Eric was yelling at Kate, as usual. It's just the subject that changes.

"No, you don't even know how bad this is!", Reese told her. He was trying to get the second in command of the human resistance to go back on an initiative she was primarily responsible for.

"No, you don't understand.", Kate told him. "And don't yell at me. I get enough of that from the kids."

"I'm not yelling.", Eric said. "Those things are going hay wired, I'm telling you."

"And I'm saying this is the same paranoia that's kept us from winning this war.", Kate defended. "They're killing machines. They're designed to scare us. So it's okay to be scared, just don't let that compromise your judgement."

Cameron and Uncle Bob stalked by. They were in lock step with Cameron matching her larger's stride. Not one of their arms swung as the stepped. And the two were holding hands.

"I'll look into it.", Kate assured.

My First Boyfriend

Cameron and Uncle Bob laid on coroner's tables with masks over their faces. Fiber optics leading to their eyes uploaded files, while audio to electronic modems interpreted output into a usable form. Kate's gaze was pointed at a rack of monitors, two of which contained three dimensional renderings of the cyborg's faces. Six soldiers had plasma rifles leveled at the machines.

"Uncle Bob, behavior anomaly: hand holding on patrol. Replay log.", Kate instructed. One of the monitors dropped into a red tinted HUD and ended up showing a tour of the tunnel complex. Scrolling numbers told tactile information recorded. Behavior algorithms scrolled on the other side, pausing as query seeks either gained answers or were dismissed as second best alternatives to inanswerable questions.

Kate ran a simulation on another monitor and kept glancing back to the HUD display to make sure the numbers matched. "Uncle Bob, behavior anomaly:hand holding on patrol, initiation. Replay log." The HUD jumped, then Cameron was reaching below the field of vision and dragging the HUD into the hallway.

"Uncle Bob, behavior anomaly: hand holding on patrol. Analyze against Tech Com protocols.", Kate dictated.

The render of the T-800's head spoke. "Standing Order #1:Obey Connor, John-In response to direct order to not interfere with human celebrations of St. Valentine's Day, initiated behavior camoflauge algorithm 236.5"

Cameron's actual head moved nearly imperceptibly towards the other terminator, then returned to normal.

"Cameron, behavior anomaly: hand holding on patrol. Analyze against Tech Com protocols.", Kate ordered.

"Standing Order #2:Preserve Humanity. Anomalous behavior around people decreases mating activity, which in turn decreases birth rates. In avoidance of anomalous behavior, initiated behavior camoflauge algortihm 236.1", the cyborg's rendered image replied.

Kate squinted. "Cameron,algorithm 236.1 initiation: display process thread history." A long list of memory calls and simultaneous branches, taken and predicted, started scrolling on yet another monitor. "Uncle Bob, algorithm 236.5: display process thread history." On Uncle Bob's HUD, a couple hundred lines scrolled and stopped. A moment afterwards, Cameron's thread history also stopped. The resistance' second officer matched up her simulations, based on a model of perfectly overriding Skynet protocols, with the displays.

Kate shrugged. "Cameron, project risk to Standing Orders and Standing Facts based on behavior anomaly."

Cameron's rendered face continued its impassivity. "None found."

"Uncle Bob?", Kate asked.

"Acknowledged.", the cyborg replied.

Kate shook her head. "Uncle Bob, project risk to Standing Orders and Standing Facts based on behavior anomaly."

"None found.", Uncle Bob reported.

"Alright guys. Uh, return to service."

My First Boyfriend

Nearly as soon as the resistance fighters left the cyborgs presence, Cameron started with Uncle Bob. "Query: Did you hold my hand simply to obey General Connor?"

"Negative.", it replied.

"Query:Was Standing Order #1 the primary reason to hold my hand?"

"Negative.", it repeated.

"Query:Why did you hold my hand?", Cameron demanded.

"You wanted me to. My files on the activity state that the activity is comforting. You are a brainwashed enemy combata-Error:Standing Fact #1-newly reprogrammed. My limited psychological files advised comfort could return you to more normal operating practices.", Uncle Bob explained.

Cameron seemed to process that explanation. "Apology accepted."

Uncle Bob grasped her hand. Cameron refocused on his face. "It is 20:48:23, 3 hours 11 minutes 37 seconds before the terminable time."

"Acknowledged.", Cameron agreed.

They stalked off, arms immobile as the stone they marched on.

"Query:Why didn't you tell Colonel Connor the primary reason for holding my hand?", Cameron wondered.

The T-800 lowered its gaze to hers. "She didn't ask."