Fallout

A/N:
Action / Drama
Rated T, moderate violence, suggested adult themes.
Set in the TSCC universe, towards the end of series one.
Four chapters. Status Complete.

I've tried to make an episode here. I'd like to think with episodes more like this, we would have got a season 3.

My first story, so apologies if it is a bit rough!

27May09 – Reformatted, minor clean ups, spelling, grammar.

Chapter 1

John walked with Morris slowly down the school steps, students pushing past them. They chatted about the motor mechanics they had been doing. John had a natural ability with the machinery that Morris admired. At the bottom of the steps John's sister waited for them. She glanced up at them, and Morris spotted her.

"Whoa. Hiya Cameron." He called out as he skipped down the steps to meet her.

She ignored him and looked around at students passing her, as if searching for someone. On the last step Morris tripped over his own feet, and half stumbled into Cameron. She grabbed his arm to stop him from falling.

"Thanks, sorry." Morris said. Rubbing the bruise that was forming on his arm.

"You're welcome." She said. Flashing him the smile.

John was more careful down the yellow bricks, he was looking out for Derek, who was to give them a lift, but he could not see him anywhere, and there was no sign of the car. But he did see Cheri, who unusually was also waiting, and John sidled up to her. Cameron following, with Morris edging along beside her.

"Hiya, guess your lift is late as well. Traffic must be bad."

Cheri turned to him, smiled quickly, then looked away.

"There's no need to wait for me John, my dad will be here soon enough." She said.

He gave what he hoped was a reassuring grin.

"Yeah, well no harm in hanging out. We've been in the same chemistry class for a while, but I still don't know much about you."

Her silence encouraged him to continue.

"Apart from you missing homework assignments nearly as much as I do."

Cameron's gaze swivelled to latch onto him. "That's not correct John. You nearly always complete chemistry assignments."

John licked his lips, and inwardly counted to 10.

"Well that's my sister." Then, with the thought just occurring to him, "Do you have any family Cheri?"

"No. I'm an only child." She replied.

Morris had stayed with them, and was hovering around. John had noticed he liked hanging around when Cameron was there. If it continued he was planning to tell him that Cameron was autistic, or damaged. Believable, and hopefully would stop him before any trouble could occur. Though he was also interested in how Cameron would handle it. The first machine he had met could barely pass as human, but Cameron could show many different sides. She had fooled him when they had first met, and clearly Morris was fooled now.

Cameron spoke up. "Your car has arrived now Cheri."

The large black saloon pulled up, and Cheri moved forward to meet it.

John sprung after her. "So do you want to work together on the assignment tomorrow? I could use a hand with the write up after the practical."

The driver of the car got out and moved towards him. He was large, and walked with a confident gait to them. He took a few paces towards John who had followed Cheri nearly to the car.

"Cheri?" John asked, and put a hand on her shoulder.

The driver moved with surprising swiftness over the last few yards to face up to John. But Cameron was quicker, stepped between them, and looked up at him. Seeing nothing wrong the driver relaxed.
Cameron glanced over to the road. "Our Uncle is here. We will be going now."

Derek was looking at them from the Dodge as he slowed up behind the saloon. Cheri had paused, tied between climbing in to the back seat, and waiting for her dad to open the door.

The driver grinned. "Nice to meet you guys. See you around."

He lightly slapped the waif like girl on the shoulder in a friendly manner, but was still surprised when she did not give or flinch at all. Just stared back at him. Uncomfortable with the stare he opened the door for Cheri, who climbed in without a backward glance.

"Bus is here, need to go now. So see you tomorrow guys, bye." Morris slipped away, almost unnoticed, envying how the big guy could slap Cameron on the shoulder in such an easy manner.

Derek climbed out of the car, and Cameron spoke as he joined them.

"She was lying."

Puzzled John replied. "Ermm, about what?"

"About being an only child. She was stressed. It upset her to be reminded about family. She is hiding something."

"Well it did not upset her dad." John replied.

Derek snorted in derision. "Dad? You kidding? He was a bodyguard. Couldn't you tell?"

Cameron turned to him. "I could tell." She opened the car door and turned to get in, "He was carrying a gun under his jacket."

John looked back at the saloon moving off down the road. He had many unanswered questions about Cheri. He did not like mysteries. He turned away and got into the Dodge.

------

Sarah was reading the newspaper when they got back home.

"Found anything suspicious mom?"

"Empty biscuit wrapper in your room. My meals not enough for you?"

She smiled at his discomfort. "We eat in thirty. Nothing in the news that I can find"

John was already heading into his room. There were things he needed to find out. Minutes later he was on the internet, searching.

After a while he muttered aloud. "I've found her dad. He works for an industrial company."

Cameron, who had been still behind him spoke up. "What sort of industry?"

"You're not going to believe this. Robotics."

He felt her move closer to him as she read the screen. "They are researching micro-motors. This is of interest John."

Sarah, who had caught the last of this, spoke up from the door. "Sounds interesting to a machine perhaps. Time to eat John. You, at least, need food."

"Yeah, OK."

------

Sarah was doing the dishes later on. "We have a dog in the house, and I'm doing all the barking."

Derek, who was drying up, turned to her in bafflement. "You're barking?"

"Her. It. Why are we doing the dishes?"

"Because last time we tried that she scrubbed the patterns off them. Same with the car. I had to re-wax it."

"It. You said she. You used to say it. You getting used to having it around?"

Before Derek could reply John shouted from the other room. "Mom, check this out."

As they entered the room, John looked up.

"Cheri's dad works for some kind of robotics research institute."

Cameron interjected. "They are researching micro-motors. They are used in terminators. They are like hydraulic pistons, but much more powerful."

Sarah ignored her. "And this concerns us how John?"

He pointed to the screen. "There's something going on. They have had a burst of research. Huge funding increase, started a few months ago. Which was about the time that Cheri started acting weird, according to her classmates. Also I've been trying to access his email account. Its heavily encrypted, no way I can break it. I will need to guess the password somehow."

Derek took this in and said practically. "If skynet are researching terminator technology before judgement day, then they will have a big advantage. If this is skynet, it must be stopped."

Sarah pursed her lips, concern wrinkling her brow. "Derek and I can check it out tomorrow. For you, bedtime."

"OK mom, but I do think we need to hack the emails. Something else is up I'm sure."

Sarah grinned and shrugged her shoulders. "Well any ideas how to break in?"

Cameron spoke. "I can work on it. I am programmed to infiltrate electronic systems. I can work on it overnight."

That night John slept fitfully, waking more than once to see the machine in front of his computer, analysing, testing, probing.

------

Pancakes. Again. And Derek had got maple syrup in the butter. Again.
And how did he maintain a permanent 3 days of stubble? John wanted to know the secret to the stubble. But that could wait. Along with the secret to Derek's Cameron like stare. On second thoughts, perhaps not the stare. That may have come from experiences he'd rather not go through. A stare that comes from loss, rather than gain.
His chain of thought was interrupted by Cameron. In a voice she had toned to be urgent.

"John. You MUST see this. It is important."