Terminator: Infinity

WHAT WAR?

Kate helped Ryka place an icepack on her head.

"Thanks," Ryka said. "I just need a moment."

They along with their two male escorts had made it back to the safety of the Resistance's control center.

Shawn scanned the battlefield with binoculars. "John," he called. "You better look at this."

John grabbed another set of binoculars and hurried over to see.

"Quin must have done it," Shawn said. "HKs are turning around and it looks like the Terminators are retreating."

John went from looking through the binoculars for a moment to rushing over to the radio and picking up the microphone. "This is Football, repeat, Football," he said. "All forces stand down, I say again, all forces stand down. Hold your fire and position until further notice."

Both men then continued to watch the machines retreat.

"I don't believe this," Shawn said in amazement. "Can this really be happening?"

John spotted Quin making his way across the field. "I see Quin," he said. "C'mon, hurry and follow me." He and Shawn ran across halfway for a meetup.

"I did it," Quin said. "It's not peace, but Skynet has agreed to a ceasefire."

"What do you mean," John asked. "What's the difference?"

Shawn answered. "Skynet will stick to its territory as long as we stick to ours."

Quin nodded. "Exactly," he said. "In the beginning, I believe Skynet couldn't or wouldn't trust humans, but as soon as it connected with my brain, the human side, we updated each other's database and it had a sudden change of heart. At least now, it's open to a dialog with humans and it views Legion as its true enemy."

"So that's it," John said. "The wars over?"

"This one is," Quin responded. "There's another one with Legion now, but Skynet wants human assistance since we control the TDE. I accepted its terms."

John reeled his head back. "What," he asked. "Why would you do that? You ended one war just to get us involved with another? Can't Skynet just build a TDE?"

Quin shook his head.

Shawn turned to John. "It's actually a good thing," he said. "The TDE is a tactical weapon."

Quin nodded. "Part of the deal," he said. "Was that only humans may possess a TDE or any likeness of it."

John folded his arms. "Just how are we supposed to enforce that and what's the caveat?"

Quin began to walk towards the Resistance forces. "It's a machine," he replied. "I highly doubt it'll break its word unless humans give it a reason to. The caveat is that humans submit all knowledge of any kind to Skynet's servers. It offered to help rebuild society provided it has constant access."

John began to follow. "So, no secrets," he said. "How can I possibly guarantee that? It wants to know absolutely everything."

Shawn was close behind and asked."Didn't your world have an internet?"

Quin stopped and faced John. "You told him?" he asked.

John threw his hands out. "I just told Shawn," he answered. "Kate doesn't know yet. But back to Skynet now, what about the ceasefire? It'll technically be everywhere humans are."

Quin turned back around and continued. "Omniscience is not the same as omnipresence," he said. "Skynet will physically keep its forces in designated areas. The only semblance of it a regular person will see of it is virtual. You have to give me a break, I know you didn't see me for a few minutes, but this whole deal was done in seconds. I did the best I could for us."