Chapter 13: Luck and Tragedy
Los Angeles time, May 12, 1984, 7:00 AM.
Kyle Reese was enjoying a peaceful breakfast at a fast-food restaurant, a tranquil moment that filled him with a deep sense of satisfaction.
Kyle was incredibly lucky!
Because in the early morning, the LAPD and the FBI's Los Angeles field office were fully focused on hunting the Terminator T-800, completely ignoring him, a nobody, and he successfully blended into Los Angeles in 1984.
In fact, in The Terminator, Kyle was incredibly unlucky; he was immediately targeted by the police after traveling through time and was forced to flee constantly.
"Welcome to the Los Angeles Morning News," the fast-food restaurant's television broadcast the Los Angeles Morning News.
"Around 2:00 AM this morning, an experimental robot at Cyberdyne Systems escaped containment. According to the LAPD, the escaped experimental robot from Cyberdyne Systems is extremely dangerous, exhibiting serious aggressive behavior and violent tendencies," the Los Angeles Morning News anchor reported.
"Please, citizens, if you spot this experimental robot, notify the LAPD immediately and ensure your own safety." The Los Angeles morning news displayed an image of the Terminator T-800.
"What?!" Kyle nearly choked on his coffee as he watched the image of the 'experimental robot' on the Los Angeles morning news, because he recognized it immediately as the Terminator T-800!
The Terminator T-800 without its tissue covering!
"An escaped experimental robot?" Kyle quickly imagined a series of scenarios.
The Terminator T-800's time-traveling landing point near Cyberdyne Systems;
the Terminator T-800 being discovered;
the LAPD mistaking the Terminator T-800 for an experimental robot from Cyberdyne, and so on.
"Is this machine really that unlucky?" Kyle secretly thought with satisfaction.
Originally, Kyle had been worried about how to fight the Terminator T-800. He knew its capabilities very well. In this technologically limited era, Kyle had only wanted to hide with Sarah Connor from the Terminator T-800.
But for now, Kyle thought he could wait and see if the Terminator T-800 would be dealt with by humanity in this era.
Although the Terminator T-800 was a super machine ahead of its time, far surpassing this era in both combat power and technological sophistication, there was only one Terminator T-800. For it to fight against the entire human world was nothing short of impossible!
"Perhaps I can provide some information and assistance to the authorities in this era, allowing them to better deal with the Terminator T-800," Kyle pondered to himself, but quickly abandoned the idea.
Kyle couldn't explain his identity!
Kyle also couldn't be sure if humanity in this era would believe his explanation.
What if he were captured?
Kyle had his own mission: to protect Sarah Connor and make her fall in love with him, so that he could successfully father the future human leader, John Connor.
This kind of temporal paradox was mind-bending!
...
It was nearly eight in the morning.
FBI Los Angeles field office, Richard's office.
Richard was reviewing reports, and Marcus sat opposite him, patiently waiting.
Nearly ten minutes later, Richard put down the report. He paused for a moment before asking, "Is that Terminator T-800 real?"
"Boss, you have the answer," Marcus replied, not answering whether it was true or false.
"What is its purpose?" Richard stared at Marcus. "Marcus, I'm guessing you know the answer!"
Marcus didn't deny it. "Yes, I know the answer, but will you believe me, Boss?"
"I said I believe you. You said it, so I believe you," Richard replied in a deep voice.
"Its purpose is simple: it wants to kill someone. At this point in time, there is someone very important. If this person is killed, humanity will lose in the future war," Marcus said calmly.
Richard frowned. "Sarah Connor? The Sarah Connor who works at Big Jeff's?"
"Yes," Marcus nodded affirmatively. He had applied for the fake addresses with Richard before, so Richard naturally knew of Sarah Connor's existence.
"And the reason?" Richard pressed.
"It's unbelievable—Sarah Connor is the mother of the future human resistance leader. Boss, who would believe something like that these days?" Marcus said, almost self-deprecatingly.
Richard nodded. "It is indeed unbelievable, and indeed hard to believe, but as I said, I believe you. You once said you would find evidence for me, and now I think the Terminator T-800 is evidence."
Richard added, "Have you found a way to neutralize it?"
"Of course!" Marcus replied affirmatively, "But now there's a significant issue."
"What significant issue?" Richard asked.
"Boss, let me first explain the whole story to you, so you can have a general understanding of the situation, and then you'll know where the problem lies." Marcus began to describe Skynet, the Terminators, Judgment Day, the human resistance, and so on.
With Richard occasionally interrupting and asking questions, it took nearly half an hour for Marcus to finish explaining the situation.
After Marcus finished speaking, Richard looked at him. "I roughly understand the basic situation of the whole incident. The Terminator T-800 is an assassin sent by Skynet. John Connor sent Kyle Reese to this era to protect Sarah Connor in order to protect his mother, right?"
"Yes!" Marcus nodded.
"Can we find Kyle Reese?" Richard asked again.
Marcus nodded first, then shook his head. "We can definitely find him, because he will definitely go looking for Sarah Connor. But we don't know when he will go looking for Sarah Connor. We set up fake addresses to protect Sarah Connor. As long as he goes there, we can find him."
Richard nodded again, indicating that he understood Marcus's statement.
"Marcus, I found a problem. According to you, Kyle Reese is a human from the future, he is John Connor's father, and Sarah is a human from the present. John was born after she and Kyle conceived, right?" Richard also caught the temporal paradox.
Marcus smiled wryly. "I know that too. But why it's like this, I don't know. I can only say that it's true, Kyle is indeed John's father, and Sarah is indeed John's mother."
Richard frowned. "Isn't there a reasonable explanation?"
"I think there probably isn't," Marcus shook his head.
Richard pondered in silence, and Marcus remained silent as well, patiently waiting for Richard's conclusion.
After nearly three minutes, Richard suddenly spoke, "Marcus, do you know, there's a loophole in your story."
[Power Stone Goal: 500 = +2 Chapters]
[Review Goal: 10 = +1 Chapter]
If you liked it, feel free to leave a review.
20+ chapters ahead on P2treon DarkFoxx