California, 2029

The large banquet hall goes dark, and a multimedia presentation begins a tribute to U.S. Senator JOHN CONNER. Brief images appear on the screens: John as a young man (Edward Furlong) with his mother, SARAH CONNER (Linda Hamilton). John's receipt of the Nobel prize, while still in his twenties, for his best-selling book "Up From The Ashes" and its chilling depiction of the nightmare which could result from blind reliance on technology. John's creation of the first successful alternative political party, New Paradigms Party (NPP), which is committed to reengineering information technology for applications in health, education and human services instead of military and defense. John's marriage to ALYSSA, who had served as a researcher in his Washington office, and of the birth of their two young children, DAWN (age 4) and JOHN JUNIOR (age 6). The presentation ends with a collage of images demonstrating examples of the benefits of such partnerships; an image appears of JOHN CONNER at a rally, saying "The future is not set. We must be stronger than we imagine we can be or our future will never exist".

As the presentation ends, and JOHN prepares to address the audience, another meeting begins just twenty miles away at the underground planning center of Cyberdyne Systems. This multi-media board is filled with images and planning notations for a top secret, unlisted project called "TERMINAL APPLICATION TARGET (TERMINATOR) PROJECT: ASSIGNMENT 1001/CONNER. A senior, uniformed officer chairs the meeting, and each section head reports on their preparation for the assassination of JOHN CONNER's family:

Operations reports on the set up and location of the planned assassination, which will be run as if it were a kidnap and ransom attempt by Fundamentalist terrorists equipped with sophisticated weaponry.

Communications gives an update on the disinformation campaign which will denounce the inferiority of U.S. defense technology resulting from a decade of budget cuts and lowered priority status, a direct result of the success of CONNER'S New Paradigms Party.

Engineering provides a detailed technical presentation on recent test results from the cybernetic organisms which are the heart of this operation. The cyborgs, called TERMINATORS, are state-of-the-art automated robotics systems with organic skin providing life-like appearance. Recent scientific advances permit researchers to transfer human intelligence and experience, recorded in brain cells, into artificial intelligence neural network code. TERMINATORS are micro-processor controlled with on-line access to complex behavioral and problem-solving patterns. Bionically enhanced to strengthen physical endurance and resistance to damage, their "intellectual" development has been carefully designed through cybernetics, neurosurgery and subliminal reinforcement. TERMINATORS are operationalized as assassination units.

Two TERMINATOR prototypes will be inaugurated in this operation. One will be used as an assassin in the initial attack on the CONNERS; a second will be used as an infiltration unit on the government rescue team with orders to sabotage the efforts to save the family.

A holograph image is projected from the presentation board as a series of schematics are flashed on the screens; beside the hologram is the source of the genetic material, JACK WEXLER (Arnold Schwarzenegger). TERMINATOR is an exaggerated version of WEXLER in size and definition. WEXLER, in contrast, looks pleasant, almost friendly, with wrinkles and grey hair from a lifetime spent in the field. On screen is a flashing message: "Source code genetic donor will be eliminated upon successful utilization of TERMINATOR prototype".

Intelligence reports on its psychological profile of JOHN CONNER, and confirms its recommendation that his family should be targeted for termination, not JOHN himself. Historical data on the assassination of political figures and the strengthened impact on their political movements is highlighted. A psycho-medical profile of JOHN CONNER describes the absence of a father and the hospitalization of his mother; the impact of a childhood in guerilla camps and foster homes; the violence he experienced in his adolescence during the urban terrorist attack on Cyberdyne Systems in 1997. CONNER'S mental health is relatively fragile, reports the section leader, and the loss of his family in a violent techno-terrorist fire-fight will shatter his personality integration. The man who remains will be unable to reenergize a movement whose fundamental thesis-- military applications of technology are obsolete--will be buried with the Conner family.

The next week is filled with meetings and preparations. NPP lobbying efforts are showing success in national citizen polls, and the Senate Appropriations Committee debates are seriously challenging, for the first time, long-range financial commitments to weapons research. Tens of billions of dollars in investment, once the exclusive property of a few corporate giants and military contractors, are at stake. As meetings go late into the night, JOHN urges his young family and his mother, SARAH, to fly out to their vacation cabin in Big Sur, where he will join them later in the week.

The cabin is a five room stone-and-wood cottage, with a hand-made log porch overlooking the cliffs and the Pacific Ocean. Unlike many homes which sport sophisticated security systems, the cabin has been built as a low-tech retreat. Thus, early in the morning of July 12, 2029, SARAH, ALYSSA, DAWN and JOHN JUNIOR are sound asleep in their rustic, cozy bedrooms when the initial laser bullets break into their peaceful household.

First reports of the attack are announced by broadcasters who received an anonymous tip moments before the attack began. News flashes report up-to-the-minute news of the hostage situation and the SWAT team preparations. Guest commentators question whether rescue is possible under such primitive conditions, and video clips of the deficiencies faced by anti-terrorist teams in preparing for such emergencies are downloaded to all network affiliates.

Quickly, a counter assault begins, broadcast live on all major networks. Jumbled images are repeated each quarter hour: images of the hostages highlighted in the picture window; four powerfully built soldiers with colored head coverings moving the family into rooms further into the cabin; then the assault on the cabin by the government rescue team lead by an officer in black fatigues. By twelve-thirty, the smoke clears to a scene of tragedy. ALYSSA and her young son, JOHN JUNIOR are dead, killed by cross-fire. Three dead terrorists, riddled with bullets. SARAH and her granddaughter, DAWN, are missing, and new demands are flaunted by the terrorists from an unknown location.

The funeral for ALYSSA CONNER and JOHN CONNER JUNIOR is telecast live. JOHN's haggard, grief stricken face is imaged and imprinted in the minds of billions of sympathetic viewers. News commentators call for a renewal of commitment to "defensive supremacy" to avenge the CONNERS' deaths. Despondent, desperately anxious about the welfare of SARAH and DAWN, JOHN withdraws from the public eye.

In offices throughout the country, people are huddled around video screens, watching the CONNER funeral. At Cyberdyne Systems, KYLE REESE (Michael Biehn), a junior member of the Cyberdyne Systems Corporation programming staff, watches with tears in his eyes. KYLE, a gifted virtual reality simulation programmer, has been a political activist since his early teens, attracted and deeply stirred by JOHN CONNER's vision of a peaceful partnership between people and technology. JOHN touches a chord deep inside KYLE that KYLE cannot fully understand; as he watches JOHN walk behind the caskets of his wife and son; he feels his heart ache in sympathy for this broken man.

In another office at Cyberdyne Systems, JACK WEXLER paces restlessly. A twenty-year veteran of U.S. Special Forces, a man with both physical strength and mental discipline, he has been assigned as a liaison to Cyberdyne Systems BioEngineering design project. He finds this assignment, filled with lab tests, sports-medicine exercises, and tests for latent psychic Talent a bit mundane.

Watching a repeat broadcast of the unsuccessful rescue assault, he finds himself staring angrily at the screen, resenting his helplessness. Suddenly, a movement on the video screen catches his eye. He startles; frowns and peers at the screen which has moved on to other images. He rises stiffly, and walks out of the room into his private office. Calling up the record of the scene he had been watching, he freezes it; using a slim control pad, he moves the image, focuses, then zooms in on the figure of the hulking terrorist who pushes the six year old boy roughly away from the fatal cabin's picture window. The build, movements and gestures seem eerily familiar. With a few commands he instructs the computer to enhance the image of the face. In a moment, JACK WEXLER sees the image of his own face staring back at him from the screen.

JACK sits still for only a moment. His hands reach back to the console, and begins to call up records from the Cyberdyne information network related to the advanced bionics research and development program. As the video screen flashes colored lines of information and schematics, throwing shadows across his face, JACK experiences a range of emotions- confusion, surprise, resentment, comprehension and, finally, rage.

He begins to read through the schematics of a virtual reality program, developed to simulate learning in intelligence, surveillance and military operations. Designed by KYLE REESE-- (JACK remembers him as the young programmer he's met at the Cyberdyne gym-- they've played a few evening basketball games, and sparred in a few Aikido classes) - the program has codified examples of JACK's own experience and memories. His personal patterns of problem-solving and research, his idiosyncratic styles, developed through a lifetime of professional habits, have been coded into a set of game rules and simulations. As he tracks the scenarios, though, he notices an important omission: this program rewards a "win at all costs" equation, and does not value ethics or compromise. The program plays to win, not to succeed. JACK feels robbed, ripped off. With a rough gesture he springs to his feet, his anger channeled into determination. He needs to find JOHN CONNER, and tell him what he has learned.

KYLE REESE is one of the last to leave the Cyberdyne offices. As he goes to close out his console, he sees that JACK's computer is still linked into his virtual reality simulations. As he tries to disengage the system, he finds the information cells that JACK had been reviewing. With a glance, KYLE sees that his programming has been altered-- all moral parameters and ethical guidelines have been suspended. Digging deeper, he finds the image of the terrorist that JACK had isolated. KYLE stares at the screen in disbelief and horror. His work has helped destroy the man whose ideas he most admires. Even worse, Cyberdyne is involved in their deaths, and JACK seems to be in charge. KYLE goes through an electronic back gate of the security system and asks for a tracer on JACK's location. He studies the map on the screen and follows the moving, blinking light for a moment. Then he slams a fist on the console to shut down the system, and races for his hovercraft parked outside.

JACK arrives at the CONNER home and flashes his ID to a police officer stationed outside. "Where's my cigarettes?" the guard demands angrily. "You promised you'd pick up a pack for me when you got back from your break".

"Fuck the smokes", says JACK brusquely as he releases the safety on his weapon and heads for the house.

As he turns the corner, a large figure jumps from a nearby police hovercraft back toward the house-- it is a TERMINATOR unit, operating as a police guard. TERMINATOR flips a pack of cigarettes to the bewildered guard. As the guards grabs the pack and heads off on break, he mutters, "Goddamn smart ass". A TERMINATOR unit now stands guard at the CONNER home.

Moments later, REESE parks his machine down the road from the CONNER offices. Sensor motion detector equipment blinks in operation across the perimeter. He rummages through the interior of the vehicle. He grabs a knapsack and fills it with equipment. Covering the vehicle with fallen tree branches, he heads toward a transformer. REESE takes a spray from the backpack and shoots a thin film over the panel. Waiting a moment, he bangs the panel with a quick tap from the side of his hand-- the panel pops open. He eyes the circuitry for a moment, then pulls a calculator card from his back pocket wallet. He taps a few numbers onto the card, then inserts it gingerly into the disk drive. With a slight hum, a small break appears in the shimmery security wall. " Easy money," he grins to himself, then glides quietly toward the office complex.

KYLE enters the house and tries to blend in among the security forces milling around the house. He moves down a hallway lined with family pictures. He passes by a framed enlargement of a faded newspaper clipping of a young KYLE REESE, handcuffed, glaring at the camera, taken in a different past. He pauses, listening intently. Then, never having seen the photo, he doubles back toward a room where soft voices have drawn his attention.

KYLE enters a room where JOHN CONNER sits staring blankly out the window. He is unkempt; his open shirt reveals an old, dry medication patch that hangs limply from beneath his collarbone. A tray of uneaten food sits beside him.

KYLE walks across the room and kneels beside his chair, calling JOHN's name in a soft voice. JOHN seems to tremble with the low hum of REESE's voice. When he turns and sees his face, he closes his eyes for a moment; when he opens them, his eyes are filled with tears. KYLE suddenly feels his own breath catch as if in a shuddering sob.

At the same moment, JACK WEXLER is busy surveying JOHN CONNER's house. He sees, grimly, that a TERMINATOR bearing his likeness is on duty and standing guard. JACK is heavily armed, carrying a phased plasma rifle in a 40 watt range; he moves with stealth and assurance. He begins to set explosives around the perimeter of the building. He knows that TERMINATOR will anticipate his moves, and struggles to think outside the parameters of his own habits and experiences.

JACK triggers a series of external explosions to attract attention away from the house; in the confusion, he enters the house, and fights his way through the guards. JACK is doing well- he has trained many of these guards, and anticipates their moves. He checks doors along the corridor until he finds the room where KYLE REESE is trying to raise JOHN CONNER to his feet.

JACK moves into the room. KYLE looks up and moves to protect JOHN. KYLE's face contorts in anger, and he begins to shout his demand for an explanation. At that moment, a TERMINATOR unit comes crashing into the room through the thin corridor wall. TERMINATOR aims his weapon at JOHN CONNER. JOHN's eyes remain dull. REESE throws himself over JOHN's body, and both JACK and TERMINATOR spring into action.

TERMINATOR has the advantage of strength, with reinforced steel alloy bionics in his arms, legs and rib cage. But JACK is more creative, more flexible, and cares more about the outcome. They battle. Suddenly, JACK succeeds in causing TERMINATOR to experience a blackout. In the moments that TERMINATOR is off line, JACK binds him with electronic cables. He raises his weapon- but is unable to fire.

JACK looks at KYLE with anguish in his face. KYLE pulls a small controller from his knapsack and punches out a series of commands. TERMINATOR jolts, then smokes. KYLE continues to program a series of commands, then turns to JACK.

"I can't erase him, but this will gum up his operating system to keep him off our backs. And I've downloaded his active memory-- that should tell us where they're keeping SARAH and DAWN". They turn to JOHN, who is sitting without expression, bleeding from the cut just above his eye. JACK moves over to him and pulls him to his feet. "I'm Colonel Jack Wexler, Personnel Number DN 38416. I've been assigned to protect you". JOHN seems lifeless, dark and without energy.

"John, we've got to go", KYLE says urgently, pulling him forward. "Sarah and Dawn-- they need you.".

KYLE protects JOHN as JACK provides covering fire. The three find their way through the confusion filled hallways amidst shouts and flashes of light. JACK, as JOHN's bodyguard, appears entirely legitimate; in fact, several agents assist them as they make their way toward the back exit.

JOHN looks at JACK and notices blood from a bullet wound in JACK's left shoulder. JOHN touches the wound and is startled to see JACK flinch in pain. JOHN is puzzled. He hesitates; then grasps the humanness and frailty of this man. For a moment, a flicker of light and curiosity appear in his eyes. "You've been shot. We've got to get you to a doctor", JOHN murmurs.

"Later", JACK answers. "First, let's quiet things down".

JACK puts on a gas mask, and gives one to KYLE. Carefully, KYLE puts it over JOHN's face, and prepares himself by taking deep, slow breaths. JACK removes a console from his backpack and fingers in a detonation code. Suddenly the room, the house, and perimeter are filled with smoke, a paralyzing gas which will knock out the remaining guards and the late arriving backup units. JOHN leads KYLE and JACK through the hallways toward a door which connects the kitchen to the garage. JOHN's family hovercraft is parked inside.

JACK flips the hovercraft door and pushes JOHN inside. KYLE tumbles in, gasping for air. Swiftly, JACK seals the hatch and starts up the controls. Signalling the garage door to open, JACK steers the hovercraft up and out over the compound.

Breathing raggedly, KYLE slips a diskette into the hovercraft console. "Let's see if we can find where they're holding SARAH and DAWN", he mutters. His hands dance over the console as JACK pilots them through the evening darkness. "Here!" he shouts. "I've got it". He taps coordinates into the vehicle and slips into the command chair while JACK sinks against the bulkhead wall. JOHN CONNER turns to JACK, and life seems to flow back into his body. Without speaking, JOHN rises and retrieves a first aid kit from the wall, and prepares to dress JACK's wound. As JOHN applies a field dressing, JACK WEXLER explains what he has learned about the TERMINATOR project.

"I always wondered where you came from, who you really were," JOHN says sadly.

"What do you mean?" JACK WEXLER replies, puzzled.

"It's so strange-- we don't ever really change anything, do we? All we change is the meaning we bring to it," JOHN whispers. "Maybe that will be enough."

KYLE pilots the hovercraft to the airspace over an abandoned Cyberdyne plant where he has learned, from TERMINATOR's memory disks, that SARAH and DAWN are being held. A series of tones demands their identification. KYLE breaks into a sweat; taking a deep breath, he seems to daydream for a moment. He rests his fingers on the key pad for a moment; then taps in a long string of commands. After an anxious moment, the computer accepts the ID and signals a landing approach. "How did you do that?", JACK asked. KYLE shrugs. "Intuition". "And PSI-6 "Talent"."

"Stay with the craft," JACK says to JOHN CONNER. "We'll get SARAH and DAWN and bring them back here. We'll need a place to hide out- see if you can locate a place we can go".

KYLE REESE grabs his knapsack of electronic gadgets. JACK WEXLER turns to him and hands him an automatic phased plasma rifle.

"Can you handle this?" he asks.

"I'll learn," KYLE replies grimly.

JACK shifts his equipment to favor his wounded arm, and they exit the 'craft and move toward the building.

JACK and KYLE work their way through the maze of hallways. JACK WEXLER's face is a familiar one-- a TERMINATOR unit heads up the team guarding SARAH and DAWN. JACK fixes a hard look to his face as KYLE uses his gear to introduce a virus into the security programming.

KYLE motions to JACK, who leans toward the wall module and barks instructions: "Indicate location of prisoners." Verifying the voiceprint, the wall unit indicates the room and displays a map to the room.

JACK and KYLE reach the room and hear a beeper go off inside. JACK WEXLER hears his own, distinctive voice shout, "There's been an unauthorized voice access to that system. System error or infiltration. Begin final phase now. Move. MOVE!".

JACK and KYLE slip into the room as two guards exit at a dead run. They see TERMINATOR snap off the safety on his weapon and take aim at two guards standing by a connecting window near the back of the room. Silhouetted through the thick glass, they see SARAH with DAWN by her side. TERMINATOR fires; the guards crumble to the floor as SARAH grabs for the child and tumbles for the floor. TERMINATOR moves swiftly toward them.

A blast from JACK's weapon causes TERMINATOR to pitch sideways. He turns in mid-fall and fires back toward the two men moving across the darkened room.

JACK calls to KYLE, "Take them back through the corridors!", and turns to provide covering fire. As he had hoped, TERMINATOR moves to block their exit. JACK WEXLER fires, hoping to keep TERMINATOR drawn away from the real escape route-- the air ducts leading outside the building walls.

KYLE has tumbled forward, returning to his feet with a swift grace earned from his practice of martial arts. Staying low, he leaps over the partition into the alcove and is staggered by a drop kick from SARAH. He weaves on his feet for a moment, then lazily reaches down and catches SARAH's next punch in a graceful, circular Aikido motion that ends with her stretched out on the floor. She stifles a gasp as he holds her with the full strength of his will. He feels her fear recede for a moment, and he whispers, "Don't be afraid. Come with me if you want to live."

He relaxes his hold on her for a moment. SARAH looks up at him. Joy, astonishment and anguish cross her face in the same instant. Then, with an effort, she steps back into the moment and puts her arms out to the child hidden under the overturned table. DAWN scrambles into SARAH's arms, and KYLE removes the wall plate covering the air duct entrance. He crawls in first, reaches down to the child and straps her securely across his chest. SARAH swings into the crawl space, and KYLE triggers the homing device that will lead them through the maze to the southeast corner where JOHN waits with the hovercraft.

Confusion rages through the facility as the programming virus KYLE introduced garbles orders and freezes gateways. Outmatched in weapons and strength, JACK leverages his advantage of deception and surprise to slip out of the building and rendezvous at the landing pad.

KYLE, SARAH and DAWN emerge from the ventilator corridors and jump lightly to the ground outside the building. JACK emerges from a back exit and is met by an armed guard who requests instructions. JACK pulls him close and pinches a nerve on the bewildered guard's neck, and sets the unconscious guard gently on the ground. Handing DAWN to SARAH, the men provide cover as they make their way back to the machine parked in the shadows of the trees.

JOHN grabs his daughter in a fierce hug. JACK takes the controls of the vehicle.

"I've programmed a route into the navigation system," JOHN says tersely. "It's an abandoned school about an hour from here. We'll be able to take cover there."

SARAH is studying KYLE with an unreadable expression on her face.

"What's your name, soldier?" she asks hoarsely.

"I'm not a soldier," KYLE answers. "I'm a virtual reality systems programmer. I believe in the ideas you and your son have created. You're a legend to me-- the woman who taught her son to fight for human rights; who helped us find a way to end our war with the machines."

"What's your name," she insisted, her voice ragged.

"Kyle Reese," he replied, and watched in confusion as her face tightened as if in pain or in anger.

"How is this possible?", she whispers. Savagely, she punches up his name on the on-board computer. The screen flashes NO KYLE REESE ON RECORD ##.

"I'm cleared for top security systems, Ms. Conner", he said in a soft, respectful voice. "I'm unlisted in public records".

JACK WEXLER turned from the controls. " We'll be at our destination in about forty minutes. Why don't you try and get some rest?"

KYLE locates some food packets in a cabinet and distributes them. JOHN CONNER changes the crude dressing on JACK's arm, and covers DAWN with a jacket, letting her fall asleep on his lap.

SARAH, exhausted, slumps against the wall. KYLE reaches out his hand to steady her as she settles onto the floor. She leans against him, sighs and puts her head on his shoulder, then falls into a light sleep. As the hovercraft rocks with the high speed, he tightens his arms around her, looking down at her face with a look of wonder. Impulsively, gently, he brushes a lock of hair back from her face.

SARAH is dreaming-- images of firestorms, police stations and automated factories flash through her mind. She sees KYLE light the fuse of his last homemade nitroglycerine grenade. He screams "Run. RUN!" as he thrusts it into the belly of the steel chassis of the Terminator. She turns instead and runs toward him, trying to shield him from the shrapnel of steel that explodes from the TERMINATOR crying "NO! Kyle, NO! NO!!". She awakens to find KYLE shaking her gently.

"Hush, Sarah. It's just a bad dream. You're having a bad dream," he murmurs. His voice soothes and frightens her at the same time.

"Kyle- Don't! They'll kill you!" Her eyes dart back and forth, looking into a picture that is, to her, both vivid and real. As she begins to refocus on her present surroundings, she gasps, "It will never be over, will it?" Tears roll down her face.

KYLE grabs her arms tightly. "Listen to me," he says urgently. "The future is NOT set. There is no "fate" except that we make for ourselves".

SARAH flinches, then slowly becomes more calm as the words and the sound of his voice filter through her panic.

He sees that she is listening to him, feels her trembling start to subside.

"You said so," he urges, "in John's book. You taught him to fight the systems, to organize, to create value from power and technology. To build hope in place of despair. To continue and never quit".

KYLE pauses for a moment, amazed at the confession he is making to this slim, silver-haired woman he has cradled in his arms. "I've built my life around those words, Sarah. I'd die for these ideas. I dream about you, Sarah Conner. It's as if...I love you.".

SARAH traces a finger gently around the curve of his jaw. "You were young, like you are now," she whispers, then wraps her arms around him and begins to cry softly. The sound awakens DAWN who begins to whimper in JOHN's sleeping arms. KYLE reaches for the child and brings her to where he and SARAH are huddled, and gathers both in his arms. As he rocks them, and feels them relax against him, he feels a rush-- a sudden flowing sense of completeness that touches him deeply. Suddenly, a part of him he never knew was broken has been restored and healed.

Back at the Consortium's Tactical headquarters, everything is in turmoil. The whereabouts of SARAH, DAWN and JOHN are unknown. KYLE REESE and JACK WEXLER have been classified as enemy agents. Consortium planners do not know how much KYLE and JACK have learned. To stem the damage, Consortium media specialists are efficiently providing disinformation to news sources every quarter hour. Commentators jump on the bandwagon, decrying the government's disadvantage against the terrorists' technology. Government officials call for upgrades of the country's "counter-terrorist technology" in special bulletin broadcasts.

KYLE, JACK, JOHN, SARAH and DAWN land at what appears to be an abandoned college campus. Dusty classrooms are filled with ancient audio-visual and technical equipment, miles of wire, cable, assorted components and electronic gadgetry. KYLE goes to work searching for a source of energy to power up the equipment, and to find a way to link it together in some useful configuration. Suddenly, with a rustle of static and fuzzy images a series of video screen comes alive, and begin to relay news reports from various network conglomerates. The small band of resisters gather together to see what is being reported.

The news is disheartening. JOHN CONNER, VJs report solemnly, has been abducted by the terrorist group which also holds his mother and daughter. The mastermind behind the operation, they believe, is a former U.S. Field Agent on loan to Cyberdyne Systems-- obviously a double agent, working under cover-- a man identified as COL. JACK WEXLER.

As JACK's pumped, distorted TERMINATOR image flashes on the screen, there is a silence among the desperate troupe. SARAH sees the face of the being who seems to haunt her and her family across time... To JOHN, this being has, at one time, represented all his fears; at another, all his hopes. Old scars and fresh emotional wounds reopen, and he slips into a dark, numb, familiar place which is safe from pain and sadness... KYLE looks at the image of a man who had once been an interesting technical problem, a subject; someone whose experiences had been the basis of one of his most challenging assignments. The exercises he created from JACK's experiences-- games, really-- had been used to construct an artificial intelligence that now endanger them all... And JACK sees, for the first time, the extent to which he has been violated and betrayed.

KYLE looks at JACK cautiously, suddenly awash with doubt about the loyalty and the reality of this man. He knows how dangerous JACK WEXLER can be, and how deadly his experience makes him. SARAH, he notices, shudders every time she looks at him. KYLE moves closer to JOHN, SARAH and DAWN as if to protect them from this man whose presence seems more menacing with every moment.

KYLE's eyes return to the monitor; he sees the news reports, the seamless visuals, the persuasive voices of the knowledgeable experts. He seems to make a decision-- his face grows still and hard, his balance and center of gravity shift low, his breathing becomes slow and steady. A shadow of energy, dark and angry, seems to surrounds him like a halo. The air crackles with tension; a glass tips off a nearby table and wires snap suddenly from the building tension.

KYLE begins to move toward JACK. JOHN seems to sense the change in energy and is roused, returning as if from far away. Sensing the tension that has risen in the room, JOHN pulls himself up off a battered chair. Slowly, he walks up to Jack and puts his hand on his chest. Feeling the pounding heart beat inside, he nods, and forces words past the blackness which engulfs him.

"Trust him", he says.

His words seem to return air and light into the musty room, and they begin to move around, taking stock of the situation and beginning to make plans for what lies ahead. As the madness of the moment slips away, like a dream remembered upon awakening but lost upon rising, they begin to plan their strategy. SARAH walks up to KYLE who is sifting through a pile of battered equipment.

"Can you stop them?" asks SARAH with a shudder.

"With this equipment? I don't know," admits KYLE with a weary look around at the abandoned junk, antiques, from the 1990's and the turn of the century. For a moment, the words seems to hang in the air between them, an echo of a similar conversation held on a desperate night, impossible years before.

KYLE talks to SARAH as he jerryriggs pieces of equipment and cable. "Early virtual reality simulations were designed to provide an interactive computer environment", he explains as he works. "Science fiction fantasy in the 70's and 80's really drove the technology, created the market for virtual reality environments. Roddenberry's holodeck, Gibson's cyberspace, McCaffrey's Prime Talents-- they created scenarios that acted like commercials for this stuff way before the technology was in place to create it."

"So skunkworks sprung up to create it. Bulletin boards and hackers' conferences created this underground technology, a kind of blackmarket Expo. People started jacking into corporate networks, government networks... grafting together all kinds of videotech and neuropsych stuff. Eventually, some enterprising folks went public, creating Experience Centers where people could come into a kind of cyberspace room, and participate in laserdisk history and action adventures."

"I climbed Mount Everest once-- a classic virtual reality, one of the old ones," KYLE grinned as a stripped several colored wires and twisted them together. "Hand me those laser solderers," he gestures toward the equipment that lay at SARAH's feet. She picks up a tool that is buried under a pile of scavenged pieces of equipment."

"You sure know your weapons", he says. SARAH grins, and tosses it over to KYLE, as he turns his attention back to his electronic kludge.

"Anyway, as the technology developed, they developed visors that could send signals directly into your optical nerve and cerebral cortex, so you felt like you were inside the scene, with the scene changing as you moved your eyes." He steps back and tests an interface between a dusty console and a slightly lopsided terminal. It hums, then sparks and goes dark. He bends his knees and sinks back down into a relaxed cross-legged position on the floor, and patiently begins again.

"Finally, a breakthrough comes from physicists who blend research from neuropsychology and physics. They found that some people could focus their brainwaves to support a link between their brain cell activity and the neural nets of the computer networks. They could project ideas or images through special scanners which could recreate those images in holographic scenes that others, less psi-sensitive, could pick up in special headsets and console systems. Great for training simulations and therapy sessions."

KYLE steps back from his contraption, jerryrigged from bits and pieces of cast off equipment.

"So here's my idea. We build a primitive virtual reality simulator with a local projection field. I'll create images of a team of bodyguards to draw their fire. When Cyberdyne moves the news teams in, we patch into their broadcast signals, and try to send out our own broadcast. We get people to override the Military Option defaults and make their own decisions. We sure as hell won't win through fire power," he adds grimly.

Outside, JACK and JOHN finish setting magnetic conductors around the entrances to the auditorium. Coming inside, they set up a make-shift studio to record JOHN's message. JACK holds a palmtop camera as JOHN speaks tiredly into the lens.

"How will these signals reach the attack force?" asks SARAH. KYLE opens the housing of a small headset and places a small chip in place. He blows dust off, then snaps the casing closed. He pulls the headset over his eyes and ears.

"I've programmed a transmitter frequency to override the communication channels that feed into their helmet visors," replies KYLE. "The implant strip isn't designed to carry sensory images, but I'm banking on their anxiety to activate enough adrenalin to shift their brain waves receptors into a higher sensitivity. That should add the boost we need. Their fear will make them believe what they see."

KYLE begins to tap out a series of commands on the dusty keyboard, then pulls back as he begins to receive input through the headset. "I've been classified as a PSI-6 Talent, so I should be able to send and transmit telepathically a minimal scenario, at least," he explains. "We'll see."

KYLE grows silent as he begins to interact with the system. His breathing deepens, and the muscles in his face relax. His eyes, unfocused, move rapidly as he interacts with the internal images. Impatient, wanting to know what KYLE is seeing, SARAH crosses the room and returns with JACK's security visor. She pulls it over her head, and her vision is crowded with lights and spinning images, making her feel dizzy and disoriented. Suddenly, images snap into focus; smells are pungent and textures feel sharp as she sees the empty hallway of the abandoned school building filled with soldiers wearing NPP badges and looking eerily like KYLE, JACK and SARAH herself. SARAH finds herself moving through the scene; feels her muscles move in the close fitting uniform, feels her breath ragged. She looks up and sees KYLE-- is it Kyle, or her sense of him?-- in a black flightsuit, laying out equipment she doesn't recognize. He glances up as he senses her, surprised at the strength of her unconscious telepathic sensitivity.

"What do you think? Do you think it will fool them?" The uncertainty on his face seems incongruous with the confidence of his military appearance. SARAH smiles back, and gives him an encouraging thumbs-up. She walks towards him, remembering how it was with him, once, before this future, before JOHN.....

Suddenly, they are seated side by side in an open jeep, driving toward the Mexican mountains as thunderclouds rubble ominously in the distance. KYLE is wearing khaki slacks and an Army jacket; SARAH wears a drop-waisted dress that curves over her rounded belly. KYLE kisses her briefly as he hops out to fill the tank with gasoline.....

Suddenly, they are in a small cottage, surrounded by bougainvillaea and the sound of parrots and macaws squawking from nearby palm trees. SARAH stirs a pot of rice and beans, as KYLE carefully cleans and reassembles an automatic weapon. As he puts it on a metal shelf high above the kitchen table, they hear JOHN crying as the toddler awakes from his nap. KYLE lifts him from the hammock and nuzzles his neck while he brings him into the kitchen. SARAH looks up with contentment as she sees her two loves framed in sunlight through the doorway...

Suddenly, they are in the clearing where KYLE has built a small lean-to as a resting place for his long days in the fields. KYLE turns to SARAH, and reaches out to her with an easy, familiar motion. Laughing, she steps into the circle of his arms, and returns his kisses with a humming sound, her arms travelling over the length of his back, molding herself to the hard curves of his body. Their kisses become hungry, searching, desperate in their need to be one together, to be apart not-at-all, to be in and around and deep inside one another. With a powerful rhythm, they find their special place, the space that belongs to them completely. With a moan-- his? hers?-- they climax and slip sweetly into a deep, delicious sleep...

And suddenly feel themselves falling, separated in a cold, harsh light....

They find themselves on the hard, concrete floor, their bodies covered in a light sheen. KYLE looks at SARAH with a sense of wonder. He laughs, reaching for her, when a loud shout from the other side of the room demands their attention.

"They're coming in," JACK finishes loading ammunition into their small cache of weapons. "Let's get ready".

The anti-terrorist assault teams begin to move into place. Each soldier is outfitted with helmet visors with visual and auditory communication systems. A TERMINATOR unit serves as a point man in the initial entry. Heavy equipment, ground troops and hovercraft are placed in position. Simultaneously, special video broadcast modules are connected to provide newscasters with direct cable access to military information and tactical field reports. Hot coffee and lightweight infra-red binoculars, courtesy of Cyberdyne Systems, are distributed to broadcasters by military assistants.

With a flurry of coded tones, the attack forces move out and begin to surround the school building. As they pass beneath the magnetic conductors hidden among the overhead wires, their electronic programming flickers and begins garbling fields of information. Detection equipment fails to identify the fine silver webs strung inside the building, or the hum of the electrical and holographic images that they carry.

Suddenly, the assault forces are faced with a terrifying sight; an army of grim soldiers lie in wait. Dozens of men and women, bearing startling resemblances to JACK WEXLER, KYLE REESE, JOHN CONNER, and SARAH CONNER, fill the rooms, with weapons raised and firing. The startled Consortium forces open at the images and surge forward, blind to the three desperate fighters who have them targeted in a three-way cross-fire from above the simulation screens.

"NOW", shouts JACK as the first explosions echo through the room. "Transmit!"

KYLE flips the dusty, ancient digital switches and prays for a miracle. After a moment of static and flashes of color, the telecast that they have prepared begins to break through the secured programming channels, and begins to broadcast live on all channels. As Consortium technicians try desperately to block the broadcasts, the message runs:

A video image of JOHN, SARAH and DAWN CONNER, with KYLE REESE and JACK WEXLER standing solemnly in the background. ID voice prints verify the identity of each as they state their names. Finally, JOHN begins to speak:

"On Monday, July 12, 2029, a terrorist group attacked my family. This terrorist group does not represent fundamentalist terrorist forces as we have been led to believe. They are, in fact, a consortium of business, military and intelligence interests whose greed for power and profits was threatened by the call of the people for the reengineering of technology and financial resources."

"They attacked and killed my wife and son. They held Sarah and my daughter hostage. They infiltrated the rescue team commissioned to secure the release of the hostages, with orders to kill the hostages in the crossfire. Their goal- to make the public believe that without high tech weaponry, no family could feel safe."

"To insure their success, they created prototypes of the most immoral weapon since the creation of chemical weaponry: a cyborg, or cytogenic organism, built from the genetic structure of a good, decent man named Jack Wexler and programmed with the skill stolen from a Talented, virtual reality programmer named Kyle Reese. Armed with bionics and learning processes that have no moral guidelines, these cyborgs were developed as assassins-- expendable human weapon systems. At least two of these prototypes exist and were involved in the raids launched against us over these past two days."

"We appeal to the members of the media, government and community-at-large to disconnect the media links which tie the Consortium to the public communication networks. We ask the military to overrule the standard operating codes which permit command and control systems led by these Consortium forces to move against us. We ask citizens of our world community to demand that their representatives commit themselves to prevention of technological fascism by making return-on-human-investment the criterion for allocation of research dollars. If we stand together, we can take back control of our technology so that it serves the people and the future well being of generations to come."

"Our fate is in your hands. You must be stronger than you imagine you can be, or we will not survive. We cannot hold out against the attacking forces much longer."

A power surge through their system signals the response to this broadcast. Telecommunication networks spike to capacity as new, manual orders override standard electronic security procedures. Voice and data transmission lines strain to transmit the messages that begin flying between elected and appointed decision-makers. In Washington, U.S. Cabinet officers are beeped awake by the President's Chief of Staff, and summoned to a meeting in the White House within the hour.

"No, we will not meet by electronic conference call. Yes, you must be there in person. No, I don't care what time it is," she repeats to each Cabinet officer. "Be there in twenty minutes."

Media editors shut down electronic media channels and send reporters out to verify facts and information in person. Official sources of information, cultivated so carefully over so many years, become instantly obsolete.

Although troops outside the school respond to orders to fall back and desist, advance troops receive no updated information through the magnetic disrupter fields. The battle continues to rage inside the school building. KYLE and JACK provide cover for JOHN, SARAH and DAWN as they flee down the corridor toward the hovercraft hidden behind the building. Sounds of explosions are heard as their meager defense grids, which carried the virtual reality images, are smashed. More explosions follow as these troops, led by the TERMINATOR unit, find the broadcast station and blow up the transmitters. The flash of lasers create a strobe light effect as the troops gain ground.

SARAH scoops DAWN into one arm as she unhooks a personal laser weapon. JACK tosses KYLE a small grenade, then flings aside one empty carbine. KYLE lobs the grenade, and he and JACK drop to the floor as a hail of laser bullets come around the corner toward the steel doors that lead outside. The TERMINATOR unit sprays the area and continues to advance; they answer it with rounds of their own, then fall back behind the doors. Just before the safety of the door, SARAH lies motionless on the floor, her bleeding body covering DAWN, who seems too frightened to cry. KYLE lifts SARAH in his arms as JOHN grabs DAWN. JACK provides covering fire as they make their way back to the aircraft.

As KYLE starts the engine, JACK leaps on board. "We're nearly out of bullets. I can't hold them back much longer". KYLE races the motor as a stream of bullets fly into the cabin and hit JACK as he pulls himself aboard. His neck and back are covered in blood. The hovercraft totters dangerously as JOHN reaches out and pulls JACK aboard. KYLE manages to evade fire from the troops on the ground. Suddenly-- they hear silence, as cease-fire orders are communicated to the remaining troops and the "rescue operation" nightmare is halted.

KYLE slams the machine into a near stall as he brings it down to ground and pulls SARAH into his arms. Tears stream from his eyes as he shifts her weight in a useless attempt to make her more comfortable. She reaches up and touches a fingertip to his tears, then brings the teardrop to her lips. "Why?" she asks.

"I feel like I'm losing you before I've ever really known you", he replies softly.

"Kyle", she whispers, "we've loved a lifetime's worth."

JOHN, tending to JACK WEXLER, looks up as he hears a strangled sob from KYLE. He sees his mother in KYLE's arms, sees her face settle into a peaceful smile, then sees her breathing cease. He watches KYLE gently lay SARAH down. KYLE reaches for a blanket and opens his arms for DAWN, who crawls into his lap and huddles for warmth. He holds her tightly as JOHN restarts the engine and pilots the hovercraft toward the lights of the city.

---

EPILOGUE Sunday, September 21, 2029

JOHN and his daughter are eating breakfast in a small cabin by the ocean. DAWN eats quietly; her sadness is evident in her eyes and in every movement of her small body. JOHN is also, clearly, despondent. His grief appears to be crushing him; his clothes hang on him, and his hair seems to fall in his eyes. He is unable to come to peace, and fears that his actions are responsible for endangering his family. All he desires, now, is escape; to flee with his young daughter to a quiet corner of the world, far from the demands of people and machines. The telephone rings once, and is immediately answered by an old fashioned answering machine with a terse recording, "No one is here to take your call".

The sound of footsteps on the gravel walkway startles father and daughter. A quiet tap echoes on the rough hewn door. JOHN does not move. Another tap, and the door is gently pushed open, and KYLE REESE walks tentatively into the room. DAWN hops off her chair and runs into his arms, holding him close as he lifts her into the air.

"Why are you here", JOHN asks quietly.

"I can't stop thinking about her", KYLE says tightly. "I can't let her go."

JOHN gets to his feet and walks to an antique wooden desk. He reaches inside to a metal box filled with papers, labeled S. CONNER, PERSONAL PAPERS. He selects one, and hands it to KYLE. It is a yellowed newspaper clipped, very old, faded, covered in clear plastic to keep it from falling apart. KYLE looks at the picture and gasps as he sees his own face staring angrily at the camera. The date under the photo, in a small, feminine handwriting, says Kyle Reese, July 11, 1984. "I don't understand," KYLE whispers.

"I can't explain", shrugs JOHN. "All I know is this- that some realities transcend time and space. Love can make time and distance irrelevant. You and SARAH have that kind of love".

"May I keep this photograph?", KYLE asked.

"Yes," JOHN answers. He lift his head to look at DAWN standing in the light coming in through the open doorway. "Now," he says softly, "Will you help me?"

KYLE nods and holds the older man closely for a moment, then sits down beside him at the antique kitchen table. Miami December 20, 2029

JOHN, KYLE and DAWN pull into the parking lot of a large hospital complex. They park, and walk down a long corridor into a room filled with people, equipment and computers. An aide sports a faded T-shirt: The Miami Project: Be Realistic--Expect Miracles!

In the corner, sitting in a black chrome wheelchair, sits JACK WEXLER. KYLE explains to JOHN as the walked into the room, "...and the bullet completely severed his spinal cord. He was barely breathing when they loaded him onto MEDIVAC...".

DAWN looks around and sees JACK seated across the room. She brightens and waves to him, then hesitates shyly.

JACK sees her and grins, then says, "Watch this". With his mouth, he puffs into a straw that raises a control console attached to his wheelchair. He taps it with his chin, and his body seems to inflate with a rush of energy. DAWN starts to skip toward him as JACK's spinal cord processor keys in the message from his eyes and his brain, then sends the messages to the muscles that allow him to reach down, scoop DAWN up in his arms, and give her the gentlest of hugs.

THE END