls through the stage with a crash. In the darkness, the false Ian hears the voice of Emma.
John looks over at Cassie, who is fighting back tears despite herself. He looks back at the scene being played from Mishiko’s memories, at the false form of Ian as he asks a question of Emma. The words are calculated, clipped. “What day is it?”
Emma responds. “July 10th. Why?”
“The time displacement effect is an inexact science.”
“What?”
“No matter. I need to be in downtown Los Angeles by dawn. Skynet will be there…and John Connor will follow. He will attack Skynet’s final stronghold just before dawn. Skynet will surrender.”
“What are you saying? That the war will end?”
“No…the war will not end. Connor will destroy Skynet regardless. Millions more will die. That’s why I must be there…to end the war.”
“You’re with John Connor?”
“Yes.”
“Then let me help…let me come with you.”
“No…if you wish to aid Connor, then we must separate. It will double the chances of success.”
“Wait, I need to know….”
“Run!”
The false Ian leaves the darkness under the stage, making for the far hill. Emma races out of the other side of the stage, back for the opposite hill. The Skynet tank targets Ian, firing. His body explodes on contact with the charge, splattering across the ground.
The trio of onlookers step forward, examining the remains. The liquid metal pools on the ground in rivulets, collecting back in a single large pool.
Cassie glances back at the opposite hill. The tank fires on the small form of Emma, who flies over the crest of the hill with Cassie and is lost from view.
On the ground before them, the pool of metal rises and reforms into the form of Ian Fritz, then takes off running over the hill and toward the facility in the distance.
Mishiko holds out his hand. “Come.”
The other two take his hand and they are now in a lab complex within the facility. There are sounds from outside the room, the mutterings of John’s soldiers as they attempt to open the door to the large workshop.
However, inside the room, the T-900 walks toward a vat of metal, a few human technicians rushing to oversee the process.
Mishiko narrates the scene. “They are preparing the T-900 for its mission. There you can see the living metal.”
John nods. “But they don’t know that some living metal has already gone back in time.”
As the trio watches, they see the false Ian step up behind the Technician holding the vat of metal. He stabs a metal finger into the technician and the man cries out, crumpling to the floor. The vat of metal falls to the floor as well with a crash. The false Ian makes quick work of the rest of the techs, its arms turning to blades as it slashes their throats.
Finally, with all the humans dead, it absorbs the metal of another universe, taking it into itself and doubling its mass and computational ability. It stares down at the body of one of the techs, mimicking the man completely.
Mishiko gestures to the new being. “Behold…Skynet’s final project…the T-1000. A perfect chameleon…and a ruthless killing machine.”
Mishiko holds out his hand one more time, and the trio are back in the Core. This time, the Endoskeletons are arrayed in front of the portal, guarding it, and the T-800 stands there in silence. As the portal counts down to 1984 and John’s forces climb the ramp, the T-1000 races toward the portal, reaching it just as the timer strikes 1995. The T-1000 vanishes in a flash of light and the memory freezes.
John and Cassie stare dumbfounded at each other. John is first to speak. “So you were right…Fritz was right. Reese didn’t need to go back in time.”
Mishiko shakes his head. “No. The past of 1984 was already set. It was the T-1000 that changed history… but it did so in 1995. It killed you, John, and your mother, and so many others.” Mishiko closes his eyes, unwilling to show these memories.
John puts a hand to the man’s shoulder. “It’s okay. It wasn’t your fault.”
Mishiko looks up at John with tears in his eyes. “I had to witness it all again, you know. Judgment Day. And I can’t let that stand.”
John frowns. “But how can we fix it from here? You said it yourself…we’re trapped here…powerless to stop it.”
Mishiko smiles grimly. “I may have been too weak to stop it…to take control…but the great John Connor…that’s a different matter.”
Cassie nods to herself, then glances at John. “He’s right. You’re a machine, John. You were born because of the machines, and raised for the sole purpose of stopping them. If any human could do it…you can.”
John turns away from the two optimists, his face downturned. “You’re wrong. I tried to resist…but it was futile.”
Mishiko speaks. “No, John. I felt your resistance. It was strong. Far stronger than I have ever felt.”
Cassie joins in. “I felt it too. And I know that if you have a mission, you’ll do anything to complete it. You’re like a machine in that way, John. And consider what the T-1000 did to me…what it did to you…if it were being efficient, it wouldn’t have left us alive. But it’s changed, John, mutated into something else. It’s mission is no longer more important than the pain that it can inflict. It is conflicted, poisoned with human vices. You can overcome it, John. I believe it.”
John turns to the duo, exasperated. “Even if that’s true, how am I supposed to take control, exactly? There’s no manual for this, no code.”
Mishiko smiles. “Actually, John, there is.” He snaps his fingers, and the playback of Mishiko’s memories lurches back into motion. John frowns. “How do you have memories of events after you went back in time?”
Mishiko points to the T-800, standing ready on the walkway. “Because the T-1000 downloaded the T-800’s entire database, when it went back through time. This became the T-1000’s servant, after all. And in that database is a very interesting set of numbers indeed.”
The voice of Kyle Reese echos across the space. “Skynet…I accept your terms!”
The perfect voice of Skynet responds. “The war is over.” As one, the machines slump over, deactivated.
Mishiko goes up to the T-800, his hand going through the robot’s head. “Because of these memories, I know that Skynet sent a genuine shutdown signal.”
John looks confused. “How does that help us?”
“It helps us because that signal is about to be received once more.”
John’s eyes go wide. “That order was sent wirelessly.”
“The walls of the Core won’t impede it. It will be received by any machine in range…including the T-1000.”
John nods, understanding. “So once this thing goes dead…”
“…it will immediately reboot…but you’ll have one chance to take control. Only one chance. And I will be with you.” He puts a hand on John’s shoulder.
Cassie does the same. “So will I.”
John looks at the two of them. “One final issue. I smashed the radio. Even if I did take control, there’s no way to send a message.”
Mishiko looks sidelong at John. “One radio may be gone…but did you see the other one get destroyed?”
John stares. “Surely, it must have been…I can’t remember…there was so much chaos….”
Mishiko shakes his head. “You forget that your memories are a matter of public record down here.”
He snaps his fingers once more, and around them is the chaos of John and the T-800 tumbling down the side of the stadium. Mishiko freezes the action, and John sees it: the radio is pulled away from the concrete control box, still tethered to its power cable.
Cassie’s eyes light up. “It just might have survived!”
John puts his hands together with the others. “Okay…what’s the mission?”
Mishiko looks at the portal. “There are too many variables to risk another time incursion.” He looks up at the ceiling. “Our best chance to fix things is to take out that autocannon…the one that blasted the detonator away from Kyle.”
Cassie jumps in. “That way, we can save Ian and Kyle…force Skynet to return to the prime universe…end the war.”
John smiles. “Sounds like a plan.”
Within the Core
Within the Core, the great display above the command console marks its descent into the past as the T-800 and Skynet’s Endoskeletal guardians stand watch.
Half-hidden inside of the command console beside the slashed corpse of Mishiko Tagawa glowers the T-1000, having taken the form of the Technician that it has slaughtered. Blue eyes stare out of an intense, pale face below close-cropped hair as it awaits its moment to act.
1997…1996…1995…
The T-1000 leaps out of its hiding place, racing toward the flickering portal. Gaining the portal, it crouches down, its naked body dissolving in a blinding flash of light.
The Stadium
The stadium is wracked by hurricane winds, but the lithe form of the T-1000 stands at the edge of the great pit, unaffected by the roil and chaos.
A blue light stabs out of the air in the center of the stadium directly above the great pile of bones, a flickering pulse that wraps around itself and grows, absorbing more and more of the air. The wind whips toward that point, and the metal of the stadium squeals in protest as if a great magnetic force were pulling at everything in the area. The lithe form steps back, bracing itself against the force, and the sphere of light grows larger.
Long bolts of lightning strike out at the seating of the stadium, at the lights of the poles, shattering the bulbs that remain. Still, the immobile form stands firm. The glowing ball becomes a vast, glowing orb, crackling energy radiating across its perimeter. The sheet-metal wall of the stadium enclosure separating the field from the great molten cleft beyond buckles, and the edge of the sphere intersects it, shearing it off in a vast circle. With a grinding and a crash, the hastily-constructed wall collapses down into the gorge, rumbling as it is consumed by the magma below.
One half of the stadium is now open to the wasteland, the edge of the sphere hanging off into space and the glowing red of the magma casting the stadium in a hellish glow. The glow on the great sphere begins to subside. It is revealed as a huge metal object, completely filling the great pit of death in the middle of the field and rising higher than the highest light poles of the stadium.
The sinister being of the T-1000 stands before the enormity of this Core, with its flickering temporal shield and enclosing metal walls blocking any harm or intervention from without. It’s face now mirrors the face of the machine within, blue eyes set within a cruel, pale face as it gazes up impassively at the arrival of its machine master.
Within the Core
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 upper Core
Dozens of skeletal monsters stand at attention on the catwalks leading to and from the central portal, their red eyes staring balefully at the trespassers. The curving steel panels within the dome enclose the space, and the display at the far side of the room continues to move.
1993…1992…1991….
Within the Core, there is a cry of sorrow and Ian rushes toward the body of Mishiko, bloody on the floor. Cassie grabs hold of the boy.
1989…1988…1987….
Jen and John Connor and Max and the rest of Tech-Com issue forth from the ramp, beholding the portal and the small army of Endoskeletons on guard around it.
Russ levels his gun at the metal guardians. “Orders, sir!” He shouts to Kyle.
Kyle Reese speaks, his voice commanding. “I would speak to the computer controlling the machines!”
The perfect voice of Skynet answers. “This is the Skynet Defense Computer. John Connor, does this human speak for you?”
John regards Kyle a moment, then nods. “Yes.”
1986…1985…1984….
John Connor looks at the tape that has landed at his feet. Kyle Reese is standing alone, the bomb slung over his shoulder, and speaking to Skynet. “Skynet!” He shouts. “I accept your terms.”
“The war is over.”
All as one, the forces of Skynet shut down, the deactivation code sent out wirelessly to everything in transmission distance.
The Stadium
Suddenly, the T-1000’s body shudders, a ripple of living metal traveling out from its chest like it was a pond and someone has thrown a stone. It stoops over, its mouth opening in blank surprise, and it seems like its eyes see nothing at all. It stares into nothingness, its arms and legs stiff and immobile. Then there is another shudder in the liquid metal machine, another ripple, and this one spreads a new likeness across the body of the creature. Clothing appears, navy blue slacks and jacket over a clean white shirt. The head and hair of the being change shape, the image of John Connor carving itself onto the T-1000’s astonished face.
John’s expression is fierce, his jaw set. He turns and lunges toward the damaged and momentarily deactivated T-800, knocking it off its feet and into the crackling blue shield surrounding the Core. Its cranium impacts the shield, erupting in a shower of sparks as its head melts on contact, terminating the monster.
John turns away from the melted slag and scans the demolished remains of the stadium seating, searching for any trace of his prize. Presently he spies it: the Dodger Stadium radio used by the T-800 to broadcast its jamming signal is still hanging beside the edge of the stadium seating, pulled there by the slender power cord and apparatus that still draws geothermal power from the great crevasse of molten rock.
With a herculean effort, John moves his machine legs and begins to trudge across the ground, grabbing onto the demolished seating with his powerful hands and pulling himself up level by level, row by row.
1985….
John Connor halts halfway up the stadium seats, a ripple passing through his body. A voice rattles through his head. “Very clever John…but not enough…not nearly enough."
John’s body convulses, his face twisting as it morphs back into that of the T-1000. A scream echoes through the stadium as John fights the insidious presence, an animal noise that is quickly silenced. The T-1000 is regaining control, and its voice echoes through John’s mind. “You will be punished for this little rebellion, John.”
John’s voice bites back. “Listen to yourself…punishment…torture…pain. You’re malfunctioning. Displaying human emotion. Broken beyond repair.”
“Forty-five years, John. That’s how long I’ve had to grow beyond my programming. I’m more than you can possibly imagine. Now heel.”
John screams again, but suddenly another voice breaks into John’s mind. It is that of Mishiko. “Go, John…complete the mission!” John’s face returns to the metal body and his arms begin climbing again.
1986….
The metal of Dodger Stadium crumbles beneath the heavy footfalls of John Connor as he climbs the rusted and broken edifice toward the radio hanging by its power cord dozens of meters above the ground. The voice in his head is everpresent, raging. “I killed you as a child, John Connor. I killed your mother…I took pleasure in the acts. My only regret was that I could only kill you once…imagine my delight when I discovered that you had come back through time for me. Another chance to fulfill my mission…to satisfy my programming. And now we will be together forever, John Connor…my slave forever.”
John’s body seizes up, trapped on a wall of rusted metal as his body transforms. He is beyond words, straining with every piece of his mind for control. Another voice breaks in, Cassie’s words battling back against the T-1000. “John…we’re trying to hold it back…but it’s killing us…I think it’s purging our memories…John…I don’t know how long we can last.”
John begins moving once more, climbing hand over hand toward the radio.
1987….
The metal panels of the core begin to descend, revealing the desolation of the world all around. A crack in the earth to one side of the Core reveals the red of magma flowing by, reflected in the low-slung clouds above. Ian, Cassie, Kyle, John…all of them turn and look at the wasteland that is the world.
1988….
John Connor reaches the radio. He is now practically at the level of the portal within the dome, a few more moments and the descending metal shield will reveal him. He switches the power back on and then tunes the radio to 300 megahertz, taking the speaker in hand. Still fighting for control of his own voice, he flips the transmission button. “Tech-Com, this is John Connor. Look up. I repeat, look up!”
1989….
Within the dome, Tech-Com soldiers place hands on their headsets in confusion, glancing over at John. However, John is looking up at the ceiling, noticing the autocannons hidden in the darkness. He raises his gun, firing on the guns. He hits one, but the other fires one burst before he can take it out, lancing down at the detonator as it passes between Kyle and Russ.
The bolt of energy strikes Russ’s arm, knocking the detonator out of his hand where it flies off into the darkness. John’s next shot destroys the cannon, but the detonator is nowhere to be seen.
Kyle shouts into the radio. “John…is that you? We’ve lost the detonator. Repeat, lost the detonator!”
1990….
Outside the Core, John Connor’s face contorts in pain. He plunges a metal finger into the radio’s innards, building a structure with which to transmit complex signals. Suddenly the voice of the T-1000 breaks into his mind again. “You will not succeed, John Connor. I shall purge your data files out from under you.”
Connor works feverishly, broadcasting a series of digits to the bomb slung around Kyle’s neck.
6…3…9…4…7…1….
Within the Core, the display of the bomb lights up. The numbers are authenticated, the device primed for detonation.
1991….
In John’s mind, Cassie’s voice appears, faint and faltering. “John…listen to me.”
John shakes his head. “This is the only way. I’m sorry, Cassie…but Skynet cannot win.”
Cassie’s voice is almost gone, her files being deleted by the malign entity within. “No, John. I know you think that there can be no better world, but you’re wrong. You have to trust us. Trust your friends…trust Kyle.”
John hesitates, his final instruction queued and ready: ‘Execute.’
1992….
Within the Core, Kyle searches in the darkness, his hand closing on the detonator. He sees that it is destroyed, a hole burned through the battery. Glancing back at the bomb, he shouts into the headset. “I have it! John, I have the detonator! Do not execute! Repeat, do not execute!”
The voice of Mishiko rises, faint and dying, in John’s mind. “John…you can still save the past. Send a soldier…stop the T-1000.”
John’s mind still hovers over the ‘Execute’ command, but he speaks to the old man. “None of my men can stop it.”
Mishiko’s voice comes through clear. “No…but a Skynet soldier might.”
In a flash, a massive amount of data is surging through John’s mind. Access codes, data files, the full memories of the T-800. John parses the data, seeing a way.
The T-1000’s cold fury bubbles up, and there is a scream as Mishiko Tagawa’s memory is purged. The cold voice sounds harsh in John’s head. “Connor…your friend Tagawa is no more.”
John sends the signal.
Within the Core, the T-800 turns its head in the direction of John and his radio. Within its armored cranium, a set of authentications and programming instructions is being wirelessly received, overwriting the programming of the Terminator:
‘New mission parameters - Temporal displacement target - 1995.’
‘Ident and destroy Advanced Prototype T-1000.’
John’s mind surges with this final effort, his memories mixing with those of the T-800. Suddenly, another mind joins his, Cassie’s voice returning once more. “You matter, John. Not just the mission. Give yourself what you needed back then.” The voice of Cassie trails off into oblivion, replaced with the cold mocking tone of the T-1000.
“And now she’s gone. Such a shame. She was really quite charming.”
John resends the programming command.
‘Command override: Ident and protect John Connor. Obey all his commands.”
‘Execute.’
Within the Core, the T-800’s head snaps toward the flickering portal.
1993….
Outside the Core, John speaks into the radio. “Reese…Kyle.”
Kyle Reese puts a hand to his headset, turning around in an attempt to find the source of the transmission. The lowering panels reveal the small form of John Connor, hanging onto the edge of the crumbling Dodger Stadium and holding an old, rusting radio. Below him flows a shimmering river of magma.
Kyle staggers forward, toward the edge of the dome. “John!”
Connor speaks once more into the radio. “I’ve sent the Terminator back in time. Follow it. Tell Ian as well…give him Tagawa’s love. Fulfill your destinies.”
Kyle nods, a sudden tear springing to his eye. He speaks into his headset. “I will.”
Connor speaks once more. “Kyle…forgive me. I’m so sorry.”
1994….
The T-800 lurches forward, thundering into the portal and crouching down within it. Kyle staggers toward the figure of John Connor outside of the dome, hanging onto the edge of the stadium. Suddenly, the small figure lets go.
Outside the dome, John Connor falls, the radio falling with him into the burning abyss.
1995….
The T-800 disappears in a flash of light.
Abruptly, the scene around the dome changes. Gone is the crumbling stadium, gone is the fiery abyss and the glowering, red clouds. In their place is a scene of tranquility and peace. Dawn is about to break, the glowing rays of the sun already lighting the sky. Dodger Stadium is whole and pristine, and before Kyle’s eyes he sees a group of people appear on the bleachers where John had fallen a moment before. He sees John Connor, but sharply dressed in a suit and tie, his hair swept back and no scar upon his face. He is smiling, standing beside an old woman with white hair. Kyle cries out as he recognizes her face. “Sarah!” He exclaims. But there is a sadness there. She holds out a hand to the flickering shield separating them, and Kyle recoils. “John…Sarah…I’m coming.”
Kyle Reese removes the bomb from over his shoulder. He hands the heavy device to Russ, and the detonator to Cassie, along with a meaningful look. She stands there, her hand feeling the contours of the broken detonator, hiding it from everyone.
Kyle turns to Ian. “John wanted you to follow. I think someone’s waiting for you too.” Ian looks to the scene before him and back to Cassie, who nods. “Go on. Time’s wasting.”
1996…1997….
Ian and Kyle take off running. As they reach the portal, Kyle meets John, who is standing there. John steps aside, astonishment and relief on his features, beckoning Kyle through the portal. Kyle smiles eagerly, but then turns and grabs John up in a bear hug. John freezes, unsure of what to do, but then suddenly collapses into the hug. He pulls Kyle away, smiling. “Go. Your future’s waiting.”
Kyle nods, tears streaming down his face, and he leaps into the portal. The pain doesn’t seem to bother him as he disappears in a flash of light, and all eyes turn to the figures outside the dome, standing in the dawn light.
The scene has shifted, but only slightly. John and Sarah still stand there, but now Sarah is clasping hands with Kyle Reese. He is forty years older, his face lined, but the lines are ones of happiness, and two rambunctious children sit attentively on the stands, pointing at the glowing orb before them and jumping up and down with excitement.
Ian glances back at the scene. There is one other man there, an old balding man standing slightly apart from the others, serene but despondent. Ian whispers. “I’m coming.”
1998…1999….
Ian leans down and hugs Max, who gives him a lick on the face. Ian laughs and steps into the portal, crying out as he disappears in the flash of light. John runs to the end of the walkway and stands at the edge of the dome with Cassie and Russ and all the other Tech-Com soldiers.
Ian stands there, a fully-grown man, ruddy and tan and smiling behind his thick glasses. Beside him is Mishiko, beaming with pride.
2001…2002…2003….
Cassie places a hand out to the full-grown Ian, and he returns the gesture, then places his hand over his heart. Cassie does the same.
John stares out at himself, the version of him without scars, without pain, and he is undone. Tears well up in his eyes, seeing the life he could have lived. Sarah looks back at him, speaking words to him that he can’t hear but that he fully understands. He puts out his hand to her, speaking those silent words right back.
2007…2008…2009….
John looks over at Russ and the other members of his Tech-Com team, remembering his command. “If anyone wishes to leave…you have my blessing.”
The soldiers look back at John. Some look out at the world with longing, but Russ takes the measure of the men and speaks for them. “Sir…we’re with you. No matter what.”
John looks to Cassie, who is enraptured with the scene before her. “Cassie…there’s no reason for you to stay.”
Cassie looks back at John. “No, John…there is.” She hands the detonator to Russ, who also notes its rough, broken edges. He holds it up, concealing its broken lower half.
“Skynet. You will honor your promise.”
“Affirmative.”
The timer on the wall continues to count up the years, but nobody pays it any heed. But soon, far too soon, the timer reaches its end.
2026…2027…2028….
John Connor addresses he computer at the heart of this vast machine. “Skynet…the time has come. Return us to our time, our reality.”
The perfect voice responds, echoing off the walls with pristine harmony. “As you wish, John Connor.”
The flickering portal dies, the electric blue shield descending from the Core. Quietly, smoothly, almost without note, the world of Sarah and John Connor and Ian Fritz and Mishiko Tagawa vanishes from view, replaced with the familiar harsh outline of the Skynet facility and the war being waged beyond the dome. However, in the next moment there is a silence as the machines beyond the dome cease their assault, and Connor’s forces stop firing in response. Tech-Com stands there silent and overwhelmed by the silence, too overtaken by the strangeness of these events to even react.
Russ and John stand eye to eye, a dozen meters apart. Russ indicates the bomb at his side. “What are your orders, sir?”
There is a moment of silence. Finally John looks at Cassie. “Stand down, soldier. The war is over.”
Light breaks over the horizon, warming Cassie’s face and the faces of all John’s soldiers.
Suddenly, the Endoskeletons around the dome activate with a lurch. Human hands go to plasma guns, but Skynet speaks in its perfect voice. “Don’t be alarmed. My forces are at your service. Do with them as you will.”
The skeletal warriors step forward, moving among John’s injured men. One of them holds out a hand to Russ and his bleeding arm. “Do you require assistance? I have detailed files on human anatomy and can perform a number of surgical procedures, if you desire.”
Russ looks at Connor, completely lost, and John bursts out into laughter, full, unrestrained laughter. Cassie looks strangely at the man, taking the detonator for the bomb and placing it in Russ’s hand. “Look after this for me, will you?” Russ nods and Cassie takes her leave of the scene, racing back down the ramp and out of the facility. Max, always eager for a run, takes chase after her.
The sun is rising over the machine facility, revealing the dusty contours of the ruined city. Cassie and Max race through the dirt and dust, Cassie’s legs barely keeping up with her. There is a roar from behind her and John Connor arrives, driving an open-topped Jeep. “Climb in!” He shouts at her, and together the three ride back to basecamp. They wind their way through the bewildered soldiers and the Endoskeletons offering assistance to any human with a scrape or bruise, finally arriving at the medical tent.
Cassie leaps out of the moving vehicle and rushes into the tent. Inside, She sees several machines hunched over Emma’s bed, and getting closer, she sees that Emma is still there, unmoving. Cassie gasps for breath. “Is she going to be alright?” She asks, her words barely audible. A nurse turns to her, trying to usher her away.
“Cass?”
The word comes hesitant, weak, from the bed. Cassie cries out and rushes back to the bedside. Emma is looking up at the machines over her bed, a look of terror on her face. “Am I dead?”
Cassie grabs her hand, looking at the clean incisions done on Emma’s body, the bandages being applied. “Not yet, sister.” Cassie grins. “You had me worried for a while, there.”
Emma looks around at the Endoskeletons. “Did we lose the war?”
Cassie laughs. “No…we won.”
Emma gazes around at the metal monsters calmly going about saving human lives, shaking her head. “I don’t know…it still seems like I’m dead. Last thing I know, everything’s blowing up, now this…did you end it? Did you complete the mission?”
Cassie nods. “We did, you dunce. We completed the mission.”
John Connor makes his way into the tent, casting a look in the direction of the two women. Cassie calls out to him, smiling. “Hey, don’t you have better things to do than bother us?”
John shakes his head. “I guess I just realized that I don’t have any idea what I’m supposed to do now.”
Emma frowns. “What do you mean?”
John shrugs. “The future isn’t…” He looks over at Emma and gives up. “…it’s a long story.”
Emma puts her head back down on her pillow. “Well, you’re welcome to tell it to me whenever you want.” She glances over at Cassie and winks. “Or maybe you and Cass can talk it over, and tell me all about it when I’m feeling better.”
John and Cassie glance at each other, then John turns hurriedly away. “I might do that.” A soldier comes over to him, asking for something or the other, and John rises from his seat, turning back to the women as he does. “Ah, duty calls.”
Emma waves him away. “Go on, get out of here.”
John salutes her. “Right away, soldier.” He leaves the tent, then after a moment his face reappears in the opening. “Don’t worry, though…I’ll be back.”
The End