It was no longer the time for the labor to still be working at the factory. Thus it was quiet and the machine did not produce any sound which could make someone having a hard time to sleep.

The condition remained like that for several hours after the last man left the factory, at least until a man and a woman rushed inside. They were not the employees or labor who left something at their work place, nor the staffs who wanted to have an overtime on that day. They were also not thieves who desired the money kept in the safe, nor some troublesome people who just wanted to show-off by telling to the world that they managed to go inside the factory without being noticed by anyone. They were just a simple man and woman, trying to escape from a killing cyborg whose mission was to eliminate the woman. That killing machine was called T-001 and it was a machine sent to the past by Skynet, the master and the creator of these killing machines.

The man, named Kyle Reese, was a mercenary sent to the past to protect Sarah Connor, the woman who became the target. He got no knowledge of this factory. Thus he did not know where to run. At one point, he was distracted by something that he failed to protect Sarah Connor. With one shot to the neck, Sarah died only in a matter of minutes.

T-001’s computer informed Skynet that the mission had been successful. After that confirmation had been received, Skynet did not tell this killing cyborg to kill Kyle Reese, who at time was crying over the dead body of Sarah. He knew that he had failed in his mission, and thus he would disappoint John Connor, the man who sent him to the past and who was actually the son of Sarah. What bothered him the most was actually the fact that far in the future, the machine had completely taken over the world, for John Connor the leader of the resistance was never born. Without the presence of John, then the war against the machines could never fall into victory.

*****

Kyle grew mad with rage. He took an iron pipe near him and immediately attacked T-001. This sudden attack was unpredictable and thus this killing machine could only accept its final fate: becoming pile of rubbish which were melt into the fire.

Kyle then left the factory. He once heard a theory about something sent to the past and what will happen if that something changed the past. The changed past will indeed create a different future. However, the one who actually changed the past will not be affected, as if time got no right to touch him or her. This theory was now proved because nor Kyle or the machine vanished into the air because of the changed past. Kyle, without any preparation to live as a citizen of the past, now had to be willingly to live a whole new life. And while living this whole new life, he waited until Skynet launched its system to destroy mankind. No John Connor would never be a problem for Kyle Reese. He as the most trusted man of John Connor would take John’s place and would do anything to prevent the doom.

Years then passed and Kyle turned to 65. He had lived a peaceful life after serving as a US army for thirty years. He was now living on a simple flat with his beloved wife, after his son and daughter decided to work abroad several years ago.

Kyle wondered, how come there was no news about Skynet from Cyberdyne. It was one of top 10 tech company in the world. If they did produce something big like Skynet, indeed they will announce it, or at least someone will be telling the world about it. What makes it odd was Cyberdyne kept producing normal stuffs such as computer or smartphone, or any other robotic machines that were far from Skynet system. This fact then made Kyle asked himself: “Did Cyberdyne ever plan to build Skynet? Or indeed they have built it, but they treated it as a very classified project, that it was impossible for anyone outside to know about it?”

That question was never answered, at least until he celebrated his 70th birthday at a hotel. His son invited so many people and one of them was a senior manager of Cyberdyne. Kyle secretly interviewed him. So many questions he asked to this employee of Cyberdyne, although none of them were direct questions like, “Are you guys building system that will eliminate human being?”.

That employee did answer all questions thrown by Kyle, as if those answers were not confidential at all. Kyle did not see that Cyberdyne did have a plan to create system that will threaten human existence. Thus he changed the discussion topic into a more cheerful one.

An hour then passed without both of them noticing it. That employee of Cyberdyne decided to go back home. But just before he left Kyle who was sitting on a wheelchair, he said that once when he was young and still a newbie at Cyberdyne, he had a plan to develop the company as the number one tech company in the world. He had planned to build an Artificial Intelligence system, which it will later help human in their life. He was convinced that the system he designed will be the most perfect one and none of their competitors could produce the same one.

Kyle showed an interest to know more about the project. It was because Skynet was basically an AI that was so smart, which in the end managed to rule mankind. To dig more, he decided to interview the man for the second time.

The senior manager then said, “Although i believed in my plan, still, i was not confident enough. I wanted to talk to my close friend first about it. Unfortunately, she was dead in the hand of a criminal. That’s why i never met her again, and i decided to shut off my project and never talked about it anymore,”.

The senior manager then left, leaving Kyle with many questions in his head. Those unanswered questions were brought to his sleep. At some time, with those many things inside his head, he had a dream of a very different life that he lived now. It was because in his dream, he actually had died, while Sarah managed to survive.

Sarah, while being pregnant with a baby boy, was waiting for someone in a small restaurant. Not too long after she waited, someone came inside. Kyle knew that guy for sure. It was the senior manager of Cyberdyne. The difference was: He was just much, much younger than the one Kyle met this afternoon.

That young senior manager talked about his work to Sarah. He seemed to be depressed, for he had no conviction that his proposed project will never be accepted. Listening to him made Sarah try to grow his confidence. To him she said that, “There is no fate but what we make for ourselves,”.

The advice given to him made the guy promise that he will succeed after listening to Sarah’s advice. The guy then decided to leave, as his break time was almost over. But prior to his leaving, he asked about Sarah’s baby. To him, Sarah said that the baby was a boy and the father had died in an unfortunate event. She later added that the boy would be named “John Connor”.

Kyle was shocked in finding the truth that John Connor was his own boy, existed from the passionate night he spent once with Sarah. He wanted to see more about Sarah and his unborn son. However, in his dream alone, he was brought to a scene where the young senior manager presented something in front of Cyberdyne’s Board of Directors. That something was about a very smart Artificial Intelligence, with the code name: Skynet.

While Kyle was shocked with that code name, the BOD of Cyberdyne approved the project. Thus the young senior manager was promoted and the project was executed. Later, it brought doom to mankind, for Skynet tried to take over the world from human.

*****

Kyle woke up and he realized that it was just a dream. He decided to find more truth by visiting the senior manager’s house.Having nothing to do on that day, the senior manager let Kyle come to his house.

Two hours later, Kyle was waiting at the living room, while the senior manager was leaving him for a while because of a sudden business. It was considered as the most perfect time to find out more about the truth. He then decided to rummage through the bookshelves.

After some time, he managed to find a folder consisting of old documents. He inspected those and after some time later, he discovered that the old documents were about the smart AI project that the senior manager told him the day before. That project, as his dream told him, was under the name: Skynet.

In the same folder, Kyle also saw a photo of the senior manager and Sarah Connor. Indeed it showed the fact that the senior manager and Sarah did have a connection as a friend.

All these facts then made Kyle realized something: Sarah Connor was dead and thus she never got the chance to convince this senior manager to proceed with his Skynet project (which Sarah had no knowledge about it). The result was Skynet was never born and the world was safe from the threats of dangerous AI.

In his previous life, Sarah Connor managed to live and gave birth to John Connor. The part of giving birth was not important, for Sarah being alive was the key to lead the birth of Skynet.

*****

Kyle had seen and experienced two different life in his lifetime. He never knew whether his dream about Sarah meeting the senior manager was a coincidence or a visual of another dimension — the dimension where Kyle died and Sarah lived. It did not really bother him actually, for what made he think hard everyday was: “Was it better to save Sarah Connor, or just to let her die?”.

-END-

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