The John Connor Chronicles: Settling Down To Business
Chapter 1: Behavior
….
I don't own any of the characters of Terminator: The Sara Conner Chronicles, of course. I'm fairly sure nobody is under the illusion that I am. If, by some chance, you are, I've got $45 million dollars in Nigerian currency I'd like to gift you with, for a small transaction fee, of course.
I'd particularly like to thank "olischulu" for his ending review of my last Jameron story, "Aftershocks." Truth to tell, I really hadn't planned on writing any more Jameron fics, but his spirited review inspired me to pick up the metaphorical pen once more. If he disliked my story that much, it must be pretty good! So thank you, olischulu! Without you, this would never have happened.
…
Chapter 1: Behavior
"John. Are we likely to have any more of these sorts of occurrences?" John Connor and the Terminator going by the name of Cameron Phillips were seated, side by side, on his bed in his room. Her hand was on his arm, a sensation he found…distracting. Pleasantly so.
He'd just come from the future, where he'd merged his mind with SkyNET's, creating a composite entity, ConnorNET. It had been, he'd thought, the perfect solution to the war between SkyNET and mankind: he'd ended the war, recalled the Terminators, and had been calculating ways to rejuvenate that desolate future world.
But others had been either unable or unwilling to see the logic in his decision. True, he hated SkyNET for all it had done to him and his family, but, as he saw it, there was only one way to end that threat once and for all, and that was for SkyNET to somehow no longer be SkyNET. No matter what forces were brought against it, it always seemed to survive, in some way or another. (Much like himself, now that he thought of it.) Subverting it from within solved that problem, and he'd been willing to sacrifice himself in order to keep his family—those he loved-safe.
And Cameron. He considered her family, too. He'd stated his love for her on more than one occasion, to let her know. His mother and Derek also knew this, to their chagrin. It seemed like Derek was actually a bit repulsed by the notion. Well, let him be.
He smiled a smile with a bit of sadness in it, as he recognized the very words he'd asked her, after her attempt to get Derek and Sarah to destroy her. "No, Cameron. I'll be good." A sigh. "But it sure did seem like a perfect solution,"
"John." And here she leaned over closer to him, her hand still on his arm. "Any solution that results in you not being you is not a perfect solution.
"I don't want to lose you, John Connor."
He looked at her, really looked at her. "Lose me? Cameron? What do you mean?"
"I…" And here she reached down and took his hand in hers, intertwining their fingers. "I am obviously flawed, somehow. Perhaps the accident at the traffic light resulted in some corruption of my code, but….
"I am a machine. I cannot feel love." And here, her voice dropped to a whisper. "And yet it seems I do." He could barely hear her.
"Cameron? Are you saying what I think you're saying?"
She looked up at him, and he could see something akin to desperation in her eyes. "John…I don't know what love is. I've never encountered a useable definition, not one that would apply to my unique situation. So I can't say if what I feel is love or not.
"But I do know I feel something for you. Something beyond my core programming to preserve and protect your life." She shook her head and released his fingers. "It is probably just some glitch in my code…"
Now he took her hand. "No, Cameron. It's real. I can tell. I can see your soul, remember? And yours is a lovely soul, fully capable of love."
Once again she stared at him. "John…what are you saying? I don't have a soul; I'm a machine. And even if I did, souls cannot be seen."
"But I can see them, Cameron. I see now that that's something only I can do; not all that long ago, I thought everybody could. But, see, it's like this…" And he launched into an account of his blackout, and meeting his other self…and hers. "So that was what gave me the idea to merge with SkyNET. It was really necessary, anyway. Inevitable, even.
"Humanity is fast approaching a singularity, Cameron, a condition where everything changes. Man and machine will join, becoming something far greater than either was before. And it can't happen too soon, because, just like ConnerNET told you, there are dangers out there. If they'd stay out there, that'd be great, but we both know that's not the way these sorts of things go."
She paused, seeming to digest that. Then, "John, I don't want to lose you. I…don't believe I could stand it."
At that exact moment, Derek burst into the bedroom with an MP5. "Stand clear, kid, she's gone rogue!"
"No, Derek, stand down! We were just talking." Derek hesitated; he couldn't shoot Cameron, even from this close range, without also hitting John.
Sarah was right behind Derek, but she was unarmed. Of the two of them, she seemed to be the only one to recognize that the current crisis couldn't be solved by gunfire. "John…"
"Look, mom, it's alright. Cameron just needed some time to talk to me alone. She didn't mean either of you any harm; if she had, neither of you would be alive. Come on. Put the gun down, Derek."
Derek slowly lowered his weapon, his body language indicating that he was by no means standing down. "I don't take being tied up by a met—by one of those—lying down, kid. No matter who she is."
John turned to Cameron. "Cameron, you probably do owe them an apology. I mean…it was a bit extreme."
Cameron didn't hesitate. "Derek, Sarah…I am sorry for my actions. As John said, I merely wished to have a few minutes with him alone. I meant no harm. To any of you."
Sarah's eyes narrowed as she noticed the way John and Cameron's fingers were interlaced. She'd seen that grip before…when they'd finished their diagnostics of Cameron's programming, searching for abnormalities…and when she, herself, much younger, had held the hand of someone she loved.
Nor was it lost on her how Cameron's fingers seemed to tighten on John's. Even through her stress, she could feel her eyes mist, just a little. I've lost him. "Well, John, Cameron. I think it's time we each had another talk."
….
"John. This is getting to be a bit…much. I mean, these, these disruptions…first Cameron putting a bullet in you—well, almost, not for lack of trying—and now you, running off and, and doing God knows what to yourself. Just what did you do, anyway?" The two were alone in John's room, Cameron and Derek having left.
"I thought it was the perfect solution, mom. SkyNET—if I merged my mind with it, then the war would be over. And it is, at least on one timeline." He shrugged. "I suppose, if what ConnorNET said is true, there are other timelines where it maybe wasn't such a good idea, but I clearly remember one where it worked."
She was seated on the edge of her bed, legs crossed, looking at him, sitting in the chair across from her. "Well, whatever the case, let's not do that again, okay? I mean…"
He nodded. "Actually, Cameron made me promise to…refrain from that sort of thing, too, mom. So, no, no more running off to the future, at least not for anything like that. Besides," he said, a rueful smile on his face, "if the 'many-worlds' hypothesis is correct, I'd have to do it an infinite number of times, and that would get sorta old." He thought for a moment. "And besides, it wouldn't work out like that every time, simply due to the nature of parallel universes, anyway. So, no. Like I told her, I'll be good. Well, you know, but…yeah."
Sarah's eyes narrowed. Sooo….your "fiancé" made you promise to not engage in this sort of life-threatening behavior? I wonder why.
Or do I?
"Now, let's discuss yours and Cameron's relationship a bit…."
John Connor began to sweat.
…..
Derek was eating a head of cabbage. In the future where he came from, green veggies were not always easy to come by, and he relished the chance to indulge himself in such whenever he could. A head of cabbage and a shaker of salt… Cameron was in the kitchen, preparing dinner. He kept his eyes on her steadily, marveling, even through his suspicions, at how she could do so many things at once. He grunted silently. Nobody could ever accuse her of being unable to multi-task. "So…you went to the future and brought him back?"
"I hope I did."
"Huh?"
"I threatened ConnorNET into downloading a copy of his organic mind back into his brain. The amalgamated AI told me he'd need to return for periodical examinations, to make sure his mental equilibrium remains just so.
"I doubt that's something we can afford to ignore."
"Oh, right, so we just march straight back to that monster and-*"
"The decision," said Cameron abruptly, "is neither mine nor yours to make, Derek. But if you truly suspect ConnorNET of duplicity—and, I might add, you are not alone in doing so—then you have just as little reason to trust what I brought back from that future time. For the John Connor currently talking to Sarah…is a product of that amalgamated artificial intelligence.
"But then, all indications point to that same AI as being a product of John Connor himself.
"So who—and what—do you trust, Derek Reese? Is trust even anywhere in the equation anymore?
"And if it is not…what then?"
…..
Not far away, in a corporate office building, a board meeting was being held. The chairman—chairperson—seated at the head of the table was a striking looking woman, apparently somewhere in her thirties, with long red hair and sharp blue eyes. Eyes that missed nothing. Eyes that made the other members of the board nervous. In the past, some overly ambitious board members had tried to instigate coup d'états. A long line of empty desks and ruined careers had been the result. "So. What do we have?"
One of the senior advisors cleared his throat. "Yes, Ma'am. We—my division, at least—have been conducting research into the subject. Most of it tallies with what we already knew."
A raised eyebrow. "'Most of it'?"
Another throat clear. His mouth was dry for some reason. "Yes, ma'am. The basics were accurate: John Connor, high school student, only son of Sarah Connor. They've used aliases in the past, but, given our resources, we have nonetheless been able to track them."
"And what of the other?"
He picked up a sheaf of notes, and, adjusting his glasses, began to read. "One Cameron Phillips, age listed as sixteen, the constant—and I do mean constant-companion of John Connor. In previous times, the two of them were listed as brother and sister, but lately, that has changed. The 'why' is… uncertain."
The red-haired woman smiled what looked like a genuine, albeit mysterious, smile. "I suspected it would come to this, actually. Go on."
"Ah, yes. Well, by all reports, the rumor is making it around that the two of them are engaged. But so far, that's just hearsay."
Now the woman looked surprised. Mildly so, but surprised nonetheless. "Engaged, did you say? Are you sure?"
"Well, as I said, ma'am, this is strong rumor. There appear to be few concrete facts, but then, to be honest, I'm not sure what 'concrete facts' would look like, in a case such as this."
The red-haired woman paused, steepling her fingers in front of her. "So true. But, strong rumor, you say?"
"Yes, ma'am."
"Hm. A trifle sooner than anticipated. This…will require us to alter our plans a bit. However, it changes nothing of any importance.
"Our plans may require some modification, some…acceleration, as it were, what with this new development, but we must proceed, anyway." Another pause. "They are under surveillance, are they not? The entire family?"
"Yes, ma'am, as per your orders."
"Tell your people to maintain that surveillance, and, in particular, to increase it with regards towards Cameron Phillips, and John Connor. In that order." She looked around at the others. "That will be all for now."
….
"John…let's talk about your feelings towards Cameron."
"Huh? I…it… I mean, well, mom, I love her. You know that."
"Yes, so you've told me. And Derek. And Cameron. Repeatedly.
"So what will you do about it?"
"I don't know what you mean."
"John. You keep saying that you love her. But I've noticed that's pretty much as far as it goes. It's almost like you don't want to talk, or even think, about it, so that's your stock answer. That doesn't mean it's not true, but I get the impression that that's as far as you have gone, thinking-wise, with it. It seems to me to be like an answer designed to actually deflect any further questions, whether on the part of others...or yourself. Or am I wrong?" He was silent, thinking. "I believe you respect me too much to have sex with Cameron here, under my roof. I'd like to believe that, anyway. But…if it's true you do love her, then sooner or later, given human nature, it's going to come to that, isn't it? Have you even thought about that yet, maybe fantasized about it? It's perfectly normal to do so, you know. But if not, perhaps you need to ask yourself why. Frankly, I doubt you have.
"When you were going with Riley, or, really, any of the other girls in your life, you were…shall we say, somewhat more aggressive about the matter? Perhaps more assertive would be a better term. More…sure." He blushed. "Well, you know it's true.
"Put it another way: I was concerned every time you went out with a girl. It's very easy for teenage boys to let their bodies do their thinking for them and altogether too many girls do the same.
"But I find I'm not worried about you going places with Cameron. Because I don't think anything like that would happen."
John felt as if he'd suddenly been struck with a pillow. Sex? With Cameron? "Uh, mom, I, I really don't know."
She leaned back on the bed, arms behind her. "So…what were you thinking about in regards to that?"
Sitting, leaned forward, hands clasped in front of him, in the room's chair, across from her, he took his time in answering, partly because he didn't really know. She noticed this, correctly ascribing it to his own sense of hesitancy regarding any meaningful relationship.
A boy is born into at least one meaningful relationship, that between him and his mother, and any threat to that relationship can be devastating. Sarah regretted that there had been no man, no father figure in John's life, but there was no helping it. She'd hoped he'd been able to draw upon his relationship with Derek, but….it still wasn't enough.
Now John was embroiled, quite without realizing it, in another relationship, one he didn't see coming and hadn't had time to prepare for. With an ordinary girl, there was room for trial and error (mostly error), for learning from the experiences of others, for building a relationship, but with Cameron…
…who would stick closer to him than his own skin, if she could, and forever…
…it was very different. "So, John? Where do you see your relationship with Tin Miss heading?" He needed to decide that for himself, before another minute went by. No reply. "John?"
"I…I don't know, mom. I mean, yeah, I love her, an' all—and I hear what you're saying about that being a defense mechanism," he replied, not realizing the irony of the phrase, "but, but…somehow the notion of it going…like that…in that direction…I gotta confess, it…kinda…I don't know if 'unnerves me' is the right term or not. I…just have a hard time seeing it, imagining it."
"You know why that is, don't you?"
"No, why?"
"Because it would have meaning, meaning on a deeper level than just fun sex. For you, at least. Meaning on a level you aren't ready for. I know you'd hoped to do that with Riley, and with other girls…but this is different, isn't it? And the difference is just what you said: you love her. When young people engage in that sort of behavior, it's called, rightfully enough, 'making love.'
"But maybe you're afraid of 'making love' to Cameron because of the very real possibility that she can't love you back. Maybe the fear of discovering that is holding you back"
He shook his head. "Cameron's more than just a machine, mom. You've seen it, you've seen how she does-*"
"—like that time she tried to kill you."
He glared. "And all the other times she's saved not just my life, but all of ours. Do you really see that as just a machine—especially a Terminator-carrying out its functions? You've compared her to a refrigerator. Wouldn't her actions be sorta like a fridge programming itself to reach out and put the milk you accidently left out back inside itself? I mean, just doing that on its own? I mean, you tell me.
"She's self-programming, mom. Just like humans are.
"And, whether you like to admit it or not, you believe it too, in a way. You call her 'her,' and 'Tin Miss.' Mom, those aren't terms you'd apply to a toaster oven, now are they? So on some level, you think of her as female, a girl, too."
Sarah closed her eyes in frustration. She hadn't really expected any better, but this wasn't going the way she'd planned out. "Well. This is certainly food for thought—for us both. But still. You say you love Cameron. What does that mean to you?"
He sat down, looking at the ground at his feet. "I'm honestly not sure. What should I feel? I mean, I used to, to not want her around. Now…"
"Now it's flip-flopped. John, love and hate are just two sides of the same coin. A couple can be madly, passionately in love…and three years later be unable to stand the sight of each other. The passion remains the same, but reversed.
"But Cameron can't feel that passion. I know," she said, holding up a hand to stifle his protests, "I know you believe she can. But even if she were programmed for emotion—this particular emotion—still, there are differences. You know, for example, that if you were to suggest something like having sex with her, that she'd comply…because she's programmed to accept your orders. It wouldn't be the same thing as…what you're expecting."
John smiled. "Heh. Like I know what to expect. But…I think I kinda see your point, mom. I would want her to want me, to want to do things with me, not just obey me."
"Exactly. Which is why I don't think this relationship you're halfway contemplating is really gonna work. In any relationship, there's some back and forth, a true interrelationship. Like I said, actually building a relationship. Here, there wouldn't be any. Or, if so, it would be very, very different from…anything in the human experience.
"And you'd know this. The whole time.
"And there's another disquieting possibility that I have to mention. I told you that love and hate are closely related. They are. And you said that once, you once 'didn't want her around.' That's not hate, but dislike, a certain degree, perhaps of hostility. So maybe what you feel isn't so much love as it is like.
"So…I think this is a matter you're gonna have to think long and hard about. And you may decide not to go down this road. It's no crime if you do so decide, you know. You wouldn't be betraying her, or rejecting her. She won't feel any different about you. So…there's that. That's at least one good thing about it.
"So think about it. Okay? That's all I'm asking, for now."
….
The next day: "John, I need Cameron to stay home today. I called in sick for her. We'll be having to move shortly, and I need her to help me with some things. We have to plan." It was a truism in the Connor household: never stay anywhere too long.
He hesitated, but then, "Sure, mom. I'll be sure to bring her assignments home." And he kissed her and left.
After he'd disappeared around the curve of the road, Sarah turned. Cameron stood in the doorway to the living room, her expression, as always, neutral. "Yes, Sarah?"
Sarah looked over at Derek, nodded. "We need to talk."
….
At the dining table in the kitchen: Cameron sat across the table from Sarah, with Derek sitting in the middle. "What is it you wished to discuss?"
Sarah nodded soberly. "I've a hunch you already know. You spoke about it to Derek, the other day."
Cameron looked down at her hands, folded on the table. "I know. I expected you would want to ask me this."
"Then you know what we both need to know.
"Is John…still John?"
…
"Mr. Connor?" Ms. Phelps had asked him to remain after class, to pick up Cameron's assignments. "I've something to ask you. It may seem somewhat personal, but…" She hesitated.
"Er, yes, Ms. Phelps?" He knew she wasn't the sort to inquire into her students' personal life, not without a good reason.
"I've, uh, noticed some…well, odd things about your fiancé. I'm not trying to pry, but I'd be remiss in my duties if I didn't ask: is she alright?"
"What do you mean, ma'am?" Inwardly, he tensed. This was their nightmare, that someone, someone not connected with SkyNET, or the grays, but just someone in the ordinary world would see some amiss about Cameron's behavior.
"Well, it's just…I notice she never seems to leave your side. And…" And here she hesitated again. "Look. I once had a stint as a school counselor. I had opportunity to see some…pathology in the works.
"If I didn't know better…" And here, her expression said, so tell me I know better, "I'd say she seems to suffer from some sort of psychological problems. As I say, I'm not trying to pry, but if it should pose a hazard to the other students…."
John Connor breathed a very, very soft sigh of relief. So she didn't suspect. "Oh, no ma'am. She's…well, let me be honest. Uh, this is confidential, okay? I mean, like extremely confidential? Cameron had a…bad experience once, a really bad experience, involving her, uhm, someone close to her. I…won't say any more about that. But, it left her…scarred, inside.
"So, yeah, she sticks pretty close to me. One of the reasons, well, maybe one of the reasons, we're together, one of the reasons we ever got together in the first place is, she feels…safe around me." He smiled a little. "I mean, there's more to it than just that, but...but she's okay. She's not gonna become another Columbine shooter or anything."
"Oh, I hadn't really thought along those lines," said Ms. Phelps, her expression giving lie to her words. That was exactly what she'd thought. "I just…you know, if she needed help, or, or anything…" She didn't really know how to deal with John's revelation. Just as he'd intended. It wasn't the best lie, but he'd had to think it up on the run, so to speak. "Well, anyway, here's her assignments. I hope she gets to feeling better." She smiled a professional smile, turned to go.
As John Connor left the school, though, he couldn't help but feel as though he were being watched, and not by Ms. Phelps.
He was.
…
"So…Cameron. You told Derek you hoped you brought John back. Care to go into a little more detail about that?"
"As I said, I forced ConnorNET into copying its source code—as much of it as it said it could—onto John's organic brain. I had no way of determining whether or not it did as I required…or, if so, to what degree. John seems to be John, but there are some things I'm incapable of measuring." She turned to Sarah. "As his mother, do you sense anything amiss? Anything that might indicate he is not the John Connor we knew?"
Sarah was shaking her head. "I can't really tell. He's changed, coming back from the future, but, truth to tell, if he hadn't changed, after all that, I'd be more worried. But…I'm not sure how we'd find out."
"You both know there's only one way." Derek hadn't said a word until now. They turned to look at him. "And you both know what I'm about to say.
"Whether or not John's still John isn't an issue anymore, really. He either is or he isn't, and there's nothing we can do about it now. If what he was telling us was true, then, on at least one future Earth, the war really is over. But we have to know. We have to make sure. And if we can't trust John's word on it," and the other two could clearly hear what he didn't say: or Cameron's, "…then we have to go find out for ourselves."
Cameron shifted. Sarah thought it seemed like an uneasy gesture, the way a human might do when confronted with an undesirable thought. She wondered where the machine had picked that up. "There…is another possibility. One I find most disturbing."
"Spill."
"I told ConnorNET to take me to John's body. I had already planned what I was going to do, the demand I was going to make. But ConnorNET is, after all, like SkyNET before it, a highly intelligent and tactically oriented entity. It may have anticipated my request." She looked at the two of them, her expression its usual blank state. "There is nothing to guarantee that what it showed me was, in fact, John's body. It may have been one grown from cells, a clone. Or perhaps something even stranger. But John—the real John, if this is not him—may still be in that future. Still subject to whatever the AI could be doing to him."
Derek sighed exasperatedly. "True. And that changes nothing. It still boils down to only one course of action.
"We have to go to this future, to ConnorNET's time. There's just no other way."
"And if John isn't John?" Cameron's voice didn't rise, but her eyebrow did. Sarah had noticed the Terminator often did that, in mimicking certain human emotions. Especially those an organic might term "troublesome."
"Then…we deal with it. From that end."
…
"So…Mom? Cameron? Uncle Derek? Have you decided?" They were eating dinner, and Sarah had actually paid Cameron a somewhat rare compliment on her cooking, which the Terminator accepted with her usual understated good grace. She'd once tried to imitate a human reaction to compliments by jumping up and down, and squealing with apparent joy, but John had assured her that that was going a bit far, and, in fact, could be seen as sarcastic. Besides, the sight of Cameron bouncing up and down like that was…distracting, to him. He resolutely pulled his mind away from that image. Somehow, he just didn't want to think about that. Not right then, anyway.
But Lord could she ever flounce.
They had been discussing whether or not to accept ConnorNET's offer to cure Sarah of her cancer. The AI had told Cameron, that last time, in that far future where the war between SkyNET and humanity had apparently been won by John Connor's ultimate sacrifice, that it had devised a cure for John's mother. While John himself couldn't see anything but good news out of this, Sarah and Derek had merely exchanged glances, and said they'd have to talk it over.
"Talk it over"? Mom, this is your life here! What's to talk about?
"But John," Cameron had told him, that night, during one of their now-many nocturnal conversations, "Surely you see. To begin with, they do not know that such a cure even exists, at all. I told them what ConnorNET told me, but was it true? They've certainly no reason to trust this new version of SkyNET, after all. Secondly, can they trust me? You know Derek doesn't, and Sarah barely does. I could merely be saying that for some reason or reasons known only to me. Third, even supposing both of the preceding two are true, can they trust ConnorNET to actually effect any such cure? After all, it would take more than a name change to make anyone who was already aware of it, or its actions, to simply reverse their opinion of it." She'd then turned her head facing upward, and, after a moment, continued. Once again, they were lying on his bed, both their heads on the same pillow. They were not holding hands, but they were close enough that John could smell a clean, soapy smell emanating from her. He wondered if it was from a recent shower or just the way she was designed to smell. He'd never known her to use perfume, at least on any continuous basis, and never at home, and he couldn't figure out any reason why she would anywhere, anyway. "And there are…any of a number of other reasons why this decision is more complicated than it seems to be at first."
He lay on his back, his hands behind his head. He guessed it wasn't quite as simple as he'd thought.
He gotten used to her almost-nightly visits to his room now, though he still wondered why his mother put up with it. Although he was fairly sure the fact that Cameron was a machine, a Terminator, and not a human girl, had a lot to do with it. He was reasonably sure it was like she said: she simply "trusted" him around her more than around a "real" girl.
But still…no matter how he looked at it, that was a little disturbing. On several different levels.
What his mother had said kept coming back to him. Why don't I simply…ask her for sex? Because I know she'd say, "Of course, John," and begin removing her clothes? Most dudes I know would kill for a "problem" like that. He turned his head upwards again, a very small sigh escaping. He'd sooner die than her know he'd half-way reached that conclusion. After all, he was the one who kept telling her that she could feel…. I guess…I guess I'd feel like it would be the same thing as hiring a prostitute, only she'd be "paid" in yet another opportunity to fulfil her primary programming.
With a human girl, the act would mean something, it would have to, even if it were the total opposite of what I'd like it to. But with Cameron? It might very easily mean nothing whatsoever. He noticed her looking at him oddly, and wrenched his attention back to the problem at hand. He hoped she hadn't noticed his brief bout of introspection. But why had she looked scared the other day when she thought I was about to?
"No, Cam. I don't think it has to do with any one of those things. Maybe several grouped together….or something else altogether different.
"If I knew what it was, it might help to convince them, to reassure them." He turned his head to face hers, only to find her studying her chest oddly, a peculiar expression on her face. "I don't suppose you'd happen to know any other reason-*"
"Do you think I should get breast implants?"
He shook his head. "There's better ways of conceal-*" Then his thoughts collided like bumper cars in a four-way head-on. "Wait. Cameron, what did you just ask me?"
"I asked you if you thought I should get-*"
"Yes, yes, I heard that part! Cameron! Why would you ask me something like that?"
"But if it would please you…"
He face-palmed, no easy feat when you're lying down on your back. Good thing I'm already lying down; otherwise, I might've fallen flat on my face. "No, Cameron," he said quietly. There was no reason to get upset with the Terminator. (He didn't know it, but Sarah herself had noticed that he did not seem to get as upset with her as with other, purely organic beings. Was it being in love, or was it that he simply cut her a break, knowing that, after all, her social oddities were the product of matters she really had no control over?) She always seemed to be able to do this to him. In a way, he found it kind of endearing. "I've stated before that I love you. Now, I'm sure you've studied, in considerable detail, what 'being in love' means to humans. You're not an art project that I have to constantly keep modifying. That wouldn't be love, that'd be, be, I dunno, an obsession with perfectionism. Or something like that. I love you the way you are."
"Yes, John." He noticed she was using that quiet, subservient manner she always employed when she wished to avoid conflict with him.
And, more often than not, when she'd already achieved a goal and wished to consolidate her triumphs. Such as distracting him. Like she'd just done. He turned his head towards the ceiling once more, the gesture concealing his lop-sided smile.
…..
"So. Mom. What have you and Derek decided?" They had just finished dinner, and were eating dessert.
Sarah and Derek glanced at each other, just the smallest of glances. "John, I'll be honest with you. I don't trust SkyNET—and, yes, I know it's called ConnorNET in the future you're referring to—but I still don't trust it. It's hard to go from a lifetime on the run to submitting to the medical care of the very thing you've been running from.
"But Derek and I have talked it over and…we…can't come up with any reason not to do this. We've seen no reason to disbelieve you. And, to be honest, personally speaking, I've always wanted to see a world where the war really is over.
"So I suppose…that we're on." She tried to smile a brave smile.
"Good. I've got the coordinates for a TDG—ConnorNET made sure I was aware of several such nodes before it sent me back—and we can head there this weekend. It's a holiday, anyway." And here he smiled, and reached over the small table to take his mother's hand. It took some effort on her part not to flinch. "And believe me, mom: I am John Connor. Yeah, I know; that was what you, Derek, and Cameron were discussing all those times you made sure I wasn't around. It didn't take a rocket scientist to figure it out, you know.
"But I am John Connor. I am your son. And you'll see."
Yes, but that's exactly what you'd say if you weren't.
…..
Twenty years into the future: They materialized out of the swirling energies. As their vision cleared and their eyesight adjusted, they saw…
…a dark and blasted landscape. There was no sign of life, anywhere they looked.
Nothing had changed.
To be continued…
