Dark Futures

husband and worried about him.

'There's still a chance that they could build Skynet and that it could start a nuclear war,' Sarah said.

'She could be right you know,' Willard said. 'We don't know what they're hiding.'

Raoul looked at him shrewdly. 'That may not be such a bad thing, you know. The Big One's coming, one way or another.' That was his way of referring to World War Three: The Big One. 'Anyhow, people, we'll be okay here, whatever happens.'

Sarah said, 'Be careful what you wish for, Raoul.'

'I'm not wishing for anything, Sarah, just facing facts. The Russians have been trying to convince America to disarm by pretending to be your friends-all that stuff about dismantling the U.S.S.R. The end of the evil empire ... What a joke! It's a confidence trick-you mark my words. I just hope your leaders see through it. If the U.S. disarms, it's goodbye. If they can maneuver that situation, do you think the Russians will hesitate to use their warheads? That's a joke, too. Ha ha, tell me another one.'

'Let's not get into all that.'

'No? Well, I realize the U.S. government is hiding all sorts of things.' He nodded to Willard. 'But I don't think people should interfere. Your government's only doing it because they know there's a war coming. Whatever you've found out just be careful how you react. You might not have the whole story-it might not be the way it looks to you.'

'We'll be ready,' Willard said. 'When the war comes.

We'll be ready.'

In fact, the place was stocked with weapons and enough food to last for years, even leaving aside the cattle herd. Raoul had an underground bunker, his own electricity supply, ponds and small lake on his property, and a huge cistern out back of the casco. It really wasn't too bad a place to hole up for 'The Big One.' John only prayed they'd never need to test it out.

Sarah laughed. 'If that's the way you feel, maybe you should turn us over to the cops.'

'Now, I didn't say that, either. But you just be careful, Sarah. That's all.'

'Whatever you think, Raoul, this particular technology must not be used. It's too dangerous. If there's any chance it might still be built, I've got to stop it, however I can.'

'Only you and God can judge that. I'm not standing in your way. Just think about what you're doing, that's all. I'll say no more on the subject. Consider it closed.'

After that, the conversation got more sensible. Once you got Raoul off his favorite conspiracy theories, he was okay about stuff.

While Raoul talked with Sarah and Willard, one of the Tejada kids, Carlo, came in. He was about the same age as John, though a couple of inches taller. Perhaps he'd end up as tall as his dad.

'How you doin', Carlo?' John said.

'Hi, John,' Carlo said, a bit shyly.

'You must all be starved,' Gabriela said. 'I'll make some sandwiches.'

Sarah didn't mention Skynet again, or Judgment Day. As she spoke with Raoul, John could see her making other plans. She wanted to sort out home learning for John, she knew that the Internet could become really big in the next few years—at least that was what John kept telling her—so she tried to talk Raoul into getting a connection. For the moment, he showed no interest at all, but John figured he'd come round. His mom was good at getting her way. She had ideas about work she could do on the estancia, her and John. She was back to plotting and planning. Of course, she hadn't forgotten about Skynet. John knew that They still had to do whatever was needed.

All the same, this was a pretty good place to be, for the moment, somewhere to hide out incognito. There were a few kids John's age. They were among friends. He figured he could stand it here.

ARGENTINA

1994-97

The messages from the future had said that Cyberdyne would announce its radical new hardware in August 1994. John and Sarah tracked down every scrap of business and IT news they could find. Nothing. Cyberdyne was still in business, but it made no big announcements. There was no news about any new hardware.

When they persuaded Raoul to get Internet access, it became that much easier to keep on the case. Sarah bought John his own computer and paid Raoul for a line, so John could work alone in his room, not in Raoul's study.

The days went by in school lessons, training, work on the estancia. Raoul found plenty of use for John's computer skills and his knowledge of engines. Late into the night, John sat at the keyboard, keeping his skills sharp, and finding out everything he could about Cyberdyne and its activities. He made sure he left no digital foot-prints-he'd gotten good at that quickly. Early on, he made contact with Tarissa Dyson. She was polite, but didn't want to get involved. The events of May 1994 had left her wounded. She wished John well, and sent her regards to Sarah, but that was all.

Occasionally, John e-mailed Franco Salceda. Once or twice, Franco wrote back. Basically, he was on his own.

John soon knew more about Cyberdyne than most of its employees. He understood its accounts, its business structure, its products, everything public about its research. When it moved its research arm to Colorado, he started to worry and ran from his room to tell Sarah about it. The new site was close to NORAD and a whole lot of other military stuff. Something was going on. She cursed quietly and her jaw got that determined look. Maybe Judgment Day was coming after all. All right, they'd have to deal with that.

It was late at night, but they went to Raoul's aerobics room at the back of the bungalows. There were gym mats on the floor, and a basic set of free weights in one corner. They trained hard, doing their bodybuilding and martial arts routines until the sweat poured off them and they stood, gasping, with their hands on their knees. Sarah's leg had never gotten completely better, but she still moved well.

But nothing else happened-no breakthroughs, no Cyberdyne chips getting put into aircraft, no government funding to build Skynet, or anything like it.

Late one night, in 1997, Sarah walked in while John was typing, searching, still trying to make sense of things. What was the government up to? What was Cyberdyne doing there in Colorado?

'John,' Sarah said, 'you've been getting bags under your eyes. Why don't you wind down for the night?'

He'd been checking the sites for military research tenders. Some of them sounded even weirder than the theories spouted by Willard and the Tejadas. The military wanted to test out all kinds of stuff. But nothing there looked quite like Skynet. He wondered whether it would ever show up like this. Willard and the others had theories about how the military worked, but John knew better than to take them too seriously. It was like a lot of other stuff around here. You took it for what it was worth, and no more. To a large extent, he had to teach himself.

'Okay, Mom,' he said. 'Just a minute.' He didn't want to lose his train of thought so he kept typing and clicking the mouse while he talked. 'I just want to finish this.'

'If you stay up any later, you won't sleep. You know you need time to calm down before bed.'

'Okay, okay. I said I won't be long.' An interesting description of research for high-powered lasers caught his attention. He tried to make sense of the tender specifications, frowning as he peered at the screen.

'John!' Sarah said.

That startled him. 'Hey?' He spun round on his swivel chair. 'What?'

'Pay attention when I'm speaking to you.' She wore a nightgown and her hair was combed out straight over her shoulders. She looked really intense-angry and worried at the same time. He didn't know what to say.

His mom had always been so cool, even when something was bothering her. Lately, though, she seemed upset all the time. She was often angry with him, especially when he was working at night. Didn't she understand how important it was? This was his real work. Sometimes he just needed to focus.

'John, you're a twelve-year-old boy,' she said. 'Don't you think it's strange that you spend your nights like this? You're acting like a work-obsessed yuppie. I'm starting to feel like a mother with an absent son.' She took out a cigarette and lit it up, something she did only when she was stressed. Funny, she was so incredibly fit. Her martial arts skills were at least as good as his, and she was as strong as steel springs. But she still smoked, even though it was bad for her. It was like she needed it to express herself.

'But we have to keep checking,' he said. 'Someone's got to do it.'

'Yeah.' She looked at him carefully, finally giving the tiniest smile of appreciation, as she held the cigarette