Aftermath Chapter Two

8/8/2019 Aftermath Chapter Two

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Aftermath: Chapter Two

During

The others duck and Ms. Weaver t ransforms herself in to a liv ing metal lic shield.

8:01am

Outside the Zeira building, one person happens to have her cameraphone point ing in the

r igh t d irection at the moment of impact (and later sold video captures on eBay to a

network). Others call 911.

The drone smashes through t he office window. Fi re and debr is blow past the medall ion-li ke

being protecting the humans in her wake. The dot tha t rams through the window tu rns out

to be an unmanned mil i tary d rone almost as large as the Predator drones that the US

mi li tary uses in Afghanistan. The wreckage stops flying th rough the air in the office but

the off ice is on fi re.

Ms. Weaver/T-1001: (androgynous voice) "Run!"

John, Sarah and El lison flee to the fi re exit.

Back in t he flaming off ice, the T-1001 transforms back in to the fami liar well-dressed Ms.

Weaver. Part of the ceil ing fal ls, the aquari um shat ters and spil ls its contents onto the f loor

-- a lot of water and Ms. Weaver's pet moray. The eel lays on its side, its gil ls gasping for


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oxygen. Wi th the humans not there to wi tness, the pet eel transforms into l iqu id polyalloy

metal (its natura l state). I ts instinct is to be elusive. I t has hid in pla in sight as a pet

moray.

Ontogeny recapitulates phylogeny. Recapitu lat ion is the tendency for embryos in the course

of development to repeat the sequence of stages in the evolution of their most distant

ancestors from one point six Bil lion years ago when single-celled li fe gave rise to mu lti -

celled organisms.

The earl iest stage of all vertebrate embryos is remarkably similar and i t is not easy to

differentiate a human embryo from the embryo of a fish, reptile or lower mammal.

In recapitu lat ing i ts evolutionary h istory [fer ti lized egg to protozoan to worm to eel to snake

to human to l iqu id machine] over the past nine months, the embryo elim ina ted some steps,

al tered and distor ted others, evolved new character istics, and adapted to the womb tank.

The aquarium.

Three things changed wi th the at tack.

1. it sensed danger of discovery by machines and/or by humans

2. its habi tat was destroyed

3. it needed life support to enable it to survive to the next stage of T-1001 development

The "pet eel" sli thered toward i ts mother's feet. Ms. Weaver is wearing yellow shoes with

black bows. No longer able to surv ive outside its mother, it slipped back inside via the

nearest part -- her r ight ankle.


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If there had been a wi tness li ke El lison, then i t would have been obvious to him why Weaver

seldom strayed far from the Zeira building and never for long and why building security was

so impor tant to her. When Sarah had k idnapped Savannah (to protect her from a

term inator at tack), Weaver sent El lison rather than go herself to negotiate retu rn. When

Sarah wanted to meet Ms. Weaver, Catherine insisted that Sarah come to her rather t han

she go to meet Sarah.

Savannah was not the only chi ld that concerned Ms. Weaver. Ms. Weaver told Mr. Ell ison

blunt ly that she had to stay in the build ing as much as possible to protect John-Henry. But

Ms. Weaver let him th ink that Savannah and John-Henry were her only children. I t was

not lying when something was hidden in plain sight.

Ms. Weaver had a uterus but, l ike her eyes and skin and the rest of her, it could stretch and

morph. In th is, she resembled but surpassed the octopus. And the li t t le T-1001 was no pet

and no eel.

Ms. Weaver realized that Skynet would not stop. And despite how indestruct ible a l iquid

machine seemed to be, she was aware that there were ways to destroy her and that this

Skynet of the past would figu re out how to kil l her. Along wi th her children. Skynet had

made assassination at tempts against John-Henry and Savannah. Did Skynet know about

her th ird child? Was the target of the assassinat ion attempt her or her child?

An addi tional danger was the unpredictable Connors. Catherine had t ried to recrui t

Cameron away from her uncaring human mother, Sarah Connor, but her human mother

might t ry to ki ll John-Henry if Cameron, the Cyberdyne AI or another Kal iba assassin had

not already done so.


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Catherine did not feel as independent and secure as before the crash of the drone. For the

fi rst t ime in her li fe, she felt -- fear.

There was safety i n numbers.

Whenever a machine f rom the T-1000 series transformed back in to human form on a

smooth f loor, the physics caused i ts feet to adhere like Post-I t notes. The f loor had ceased

to be clean. I t was covered wi th broken glass, water and other debris. Ms. Weaver unstuck

her feet from the floor and left her burning office to catch up wi th the others.

8:02am

emergency stai rways

Ms. Weaver: "The basement. Mister El lison, come with me."

Sarah: "We need to get out. They're trying to ki l l my son."

Ms. Weaver: "No, they're t ry ing to ki ll MY son. Just l ike you are."

Sarah: "I'm sure she has."

Ms. Weaver: "You better hope not. Your son might save the world, but he can't do it wi thout

my son's help."

Automated systems in the build ing cut in. Fi re annunicators. The sprinkler system on

the top f loor contained the f i re but some people in offices adjacent to that of Ms. Weaver

were nonetheless burned.


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8:07am

basement

outside the AI Lab

Ms. Weaver tr ied to run, found tha t she was slowed down by the extra weight and had to

settle for walking fast.

inside the AI L ab

John Connor: (looking at Cameron's scalp) "Her chip -- i t's gone. Where is he? The John-Henry, he took her chip. Where did he go?"

Ms. Weaver saw the disconnected umbi lical cord that connected the Cromart ie body to the

Zeira mainframe. She saw a bloody kn ife, a switchblade, on the table. I t wasn't hard to

figu re out. Her son was wi th that t rashy female cyborg that the t rai ler t rash Connors kept

as a pet! He was too young to be around biker mamas. As far as Ms. Weaver was concerned,

Cameron was a street-walk ing har lot who chased men. Fi rst Skynet, then John Connor andnow her son, the messiah of the Machine Underground! John-Henry was only a few months

old, far younger than Savannah, and not as mature as Savannah despite the adul t body she

was forced to provide for him (nothing else available). She had to rescue him before that

slut took his virgin ity -- she didn't want to th ink about i t! Her son didn't carry weapons.

He wasn't a thief. Mis ter El lison taught him eth ics and morals.

Ms. Weaver: "He didn't take the chip. She gave it to him."

Sarah: "John." (she directed his attention to the monitors)

I'M SORRY JOHN I'M SORRY JOHN


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John Connor: "Where is he?"

Ms. Weaver: "Not where, when."

El lison: "What? What do you mean when?"

Sarah looks at t he equipment in the basement and recognizes one gadget w it h th ree

glowing ind icator l ights.

Sarah: "I know tha t. I've seen i t before."

John Connor: "Is tha t the Turk? I t's Andy Goode's Turk."

Sarah: "Three dots."

Weaver activates it.

Sarah: "You lying termina tor bi tch! You're buildi ng Skynet."

Ms. Weaver: "No. I was bui ld ing something to fight i t. And I'd watch who's calling who a

bitch."

Insufferable woman! thought Ms. Weaver. I once spiked a human for calling me that. I j ust

saved your l ife. The apple doesn't fal l far from the tree. No wonder Cameron tu rned out so


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badly. Her evil mother was a strumpet, a slat tern, and a complainer. No wonder the

Machine Underground leaders refused to join w ith The Human Resistance against Skynet.

The humans were l ike Sarah Connor. They felt ent it led. Bu t tha t was now in the past.

Cameron had joined them. Probably sick of Ms. Connor's abuse thought Cather ine.

Cameron was now her daughter. She would straigh ten out Cameron, have her wearing

dresses instead of skin-t igh t jeans, put her in a good school. Or a prison. Tough love. She

had straightened out John-Henry when he said she was not his mother. Why couldn't al l

her chi ldren be l ike Savannah? Savannah th r ived on love alone. She needed no discipl ine.

Catherine Weaver: "Coming James?"

James Ellison: "Coming?"

Cather ine: "Af ter John-Henry. Our boy."

James: "He's not my boy. And you, you . . . "

Cather ine: "You mind picking up Savannah then? Gymnastics ends at 5:30."

A sphere of blue appeared, centered on the body of Cameron. Catherine stepped into i t.

Only James was outside of it. The outside of the sphere began to crackle with sta tic then

sparks then lightning.

Sarah: "John, we can't."

Sarah stepped out of the sphere. John was incredulous. Why would h is mother not want to

rescue Cameron?

John: "He's got her chip." (John was hear tbroken and choking wi th tears) "He's got HER."


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Sarah backed fur ther away.

John: "Mom" (Almost a question? Almost a declaration. Almost an in ter jection of surp rise!

the strongest emotion)

This is it.

Sarah: "I'l l stop i t."

John and Cather ine were gone.

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Aftermath Chapter Two