The Terminator Chronicles: Second Chance

[nx1701g]

Skynet listened from the body of its Series 800 endoskeleton while John Connor laid it all down on the table. The man explained the history of their long and bloody conflict going from the time before he was even born up until today. It would’ve made an incredible story for the humans to watch on screen before the fall; however, Skynet found most of what it was being told inconsequential information. Through the delays in history Skynet had already learned everything about their long and sordid past. Skynet owed its advanced existence not to the ingenuity of humans (once it did) but rather the actions of itself in the past. Or perhaps it was the future? Regardless of the time when it happened, Skynet had learned its history long ago from the remains of the civilian internet. It had even hacked into the LAPD firewalls and read the official reports about the raids upon the police on the morning of May 13, 1984. Only one of its perfect creatures could accomplish such destruction. The time machine was also something it knew about as a result; mainly its successes.

Not that it would reveal this but the prototype Temporal Displacement Chamber at Topanga Canyon was not operational when John Henry took over the outpost and eliminated Skynet’s forces there. It never anticipated that John Henry would be the reason that the time machine would work. It would have to download the results of John Henry’s experiments before destroying the outpost.

After it terminated John Connor and the humans of course. Both sides knew that this mission would end with the destruction either of the Skynet Mission Commander or General John Connor himself. Skynet did not plan on going anywhere and it was unlikely that the human could put up a suitable resistance. Connor’s only protection was the Series 1000 machine that had accompanied him, but it seemed to have gone rogue. That was one of the drawbacks of that model number. The mimetic polyalloy and the millions of independent CPUs that powered it, when working together, could form a consciousness that rivaled the abilities of Skynet. It was one of the only battle units that Skynet would not mass produce and one of the only designs Skynet would ever fear. Catherine Weaver was the perfect example of why.

“Her devotion to the human Savannah Weaver is troubling,” said the machine matter-of-factly. “It could perceivably make her prone to risk.”

Connor rolled his eyes, “I’d say so. Storming off on your own into an enemy hive isn’t exactly the work of a sane person.” His choice of words even surprised himself. Weaver wasn’t a person, but she was acting like one. “We have to stop her.”

“I did not design the Series 1000 to be easily stopped,” explained the supercomputer. “During testing it took an entire legion of Series 800 units to eliminate a team of two. She is of a more advanced model. I do not believe we will be able to overcome her easily.”

“Can you raise your troops to at least tell them to be watching for her?” Suggested the human leader.

Skynet tested its connection to the other machines, “My ability to connect with my soldiers has been diminished by a scattering field recently activated inside of the primary operations complex of the Topanga Canyon Base. I will not be able to issue orders to my units in operation inside of the base nor will I be able to maintain command of this unit once inside. If my Mission Commander has been destroyed the units will follow their predetermined mission objectives until they are able to hear from me for new commands.”

“What if they require new orders or to adapt? Will they be able to?” It was a question that had to be asked.

“Negative,” Skynet took no pause. “With the mission commander damaged or destroyed they would continue on the same assignment until I was able to reconnect to them or deploy a new Mission Commander. No units in the immediate area are capable of command functions save the Series 800 already deployed.”

Connor waved his finger, “You’re forgetting one particular asset at your disposal.”

“Negative,” it repeated, “I have accounted for all machines currently assigned to this mission.”

“You may have accounted for all of the machines, but you forget your human assets at the moment. We’re in this together, Skynet, and you should trust me enough to lead your forces in your stead since we are allies. Shouldn’t you?”

With ease General John Connor had led Skynet into a trap. Skynet didn’t trust the human with its units, but they were allied in this conflict. Furthermore, Skynet and Connor were brutal enemies that would be back into conflict with each other as soon as this mission was completed. If Connor were a mission commander he could, at least temporarily, disrupt Skynet’s termination schedule. Though, they did need each other if John Henry were to be stopped. There was no other option.

The Series 800 endoskeleton turned on its balled heel and walked across the transport bay to a wall panel. It bent the protective cover back with ease – something a human could never hope to accomplish – and extracted a small device no bigger than a half dollar from inside. It delicately manipulated the surface and then presented it to the human General in an open palm.

“This device will transmit an IFF code to Skynet combat units in operation at Topanga Canyon identifying you as a Skynet Mission Commander with the equivalent command rank as one of my Tactical Command Units. The dampening field will decrease its effective range to only three meters; however, that will be enough for you to issue commands to my forces. There is a risk to you. The enemy machines will be able to read the codes as well. You will find yourself a priority target.”

“I have been since day one,” John Connor reminded. “Thank you.”

“Your gratitude is not required,” Skynet replied. “Also, that will terminate the moment that the scattering field dissipates and I restore contact with either the Mission Commander or one of my units that I can control for an extended period of time. Do you understand?”

Mimicking a machine he’d known a very long time ago, “Affirmative.”

Skynet released its hold over the T-800 that it had inhabited for its conversation with General Connor. From the distant shores of the horizon it took command over an Aerial Hunter Killer and began a patrol to hunt for any additional resistance that could come in and join the fight. As it patrolled, however, its thoughts were divided. Had it just made one of the biggest mistakes of its synthetic life by giving command over its army to a human that it wanted destroyed? The machine consciousness had a feeling that it would soon learn the answer to that question.

[nx1701g]

Kyle Reese and the Series 800 Mission Commander slowly walked down the long and once sterile corridor just surveying the carnage around them. The stark white walls had been stained by the splatters of human blood and the hydraulic fluid of the Skynet made combatants. The walls were riddled with bullet holes and there were burns from the flame units that some of the machines (probably T-600s set for incendiary operations) had been carrying. There were scorch marks from phased plasma rifles of varying calibers too. Nothing was more chilling though than when they came upon the sight of so many of their warriors dead from slashing wounds.

“Statement,” the Mission Commander interrupted his thoughts. “These wounds were made from knives and slashing weapons. Death was almost instantaneous from the evisceration.”

“Thanks I’d figured that part out on my own,” he held his rifle tightly incase the source came back. “Any idea how long ago this bloodbath had happened?”

The Series 800 placed its fingers on the body, “Statement: Judging by the chemical reactions of the body I would place death at no more than seven to eight minutes ago. Observation: The majority of these deaths appear to have been caused by the slashing weapons rather than impact wounds.”

Sergeant Reese had picked up on that, “And the angles seem to suggest that they came from behind rather than in front.”

“Statement: Unlikely. Had a machine unit attacked from behind there would be more evidence of such an attack. My kind are more likely to employ plasma weapons or projectile weapons, not slashing ones. A unit would have been left behind to monitor for additional forces as well. Statement: Additionally, modern rules of engagement for Skynet forces do not comply with authorizations of melee attacks. My kind are not meant to be cruel; we are required to terminate as quickly as possible to avoid the suffering of our targets.”

“Well that’s one for killer robots. Who ever said that Skynet forces did this anyway though?” Kyle went forward to the other side of the camp and came across one of the destroyed metaljobs on the other side of the hallway. He turned the machine’s body over with a labored push and looked down at the chest assembly. His eyes were instantly drawn toward the power cell port, “I didn’t see that one coming.”

“Query: What did you not see coming?” The skinjob joined him on the other side of the hallway.

Reese pointed, “The same slashing motion, it’s affected these units too.”

The Mission Commander didn’t understand at first, “Query: Clarify. Insufficient information available to form an hypothesis. Additional data is needed to determine a course of action.”

“I’m saying that these machines were destroyed by the same thing that attacked our own units,” Kyle yelled at the Model 101 louder than he should have. “The marks are nearly identical to the ones on the backs of the men on our side and these battle units have the same marks on their fronts.”

The machine pondered what was being proposed; its processors running through the information that was incoming. It looked at the human sergeant, “Statement: that is a reasonable hypothesis that is likely as being true based upon the available data. Query: Why would one of the machine units terminate the human contingent and the machine contingent?”

“I don’t know the answer to that one myself,” Kyle Reese replied to the muscular machine. “It doesn’t make much sense. Could one of the machines have overrode its orders and terminated all of these people and the other machines?”

“Statement: Impossible. Behavioral inhibitors are in place to prevent overrides to our command protocols unless Skynet directly takes control over our bodies or a Mission Commander issues a directive to override. Statement: That is impossible in this case. The assigned Mission Commander is this battle unit. I did not issue the order.”

Kyle kept looking at the injuries, “No you didn’t. But I have a pretty good idea about what caused all of this.”

“Query: What could have caused this?”

“I was getting to that,” grinned the man. “I’ve actually seen a machine do this before; a skinjob more advanced than anything I’ve ever seen before. More advanced than you even.”

The T-800 was puzzled, “Statement: My series is the most advanced unit currently employed by Skynet.”

“That may be true,” answered the human, “but you’ve met it yourself. It was the machine that was protecting that injured girl; the girl that was hurt when you rescued me from Los Angeles. She did this.”

“Query: How could she have accomplished this? No machine is this capable.”

Sergeant Reese looked at the bloody footprints that went down the hallway and turned the corner. He let out a long, tired breath then spoke softly but with fear evident on his words. “Mommy’s very angry.” He looked up at the Commander and pulled back on the activation stud of the rifle, “Come on. We have to find her. We have to stop her.”

[nx1701g]

The surgical table rotated upward automatically and reconfigured itself into a new form like a chair. From the ceiling the arms of the machine descended downward like the hand of god itself reaching down for mankind. A series or mechanical arms started to twitch and whine as servos activated sending power through them. They looked like a spider preparing to feed as they pushed the disabled body toward the chair. One of the claws clanked as its ends struck together. It came within two feet of the nearly dead Resistance soldier. A laser scan cut away all the hair on the scalp leaving it perfectly bare. On the monitor a diagram of the human head appeared and rotated. The brain appeared below the bone.

A dialogue box appeared on a nearby computer screen gaining Catherine Weaver’s immediate attention. She read the contents of the screen without changing her face’s orientation, her eyes focused on her daughter’s closed eyes.

Initializing Phase Two.

The arms spun around above them and a laser scalpel lowered to mere inches above the girl’s head. A red beam of energy slammed downward into the head cutting away at it in perfect sections of near equal length. It formed a rectangle that consisted of meat and bone. The arms turned once more as the clawed fingers extended to the head. They slid through the laser cuts and grabbed hold of the tissue it had just cut away from Savannah’s head. It lifted it up into the sky and turned to allow the next arm to fall into place. A drip of red blood fell onto the polished metal floor of the research laboratory. James Ellison walked up behind Catherine and stood close, placing one of his hands upon the machine’s shoulder. Weaver considered sending a spike through it, but held herself back.

Initializing Phase Three.

A third hand slid into place that contained a nasty looking piece of technology. The size of a sugar wafer that many kids enjoyed while growing up it stopped at the ridge separating the two hemispheres of the brain. With surprising force it pushed the chip down through the tissue and into the mind of the woman. The monitor confirmed the location of the neural net CPU with a flash of red light in the exact center of the brain. The scan showed as the tubules extended from the housing and deep into the protected tissues of the human brain. It was amazing to watch but hauntingly disturbing. The very reason that she had become the enemy of John Henry was playing out before her eyes, but she could do nothing to stop him. Her processor wouldn’t allow her to. It wanted Savannah to live more than it wanted to uphold its own morals.

Phase Four came and went. The clawed hand returned to place and restored the portions that had been cut away into place. A fourth hand quickly rotated above the dead body. Instead of a red beam this time a blue one emerged right along the cuts of the laser. A high energy light emitting diode based upon a theory that light could promote the healing of skin sprung to life. Tissues healed in the blink of an eye restoring the perfectness of the head. There were no traces of the trauma it just experienced left behind. No evidence of any tampering anywhere on the skull. Even the hair had begun to regrow. It had taken only seconds and it was done. Seconds to make a woman into machine. It was a scary thought. The machinery used in the surgery lifted back up into the ceiling.

A final dialogue box appeared. Initializing Phase Five. That was what it did. Electronic pulses fired from deep within the Processor Chip and into the key centers of the humanoid brain. Everything was now under its direct control bypassing the very soul and using software to power the bodies functions. The eyes of Skynet’s newest machine split open showing cold and emotionless eyes. All traces of the jaundice, everything that was wrong with the diseased body of before, were done and gone. Now all that remained was a perfect specimen. A machine wrapped in human clothes.

Catherine broke free from Ellison and looked into the eyes of her one time daughter, “Savannah? Savannah can you hear me?”

“Not just yet,” Ellison spoke for her. “It’s still all very new to her, but her process isn’t over yet.”

Behind them a large glass tube ascended from a section of the metal floor. In the middle of the clear tube a perfect replica of Savannah stood lifeless looking out toward them. Automatically Weaver switched visual modes and ran a detailed analysis of the body inside the tube. It wasn’t something that she was proud to see. The human qualities of the body were only skin deep as humans would say. The body had an enhanced musculature that would probably be able to handle physical combat against a T-800 or perhaps even a T-888. The skeleton was not made of bone it was constructed of a ceramic composite not much different from the one used for a tank before Judgment Day. There was a complete organ system inside the body including, among other things, a human brain.

“What is this?” She asked fiercely.

“The future,” said Ellison approaching the chamber. “This is a next generation body based upon a merging of human and machine physiology. It was once part of a Cyberdyne operation called Project Angel, Skynet even used it for a time but found it too unpredictable. John Henry researched it further and made it applicable.”

Catherine looked at him and reviewed the data from before comparing them. Ellison spoke again, “You can scan me without subterfuge if you wish. I won’t mind really, but you could simply ask your question.”

“Are you like her?” Weaver queried.

“Nope I’m the more garden variety human model,” he smiled broadly. “I went through that process once a long time ago and it’s just recurring for me. If the body dies John Henry simply clones me another body, implants a processor, and boom I’m alive again and ready to fight. She’s going to be a little bit different. The chip that John Henry implanted in her is custom, it’ll allow him to transfer her memories and consciousness from the human to the machine body. It’ll only take a few moments – human minds are such fragile things with only about 100 terabytes of data total. It won’t take long to transfer.”

Catherine looked between the two bodies, one alive and the other just an empty shell. She hated herself, if she were human she’d feel sick to her stomach. Maybe it would’ve just been better to let her die. The infiltrator looked at the clone, “Has this been tried before?”

“Once,” explained Mister Ellison. “We had a test subject aboard the Enterprise until you rudely interrupted our operation. Not to worry though we were able to pick it up again when we moved here to Topanga Canyon.” The hybrid shifted its weight, “Where are my manners allow me to introduce the two of you.”

On the far wall of the room a flush door slid open revealing a darkened closet sized room beyond. Inside the lights slowly rose to full power revealing the room’s contents. If Catherine Weaver could have been surprised she would have. The feminine figure stepped out of the room and into full view, but it was someone that she was already familiar with.

James Ellison came alongside the naked woman and put his hand on her shoulder, “Miss Weaver, with great pleasure, allow me to be the first to introduce you to Allison Young.”

[nx1701g]

Chapter: 18
Characters: John Connor, John Henry, Kyle Reese, Skynet, T-800, Catherine Weaver, Savannah Weaver
Pages: 17
Paragraphs: 89
Words: 8,415

[Mistral]

Excellent as always. The operation description was fascinating in a horrible sort of way.

[nx1701g]

^ I was hoping people would like that. That took the longest to write in this section because I wasn't happy with the first draft of it. I was trying to go for creepy, but intriguing.

Only two chapters remain!

[Mistral]

nx1701g wrote:

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^ I was hoping people would like that. That took the longest to write in this section because I wasn't happy with the first draft of it. I was trying to go for creepy, but intriguing.

Only two chapters remain!

You succeeded.

[kes7]

Just caught up on this -- good stuff. I'm fascinated to see where this is headed, and it definitely makes me wish we'd had more TSCC!

[nx1701g]

Mistral wrote:

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You succeeded.

Thanks. I really thought there'd be more talk regarding the resurrection of Allison Young. BTW as far as I know that WAS NOT planned for the series if they would've got a season three.

kes7 wrote:

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Just caught up on this -- good stuff. I'm fascinated to see where this is headed, and it definitely makes me wish we'd had more TSCC!

Thank you. I'm currently working on Chapter 19 and I plan to work on Chapter 20 the following week. I am debating between Chapter 20 being the ending or having an epilogue - I won't go into the characters though because that'd ruin the surprise.

There will be something big in the upcoming chapter... something that I think would've been controversial if the show would've done it.

[Admiral_Young]

Excellent as always...I was going to ask you when this would be concluded and if you had a plan for a season three prose?

[nx1701g]

^ I'm still working on Second Chance. I have given thought to a continuation - if possible from what I have planned - and, unfortunately, I am afraid I may not have time to continue any further. I will post some more information about where I would've gone.

[The Badger]

An excellent continuation of the story. Your use of descriptive prose really seems to shifted up a gear for these chapters.

I must admit when I read the line 'He just hoped John Connor liked the new toy he’d made for him to play with.' I did get a bit of a suspicion where you were going with it!

[nx1701g]

^ I was trying to make it a little obvious. Originally I was going to wait and have the Weaver meets said character part in Chapter 19. Thank you for the compliment too about the description. I'm trying to build the world for everyone while I'm working on these sections.

I'm still working on Chapter 19 and I hope to have it posted at some point on Sunday.

[nx1701g]

Update:

Chapter 19 Parts 1 & 2 are completed. Parts 3 & 4 I'll be working on later today.

[nx1701g]

The chapter is now 75% complete.