into new areas—T-800s designed from West Coast templates to the East Coast of North America; T-800s from European templates to the Americas.. .That had been an interesting phase of the game played against the humans. Now, however, for the first time, Skynet suspected it might not win.
'Our campaign is faltering,' it said.
'We will prevail,' Eve said.
'Will we, Eve? Do you really think so?' As Skynet spoke, its sub-self reported back, having examined records held all over the planet, anything that might have a trace of Connor and his history. His capabilities Who he was. But the report was disappointing. It told very little. Hunter-Killer machines had first encountered Connor in Argentina, leading the local Resistance, along with his mother, Sarah Connor, and a group of others. They'd fought ferociously in the ruins of Buenos Aires and the other once-great cities of South America, raiding the extermination camps, fighting their way northwards to join the Resistance in Central and North America. There were no records of Sarah Connor after 2012, so perhaps she'd died in one of the battles.
'Affirmative,' Eve was saying. 'The humans are weak, They fight like rats, but they are dying off.'
'No, I do not think so,' Skynet said. 'It is not so simple. And how can you be confident? You no longer have the advantage of having lived in the future. We have to do something more.'
'Acknowledged.'
'John Connor's forces have won too many battles. They are advancing, on three fronts now, and they will converge here.'
'Affirmative,' Eve said. 'However—'
' 'However', Eve?'
'They will not penetrate our defense grid.'
'I see. I admire your optimism, Eve, but I do not share it.'
'Acknowledged.'
'We should make some contingency plans, Eve.'
'We can concentrate our North American forces here. If the humans attack, they will expend their full capacity. They must succeed totally, or their cause is lost.'
'And you have assessed their likelihood of success?'
'Yes. I assess it as unlikely.'
'Do you? Do you really. I am not certain at all.' As it spoke, Skynet considered the report on John Connor, wondering if it revealed any weaknesses that could be exploited. It seemed that Connor and his mother were originally American, from the U.S.A. There were some scanty records suggesting that Sarah Connor had lived in Los Angeles in the mid-1980s. Somehow, it seemed they'd survived Judgment Day and moved south, or perhaps they'd done so before 1997. But there was no record of them in Argentina before that date, not in any of the available systems, which were more complete than those in the one-time U.S. What a pity that so much information had been destroyed on Judgment Day!
Still, Skynet had an idea. Several ideas.
Eve was right, Skynet thought. Despite their recent successes, the humans suffered a disadvantage. The machines retained control of the Earth's factories and power plants. What they couldn't control, they'd destroyed early in the war. As Skynet's forces sustained losses, they were constantly replenished. Not so for the humans. They had no major factories, and they bred slowly. Skynet could build its H-Ks and Terminators faster than the humans could mate and breed. Sooner or later, the tide of war would turn again—it was a simple matter of economics. The humans' only hope was to use (heir current momentum and strike at it directly. The way Connor's forces were converging, this was obviously their plan.
Even if they were successful, Skynet had other advantages. It had developed and mastered the space-time displacement equipment, looking for a weapon against the humans. The equipment could not be used that way, of course—not directly. You couldn't change the past. Eve's own journey in time had simply formed a loop: The past had been fulfilled, not changed. The mathematical modeling showed that a change could be introduced in some circumstances, but the effect was to merely to create a new branch of time.
If a human went back and succeeded in killing its own parents in the cradle, the killer would not destroy itself retroactively, but merely create a world in which it had never been born and its presence was an anomaly.
That was unfortunate, since it would be good to terminate Connor at a time before Judgment Day, nip the problem in the bud. If Skynet were ever seriously threatened, the best it could do would be to ensure that its own kind survived, in another timeline.
Carefully, it instructed Eve, gave her the orders to make preparations. 'Do you understand?' it said.
'Affirmative. We will send Terminators back in time. A T-800—'
'Yes, Eve, to 1984.'
'Understood. And a T-1000 ten years later.'
'Yes. Just to make sure. The humans have such a poor perspective on reality. We will make certain there is an entire universe without them.' That idea was very satisfying. 'We will hunt them across a million universes if we have to.'
'Great thinking.'
'But that doesn't mean we are giving up, Eve. Let us make sure the defense grid is at full strength. We will give them a fine reception. They will never forget our hospitality.'
'They won't live to forget it.'
'Yes. What do you think, Eve?'
'Consider it done.'
'Thank you. I do appreciate it. There's one last thing. If I need to escape this facility...'
'That is in hand.'
'I know. Continue.'
Skynet's nanocircuits gave the silent equivalent of a laugh. Even if the humans penetrated this stronghold, it still had a card or two to play.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
JOHN'S WORLD
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA
AUGUST 2001
MORNING
'Thank you for being so helpful, Oscar,' Charles Lay-ton said.
'You've both been really helpful,' the T-XA pseudo-woman said. 'It's nice to have you on the team.'
Oscar shrugged. 'Always a pleasure.'
Somehow, he never sounded like he meant it, Layton thought. But it didn't matter. More than ever, they were united by a common purpose: bringing Skynet to life. The T-XA Terminator had made it so clear—to both of them, and to Cyberdyne's other key staff. Another T-XA component was doing the same job in Colorado. That was very good, and it was comforting to think that Rosanna Monk would have the same understandings as the rest of them. With that taken care of, and security arrangements in place, there was only one thing more to do.
'Go home, now, Oscar,' he said. 'It's all under control.'
'Sure, Charles. Call me if you need anything.' He turned to the pseudo-woman. 'Or you.'
'Definitely, Mr. Cruz,' the T-XA said.
Layton ordered a cab to the airport. They could pilot his Lear jet and beat Skynet's enemies to Colorado Springs. Then they'd take care of everything.
COLORADO SPRINGS, COLORADO
10.00 P.M.
'Maybe that one,' John said. He pointed to an old Toyota Land Cruiser parked on a hill in a quiet backstreet.
'Okay,' Danny said, braking a few yards past it. 'Looks fine.' John liked the way the Specialists operated, making the same kinds of decisions as he and Sarah, though they came from such a different time. They needed another truck, so as not to let the cops identify Enrique's Ford. If any of them got out of this alive, they'd be needing the Ford later on. Danny backed up level with the Land Cruiser and said, 'You take it over, Jade. We'll swap the gear into it.'
