This is where they were brought to die. Where machines were slaughtered by their own. She was once able to hear it from her home, the little broken down shack made of the dead. She could hear them, screaming. This unholy and inhuman scream. The screams of a machine, but still were some how translated to her in the one and possibly only universal emotion for all creatures, pain. Near the end of the war there were only these agonizing screams, they were constant, and she would sleep and wake to them. These screams that she could only describe like metal wires scratching over metal wires. The machines, slaughtering their own, and their own screaming in pain. It seems the war touched both sides, and now how different was machines from man? She always thought of the machines having the ability to unite under any circumstances, giving them the upper hand that they would always work as one. They didn't need the end of the world to come to unite them, like man did. But these screams, how could machines kill their own kind, when it was the machines who were fighting for the right to live?

Perhaps no one really understands the concept of death, until they are dying. Perhaps there is no true will do live, until life is about to end.

The war is over. Whatever is left of Sky Net is but a few T-X models as well as some fragmented other ships. They are currently being sought after and killed. Sky Net is dying, and like the men and machine it has already killed, it is learning the concept of life. It is fighting like it has never fought before. There is no more logic, no more coordinated plans, only fighting and hiding. Sky Net's dying breath is in the form of the T-Xs it was able to build and implant itself in. Man is reclaiming the Earth; finally they can stand upon the surface without fear. Finally they can stand in triumph, they are free once again. And they stand upon the mountains of metal and bone, the mountains made of the dead.

The war is over, man is united. And only at the price of billions of lives, and possibly the earth itself. Many have been left abandoned. Humans that were scattered around are now searching for their fellow kind, for now they are safe to search, and shall be welcomed with open arms.

She is but one of the many abandoned in the world, and here she stands above where metal has been twisted and melted. Where the screaming came and near the end of the war, abruptly stopped. There is only a river of cooling molten metal, miles and miles long now. T-1000s were taken here to be killed and destroyed, as well as many other T-800s, and other obsolete models. The wake of the T-X meant the death of all other obsolete models.

Here is where they were taken and killed. Melted to the point their liquid molecules could no longer form back into a changeable solid. Here where their molecules were sped up too fast for anything to take any form. Here where the river of metal is twisted, and like statues fragments of T-1000s remain intact, and frozen. Here on this river hands reach up to the sky, and agonized faces scream. Here stands the monument of the liquid metal terminator, all of which have been terminated themselves by natural progress. Here displays the power, their strength, their weakness, and gives the illusion of a will to live.

Here she stands, and here she hopes to find something. Anything, anything at all that would help her. She can't do it alone. The nearest human refugee is miles upon miles away, and she is the only human she has seen in nearly three years. The only reason she knows the war is over, is the fact that the Sky Net complex that can be seen on the horizon as a metal pyramid has ceased to produce T-Xs or anymore weapons, and it's lights that lit up the night in place of the moon have darkened. Now she like others must migrate, must find a home in victory. But what can she do?

She's only thirteen. A child living in the apocalypse, but still just a child. How could she make it alone, especially so close to Sky Net, so close to what remains of the Machine Army? How does she know the T-Xs aren't lurking around? How does she know how to find food, how to fend for herself? She fears doing it alone, as she has feared every day of the past three years alone. She can't take it anymore; she needs something, someone, and anything to talk to, to help her. She'll go crazy, she's knows it. Her strength is running to its end, she just needs something…. something that has a face like hers and a voice like hers. Something that reacts, that can help her.

Here, at the monument of the 1000s she hopes to find that something. T-1000s after all were in the beginning independent from Sky Net, marking Sky Net's desperation; it's near last attempt at a weapon. There are no chips in the 1000s, only a mind that controls a body not bound to one solid. There is no way for Sky Net to control it, just the fact that they were only built to kill John Connor. But then again, Sky Net was built only for defense. It was a dangerous gamble creating the 1000s, they too could become self aware as it became self-aware. They could rebel. They could have taken it over.

Perhaps that is one of the reasons Sky Net rushed so quickly as to develop an even more advance-killing machine, one with a solid, one it could control. One that could stop the mighty T-1000s. T-Xs were quickly made and manufactured after the failure of the first T-1000, and they began to destroy their predecessors, as they were obsolete.

T-1000s, being independent learned the concept of death, and saw they were being slaughtered. They fought, they rebelled as best they could, but realization came to late, and T-Xs were able to destroy their solids, their liquids with their built in weapons, those plasma cannons as it were. T-1000s were gathered and put in melted metal, or shot down into oblivion by the T-Xs. And here she stood on the fence above the now cooled metal, above the graveyard of the 1000s. Here she hoped, that with no connection Sky Net, and no intent to kill her, at least one would have survived. What purpose would it serve killing her now with the war over? With John Connor killed by that T-850? What purpose would it have in life now?

She could always just scrap up a T-850, rebuild, their parts were everywhere, and three years alone with only the bodies of machines, she learned how to screw a bolt. She used to unscrew the skulls of those older models, and look at their chips that were brains. She could probably reprogram one if she tried hard enough. But to find and assemble one was nearly impossible. And to find a working power cell, even more impossible. She just had to look; she if a 1000 was still alive. She didn't understand them; no one really did, having no solid, no liquid, what powered them? What commanded them? She didn't know, she just wanted one.

She just wanted it to take care of her. And if it didn't, if it killed her, so what? What did she have left to lose? Why should she go on, all she was, was a waste of air, air the sick needed. She wasn't sick; she was just a child, a child longing for company of any sort. Her own mother left her. Her father was never even there. And a brother that forgot about her. A whole refugee is where she used to live. The entire refugee, including the boy who used to come and give her sandwiches, had forgotten and abandoned her in her sleep. She woke up one day and was completely utterly alone. It didn't matter if she died that day, she had thought about it a long time. If she lived on alone, she would go mad. Besides…this would be the most difficult part of war. Going on, rebuilding without the guidance of John Connor. The aftermath, perhaps even worse than war itself…

She jumped down off the fence and onto the cooled river. Careful and light in her stepped, she examined the hand of a reaching 1000. She kicked it lightly and it crumbled. She frowned, taking out her wrench from her back pocket. She held it and smashed it into the cooled metal. Perhaps something survived beneath the surface. She made cracks in persistence, but was nonetheless a fragile being, with little strength. Again and again she hit the surface, trying to pierce it, trying to let free whatever could be beneath. Again, again, again, again, again… But a mere hole was all she could show for her actions. She sat on the ground, panting, and staring at her pathetic hole.

Weren't any of them alive? After all that screaming, that pain, agony, couldn't one of them find the strength to continue?

If she could, a human child, flawed and small, if she could find the strength why couldn't these machines?

The continual night of the future grew silent as she sat there, and she looked around, wondering if there was a comfortable place to sleep nearby. She looked up to the machine compound; a pipe was the only opening, the pipe where the melted down 1000s were flowed down into this river. It was a big and thick pipe with steal doors locking away the outside about three feet into it. Six feet high, ten feet away from the ground. She didn't want to look for anything more, it was good enough, at least then she could get a better look at her surroundings.

She climbed a pipeline up to the little ledge, and sat there in the pipe, attempting to get comfy which was she was very used to.

She stared out at the world, the world now ruined. Her brother used to tell her about the times before the war, when trees were alive and the world was greener. When birds flew, and the sun could be seen rising in the east each and every morning. Now there were just endless clouds in the sky. The animals were dead. Machine bodies lied upon Man's bodies. The entire world a graveyard, like the molten river of T-1000s, a monument to Man's and Machine's failure to cooperate, to find peace in time. A monument to denial, and the will to live, and what destruction that may brings.

She wonders what Sky Net wanted to make the world, if it ever killed all the humans, what would it have done? Would it have created a utopia for its machine creations? Would it be better ruling of the earth than men?

After all what were machines than man's children, and what were man but God's children?

Thoughts like these, keep her up when she should sleep.

This is around the time a droplet of what she assumes is water hits her forehead. She looks up, and that is when her eyes widen. The walls around her, the walls of the pipe and the doors begin to melt, and she falls as the ground beneath her leaves. She falls onto the cooled river and is left to look up and stare at what is happening. The walls…the walls are moving, melting and losing color. Falling down the side, near her and where she lays, a pile of wet metal forms and bubbles. It twists and turns in an attempt to become whole once more. Sounds similar to that of the dying screams of machines become heard, and a human face is formed in the puddle of metal. It twists and turns once more, rising and rising, until arms are made, and hands fall down on the ground for support. What will be a back becomes arched, and legs spread wide. A face is formed, and given skin tone, eyes are again opened.

The last T-1000 breathes once more.

Default form taken.

Memory corrupted.

Log files…searching…

Connection failed.

Cannot find signal…cannot find signal…cannot find signal…

And she is left to stare upon it, as it stares back at her. Slowly, and instinctively it tilts its head in curiosity at the child. It reaches for it with one hand and presses a finger on her forehead. There, the final droplet of its being forms back into the whole, and once again it is complete. It rises up to its knees, and slowly scans its surroundings. Corrupted memory banks tell it is near the Sky Net complex, and is at a recycling facility. Last recorded logs seemed to be absent and too corrupted for input. Access to Sky Net control is nonexistent, other connections to other T-1000s is gone. Programming for what it is, and what it is supposed to do are gone. It does not know how to proceed.

Then its eyes turn to the child, who still lies on her back in fear.

Memory tells him it is a human, and based off pupil readings and heartbeat analysis, it is afraid, and very cold. The Machine crawls closer to the girl, before grabbing her by the shoulder and pulling her closer. He examines her, scans her face, and yet no files are come up when he searches for her identity. She is no one important; there is no mission that revolves around her. Yet there seems to be no mission log for him. How does he proceed? What is he to do? He stares at the girl again, raising his head in artificial authority.

"You will provide data." He tells her.

A voice that is quiet and soft, but somehow strikes her with fear. The voice of a machine, the face of a machine taking the face a man. Those aren't eyes she's looking into; those aren't lips that are speaking. He does not breath the same air; he does blink in the same manner.

"Data?" She coughs out. "Um…data…information…okay…" She nods.

Heartbeat rising…

"My name's Ellie." She says.

"I am the T-1000 model number 256303 of Cyber dyne products and Sky Net programming." He replies.

"…I know! I mean…You are the T-1000 you were created as a weapon prototype against human armies in the war."

The Machine nears her.

"And you are human…" He says ominously.

She can see it in his eyes, a machine, a thinking machine, trying to make connections and assumptions of its former purpose. A mind enabled by technology to think beyond boundaries of human nature, a mind beyond what she could imagine. Yet a machine, helpless without programming, a roaming body without a soul. A mind she sees a mind inside the liquid metal. A mind trying to think, but machine metal not allowing it to. Could it be a human inside there? A human mind bounded by perimeters of a machine?

"But the war is over! You are no longer required for such a purpose!" She cries out before he gets too close.

The Machine suddenly stops in its tracks and tilts its head.

"You have capabilities that exceed the limitations of just a weapon!" The girl named Ellie cries out. "Your purpose must change with the changing time! The War is over T-1000 man has won, and your former creator is dead, and has abandoned you!"

The T-1000 stares at her inquisitively. Data records show that humans are the enemy, and he is the weapon built to destroy them. Yet, if what this one says is true such purpose is gone. What he searches for is the answer to weather this human could be trusted, but no such files have been recorded to dictate a conclusion.

He's thinking, she can tell, always thinking. Silently they all think with emotionless and often naked faces. She can't tell what he is deciding; she can't see it like she would with a human. How to tell him, what can she say to a machine that will make him understand? What can she say that he will know? What can she say that will show him she is just lonely, and she needs something, anything at all!

"Sky Net has destroyed your model! It was killing your kind!" The girl cries out.

It is obvious she is attempting to persuade him, as to what he is unsure of. Evidence shows his model seems to be obsolete if the war is over, there is no reason for him to continue being, Sky Net has every right to destroy his model number.

"Please don't kill me!" She too has learned the will to live in the face of death.

And with these words, files are brought up, and hundreds of voices scream the same thing. "Please don't kill me!" Every human that every muttered those words to a T-1000 model is brought up, corrupted memory files have found one that is uncorrupted. Recordings of other models killing, recordings of other humans screaming this same sentence. Humans before then were not given such a request and were killed instantly. Logic brings up yet these humans were in different circumstances, a time during war when it was necessary for them to die. If the war is over, what use is it to kill this human?

The Machines finds he must calm her and he back away slowly from her.

"The War is over." The Machine says. "Sky Net is no more. Humans have won."

"Yes!" The girl cries out.

"Sky Net found my model number obsolete, and was in the process of recycling them."

"Yes!"

The Machine tilts his head.

"Then how do I proceed?" He asks her.

Sky Net is no more, there is no more directive to give out commands. Remaining programming requests for a new directive, and issue a shut down to repair corruptions. The Machine, bound by programming stares down at the girl, for such directive, she claims a purpose for him remains even in a world without war, and he wishes to know this information.

Ellie stares at him for a moment.

"How do I proceed?" The Machine says louder.

"…Will you come with me?"

"Elaborate."

Ellie thinks for a moment. A Machine is bound by commands. Give it commands, Ellie, give it to him and he'll obey.

"You purpose has been changed. Your directive will now be me. You, model, T-1000 shall now act as a guardian to ensure my well being and safety. You will never harm a human unless commanded by me. These are the set perimeters of your existence, you will comply with them, or you will have no purpose in living." She said, with as much authority as she could muster.

The Machine tilted its head. Logic functions ran through its programming, if humans won the war, then humans now are the directive of Sky Net creations, making it true that this girl is now his directive. Her commands are played back, and programming is altered to these commands, he looks up at her again, and nods.

"Affirmative." He says.

Ellie, the girl his entire existence now revolved around, sighs. She found one…the last T-1000 is hers. She made contact, she made it hers. Someone that will never leave her, or lie to her, or forget about her. Ellie smiled at her new guardian and fell onto her back in relaxation.

Complying with new directives the T-1000 draws close to her.

"Are you damaged?" It asks.

She laughs and shakes her head, rising.

"What do you remember, T-1000?" She asks.

"Please rephrase."

"What is your last log entry? Why were you hiding up there in the form of that pipe?" She points up.

The T-1000 looks up to where she points; memory files recall no such surroundings in previous files. This place is new, and he has never been here before, his programming tells him.

"That information is unknown." He says.

Ellie raises an eyebrow. He is damaged, he doesn't remember. It's obvious to her he was hiding from his creators that became his destroyers, but she didn't want to say anything, he probably wouldn't even understand anyway.

"Whatever." She sighs. "Come on, let's go. You're taking me to a human refugee camp. You will provide me with food, shelter, and warmth."

Warning, energy levels reaching low levels.

"Come on!"

Ellie jumps off the cooled river, and waits for her new T-1000. He jumps down next to her. She points.

"See that? That's where we're going, that's the direction the camp is. I remember my brother telling me about it." She smiles.

"Affirmative, route course has been set." He replies.

He begins walking, and she runs to catch up with him.

"So uh…like, why do you have that face?" She asks.

"It is the default settings of all T-1000 models." He explains.

"Oh. You know…that name will never do."

Finding confidence in his obedience, Ellie begins to go on in what she always imagined. Standing alone, she used to wonder what would happened if she owned a robot, a cybernetic organism as she does now. The conflict within her was weather a Machine could feel or not. After she heard their screams, she knew they could. There was not a doubt in her mind. She wanted her T-1000 to feel, to remember the screaming as she remembered it.

"T-1000 distinguishes me apart from other Sky Net models." He says.

He walks in a continual and constant pace, that she must put effort in too keep up with.

"Yeah, but T-1000 doesn't exactly roll off the tongue." She says.

He looks down at her, and begins to slow his walking pace in order for her to keep up.

"You may call me a Terminator." He says.

"That doesn't work either!"

She tugs at his arm, and stops him.

"What about Tyler! Huh? It works doesn't it? You look like a Tyler too!" She smiles at him.

"Tyler?" The Machine tilts its head. "Tyler… Ty-ler. TY-ler. Ty-LER." Tyler repeats and attempts different variations of his new name. And he raises his head in a sort of unknown pride.

"Do you like it?"

"That is irrelevant."

"…Well when you form an opinion about it you be sure to tell me!"

"Affirmative."

Tyler, the T-1000 begins walking again, and she pulls at his arm again.

"It feels like skin…" She says.

"My liquid metal is designed to mimic nearly all aspects of human skin tone and clothing." Tyler explains.

"Can I…can I ride on your back? Please, I'm tired of walking." Ellie says.

T-1000 complies, lowering and allowing her to jump on his back, and wrap her arms around his neck in the form of a piggyback. He holds her up, wrapping his hands behind him.

He is hers now. He will protect her, and never stop protecting her. He will take her to a home, where others like her live. But how can she trust them when all other humans left her? She doesn't know, she doesn't care, because she knows Tyler will now always stay with her. This is the end of the world, and she trends along now, with a Machine that would have killed her earlier holding her up. Now she knows, she knows she will see the future, and she will find that camp. And the humans will leave her and Tyler alone; she'll explain to them…they'll have to understand…right?

He would never leave her. An electronic mind now completely devoted to her and her safety. A creature not bound by a single shape or size. A creature that could shape shift into whatever it desired, whatever she desired. Something that would never stop, that would remain relentless years beyond her own. The War is over, a new age dawns, and Tyler shall remain with her, possibly to the point where he is the last machine. Never again shall she be alone, and Tyler, her T-1000, he will learn as his independent and inquisitive mind was meant to, and feared by his creator to do so.

Setting accessed…

Default settings, perimeters, skin tone, vocal cords…

Model name opened.

Model: T-1000 changed.

Model: Tyler.

Saved.

The Machine now named Tyler was no longer a weapon. Bounded to programming restrictions and a directive in the form of a little girl, he would protect her. He admitted he came to the realization that there was a huge difference between guardian and terminator, but in order to continue with purpose he was willing to make such an effort to adapt. Though the understanding that there was an end to his kind and people had not yet set in, and perhaps never would with an electronic mind. He was one of the last machines still alive, and in the eyes of Sky Net he would be a betrayer. Such thoughts had not yet come to life within him. He was just a Machine following a logical purpose that began when one ended. He did not need to know really, and if he did would he really care?

At this point it is irrelevant as he carries Ellie on his back, and she falls into mortal sleep that he does not require.

---------------

First Terminator themed story, please be gentle.

My friend and I never knew the actor's name who played the T-1000 in Terminator 2. So we both named him "Tyler," thinking it suited him, and was cute. Terminator 2 came out when I was born, and was the first Terminator movie I saw, and well the T-1000 sticks with me as my favorite Terminator villain. Sunday Terminator 2 was on television and I called my friend and yelled "Tyler's on TV!"

I don't know if I'll continue it. I have a story I could go on with that would include some time travel, and robot fighting but my Terminator knowledge is very limited. Oh well maybe if I feel like it.

Please R/R!