Self-terminate
From Terminator Wiki
Series 800 and Series 850 terminators can not self-terminate as an act in and of itself, even when a mission demands they do so. However, these terminator series can take any actions that may indirectly result in self-termination if they calculate that doing so will allow them to achieve their primary mission. In Terminator 2: Judgment Day, a T-800 asked Sarah Connor to lower it into molten steel. In Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines, a T-850 put an unstable fuel cell into the mouth of a T-X in order to destroy them both and fulfill its mission of protecting John Connor.
The I-950 Serena Burns in T2: Infiltrator was initially deployed during the Future War with a self contained high explosive device. Her first mission was to infiltrate the Resistance, attain close proximity to John Connor, and detonate.
A new feature added to the terminators of TSCC (demonstrated by Rosie in Episode 206: The Tower Is Tall But The Fall Is Short) is the ability to frustrate the reprogramming efforts of the resistance by modifying them to destroy their CPUs when someone attempts unauthorized access to the CPU port. This is a tamper-proof fail-safe modification to the CPU housings themselves, coating the chip surface in a layer of phosphorus that reacts as an incendiary when exposed to oxygen. Even Cameron continues to state explicitly during the events of Season 2 that the terminators of the TSCC timeline are not permitted self-termination.
The self-termination capabilities of other terminator series remains to be defined.
Quotes
- John: (holds up robot arm) Will this melt in the lava?
- Terminator: Yes, throw it in.
- John: Adios! (John throws the arm into the molten steel)
- Terminator: And the chip.
- Sarah: (in relief) It's over.
- Terminator: No. There is one more chip and it must be destroyed, also. (The Terminator points to his head)
- John: No! You can't go! You can't go! No, stay with us it will be ok.
- Terminator: It has to end here.
- John: I order you not to go. I order you not to go, (yelling) I order you not to go! (he starts to cry)
- Terminator: I know now why you cry. (The Terminator wipes John's tear) But it is something I can never do. (gives elevator controls to Sarah) Here. I cannot self-terminate. You must lower me into the steel. (Sarah lowers him into the molten steel)
- Terminator: Good-bye. (gives a thumbs up as he is lowered)
- Terminator 2: Judgment Day
- T-850: You cannot self-terminate.
- John Connor: No, you can't. I can do anything I want. I'm a human being, not some god-damn robot.
- T-850: (correcting him) Cybernetic organism.
- John Connor: Whatever!
- Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines
