Reese. Why me? Why's it want me?
There was a nuclear war. A few years from now, all this, this whole place, everything, it's gone. Just gone. There were survivors. Here, there. Nobody even knew who started it. It was the machines, Sarah.
Defense network computers. New... powerful... hooked into everything, trusted to run it all. They say it got smart, a new order of intelligence. Then it saw all people as a threat, not just the ones on the other side. Decided our fate in a microsecond: extermination.
No. I grew up after. In the ruins... starving... hiding from H-K's.
Hunter-Killers: patrol machines built in automated factories. Most of us were rounded up, put in camps for orderly disposal.
[Pulls up his right sleeve, exposing a mark]
This is burned in by laser scan. Some of us were kept alive... to work... loading bodies. The disposal units ran night and day. We were that close to going out forever. But there was one man who taught us to fight, to storm the wire of the camps, to smash those metal mother****ers into junk. He turned it around. He brought us back from the brink. His name is Connor. John Connor. Your son, Sarah... your unborn son.
He's about my height. He has your eyes.
You trust him. He's got a strength. I'd die for John Connor.
Well... at least now I know what to name him. I don't suppose you know who the father is, so I won't tell him to get lost when I meet him?
John never said much about him. I know he dies before the war.
Wait. I don't want to know.
[In a gun shop]
The 12 gauge autoloader.
S Shopkeeper
[Passes him the gun]
That's Italian, you can go pump or auto.
The .45 longslide, with laser sighting.
S Shopkeeper
[Passes the Terminator the gun, the Terminator "plays" with it]
These are brand new, we just got them in. That's a good gun. You just touch the trigger, the beam comes on and you put the red dot where you want the bullet to go, you can't miss. Anything else?
Phased plasma rifle in the 40 Watt range.
S Shopkeeper
Hey, just what you see, pal.
S Shopkeeper
[Passes him the gun, the terminator "plays" with the first gun]
You know your weapons, buddy. Any one of these is ideal for home defense. So, uh, which'll it be?
S Shopkeeper
I may close early today [Bends down to get paperwork, terminator loads gun] there's a, uh, 15 day wait on the handguns but the rifles you can take right now [He gets up, notices the gun being loaded], you can't do that.
Wrong. [Terminator shoots him].
Dr. Silberman Why didn't you bring any weapons, something more advanced? Don't you have, uh, ray guns? Show me a piece of future technology.
You go naked. Something about the field generated by a living organism. Nothing dead will go.
Dr. Silberman Why?
[frustrated]
I didn't build the **** thing!
Dr. Silberman Okay, okay. But this cyborg, if it's metal...
Surrounded by living tissue!
Dr. Silberman Oh, right, right. [pauses the interrogation tape] This is great stuff! I could make a career out of this guy. You see how clever this part is, how it doesn't require a shred of proof? And most paranoid delusions are intricate, but this is brilliant! [resumes the interrogation tape] Why were the other two women killed?
Most of the records were lost in the war. Skynet knew almost nothing about Connor's mother. Her full name, where she lives. They just knew the city. The Terminator was just being systematic.
Dr. Silberman Uh-huh. Well, let's go back to where I was...
[interrupts]
Look! You have heard enough! I have answered your questions! Now I have to see Sarah Connor!
Dr. Silberman I'm afraid that's not up to me.
Then why am I talking to you?
Dr. Silberman Because I can help...
Who is in authority here?!
Dr. Silberman Please, I...
[interrupts again]
SHUT UP!!! [glares at the camera] You still don't get it, do you?! He'll find her! THAT'S WHAT HE DOES! THAT'S ALL HE DOES! YOU CAN'T STOP HIM! HE'LL WADE THROUGH YOU, REACH DOWN HER THROAT, AND PULL HER **** HEART OUT!!!
Ed Traxler Doc?
Dr. Silberman [pauses the interrogation tape]
Sorry.
Dr. Silberman In technical terminology, he's a loon.
[A very pregnant Sarah begins recording a taped message while driving through the Mexican desert.]
Tape 7, November 10...Where was I? What's difficult is trying to decide what to tell you and what not to. But I guess I have a while before you're old enough to understand these tapes. They're more for me at this point just so that I can get it straight.
[pulls up at a gas station; a clerk comes out]
¿Gasolina, por favor?
GS Gas Station Clerk
¿Cuánto?
GS Gas Station Clerk
Fill 'er up! ¡Sí!
[recording]
Should I tell you about your father? Boy, that's a tough one. Will it affect your decision to send him here, knowing that he is your father? If you don't send Kyle, you can never be. God, a person could go crazy thinking about this. I suppose I will tell you. I owe him that. Maybe it'll help if you know that, in the few hours we had together, we loved a lifetime's worth. [stops recording because a boy has just taken a Polaroid picture of her]
B Boy
Usted es muy hermosa, señora, y tengo apena decirle que me dé cinco dólares americanos, pero si no, mi padre me va a pegar.
[to clerk]
What did he just say?
GS Gas Station Clerk
He says you're very beautiful, señora, and he's ashamed to ask you for five American dollars for his picture - but if he doesn't, his father will beat him.
Pretty good hustle, kid. [raises four fingers] Cuatro.
B Boy
¡Sí, sí! [accepts two two-dollar bills] Gracias. [leaves, but calls back a warning] ¡Miren, miren! ¡Allá! ¡Viene una tormenta!
[to clerk]
What did he just say?
GS Gas Station Clerk
He said there's a storm coming in.
[contemplatively]
I know.
[Kyle and Sarah escape the Terminator's assault at the police station and hide in a storm drain to tend to his wounds]
Would you talk about something?
I don't know. Anything. Just talk. Tell me about my son.
He's about my height. He has your eyes.
You trust him. He's got a strength. I'd die for John Connor.
Well, at least now I know what to name him. I don't suppose you know who the father is so I won't tell him to get lost when I meet him.
John never said much about him. I know he dies before the war-
Wait! I don't want to know. So, was it John that sent you here?
It was a chance to meet the legend... Sarah Connor. Taught her son to fight, organize, prepare from when he was a kid. When you were in hiding before the war.
You're talking about things I haven't done yet, in the past tense. It's driving me crazy. Are you sure you have the right person?
[angry, irritated]
Oh, come on. Do I look like the mother of the future? I mean am I tough, organized? I can't even balance my checkbook! Look Reese, I didn't ask for this honor and I don't want it, any of it!
Your son gave me a message to give to you. He made me memorize it. [reciting] "Thank you, Sarah, for your courage through the dark years. I can't help you with what you must soon face, except to say that the future is not set. You must be stronger than you imagine you can be. You must survive, or I will never exist." That is all. [examines the bandage Sarah has put on his hand] It's a good field dressing.
[bitterly]
You like it? It's my first.
[Recording a tape for her future son]
The hardest thing is deciding what I should tell you and what not to. Well, anyway, I've got a while yet before you're old enough to understand the tapes. They're more for me at this point... to help get it all straight. Should I tell you about your father? That's a tough one. Will it change your decision to send him here... knowing? But if you don't send Kyle, you could never be. God, you can go crazy thinking about all this... I suppose I'll tell you... I owe him that. And maybe it'll be enough if you know that in the few hours we had together we loved a lifetime's worth.
