074 Skynet Has Been Deployed!
FBI Los Angeles Field Office, Conference Room One.
Marcus and DoD Assistant Secretary Elliott Kennedy were engaged in verbal sparring, with Marcus currently holding the upper hand.
As Marcus pointed out, the Terminator T-800 was simply a combat robot. Why would a robot used for combat store technical blueprints?
If the DoD was simply reverse-engineering the Terminator T-800 to create a Terminator, they should have directly developed the Terminator T-70, which, like the T-800, was a humanoid Terminator, making reverse engineering a direct reference to the T-800.
Faced with Marcus's question, Elliott was stunned; this was a question they hadn't considered!
Seeing Elliott's silence, Marcus continued, "I'd like to ask, Secretary Elliott, did you personally participate in Project One Star?"
Marcus added, "By personally participating, I mean truly engaging in Project One Star, not just reading reports and documents every day."
Elliott remained silent.
Marcus sighed inwardly. "Secretary Elliott, is your DoD willing to accept an investigation by the FBI? What is your DoD's position now?"
Elliott awkwardly replied, "According to regulations, if there are problems within our DoD, they should be investigated by the Inspector General's Office. Your FBI has no jurisdiction to investigate us."
Marcus scoffed. "So even if we make everything public and force you to come together and find a solution, you still won't bend the rules?"
Now that things have reached this point, is the DoD still going to stubbornly resist?
DOJ Assistant Director Dante spoke up. "Secretary Elliott, I think this investigation should be handed over to the FBI. If, as Mr. Foster described, your DoD has been completely infiltrated by Skynet, and countless people within Project One Star and the Inspector General's Office have been replaced by Terminator T-1000s, can you really find anything out by investigating it yourselves?"
Elliott shook his head helplessly. "This isn't up to me; it's up to Secretary Henderson. I'll call Secretary Henderson right now."
Marcus interrupted Elliott. "Wait! I think it's best to have Secretary Henderson come in person. Our Los Angeles office has the X Corridor; it can accurately identify Terminator infiltrators."
"You doubt Secretary Henderson?" Elliott asked in surprise.
"At a time like this, I suspect everyone. Secretary Elliott, in fact, I don't believe anything you just said, whether you genuinely don't know, are feigning ignorance, or have been compromised. Anyway, I don't believe you at all that you didn't study Skynet." Marcus stared at Elliott.
"Skynet is one hundred percent hidden inside your DoD!" Marcus said confidently.
Elliott hesitated for a moment, then finally nodded. "I'll contact Secretary Henderson first, and then persuade him to come in person."
Marcus gestured for him to proceed.
While Elliott and Henderson were communicating, Trevor looked at Marcus and asked seriously, "Mr. Foster, are you certain Skynet is hidden inside DoD?"
"Whether I can be certain or not is not important. The key is whether you can bear the consequences," Marcus said calmly.
Marcus continued, "If Skynet is not hidden inside DoD, we only need to deal with Project One Star, seal and destroy all related research, and everything will be fine. In the end, you'll all be satisfied."
"If Skynet is really hidden inside DoD, then the consequences will be catastrophic, and Judgment Day will come!" Marcus continued to explain the situation of Judgment Day.
Trevor's face darkened. "Skynet is actually planning to launch a nuclear attack on Russia!"
"That's the simplest way to destroy civilization," Marcus replied. "Think about it—if we use nuclear weapons to attack Russia, Russia will inevitably retaliate, and might even attack neighboring countries, triggering a chain reaction."
As soon as Marcus finished speaking, Elliott, pale-faced, interjected, "I understand, Mr. Foster, I understand!"
"What?" Marcus looked at Elliott.
Everyone in the conference room looked at Elliott.
Elliott gritted his teeth and said, "We at DoD are indeed researching Skynet!"
???
Everyone except Marcus was completely bewildered. Hadn't Elliott just sworn that DoD absolutely wasn't researching Skynet? And now he was changing his story?
It hadn't even been five minutes!
What the hell was this?
Only Marcus was completely unsurprised. He had long been convinced that DoD was researching Skynet, so why would Marcus be surprised now that Elliott had revealed it?
Dante stared at Elliott and asked, "What exactly happened?"
"In Project One Star, based on the Terminator T-800's control system, we expanded our research and development into an automated defense system. According to our plan, it can control all of our nation's automated weapons platforms, thereby reducing manpower requirements and improving the efficiency of military command," Elliott explained.
Marcus's face turned cold. What else could this be but Skynet?
"So it does indeed have the authority to control nuclear weapons?" Dante asked.
Elliott shook his head. "No! It's still in the research and development stage. We haven't completed the core architecture yet, let alone integrated it into a real weapon control system."
Everyone breathed a sigh of relief.
From the current perspective, Skynet didn't seem to have developed to the point of threatening the world.
The previously tense atmosphere in the conference room suddenly eased.
The D.C. executives weren't fools; fools couldn't become D.C. executives. They all believed in the consequences Marcus spoke of, which is why they breathed a sigh of relief upon learning that Skynet hadn't yet accessed the weapons systems.
Just as everyone breathed a sigh of relief, Marcus suddenly asked, "Secretary Elliott, if you issue an order, can you summon everyone in Project One Star?"
Elliott understood immediately and replied affirmatively, "I have that authority. You want to verify how many people in Project One Star have been replaced by the Terminators, right?"
"Yes!" Marcus responded, then added, "Not only that, I also want to check the entire senior leadership, to have everyone inspected, thereby ruling out any unforeseen circumstances."
"Is it really necessary to go to this extent?" Elliott hesitated.
Trevor stared at Marcus. "Do you know what kind of pressure the FBI will face if we inspect all the senior leadership?"
Marcus scoffed. "I only know that if we make a wrong move and Skynet gains control, we will all be doomed. Oh, I almost forgot—I can return to the future to avoid such a disaster, and you can also enter Crystal Peak shelter in advance."
Marcus continued, "Although you can all survive in the shelter, will Skynet let you go?"
The answer was very clear!
Skynet will not let anyone escape!
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