Terminator Salvation: The Official Movie Novelization Read Online Free PDF Page A

captain’s colleagues. The communicator’s locked frequency was as silent as the grave. A bad simile , the general thought, especially considering his present subterranean location. As he had done on previous occasions, he found himself turning for advice to one particular squad leader. Unlike Jericho, he was not reluctant to do so. Like any good administrator, good soldiers are able to suborn their egos to necessity.
    “Connor, get your ass topside and remind those men they need to answer me when I call, even if they’re dead. Connor!”
    Solemn-faced as ever, Connor acknowledged the order and headed for the hatchway he and his men had blasted wide. Olsen followed him with his eyes for a moment, then gestured toward the holding pens as he turned back to his immediate subordinates.
    “Let’s cut these people loose. Seeing them like this makes my stomach turn. Listening to them hurts my heart.” Nodding agreement, the small circle of officers and noncoms that had clustered around him dispersed to see to the opening of the last cells.
    By this time the world was supposed to be swarming with inventions designed to make life easier , Connor thought to himself as he worked the hand-held ascender that was taking him up the cable. Jet packs and synthetic food. Colonies on Mars and rejuvenated oceans. Computers that could be controlled by thought.
    Those things had not come to pass because of one unfortunate oversight: Machines that could be controlled by thought had indeed come to pass.
    The problem was that they were thinking for themselves, not for their creators, and their thoughts had turned out to be not at all nice.
    A tremor ran through the ground as he reached the surface. He hesitated there until he was able to identify the source of the deep-throated rumble.
    Passing almost directly overhead, a huge Skynet Transporter thundered past. Part of it was open construction, allowing him to see that the interior was crammed with more human prisoners. The ones who had been dumped in the top of the container were crushing the life out of the poor beggars trapped at the bottom.
    On the other hand , he mused as he pulled himself out of the hole, those on the bottom might be the lucky ones.
    Though he doubted there was anything he could do for them, he knew he had to try. Had to keep trying, until there was no more try and no more life left in him.
    It was his destiny.
    Scanning the battlefield and the remnants of the Skynet satellite array, his gaze settled on an apparently intact chopper idling nearby. Whatever it was, its original mission was about to be changed. Hefting his gear, he raced toward it and clambered inside. A glance showed the big Skynet Transport picking up speed as it angled northward.
    “They’ve got human prisoners on board that thing!” he yelled as he pulled himself into the cockpit. “Get after it! If your weapons systems are operational maybe we can....”
    He broke off. The chopper’s weapons might be operational, but its pilots were not. Both slumped dead in their seats, a single hole in their respective foreheads. Telltale Terminator work. A hasty look around indicated that whichever machine had killed them had moved on in search of other organics to exterminate.
    The Transport full of hapless prisoners was nearly out of sight. One reason Connor was still alive was because he had learned to move fast. Linger too long over a notion and the machines, which were subject to no such hesitation, would splinter your skull before you could conclude your thought.
    Working fast, he unbuckled the dead pilot from his harness, dragged him backward, and laid him gently if not reverently in the chopper’s hold. The steady whup-whup of the idling rotors rose to a whine as he threw himself into the now vacant seat and took control.
    While the pilots had been coldly executed, the craft had been left untouched. No minion of Skynet would harm another machine, even a non-sentient one, without cause. Connor himself