An encounter in the forest
CH1
Vigilantly searching for possible Sky Net connections, Cameron read (or rather scanned) all the newspapers at the library. This routine task took a fraction of the time it would take a human to perform. Cameron casually flipped the pages, finishing her scan to read all the text by the time the page had settled down. She then flipped to the next page. To an onlooker, it appeared she was browsing through the paper to look at headlines, not taking in the entire page of information by the time the page had settled to lay flat.
An article got her attention in the legals. A company called AMDO had bought 400 acres of woodland from another lumber company. While it was normal for companies to trade land, she did note that this area of land was the same place a future Sky Net telecommunications hub was going to be. General Conner had lost three hundred fifty men during the attack on that hub in order to cut the central Sky Net communications for the entire west coast. Without that hub, reactions from Sky Net to resistance activity was slowed from milliseconds to 30 minutes. That gave raiding parties time to get away before screaming H/K's arrived.
Cameron looked up everything she could find out about AMDO. It was a private corporation dealing in lumber and 'green logging'. For some reason, humans of late wanted 'green' or 'organic' to be displayed in everything from products to actions. At times, adding a 'green' badge meant more business, but in truth, it meant nothing. 'Green' or 'organic' vegetables, for instance, made no sense whatsoever. If they were not 'green' and organic to begin with, they would not be vegetables.
The CEO for AMDO was a man named Ike Patterson. Cameron searched for his address, but came up empty. She then tapped into the web and searched every pubic service for clues. Mr. Patterson had never seen a doctor, had never had any interaction with police, had never gone to school, nor did he have a birth certificate on file. It was obvious Ike Patterson was not human, if he did physically exist.
Upon returning to the safe house, Cameron showed Sarah and John what she had discovered. Both agreed they needed to go find out what this AMDO was doing. Sarah gathered the supplies they'd need while Cameron and John packed their weapons. Some of their weapons were new, having to replace the ones lost during that desert incident when Cameron had learned the hard way that she wasn't the most bad-ass thing on the planet.
In the basement as she she loaded clips, Cameron noted Sarah had gone outside. "John, it's safe to kiss now," she said.
John suppressed a chuckle. His mother had gone ballistic when Cameron told her they had been kissing. After she almost wrecked the truck, Sarah gave John an hour long lecture on how Cameron wasn't human, would never have feelings, and she was his MACHINE, not his girlfriend. Upon returning to the safe house, Sarah even re-arraigned their rooms to put her room right next to John's, and had Cameron move into the cellar to keep 'anything further' from happening.
Because of this, and possibly just to piss off his mother, John and Cameron kissed whenever it was safe to do so. Moving closer to Cameron, John put an arm around her as their lips met. Cameron dropped the clip and wrapped her arms around him, Their kiss deepened as their hands rubbed each other's backs, then sides. John's hand migrated from Cameron's hips, and crept up inside her shirt to pet her bare sides.
"Higher," Cameron said, breaking the kiss momentarily. Re-locking lips, she guided his hand up to her breast.
One problem Cameron found, what that while John was giving her these pleasant sensations that seemed to tingle through her entire sensory system, she tended to ignore her long range sensors. It was a complete surprise to hear the cellar door open, followed by footsteps down the stairs. "Mom!" John gasped in warning. They quickly parted.
"How are you..." Sarah stopped dead in her tracks as she stared at a red-faced John pretending to look over the table of weapons as Cameron seemed very studious in putting bullets in a rifle clip. Her shirt was un tucked and rumpled along the bottom. Cameron didn't blush, but somehow, she still looked guilty. "WHAT were you doing down here?" Sarah asked harshly.
"Getting things ready, Mom," John said with a squeak in his voice.
"We are nearly ready to go," Cameron agreed. After a pause, she added, "Five more minutes. That is, if you hadn't interrupted us." she added.
John burst out a with a snort, then quickly pressing his lips together as he flushed deeper.
"John Conner, come with me. The machine can finish down here!" Sarah snapped.
John let out a sigh. He cast Cameron a tiny grin and followed his mother up the stairs.
Sarah led John to the living room, then turned on him with an angry glare. "You should know better that that!" Sarah growled. "That THING is a machine! That's ALL. The name, the skin, the human look, it's all FAKE! Strip that skin off and it's nothing but metal and wires. You can't love a MACHINE!" she ended in a roar.
Itching his ear, John suppressed a smile as he said, "Well, some people really love their cars..."
"The thing is, they don't LOVE their cars!" Sarah spat back at him. "You are spending entirely too much time with that metal."
With a groan, John said, "look, Mom, Cameron does everything she's suppose to do ..."
"And IT has no business kissing you, or you, IT!" Sarah countered, cutting him off. "Maybe if I tear that FAKE skin off, you'll remember what IT really is!"
John rolled his eyes as he said with a groan, "Mom, I know Cameron is a machine, OK? Can we go before it gets dark?"
"How do you know IT was not programmed to seduce you?" Sarah asked harshly. "HOW do you know we can trust IT beyond the end of the muzzle of a gun?"
Flinging his arms up, John asked, "So why would I send Cameron back in time to protect me, if she was going to hurt me? I suppose you have an answer for that?"
Sarah crossed her arms and glared at John. After a moment of silence, she said, "That's it, I'm going to find you a prostitute."
"What?" John asked, shocked at his mother's words.
"Obviously, you need sex. You're at that age. The only safe way is you get someone who .."
"No! No, Mom," John cried. "I can't believe you just said that."
"That will solve the problem," Sarah said firmly.
"Mom," John said with a pained moan.
"Right after this mission is done, I will search for a suitable girl for hire."
"Do you have any idea how perverted that sounds?" John asked as he gapped at her. "Mothers DO NOT go out to get their sons prostitutes!"
Cameron came up out of the cellar carrying the bags of guns and ammo. She stared at John. John waved a hand at his mother and said, "Mom wants to get me a prostitute. Can you believe that?"
"Why?"
"So I can have sex with her!" John grumbled.
Cameron eyed John, then stated, "Unacceptable. The risk of disease it too great, as is the chance of physical harm. If you want sex, I can take care of that after we complete this mission."
"YOU WILL NOT!" Sarah screamed as she turned crimson in rage.
Tipping her head to the side, Cameron said, "You are his mother, it would not be acceptable for you to have sex with John. That may leave him with permanent mental scaring."
Glaring at Cameron, Sarah growled, "Get in the truck, we need to leave."
John got in the front sat as his mother directed. It was a quiet, tense ride as they got to the highway and headed east to the mountains.
.
Inside the large log cabin they had made themselves, Kouta sat in the front 'great' room, talking with the suited man who had arrived. From the railing of the second floor, Lucy looked down on them, listening.
"Mr. Patterson," the man said evenly to Kouta. "I will pay you double the property value, as well as have this house that and your family has so lovingly build, moved to the location of your choice. We will have this land."
In an identical tone, Kouta replied, "Sir, I have been a gracious host. I have heard you out. My wife and I agree, we will not sell to you, or anyone." Getting up, he added, "I believe it is time for you to go."
The man got up with Kouta. "May I speak with your wife, Mr. Patterson?" he asked as his hand went into his jacket.
"No."
Pulling a gun, the man pointed it at Kouta. "I insist." he stated.
The gun jerked from the man's hand to fly straight up. The man followed suit. Lifting the man up eye-level with her, Lucy said, "Kouta, ask him how many pieces he wants to land in after I throw him out the window."
The man's eyes glowed red. He tried to grab whatever was holding him. Lucy tightened the vector around him. "I've seen your kind, you're not so tough" she mussed. She wrapped another vector
around his head. Lucy then paused as she looked down. They had just gotten all the new furniture and carpets put in. Not wanting to ruin them, she opened the large arched window over the front door and held the man out over the porch before she tightened her vectors again and pulled.
The man's head came off his shoulders in a shower of sparks. She dropped the body, then crushed his head before she released it to fall down and break open by it's body.
"I'll go clean up my mess," Lucy said in a conversational tone as she came down the stairs.
"He ... wasn't human?" Kouta asked.
"No, he was a toy robot. I'm really beginning to not like those things," Lucy said.
.
John checked on his laptop for any information about the CMDO corporation. He found no home web page. There was something very not right about this company. An invisible person was the CEO, with no trustee board, nor stockholders. The logging company existed only on paper, and the land it owned was in a state of 'renewal', not to be logged again for another ten years at a minimum.
The company made no money and had no creditors. The corporate office was a post office box.
"You know, Mom, this AMDO screams 'organized crime'," John said. "It's hard to believe Sky Net is involved. They are usually more careful that this. The FBI has to be watching these guys."
Behind the wheel, Sarah flicked her eyes at John. "Maybe they changed tactics. Your machine insists that place will be a future Sky Net installation. We have been digging out their legitimate cover companies."
Not partaking in the conversation in the front seat, Cameron looked out the window. Sarah seemed to be more intent lately on calling her 'it', 'machine', and 'robot'. Especially in front of John. In a practice scenario in her mind, Cameron placed herself sitting naked on a kitchen table, kissing John as he had sex with her, just so Sarah would find them and know she was willing and able to have all the sex that John could ever want. A crooked smile came to her lips. Rehearsing a possible action was routine, but for some reason, she enjoyed this one enough to let it play in her head.
.
The young Japanese woman stopped the rental car right after turning onto a dirt road. The GPS was telling her she had arrived at her destination. Looking around, all she saw were trees. No buildings, no nothing but an endless forest. "This can't be right," she mussed with a shake of her brown haired head. She dug out the directions Kouta had given her.
In the passenger seat, the dark haired teenage girl with her asked, "Yuka, are we lost?"
Yuka let out a growl. "Kouta, you Baka," she grumbled. She dug out her cell phone to find she had no signal. Glaring at the phone, she stuffed in back in her purse. "Baka!" she snapped as she punched the steering wheel.
"Yuka, did you read the directions right?" the girl asked meekly.
"Of course I did, Mayu," Yuka grumbled. She looked at them again, and re-traced the route, comparing it to what the GPS map said.
"Maybe this is Kouta's driveway?" Mayu asked.
Looking up the rough, dirt road, Yuka waved a hand and said, "There's no house!"
"Maybe it is a long driveway?" Mayu coaxed.
Behind them a black four door truck swung around to stop right behind them.
"Maybe they know," Mayu offered.
The rear driver's side door opened and a girl got out. The driver said something to her. After she passed the driver's door, the girl's eyes flashed red.
Yuka knew about diclonius now, and came to a quick deduction. Even though she had no horns, that girl had to be a diclonius. She also didn't look happy. Without Lucy or Nana here, it would be easy for that girl to kill her and Mayu.
With a cry of terror, Yuka smashed the gas pedal to the floor. Dirt flung as their small rental raced down the dirt road, bouncing wildly.
"Yuka!" Mayu cried as she grabbed the dash, wide- eyed.
"A diclonius ... behind us!" Yuka cried as she managed to take a corner and miss sliding into a tree.
Mayu turned to see the girl running behind them and keeping up. "She's right behind us!"
"Ghaaa!" Yuka cried and tried to mash the pedal down farther.
.
Although Cameron had heard it many times, she still didn't like Sarah calling her an 'it'. Her eyed flashed briefly due to Sarah once again reminder her she was nothing but an unfeeling chunk of metal. She went to ask the people in that car if they knew anything about AMCO like Sarah asked. The car took off. Cameron followed it, trying to get to it before it reached a security gate.
Fortunately for the car, and unfortunate for Cameron, this road was freshly made and the dirt was loose. The car spun wildly as it slew around a corner going uphill. If it had been able to gain a high sped, the car would have crashed. Cameron tried to compensate, but also slid on the loose dirt. Right ahead of her, the car bounced and scraped on a rock, shooting sparks as it bottomed out.
Moving to the edge of the road, Cameron used a tree to catapult herself at the car. Landing by the rear driver's side tire, she grabbed the underside of the fender and hauled back. Screams sounded from the car as Cameron got it slowed, then stopped, the car's front tires spinning away and smoking as they dug holes in the road.
"Get your foot off the gas!" Cameron yelled. Trying to shout over the noise of squealing tires and screaming, Cameron screamed, "FOOT OFF THE GAS, I WON"T HURT YOU!"
Thankfully, the woman driver let off the gas. The car died.
.
Lucy dragged the robot's body off the flat they had build the house on and a little ways downhill. She dug a deep hole and pushed the body in. As she was covering it up, she heard a car coming up the hill. Looking down, she saw the small white car with that robot of John's chasing it, then catching it as the occupants screamed. "What's this?" she asked herself. She decided to go investigate.
.
The car's occupants spoke Japanese, but not very coherently in their terrified state, mashed together on the passenger side of the car. Although Cameron assured them she was not going to hurt them, they were doing more begging than talking.
"I just want to know what you know about a company called AMCO," Cameron explained.
"Please don't hurt us, we know nothing!" Yuka cried from within.
Cameron sensed something coming down from above. Lucy landed in front of the car. Eyeing Cameron, she asked heavily, "What are you doing here?"
The two in the car cried out again, this time in relief. The passenger side door opened and they spilled out to scramble up, run around and hide behind Lucy.
Cameron tipped her head. "Lucy-sama, we are looking for a Sky Net installation called AMCO."
"Baka," Lucy snorted at her. "One of your kind already came today. I buried him up on the hill," Lucy said as terrified faces peeking out from each side of her.
"AMCO is not Sky Net?" Cameron asked.
"AMCO is Kouta. He started that company with the money I got in Las Vegas," Lucy stated.
"Ones like me will continue to come to take it away from you," Cameron stated.
"And I will bury them right beside their friend," Lucy retorted.
The sound of an engine came up the road. Sarah drove up and stopped. Cameron only glanced back at the truck. "Lucy-sama, covering them with dirt is insufficient. Their chips must be destroyed as well as the bodies. Let us show you how."
"Chips?" Yuka asked, peeking around from behind Lucy.
Lucy turned around and looked down on Yuka. "Get your car up the hill. Kouta and Nana are cleaning up the porch."
"She won't hurt us?" Mayu asked meekly as she stared at Cameron.
"Not unless she wants to be scrap metal," Lucy replied.
Yuka got back in the car with Mayu. They buckled their seat belts. Yuka started the car, but it didn't move, the tires only dug away in the holes they'd made.
Letting out a huff, Lucy told Cameron, "You broke it, you get it up to the house." She then strode off up through the woods.