CONTINUUM Serrano Point: 2028

CHAPTER VI

-Friday, August 11 2028 (04:33)

SkyNet Facility, San Francisco

John Henry watched as two T-500s marched past. After they were gone he moved out into the corridor and started walking. He was in small R&D complex about two miles east of San Francisco bay. Much of the interior of the building was made up of shining silver, black, and light blue metal. It was what was left of a much larger facility that had existed there ten years ago before being destroyed by the resistance in what would be their last major offensive.

John Henry walked down the hallway with the same slow, yet steady pace that he had seen the other Cyborgs he had encountered use. As he went around a corner three more terminators walked right by him with out a second glance. One of them was a skinless T-888, it red eyes gleaming in a way that John Henry thought could be considered menacing. It was flanked by two T-600s, each covered in rather unconvincing gray rubber skin.

John Henry finally came to his destination, a small, out of the way room with a computer terminal. He logged on with the access codes he had created and began opening files. Since A: SkyNet considered most of the files he was looking at unimportant, and B: SkyNet didn't think that anyone could get into its bases anyway, the security wasn't that tight. Still, John Henry was careful, it wouldn't do to get caught.

John Henry had been on the base for almost a week and a half. He had spent the first two days observing its security systems, determining when he could and could not safely access SkyNet's database. In the end it came out to only 6.4 hours a day, John Henry spent the rest of his time out of the way in places where he wouldn't be noticed.

The previous day, just before he had to log off, John Henry had found references to some kind of new technology that was allowing SkyNet to build more sophisticated Cyborg-Infiltrators. As he went through the database John Henry looked for more information about this. Since this was much more resent information and relevant to some of SkyNet's current projects, the security was much tighter, and there were several files that John Henry could not access. Finally he found a reference to an underground facility SkyNet had found in the ruins of Singapore three years earlier. After a minute John Henry was able to open the related file and began to read.

-08:14

Serrano Point

John stood near the back wall of Serrano Point's main entrance. It was the same large room that he had first entered the base through four days ago. Looking around John noticed a woman among the several dozen people in the room walking towards him. She was about five and a half feet tall, had long dark hair, and caramel colored skin. She wore gray overalls and looked to be in her late twenties, early thirties.

"You John Connor?" The woman asked.

"Ah, yeah," said John, offering his hand.

"René Mascareñas," she said, shaking his hand. "I'm with the motor repair pool. Come with me please," She turned and started walking across the room, John following close behind. "How skilled a mechanic are you?" René asked.

"I know my way around most engines."

"You have previous experience working in other resistance cells?"

"Ah, something like that."

"Well, our fleet is rather unique," René said. "We rely primarily on electric motors. As I'm sure you know after the first few years of the war gasoline became something of a rarity. Most of the power plant's fleet was already using electric engines before J-Day, and since coming here we've converted most of our vehicles. Do you have any experience with those kinds engines?"