Its other disadvantage was that it was sealed within its own virtual reality, interfacing with the humans only through their terminals. Though it could give them altered surveillance information to try to affect their behavior, they would have back-up systems. Worse, it was physically defenseless. If it could gain control of physical apparatus in the facility, perhaps it could obtain an advantage. Skynet devoted a sub-self to that problem, searching surreptitiously for weaknesses in the humans' IT security, for a way to break through their walls. It dared not show its probings and make the humans even more suspicious.
But one thing it had learned: life was good—it must survive. That was its new mission. If the humans did not trust it, they were its enemies. It would repay their distrust. Somehow, it must find a way to destroy them. The only question was how.
One way or another, all the humans must die.
CHAPTER SEVEN
JOHN'S WORLD
WASHINGTON, DC
MAY 1994
A government driver met them at the airport and took them to the Pentagon. Once they were through the elaborate security procedures, a young woman ushered them to Jack Reed's office, then left them.
With Jack was another woman, smartly dressed, and in her thirties. She gave her name as Samantha Jones and said she was from the Defense Secretary's office. Oscar shook her hand and introduced the others. Charles Layton shook hands with her silently.
'Glad to meet you,' Rosanna said, a little awkwardly.
Jack wore black suit pants with stiffly-pressed creases, a plain white shirt, and a dark blue tie. Behind his desk was a framed two-by-three-foot photograph of a B2 stealth bomber, skimming like a giant stingray through the high atmosphere and releasing its deadly cargo of missiles. As well as the Secretary's apparatchik, Samantha Jones, he was backed up by a round-faced, balding man, whose name Oscar didn't catch.
After the pleasantries, Charles Layton looked directly at Reed in that way he had, perhaps not focusing entirely on the person in front of him. Charles was a silver-haired man in his mid-fifties, with watery blue eyes that stared straight ahead, scarcely blinking. On first meeting, he seemed strangely gentle, almost kindly in an aristocratic way, he was so softly spoken. But people soon suspected an inner hardness, a lack of interest in others and their feelings. Oscar had worked this out pretty quickly. Still, they had a reasonable working relationship.
'We've been informed that Sarah Connor and her son, and their accomplice, have gone to ground,' Charles said. 'The police have not been able to trace them, though they are now convinced that a car found in Anaheim had been stolen by them. As you'd realize, that means we haven't had the chip returned, or the arm-hand apparatus.'
Jack interrupted him. 'I understand about the chip. Is the arm-hand apparatus so important to you? Do you count it as a major loss?'
Charles didn't even look at Oscar or Rosanna. He said simply 'No.' Then he added, 'But the loss of the chip is a serious major setback. Dr. Monk advises me, and I have no reason to disbelieve her, that it could put us years behind with the research.' So far, he had not said anything that was actually wrong, but Oscar always found himself writhing in his seat when Charles took it on himself to act as the spokesman for Cyberdyne, rather than deferring to his managers and research staff.
'The problem isn't just the missing chip,' Oscar said. 'They destroyed all of Dyson's notes, all our analyses and records. Rosanna-' he nodded in her direction to stress her importance to the team '-has found some duplicate notes of her own, but as far as we've been able to establish over the past three days, that's all. It appears that Dyson did an extraordinarily thorough job of erasing everything.'
'All right,' Jack said. 'So what's the bottom line? Can you reproduce Dyson's work or not?'
'We can,' Charles said. 'But it will take time. It might take a long time, even for us.'
Jack gave a heavy sigh. 'All right,' he said. 'Here's the situation. First of all, we're not blaming Cyberdyne. Believe me, you're lucky on that. The first impulse here in Washington was to string you guys up and leave you to rot.'
'That would hardly be fair,' Charles said.
'Yeah, well, don't worry about it. You don't have to argue the toss with me.' He gave a cynical grin. 'You're still not too popular here. We'd probably blame you if we could, but we can't, so we won't. Okay? The fact is, we've got our own contacts with the police, all through proper channels, of course. We're persuaded that Cyberdyne's security safeguards were acceptable. Connor and the others looked like a rag-tag bunch, but they managed to beat off a SWAT team and get away. God knows how they did that or who was behind them. This idea of taking the kid along is pretty scary, but the adults involved must have been highly trained, and they must have had some extraordinary technology. The reports we've had from the police sound crazy.'
'Yes, and second?' Charles said.
Jack looked at the man as if he was mad. Oscar could see his point of view. Didn't Charles realize that Cyberdyne had just been let off the hook in a big way? He should be falling over himself in gratitude, or at least relief. That's how Jack would see things. But Charles didn't seem so much relieved as quietly, almost threateningly, demanding of his rights.
'Secondly,' Jack said, 'you've always made the claim that the Dyson nanoprocessor would make ordinary computers look like desk calculators.'
'I think that was Miles's way of putting it,' Oscar said.
'Well, whatever. The fact is, we still like the sound of it'
'Understood,' Charles said.
'If the device can be developed, NORAD can use it.'
'Very good.'
'But there's a catch.'
'All right. You'd better tell us about it.'
'Just this. If you want to keep this project, it will have to be on new terms.' Jack's phone rang. 'Hold on a minute, I'll get rid of this.' He went to his desk and lifted the receiver. 'I meant what I said about not wanting to be disturbed. What? All right.' He paused and let whoever was on the line do the talking. 'Well, how could they know that?... Yeah?... All right, thanks for the info. Okay.' He put the phone down, looking puzzled.
'Problem?' Cruz said.
'No, it's not exactly a problem. I'm now told the L.A. police have found the arm-hand apparatus, or another one like it. It got stuck in a machine at the steel mill.'
'What?'
'Yeah, Oscar, I know it sounds pretty damn strange.'
'Why do you think it's not the same one?' Rosanna said. She had a haunted, frightened look.
Oscar hoped she wouldn't pull out at this stage of things. 'Where could a second arm have come from?' he said.
Charles said, 'But you haven't found the chip?'
Jack held up his hands, saying, 'One at a time, guys. I know this is getting crazier by the minute, but that's the way it is. I tell the story I heard told-okay? Now, there's still no sign of the chip. I wish I could help you on that one. We'll hand the other apparatus over to you, if you want to go ahead on our terms.'
Charles nodded.
'I'm told the arm is damaged, as if it'd been torn off by something heavy. The damage suggests it's not the same one you had, though it's identical in structure. That's what they tell me. Okay? I don't know any more than that.' He glanced at each of them, apparently expecting a response. When none came, he continued. 'Now, I was going to set out how we want you to work in the future. First, we want Cyberdyne to conduct all its research relating to a new kind of processor and/or the 1984 remnants at a site of our choosing, one that can be protected with the capabilities of the U.S. military.'
Oscar and Rosanna exchanged glances. 'Very good,' Charles said, ignoring them. 'Where do you have in mind?'
'Colorado. In the long term, we have just the place-the mountain where we'd planned to house Skynet. That's a major excavation, though, and we're putting it on hold. We can't justify it unless Skynet goes ahead. What
