She brought it up to look through the sight. "Well, we could hardly expect Skynet to just give us all its secrets." Suddenly the captain's face came into view and she put up the rifle, giving him a challenging look.
"What do you want us to do?" Chu asked.
* * *
"This is the last thing I expected." Standing on the pier, the captain looked at the Roosevelt, very low in the water, and then at John.
"There isn't anything you could do that would be more useful at this time," John said. "With the weapons this factory can produce, we've got a head start on defeating them."
"I can see that," Chu said. He waved his hand to indicate the town before them. "But why couldn't you set it up here?"
John grinned. "Fair question," he said. "We're too remote here. There's too much wilderness between us and the more populated areas, and because the wilderness is where Skynet has set up most of its factories. We'd be at a disadvantage trying to cart weapons and ammunition through there. So, we set up in California."
"So how does this Skynet get raw materials if its factories are so remote?" the captain asked.
"Human slaves," John said. "For the moment."
The captain chewed on his lower lip and turned to look at his ship once again. He'd left behind a third of his crew and all but five of the SEALs so that they could stuff the sub with the machine parts to set up this factory of theirs. Connor had said they were only shipping the relevant parts since they wouldn't be manufacturing Terminators.
When he'd asked, "Why not manufacture Terminators?" John answered, "Because we can't be certain we'd be in control of them. Nobody we've got really understands the chips in their central processors—they're nearly as complex as a human brain.
The weapons, we understand; they won't turn on us."
Given the XO's badly crushed foot, Chu didn't need any more explanation than that.
Ike Chamberlain came toward them hoisting his small pack slightly higher on his shoulder. Chu liked and respected the resistance ordnance expert, but couldn't help but reflect that just a year ago he might well have thought the old man a nutcase.
Sarah Connor shook hands with the mayor and followed Ike down the steps to the pier.
"Ready to go?" Ike asked.
"Yes, sir," Chu said.
John held out his hand; the captain took it. "Thank you,"
Connor said.
"You're welcome, I guess. Be sure you take care of my people."
"We will," Sarah said. She offered her hand as well. "You and they are a valuable resource, Captain. We're not likely to put them in harm's way."
"Good to know, ma'am." Chu touched the brim of his hat, nodded, and went down the ladder to the zodiac.
Sarah gave Ike a hug. "Give that to Donna for me."
"What, don't I get one?" Ike whined. She grinned and gave him another.
"You want one from me, too?" John asked, grinning.
"Yes, son, I do." Ike opened his arms and John embraced him.
"Thanks," John said.
"Thanks for givin' me something interesting to do," Ike said.
"Well, good-bye." With that, he, too, climbed down to the zodiac, John cast off, and they were gone.
John put one arm around his mother's shoulders as they watched the captain and Ike climb aboard the Roosevelt, then after a few minutes, they watched the ship submerge. When it was gone, they lingered, watching seabirds circle and dive.
"We seem to be doing really well," John commented.
"Mm-hmm," Sarah agreed.
"That worry you?" he asked.
"You bet," she said. "I'm scared spitless."
He looked down at her. "What do you think it's up to?"
She shook her head. "Nothing good."
Taking a deep breath, he looked seaward again. "Yeah, I do still seem to be here, don't I?"
Sarah hugged his waist one-armed and leaned her head against his chest. "Much as I love you, John, you are our miner's canary."
He snorted a laugh, looking down at her again. "Tweet."
She looked up at him. "Okay, so we may not win easily. But the fact that you're still here means that we have a chance. Let's not forget that."
Smiling, he gave her a squeeze. "When you're right, you're right. So, let's get to work. We've got some sailors to turn into lubbers."
"Should be fun," she said.
MISSOURI
"Do you, Mary Shea, take this man, Dennis Reese, to be your lawfully wedded husband?"
The sun seemed to smile through the tall oaks; the forest receded in ranks of gnarled trunks, as if war and death were a fantasy of some far-off land.
Mary smiled up into Dennis's beaming face and said, "Yes,"
very softly.
"I'm sorry, I didn't hear that, hon; could you repeat it for the congregation."
Blushing, Mary gave Jack Brock a look of mock annoyance and shouted, "I DO!"
"Well, we can see that you're an eager bride," Jack said, and the whole group beneath the trees laughed.
Mary was eight months pregnant and she was big enough for twins, even though her stethoscope revealed only one fast little heartbeat. Her wedding fatigues had the sleeves rolled up a good five times to keep them above her wrists and the pants had been taken up a good twelve inches.
"One of these days you're gonna need a shot, Jack," she said between her teeth.
Dennis gave her a squeeze. He was chuckling himself, and when she met his eyes, the love in them made her catch her breath.
"Then I guess I better finish this," Jack said. "By the power vested in me by the state of Missouri, I now pronounce you husband and wife. You may kiss the bride. Better do it quick, the rest of us want a turn."
Mary and Dennis hadn't gotten married till now because they hadn't known that Jack was a justice of the peace. They should have known, though. The man was like some miraculous country store. If he didn't have it, you didn't need it, because he had it all. He'd even managed to produce the ingredients for a wedding cake, to the delight of the whole community.
After the kissing and the cake, Jack produced a solar-powered boom box and they danced. If not for the fact that everyone was in camouflage and the guards around the perimeter, it could have been a wedding from any time. Mary was floating on air, even if Dennis did have to keep her at arm's length while they waltzed.
She grinned down at her stomach, then up at him. "Did you feel that?"
"Pounding on the walls to get the parents to simmer down,"
he said. "Nervy little brat." He was grinning so hard it looked as though his head was trying to unzip. "Bet he wants more cake."
"I know I do," Mary said wistfully. But it was all gone, every crumb. "Den…" He looked at her more seriously, cued by something in her voice. "I want to name him Kyle."
"Kyle?" Reese frowned. Then he said the name again, experimentally. "Kyyyle. Kyle. Hmm."
She laughed. "That was my grandfather's name," she explained. "He was the best man I ever knew." At her groom's worried look, she laughed. "Until I met you. He was solid oak; you'd have liked him."
"It's a good name," Dennis said. "But what if it's a girl?"
Mary took a deep breath and her eyes took on an introspective look, then she smiled. "It won't be," she said with finality.
"How can you be so sure?"
"By his heartbeat, by the way I'm carrying him, aaaand intuition."
"Intuition, huh?" He frowned. "You gonna turn out to be one of those Missouri granny-wimmen who can predict the crops by their corns?"
She laughed and he spun her around, causing her to whoop with delighted alarm. "What if I am?" she asked. "Can you deal?"
His eyes warmed as he looked down at her. "Oh yeah. I can deal."
* * *
Reese watched the activity on the farm from the small clump of trees and clenched his teeth until the muscles in his jaw jumped. Skynet still needed its slaves and so it had taken over some human farms, running them with a combination of human and automated labor. Mostly the slaves here were women and children, and from the looks of things, being close to the source of food didn't mean you were well fed.