No News is Good News

Disclaimer: I do not own any part of the Terminator franchise. I also do not own Arnold Schwarzenegger.

It was a quiet night. Derek was board. It was past one in the morning and he just couldn't get to sleep. He decided to watch some TV.

"Well, there's one good thing about sleeping on the couch. At lest I get a decent TV." Derek starts flipping through the channels. "Over three hundred channels and there's still nothing on."

Derek put the remote down and went to make a sandwich. He left the TV on, intending to come back to it later. Derek's channel surfing stopped on a news station.

The TV "So what are you planning next: running for reelection, another movie or is a trip to Washington in your future?"

From the kitchen Derek hears a familiar voice. "Haha, I don't think that I'll be making any movies for a while. I'm happy being the Governor. Which means that I'll be back next term. Well, I hope I will anyway."

Derek can't quite place the voice, but he knows he's heard it before. He walks back into the living room. His sandwich was finished anyway.

The TV's showing a close up of the women conducting the interview. She says, "Okay, the movies are out; but what about Washington?"

The camera pans over to the subject of the interview. Derek drops his plate as the man answers, "Maybe eventually, but not for a while." Derek recognizes the face. He scrambles for the remote and uses the DVR to pause the image. He then begins to shout. "Sarah! John!"

Derek's yells succeed in waking up the house's other residents. Sarah rushes into the living room, M16 in hand. "What's wrong?"

"The Metals have taken over the state! We've got to get out of here!"

"Just calm down and explain what's going on."

Derek pointed at the TV. "Look at the Governor!"

Sarah would never forget that face. It was the face that haunted her dreams. It was the face of Kyle's killer. It was also the face of John's rescuer, but that didn't easy the nightmares. If anything, it made them worse. In an instant, John's noble protector would morph into a psychopathic killer. "How could we have missed this?"

Just then John and Cameron entered the room. It was interesting that they entered the room at the same time, but both Derek and Sarah were too shocked by the Governor's appearance to take notice.

John "Missed what?"

Sarah "Look at the TV."

John looks over and is shocked. "Th-that looks like Uncle Bob."

Derek "Who's Uncle Bob?"

John "He was the terminator we had before Cameron."

Derek "What is it with you two and adopting terminators?" He pointed at Cameron. "This one's your sister." He pointed at the TV. "One of those was an uncle. What's wrong with you people? They're killing machines not family members."

Sarah turns to Derek. "Let's try to stay focused here." She turns to Cameron. "Why did Skynet send a terminator back to become the Governor of California?"

Cameron "I don't know."

Derek "He's probably going to become president and order Skynet's construction!"

Cameron "I don't think so. Look at the name." Sure enough, the Governor's name was displayed in the lower left-hand corner of the screen.

Derek "He's named Arnold Schwarzenegger? How can that not be a tipoff. Who would walk around with a name like that?"

Cameron "Arnold Schwarzenegger exist in my files. According to my records he was born in Austria. This means that he can't become President of the United States."

Derek "Why not?"

John "Because you have to have been born in the U.S. to become President."

Sarah "What other information do you have on him?"

Cameron "He's apparently a well known body builder, movie actor and politician. There's nothing in my files to indicate that he's a terminator; although his appearance does bear a remarkable resemblance to the Cyberdyne Systems Series 800 Model 101."

John "So, he's not a terminator?"

Derek "You can't depend on a terminator's files, when determining if someone else is a terminator!"

Cameron "If you don't trust me, may I suggest that John looks it up on his computer."

Ten minuets later the whole "Family" is gathered together in John's room. They are eagerly reading all the information that they can find on this Arnold Schwarzenegger.

Sarah "It looks like Cameron was right. He doesn't seem to be a terminator. There's way too much background information, and it's too easy to verify."

John "So what? it's just a coincidence?"

Cameron "It's more likely that Skynet based the 101 models off of this Arnold Schwarzenegger."

Derek "Why would Skynet do that?"

Cameron "Human bodies are not perfectly symmetrical and a machine mind has trouble duplicating your chaotic imperfections. It's much easier to base terminator models off of real humans, and it helps us blend in better."

Sarah let out a yawn. "Well, now that that's settled, I'm going back to bed."

So the house was quiet once more. At least until next month, when Derek caught an episode of Firefly.