Chu frowned. "Doesn't sound quite right," he said. "But it doesn't seem altogether unreasonable, either."
"Which is why so many have gone along with it," Sarah said agreeably. "In many of these camps, the inmates have been deliberately infected with diseases such as cholera, or they're being forced to work under dangerous conditions with inadequate food and shelter. Men and women in that uniform are doing these things."
He tilted his head toward her. "Men and women in this uniform as distinguished from… ?"
"As distinguished from those who are actually in the military." Sarah leaned forward. "No doubt you've heard of Luddites?" He looked troubled, but nodded. "Apparently some of them have been preparing for these times with an eye toward reducing the human population of this planet. They're dedicated, well organized, and well supplied. God knows how many deaths they're responsible for so far, or how many they'll be responsible for before they're killed themselves."
"By us?" Chu asked. "Because, you know, I'm not going to send my people out to fight without proof of what you're saying."
Sarah looked at him for a long time before she spoke. "Once again it's Skynet I'm talking about. It's an amazing computer,"
she said. "There's never been anything like it before, and I hope to my soul there never will be again. The damn thing has become sentient, and it's decided that we are a danger to it and therefore must be eliminated."
"Proof, Ms. Connor," Chu said.
"Surely you heard about all those cars and trucks running amok?" she asked.
"Of course. But…"
Sarah sighed deeply. "Skynet was originally created by Cyber-dyne Corporation. Cyberdyne created the first completely auto-mated factory. Then, somehow, the plans for those factories became public knowledge and they proliferated all over the planet like some kind of fungus. And in each and every factory Skynet had a root. It hid programming in every car, truck, and tractor produced over the last two years. As the time approached for the government to give it control of all military operations, it began to experiment, sending orders to its various components, taking control from their drivers and causing thousands of accidents. I researched this; I can give you a disk on it." She watched him absorb what she'd said.
"Incidentally, it can imitate voices perfectly. Kurt Viemeister programmed it. You may not recognize the name, but he was a master of programming; he extrapolated from voice recognition to voice imitation, right down to characteristic phrasing. Wrote several illegal articles on the subject. I know they're illegal because I know he signed a secrecy contract with the government regarding his work. So if you've been getting messages from well-known people—the president, some admiral, whatever—that was Skynet."
Chu nodded slowly, thinking about the strange way Admiral Read had been talking the last time they spoke, on the day the bombs came down. His eyes flashed to her. "Yet this is still not proof."
"No," she said sadly. "The proof is that I'm not asking you to do anything illegal or against the interests of the United States.
I'm asking you to place yourself, your crew, and your ship at the disposal of what we're calling the resistance."
"Who exactly are you resisting?" Chu asked.
"Skynet, the Luddites, and all too soon, whatever machinery Skynet will be producing in its automated factories."
The captain studied her. She seemed quite sane, clear-eyed and intelligent. And given what he and his men had been through during the past weeks, her story held together amazingly well. Be honest, he thought, at least with yourself. Her story holds together better than anything you've thought of yourself.
"I need to think about this, ma'am," he said aloud.
"God, I would hope so," Sarah said. "While you're thinking about it, may I suggest you turn this baby around and head for Alaska. You'll find a friendly port there; they were hardly touched by the bombs."
"And?"
"And I would very much like to travel there with you."
Chu tipped his head. "And?"
She smiled at him. "And at the moment it's the headquarters for the resistance."
"If we were to accept this proposal of yours," he said, "I assume I would be under your command."
"You'd be under John Connor's command, my son. He's the only alternative to Skynet."
"But for now we'd be under the commander in chief's mom's command, right?"
"Mmm, right."
"Just so I know where I stand, ma'am."
ALASKA
John moved his pointer over a topographical map as he outlined the plan of attack. Forty grim-faced men and women watched him, some taking notes; one woman looked both surprised and amused.
He wasn't used to talking to large groups of people yet and still found his heart pounding whenever he faced an audience. It wasn't made easier by having his newly inducted girlfriend find the whole thing amusing.
Cut her some slack, he told himself. She might just be nervous.
Sometimes he found himself almost convulsed with inappropriate laughter when he was nervous. And the kind of attention these people gave him, the sheer focus they put into listening to his every word, was extremely nerve-racking.
Especially for someone raised to avoid the limelight. Sometimes he felt naked up here.
Ninel wrinkled her nose at him, and with an effort of will he ignored her. It was too soon to include her on this mission, he knew. But he wanted to convince her to spy on her Luddite friends for him and he didn't think she'd do that without some evidence that it was necessary.
Or at the very least that my organization has a reason to exist and that I'm not a fascist asshole.
John ceded the floor to the leader of the scouting party.
"Trucks arrived and departed at four-hour intervals night and day," he said. "We have no way of knowing what was delivered or if the trucks left full or empty, as they were tied down all around or were actual eighteen-wheelers."
There was a stir at that; the big transport trucks had been gone from the roads since Judgment Day.
"We saw no humans in the vicinity. Nor did we find any sign of automated defenses, though we did find security cameras and microphones. Most were quite obvious. There were several tiers of laser traps around the immediate facility. Other than that, the area seemed clear."
John had worried about that. It could be arrogance, on Skynet's part, ignorance, or a trap. And yet, trap or not, it had to be dealt with. He stood up as the scout finished. "Get some rest,"
he ordered. "We move out at 0200." He nodded to them and left the dais, heading for Ninel. She rose, smiling, and came to him.
"You almost made me break up, you little skunk," he murmured.
"I can't help it," she said with a little shrug. "Extreme seriousness in other people has always given me the giggles."
He smiled and shook his head. "You stay with me tomorrow."
"I wondered what I was supposed to do," Ninel said.
"Everyone else seemed to know exactly where they were supposed to be and what to do, but no one said anything to me. I was starting to think I was going to be left behind."
He started walking toward his office. "The truth is you're not ready for a mission like this," he told her, smiling at her expression of surprise. "Not least because your attitude seems to be that we're all off our collective rockers. I need to show you that this is real," he explained, stopping to look down at her.
"This is a real enemy we're fighting, one that wants us all dead."
Ninel tightened her lips and looked down. "I just…"
"I know," he said, smiling. "I needed proof myself once." He became solemn again. "Tomorrow you'll have yours."