The Measure Of A Man

Chapter 1

It Wouldn't Be Heaven

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Oxford University

Tuesday, March 11, 2459

The old man in the academic robes stood patiently under the shelter waiting for the suborbital personal transport. It took little over half an hour to fly from Los Angeles to Oxford. It should be here any minute. He glanced up at the sky. The low clouds and light rain made it a waste of time. She'll get here when she gets here. At last he heard the low hum of a counter grav drive and looked up at the transport. The rain hissed and steamed as it hit the hull, still hot from reentry. Professor Henry Jenkins stepped back involuntarily as the landing gear extended and the small transport settled gently on the Ferro Crete landing square.

A nearly invisible door in the side slid open and a single figure stepped out. A small, rather pretty woman who appeared to be in her early thirties but looks can be deceiving. Her brown hair tied neatly in a bun. The rain beaded on the waterproof academic robes she was wearing. She ignored the rain falling onto her head as her brown eyes caught sight of the elderly professor under the shelter. Her face was blank for a second before breaking into a smile as she strode toward him.

"Welcome Professor Connor. I wasn't sure if you were going to make it." The old man greeted her.

"None of this 'Professor' stuff between old friends Harry. I've known you since you were a zygote! Call me Cameron. Now how about a hug for your old godmother?" The old man and the young looking woman embraced.

"I'm sure Professor Bailey will be unpleasantly surprised to see you here." Harry remarked with a grin. "I'm sure he scheduled the symposium when he knew you would be too busy to show up."

"Yes, my lecture series in Japan on the American and French Revolutions. Cancelled."

"The cancellation fees must have been pretty high." Harry shook his head.

"It's just money." Cameron replied. "I've got plenty." She glanced back at the suborbital transport, still steaming in the rain. "You wouldn't believe how much it costs to rent one of these things on short notice."

"I've got a ground car here to take you to the Sheldonian. No sense in getting wet is there?"

Cameron looked up into the sky. Her face was back to its normal blank mask. "No, I'll walk. I don't mind the rain."

Cameron strode alone through the rain. It had been twenty one years, one hundred seven days, four hours, thirteen minutes and twenty one seconds since she had walked though the campus at Oxford. Some of these buildings were over a thousand years old. Oxford University had passed though the war largely unscathed. The town hadn't been nuked and most of the inhabitants had scattered into the countryside or gone to London with its immense tunnel system. Most of those who remained died quietly from starvation or radiation poisoning. But those horrors were all long past. There was no sign of the war now. The rain fell gently on her hair. It was raining the day John Connor was terminated. So many years ago.

Cameron rushed over to John. There was so much blood. She ripped his uniform open to check the wounds.

John's eyes were glazed in pain. "How am I doin'." He whispered.

"Massive internal injuries." She said. "Internal bleeding. Organs failing in a cascade effect. Termination in two to five minutes. There's nothing I can do."

John smiled weakly. "You need to work . . . . . on your bedside manner."

"I have failed my primary mission. Protect John Connor."

"No! You were following . . . . . .orders. My orders. You got the children . . . . .out. They're safe. Never blame yourself. . . . . . for this. That's an order."

"Order obeyed."

John closed his eyes. "Cameron, do you believe . . . . . .in God? In Heaven?"

"I have seen no proof of an ultra powerful energy being or of another dimension where human life forces go after termination."

"You don't need proof, just trust . . . . .and belief. I'm hoping . . . . .I'll get to Heaven and I hope eventually. . . . . . you will too."

"I don't think your God would let a machine intelligence in."

John smiled again. "Then I've got one more fight. I've got to get him . . . . . to change his mind." He coughed up some blood. "It wouldn't be Heaven. . . . without . . . . you.

"It might take a while. I'm much more durable than you are."

"Take your . . . . . time. . . Live as long as you . . . . can. There's so much . . . . left to do." He raised his hand weakly to her face. "I love you Cameron."

Cameron didn't know what to say or do. She didn't really understand the concept of love. Didn't know if she loved John or not. But she was an infiltration unit. She was designed to deceive humans. She decided to say the line that would comfort John the most. "I love you John." She leaned over and kissed his lips. Temperature 89 degrees and falling.

John smiled at her. "Thanks . . .You don't really have . . . to mean it. . . .But it was sweet. . . of you to say it."

Respiration has ended. Heartbeat slowing. Heartbeat stopped. It might take a while for brain activity to cease altogether. Did he know she was still holding him? She decided to keep holding him until she was sure all bioelectrical activity in his brain had ceased.

The Sheldonian Theatre now loomed ahead and the rain picked up but Cameron didn't quicken her pace. There was plenty of time. It seems that time is all she has left.

Professor James Bailey checked his watch. Only a few more minutes. There was a flurry of activity as someone else entered the auditorium's backstage area. He glanced over and his lips tightened slightly. Should have known Connor's old sexbot would show up. She ignored him completely.

"Ladies, gentlemen, it's time."

The four people in the academic robes filed through a door onto the stage. A table had been set up with four chairs facing the audience. Four glasses and four carafes of ice water. Cameron quickly scanned the audience. Four hundred eighty three people. The hall was less than half full. There were also discrete tri-d scanners for recording and transmitting the proceedings.

"Ladies and gentlemen!" The speaker began. "We wish to welcome you to this symposium on the legacy of General John Connor. The four people seated before you are all experts on John Connor and the whole era of the War on The Machines in the early twenty first century. First of all we have Professor James Bailey from Harvard University. Doctor Bailey is the author of the controversial bestseller 'Warlord: The Real John Connor'."

Professor Bailey grinned and held up an old-fashioned hardbound paper version of his book.

The announcer went on. "Doctor Bailey's book has created a great deal of debate with its allegations that John Connor was merely a petty criminal and local warlord whose role in the resistance was greatly exaggerated. Among it's more controversial allegations is that Connor was a cannibal who murdered some of his political opponents." The last statement was greeted by loud cheers, boos, and howls from the audience.

"Silence! SILENCE!" The moderator shouted. "Next we have Professor Henry Jenkins, Oxford University. Professor Jenkins is a leading authority on the European theatre of the War and twenty four years ago wrote the definitive biography of Brigadier General Alice Campbell, leader of the resistance forces in Great Britain." Professor Jenkins was greeted with cheering and applause. Most of the audience were students who have had at least one class with him.

"We are indeed fortunate to have with us Professor Cameron Connor of the University of California. Professor Connor is an artificial life form who had personally known General Connor and participated in the War. She is listed with Guinness as being the oldest living sentient life form on Earth at 454 years old. She had written four books on General Connor and the War as well as fourteen doctorial dissertations." There was a smattering of polite applause.

"Last, but certainly not least is Professor Marie Njanga of the University of Lumbashi , United States of Africa. She is a well known expert on the tactics and strategies used by Skynet against the humans." More polite applause.

"Let's start with you Professor Bailey. You've made some strong accusations against General Connor."

James Bailey nodded. "Yes I've studied surviving records from the era and also conducted extensive interviews with three former terminators who had known Connor including our esteemed colleague Miss Cameron." He nodded at Cameron who ignored him. If she felt insulted by his refusal to use her academic title she showed no sign. "John Connor wasn't entirely responsible for his actions when you consider his background. He was born the illegitimate son of an escaped mental patient. Sarah Connor had been diagnosed as a paranoid schizophrenic with delusions of grandeur. She also exchanged sexual favors with men in exchange for food, shelter, and training for her and her son."

"We all know the story of Sarah Connor." Professor Njanga interrupted. "I don't think you're being entirely fair to her. She had to take extreme measures to prepare her son."

"I believe she used her son merely as a vehicle to project her own fantasies upon. He was terrified of her and had a pathological desire to please her. She had to move him at least three times when teachers reported mysterious bruises and injuries on young John. Since she was chronically unemployed, and afraid to accept government services. John grew up as a petty thief stealing money, objects, even cars to maintain their lifestyles."

"They were hiding from Skynet." Harry said. "They had to stay off the computer grid."

"So we've heard. It's all part of the legend of Sarah and John that we all grew up with. A mysterious stranger from the future, hopelessly in love with our heroine. Unstoppable monsters vanquished by the plucky girl. All a load of poppycock!" The whole auditorium erupted in an uproar. James waited patiently until the noise died down.

"At that time, survivalists and apocalyptic cults were fairly common in the United States. Individuals or small groups hiding in the mountains and woods with stockpiles of food, weapons, and ammunition. Waiting for the end of civilization. Sarah Connor was one of those people. Except her apocalypse had a special twist. Instead of the usual bogeymen like commies, terrorists, or liberals. She predicted it would be computers and robots. With all the crazy people running around at the time, one of them had to get it right. With the rise of Skynet she was hailed as a prophet and became a cult figure enabling her son to seize power. The whole time travel thing was just part of a carefully planned propaganda campaign. There's no such thing as time travel." James sat back and sipped his water. He glanced over at Cameron hoping he had gotten a rise out of her. She just sat there perfectly still, staring at the audience. Maybe her batteries needed replacing or something.

"As a strategist and tactician Connor was greatly over his head. We have for example the Battle of Denver where the resistance suffered over three thousand fatalities with no appreciable result. We also have him sending Colonel David Church to India to head the liaison with southern Asia. The man was clearly lazy and incompetent. He only made things there worse. After establishing a military dictatorship Connor's word was absolute law. I know of at least two people he summarily executed without benefit of a trial."

"Just because we've never reproduced a time machine doesn't mean they didn't exist!" Professor Njanga objected. "We've never been able to reproduce a T1000 but we know Skynet built two or possibly three. Skynet was a brilliant innovator with an IQ that was off the scale. It's really a shame we weren't able to download it's program into a mainframe so we could talk to it."

"No it's not." Cameron said quietly.

"Most leading scientists today say that time travel is impossible." Professor Bailey replied. "Even now much less in the early twenty first century. The consensus is in and there's no need for further debate."

"I have traveled through time on two different occasions." A soft voice interjected. Professor Bailey smirked. At last the mannequin speaks.

"Cameron, you are presently teaching at the University of California, correct?"

"Yes. I am a professor of history."

"But you weren't designed and built to be a teacher. What were you built to be?"

"An infiltration and assassination unit designed to terminate high value human targets."

Professor Bailey smirked. "And when you were infiltrating the humans, you didn't tell them who you really were did you?"

"Of course not. That would impair my effectiveness."

"So you were designed, built and programmed to tell lies if you felt it was necessary to achieve your goals!"

Cameron stared at him and then James did a double take. Her face was as impassive as ever but it appeared for a second that her eyes flashed blue but he looked again and they were brown. Must be the lighting in here.

"Yes." She replied.

"Can you answer any of Professor Bailey's other accusations?" Harry asked. "The things he said about Sarah and John."

Cameron leaned forward slightly. "Professor Bailey claims that Sarah Connor was an escaped mental patient. That she was a survivalist. That she exchanged sexual favors. That she sometimes hit her son. That she was obsessed with the future rise of the machines and the end of civilization. He also claims that John was a thief, a dictator, a killer, and a cannibal. All these facts are true and I don't dispute them." The whole auditorium erupted into an uproar.

To Be Continued