Author's Note: Still feeling my way with this story.
November 1973
This week, we have learnt about boundaries.
Both on my part and his part!
Only a week ago, we moved into this neat house, in the Sierra Nevada, near to a town called Shaver Lake. I think the place is really, really, neat and the location is perfect, way up in the hills; I'm really looking forward to getting out into the wilderness. Pops, however, he says the house offers 'good arcs of fire' and is 'easily defensible against attack'. Not to mention the 'useful escape routes' into the mountains. That guy can really suck the excitement out of anything!
I also need to work on his sense of humour. Actually, saying that I need to 'work on', his sense of humour implies that he already has one; he does not! As for sarcasm? Forget it. His 'database' seems to consist of everything, except, how to look after a nine-year-old human being. So much for highly advanced technology from the future!
Pops has also learnt to growl. He uses it to show that he is getting annoyed. Since when can a machine get annoyed? I suppose growling is better than something else, although I am not sure what 'something else' might be, yet.
I have a room, all to myself. It is the biggest in the house and has its own bathroom. Pops does not sleep, although to keep up the pretence that he is vaguely human, we have 'allocated' him a bedroom. Talking of bedrooms, I have taught him about privacy and knocking. Although his knocking needs a bit of practice as my bedroom door now has a slight crack in it! As for the boundaries part, Pops actually walked in when I was coming out of the bathroom with nothing on. He did not seem to notice, but I did; I yelled at him to get out. Although, when I thought about it later, ignoring the fact that he looks like a man, it was about as bad as being naked in front of the toaster.
..._...
He may look like a man, but he is not a man and I have to keep telling myself this. When I wake up in the middle of the night, screaming for my parents, he appears at my bedroom door with some comment about 'dreams are natural' and 'it is good to grieve'. Usually I have no idea what he is talking about, but it does comfort me, which is a surprise. Once or twice, I have hugged him, to which he does not reciprocate; however just having him there helps a lot.
Soon after he rescued me from the water, I asked him if I could go home, but he said that 'they', whoever they might be may, 'try to reacquire me there'. He has a weird-sounding way of talking, which I suppose just adds to his charm.
At least once a week, he tells me to 'sit down' and then starts a monotonous lecture on what I am going to be and why I am to be protected 'at all costs'. Some of it is very flattering, however, some of it is downright freaky for a girl of my age. Only last week I was introduced to the name 'Kyle Reese'. Not sure who he is yet, but Pops says he is important. Sometimes Pops finishes his lectures leaving many unanswered questions which he then refuses to answer: "You have a small brain and it will take time for you to acquire all the extra knowledge that you will require to survive."
I chose not to be insulted by that comment.
..._...
One minor problem cropped up, too. I am only nine-years-old, although not far from being ten, and I had to explain to Pops that I knew very little about cooking and the various other household things. Pops does not need to eat, so to speak, however, he did try to explain that he does need 'sustenance to maintain my living tissue component'. Pops obtained some cash from somewhere; I did not press him on it. I eat well, but I am not a big eater, so a little food tends to go a long way.
A few short weeks ago, I was playing with dolls and reading books about princes and princesses. Now Pops has introduced me to a completely different set of what he calls, 'training equipment' and 'relevant reading material'. By this I mean he sat me down and dumped a large pistol in front of me, along with a book from the local library on gun care.
That was my first pistol and it was heavy!
"Colt 1911 in .45-calibre!" Pops intoned.
"Any chance of something just a tiny bit smaller?" I asked. "I mean, it suits you, but not me."
My hands were tiny compared to his! I could barely lift the massive pistol. Pops just stared at me and growled.
"Is it loaded?" I asked tentatively, keeping my fingers well away from the trigger.
"An unloaded weapon is not a weapon," Came the reply.
..._...
That was the start of my extra-curricular training. Somehow, Pops has fitted himself into the Town of Shaver Lake and he has a job, working on construction, although I warned him about showing off his muscles too much; Pops can lift a truck clean off the ground! I asked if I could go to the local school, so at least I would have humans to talk to, but Pops said no.
He has also showed me, on a map, my boundaries. Places where I was not allowed to go beyond, things like that. The boundaries were very tight; I would have to talk with Pops about that!
..._...
I got annoyed with Pops the other day and swore at him. He responded quite sharply!
"Language of that sort is not desirable in a human of your development."
"My development?" I had retorted.
"Profanity is generally used by humans in the later stages of development."
I gave up. I have also discovered that arguing with a robot gets you nowhere! I would need to improve my vocabulary before I could argue with him. Maybe I should read a dictionary to compete with the one he has obviously swallowed.
For now, I feel safe, tucked up in bed while The Guardian remains downstairs on guard.
T-800 (Model 101) v2.42
****STATUS UPDATE****
Mode: Surveillance (Infra-Red)
Targets: None
Mission: Protection
Health: 99.73% Endoskeleton: 99.98% Living Tissue: 98.01% (Regenerating)
Power Cell 1: 99.97% Power Cell 2: 99.98% Remaining Life: 119 Years 10 Months 2 Days 8 Hours
Probability of Attack: Low
Mission Parameters
Primary Mission: Survival of Sarah Connor Current Status: ALIVE … SLEEPING
Secondary Mission: Training of Sarah Connor Current Status: PROCEEDING … SLOWLY
Other parameters available
Status of Mission: CURRENT PARAMETERS MET
