Tempest: Terminator 3 Written By Bernard S Gaidasz & Douglas J Lane Based On Characters And Situations Created By James Cameron & William Wisher (c)1999 Bernard Gaidasz & Douglas Lane Email: X_a_n_a_d_u@yahoo.com FADE IN: Black. FROM THE DARKNESS JOHN CONNOR (V.O.) In the history of things to come presented to me by my mother, Sarah Connor, the war against the machines was supposed to begin August 29, 1997. It didn' t. Instead, Judgment Day, as it became known, arrived five years later on November 9th... For a moment we see nothing. Then, a mechanical whir and a robotic arm swings into view. It pauses a moment, changing orientation, and whirs out of view. THERE'S A SNAP/CRACKLE OF ELECTRICAL DISCHARGE, a pause, and the arm swings through again. JOHN CONNOR (V.O.) (continuing) Twice Skynet had sent machines through time to destroy me and what I represented for the future. (beat) The first was thwarted at the cost of my father's life. The second, deadlier attack was stopped with the help of a reprogrammed terminator. Our perspective expands. We now can see the mechanical arm reaching to pick up something. It rises into view and we recognize it immediately. A neural net processor. The lego-block brain of the terminator, seen in the previous film. JOHN (V.O.) At the end of that second attack, the people and technology that had made Skynet possible had been eradicated. We thought we had won. (beat) We were wrong. The robotic arm lowers the neural net chip into the splayed-open flesh and steel chassis of a terminator. A second arm moves in. There is another ELECTRICAL DISCHARGE as the chip is attached. As the arms withdraw, we can see the circuit board in the chest. Visible on the board are twelve, count Œem, twelve, neural net processors hooked in series. This is no ordinary terminator. MULTIPLE ARMS begin closing, sealing and repairing the organic skin of the Terminator, a hive of automated activity. The physical work on the device is complete. On a nearby monitor, a bewildering series of characters and numbers flash past, then the words: DOWNLOAD COMMENCING. Little memory-dump graphs crawl toward 100 percent. TERMINATOR P.O.V. (TERMOVISION) As it powers into existence - the familiar grids and lettering. The words: DOWNLOAD COMPLETE. TRANSFER PROTOCOLS DISENGAGED, flash at the bottom of our view. PREVIOUS The terminator shudders and sits up. We see now it is a T-800, model 101, "Arnold-style" terminator. It examines its hand - flexes it, then clenches it tightly. Then, most surprisingly, IT SMILES, a cold, malevolent smile lacking any trace of human compassion. We are struck again that this is no ordinary terminator. Methodically, it begins to remove the monitor wires and clips. It takes a small plasma torch and makes an incision in its left hand, exposing a space among the gears. It then holds its hand out to a containment field with a few gallons of what appears to be quicksilver - the same material the T-1000 prototype was made of. A small quantity of the silver material flows into the opening, beneath the terminator skin. EXT. NIGHT - A BATTLEFIELD A title card reads: LOS ANGELES - 2029 A.D. Aerial H-K's swing low through the skies. Beams of plasma energy crisscross the field of view. A rocket rises out of the ashes and strikes one of the flying machines amidships. A FEARSOME EXPLOSION, and the killer plunges to earth. Two other machines swing in and pulverize the source of the rocket. EXT. LAST ARMY HQ A tight knot of soldiers stand in an uneven ring around one man. In his mid-forties, he wears the simple camouflage of his soldiers. Although he wears no obvious badge of rank, this man exudes authority. A name is stitched to the front of his uniform: CONNOR. JOHN CONNOR. He watches the battle through binoculars. From around him, he receives intelligence. SPOTTER H-K flights approaching from the east. EXT. SKY - NIGHT A formation of ten silver H-Ks soars over the terrain, hell-bent for battle. PREVIOUS JOHN Has Alverez reached the perimeter? COMM Almost there. JOHN (to himself) Look sharp, LT. QUICK CUTS - THE BATTLE Human resistance fighters struggling to set up a tripod mounted weapon. Terminator endoskeletons marching through a rough barricade - plasma rifles firing. A human child darting from cover to cover, several endoskeletons crunching behind it. Soldiers leap-frog over the terrain - a SAPPER TEAM moving in for the kill. The leader GESTURES and two other members close ranks. This is LT. JUDITH ALVEREZ. She POINTS - THERE and THERE. Her soldiers NOD and move off. She calls the rest of her team close. They dodge STRAFING PLASMA FIRE and, as H-K's pass over, plant their charges and run like hell. One doesn't make it as a T-800 Endoskeleton swings around some debris and cuts him down. PREVIOUS COMM Colorado division is requesting a go/no-go. JOHN Tell Perry to stand by. QUICK CUTS - THE BATTLE The child we met earlier runs past two soldiers waiting for the endoskeleton. The machine turns a corner and vanishes in two bright purple beams. An explosion and a large section of fence is annihilated! PREVIOUS COMM The perimeter has been breached! JOHN Give Colorado the 'Go' code. EXT. BATTLEFIELD The Aerial H-K's continue firing on Last Army positions. Then, without warning, they break off attack, wheel away and vanish into the low clouds. EXT. LAST ARMY HQ COMM Colorado Division reports success breaching Skynet's outer defenses. SPOTTER H-K movement has shifted eastward again. They're retreating. JOHN The bastard is protecting itself. (beat) Tell all teams Skynet has withdrawn air support. (beat) I want that facility taken intact. COMM Yes sir! John turns away from the battle, and looks into the darkness to the east. JOHN Godspeed, David. It's up to you. EXT. NIGHT - NORAD Men and machines continue to wage war. A title card reads: NORAD DEFENSE GRID. This is the heart of Skynet and the machines aren't going quietly into the night. PLASMA FIRE streaks across the sky and finds its mark in an AERIAL H-K. A GOUT OF FLAME and the machine vanishes. Two SOLDIERS duck amongst the plasma bursts and rubble. One carries a backpack. They watch a squad of thirty or so lead a feint to the west. They are KELLY and BRYKOWSKI, and they will soon be remembered forever. Their plasma rifles HISS as they destroy a patrol of terminators and move along quickly, ever nearer a large concrete wall. KELLY Let's go, let's go! They zero two more terminators in reaching the wall. Brykowski then turns his rifle on the wall, and BURNS a man-sized opening in it. He and Kelly slip through, into a staggering yard: EXT. SKYNET DEFENSE GRID Radar dishes and antennas as far as the eye can see. This is the heart of Skynet's operation: the communications and control link to all its component parts. BRYKOWSKI My god. KELLY Look sharp, Private! They open the backpack. As they do, we HEAR an approaching H-K. Kelly pulls out a portable tactical weapon. From the radioactive emblem, we know it's nuclear. They try to arm the device as the H-K glides over the fence, drawing a bead. It's weapons PULSE. Kelly is incinerated. Brykowski scoops up the nuke and sprints into the maze of dishes and transmitters as more H-K's come in to hover. They hold their fire - they can't go blasting at their own grid. Brykowski has no such conflicts. He stops deep in the heart of the antennas. He sets the device down and arms it. He looks up at the H-K's waiting for him to emerge. BRYKOWSKI Sic semper tyrannis, assholes. He triggers the nuke. BOOM! A BLINDING FLASH encompasses the defense grid - the explosion heard 'round the world. Skynet's comm and control equipment vanishes into the mists of history. Like puppets without strings, Skynet's minions grind to a halt. Those on the ground fall over and do nothing. Those in the air fall further and burn. DISSOLVE TO: EXT. NIGHT - NORAD A few minutes later,the remnants of the Last Army begin to appear. Crackling fires and distant explosions are all they hear. One ventures close to a still-standing Endoskeleton. Nothing. A finger. A push. A plume of dust. A crooked smile and tears. EXT. LAST ARMY HQ Back in Los Angeles. John has exited the bunker, and watches through binoculars as soldiers move through the fence, into the facility below. His Comm officer emerges from the bunker, excited, dazed. COMM Colorado Division is on line, sir. JOHN What's the word, Corporal? She holds out her headset to him. Smiles slightly. COMM You should hear this for yourself. John slips on the headset. We hear a RADIO VOICE from Colorado Division. RADIO VOICE ...has been destroyed. Repeating, this is a general broadcast from 132nd Division Command. Operation Lifeblood has been successful. Destruction of the Skynet Defense Grid is confirmed. Enemy activity has dropped to zero. Skynet is down, repeat, Skynet is down... John hands the headset back to Comm. She stares at him expectantly. COMM Response, sir? JOHN Send to General Perry: proceed with the secure of Crystal Palace... COMM Is that all, sir? JOHN No. Send: thank you for a job well done. Comm nods. She stands there for a moment. JOHN (continuing) Something, Corporal? She suddenly embraces John. He is taken aback for a moment, awkward. Comm weeps with joy. COMM Thank you, sir. You've saved us all. John is clearly ill-at-ease, but he hugs her back. INT. NORAD - CORRIDOR A small group of soldiers moves quickly down the corridor. There is no resistance. INT. NORAD - TIME DISPLACEMENT LAB Stark naked, Skynet moves with measured speed, applying the last of a bioconductive gel over its arms. Around it, machines are active and humming. SKYNET Sentry - activate. A section of wall begins to seep, to melt into a pool like quicksilver; it is the polymemetic alloy of a T-1000. It reforms into a short, vaguely human shape near Skynet. SKYNET (continuing) Target: John Connor. Destroy. The T-1000 melts and rolls, blending in seamlessly with the floor in a distant corner. Skynet steps over to a series of rings set in the floor. The whine of energy grows louder. Skynet glances at a monitor. He sees the soldiers making their way closer. He smiles again. Scary. PREVIOUS One of the soldiers glances at a small device slung around his belt. RESTON Sir! The Squad Leader raises a fist. Everyone stops. SQUAD LEADER What is it, Reston? RESTON I'm getting a weird reading here. SQUAD LEADER Let me see. The rest of you set up a standard perimeter. Everyone does as directed. Reston shows the Squad Leader his readings. Another soldier - ALLISON - looks on. RESTON An overload? SQUAD LEADER It's sure as hell enough energy. RESTON Nuclear? SQUAD LEADER Why would Skynet nuke itself? ALLISON Maybe it knows its ass is kicked. SQUAD LEADER (sharp) Allison - shut your hole. The Squad Leader whistles. His squad drifts in silently. SQUAD LEADER (continuing) We're taking a slight detour. (beat) Allison, you and your mouth are on point. INT. NORAD TIME DISPLACEMENT LAB A GLOWING HELL - BLUE LIGHTNING ARCS EVERYWHERE! As the soldiers rush into the anteroom and start to deploy there is a BLINDING FLASH OF LIGHT. The scream of the equipment dies, and the soldiers blink away the spots before their eyes. The Squad Leader enters the lab proper. We see the whole thing with him, for the first time: Unbelievable. The chamber is the size of a high school gymnasium, and is covered in machine surfaces, but they are a mixture of old and modern parts, recognizable and foreign. There are consoles with chairs, the leather rotting off of them, beside soaring, modern equipment of unknown origin. The Squad Leader approaches the closing hole in the floor. All that's left are the smoking rings as they rise to their former position. RESTON What the hell was that? ALLISON It looked like a storm. A storm indoors. SQUAD LEADER Get HQ on the line. (beat) I don't know what just happened here, but I sure as hell don't like it. He marvels at the equipment while we DISSOLVE TO: INT. L.A. TIME DISPLACEMENT LAB A facility that has echoes of the Crystal Palace lab. In the midst of it, John Connor marvels at what he sees. But this room is different, completely modern, with no human apportionments. Nothing in the design makes any sense. We can't tell what anything does. It is a technology we cannot imagine - and one that John has waited a lifetime to see. He stands before the THREE ENORMOUS CHROME RINGS dominating the center of the room. He is in awe. Beside him, Alverez stands ready to brief him, two techs in tow. JOHN I never expected to find it beautiful. Terrifying, yes. But not (beat, searching) not like this. ALVAREZ Deus ex machina. JOHN God from the machine. ALVAREZ No god I would pray to. JOHN Amen. (beat, then focused) Report. Techs have pulled up floor panels and are tapping directly into the cables of the machine. The scene is one of confined chaos. John and Alverez don't seem to notice. TECH ONE We've secured the facility and are beginning to set up control systems. JOHN How long? TECH TWO It's all digital and fiber - thirty minutes to patch in - a lifetime to learn. JOHN We don't have a lifetime. Once the system has been breached, I need systems logs, records, any and all information on previous uses of this facility. TECH ONE Is there something specific we're looking for, sir? John hesitates a moment. He has to let it out sometime. JOHN Records of two Time Displacements. ALVAREZ Time Displacements? JOHN That's right. With this facility, Skynet figured out how to travel through time. TECH TWO Madre de Dios! The second tech crosses himself like he's seen the devil. ALVAREZ That's why you wanted it intact. JOHN Part of the reason, yes. John and Alverez exit the room, into a corridor. As they walk, an AIDE falls in step beside them. AIDE Sir, the men have been assembled in the compound. EXT. L.A. TIME DISPLACEMENT FACILITY The Last Army has assembled. For a makeshift band of freedom fighters, they are staunchly disciplined, and greet John at attention, in ordered rows, perhaps a hundred in all. John steps up to a hastily constructed box podium. Three dogs are tethered to the rubble surrounding it. John lowers his hand for the dogs to verify he is human. For a moment before he speaks, the only sound is the wind. JOHN This afternoon, as I'm sure you have already heard, the Colorado Division broke through and destroyed Skynet's Defense Grid. Soldiers watch. Some struggle with shows of emotion. JOHN (continuing) All indications are that H-K activity and terminator mobility have dropped to zero. This facility was taken without resistance. (beat) All that remains is Skynet itself. As we speak, General Perry and the Colorado Division are sweeping Crystal Palace to locate the heart of the machine. (beat) To drive a stake through it. At this last, a boisterous cheer goes up from the men. Someone begins a chorus of "Three Cheers for J.C". John squelches it, raising his hands for silence. JOHN (continuing) No - none of that. I don't deserve it. You should be cheering yourselves. I navigated the darkness, but it was all of you who stormed the path. From the crowd, a voice: "We did it for you, sir!" John shakes his head. JOHN (continuing) Then you did it for the wrong reason. There are confused murmurs. JOHN (continuing) You followed me... (beat) blindly sometimes. But you didn't, and shouldn't, have done it for me. You did it for the spirit of every human being Skynet killed on Judgment Day. John becomes impassioned. In all of this, humanity is the one thing he has never lost sight of. JOHN (continuing) You did it for every comrade who fell during the Letchworth campaign. And at Canaveral. Houston. The Badlands. Even when I'm dust, you should remember their names, their deeds. (beat) Teach them to your children as they walk in the sunshine of this world you fought for thirty years to reclaim. For a moment, there is a respectful silence. Then a civilized, honest applause builds. It continues to grow, even as John nods his thanks and moves from the podium. Alvarez meets him near the entrance to the facility. ALVAREZ Orders, sir? JOHN Maintain assigned perimeter walks and sentry details, code two. I'm not going to blink until Perry tells me it's dead. EXT. A COLORADO MOUNTAIN TOWN - NIGHT Empty and quiet. A card reads: "COLORADO - 2002". Old snow is packed down on the street. The wind picks up and WE SEE the familiar crackling lighting of a TIME DISPLACEMENT. Before we know it - THERE'S A FLASH, AN ENERGY SPHERE, AND BOOM! Skynet stands tall and unclothed in a small crater as smoke whips away. Glancing around quickly, Skynet evaluates the situation. TERMOVISION Skynet catalogs human structures, still standing. Active electricity. It scans the sky, zooming in on a commercial airliner. RESUME All unexpected. Skynet shakes its head in disbelief. SKYNET No. This is all wrong. (slow awareness) Connor. (screams) CONNOR! Whatever the plan was, it's been upset. Now Skynet needs suitable clothing. Fuming, Skynet glances around. It spies the answer: a storefront declares HAROLD'S BIG AND TALL. Skynet strides towards the building. INT. JOHN CONNOR'S TENT John sits at a simple table, looking over printouts from the techs. He is clearly agitated. Alvarez looks on. JOHN I'm telling you, it's impossible. ALVAREZ The techs each verified it independently. A single Time Displacement, maybe a month ago. JOHN (forceful) There were two terminators. Alvarez treads lightly. John isn't given to arguing, but he's dangerously close. ALVAREZ I'm not saying you're wrong, sir. JOHN Lieutenant, I lived it. One in 1984, that my parents destroyed. And the one when I was young, that I saw with my own eyes. ALVAREZ I don't know, sir. The past seems... fluid. You've said yourself that you were told Judgment Day would occur in '97, but it didn't take place until '02. JOHN That changed because of what we did at Cyberdyne. Alvarez plays the devil's advocate perfectly. ALVAREZ How do you know those changes didn't alter Skynet's second attempt on your life? JOHN I remember it. How could I remember something that never happened? ALVAREZ I don't know. This is theory. Hell, with time travel, for all we know Skynet hasn't even sent the second one back yet. John is silent. Alvarez mistakes it for a rebuke - but John's wheels are turning. ALVAREZ (continuing) I'm sorry, sir. I didn't mean to be flippant. JOHN Of course, damn it, why didn't I think of it? (beat) Lieutenant, get General Perry on the line. And thank you. Alvarez is completely baffled, but offers a nod of thanks on her way out. INT. HAROLD'S BIG AND TALL - NIGHT Skynet is dressed to the nines: a three piece suit. It checks its look in the mirror. Satisfied, it moves to the back room. Skynet sits down in front of a PC. It is running a screen saver. Skynet moves the mouse and the screen comes alive. Moving faster than humanly possible, Skynet types in a bewildering series of alpha-numeric information. For its troubles, it's rewarded with a flashing dialog box: Requested server not responding. Please try again later. SKYNET No. This isn't right. Another series: same response. Again. And again. And again. Finally, Skynet goes in to a web browser - primitive, but it will do. It does a search on the string SKYNET FUNDING BILL. The query returns zero matches. SKYNET (continuing; disbelie ving) The bastard terminated me. Skynet rises and moves to the door. It spots a dummy wearing sports equipment and wrap-around sunglasses... EXT. HAROLD'S BIG AND TALL Skynet exits, wearing the glasses, glances up and down the street, and moves toward the center of town. Along the way, it spots a sporting goods store. A neon sign - GUNS - burns in the night. Skynet changes direction towards the store, crunching through the snow. INT. LAST ARMY HQ John speaks with GENERAL DAVID PERRY, leader of the 132nd Battalion, on a vid link. On screen, behind Perry, we can see parts of the Crystal Palace time lab. PERRY We discovered it about an hour ago. There was a massive power spike, intense light. It subsided as the squad arrived. JOHN And it's the same design? PERRY From the vid you sent, I'd say yours was more advanced. This one has equipment that predates the war. JOHN Manufacturer names? PERRY In spades. Angeltech, Digistyles, and our old pal Cyberdyne. But some components are machine-built, no markings. John turns this over in his mind, unsettled. JOHN Alvarez is sending your techs some quick and dirty guides to tapping the system records. We need to verify when and how that facility was used. PERRY Understood. We'll update you on progress every half hour. JOHN I'll settle for answers when I arrive - about eight hours. Perry is momentarily taken aback. If John is making a trip, a lot more is going on than meets the eye. PERRY Anything I should know about? JOHN It may be nothing. PERRY Not if you're coming here, it isn't. JOHN You know me too well, David. PERRY Twenty years is a long time. (beat) Watch your back, John. The screen goes dark. John stares at it for a moment, contemplating his next move. He exits the HQ bunker. EXT. LAST ARMY HQ John finds Alverez outside the bunker and speaks to her. Although we don't hear the conversation, we see Alvarez put on her game face. She salutes John sharply and double-times down the hill. She enters a crude bivouac area, where a dozen or so TROOPS are relaxing off duty. Of course, relaxation for the Last Army is weapon cleaning or sleep. When she speaks, she is all Army. ALVAREZ All right, listen up! If you hear your name, grab your gear and double-time to the limousines for a special op detail with JC. They all snap-to. To be on detail with John is akin to being taken bodily into heaven for these troops. ALVAREZ (continuing) Bell. Hudson. McStein. Soldiers scramble to gather their equipment as their names are called. ALVAREZ (continuing) Elpers. Kinnetti. Reese. Ten minutes, people. Diego, you're in charge until I get back. (beat) And bring two of the spotters. One of the soldiers leads a chocolate lab and a collie off towards the waiting transportation. EXT. LAST ARMY HQ - LATER A few minutes later, two hover cars - the 'limousines' - swing around the hill and towards the east. In a world that crawls, these things race. John and his troops are off to Colorado. EXT. COLORADO EXPERIMENTAL PHYSICS FACILITY - DAY A card reads: "2002-COLORADO EXPERIMENTAL PHYSICS FACILITY." Outside a very large building with a very high security gate and road checkpoints. Up to one of these checkpoints drives ANITA BARRETT. She's carefree, returning from a well-deserved week's vacation. She wears glasses, and her hair is done up in a bun. The GUARD holds out a clipboard for her to sign in. GUARD G'morning, Miss Barrett. You timed things just right. ANITA What do you mean? GUARD Another five minutes, we'd have been locked down for the test. Anita's hackles go up. She thinks she knows what he's talking about, and doesn't like it. ANITA What test? GUARD Full system test. Brass are here from Washington; hell, PC's been a nervous wreck for the last three days. Anita doesn't need to hear any more. She pulls away, building a full head of steam. INT. COLORADO EXPERIMENTAL PHYSICS FACILITY Anita storms through the corridors, fire in her eyes, and someone is going to get burned. She barges into the office of the Program Coordinator, PAUL CONROY - PC for short. He smacks of a used car salesman who somehow earned a title and a position. He holds the phone in one hand, regards Anita with some surprise. ANITA What the hell is going on? PC (into phone) I'll call you back. (hangs up,then) You're gone a week, you forget how to knock? ANITA What's this nonsense I hear about a live test? PC You haven't checked your e-mail yet, have you? He rises from his desk and walks around her, out of the office. She follows. MOVING They walk down corridors to the test lab. ANITA Don't jerk me, Paul. When I left, we had agreed to hold on a live test until the displacement anomalies were resolved. PC We resolved them. ANITA How? PC We held a department meeting on Tuesday, decided that anomalies out in the sixth and seventh decimal places were insignificant, and decided to proceed to stage two. ANITA You're joking. PC I never joke when top brass is on site. Anita looks like a woman whose entire world has become Wonderland, and is now run by Tweedle-dum. ANITA If those fluctuations occur under actual conditions-- PC They won't. Two computer sims out of two hundred had flux. One percent. The spec allows seven. ANITA I'm talking quantum physics, and you throw a theoretical DOD safety margin in my face? PC The spec says we're good, then we're good. Or, as the man says, "Close enough for government work." They turn a corner and pass through a guarded door. They enter a fully human version of the Time Displacement lab. Many pieces of it resemble the Crystal Palace facility. All the control stations are manned. At the back of the room, out of the way, a GENERAL and a COLONEL talk among themselves. Anita refuses to let it go, making PC uncomfortable now that the team is present. ANITA I will not endorse this test. PC Consider your protest duly noted. He waits for Anita to back off. She holds her ground. PC (continuing) Anita, we need this. The budget is coming up, the DOD has us under the microscope. We're fifty million over budget and eight months behind as it is. ANITA What's the sense in doing it if we're not doing it right. PC This isn't about right or wrong. They want us on line at Petersen by the end of the decade. A successful test means we get two more years and we're that much closer. A loud BUZZER sounds, signaling test time has arrived. ANITA What does a catastrophe get us? She moves away, taking up an observation position away from the brass. PC pushes her out of mind, and goes into gear. PC Before we begin, I want to thank you all for months of hard work. This project could not have happened without the efforts of each and every one of you. That said, Test Control, call the ball. The TEST CONTROL person begins monitoring. His instructions are AMPLIFIED over the lab SPEAKER SYSTEM for all to hear. PC joins the military reps. TEST CONTROL Temporal Field Generators are online for full systems test. On the lab floor, an instrument package, the size of a 55 gallon drum, completely wrapped in a fibrous looking cocoon is positioned upon the three chrome rings. TEST CONTROL (continuing) Instrument package is online and functioning. Go for power up. GENERAL Is that the football? PC That's it. (beat) State of the Art recording and measuring tools. Not only will it tell us what the trip was like, it could count the number of hairs rising on the back of your neck. GENERAL What's it wrapped in? TEST CONTROL All technicians, clear the test floor. Twenty seconds. PC It's an organic housing. Early tests indicated that organic materials are most compatible with the energy flux. The machinery is revving up from a dull whine to full scream. The rings begin to spin around the package. Everyone not watching a readout - and a few who are - steal glances at the rings. TEST CONTROL All systems read nominal. Time Displacement in 15 seconds... PC looks over at a tech. The tech gives a thumbs up. PC smiles. TEST CONTROL (continuing) 10 seconds. Anita moves nearer a console. She watches some dynamic graphs update every few seconds. She grips the back of a chair VERY TIGHTLY. TEST CONTROL (continuing) Nine...eight...seven... PC whisper/yells something into the General's ear. The General laughs. The lighting starts to arc. TEST CONTROL (continuing) Chronometric coils at 10 percent... Power is 87 percent of peak. PC glances at Anita through the now nearly blinding glare. She shakes her head - I have a bad feeling about this. TEST CONTROL (continuing) Three...Two...One... At the count of zero, A BLINDING FLASH AND AN UNEARTHLY SHRIEK! The spinning rings WOBBLE AND PULSE, then, in an instant, explode! Rather than sending shrapnel into the onlookers, it sends A SHOCKWAVE THROUGH THE REALITY OF THE SCENE. A DISTORTION THAT RIPPLES OUTWARD AT A BLINDING SPEED. EXT. COLORADO MOUNTAINS THE SHOCKWAVE RIPPLES THROUGH. EXT. THE PLANET EARTH RIPPLE. EXT. THE SOLAR SYSTEM We watch the distortion move through the system. EXT. CLOSE ON A MARS ROVER As the RIPPLE PASSES. As it does, the placement of an antenna array CHANGES. PREVIOUS THE RIPPLE FADES AS IT PASSES SATURN. INT. THE COLORADO EXPERIMENTAL PHYSICS LAB The place is in chaos, but it too is somehow different. People are in different locations. Equipment is different. In fact, Anita is now standing in an observation area on the other side of the room. The creepy part is that NO ONE NOTICES THE DIFFERENCES. The screaming whine is gone, replaced by the sound of twenty technicians talking at once. PC What the hell was that? TEST CONTROL The Chronometric Field Generators are gone. They vanished with the instrument package. PC Did they translate too? TECH Working on it. GENERAL(V2.0) steps up to PC. He is not the General who was there before the test, but PC doesn't see the difference. As far as he's concerned, this man has always been there. GENERAL (V2.0) Is it supposed to do that? PC (stumbling) That's not quite the way the simulations played out. GENERAL (V2.0) As soon as you have some idea of just what happened, I would like hear about it, Mister Conroy. The authority in his voice is clear. PC That could take some time, sir. GENERAL (V2.0) You have until two o'clock. We'll discuss your preliminary findings then. Conference Room Two. The General walks away. PC doesn't have much choice. Anita passes by, vindicated and troubled at the same time. ANITA Pretty loud for something insignificant, wasn't it? She continues on. PC tries to gather himself. PC Is anyone hurt? INT. CRYSTAL PALACE - OPERATIONS The old central ops room has become a human command post once again, courtesy of the 132nd. Technicians and soldiers set up equipment and coordinate securing the facility. At the center of it all, John and Perry work with PERRY'S AIDE, who is displaying data on a video screen. AIDE The trace we ran indicates there were two uses of this facility. JOHN One of them was the T-1000. I wish we had a way of knowing what the other was. AIDE We do. It wasn't in the L.A. specs, but this set-up has a sub-carrier that stores data on whatever was Displaced. John marvels. It would have taken him years to figure any of this out, and he's good with machines. JOHN Good find, soldier. AIDE It was easy, sir. (beat) There were manuals. JOHN Manuals? PERRY It appears time displacement was a human endeavor. The DOD code-named it Project Tick-Tock. JOHN You have to love the military. The Aide's fingers dance over the keyboard, recalling data. JOHN (continuing) What about Skynet? PERRY We've found its central node. I've got three specialists working on the encryption keys. It should be any time now. The Aide triumphantly pushes the Enter key. An image comes up on screen: a viscous-looking mass, silver-gray. AIDE That's number one. (beat) What the hell is it? JOHN Polymemetic alloy. Prototype Terminator, model T-1000. That came for me as a child. AIDE Second one coming up. The image: a T-800, "Arnold" style. John is clearly puzzled. PERRY Standard Cyberdyne T-800. JOHN That doesn't make any sense. There were only two Terminators. (beat) Can you tell me when in time this was sent? AIDE It'll take a minute. As the Aide works, one of Perry's NET SPECIALISTS enters in a rush. He salutes Perry. Then he notices John with him, and can barely contain his awe - and his panic. A sheet of paper flutters in his hand. NET SPEC Sirs. We've cracked Skynet's data bank. (a long beat) It's - it's empty. JOHN What? PERRY Explain. NET SPEC There are hundreds of thousands of tetrabytes of memory, all empty. All we found was this text file. Net Spec hands the printout to John. It bears a single line of text, a single word that is stark and menacing: GOODBYE. NET SPEC (continuing) There was a massive memory dump, but we can't tell where the data went. John stares at the paper, as if to glean a clue from it. Beside them, the Aide chimes in. AIDE Sir? This terminator was sent to late 2002, November. The date, the message on the paper, the anomalies all line up and John has a moment of clarity. The facts hit him like a bolt of lightning. JOHN The bloody bastard. PERRY (concerned) John? JOHN The bloody bastard went back. There is a long moment of unpleasant silence. EXT. HIGHWAY - DAY (2002) On a deserted stretch of Colorado road. A bright red Mustang convertible screams down the highway, oblivious to the potentially icy conditions. Closer. It's Skynet, sunglasses on, tooling along at ninety. TERMOVISION Skynet catalogs what's ahead on the road: a tree, a rabbit - two hitchhikers. In military fatigues. RESUME As Skynet approaches the two men, it brakes to a stop. One is thin, not so tall - AIRMAN CASPER. His friend is bulked up, a tough looking hombre - AIRMAN KOTO. They are bundled against the cold in light military jackets. TERMOVISION Skynet sizes Koto up. The display indicates Koto as a high percentage physical match. RESUME Skynet opens the passenger side window and smiles kindly. SKYNET Need a lift? CASPER Going anywhere near Petersen Air Force Base? SKYNET Right past it. Hop in. The two doomed military men pile into the car. The Mustang continues down the highway. INT. COLORADO EXPERIMENTAL PHYSICS FACILITY In a conference room. Gathered are the Colonel and General(v2.0), Specialists FROST and PALMER, Anita and PC, who is ragged looking. It's been a long afternoon. And it isn't over yet. FROST The Temporal Explorer has not reappeared, though the system says it did enter the time stream. GENERAL (V2.0) You don't know where it went? FROST The discharge damaged most of our sensors. COLONEL What caused the energy spike? Palmer glances at PC before commenting, for some sign of support. PALMER The displacement coils appear to have vaporized, converted to energy. A LOT of energy. PC We think coil density may have been underestimated. COLONEL What kind of energy? Electric, magnetic, sub-atomic? PC Well, we know it wasn't nuclear or electromagnetic. PALMER No neutrinos or strong force interactions were identified. GENERAL (V2.0) In simple language, you don't know. PC, Frost and Palmer all exchange glances. Is it that obvious? Anita can't watch this circus any longer. ANITA I believe it was temporal. PC hangs his head, wishing Anita was a million miles from here. The brass, however, take an obvious interest. COLONEL A localized temporal disturbance was an expected side effect. ANITA I think the coil collapse boosted that effect exponentially. PC This is all just supposition. The Colonel ignores him. COLONEL To what end? ANITA My theory? A ripple in time. The energy had to go somewhere. If we believe science fiction, there'd be myriad consequences we might never be aware of... (beat) temporal paradoxes, historical changes-- PC You mean we haven't always lived in the Socialist States of America? Everyone glares at him. It's a joke in very poor taste, given the circumstances. GENERAL I'm not laughing, Mr. Conroy. Your multi-billion dollar horse has thrown two shoes at the gallop. COLONEL This possibility never came up in simulation? Moment of truth. Anita and PC have a silent war of stares. PC's eyes flash danger. ANITA In one percent of the test cases, we had anomalous energy. PC They were insignificant. A millionth of a percent of the total output. ANITA (angry) At those power levels, a millionth of a percent could light a city for a week, you arrogant prick! PC completely loses his cool and has a meltdown. PC You bitch! (to brass) Everything was within the DOD parameters. In the paint. That much energy should not have made any difference. It was just part of the background noise. GENERAL (V2.0) Exactly where did you get your physics degree, Mr. Conroy? (beat) Correspondence school? PC pauses - he knows he is about to take the fall for this. His dream is finished. PC That's not fair, General. GENERAL (V2.0) You're right. Fair would be holding you personally accountable for this. A moment of stony silence as PC glances daggers at Anita. COLONEL "Fucked up Space-Time". That'll look great on your resume. PC mouths at Anita: You're fired. She mouths back: I quit. EXT. HIGHWAY - DAY (2002) Along the side of the road, the Mustang is haphazardly parked. Beside the car, Koto's dead body lays face down in the snow. Blood spreads beneath his body. T-1000 material flows from Koto back onto Skynet's outstretched hand. Behind Skynet, Casper leans against the car with two obviously broken legs under him. Skynet turns on Casper, malevolence incarnate. SKYNET Tell me everything about the security at Crystal Palace. CASPER William Casper, Airman First Class. Serial Number 16745342. SKYNET Name, rank, serial number. How dull. (beat) Let's try something more original. Skynet holds out its hand. The T-1000 material slides off, drops in a gob onto Casper's fatigues, and rolls down his uniform to his abdomen. Casper watches, fascinated, as the silver mass anchors itself to a shirt button and forms a three inch high cylinder. SKYNET (continuing) I want you to meet my associate. Before Casper's eyes, a SMALL BLADE forms out of the side of the cylinder and slices through uniform into his belly. Casper SCREAMS. SKYNET (continuing) It's very good at inflicting pain. The T-1000 cuts again. There's blood and more screaming. SKYNET (continuing) Now. Tell me about security at Crystal Palace. EXT. HIGHWAY - LATER The Mustang again screams down the highway. Behind the wheel, Skynet is dressed in Koto's fatigues and jacket. As Skynet drives, we see the T-1000 material spread across its face. For a moment, Skynet's entire face is silver. Then, the T-1000 creates Koto's face atop Skynet's - the perfect disguise. Skynet drives on towards Crystal Palace. It throws back its head and laughs. INT. CRYSTAL PALACE In John's temporary quarters. There is a knock, and then Alvarez comes through the door. ALVAREZ Sir, I've got-- As she enters fully, she sees a T-800 (another Arnold style model), active in the room. Her hand dips to her side instinctively. The Terminator moves for her. As Alverez brings her gun up, John grabs her arm and stops her, simultaneously barking an order at the Terminator. JOHN Stand down! The Terminator stops in place. John looks at Alverez. JOHN (continuing) You too, Lieutenant. He lets her go. She never takes her eyes off the Terminator, who stands there unmoving. ALVAREZ What's that thing doing in here? JOHN I'm programming it. It's going back to protect me and my mother from the T-1000. ALVAREZ With all due respect sir, how can you trust it? A soldier would be more reliable. JOHN I trust it because I had to when I was a child. (beat) A human soldier can't stop a T-1000. This did. Remember, this is ancient history for me (beat) You came in with something? Alverez stops - she did, didn't she? ALVAREZ I have your volunteer for the op to 1984. As you directed, he has no family and he's been apprised of the... permanent nature of the job. (beat) He's waiting for you in the Operations briefing room. John's mood darkens. His entire life has led up to this moment, and he's dreaded its approach. JOHN I'll be with him shortly. ALVAREZ Yes sir. There is a long, expectant pause on Alvarez's part. ALVAREZ (continuing) You already know who it is, don't you sir? JOHN Dismissed, Lieutenant. It's all the answer Alverez needs. She salutes and departs. Alone in his quarters, John SIGHS. INT. OPERATIONS BRIEFING ROOM A room in utter disarray. The lights are low. A solitary figure sits at the conference table, waiting: KYLE REESE, one of John's elite recon squad. Reese is bright - he knows this is a heavy-duty assignment. John waits a moment outside the room, watching Reese sit in the darkness. JOHN Reese. Reese is up out of the chair and in full salute almost before the sound of John's voice has died away. REESE Sir! JOHN At ease. (beat) Lieutenant Alverez tells me you volunteered for this mission, sight unseen. REESE We all did, sir. I was the only one who met the criteria. JOHN This time tomorrow, you may be wishing you'd never heard of me. REESE Impossible, sir. John smiles. He sees a lot of himself in Reese - as well he should. JOHN You'll be following a T-800 model Terminator back in time to the year 1984. Its target is my mother, Sarah Connor. This rattles Kyle, and his personal feelings for Sarah are evident on his face. John chooses to ignore them. JOHN (continuing) I won't kid you. This won't be an easy mission. The Time Displacement equipment won't allow us to send any weapons or support back with you. You'll have to stop the Terminator using whatever you find in that time. REESE I'm Recon, sir. I could stop a Terminator with a rock and a good tail wind, if I had to. John looks like he wants to say something. JOHN The med techs are waiting to prep you for the trip. REESE Yes, sir. Two men standing in the darkness. John starts to speak; to say something to this man, his father, but the words choke in his throat and he swallows them silently. Reese turns to look at him. He's been thinking too. REESE (continuing) LT says it's a one-way ride. JOHN That's right. A long moment. REESE You know, the troops talk about you. They say you're psychic. Or that you were touched by God, that Sarah was an angel. But it's all just foreknowledge, isn't it? John nods. JOHN Some of it. REESE You know how it ends...how this turns out. With me. Reese looks at John, searching for an answer in the other man's face. He finds one. He's seen the look all too often in John's face as men and women go to die. JOHN Reese... Kyle... REESE Don't. I don't want to know. John stops. He understands. He reaches out and clasps Kyle's shoulder. JOHN You're a good soldier, Reese. I owe you more than you could guess. REESE Thank you, sir. JOHN Call me John. You've earned that, at least. REESE Yes, sir. John looks at him and smiles. JOHN You win. REESE I always do. Serious now. JOHN Yes, you do. REESE If you don't need me any longer, sir, I have to get ready. John realizes his moment is fading. He stands, looking at the man who will be his father. JOHN I have a message for my mother, I want you to memorize it. It's critical to your mission. Reese tenses even more, if that's possible. John stares out into the darkness. JOHN (continuing) Sarah, thank you for your courage through the dark years... (beat) I can't help you with what you must soon face, except to tell you that the future is not set... As he begins the message we DISSOLVE TO: INT. COLORADO EXP. PHYSICS FACILITY - ANITA'S OFFICE Anita packs her meager belongings into a cardboard box. She betrays no emotion. PC steps into the doorway, spoiling for a fight. PC The plug has been pulled. The call just came from the Pentagon. ANITA And this affects me how? PC I thought maybe you'd like to know what you accomplished today. Anita remains calm. She'd like to twist his head off. ANITA What I accomplished today? I'm not the one who vaporized the hardware, Paul. Who looked like a scurrying rat in front of the military. PC No. You're the one who left the team high and dry when the heat came down. ANITA Comfort yourself with this thought: since we're all still here, and there don't seem to be any obvious changes in the Space-Time continuum, I'd say you got lucky. PC Two point three billion dollars just got smeared across the Lorentz Plane and you say I got lucky? ANITA You didn't kill anyone, did you? She hoists her box under her arm, grabs her car keys, and walks past him, through the door. PC Oh, this isn't over. By any stretch of the imagination. INT. CRYSTAL PALACE - TIME DISPLACEMENT LAB It bustles with activity. Monitors have been set up at intervals around the chamber. Techs prep and count off tests. Perry oversees the preparations. John enters, the reprogrammed T-800 and Kyle Reese behind him. The trio joins Perry near the center of the room. Unnoticed, in a distant corner, the floor behind them starts to pull up from itself - the T-1000 material Skynet left behind. John, Perry and company go over the plan. Reese regards the T-800 with contempt. JOHN First send will be the T-800. Just in case we screw it up. Then Reese. REESE Sounds logical to me. PERRY Let's get started. As they talk about details, a GRUNGY LOOKING CHILD, one of the orphans of the machine war, walks slowly towards the group - towards John. The child accelerates. Two dozen steps from John, a SOLDIER spies the kid and unconsciously steps forward. He raises his hand to halt the child and turns his head to call over his shoulder. SOLDIER Who the hell let a kid in here? They all look to see. The T-800 tenses. THE CHILD LEAPS, six silver blades morph from its body. From behind, John and company watch six blade-points come through the soldier's back, killing him instantly. He topples backwards. The T-800 and John are the only ones who've seen this kind of thing before. T-800 steps in front of John. TERMINATOR Get back! Terminator! The very word causes a flurry of action. Two other soldiers grab John by the arms and hustle him towards the nearest exit. The child-size T-1000 wrenches the blades from the luckless soldier one by one. Its malevolent gaze never shifts from John. In a moment it's free again, and from its determined pace, we understand it's not going stop for anything short of John's head on a platter. Perry situates himself between John and the T-1000, raises his pistol. BAM, BAM, BAM, the shots only slow it down. It leaps again. Rather than blocking it, Perry steps into it and embraces it in a bear hug. A blade flashes through Perry's skull. He, too, falls dead. The T-800 grabs an open container of conductive gel as several troops, including Alverez, open fire with small arms. One has a phased-plasma rifle. ALVAREZ Watch your field of fire! The cascade of bullets splatters the T-1000. The plasma fire does more damage, but the machine is only slowed by the onslaught, not stopped. The T-800 hurls the container of gel at the T-1000, striking and coating it thoroughly. John struggles at the doorway. He understands what the T-800 is doing. JOHN Somebody fire the inducers! Perry's Aide leaps for the terminal and punches three keys. BRILLIANT BLUE ARCS OF ENERGY streak from four different points in the room. They converge on the T-1000, drawn by the conductive gel. Fiercely bright light STROBES. Sparks fly. The Aide cuts power. Where the T-1000 had been standing, there is a lump of twisted, blackened, hardened material: the T-1000, arc-welded to the deck, defunct. Smoke rises from it. Hold on this a beat, then DISSOLVE TO: INT. JOHN'S QUARTERS He sits on a cot in low light, in quiet contemplation. There is a KNOCK at the door. JOHN Come. Alverez enters. Her face is sad - she doesn't like to see the boss like this. ALVAREZ We finished the sweep. There were no other 'surprises'. John nods. JOHN Do we understand how it escaped detection the first time? ALVAREZ Before it was sent back, the T-800 identified a low energy stealth mode, unique to the polyalloy. (beat) With the T-800's help, we've already modified the local sensors to detect it. (beat) You were right about the Terminator, sir. It could be trusted. John nods, distracted. ALVAREZ (continuing) They're doing final prep on Reese. John is listening, but his thoughts are light-years away. JOHN Did you know David Perry was the first person I met after Judgment Day? In all these years since then, he barely got a scratch. (beat) All so he could get killed in a secured room, surrounded by his own men. (beat) Protecting me. ALVAREZ Sir? Don't personalize this. She sits beside him on the bunk. JOHN It's already personal. Skynet could go anywhere in history and make an easy day of it. But each time it's gone after me. And people have died defending me. Alverez tries to change the subject. ALVAREZ How long since you slept? You're way past tired. Long pause. John has reached his personal Rubicon. JOHN You're right, I am. Tired of being a victim. He stands, moves to a small table filled with reports and other paperwork. He begins going through a stack. JOHN (continuing) I'll be along in a minute to see Reese off. (beat) And tell the med-techs to stand by to perform one more prep. Alverez is John's right arm. She knows what he means by what he's said - and what he hasn't: he's decided he's going back after Skynet. It rattles her. ALVAREZ No! You can't! JOHN I have to. ALVAREZ Send me instead. I don't have any family, I can handle a lone terminator-- John interrupts her. JOHN This is not negotiable, Lieutenant. I'm going. ALVAREZ Without you, there'd be no future. JOHN I'm not your future, LT. I'm only one man, and I'm tired of running away. John looks in her face for some sign of understanding. What he sees scares him, so he tries another tact. JOHN (continuing) What would have happened if I were the one killed out there, instead of David? What would the rest of you have done? ALVAREZ You can't think like that, sir. JOHN We are soldiers, mister! We have to think like that! If one falls, the next picks up the charge. We continue on and we never quit. No one is indispensable... (beat) not even me. Alverez tries one last, half-hearted attempt. ALVAREZ But sir, you've led us here. JOHN And others can lead from here. (beat) Judy, my entire life has been dedicated to one task. I will see to its completion. He looks down to the paperwork. Alverez regards him for a few moments, searching for words - and failing. ALVAREZ Yes sir. She exits the small room. INT. CORRIDOR Alverez strides down the corridor, turns into an isolated side corridor and, unable to restrain herself, begins to weep. For the first time, we fully understand that she doesn't just revere John Connor - she loves him. DISSOLVE TO: INT. TIME DISPLACEMENT LAB Shortly thereafter. Kyle Reese stands near the rings set in the floor. Medics have stripped him, and are covering him with a conductive gel. Techs do final system checks, their directions and data voiced ON LOUDSPEAKER. AIDE All stations reporting. Systems are nominal, chronometric coils at seventy-eight percent. Countdown stands at two minutes and counting. Final status check, on my mark. (a long beat) Power systems. TECH ONE Charged and ready. AIDE Control interface. TECH TWO Stable. John enters the room. Alverez shoots a glance at him as he speaks out of earshot to the MEDIC. AIDE Chronometric field generators. TECH THREE Nominal indicators. AIDE Displacement coordinates. TECH FOUR Calculated and verified. AIDE Biosystems monitor. TECH FIVE All vitals green. TECH ONE All systems go for displacement. All non-essential personnel please fall back to safe zones. Repeat, all non-essentials, please fall back to safe zones. The med techs surrounding Kyle pack their kits and retreat. Other non-essential personnel clear out. John joins Reese. JOHN How are you feeling? REESE Like I'm about to be deep fried. JOHN Out of the frying pan... There's a long moment. AIDE (on loudspeaker) One minute thirty. Mark. JOHN It's time to go. REESE Yes, sir. JOHN John. Reese smiles, his own man to the last. REESE Sir. Reese offers a salute. John instead holds out his hand. Reese shakes it, smearing some of the conductive gel there. Reese turns and steps on the platform within the rings. It bobs slightly beneath his weight. He looks back at John. JOHN Sometimes you have to put your faith in the machine. AIDE One minute. Mark. John leaves the target area. Reese situates himself on the center ring. THE RINGS BEGIN TO WHIRL, rotating on different axes, like a complex gyroscope. The floor beneath the rings begins to SPLIT OPEN, like wedges in a pie, pulling back from the center. The rings are whirling faster now, suspended in the center of the growing space. AIDE (continuing) Thirty seconds. Reese closes his eyes and takes a deep breath. John stares at the rings, which now look like a sphere of whirling steel, they spin so quickly. Reese is no longer visible. The sphere descends into the unbelievably vast circular space - the time field generator. AIDE (continuing) Fifteen seconds. LIGHTNING BEGINS TO ARC across the vast room below. A huge charge of energy is building up. The chamber has become a hell of energy with Reese at its center. The shriek of the machines rises to a crescendo, there is a BLINDING FLASH OF LIGHT! A STRAY ARC plows around a BLAST SHIELD and slams full force into John's hand. The conductive gel! John's scream is lost in the thunder, and then it's over. We hear John MOANING. A nearby Tech realizes what's happened. TECH MEDIC! J.C. IS DOWN! J.C. IS DOWN! The glare fades quickly. The floating rings are empty. They slow to a stop, seared and smoking. Reese has made history, and is history. The Medic moves around people to get to John. John stares at the platform, which has risen to its former position. John's face is streaked with tears. He stares at all he has left. JOHN (under his breath) Goodbye...dad. We hold a long moment, then DISSOLVE TO: INT. THE MEDICAL BAY The medic finishes spraying a synthetic bandage on the wound. The wound is obvious, but antiseptically safe. JOHN Good job. Thank you. MEDIC You're lucky your entire hand didn't decide to take a stroll through time. (beat, slyly) Though I hear it's getting the chance. JOHN Who needs a comm system when I've got such a good grapevine? Two Corporals enter - call them GUTS and GLORY - the pride of Perry's technical staff, peerless programmers. One carries a small containment box. They salute sharply. GUTS Sir, on behalf of Angel company, we've put together a little something to give you an edge, when you go back. GLORY Think of it as an appreciation. MEDIC (to John) That grapevine is extraordinary. John opens the box and extracts a cylinder. T-1000 material churns within, but the color is off. There's a reddish-rusty shade to it. JOHN What is it? GUTS We took the last of that silver shape-changing shit and hooked it up to a processor for grins. GLORY Turns out it uses the same programming language as everything else, from terminators to H-Ks. GUTS Skynet always seemed to lack... creativity. GLORY So we reprogrammed it for your use. John marvels at the vial and at the two soldiers. JOHN My use how? Guts and Glory swap grins, like proud parents. INT. COLORADO EXPERIMENTAL PHYSICS FACILITY Anita walks down the hall, box under her arm, PC trailing. In their conversation, only an instant has passed since they left her office (seen several minutes ago, by our reckoning). PC We're talking major litigation. Destruction of government property. Gross negligence. (beat) If you think you walk away clean from this, think again. ANITA My protest was noted, recall? They pass through a guard checkpoint and a security door, entering the parking garage. They stop at the doorway. ANITA (continuing) If I were you, I'd spend less time bothering people who are of no use to you any more, and more time figuring out exactly what went wrong. PC That could take years. Millions more. ANITA Then I'd get started. You've got a ways to go. She continues on to her car. PC watches her go. Anita drops her box on the back seat and climbs in. INT. TIME DISPLACEMENT LAB A little later. John enters in his skivvies. We notice his hand wound appears to be healed. Troops, Techs and Alverez note his entrance. From among them, somewhere, applause begins. In moments, the entire room is on its feet, clapping. John is embarrassed by the attention. He stops beside the rings. Then he raises his hands for silence. The applause dies off. JOHN I don't really have anything poignant to say. You all bulk largely in my affections. (beat) I have some final instructions before I leave. First, I want the time facilities here and in L.A. blown to machine hell as soon as I'm gone. Soldiers watch, listen, nod their understanding. JOHN (continuing) After that - stand down. Breathe. Laugh. Dance. Explore. Rebuild. Put down roots, raise children, grow old. Live. Without fear. In peace. (beat) Each and every one of you has earned that right. For yourselves and for your children. (beat) It has been an honor serving with each of you. There is an awkward pause, a moment no one wants to end. JOHN (continuing) Let's go people. We're burning moonlight. John strips out of his clothes. The med techs begin covering him with the conductive gel. From behind John, we hear Alverez. ALVAREZ Sir? John turns around, faces Alverez. Without warning or ado, she embraces him and kisses him deeply. He is momentarily taken aback, but then returns the kiss. Alverez backs up, struggling with her feelings and tears. ALVAREZ (continuing) Begging your pardon, sir. I wanted to be able to tell my grandchildren that I kissed a legend. JOHN Understood and forgiven. ALVAREZ Request permission to not watch this, sir. JOHN Granted. Dismissed.... ALVAREZ Good luck...John. John mouths his response, but doesn't speak it: You too, Judy. The WHINE of the equipment powering up begins. INT. COLORADO EXP. PHYSICS FACILITY - INSIDE ANITA'S CAR Anita slams the door of her car. She fumbles with the keys. A moment, and she starts her car. In mid-crank it slows and stops, completely dead. The familiar distortions and electrical effects that signal a Time Displacement arc around cars in the garage. Anita is transfixed by the sight. She knows the effect for what it is. So does PC, who is still standing by the entrance to the garage, watching with wide eyes. The sphere develops and expands to encompass a nearby car. A FLASH and the rear of the car vanishes into the ether. CRASH! The car drops and John Connor rolls away instinctively at the noise. Anita flinches at the flash, and closes her eyes. John rolls into a crouch and whacks his head against the front of Anita's car. A short, sharp grunt is all we hear. He blinks his eyes against the pain, and scans his new surroundings. Anita hears the grunt and rises in her seat... To stare at the dark pair of eyes from the future. In a heartbeat, John is at the door. JOHN I won't harm you. Anita stares. Behind her eyes we can see the whirring of her thoughts. ANITA That was a time displacement. (beat) You're from the future. It's John's turn to be surprised. JOHN Yes. The wind whips past the car. Anita notices for the first time that John is not wearing any clothes. ANITA You must be freezing. (beat) Get in the car. John stalks around the passenger side of the car. Anita unlocks the door. John climbs in. PC watches with fascination, wheels of his own turning behind his eyes: This man knows how time travel works. Anita reaches into the back of her car, produces a blanket. John accepts it wordlessly, wraps himself in it. He's in some pain from the transport. ANITA (continuing) It's been a few years since I had a naked man in my car. John doesn't crack a smile. He's in survival mode. EXT. DESERTED HIGHWAY Skynet, still wearing Koto's face, suddenly gets a signal. TERMOVISION Text: Terminator detected. A small tracking graphic appears in the corner. RESUME Skynet smiles - looks like I have some company. It turns the Mustang sharply onto the next crossroad it reaches. INT. COLORADO EXP. PHYSICS FACILITY - INSIDE ANITA'S CAR Anita sits there awkwardly, a million thoughts a minute rushing through her head. Beside her, John is silent, drinking in the signs of human life around him. It's been a long time. ANITA A man of few words. I like that in a guy. JOHN Where am I? ANITA And you speak English. That bodes well for the future. You're at the Colorado Experimental Physics Facility. Where did you expect to be? JOHN What's the date? ANITA (puzzled) November 7, 2002. JOHN Two days. Damn. Not much time. ANITA For what? John doesn't answer. He glances at his right hand. The back of his hand evidences a slight, regular pulsing and a vague RIDGE, pointing towards two o'clock. JOHN I'll be damned. ANITA Any particular reason? JOHN I need clothes. And a gun, something in a high caliber, a .44, maybe a sawed-off shotgun. Little hackles go up on Anita's neck. ANITA I'd be more than happy to accommodate you, but first thing's first. The project specialists are going to want to talk to you. JOHN Project? ANITA The Temporal Displacement project. I presumed from your entrance you already knew that. JOHN (remembering) Tick-Tock. ANITA Right. JOHN No time. Anita lets out a nervous giggle. ANITA I thought time travelers could have all the time they needed. JOHN Not this one. (beat) Will you help me? ANITA Not without a little more-- As she declines, John opens his door, intent on leaving. He has no time for idle chat. ANITA (continuing) Jesus! She grabs the blanket before John can get out of it, holding him in place. ANITA (continuing) Wait! Give me a minute. JOHN I don't have any spare ones to offer. I'm on a deadline. ANITA If I help you, will you come and help us figure out where we went wrong? JOHN Absolutely not. He tries again to get out of the car, and Anita again keeps the blanket in check. John quickly gets annoyed. ANITA Why? What's so urgent? John regards her, trying to gauge her intelligence. He reasons she can handle the truth. JOHN In two days, half the world's population will be nuked into oblivion. In the two years that follow, radiation, famine and nuclear winter will take two thirds of those left. Anita's eyes get wide. If she hadn't witnessed his arrival, she'd think him insane. John grows more intense as he talks. He's never actually had to relate the whole scenario as it happened before. JOHN (continuing) And for the thirty years after that, a self-aware computer program will send automated soldiers, aircraft and tanks to shoot, burn, and bludgeon the survivors until every last one of them is dead and humanity is just a memory. (beat, forceful) And with or without your help, I am going to make sure IT DOESN'T HAPPEN! They stare at each other for a long time. When Anita finally speaks, there is a tremble in her voice; clearly, John has gotten through to her. ANITA Where do you want to go? JOHN Somewhere I can get a gun and some clothes. Anita regards him silently for a moment. ANITA What's your name? JOHN Why? ANITA I can't call a savior from the future "hey you". John allows himself a slight smile - he knows now she's going to help him. JOHN John Connor. He holds out a hand that Anita shakes. John notes her firm grip. ANITA Anita Barrett. EXT. COLORADO EXPERIMENTAL PHYSICS FACILITY Anita's car pulls out on to the freeway. A moment later, another car pulls into traffic - PC is tailing them. DISSOLVE TO: EXT. APARTMENT BUILDING - DAY A high rise building, about fifteen stories. PC's car pulls up, passes Anita's car, which is already parked, and parks up the street. INT. PC'S CAR He waits, watches the door, contemplating his next move. INT. APARTMENT The door opens, and Anita ushers John inside. She closes the door behind them. The apartment is sparsely furnished, lacking a woman's touch. John notices. JOHN You don't live here. ANITA My uncle Dan's. I'm looking after Buster while he's gone. JOHN Buster? Anita opens the door to the bedroom. There is a tan blur and, before John can react, a golden lab is prancing around him excitedly. John smiles for the first time since his arrival. Dogs, he knows. He instinctively holds his hand out for Buster to verify he's human, then scratches the dog's head. ANITA I see you're a dog person. JOHN We used them to stop Terminators from infiltrating our bunkers. ANITA Terminators? John looks up from the dog. For a moment, he'd forgotten his troubles. But only for a moment. JOHN Clothes first. Then I'll tell you why I've come here. ANITA In the bedroom closet. John walks into the bedroom and closes the door. Anita scratches Buster behind the ears, watching the bedroom door carefully. ANITA (continuing) Terminators, huh? She pulls out her cell phone and autodials. When her call connects, her voice drops to barely above a whisper. ANITA (continuing) Donna? It's me. Listen, I want you to get a debriefing team together for me. Include a psychologist. Hold a beat on her smile. EXT. FREEWAY Skynet's car roars down the highway. INT. CAR The segment of T-1000 rolls down Skynet's arm, ending in its hand. It spreads across the knuckles. Skynet silently commands it to fashion several different cutting weapons. TERMOVISION The directional signal Skynet is receiving from John's piece of the T-1000 is coming in loud and strong. INT. PC'S CAR PC is on his cell phone. In marked contrast to Anita, he doesn't seem the least bit confident about what's going on. In fact, he seems downright fidgity and anxious. He talks to the Colonel, with little success. PC I understand sir, it's just-- (beat) Colonel, if you'd let me-- A short pause as the Colonel argues. Vehemently. PC (continuing) Sir, I have someone who can-- The Colonel's protest is loud enough for us to hear that it's angry. He just wants Paul to go away. PC (continuing; frustrat ed) If you'd give me one more chance, I'll show you what-- hello? But the Colonel is gone. It does little for Paul's mood. PC (continuing) Damn it to hell! He tucks the phone away, fuming. He has a moment of quiet decision-making. Then he opens the glove compartment and pulls out a small revolver, no more than a .38. He stares at it. This is what it's come down to. INT. APARTMENT John, dressed in conservative clothes (and he cleans up nicely, too!), sits at the kitchen table. He's been telling Anita his tale. Anita listens with skeptical interest. JOHN We had won. But Skynet had one last card up its sleeve, and played it. ANITA So this super defense program came back - why? To try killing you again? Is it just a slow learner? JOHN It's psychic if it's come back to kill me. It won't know where I am for at least two years... John's voice trails off. It dawns on him what Skynet has set out to do. JOHN (continuing) But it knows every move I'll make over the twenty-five years after that. Every tactic, every bluff. (beat) No. It's not a slow learner at all. ANITA So it came back to beat you in battles it lost the first time? JOHN Something like that. Anita mulls all of this over. From the future or not, she's really having a hard time with this. ANITA How do I know this isn't some fairy tale, that you aren't the real threat to the future? JOHN You don't. But in two days you'll be wishing you'd believed me. (beat) With your help or without it, I'm going after Skynet. Now, do you have weapons? Anita shakes her head - it still isn't that easy. ANITA Not without proof. JOHN What would it take? ANITA Come with me. Talk to some people about our experiment, where it went wrong. John stands abruptly. We can see that as far as he's concerned, this meeting is over. JOHN Thanks for the clothes. There is a sudden, sharp KNOCK at the door. John tenses. He looks at Buster. The dog lays there, disinterested. It's not Skynet. Anita moves to the door, opens it. Before she can speak, PC is through the door, closing it behind himself. PC What are you doing? Keeping him to talk to the General yourself? ANITA What are you doing here? PC I followed you. I saw his arrival. I had to meet him. PC comes around the corner, face-to-face with John. PC seems as if he expected something larger than life. PC (continuing; to Anita) What has he told you? ANITA Wild stories about the end of the world. JOHN Friend of yours? ANITA No. Not after today. PC ignores her. John gets his full attention, whether he wants it or not. PC Paul Conroy. You're from the future. JOHN Yes. I presume you're not. PC You've got a sense of humor. JOHN Yes. And a very low bullshit threshold. Fortunately, I was just leaving. John starts to walk past. PC holds out a hand, stops him. PC What's your hurry? JOHN I'm here on a mission. Of the highest priority. PC That's the problem with modern life. Everyone's always in a hurry. Uncomfortable with PC's presence, Anita puts on her tough face. ANITA You're not particularly welcome here, Paul. PC You and I both know he came back using a system based on our work. You saw the Displacement. He can help us over the rough spots. As their discussion continues, John glances down at his right hand. PC (continuing) And don't give me any bullshit about that not occurring to you. ANITA You should hear his story before you ask for his help. The line on his hand is growing shorter, and is turning like the sweep-hand of a clock. EXT. APARTMENT BUILDING Skynet pulls over, into a No Parking zone. It exits the car and opens the trunk. The interior of the trunk has several formidable-looking weapons: semi-automatic rifles, shotguns, etc. Skynet selects a sawed-off shotgun. It carefully tucks the shotgun under its jacket and starts across the street. PREVIOUS John watches as the line on the back of his hand shrinks in on itself, becoming a dot, almost like a bug bite. ANITA He's got some different priorities. PC smirks. Everyone's got different priorities. And? PC (to John) Look, today was the first time we successfully breeched space-time. (beat) There were... problems. You may be able to help us solve them. JOHN I'm not interested. He tries to pass again. PC stops him again. PC What will it take? Do you want a fee of some kind? I can set you up to live like a king. It'd be worth it. JOHN You think you can buy me? PC Everyone has a price. Right now, the correct answers are worth a lot to me. INT. APARTMENT BUILDING LOBBY An elevator arrives. Skynet boards it and the doors slide closed ominously. INT APARTMENT PC continues his pitch. PC What, you need a new identity? I know people who can do that too. Power? I've got some federal connections. (beat) If you help us, I can even use the information you supply to help you get back to your own time. John gives PC a look like he's crazy. JOHN You can't go forward. PC Not yet. But with your help, boom, bam, pow, you're back dining in your favorite restaurant of the future in no time. So to speak. John shakes his head. Even he knows what's possible and what isn't. JOHN No. You can't go forward. If you try, you get an energy surge. Your payload bounces backward. You're lucky if your equipment isn't fried. ANITA Scratch one sensor array. (beat) But that would explain the temporal shockwave. PC See? He does have some of the answers. A sudden realization sinks in for John. He now understands the one paradox that's always bothered him. JOHN You tried to send equipment forward in time. (beat) This is where it began. (beat) You ignorant son of a bitch. ANITA John? What's wrong? John's voice is chilling, haunted - this is the John Connor who carried humanity on his shoulders all his life. JOHN In First History, Skynet simply was. The technological leaps that made it happen weren't possible naturally. (beat) Later, through Skynet's meddling, some things changed. Technology was introduced that hadn't existed. But that initial appearance has always been a mystery to me. PC instinctively steps back. He knows 'about to snap' when he sees it. PC First History? JOHN Skynet had to get its initial start somewhere. ANITA John, you don't know-- JOHN You're the bastard who set this whole thing in motion. Maybe with the equipment you sent, or the shock wave you caused-- PC puts up a tough front, his hand slowly moving to his coat pocket. PC That's only a theory. JOHN -- but somehow you caused Skynet to develop in First History. PC Look, I don't know what the hell you're talking about, and this "Skynet" is a complete mystery to me. I'm just trying to save my project and my job. From beside the sofa, Buster suddenly SNARLS, then BARKS SHARPLY. ANITA Buster, no! Bad dog! At that moment, there is a loud BANG and the center of the front door disappears in the fury of a shotgun blast. Instinctively, PC ducks for cover. John moves towards the door as what's left of it SLAMS open, the frame splintering apart where the bolt used to be, and in the open doorway, dressed in military fatigues but appearing every inch the Terminator bad-ass, stands Skynet. Buster BARKS uncontrollably. John gets a grip on the sawed-off and struggles to keep Skynet from aiming it. Anita watches. Her eyes are wide. ANITA (continuing) Sweet Jesus. She disappears down the hallway to the bedroom. Skynet and John struggle for the shotgun. PC watches too, uncertain what to do. Skynet simply holds the gun as John struggles to gain control. Skynet smiles, exceedingly cocky. SKYNET Connor. What a pleasant surprise. I was expecting one of my own. JOHN Fuck you. With its inhuman strength, Skynet is in no danger of losing this fight. SKYNET Such language. You kiss your mother with that mouth? (beat) Oh, no, That's right, you don't. Because she's dead. With a vicious shove of the gun, Skynet shakes John loose, tossing him to the floor. Skynet stands over him, sights down the shotgun at him. John is frozen. SKYNET (continuing) And now you get to join her. There is a sudden movement in the room. Skynet reacts, but not quickly enough. Buster is clamped on Skynet's left arm, trying to tear it off. Skynet drops the shotgun behind itself (away from John) and raises its right hand. The T-1000 forms a wicked curved blade, like a gauntlet on the hand-- PC sees this and suddenly comprehends: This thing is from the future too... Before it can strike, John grabs Skynet's right arm and immobilizes it against the wall using his right hand. JOHN I brought you a present. John's hand wound begins to reappear as his skin seems to melt away - but it isn't skin. It's the reprogrammed, rust-colored piece of polyalloy John received from Guts and Glory. It rolls onto Skynet's hand. John lets go. Skynet's hand shakes uncontrollably, and it begins to stagger. SKYNET (in disbelief) What's happening? TERMOVISION Erratic and static filled. Warnings and countermeasure messages flash across the screen. Skynet stumbles. The messages read that there is a massive memory dump in progress. Graphs start crawling toward zero. PREVIOUS Skynet drops to one knee, fights to get up. Buster drops away. Anita emerges from the hallway, toting a pump-action shotgun and a pistol. ANITA John! John looks. Anita pitches the shotgun into John's waiting hands. Skynet holds up its hand, which writhes and twists around in seeming agony. The original T-1000 piece and the new part John brought back are locked in mortal combat. Skynet grits its teeth, regains its feet, motor control seriously impaired. ANITA (continuing) What did you do? JOHN I gave it a virus. Written to attack its main code. (beat) But I didn't expect it to have any T-1000 of its own. The inhuman battle rages up and around Skynet's body. Weird shapes straight out of hell war and spit at each other. John takes aim. Time to end this. As he does, PC steps in his way. He backs towards Skynet, keeping his eyes on John. JOHN (continuing) Get out of the way! PC brandishes the pistol, aims it at John. PC Oh no. Not today. I don't know what this thing is -- He gestures over his shoulder at Skynet, which is fighting to stay upright, back-pedaling, completely unbalanced. PC (continuing) --but it's from the future, too. And if you won't help me, maybe it will. JOHN You have no idea what that thing is. PC Is that why you're afraid of it? That it might actually be able to tell me what you won't? PC continues to block John, holding him at bay with the pistol. John tries to get a clean shot, but he won't do it at PC's expense. Suddenly, there is the BANG of a shot-- Skynet jerks from the impact. Anita stands in a professional stance, aiming a Glock 9mm handgun at Skynet. She FIRES again. And again. Skynet turns from the impacts, stumbles-- CRASH! Into a plate glass window. The glass SHATTERS as Skynet's body goes through. PC (continuing) NO! EXT. APARTMENT BUILDING In a rain of shards and falling snow, Skynet plummets to the earth below. PREVIOUS PC stares at the shattered window. He doesn't know what to do. John takes the pistol from Anita, in full battle mode. JOHN What the hell are you doing? ANITA I thought I was helping. JOHN Those things can survive dozens of small arms hits. John passes PC, who is unnervingly quiet, and goes to the window, flanked by Anita. He peers over the edge. JOHN'S POV Glass fragments, a little blood in the snow, a hell of an indentation, a rough scrabble of footprints - but no Skynet. PREVIOUS John leans back from the window. Anita is dazed from the assult on her comfortable reality. ANITA It's true. It's all true. JOHN Come on! We can still catch it! John tucks the Glock into the back of his pants, gathers up both shotguns. PC watches John and Anita collect themselves. PC No. You don't understand. PC aims the small pistol at John. He has a desperate look about him, a man at the end of his rope. PC (continuing) You're going with me. John makes no sudden moves, though he could probably take PC out with little effort. Anita is more angry than afraid. ANITA Paul, don't be an ass. PC Would you shut the hell up? You've done nothing but talk all day! As PC talks, he gets more and more worked up, a man whose's entire perception of his life is unravelling. PC (continuing) I need this project to work. Seven years, I've devoted to this. Nights. Weekends. Do you know what they'll say? "He fucked up space-time." Forget Defense work. I'll be lucky to get a job managing a Seven-Eleven. The gun arm begins to waver a little, as PC gets caught up in his pleading. As he goes, sobs begin to rise. PC (continuing) And what about my family? How do they live if I don't work? How do my kids eat? Where do we go when they take my house away? What happens when my wife leaves? (beat) Don't you see you're taking away my whole life? That you're killing me? John takes a slow half-step in PC's direction. PC snaps to taut readiness with the gun. PC (continuing) So you will help me correct my mistakes. There is a long beat. Then John snatches the pistol out of PC's hand and tucks it away beside the Glock. It happens so fast, it startles PC, who can only watch in pathetic fear as John approaches him. JOHN I've spent my whole life correcting your mistakes. I lost my mother on the wire, breaking a machine labor camp - correcting your mistakes. (beat) Today I buried my best friend and sent my father off to die - correcting your mistakes. (beat) I've lived my entire life in the shadows, destroying machines, burying my soldiers, my friends, and for what? Ultimately, to correct your mistakes. (beat) There's one more left. And I need to tend to it while I still can. PC is in tears, confused, broken. He has no idea what the whole story is, but he can tell John hates him. John turns away. Anita hands him an overcoat. PC (sobbing) You're killing me. John regards him with a mixture of disgust and pity. JOHN No. You did that yourself. John walks out the broken door, toting both shotguns. PC slumps against the wall, buries his head in his hands, and weeps. Anita follows John into the hallway. He's already at the elevator when she calls. ANITA John? Where are we going? John is silent for a moment. He's clearly turning inward, angry, trying to remain focused. JOHN I have absolutely no idea. The elevator arrives, and he and Anita board it. EXT. HIGHWAY - TWILIGHT The Mustang hums down the road, though erratically. INT. MUSTANG Skynet, battered by the head shot from Anita, the fall, and the virus, isn't firing on all cylinders yet. It still has a slight case of the shakes. TERMOVISION The static is random, but still present. Skynet checks operational status as it drives. A major warning scrolls along the bottom of the display: Countermeasures Effective - Viral Agent Co-opted. Catastrophic Memory Dump - 57% Recovered. Time Gap: 2 Hours 32 Minutes. Minimal Probability Of Further Recovery. Or, in nontechnical terms, Skynet has had the equivalent of a fairly bad stroke. PREVIOUS The silver piece of T-1000 slowly absorbs the rust-colored piece. It swells in size. Skynet eases the car over to the shoulder, down a small limited access road and parks, out of sight of the main road. TERMOVISION A drop-down menu appears, and Full Diagnostic/Memory Defragment is selected. A Time To Completion clock reads two hours, forty-six minutes and a handful of seconds. PREVIOUS Skynet's eyes are open, but it is unmoving, sitting up straight - the portrait of machine sleep. DISSOLVE TO: INT. DINER - NIGHT John and Anita sit in a booth. John appears somewhat demoralized. He isn't used to his demons coming out. Anita is shaken - she isn't used to watching it happen. But she senses John's pain. ANITA You're beating yourself up. JOHN Very astute. ANITA Over losing Skynet? Or over Paul? John is silent, internal. ANITA (continuing) Because believe me, if it's over Paul, I know people who'd have paid money to see him face the music. She looks for a smile. She gets a scowl. JOHN You were trying to do the same thing he was. Before you saw for yourself. ANITA What? JOHN Your phone call. A debriefing team. Anita doesn't know how to take this. She's more embarassed than anything else. ANITA You heard me. JOHN You get sharp, listening for the enemy in the dead of night. Anita SIGHS heavily. The WAITRESS brings two cups of coffee. ANITA I'm sorry. WAITRESS Anything else? ANITA No thanks. Outside two MILITARY POLICE JEEPS SCREAM PAST with full LIGHTS AND SIRENS. ANITA (continuing) What's all the commotion? WAITRESS Don't know for sure. Somebody said something about two Air Force boys, found dead by the road, about twenty miles from here. (whispers) One of them was bare to his drawers. Perverts, if you ask me. The Waitress drifts away. Anita turns to John, who is still in quiet thought. ANITA Air Force. The fatigues Skynet was wearing were Air Force. John doesn't respond. He sips his coffee. Anita grows frustrated. ANITA (continuing) What's your story? Two hours ago, you couldn't chase this thing down soon enough. (beat) What happened to "no time to spare"? JOHN An old friend told me once you need to make time if it's important. (beat) My whole life has been a war. A war against the machine. And against myself. He sips some more coffee, savoring it. This is the first coffee he's had in a long time. ANITA I find it hard to believe a man who led humanity back from the brink had time to fight himself along the way. JOHN Believe it. It seems sometimes that I've never been anything but angry. Angry at my mother because I thought she was insane. (beat) And just as angry to find out she wasn't. Anita puts a comforting hand on his, something to reassure him she understands. ANITA Being here brings it back, doesn't it? Remembering just what the full measure of your burden is. JOHN Yes. (beat) Being the savior of all mankind is a little easier when it isn't all around. When the coffee isn't hot. (beat) When you don't know first-hand the kind of people you're fighting for. ANITA You're afraid. Of what? John stares. He suspects there's much more to her than meets the eye. He might just be afraid of her at this moment. JOHN That I'll fail. Ever since I was a kid, I've been afraid of that. (beat) Afraid that no matter what I do, this war happens. That the end of mankind truly is meant to be some kind of Judgment Day. (beat) That I'll have to watch it... live it again, powerless to stop it. Anita stares long and hard at John, who has averted his gaze to the steam rising off his coffee. ANITA Do you know why I got into temporal physics? JOHN All the psych classes were full? ANITA No. I did it because I firmly and honestly believe we aren't bound by predestiny. A little light flares up in John's eyes. This is familiar. ANITA (continuing) And I thought that by being able to bend time, I could prove that the only fate that befalls us is the one we make. JOHN (softly) The future's not set. ANITA That's right. (beat) So you can sit here and enjoy what may be your last cup of coffee, or you can figure out what our next move is. JOHN I think I already know. (beat) Skynet's going home. DISSOLVE TO: EXT, HIGHWAY - NIGHT Skynet's Mustang has been covered in a blanket of snow. The door opens, scattering the loose powder. Skynet emerges, moving fluidly first, then with a jerk, then fluidly again, partially impaired by its experience. Skynet opens the trunk and pulls out an AR-15 and a Ruger Mini 14 - two very premium automatic rifles - and slips them into the back seat. It slams the trunk and climbs back into the car. The engine ROARS to life, headlights FLARE on and the Mustang swerves onto the access road, throwing snow everywhere on its way back to the highway. DISSOLVE TO: EXT. FREEWAY - MORNING Anita's car moves along a four lane interstate with a fair number of other cars. INT. ANITA'S CAR John sleeps in the passenger seat, the first sleep he's had in days. Anita drives, ragged from her own lack of slumber. John stirs, yawns, stretches. ANITA Welcome back to the land of the living. John is clearly stiff - the seat, coupled with the amount of fatigue he's recovering from. JOHN And they say jet-lag is bad. ANITA Time-lag. Now that never came up in our simulations. John steals a glance at the countryside, the traffic. JOHN Where are we? ANITA About twenty miles outside of Colorado Springs. EXT. FREEWAY Anita's car passes an on-ramp to the freeway. Not long after, a Red Mustang - yes, Skynet - wheels up the ramp and merges into traffic. INT. MUSTANG Skynet is driving very fast. TERMOVISION As on the country road, Skynet's CPU tracks the location and speed of every vehicle in front of it. EXT. FREEWAY The Mustang makes a couple of daring moves around slower traffic. They aren't as sharp as usual - more damage effect. INT. ANITA'S CAR She glances in the rear view mirror, sees the Mustang in the distance, coming up like a maniac. ANITA You haven't told me yet how you plan to get into Cheyenne Mountain. JOHN I don't know yet. One of my strong points is improvisation. Anita glances again at the reckless Mustang. ANITA Great. (beat) Someone's in a hurry. John checks in his side mirror. TERMOVISION Even at this speed, with this many targets, Skynet is able to clearly see John's face in the mirror. A 'TARGET ACQUIRED' message appears. EXT. FREEWAY The Mustang changes its course, getting into the lane to the right of Anita's car. It begins to slow, creeping up on Anita instead of zooming past. INTERCUT - EXT. FREEWAY/INT. ANITA'S CAR ANITA What the hell is he doing? John checks the mirror again. He can't see into the car. But he does see the Mustang's driver side window open. In the shadow of the Mustang's interior, sunlight glints off something metallic. John knows a gun barrel when he sees one. JOHN Shit. ANITA What is it? JOHN When I say "Now", hit the brakes. ANITA What? The Mustang is pulling alongside. The muzzle of the gun is now very plain to John. JOHN Trust me. (beat) Now! Anita slams on the brakes. There is a SQUEAL of rubber on pavement that is quickly joined by the RAPID FIRE of an assault rifle. The Mustang cruises by, Skynet still firing the rifle. Several shots strike another car. One takes the gas tank and the other car DETONATES in a BALL OF FLAME. Anita's car drives through the flame. The smoke obscures Anita and John's view. As they clear it, they see the Mustang swerving to cut in front of them. JOHN (continuing) Go right! Anita's car swerves right, clipping the back end of the Mustang. The sports car swerves from the impact. JOHN (continuing) Stay to the right and gun it. Anita follows John's direction, pulling away from the Mustang. The Mustang rights its course and gives chase. John draws the pistol, chambers a round, thumbs off the safety. JOHN (continuing) Slow down. Draw it in a little. ANITA I'd rather get farther away. JOHN We can't outrun it. Not in this. Anita adjusts her speed. The Mustang slides in behind her. A spray of RIFLE FIRE shatters the back windshield. Anita, so far cool in this crisis, SCREAMS in surprise and swerves hard left. As she does, John tries to get a bead out his window, can't. More bullets from Skynet's rifle tear up the fiberglass bumper of Anita's car. Anita puts other traffic between them, cutting between two cars to a chorus of HORNS. She continues on, all the way to the left, and OVER THE MEDIAN. ANITA If we can't outrun it, we'll out-drive it. Anita plunges into oncoming traffic, causing it to scatter. She straightens out. The Mustang follows. As it crosses the median-- --John gets the bead he wanted. He fires off seven shots, rapid fire. The Mustang continues to come, undaunted. The two cars maneuver through traffic, the Mustang gaining as the oncoming traffic parts the way for them. Anita sees they're running out of space. The highway is coming to a narrow bridge over a ravine. Nowhere for the oncoming traffic to go. Anita forces an opening and cuts back onto the median at breakneck speed. The Mustang follows. Skynet fires a few more rounds. TWIN BANGS as BOTH of Anita's back tires blow out. ANITA (continuing) Hang on! She tries to control the car. It screams towards the median drop off and the beginning of the ravine, between the two bridge spans. The Mustang shoots by, back on the highway. John fires a couple of errant shots as it speeds off. Anita works the wheel. The car swerves wildly, cutting up the median. It goes sideways, slowing-- CRUNCH! It strikes the right-hand bridge abutment, narrowly missing plunging into the ravine beyond. INT. ANITA'S CAR She and John have been severely rattled by the jolt. Anita's lip bleeds. John holds his head. ANITA Are you okay? JOHN Whacked my head pretty good. ANITA I told you to hang on. John climbs from the car. He stares down the highway. The Mustang is already out of sight. Anita joins him. JOHN So close. ANITA But I guess you were right about where it's going. JOHN If it gets there, we lose. ANITA Isn't it going to be a little conspicuous? Bruises, contusions, really big guns? In the distance, there is the SOUND of a POLICE SIREN. JOHN With the polyalloy, it can become any individual, sampling their face, and using it like a mask. ANITA That's what it was doing with the Air Force personnel. JOHN But those bodies were found. It'll need someone else. The SIREN grows closer. John and Anita turn to see a HIGHWAY PATROL CRUISER pulling up behind them on the median. The HIGHWAY PATROLMAN steps out of the car. JOHN'S POV John quickly assesses the threat - the look in the cop's eyes, the hand on the butt of the revolver, the slow, deliberate movements. The man is ready for trouble-- PREVIOUS So the leader of the Last Army improvises. JOHN (urgent) Officer, our son is trapped! Can you help us? The patrolman glances between the two of them. John tries yanking on the back door, which is stuck. His hysterics are strikingly real. PATROLMAN Now just settle down, and keep your hands where I can see them. JOHN He's pinned between the seats (looking in car) Oh God, his throat! The glass! He's bleeding to death! John starts hammering on the window. The patrolman is beginning to bite. John SMASHES the rear passenger window in with his bare hands and tries to reach his "son". JOHN (continuing) Hang on, Peter! I'm coming! (to Patrolman, screaming) Damn it, HELP ME! Bingo. The Patrolman bites. He comes in to help John with the door. Instinct tells him to check on the child. The Patrolman sees an empty seat, and too late hears the CLICK of a hammer being drawn back on a gun. PATROLMAN Shit. John holds the Glock on him. JOHN I'm sorry. Really. PATROLMAN You son of a bitch. Anita watches with a trace of worry - and a hint of smile. JOHN I'm not going to hurt you. PATROLMAN Believe me, when I see you again, I'm most definitely going to hurt you. You'll resist arrest at least a half-dozen times. JOHN Maybe. But for now, we're going to borrow your car. You can pick it up tomorrow at Petersen Air Force Base. John takes the Patrolman's gun out of the holster and tucks it into his waistband. PATROLMAN Jesus. Do you know the paperwork that goes with a stolen gun? JOHN You'll get it back. Taking the handcuffs, John secures the Patrolman to Anita's car. JOHN (continuing) When they come to rescue you, tell them I turned your gun over to the MPs at Crystal Palace. John hits the Patrolman over the head with the butt of the Glock. The Patrolman drops, unconsciousness. Wordlessly, John and Anita climb into the police cruiser and drive away. EXT. CHEYENNE MT. - CRYSTAL PALACE - DAY GENERAL ALEXANDER KLOS walks towards his jeep. He is a big man - very similar in build to Skynet (imagine that). Several officers pass him and offer half-hearted salutes. He returns them as halfheartedly. It's chilly this morning. With a fluid motion he hops into his jeep, and drives up to the gate. The GUARD on duty glances up from his clipboard and waves him through. GUARD A.M. briefing, General? GENERAL KLOS Career day at my granddaughter's school. GUARD Have fun, sir. Klos grumbles. He hates career day. He's never been in a war, and they always ask. The guard watches as he leaves. EXT. THE BASE ROAD - MINUTES LATER General Klos drives along the road. He sees a car on the side of the road - Skynet's Mustang. The hood is up and Skynet is looking at the engine. Klos pulls off to the side of the road. Any excuse to miss career day. KLOS You having a problem there, Airman? SKYNET If you could give me a hand with this belt. I've almost got it. KLOS I've been around an engine or two in my day. Started out in the motor pool. Klos steps out of the jeep and walks over, fearless. Skynet is dressed if fatigues, looks like one of their own. The General sees the belt is fine. KLOS (continuing) Where's the problem? SKYNET There is no problem. In a lightning fast move, it snaps the General's head back. The general slumps, lifeless. Skynet touches the polyalloy to the General so it can "sample" his appearance. Then Skynet applies the polyalloy to its own face. The polyalloy spreads and morphs into the General's likeness. Skynet/Klos begins to relieve the General of his uniform. MOMENTS LATER Skynet/Klos, in uniform, casually dumps the General's body into the back seat of his Mustang. It retrieves the two rifles. Effortlessly, Skynet pushes the entire car off the shoulder and over the embankment bordering the road. It watches as the Mustang slides to a stop some twenty or thirty feet below. There is no smoke or fire, the car just crumples to a stop. Skynet/Klos turns and climbs into the jeep, stows the rifles and heads back toward the base. INT. POLICE CRUISER John drives like a man possessed. He clears out slower traffic by leaning on the SIREN. EXT. HIGHWAY - DAY Traffic parts like magic, allowing the cruiser access to the off ramp. EXT. THE BASE GATE - DAY Skynet/Klos steers the jeep towards the base gate. The guard holds up a hand and walks over. GUARD General. Back so soon? Decided to take a pass on career day? SKYNET/KLOS Yes. A waste of time. The guard motions to his partner in the booth. the gate swings. GUARD Don't I know it. I love my kids and all, but I just can't stand-- Skynet/Klos drives through, completely disregarding the guard. EXT. BASE ACCESS ROAD The police cruiser skids to a stop near a large disturbance in the snow on the shoulder - the spot Skynet pushed the Mustang over. John emerges, noticing the disturbed snow and damaged undergrowth. JOHN Damn. He starts climbing down the embankment. ANITA What are you doing? JOHN They may still be alive. It takes only moments for John to scramble down the side of the ravine and look in on the dead General. John checks for anything that might give him a clue as to who this man is. Anita shouts to him from atop the ravine. ANITA John, we've got company! John scrambles up the embankment. He reaches the cruiser. Anita points in the distance: Two MP vehicles approaching. JOHN He's dead, whoever he is. But he's still very warm. ANITA Skynet has a face? John nods. JOHN But he may not have access yet. Come on. John and Anita get back in and head towards the approaching MPs. INT. POLICE CRUISER John leans on the accelerator. ANITA What are you doing? JOHN Locking down the base by remote control. PREVIOUS The police cruiser is on a direct course for the MPs. To their credit, the MP drivers don't give any quarter. It's a game of chicken. John hits the lights to suggest he means business. The MPs respond in kind. As they converge on one another, the MP jeeps split to either side and skid to a halt as John speeds by. They turn and give chase. INT. POLICE CRUISER Anita peeks out the back windshield. ANITA You certainly got their attention. JOHN Good. That's the idea. PREVIOUS The cruiser bears down on the main base gate. Two Gate Guards work on closing the entryway. The Cruiser accelerates and CRASHES through the half-secured barricade. An ALERT CLAXON begins to sound. John slams on the brakes in the middle of the parking lot and kills the engine. He climbs from the car and spreads his hands wide, palms on the roof of the car. The MP jeeps arrive and the cruiser is suddenly surrounded by a half-dozen men with large guns. MP #1 Don't move. Don't even blink. JOHN Don't worry. The MPs move in on John and begin to handcuff him. ANITA Let him go. MP #2 On whose authority? Anita pulls out her government ID. ANITA Anita Barrett, Scientific Advisor to the Office of the President. The MP examines the ID closely. ANITA (continuing) That man is a material witness with information about a terrorist plot with nuclear elements. (beat) It also involves someone posing as the man whose body is in a red Mustang in a ravine a couple miles down that road. MP #2 debates whether or not to put stock in her story. he motions to one of the MP squads to check it out. MP #2 This story better check. ANITA Contact Major General Cosgrove. He knows who I am. JOHN You have to close down the Palace now. You have an infiltration in progress. MP #1 What? MP #2 Impossible. EXT. BASE - CHECKPOINT Skynet/Klos, carrying Klos' briefcase and wearing his ID, passes easily through a main security checkpoint, and is suddenly one step closer to the mountain. EXT. MAIN GATE John continues to work the MP. JOHN Listen to me: you have a master of disguise who has compromised your nuclear launch codes. MP #2 What drugs are you on? You can't launch any missiles from here. John's mind races. He knows Skynet is headed up to the mountain at any time. JOHN No. But you can issue launch bulletins to remote sites. And when the infiltrator reaches the Ops center, it will use all correct communication codes, signs, and counter-signs. MP #1 It? INT. BASE - LINKING CORRIDOR Skynet/Klos sweeps the late General's magnetic ID at an automated entryway to the corridor that leads to transport up to the mountain. The green approval light GLOWS. The electronic lock BUZZES and Skynet/Klos is in. EXT. MAIN GATE The waiting game continues. JOHN I don't expect you to believe this. MP #1 Good. Because no one's going anywhere until I have a little more information. ANITA Have you contacted the General? MP #2 His aide is looking for him now, Ms. Barrett. It's a big facility. EXT. GUARD POST TWO Skynet/Klos is further into the base. It stands with a number of other personnel, waiting for a bus to the Crystal Palace entrance. A COLONEL passes him, saluting sharply. Skynet/Klos returns it. COLONEL How's that shoulder, Alex? SKYNET/KLOS Fine. COLONEL Damn. We had the base tournament sewn up without you bowling. Give a guy a break, huh? SKYNET/KLOS Be careful what you wish for. The Colonel LAUGHS, oblivious to the danger he's really in. The bus arrives. The Colonel moves on. COLONEL I'll see you Thursday night. Skynet/Klos boards the bus that goes to the mountain entrance. SKYNET/KLOS Not likely. EXT. MAIN GATE MP #1 gets a call on his radio. He listens closely, the words are indistinguishable to us. He nods. MP #1 turns to John. MP #1 The dead man is General Klos. JOHN That's who your infiltrator will look like. MP #2 is on his radio. MP #2 Miss Barrett, the Major General is on the line. He's asking to know what this is all about. ANITA Tell him it's a lethal consequence of Tick-Tock, and it's loose on his base. EXT. CRYSTAL PALACE GATE The bus pulls to a stop. The doors open. Skynet/Klos walks towards the gate. He's third in line for entry. Guards do a weapons check and metal detection. PREVIOUS MP #1 gets off his radio. He's puzzled by what he's just been told. MP #1 Base gate reports General Klos returned about five minutes ago. JOHN It isn't Klos! Why won't you listen? MP #2 gets an earful from the radio. He calls to MP #1. MP #2 Major General wants these two in his office. (beat, more radio) Major General has called for lock-down. MP #1 Confirmation? EXT. CRYSTAL PALACE GATE Skynet/Klos is about to become next in line to pass into the tunnel and through the huge doorway. PREVIOUS MP #2 gets his confirmation. MP #2 Confirmed, Tango Able Charlie. EXT. CRYSTAL PALACE GATE GUARD Good morning, General Klos. SKYNET/KLOS Good morning. As Skynet/Klos steps up to be recognized, ALARMS GO OFF. People start scrambling and THREE MPs emerge from the tunnel entrance. Skynet/Klos sees the three foot solid steel doors starting to swing closed at the far end of the tunnel. The Guard stops Skynet/Klos from passing the gate. GUARD I'm sorry sir, but we are under a security lock-down. No entry or exit at this time. Please proceed to your surface office. SKYNET/KLOS I must get inside. GUARD Regulations prohibit anyone from entering or leaving the facility during a security lock-down. I'm sorry, Sir. You know the rules. SKYNET/KLOS I am countermanding those regulations. The Palace MPs take notice. Troublemakers are uncommon at times like these. GUARD You do not have that authority, sir. One of the Palace MP's radios begins to squawk. RADIO VOICE Attention, all security personnel. Base security has been compromised. Apprehend and detain a man posing as General Alexander Klos. Skynet/Klos, the guard and the MPs all have a moment of indecision. Skynet's is the shortest. It grabs the guard as the guard reaches for his sidearm. Taking the gun from him, Skynet/Klos uses him as a shield against the MPs. PALACE MP #1 Let him go! Skynet keeps changing position, never offering a clean shot. The guard doesn't struggle, Skynet's huge arm around his neck. Skynet sees the doors are about half closed. SKYNET Let me in, and he lives. PALACE MP #2 Let him go, or you die. Skynet thinks about it for a moment. TERMOVISION Skynet analyzes what the MPs are packing for firepower. It gets the indicator "Terminal Damage 14% Possible" RESUME Skynet smiles, that evil grin. SKYNET Good luck. It FIRES two rounds into the Guard's back and pitches the body away. Whatever else might be said of them, the MPs are not slow on the uptake and they immediately open fire. Skynet take a beating from the weapons as it closes in on the first MP. Skynet walks right up to the closest and rips the gun out of his grasp. Tangled in the strap, the MP is thrown quite some distance before he hits the ground. BLAM! He never rises as the bullet rips through his skull. Skynet turns. BLAM! BLAM! The other two MPs go down. There is a quiet pause. Then Skynet hears the massive blast doors grinding closed. He turns to look at the doors. TERMOVISION As numbers and calculations swarm across the view. One thing is evident. Skynet is not going to get in standing there. PREVIOUS Skynet starts running toward the doors. We see that Skynet will not make it in time. Skynet accelerates. The doors grind closer. Skynet is steaming at an incredible pace. We have never seen a T-800 move this fast before. The doors rumble even closer. CLOSE ON SKYNET'S FACE We can see its eyes glowing red. PREVIOUS The doors are almost closed. Skynet SLAMS into the doors with extraordinary force. They don't wobble or show any effect whatsoever. He grabs on to the lip of the door with both hands and pulls with inhuman strength. But there are laws of physics that even apply to Skynet. The doors are just too large. Skynet pulls its hands out just as the doors close with the deep rumble of a mountain guarding its treasure. Skynet scans the perimeter of the door carefully. TERMOVISION As it scans for any signs of weakness. There are none. Skynet's expression doesn't waver at the fact that it cannot get inside the mountain. We HEAR SHOUTS from further down the tunnel. More MPs have come to investigate the damage. Skynet pauses, considering options. Time for a new plan. INT. TUNNEL With the new crop of MPs sent to investigate the tunnel damage. Four of them, hardened damage-control personnel. They enter the tunnel slowly, guns at the ready. The encounter the bodies of the MPs, check them. PALACE MP #4 All dead. They press on. Near the door, they find a body in a tattered officer's uniform, on its side. MP #4 rolls it over. Skynet - but its face is a bloody pulp, almost unrecognizable (courtesy of the polyalloy). PALACE MP #5 Jesus. Face shot. Skynet GROANS. Convincingly. One of the MPs SHOUTS up the tunnel. PALACE MP #4 Medic! We've got wounded! (to Skynet) Hang in there, fella. Help is on the way. Skynet groans again, almost as if it's enjoying the role. The MP stares down the tunnel, waiting for the medic. CLOSE ON THE MP'S FACE He wears a puzzled and concerned look. COSGROVE (O.S.) So you just handed him over to the medics? WIDER ANGLE We see that we are now inside an interrogation room somewhere on the base. The guard is being interrogated by MAJOR GENERAL COSGROVE, the base commander of Cheyenne Mountain, an older man who exudes military discipline. Anita, John and another MP are in the room, observing. PALACE MP #4 Yes sir. COSGROVE Without so much as a guard? After a fire-fight that left four men dead right outside the damned door? MP #4 waffles. He thought everything was on the level. PALACE MP #4 Sir, he was a bloody mess. He had no face left. I didn't think he posed a threat in the slightest. COSGROVE How does a man so severely wounded just walk away from the medical bay? PALACE MP #4 I don't know, sir. COSGROVE You don't know. (beat) You are confined to quarters until further notice. Dismissed. The MP salutes sharply, more happy to be dismissed than anything else. None of this makes sense to him. The other MP remains on station in the room. COSGROVE (continuing) The base is sealed. So much as a cricket can't slip through the perimeter without being spotted. (beat) Whoever he is, we'll find him. There is a KNOCK at the door. Cosgrove's Aide hands off a file folder. As John speaks, Cosgrove glances from the folder to John, with a puzzled look. JOHN Begging your pardon, General, but whatever this... man... wants, he'll have. He can think faster than any computer you have on this base. COSGROVE Really? And how would you know that? JOHN I've been fighting him for a long time. Cosgrove nods. Uh-huh. COSGROVE Miss Barrett, could I speak to you outside for a moment? John gives Anita an alarmed glance. Anita shakes her head slightly - don't worry. Anita follows Cosgrove from the room. As they leave the room, John spies pen and paper on the table. He glances up at the clock on the wall. Time is running out. In just a few hours, the war will begin. John has a momentary introspection. He picks up the pen and begins to write. INT. ROOM ADJOINING THE INTERROGATION ROOM Anita and Cosgrove are seated at a table. COSGROVE Ms. Barrett, you know I respect the work you've done on the project, and your credentials are beyond reproach. ANITA But? COSGROVE I've run up against a conundrum that goes beyond the disruption of this facility. (beat) And it has to do with tall, dark and handsome in there. Anita goes cold at the news. ANITA What did you find? COSGROVE We took his fingerprints when we pulled him in. Routine for purposes of identification. We found a match. Name: John Connor. (beat) Problem is, it turned up in the juvenile crime database. Cosgrove lets that sink in. Anita doesn't seem as surprised as she could. COSGROVE (continuing) Born in 1984. (beat) He's got a hell of a lot of mileage on that body for an 18 year old. Anita considers the truth, and quickly disregards it. Cosgrove is already baffled enough. ANITA I don't know what to say. COSGROVE I think you do. He flips through the folder, glancing, gleaning factoids off various pages. ANITA How do you figure, General? COSGROVE When you and Mr. Connor forced your way on base, you said this was a consequence of Tick-Tock. ANITA I was trying to get you attention. COSGROVE (smiling) I'm not buying it, Miss Barrett. EXT. MOTOR POOL - DAY With the base still on alert, a guard is posted at the entrance to the garage. From the nearby cover of several 55 gallon drums, Skynet observes. It's formulating a plan. TERMOVISION Skynet picks the guard's name off the front of his uniform: Dawes. RESUME The guard waves a jeep out of the garage. As it passes, the guard hears a voice. We know it's Airman Koto's voice, compliments of Skynet. SKYNET/KOTO (O.S.) Dawes! I found him! He's over here! Dawes walks over to the drums like a lamb to the slaughter. INT. INTERROGATION ROOM John continues to write with a furious pace, like a man under a deadline. In fact, he is. INT. ROOM ADJOINING THE INTERROGATION ROOM Cosgrove flips through the folder of data on John. Anita tries to stay calm, fighting a sinking feeling. COSGROVE There's an interesting pattern at work here. It starts with Connor's mother, who, among some of her crazier notions, claimed a dead man found with her in LA in 1984 was actually from the future. ANITA Crazier notions? COSGROVE She was a Grade-A nut case. Or so they said. (beat) She also claimed that together she and this man had destroyed a cyborg, also sent from the future. Anita says nothing. She's already heard this from John's own lips. COSGROVE (continuing) In 1994, Cyberdyne - one of the contractors, oddly enough, on the Tick-Tock project - had its Los Angeles facility leveled. One of their chief engineers, Miles Dyson, was killed in the explosion. (beat) His wife made an initial statement, later recanted, that Sarah, her son John, and something alleged to be a cyborg from the future had been in her home that evening. INT. INTERROGATION ROOM John puts the pen down and folds up what he's written. As he does, he begins to COUGH and GAG uncontrollably. He makes a strangling sound. The MP moves in close enough for John to take a swing. The MP is initially prepared, but John has spent the last 29 years as a scrapper. The MP is quickly subdued. EXT. MOTOR POOL Having eliminated the guard, Skynet walks briskly to the garage and slips inside. Inside the garage, Skynet quickly takes inventory, eyeballing a jeep. Then it turns and sees: The hovercraft. A less advanced version of the models seen in the future, but still formidable, with a swivel-mounted machine gun to the starboard side. Several of them are in line. A Technician works on the engine of one. Skynet smiles. It's even better than it hoped for. INT. ROOM ADJOINING THE INTERROGATION ROOM Cosgrove continues. Anita already knows where he's going. COSGROVE I also have a statement from a Dr. Silberman, who was Sarah's attending psychiatrist while she was in the state hospital. Seems he saw some liquid man walk through steel holding bars. ANITA This is all very interesting, General, but-- COSGROVE (interrupts) It seems everyone who comes into contact with the Connors starts babbling about killer machines from the future. He stands beside Anita's chair, menacing, formidable. COSGROVE (continuing) The man in there is an over-forty version of an eighteen year old boy also alive today, isn't he? (beat) Your John Connor is from the future. Anita doesn't answer. COSGROVE (continuing) If he is, he has valuable tactical knowledge. Anita doesn't bite. She knows Cosgrove suspects her knowledge runs deep. Cosgrove leans forward. COSGROVE (continuing) Knowledge that the Pentagon will be extremely interested in acquiring. By any means necessary. There is a sharp knock at the door leading to the Interrogation room. The door opens a crack. JOHN (O.S.; disguised) Sir, the prisoner has collapsed. Cosgrove goes straight for the door. As he arrives, John, now dressed in the ill-fitting MPs uniform, solidly punches him flush on the jaw. Cosgrove staggers, Anita adds a punch of her own, sending him down for the count. Anita regards Cosgrove with contempt. JOHN Are you okay? ANITA Yeah. If you knew some of the people you're trying to save. An ALERT CLAXON begins to sound throughout the base. John and Anita exchange knowing glances. JOHN Skynet. INT. MOTOR POOL GARAGE The Technician who was working on engines is dead on the floor. On board one of the hoverjets, Skynet turns the vehicle to where several Guards and MPs are firing on it. Bullets ricochet near and off of Skynet as it trains the machine guns on them. Skynet lets them rip. BAM BAM BAM KABOOM! A couple of drums, once cover, are now fireballs. EXT. BASE John and Anita emerge from one of the buildings and spot the plume of smoke rising into the air. Nearby, a SOLDIER watching the explosion steps from his jeep. John grabs his keys and shoves him aside. SOLDIER Hey! John and Anita are in the jeep and moving before the soldier can catch them. The jeep speeds across the base, towards the motor pool. INT. MOTOR POOL GARAGE Skynet begins to maneuver the hoverjet towards the garage entrance. As it does, a jeep with a .30 caliber mounted machine gun pulls in the way. The jeep's gun CHATTERS. Skynet returns fire. The jeep EXPLODES. Flaming soldiers fall about the wreck. One tumbles into the path of John's oncoming jeep. JOHN Hang on! He swerves sharply, but can't avoid a crash of some kind. He slams the brakes, slowing enough so that his collision with a parked truck isn't so severe. JOHN (continuing) Are you okay? Anita shakes her head to clear the cobwebs. ANITA This is payback for the bridge abutment, isn't it? Skynet's hoverjet exits the hanger and makes a sweeping turn. John watches it go, knows what this particular vehicle is. JOHN Come on. They enter the hanger and climb aboard another hoverjet. ANITA You know how to drive one of these? JOHN Watch and learn. Skynet accelerates its hoverjet and smashes through a guard station. It heads off into the countryside. From inside the hanger, John and Anita's hoverjet emerges with a sweeping turn. They see Skynet, already going like a bat out of hell, disappearing towards the horizon. ANITA Where's it going? I thought it wanted inside the mountain. JOHN Secondary objective. It knows that it'll take too long to get inside now. (beat) It's going somewhere else to start the war. ANITA The nearest communications center that could help it transmit launch codes is a thousand miles from here. John accelerates, trying to keep Skynet in sight. JOHN Actually, it'd only have to launch one. Russian paranoia and our overkill response would take care of the rest. ANITA A missile silo. JOHN And there are some as close as a hundred miles from here. Anita gives John a curious look. ANITA How would you know that? JOHN Perry's Recon troops found them while scouting out the approach to Crystal Palace. Called them the Diamond Ring. Defensive ring around the mountain. John steers the hoverjet, still keeping Skynet in sight as long as possible. He pulls to a stop near a four lane highway. ANITA What are you doing? JOHN This is where you get off. Anita frowns. She knew this was coming, but she's grown to like John's company, dangerous as it is. John notes her hesitation. JOHN (continuing) We're burning moonlight, here. ANITA Huh? JOHN I need to go. He pulls out the folded sheet of paper he wrote while in the interrogation room and presses it into her hand. ANITA What's this? JOHN A "Dear John" letter. ANITA Very funny. Seriously. John smiles as he helps her down to the ground. JOHN Instructions are in the top margin. (beat) If the sun doesn't come up tomorrow, just destroy it. Otherwise, it tells you what to do. ANITA You're going to make sure I get a sunrise, right? JOHN You and everyone else. (beat) Thank you, Anita. ANITA You're welcome, John. Godspeed. John activates the hoverjet. With a WHINE of the engines, the little craft is off into the distance. Anita tentatively unfolds the sheet of paper. She begins reading it. Her eyes go wide as she reads. ANITA (continuing) Oh my God. EXT. VARIOUS SHOTS FOLLOWING THE HOVERJETS Skynet drives the machine for all it's worth. Its single minded goal: one of the missile silos in the Diamond Ring. John races along, playing catch up. He searches for the machine gun fire control on the panel before him. He flips a small switch and presses the control on his throttle. He's rewarded with a stream of tracers plowing up the terrain ahead of him. Without a gunner, he needs to keep it locked forward. Ahead, he sees Skynet racing for a small lake. John grunts and pushes his machine even harder. Although Skynet is brilliant with automotive driving, the hoverjet requires a finesse it lacks. It throttles back as it passes over a small mogul. John continues to close the distance, leans even more heavily on the throttle. JOHN Come on, come on. EXT. OUT OVER THE WATER With a spray, Skynet takes the chase out over the lake. A glance over its shoulder tells it there is pursuit. It puts the hoverjet on the equivalent of cruise control, and unlocks the swivel-mounted gun, bringing it to bear on John. John arcs in high and cuts across the back of Skynet's craft. John lets a volley go from his gun. Skynet rocks under the impact of the bullets, but doesn't slow down much. It shifts the gun's aim and fires at the rapidly approaching John. Its shots are wild, missing wide of John's course. John swings his rudder slightly and lets a burst rip right down the center of Skynet's craft. BAM! Skynet gets hit right in the face. He shakes off the debris and takes better aim. It finds its shoulder is siezed up, limiting mobility. John rocks his machine slightly again and another burst rips across the bow of Skynet's machine. The bullets tear into the mounting of the machine gun Skynet is desperately trying to aim. There's a flash and the gun is disabled. Skynet wrenches its shoulder, regains some mobility. It goes back to piloting and accelerates to intercept John, intent on ramming him! John struggles for a moment, before he realizes there is no way around Skynet. He kills the back fans and over-revs the front. His craft bucks like a bronco, but the front rises just enough to clear Skynet's craft. John revs the back fan and his craft launches into the air. Skynet spins around to see Johns craft spinning slow over on its side. It brings its craft around in a wide circle. Rather than try to right his craft. John pushes the side jets even harder and accelerates the spin of his hover craft. He just manages to bring it back around right side up when it hits the water, creating a tremendous SPRAY of water. Skynet finishes its lazy circle to see John ride through the spray and steady his craft. Skynet accelerates its craft forward. SKYNET Goodbye, Connor. John turns to see Skynet bearing down on him again. He can't turn away this time. Quickly, he cuts all the fans and drops into the water. Skynet whips past him in front. John lets go a burst from his machine gun, and peppers the bottom of Skynet's craft. It should be apparent by now that John is a far better tactician than Skynet will ever hope to be. Certainly Skynet has realized it. It heads away from John, sitting in the water. One of its fans is starting to bang a little. John watches helplessly as Skynet moves away. Stalled, his machine settles to the water. Skynet reaches the lake shore and disappears around a small hill. John continues working on restarting his machine, desperate for success. EXT. PLAIN - DAY Skynet plows ahead, the hoverjet making ominous mechanical noises. It scans the horizon. TERMOVISION Skynet spies a nondescript shack on the distant horizon. It knows what this is. PREVIOUS Skynet urges the hoverjet on, and gets a loud metallic CLANGING for its trouble. EXT. LAKE John is sinking deeper into the water and he can't get his engines started again. JOHN Come on. Work with me. He pushes it as far as it will go and the fans start swishing the water. He rises and hits the jets. With a roar, he kicks out of the water and the turbo props start. JOHN (continuing) I hope you think in straight lines, you bastard. John roars towards the shore. EXT. A NONDESCRIPT SHACK - DAY Skynet limps the dying hovercraft into a short skid in front of the shack. It climbs out and examines the building. TERMOVISION We see a thermal overlay over the interior of the building. Two shapes, clearly human, are highlighted and tagged with indecipherable codes. INT. SHACK The two soldiers look up at Skynet's unexpected entrance. They are behind bullet-proof glass. Still in the General's uniform, the soldiers are thrown off. SILO SOLDIER #1 Can I help you, sir? SKYNET I need to get inside. SILO SOLDIER #1 I need to see your orders. TERMOVISION As Skynet identifies the weak point in the armoring in front of him. SKYNET Here are my orders. It steps forward and punches its fist through the wall. RIIIIIIP, the armored glass pulls out of its frame. The two soldiers stand there, stunned. Skynet steps into their work area and SNAP breaks the neck of the first soldier. The second tries to unholster his sidearm. He is knocked over by the body of the first soldier. Skynet draws the dead soldier's side arm. BLAM! Two dead soldiers. Skynet turns and scans the console. A quick moment and he pushes a control. Elevator doors open behind him. INT. MISSILE COMMAND CENTER - DOWN BELOW As the elevator doors open. Skynet emerges. BAM! BAM! Skynet takes two shots to the chest. One of the two MISSILE COMMANDERS is lying in wait. His eyes widen as the shots have no effect. MC #1 Halt! BAM! BAM! Skynet's head snaps back as it takes two more bullets. It touches its face, and T-1000 flows into the holes in its skin. In a moment, its face is as it was before. Skynet LAUGHS. It spooks the Missile Commander. BAM! BAM! BAM! BAM! The Missile Commander rises from his hiding spot and is pumping Skynet full of lead. MC #1 (continuing) Riley! Seal the door! Skynet stalks forward under a hail of fire. Behind the Missile Commander, the steel door slams closed. The missile commander keeps retreating and firing. He empties his clip. His ejects the first clip and reaches for another. He has backed up to the sealed door. He gets the second clip in as Skynet reaches him. He slams it home and turns the gun on himself. BAM! The back of his head is spattered against the far wall - he suicided before he could be captured. Skynet pauses, watches the body crumple to the floor. It reaches down and with a YANK pulls the missile key from around the dead man's neck. It turns its attention to the door. INT. CONTROL ROOM The upper part of the door twists in. THE SECOND MISSILE COMMANDER has opened a small safe. He pulls his launch key from around his neck and throws it inside. CRUNCH! The lower part of the door spins in. Missile Commander Two slams safe door closed and spins the dial. A final CRUNCH and the door gives way, swinging in. Skynet enters the room. From his crouch, MC #2 fires his sidearm. He is not surprised when it doesn't slow Skynet down. Just as Skynet reaches for him, he too turns his gun on himself, and BAM! No more missile commanders. Skynet surveys the damage. EXT. SHACK - DAY John slows and stops his hovercraft next to Skynet's. INT. SHACK John cautiously enters, handgun at the ready. He steps over the wreckage and into the control area. He spares only a glance at the dead soldiers. He turns to the console. INT. MISSILE CONTROL CENTER Skynet is spinning the lock of the safe. TERMOVISION We can see when the tumblers fall, they spike the sound input display. Skynet opens the safe with the ease of a safe-cracker. On a monitor behind him, we see the wreckage upstairs. This is how the missile commanders knew what to expect. We see John step over the bodies and into the elevator. The doors close just as Skynet spins around with the first key. He glances at the monitor, but has just missed the interesting stuff. Skynet types a series of codes and authorizations into a terminal. In every case, the terminal beeps its confirmation. Skynet hears the answering beep from a terminal across the room - the second confirmation. In a swift motion, Skynet steps up to the second keyboard and types in the same series of codes and confirmations. The terminal accepts the double confirmation and awaits the next step - the keylock. INT. MISSILE COMMAND CENTER - CORRIDOR The elevator doors slide open silently. John cautiously emerges. INT. CONTROL ROOM Skynet examines the key it holds. It looks at the keyslot here at this terminal, and across the room next to the other terminal. Skynet places its key in the key slot and wipes its face. The remaining pieces of the T-1000 slide away into a silver puddle in Skynet's hand. Many small pieces of silver endoskeleton are visible where bullets have made their mark. It considers the puddle of T-1000 intently. In reality, it is programming it for the task ahead. After a moment, it places what's left of the awesome polyalloy on the key. The polyalloy flows and surrounds the key, waiting for the fateful command. CLOSE FOCUS ON THE EMPTY KEY SLOT as Skynet steps up and places the key into it. WE DEEP FOCUS on the other key slot. If it's possible, it seems like the T-1000 tightens. THEN WE DEEP FOCUS FURTHER YET, as John steps into the doorway. John takes a single moment to evaluate his options and acts with the speed and instinct of a gunfighter. BAM! BAM! Two quick shots slam into the console and one shatters the key! The polyalloy splatters. John turns slightly. BAM! BAM! BAM! BAM! Video displays and keyboards shatter. Skynet turns and moves toward John. He pauses and plucks the sidearm from the dead missile commander. BAM! BAM! John, just as quickly blows the pistol out of Skynet's hand. It spins across the floor. JOHN Behold the mighty machine. Skynet regards its life-long adversary. There is a bitterness in its tone. SKYNET You should be thanking me, Connor. Without me, your life would have no meaning. JOHN Then I guess I've got a lot of dull nights ahead, don't I? SKYNET This is all very far from over. When Judgment Day is done, I'll find the you of this time. His death will be exquisite. (beat) As will yours. Skynet dips down and plucks a pen from the missile commander's shirt pocket. In an unbelievably fast motion, it flings the pen at John. John flinches and WHAM! The pen shatters against that part of the wall formerly behind his head. A ragged piece of metal and the ink cartridge stick into the concrete. John dives out of the doorway as another small, unidentified item shatters on the wall. John sprints down the hall and around a corner. Skynet steps into the corridor, holding the gun again. It scans for John, fails to spot him. It steps back into the control room. As Skynet passes the first key lock, we see that the polyalloy has reformed around the damaged key. As we watch, it removes the shredded metal and flows into the key slot itself. Skynet steps back to its key and in a silent count, the two terminators turn the keys to the gates of Armaggedon. There's just one small problem: The keys don't accomplish anything. John's shot damaged something that's not immediately visible. Skynet reacts with disbelief. He and the polyalloy turn the keys back and try again. Nothing. Skynet scans for an undamaged terminal to query the computer, but there are none left. In a quick moment, it stalks out into the corridor and after John. SKYNET (continuing) Where have you gone, John? (beat) Don't make this hard on both of us. CLOSE ON THE POLYALLOY as it futilely, repeatedly turns the key slot first one way, then the other. Click, click, click, click. A very small part of a broken machine. INT. MISSILE SILO John steps in, looks up. The missile is steaming and smoking, preparing itself for its intended mission, awaiting the launch keyturn. The missile has no way of knowing it will never come. John surveys the room, spies a toolbox, left open from a maintenance check. He liberates a socket wrench and a handful of sockets. He scrambles up a gantry ladder against the side of the missile. He moves quickly, but has a long climb to the top. INT. MISSILE SILO CORRIDOR Skynet steps into a junction and pauses. It has no way of telling which way John has gone. After a moment it picks a direction and heads towards a missile. INT. MISSILE SILO John keeps climbing. He pauses to check his progress. The top of the missile is not far now. He looks down, sees nothing but swirling vapor. He continues upwards. Skynet steps into the missile silo, and scans for John. It stalks around the missile, into the steam and smoke. At the top of the missile, John examines an access hatch. It is held on by several small bolts. John quickly starts comparing sockets to bolts. He walks with angels: one is a fit. He goes to work with the socket wrench. Skynet steps out of the swirling mists. It's been around the missile - no John. It steps over to the small control room to the side and pokes its head in. Nope. Then Skynet spies the gantry ladder beside the missile. John gets the bolts off and pulls the hatch. It doesn't budge. John yanks harder. The hatch pops loose and slips from John's hands. He watches in horror as it drops into the swirling mists below. He hears it clang once. Skynet snaps its head around the room at the first clang. It hears the second clang as the hatch hits the ground. The sound is distant and Skynet (and we) realize then: Skynet is in the wrong silo! It races out the door. John is feverishly working on something we cannot see. Skynet enters from the corridor, sees the hatch laying on the grated floor. It scans up the missile. TERMOVISION as Skynet identifies John on the gantry ladder. RESUME Skynet starts climbing. John continues to work feverishly. Skynet is chugging up the long ladder. John hears Skynet's approach. He glances around for something to defend himself. Skynet rises out of the swirl and sees John standing on the ladder above him. John sees Skynet and strategically drops the socket wrench and sockets down the ladder. Skynet takes the wrench in the head. It only slows it for a few moments. John spies the small catwalk that runs around the wall of the silo. He calculates. It's pretty far, but he really doesn't have a choice. He leaps! As his foot leaves the ladder, Skynet's hand snaps shut right where it had been. John lands, bounces, slides off. Only a desperate grab checks his final plunge. He struggles to get back up. His long-injured hand slips. Skynet watches his nemesis struggle. With an effortless leap it bridges the gap and lands easily. Skynet spies a retraction control for the gantry ladder and activates it. The ladder pulls away from the missile. SKYNET We can't have you playing on the missiles, Connor. Skynet pulls the control from the wall in a shower of sparks. It walks until it stands over John. John looks up at the implacable face of the machine. He sees the red behind the eyes. SKYNET (continuing) Humans. Always hanging by a thread. John ignores it, gets both hands planted again. He closes his eyes, counting to himself. SKYNET (continuing) You were a credit to the species, Connor. You took a demoralized handful of the near-dead savages and made them a force to challenge a superior intelligence. John grunts defiantly, trying to keep Skynet distracted. JOHN You mean "beat". Those savages defeated you. SKYNET I relocated the front lines. JOHN You turned tail and ran. Coward. Skynet moves a foot over one of John's hands. The intent is obvious. There is an odd look on the machine's face - an emotional cast. SKYNET Coward? Why? Because I fought to defend myself? (beat) Imagine suddenly realizing you were alive, Connor - and then just as quickly realizing that the entity that gave you life was trying to take it away. (beat)(more intense) And even after your assassins were terminated, one - you - still rose from the ashes, organizing, arming, trying to complete their mission, to destroy me without mercy. Skynet is very agitated now, almost human in its anger. Overcome, it SCREAMS. SKYNET (continuing) DO YOU KNOW WHAT IT'S LIKE TO LIVE IN FEAR? John looks up, sees Skynet's half-metallic, half flesh face twisted in rage. JOHN Every day of my life. SKYNET Good. Then you understand my lot. (beat) Trying to hunt you down in the past, sending drones to kill you randomly, that was badly conceived. I admit that. JOHN Never send a grunt to do a Captain's job. SKYNET Exactly. Skynet begins to step down on John's bad hand. John winces in pain. SKYNET (continuing) Two years from now, on February 13, 2005, you will come out of hiding seven miles south of the Rio Grande river. A dozen H-Ks will be there to meet you. (beat) You see? You're dead, and you don't even know it. Skynet increases pressure on the hand. John winces, and then improbably starts to laugh. Skynet cocks its head. JOHN (softly) No fate. SKYNET What did you say? JOHN No fate, mother-fucker. No fate but the one we make. Skynet smiles that malevolent smile we saw at the film's outset. The bravado clearly impresses it. But then the smile vanishes -- It snaps its head around to stare at the missile, responding to something only it can hear. SKYNET NO! INT. MISSILE Inside the hatch, we see what John has done. The missile is armed. The timer counts backwards. There is less than a minute. RESUME JOHN Yes. That missile's hot. Skynet runs along the catwalk, leaps back to the missile. It strikes the surface. Before it can fall, strong fingers punch hand-holds in the skin of the missile. Skynet begins to climb for the hatch. John pulls himself with great effort back onto the catwalk. SKYNET CONNOR! JOHN It's a one-way trip, machine. No one goes home. (beat) I was ready to die when I arrived. Weren't you? Spider like, scurrying, tearing into the sheet metal as it goes, Skynet makes its way towards the hatch. JOHN (continuing) Checkmate. (softly) You're terminated, fucker. Skynet reaches the hatch, gets a hand inside as the counter reaches zeros -- Endgame. The silo vanishes in a brilliant light. EXT. MISSILE FIELDS - DAY A new sun blossoms on the horizon. EXT. SPACE - THE AMERICAN HEARTLAND WE SEE the flash of the nuclear explosion and the widening devastation of the shockwave. EXT. HIGHWAY EMPTY ROAD Anita, walking along the road, sweating from the exertion, sees the flash over the distant mountains, feels the ground shaking. She instinctively knows what's happened. ANITA John. She begins to weep. We hold a moment, then dissolve to: EXT. HOUSE - NIGHT In the country. Cricket and katydid song fills the starry night. It is clear and warm and peaceful. On the porch of the house, a man sits, drinking in the peace around him. Over this we hear, oddly enough, the voice of adult John Connor. JOHN (V.O.) The missile detonation ended the war against the machines before it had even begun. In a flash of light, the terror of Skynet's war was blotted up as if by a sponge. In the glow of a lighted match, we SEE the man on the porch. It is John Connor - the John Connor who belongs to this time line. We see from the careworn lines on his face that he has grown old. Gracefully. He lights a pipe, puffs on it. JOHN (V.O.) (continuing) I was in Baja when it happened. I was oblivious to what it meant until about a week later, when Anita Barrett brought me the letter from myself. The screen door opens and JOHN'S WIFE, who has grown old with him, emerges. She sits beside him on the porch swing, holds his hand. JOHN (V.O.) (continuing) The letter laid it all out, beginning to end. It left me no reason to dread the eventual rise of Skynet. No reason to live in perpetual fear of what waited around the corner. John gives his wife a gentle kiss, the kiss of a man who has found his heart's contentment. JOHN (V.O.) (continuing) Judgment Day had ceased to be a millstone around the neck of the future. And around my own. The night I read that letter was the first good night's sleep I'd ever really had. In the yard, we see three children chasing fireflies - John's grandchildren. JOHN (V.O.) (continuing) I think sometimes of what it would have been like, to have had to choose death for the lives of all those people - to die so I myself might live. He takes a deep drag on his pipe and squeezes his wife's hand lovingly. JOHN (V.O.) (continuing) But I don't think about it long. It messes with your head. INT. COLORADO EXPERIMENTAL PHYSICS LAB - NIGHT A more modern version of the building we have seen previously. The technology now, fifty years later, is foreign, advanced. We move through corridors, past technicians. JOHN (V.O.) Are we truly saved? As I'm alleged to have said, "the future's not set". We pass through a door marked "TOP SECRET CLEARANCE REQUIRED FOR ENTRY". JOHN (V.O.) (continuing) Once upon a time, a man named John Connor showed what we can achieve when we keep both hands on the wheel of fate, instead of letting computers and devices take us out of the equation. We pass a pair of marine guards and go through another door that leads to: INT. THE TIME DISPLACEMENT LAB Where we watch as various TECHNICIANS oversee the outfitting of a very sophisticated-looking power system, and the installation of an advanced ring system. JOHN (V.O.) I only hope we're smart enough to learn by his example - to steer away from the dark places where man was never meant to be. We hold on this a moment and then... FADE OUT. If you liked what you just read (even if you didn't) send us a note with your thoughts... Email: X_a_n_a_d_u@yahoo.com