T2 - 02 - The New John Connor Chronicles - An Evil Hour

by Russell Blackford

  At that point, the tape showed a group of well-armed military guards, who broke in from two directions: a rapid-response team armed with assault rifles. From the stump of the T-XA's right wrist, another blade stabbed out, filament-thin, penetrating the Hispanic woman's skull to absorb her memories.

  There were numerous other images of the T-XA morphing, splitting, merging, performing feats that demonstrated without doubt that it was a device far beyond any current technology. Of course, the government was briefed on the reality of time travel and the fact that there must be Terminators. That had not stopped the Skynet project, but watching this tape would shake even the project's most passionate and well-informed advocates in the government.

  Layton followed through to the end, trying to make sense of it all. What a pity they only had the visual images to go on, not sound. It was impossible to make out what objectives and tactics the Specialists and the Connors were discussing amongst themselves. Perhaps a lip-reading expert would be able to reconstruct some of it, but the images were seldom clear.

  What became obvious was that the T-XA components had finally joined when fighting the Connors and the Specialists in the building's basement There, another of the Specialists had been killed: a black man who looked uncannily like Miles Dyson. The others had all suffered wounds in the battle, though that did not mean much; they could probably recover quickly. The T-XA kept attacking the Specialists, almost ignoring the Connors except when it needed to defend itself from them. That might have been a mistake. Though the Connors possessed nothing like the physical or mental capabilities of the Specialists, they doubtless had useful contacts, not to mention knowledge and rat cunning. Without them, the Specialists would find it much more difficult to hide, plan and operate.

  Still, what was done was done. In the end, the T-XA had been trapped in the time vault, which had been operated by Rosanna Monk, of all people. For unknown reasons, she had betrayed Skynet Part of the T-XA's arm had been chopped off when the time vault's door slammed shut under Rosanna's control. Somehow she had defeated or overridden her reprogramming. That made her very dangerous. If she sided with the Connors, she could do untold damage to Cyberdyne's prospects.

  Layton considered what to do about her. It was a pity for the world to lose her genius at a point when she could be useful in the task of creating Skynet, but she could never be trusted again. Even if her reprogramming took over, she was unreliable. She would have to be terminated.

  There were other lessons to be learnt. Only two of the Specialists had survived. It was no use publicly acknowledging the others. Of course, many police, military, and emergency services personnel had been present when the Connors and the Specialists arrived at the site, and had seen all four Specialists. But how many would have had a clear view of what had happened? Some of those people could be found and reprogrammed, others might have to be silenced in various ways. Over time, it might be best if some were terminated, but not just yet: that would only arouse suspicion.

  So the official story should be that only four people had turned up with Rosanna Monk, just the Connors and two of the Specialists. Descriptions of the Japanese woman and the gray-haired European man could be provided to police forces across the country and the media. They could provide still images from the surveillance tapes and pass them on as well. Those four would be cornered quickly if they tried to go anywhere. Dean would need to convey that to all the authorities, here and in Washington. It would be the official truth.

  The dead Hispanic woman might also be useful. Once the right people were reprogrammed in Washington, there would doubtless be scope to reverse-engineer at least some of the modifications that had been made to her body. Perhaps they could be used to enhance some of Skynet's mindslaves in the future. It might also be possible to reverse-engineer the liquid metal substance from which the T-XA had been made, incorporating it in weaponry or even in new kinds of computer hardware.

  Only two Specialists were left, and much of what had happened could be exploited — but not these surveillance tapes. Anyone viewing them could now make sense of what had happened almost as easily as Layton, who was only slightly advantaged by the information he had from the T-XA. He turned to Solomon. "How long can you keep this to yourself?"

  “I’ll have to give oral briefings."

  "Of course." Those could say all the right things.

  "And I need to send a written report in the morning. Otherwise, it's going to look mighty suspicious."

  "I understand."

  "I'll make it vague, just enough detail so it doesn't look incompetent. But not enough to give them much guidance. As for the tapes, they'll expect us to digitize them and send them to their Information Management people. We can get the raw material to them tomorrow and they can start their own analysis. That will take them some time. We've worked harder than they'll be expecting, to get the edited version. I can hang on to that for at least a couple of days."

  Layton took a large bite from one of the wedges of pizza. All this exertion kept him ravenous. He ate it thoughtfully, puzzling out how to deal with the people in Washington until he could get to them. "If you come under pressure, act obtuse. Do you understand? Let them think you're unimaginative, or even stupid, but not disloyal. We don't want them investigating you."

  "That makes good sense."

  "Good." Layton looked around the room at his little group of mindslaves. "You've all been very helpful. I'll leave you and say goodnight." Their work was ahead of them.

  For now, Layton's work was done.

  THE PENTAGON

  Jack caught one hour's sleep then went into his office, arriving at 7:00 A.M. He checked whether any footage had already been received from Colorado—the raw record of the surveillance tapes. It had not arrived yet Damn! It would have been unrealistic to expect it so quickly, but this was an emergency-couldn't Solomon and his people understand that?

  He checked what documents had arrived on his desk: two reports on progress with high-tech air defense contracts; one regular intelligence briefing, which he flipped through quickly, just to make sure there was nothing that couldn't wait. He checked his e-mails and his computerized diary, finding the day choked with meetings-most of them not critical. With a sigh, he set to work, making notes to his secretary to reschedule whatever she could when she arrived at work later in the morning. He scribbled a handwritten note of those appointments he'd still need to handle through the day.

  As soon as possible he needed to speak with Layton and Cruz, get them to come to Washington, and meet in person — if not today, tomorrow at the earliest. He supposed they'd been up all night, too, but everyone just had to stay on the job. They could sleep when this was over.

  Amongst his e-mail was a brief report from Solomon, surprisingly brief, in fact, copied to Samantha and to some of the top brass, including the chiefs of staff. It told no more than Jack already knew, but promised more to come, including the original surveillance tapes, plus an edited version showing exactly what had happened. That was good work, anyway, but the report itself was third-rate-not what Jack expected. It confirmed their suggested story that only two people had been with Rosanna and the Connors. All right, they'd stick with that.

  Jack forwarded the report to the Secretary with a terse, critical covering message. He sent the same covering message to the report's other recipients, then typed up a note on the computer screen, setting out some thoughts of his own, just a series of items for discussion:

  Item 1: The Connors had four accomplices (contrary to our "official" position). The dead body of one has been found, a woman of Hispanic appearance. Despite the extraordinary abilities they all showed, this body appears human-it is not, for example, a cyborg being with a metal interior. Nonetheless, it will need to be examined. Some kind of technological enhancement can be expected.

  Item 2: The experimental apparatus known as "the time vault" was used during the raid. It appears that someone or something was displaced in space-time, using the apparatus. Indeed, repo
rts suggest that this was the fate of one of the four accomplices helping the Connors. To put the point more accurately, anything placed in the apparatus will have been scattered across the space-time continuum, disintegrated in four dimensions. Why was the time vault used?

  Item 3: Reports have also been received of some kind of strange being or machine fighting against the Connors and their accomplices.

  Item 4: Critical to the future success of Cyberdyne's research, Dr. Rosanna Monk has disappeared, evidently with the Connors. Dr. Monk is not indispensable, but she is a huge loss for the project.

  Those were important points, he decided. He quickly reformatted them, added some "top and tail" material, and included them in a further Top Secret report He would send it to the Secretary, copy to Samantha. Now it was getting so formal, he needed some recommendations, but that depended on further analysis. The surveillance tapes would show exactly what went on, and a detailed postmortem examination of the body found on the twelfth floor would tell them more about what they were up against.

  Should the project be canceled? he wrote. He made that into a heading, since it led to further issues. Answering that question required a thorough knowledge of the origin of the Terminators that had been encountered by Sarah Connor in 1984 and 1994.

  He recommended that Connor, her son, their accomplices and Dr. Monk must be found urgently, and interrogated. Meanwhile, Charles Layton and Oscar Cruz should be treated with suspicion until the issue was resolved. These recommendations will need to be reviewed as information is gathered, he concluded.

  Jack reviewed what he'd written, and saw that it still needed some finessing. After another half-hour, he had a solid document: full of meat, but clear and punchy, and short enough that it might actually be read. He e-mailed it off just seconds before Samantha entered his office.

  "I've been thinking," she said.

  "Yeah, me, too." The computer screen showed the time as 8:26 A.M. There was still plenty of time to prepare for the meeting. "Have a quick look at what I've sent you. Then we'd better talk about it."

  The Secretary looked tired and careworn, showing every year of his age. Jack braced himself for the worst from this meeting—whether an accusation of incompetence, or simply a judgment made without full knowledge of the facts. That could have even more dire consequences. Jack's career had taught him that political masters could get things very wrong, demand the impossible, and cause disaster when you tried to interpret their wishes in a way that made sense.

  "This is tough for all of us," the Secretary said. "We've got the press climbing all over our backs."

  "I know that, sir—" Samantha said.

  "Well, just hear me out. I've read what you sent me, Jack, including this excuse for a report from Dean Solomon in Colorado. I've been reviewing the whole situation."

  Jack was not sure what to say. Where was this leading?

  The Secretary leaned forward confidentially. "I've looked again at just what this technology might be able to do, the reasons we're all so interested, the way the work has been handled — and where it fits in with all your other projects. The first thing is, I want you to know is that I think you're both doing a first-rate job. Nothing we discuss here now takes away from that. I've been around long enough to recognize good work when I see it."

  "Well, thank you," Samantha said.

  For the moment, Jack kept his silence. Something bad was coming, if it had to be prefaced like that.

  The Secretary gave a tired laugh. "There's no need to sound so surprised. The second thing is, I know your work is important—including the contracts with Cyber-dyne. I've been reminding myself of how important it is, and how it fits our fundamental aims."

  "Do you need any more briefing on any of those contracts, sir?" Jack said

  "Hell, no. It's clear enough. Look Jack, the technologies your office is overseeing are crucial to us. I haven't forgotten that. You're helping us prepare for the threats of the new century — that's some of the most important work we could be doing right now. I appreciate it. Everything we say today is in that context."

  "Thank you, sir."

  "My pleasure. I like to give credit where I see it's due. But that doesn't mean nothing needs to change. This problem with Cyberdyne has gone on long enough, and we need to get it resolved. The reality is that it's distracting us from other programs. That doesn't mean we drop it—I didn't say that. But we do have to resolve it quickly; we can't let it just keep rolling on to God knows where."

  "Yes, sir," Jack said. "I fully agree." This might not be too bad, after all: It sounded like the Secretary had nothing definite in mind.

  "Now, I've been through all the briefings you've written for me — and we've had our talks about all this. I've never tried to micromanage the programs that you're looking after, you know that. Each one is important, and I like the whole mindset you've brought to it — we need this kind of high-tech stuff. Cyberdyne's work could be critical to us, and I'm not going to stop it lightly."

  Jack relaxed slightly. "All right. So where to from here? You have my recommendations. Do you agree with them?"

  "As far as they go, yes." The Secretary passed back a hard copy of Jack's e-mailed report, with a note scribbled on top of the first page: Need to speak. He stuck out his chin, then said, "If this program goes well, it could be one of the most important we've got for the transformation of the forces in the twenty-first century. I've absorbed the implications of that. Once it was just NORAD-we were thinking in terms of Russian ICBMs."

  "That's still an important possibility," Samantha said.

  "Yes, I know."

  When Jack had first discussed the concept with Layton and Cruz, many years before, the emphasis had been on strategic surveillance, the possibility of phasing out the NORAD facility in Cheyenne Mountain, replacing it with something better. A strategic surveillance network based on Dyson-Monk nanoprocessor technology would be faster and more precise than humans in analyzing data that could indicate a nuclear strike. But there was so much more that the technology could do; it could become integral to every aspect of the forces' work.

  "This technology could give us just what we need," the Secretary said, "a major boost in our capacity to win wars — and winning wars is what we're here for. Am I right?"

  Jack half expected a playful punch on the shoulder, the way the Secretary was talking. He laughed; this was getting better, minute by minute. "Damn right, sir."

  "Okay, now we agree on that, I can't understand one thing. Just who or what is behind these attacks, the one in 1994, and again last night? Nothing suggests any usual enemy — in fact it can't be any usual enemy. We know that, don't we? Let's not fool around about this."

  "No-"

  This scientist from Cyberdyne-what's her name?"

  "Rosanna Monk," Samantha said.

  "All right, Dr. Monk — what's she like?"

  "She seems eccentric, but she's not so bad when you get to know her. Very intense, self-absorbed, even obsessed. But she's not at all flaky; she knows what she's doing."

  "She's convinced that these Terminators are real?"

  "She is," Jack said. "I've got no doubt she's right. Sam and I have been over all her evidence."

  "Well, that's your problem there."

  "Pardon, sir?"

  "That's your problem. You've got this wonderful technology, but something we don't understand is going on with it. We don't know what can of worms we're opening here, if we go ahead. That's what we've got to find out And it can't wait. How am I supposed to sleep when I'm told that those things are out there? And what am I supposed to tell the President?"

  "All we have to go on are Sarah Connor's claims," Samantha said. "We can't trust those."

  "Well, you seem to have that right," the Secretary said. "Her story doesn't add up. We didn't have any 'Judgment Day.'"

  "No, sir."

  "Well, how do you explain it? Countries like Iraq don't have that kind of technology — neither did the Soviets. I'll say this: I w
ant you to go on with the project for now. We can pull the plug later — if there's some reason. But we need to know that reason, if it exists. Find that out as your highest priority. Is that clear?"

  "Yes," Jack said. "You couldn't be clearer."

  "One other thing, I'm not happy with Solomon. Something earthshaking is going on over there and he's showing a mindset that it's not happening. I don't understand it-he's been competent before, hasn't he?"

  "Always."

  "You just keep an eye on him-replace him if you have to. Now, when are you meeting with the Cyberdyne people?"

  "We'll fit them in as soon as they can get to Washington. Maybe tonight, if they get over here today."

  "Good. I agree they're hiding something from us. You're going to have to put it on the line with them — whatever way you think is necessary, I don't want to know. Understand me? Make sure they're safe, see they're not harmed, but get their story. Get the truth out of them. Until that happens, we don't know if we're coming or going."

  "Understood, sir," Jack said.

  "All right, that's enough for now. You know what you have to do."

  "Certainly," Samantha said. "I'm looking forward to meeting with Layton and Cruz. We'll take care of them."

  The Secretary gave her a long, appraising look. "Well, see that you do that, Sam. There's something about Cyberdyne that I don't like. Just make sure that they don't take care of you."