Chapter 2: In The Future...

“Skynet’s newest infiltration unit exactly mimics a human’s appearance,” John Connor sighed, studying the screen. “These images were recovered from the security system at Jolon Base, thanks to your analytical skills” he pointed at the small figure on the screen.
“No more 6doubleO’s then,” Tyler grumbled. “Or simple 800’s.”
“No, my friend,” John shook his head. “I guess Skynet finally realized you were on to it, but I got a present for you. We caught one. Series triple8. Skynet’s best version of an infiltrator as of yet. Look,” he nodded towards a still statue of a woman. “Looks like a regular teen, right? A frail looking girl, perfectly built to turn a few heads while she seeks out her target.”
“Hmm, it’s whatever someone finds attractive,” Tyler circled around the girl slowly, studying every facet of her appearance. “Can’t say she would get my attention, unless she was targeting someone.”
“She looks like a Cameron to me,” John said lowly. “Like the triple8 I knew in my teens.”
“It is the triple8 you knew in your teens. It’s the exact same serial number,” Tyler sighed.
“Of course that’s something you’d remember,” John chuckled.
“There’s not much I don’t remember, John,” Tyler said darkly, touching his left shoulder with his right hand, glancing at the barcode tattoo on his right forearm. “That fucking liquid metal boy got me good.”
“The only one you never got to study,” John smirked. “That must sting.”
Tyler shook his head and rolled his eyes: “Hardly.”
He circled the machine-girl again, studying her from all angles: “You think she has a reroute?”
“She is one of Skynet’s latest creations, so I wouldn’t bet against it. But if you want to find out, be my guest. You know where to look, don’t you?”

Tyler blinked frantically, his vision adjusting to the darkness. Automatically his right hand reached for the scar on his left shoulder. His body was severely marred by the war against the machines but for some odd reason that scar the T-1000 had given him bothered him the most. Perhaps because when its knife slashed through the flesh it had appeared the shapeshifter had enjoyed it. Like it had nothing to do with his mission objective to gain information and everything with some kind of pleasure. As if it had been gifted with a taste for maim and torture.
He leaned back against the wall and closed his eyes again. It was quiet in the abandoned factory, an eerie stillness he wasn’t used to and it was rather enervating. Used to the consistent sounds of the battles, H-K’s flying over, the restless survivors in the tunnels underneath the city, this silence grated on his nerves, feeding his distrust of his surroundings. He had known this world and it shouldn’t be unfamiliar to him but his heart and soul had been tainted by the continuous fight against the machine. In a few years this world would perish in the flames of the nuclear apocalypse.
Slowly he opened his eyes again and took in his surroundings. In the far corner to his left he could make out the improvised basin in which he had destroyed the infiltration unit. He snorted with annoyance: Skynet hadn’t even really tried by sending an inferior 867, the infiltrator-model before the T-triple8. He hadn’t even bothered to remove the CPU for research purposes. It wouldn’t have told him anything he didn’t already know.
Before he made the time jump John had made him swear that no evidence would ever left behind, nothing that could advance the technical evolution or hasten the coming of Judgment Day drastically. Destroying the 867 had been almost too easy: it should’ve retreated the moment it had identified him. Had the time jump messed with its programming causing some kind of hesitation?
A sudden noise from afar caused him to be on guard. H-K’s? A wry chuckle rose from his chest. It was just a helicopter. He leaned back again, closing his eyes again, hoping for a peaceful sleep.

“Cameron?” Sarah called when the girl passed her room.
Cameron turned back and peeked into the room: “Yes?”
“Come here,” Sarah gestured that she had come in. “Sit down,” pointing at the chair.
“What are you doing?” Cameron looked at all the papers scattered across Sarah’s bed.
“His name is in here,” Sarah sighed. “Each time… their name is in here. And once again we find out when it’s too late.”
“Not with Lieutenant General Devlin,” Cameron stated matter-of-factly.
Sarah’s face drew into a sarcastic grimace: “He took on a machine without any weapons.”
“He doesn’t need weapons,” Cameron countered.
“We all need fucking big guns against your kind,” Sarah growled.
“Not Devlin.”
Cameron could tell from the look on Sarah’s face that she wasn’t convinced: “There is nothing Lieutenant General Devlin doesn’t know about my kind.”
“Why, Cameron, is that an attempt at sarcasm?” Sarah asked wryly.
“My CPU is equipped with a learning ability-”
“So you’ll be better adjusted, yeah, yeah, I know,” Sarah interrupted her. “Before Derek took over the conversation this afternoon I asked you a question."
“Did he have a family?” Cameron said, copying Sarah’s voice.
“Don’t do that!” Sarah growled angrily.
“Do what?” Cameron clearly didn’t understand.
“Imitate my voice, literally repeating what I said. It’s freaky and not just for me,” Sarah explained. “But did he have a family?”
“Not really.”
Sarah shook her head bemused: “Care to explain?”
“Family in the traditional ways do not really exist in the future. Most family bonds are forged in battle. John was his family, his troops were his family… Derek was right when he said that Lieutenant General Devlin is a loner. Unlike John who has many friends in the future. There isn’t much information about him. The Devil and IntelliTech were the ghosts of Tech-Com. Many battles have been won because of IT information.”
“But you know him, right?”
“Yes, he and John reprogrammed me ,” Cameron displayed something of a smile.
Sarah mulled over her next question for Cameron: “In this timeline… Will I,” she paused. “Will I survive Judgment Day?”
“It’s not in my files,” Cameron answered. “Where I was sent from you died two years ago, but the future has changed. Why?”
Sarah glanced at the papers and threw a bunch of them aside furiously: “These fucking timelines mess with your head. By jumping over my death we’ve altered the future, entered an uncertain and unknown timeline. If we had stayed in our own time, at least we would have known the future.”
“And you would have died two years ago. John anticipated on your willingness to help him prevent Judgment Day and in return he could help you avoid your death.”
Sarah shook her head wearily: “And now this future John has sent back another one of his best warriors. Why? It doesn’t make sense.”
“The altered future,” Cameron offered.
Sarah rolled her eyes and shook her head again: “You sure you’re the most advanced model out there?”
“I don’t know. Maybe.”
“It was a rhetorical question. You don’t have to answer every question asked,” Sarah grumbled beneath her breath.
“Thank you for explaining.”
“Mom?” John stuck his head around the corner.
“John. Come in,” Sarah smiled warmly, happy with the distraction by her son.
“Can I talk to you? Alone?”
“Cameron,” Sarah said with the slightest of nods towards the door.
“I’ll leave,” Cameron nodded.
“So what do you want to talk about?” Sarah asked, looking up at her son.
“Devlin… We should’ve helped him, right? I mean, the guy is menacing but it was still a terminator he took on,” John mumbled.
“According to Cameron he’ll be fine,” Sarah brushed a few papers aside and patted on the empty spot.
“So you’ve grilled Cameron about him. I hope you had better luck than I had with Derek,” John obeyed his mother and sat down.
“I’m not too sure about that,” Sarah shrugged her shoulders. “It provided me more questions than answers.”
“Same here,” John smiled sadly. “It’s like Derek doesn’t want us to… I don’t know.”
“Have him join the team of people who want to stop Skynet?”
“I guess,” John gulped.
“He’s in there, John,” Sarah pointed at the papers. “I’ve seen his name.”
“That doesn’t make sense. Why would he be in there? No matter how hard Derek tries to hide it from his voice he does respect the man.”
“But not the boy,” Sarah suggested.
“So you think it’s personal?”
“I think so, yes. The boy won’t stand a chance against Derek. Andy never saw it coming and neither will this kid.”
“But why?”
“I don’t know, John. It’s probably safe to say that he has nothing to do with the development of Skynet so it’s something else, something personal.”
“Didn’t Cameron say that ITBase had been betrayed? And that Devlin lost all that had been important to him?” “You don’t think it was Derek, do you?”
“I don’t know, mom. When I talked to him a while ago after I saw that tape he said something, something I would never have thought again if the fall of IntelliTech hadn’t been mentioned. It was something about what can happen between 4 walls and how it screws with your head, that it makes you do things you thought you’d never do.”
“Still he is your uncle and even if he still is a stranger, we should give him the benefit of the doubt. We hardly know anything about this Devlin. He could be the traitor or someone we don’t know about.”
“If you say so,” John mumbled.
“Something else on your mind, John?” Sarah asked when she noticed her son was stalling.
“You never answered my question.”
“What question?”
“If it will never end?”
“I was already afraid you’d get back at this… I don’t know what to answer, John. A part of me wants to lie and tell you it will end but the truth is as long as Skynet will be created it will not end. It will keep sending back terminators and you will have to keep sending back protectors,” Sarah sighed, sending her son a sad smile.
“But why did I send one of my highest ranking men here?”
“I don’t know, John, and I don’t want you worrying about that either. Fact is that you’ve sent him here for a reason and we’re destined to run into him again.”
“I wonder when,” John grumbled.

The room was brightly lit. People were sitting at desks, typing rapidly, giving information and coordinates to people on the outside, on the battlefields. Two identical infiltration units stood like wax statues in a far corner of the room, shut down, waiting to be reprogrammed. This was home. This was IntelliTech Base.
A door swung open and with a firm but light step Tyler entered the room, followed close by two privates. They took off their helmets, their faces smudged by dust and soot.
“Hanssen, status report on the aerial Hunter-Killers! We’ve been seeing too many of those flying mother fuckers near our base.”
“Due south-east, sir,” Private Hannsen replied without looking up from the radar.
“Marks, any significant increase of Skynet activity near Home Plate? Connor’s been bitching about it!”
“No more than usual, sir,” Sergeant Marks answered.
“Lamont, reprogramming update?” Tyler barked.
“Welcome back, sir,” Private Lamont looked up from the monitor. “A little more tweaking and the first one is ready, sir.”
“Lieutenant Ryan, general report?”
“All recon units are home for the coming day, sir,” First Lieutenant Ryan looked at the charts she was holding. “A3 reported repairs at the ground assault unit factory near Huntington Park. A4 confirmed that Tech-Com squad 11C2 took out 4 aerial and 2 ground units at the crossing of Rio Vista and Olympic. A1, A2 and A5 reported an increase of heavy combat chassis units near Thayer and Santa Monica.”
“Century,” Tyler said through gritted teeth, looking at his right forearm, at the barcode burned in by laser scan. “I wonder why. Any reports from the R’s near Jolon Base?”
“No, sir. We’ve been trying to establish contact with them but no response. Not for the past 3 days.”
Tyler tapped his index fingers on his desk as he looked at the big screen. All reports of that night were marked on the map. His brow furrowed as he lifted out one report after another, analysing the data quickly.
“Lieutenant Ryan, put up the last input from Jolon Base along with the last R-reports?”
“Something wrong, sir?” First Lieutenant Ryan asked as she searched for the requested files.
“Jolon’s lost. R-recons are either dead or caught. Skynet will have ambushed them, assuming they were extraction teams,” Tyler rubbed his eyebrows with his right thumb and middle finger. “The increase of hccu’s near Century, it all adds up,” he looked at the screen again. “The prisoners are being brought to Century.”
“What do you want to do, sir?”
“Get General Connor on the line. Skynet will ambush any extraction team that will try to liberate the prisoners during transport.”
The screen flickered and John Connor appeared onscreen: “Good morning, Lieutenant General Devlin,” John said without a hint of emotion.
“Good morning, sir,” Tyler greeted back.
“The latest?”
“I need an assault team deployed to Jolon, sir. We’ll need the footage of the security system.”
“Why?”
“The base has been attacked, sir.”
“Are you sure? Has it been confirmed by your men, Lieutenant General?”
“You know we’ve been trying to re-establish contact with the R-recons, sir. Still not a word. But there is an sudden increase of activity near Century, sir,” Tyler said monotonically.
“Fresh meat and bones,” John stated sarcastically. “Risk calculation for rescue, Lieutenant General?”
“Unfavorable at present time, sir. Too many hccu’s in the area, sir.”
“Jolon… sending an assault team there, will they run into trouble?”
“I don’t think so, sir. Whatever Skynet sent there, it’s completed its mission and has moved on.”
“Contact Salinas and order them to deploy an assault team to Jolon Base. Good work, Tyler… John Connor, over and out.”
The screen flickered black and returned to the map with all the status reports.
“Get Major Valdez on the line.”
Another flicker and a few seconds later Major Valdez showed up on the big screen: “A good morning to you, Lieutenant General Devlin,” she greeted him warmly.
“Good morning, Major,” Tyler said slowly.
“What can I do for you, sir?” She asked when it became obvious it wasn’t a social call.
“I need an assault team to check out Jolon Base.”
“Can I ask why?”
“Reports indicate it might have been under attack a few days ago. I need a team to verify and retrieve the footage of the security system,” Tyler explained in a monotone voice.
Major Valdez nodded: “Team selection?”
“Preferably rookies. I don’t think Skynet still has its minions there but I don’t want to sacrifice good men in case I’m wrong.”
“I’ll get back to you as soon as the assault team has returned. Valdez, over and out.”
The screen went black again for the shortest of moments before returning to the maps and reports. Tyler pulled up a chair and sat down, looking intently at the screen. As leader of IntelliTech he couldn’t afford to miss anything so he went over the reports again, compiling tactical analyses in his mind, ever wondering if he didn’t overlook something.
“Sir?” First Lieutenant Ryan asked softly. “She wants to see you, sir.”
Tyler rubbed the bridge of his nose, his eyes gliding over the screen at a dazzling speed: “I can’t leave, Lieutenant. Skynet’s up to something and I need to figure out what it is as soon as possible,” he paused. “Just tell her… Tell her that I didn’t get killed or wounded today.”

It was the crack of dawn and daylight was seeping slowly into the practically abandoned factory.
Tyler shook his head to rid his thoughts of the sleep induced mist. He hadn’t slept much, the smallest hint of noise waking him, conditioned by years of war. In a way he missed the battlefields, the consistency of war noises around him.
A slow smile crept across his face as he looked at the windows in the roof. A clear blue sky, the promise of another sweltering hot day. His stomach rumbled, reminding him he hadn’t eaten in a few days. It was nothing new to him but there was an overabundance of food in this time, waiting to be eaten by him.
Now dressed in a navy peacoat, a stained white shirt and worn black track pants he looked like a hobo. Last night on his way to his hideout he had been in luck when he had come across the dead-drunk homeless man. He had taken a late night walk, the cover of the dark night having a soothing effect on him after the erratic events of that afternoon.
He chuckled amused when he thought of how John would have loved to rib him about ending up in the gutter this fast. It was just appearance, an adjustment to his environment so he would blend in, stay off the radar.
Still it wasn’t an outfit he particularly enjoyed, especially not after the executive suit he had stolen on the night of his arrival in this time. As soon as he would have found himself some money he would buy himself some proper clothes.
He patted his clothes down in search of some change so he could at least buy himself something to eat. No luck.

“John!” Sarah called from the kitchen. “It’s already half past 8!”
“I’m up, mom,” John mumbled sleepily as he trudged into the kitchen. “It’s summer holiday.”
“Your point?” Sarah handed him his plate with pancakes.
“I want to sleep in, hang around the house and do nothing,” John complained, sitting down at the small kitchen table.
“Good morning,” Cameron said from across the table.
“Urgh, don’t you ever get tired of being so goddamn perky,” John grumbled annoyed before he took his first bite.
“I never sleep,” Cameron stated the obvious.
“Whatever,” John scratched his head and took another bite.
“Wrong side of the bed, John?” Sarah shook her head, her eyes twinkling with amusement.
“Getting up at the crack of dawn doesn’t exactly do wonders to my mood, mom.”
A crooked smile spread across Sarah’s face and she tilted her head a little, the telltale sign she was thinking of something witty to say.
“What?” John sighed when the remark didn’t come.
“Nothing. Morning, Derek,” Sarah said as Derek passed her by.
“Morning,” Derek mumbled, grabbing a plate and sitting down demonstratively at the breakfast table.
“Apparently you’ve inherited your bad morning moods from your father’s side of the family,” Sarah quipped when she caught the dark looks on the men’s faces.
Derek glared: “You fight at night, you-” He began in his own defence.
“Rest during the day,” Sarah finished his sentence. “I know… Kyle told me.”
A deep sadness washed over her. Though it had already been many years since Kyle had so heroically and nobly sacrificed himself to save her he was still a vivid and fond memory, at least for the time they hadn’t been on the run from the machine.
Remembering the smile on his face when she had fake tossed him the bag with the pipe bombs still lifted her spirits. She had felt something for him she had not felt before and had never felt again after he had died, not even with Charley.
Sweet, dependable Charley whom she had loved and still loved but who she could never love to the degree she had loved Kyle Reese. She knew that Charley still cherished hope for a future together, that he would leave his wife in a heartbeat if she were to ask him but to her it was a closed chapter of her life.

“What’s up with your mom?” Derek nudged his nephew in the ribs.
John looked at his mother and saw a most familiar sight, a sad and distant look in misted over eyes: “She misses my dad,” he answered simply.
“She does?” Derek smirked.
“I don’t think a day has gone by that she hasn’t thought about him,” John grumbled, trying to prick the last piece of pancake to his fork but it kept falling off. “Charley came closest to making her forget about dad for a while.”
“Did he now?”
“But not very successful. As soon as he’d left for work, she’d change back to the brooding woman I know as my mom.”
“Did she… I mean,” Derek began, unsure about how to broach the subject.
“She shacked up with any man who could teach me something useful, mostly about weaponry and warfare, at least if that’s what you wanted to ask,” John said before swallowing the last bite of his breakfast.
“How did you know I wanted to ask about that?” Derek asked utterly confused.
“A gut feeling.” John sighed while reaching for his glass of orange juice.
“And no one ever came close to my little brother?” Derek now asked amused.
“Neh,” John shook his head. “I doubt someone ever will. Sometimes I think she stayed with Charley for those 6 months because she wanted a father figure for me. After Uncle Bob it became obvious to her that I missed a man’s influence on my life and she tried to settle down. Charley’s a good guy but in the end I think she would’ve destroyed him.”
“She would kill him?” Cameron chimed in.
“Figuratively speaking yes,” John answered, annoyed with her eavesdropping. “She needs a man who is willing to fight her. Charley would never have done that.”
“Fight her?” Cameron asked. “You mean?”
“Yes, fight her,” John echoed.
“So Derek?”
“Hey, she’s definitely not my type,” Derek protested before taking a big gulp of his coffee. “More my brother’s.”
Sarah Connor was exactly his little brother’s type: a feisty, determined, no nonsense woman with her heart in the right place and a purity of soul that offered hope for the future.
“And Devlin?” Cameron continued her inquiry.
Derek glared at her, wiping the coffee from his chin after a spit-take: “You would know more about it than I do,” he rumbled, rising to his feet, leaving the breakfast table.

Chapter 1: Old Friends

Chapter 3: Apples Never Fall Far From The Tree