This floor was quiet now, just a few family groups among the rows of metal pillars that supported the ceiling. One family—two old people, a young child, and a teenage girl with a cruelly scarred face—sat on an old, half-rotten mattress. They played poker with a worn-looking deck of cards. A crazy-looking man sat talking to himself in a big heavy lounge chair with ripped upholstery. He hugged a large book to his chest, perhaps some kind of encyclopedia, or maybe a copy of the Bible; John couldn't actually tell. Two more people, a mother and a young boy, maybe seven or eight, huddled in a corner, not even talking, just surviving, existing, silently going on with the struggle.
John hadn't imagined it would still be like this, with Skynet destroyed. Cockroaches as big as his hand crawled on the walls—not that many of them, for the Resistance obviously tried to keep some cleanliness and order, as much as the situation allowed. Still, it seemed that those foul, evil-looking creatures really could survive anything, even a nuclear war. They'd actually mutated and thrived.
On his right, a single Resistance soldier in gray military uniform stood guard at a tunnel entrance. He was a tall, skinny, pale man, maybe about twenty-five, though appearances were deceptive. Almost everyone in this world looked older than they really were. On John's left, an open passageway led to another room that must once had been some sort of lobby. Isaac led them there, into a space that gave some privacy.
Here, an oil lamp swung two feet above their heads, and three trestles had been set up with long flat boards laid across them to make a temporary table. Two more trestles and some twelve-foot lengths of board created a narrow bench along the side, against a concrete wall. A dozen chipped coffee mugs sat on the bench, with a round ceramic bowl, and three large plastic bottles full of water. An empty bottle lay on its side. There was a two-way radio on the table, and topographical maps were spread out around it, piled one on top of the other.
Half a dozen painted wooden chairs were scattered around the area, and two people were already seated on one side of the table, waiting. One, a woman, stood when John and the others walked in. The other, a shaven-headed man, nodded acknowledgment, but remained seated.
Several crudely printed posters of varied sizes were tacked to the wall, above the row of water bottles, including one with a black-and-white photo of General Connor and Sarah—she looked about fifty, and her son maybe thirty. Given their ages, that shot must have been taken not long before the Sarah Connor of this world had died. They'd been photographed in a bleak semi-desert landscape with sand, tussocky grass, and stunted cactus trees; they were posed next to the shattered, twisted wreckage of a huge metal machine, probably a land H-K that they'd managed to take out. Both of them held RPG tubes, raised in triumph.
They looked like big game hunters who'd brought down a buffalo or an elephant.
John caught his mother staring at the poster with a surprised look on her face, seeing her own image in a world she had never known until these last few weeks, doing things that she had never done. Seeing a version of herself who'd gone the way of all flesh. The General must have seen her expression, too, for he stepped in front of the poster, saying nothing—though his face colored slightly. Then he must have realized it was stupid. For better or worse, she'd already seen it.
He placed his laser rifle securely against the wall, then unscrewed the top from one of the water bottles. He poured himself a mug of the water, and offered the bottle to anyone else who wanted it. Anton took it and helped himself, then passed it around. They all placed their weapons well away from any danger of accidental contact, but in easy reach if something went wrong. In a place like this, no one dared go unarmed, just in case of a Terminator attack.
General Connor and Gabriela sat at opposite ends of the table. Isaac took a seat with the two who'd been waiting, while the rest of them—John, Sarah, Jade, and Anton—lined up on the other side. Isaac made the introductions. The two who'd been here when they arrived were local leaders on the East Coast. The man was Ray Grimes, the woman Sumeeta Mohanraj. She was small, but tough-looking; half-Causasian, half-Indian. Her black hair was cut into a flattop; more than her share of scars disfigured her face.
"All right," the General said. "We have to get started, and make some final decisions quickly."
"Agreed," Isaac said.
"I've been through this with our people in all the centers in Europe. I've discussed it with Gabriela by radio, and the leadership in Colorado. We have a lot of agreement on what needs to be done." He nodded in Gabriela's direction. "Am I right on that?"
"Everyone in L.A. is with you. You have my personal backing. You know what Cecilia thinks. She is ready for the mission. I'm proud to see her take it up." She stopped for a moment, and added pointedly, "No matter what the circumstances."
"Good," General Connor looked down the table at the three East Coast leaders. "I'll take you through the basics. I hope you're with me on what needs to be done."
"It's appreciated, John," Grimes said. "Yes, we need to understand it. And you have to know where we're coming from."
"Of course I do, Ray. And you have a right to be well briefed." Their eyes met for a moment...some hostility there, or disagreement at the very least. John could not imagine the General ever backing off. He had a sureness about his expression; and something about his eyes, beneath heavy, dark brows, suggested deep thought that had led to firm conclusions. "There are two problems," the General said, "and either one could destroy everything we've worked and fought for. First, there's the machines. Second, there's the warlords. And there's a third point that we need to discuss. We'll get to that soon. In the end, it might be the most important of all. The entire fate of our universe could be in the balance."
"Well, you're going to have to explain that," Grimes said. "It's not an easy thing to take in, not just from what we've heard."
"I know that, and you don't have to take it on faith. You'll get your explanation."
"Anton and I can explain whatever you need, Mr. Grimes," Jade said.
The General gulped down his water as she spoke. "Right. For the moment, let's just say that we're not through with Skynet, not even now. There's still a long way to go."
Grimes looked at Sumeeta Mohanraj, then back to the General. "You've got some convincing to do."
"Are you willing to be convinced?"
"That's—" Grimes gave an uncomfortable smile, but it quickly changed to a determined frown. He was not a man to budge easily. "That's a tough one."
"All right, I'll take it I've been warned. First things first, though. I'll come back to all of that. Right now, I want to talk about the machines-they're still fighting on, even without Skynet to lead them. And then there's the warlords, the rebels."
"It's a time of troubles," Gabriela said dryly.
"That's exactly right; that's just what it is. Let's talk about those first. Then we'll get to the final point."
"Okay," Grimes said.
"Let me give you the preview, Ray. Skynet still exists." General Connor glanced at Jade, then Anton. "In the world our friends came from, a counterpart of Skynet has won the war of extermination."
"So it appears," Jade said.
"So it appears. The question is, can that Skynet still strike at us...even across the dimensions? Right now, it looks to me like it can. So the next question is simple: What can we do about it? I'm going to leave that until last, but it potentially affects everything. I hope we can deal with some of the other points without solving that problem first, because it's a tough one. The problem that confronts us is that everything here is connected. Everything affects everything else." General Connor placed his clasped hands solidly on the edge of the table, his movement and expression hawk like. "I wish it was simpler, but it isn't. That's the reality."
"You'd better start where you want," Isaac said.
"All right." The General's shoulders relaxed the merest fraction. "Let's start with the problem of the warlords. It might be more logical to talk first about the machines, but this can't
wait. We have people under attack in South America right this moment. I'm told that we've lost contact overnight with the Tejada estancia—and that was one of our strongholds. It seems that it fell to the Rising Army in the last eighteen hours." Others nodded as he spoke. "We don't know if there are any prisoners or other survivors. If there are, every minute that passes puts them in more danger. The same applies to our other bases throughout South America. I want to give the go-ahead to commence action right now. In my mind, It's only a question of what kind of action."
"You know my thoughts," Gabriela said. "No pussyfooting." She gestured expansively with both hands. "Let's just do it."
"All right, I'm going to call Danny Dyson and Juanita Salceda very soon. So what do I tell them? The question is simply one of how far we are prepared to use Skynet's own weapons for our purposes. Six weeks ago, I didn't hesitate. I sent a Terminator back in time to 1994 to protect myself from an attack by Skynet." That had been Skynet's attempt to kill John as a nine-year-old child, using a T-1000 Terminator as its assassin. "When Skynet escaped us in Colorado, I sent another Terminator further back in time to try to find a point where timestreams diverged, and to get help from another timestream. When that one returned, I used it again when we went to Madrid."
"You're starting to set a pattern," Mohanraj said in an absolutely neutral voice. She wasn't giving away what she thought about it.
"Well, no harm seems to have come of that...but people are asking me: Where does it end?"
"It's a good question, John," Isaac said.
"I know it is." General Connor turned to Sarah. "I know what this means to you, in particular. We've spoken about it, but your views are very welcome at this meeting. If not for what you did prior to Judgment Day, none of us would even be here. The human species would probably be extinct by now. You trained me; all our preparations are owed to you."
Sarah frowned at that. "Not to the other Sarah Connor?"
"You know how it works, Sarah. It was you who set it all in motion, however you look at it..."
Not only that, John thought as Big John spoke, she'd fought bravely in Spain.. .as they all had. If one less of them had been there, if Sarah had not taken the battle to the endos and Terminators that had protected Skynet, showing all her courage and skill, the mission would have been a failure. She'd blasted away at Skynet's defenses, taken on its T-1000s. Yes, this world owed Sarah so much. So, in a different way, did Jade's World.
General Connor nodded at her respectfully. "We have to stop the warlords before they tear apart our entire organization. I don't see any way to get forces in place without using the time displacement machinery in Colorado."
"It's a question of what forces," Isaac said. "If you think we can start using Terminators as our troops, just like Skynet did, that's a bitter pill to swallow. What you did that first day in Colorado is one thing..."
"If I hadn't, we wouldn't be here now, most likely."
"That may well be, but I'm not sure that I like it."
"What alternative did I have? Anyway, that's history now."
"Agreed. It's history, John, but it's not a precedent. Can't you see that it's worrying people?"
"I know that. I want to take everyone with me on this. If I can."
"Right. It sounds like you've made up your mind. But you can't just impose your will—"
"I didn't say that." There was a tense silence. "But we need all the resources we can get our hands on, to mop up Skynet's war machines. I know that's jumping ahead, but surely if s clear. We can agree on that much, can't we? There are still too many machines left. And then there's the warlords. We can't fight on two fronts while refusing to use what's available. I think we've got to fight back with everything at our disposal."
"You're right," Mohanraj said. She shrugged as eyes turned to her. "Too many of our best people have died. The balance of power has shifted. I agree that we must do whatever it takes to get control."
"It's not so simple," Grimes said.
She went on: "Once we have control, it is different. I don't want to use Skynet's own technology forever. We must make a clean break from it."
"But when do we know it's time to stop?" Sarah said, leaning forward, one palm flat on the table. "Just imagine what they were saying back in 1997, when they implemented the Skynet program. They thought they'd just take it so far, that it would be all right. That kind of thinking destroyed our whole civilization." She fixed her eyes on the General. "You, of all people, should know how dangerous this is, John. If you...I mean your people...become addicted to using Skynet's technology for your ends, where does it lead?"
Grimes spoke up again. "That's true. I say we stop right now, we blow the whole facility in Colorado."
"Well, that was always what I planned," General Connor said.
"It should have been done before. We need to destroy every goddamn computer chip that we find, and start again without any tech that relates to Skynet. A few more people might die, or have to suffer, in the short term. But it's better this way in the longer run. Let's make a clean start, and we've still got some small chance of building a peaceful world."
"You're committed to that viewpoint?"
"I am. Absolutely."
"All right, I can respect that."
"That's just as well, John."
"Yes, I suppose it is. But we do have a problem if you can't accept my decision."
"Or if you can't accept what the majority think."
"The majority here?"
"Maybe. Or maybe the majority in the field. It's not just about what the leaders think. You can't continue the Resistance unless people back you up. With Skynet destroyed, the whole equation has changed. Sure, there are still war machines out there. I bet a lot of local leaders think they can handle that. Maybe they're wrong, but that's what they're thinking. Those warlords in South America are just the most extreme example. You can bet that people are weighing up their loyalties right now."
"I know that. I don't mind being reminded." The General turned to Sarah. "What about you? Is that what you're putting to me, too?"
She met his eyes, but hesitated to speak. "Look, I don't want to be the voice of gloom and doom —always saying no."
"I don't see it that way."
"Well, that's how I feel sometimes. But I need convincing with these things. After all I've been through...and I know I'm not the only one...it's still not over. We still haven't defeated Skynet. I've had to work with Terminators, back in L.A., and in Washington D.C. and when we came here. I know it can be done. I don't like it, and I don't like the way this goes on and on, demanding more and more actions, more and more compromises from us."
"Sarah, how would you handle it?"
"How would I handle it? The warlords? I don't know. I can't be sure." She was finding her way with it, faltering, but determined to work it out. "You're going to have to draw a line, John. At some point, you have to say, Enough is enough. I'm not saying you've reached that point yet." She held up her hand to ask for silence. "But if you make one compromise, then another, then another, and never draw that line, one day you'll regret it. Or you'll finally die, thinking you've done okay, that you left the world in good shape. But someone will come after you, and they'll curse you that you never drew that line. You're going to have to find a point where you don't use the end to justify the means. There's a point where that logic runs out. If you go on and on using those means...you can't really say where it ends. When you get to that point, you've lost control, you're on the path back to creating Skynet."
"We may be anyway—"
"Maybe, maybe.. .you can't think like—"
"I know. Sorry, you go on."
She was silent for a long time, and no one interrupted. "I don't know where you draw that line, John. It's up to you. It's on your shoulders. But you've got to do it. If you don't do it, everything may be lost."
"It may be anyway. There are no guarantees."
"No, but when the fight continues after you've gone, will you ha
ve helped? Or will you have made it easier for the whole nightmare to start over again?"
The General looked as if he'd done a few rounds with a heavyweight champion. "All right. I understand all that. Look, there's a couple of things there...First of all, Sarah, I'm not the best person to know how dangerous it is.. .that's not how my experience has been. I first encountered two Terminators when I was only nine years old. One had been sent back by Skynet to try to kill me, but the other one was sent as a protector. I'd sent it myself. It saved my life many times over. Right up until 2012, when it was destroyed, the Terminator protected me from dangerous human beings, as well as from whatever Skynet threw at me. Maybe I'm actually the last person to think that some technologies can only ever be evil. That just isn't my experience."
A few people raised their eyebrows, listening to the General talk like that. Listening to his older self, John felt that he was hearing some of his own thoughts played back. He'd often wondered the same thing sometimes...whether maybe any technology could be used for good, if you really knew what you were doing. But, then again, there was no sign that the technology used to create Skynet itself could be anything but bad. It had destroyed civilization and tried to exterminate humanity in two worlds: this one, and the one that Jade and Anton had come from.
The General gave him a pained smile, an expression of recognition of their common experience. "You know what I'm saying, don't you?"
"I do...I guess I do." John felt put on the spot, but then he reminded himself that he had every reason not to be overawed by these people. He'd fought well, himself, in the last battle to destroy Skynet. Not only that, he'd done good work back in his own world, dealing with the government and the people from Cyberdyne who'd been so determined to create Skynet. The fact that he and Sarah, and Jade and Anton, were here was partly his doing, and they couldn't have beaten Skynet without the Specialists' knowledge and abilities. He told himself he had every right to be heard. His voice should mean something. "I've often thought about it," he said—still carefully, but now more confidently.
T2 - 03 - The New John Connor Chronicles - Times of Trouble Page 8
