Chapter 3: The Search Begins
It had been a few minutes since Cameron had begun her sweep through the trailers.
She was careful not to be seen, as she didn't want to draw any unnecessary attention to herself.
The first two trailers contained clothing, but none would match her slender frame.
Cameron wanted clothing that would match her size so she wouldn't need to keep looking for replacement clothing, when she had more important things to gather.
After passing a couple of trailers with people inside, Cameron came across a third trailer that looked promising. The lights were out and there was no sign of any one being inside of it.
Outside the trailer stood a pair of newer Harley's, well newer for 1999, one being a fairly large bike and the other slightly smaller. Cameron took a closer look at the two bikes. 1997 Harley Davidson XL883C, with lowered suspension and a 1998 Harley Davidson Electra Glide Classic. The XL883C will do fine for my frame size, it will be easy to handle.
Cameron went to smash the glass to facilitate unlocking the door, but she paused for a second and tried turning the knob first. The doorknob turned easily and the aluminum door opened with minor creaks and complaints. She peered inside and carefully listened for any signs of people or pets inside, none were seen or heard.
The interior of the trailer was Spartan but kept neat and tidy, one could have almost imagined it to be a display model instead of a place some one was living in.
Not needing lights on, Cameron slipped into the bedroom area of the trailer and proceeded to rifle through the various drawers and storage compartments. The first few spots revealed only men's clothing, the items being way too large for Cameron's svelte frame.
Finally she came across woman's clothing.
Cameron took measurements of the items she found, they were a very close match to her.
A hint of a smile tilted the corner of her mouth as she realized her search was over, she had found suitable clothing, a means of transportation and most likely funds too as it seemed almost no one in the trailer park carried cash around on their person.
Sure enough, in the underwear drawer of the woman's clothing, Cameron found a small stack of currency.
Three hundred and eighty dollars, that should be sufficient for now. She thought to herself.
Quickly she slipped on a pair of pink thong underwear, ankle socks and a pair of designer jeans. The jeans fit almost perfectly, accentuating her butt and long slender legs.
Hanging up in a small closet were some shirts, but most of them were of the frilly type and no good for her plans to travels on the motor cycle.
Back to another drawer Cameron found an assortment of T-shirts that would suit her needs. She came across one that met her fancy. The slogan read "So few men, so few who can afford me." This will be suitable. Cameron thought to herself.
Cameron slipped the shirt over her head and pulled it down to her waist, she turned to exit the bedroom and headed for the main door. Beside the door were two black leather jackets, one was much larger, for a man and the other was just her size. Cameron pulled the jacket off of its hook and slid in on. It felt just right and had a nice weathered look to it. The buckles and zippers located on miscellaneous spots served no purpose, but managed to give Cameron a bad ass look about her.
Just below was a helmet on the floor, so Cameron grabbed it, slipped it on and started to head out the door, but then she stopped. I need suitable footwear. She thought to herself.
Peering off to her left, she spied a row of footwear. Flip flops, sneakers, fuzzy slippers made to look like bunnies and two pairs of motorcycle boots.
Cameron slid on the pair of bunny slippers and stared at her feet as she maneuvered them around. They look appropriate for a girl, but they may not be durable enough to survive the ride on the motorcycle. She deliberated for a split second and then decided to try on the smaller of the two pairs of biker boots.
The boots were a tad loose fitting, but came halfway up her calf and once her jeans were tucked in felt quite comfortable. I will have no problem walking in these boots, they will suit my purpose quite sufficiently. Cameron would be pleased with her choices, if she had realized she was feeling pleased, she was not aware that she had a delightful grin on her face. I will blend in nicely with the people here.
She checked the pockets of the jacket, the keys for the bike were in the left pocket of the leather jacket. Pulling them out, Cameron slipped the key into the ignition to unlock the steering. Being careful, she chose to push the bike towards the main gate before firing it up, just to prevent any unnecessary attention being drawn to her, when she started the bike up.
Upon reaching the main gate, Cameron made sure the fuel was turned on, the ignition was set to the run position, then she proceeded to kick start the bike. Two kicks later, the bike roared to life, Cameron dropped it into first gear, released the clutch and rumbled off into the night.
The cooler crisper air whipped her long hair about as she made her way towards the main road into town. Cameron cracked the throttle and the bike lunged forward to break neck speed. Anyone other than an expert would have never attempted to go so fast, but she had no problem handling the bike as it gathered momentum and charged forward into the night.
Most people would have loved traveling so fast on a clear moonlit evening, but Cameron had plans and they were not related to joy riding into the night, she needed to find a place to stay and a means to procure suitable ID for herself.
Minutes later the private road came to a dead end, meeting the main highway at the bottom of a small hill. Cameron eased the bike to a stop by the road sign and read what it said.
Red Valley 10 Miles
She looked both ways down the highway, checking on traffic flow. For just being after dark, the road was still fairly well traveled and vehicles were busy zipping past her in either direction.
Cameron sat for a second, her feet touching the ground on either side of the bike steadily keeping it upright while the bike gently burbled noise out from the exhaust pipe. While waiting, she thought about what John had told her about his younger self.
Searching Data….
Files found….
Run files….
It was morning time, Cameron had just awakened John and she was on her way to get him his morning coffee. She marched towards the eating area, her head held high and her eyes always searching for any possible threats to her John.
Most people ignored her, some smiled and said hello, the few who were not happy with John having Cameron around gave her dirty looks and whispered nasty remarks. She could hear perfectly what they said, but chose to ignore them and kept up her swift pace towards the canteen.
Once reaching the canteen she made her way directly to the large coffee dispenser, grabbed a cup and filled a coffee cup for John. She briskly turned about and headed back the same way she had come.
As Cameron strode up to John's door, she knocked on it before opening the door and entering the room.
John was sitting at his desk by the bed, his face looking tired and ragged despite having slept almost eight hours.
"Here is your coffee John." Cameron placed the coffee on his desk and lightly brushed his hand as she pulled hers away from the cup.
John looked up and smiled halfheartedly. "Why thank you Cameron."
"John?"
"Yes Cameron"
"You are stressed." Cameron replied stone faced.
John sighed and stretched out his arms for a moment, then he looked up at her from his seated position. "It happens when you wage war against Skynet for almost twenty years."
"Maybe I should stay here with you John." Cameron solemnly replied.
John crinkled his brow and smiled. "I've made my decision Cameron. I need you to go and make sure younger me is protected." John lifted his coffee to his lips and took a sip. "I'll be fine here… and I can manage to get my own coffee once you're gone."
"What If Skynet machines attack the base?" Cameron asked, her face still masking any hint of emotions.
"Cameron?"
"Yes John"
"Are you worried about me?"
Cameron stood for a moment, her eyes gazed into John's for a split second and then she looked away. "I am concerned about your safety John."
John shook his head. "If I didn't know better, I would say you are going to miss me…are you?"
Cameron looked off into a corner of the room. "You need protection John."
John stood up and faced Cameron, his eyes meeting hers, but she looked down. He gently placed his hand under her chin and raised it so he could look into her pensive face.
"Cameron" John said softly. "Tell me what's bothering you."
She didn't know what to do, her thoughts were going all over the place. She opened her mouth to speak, but froze.
A single tear fell down her cheek.
Cameron looked into John's eyes and saw a softness she had never seen before. He had concern written all over his face and her readings detected slight elevations in skin temperature, salinity and an elevated heart rate, she was unnecessarily stressing him.
Her lips parted slightly as she prepared to speak, but again she hesitated as she tried to give him an answer.
Cameron was still sitting at the stop sign, the traffic had now cleared enough so that she could turn and head into the town.
A stray tear had trickled down her cheek, but she could not understand why. Maybe my tear leaked out by accident. She analyzed her sensors and tear producing ducts, but found no abnormalities and so attributed it to a possible glitch in her tear duct system.
I will need to perform a full systems scan and re-boot once I find shelter safe enough to go on standby.
Cameron popped the bike into first gear, cracked the throttle and released the clutch. Small bits of gravel spit up into the air as the rear wheel spun and kicked out the back end of the bike, Cameron flew onto the main road heading towards Red Valley.
She had decided to travel through the town first, before settling in on where to stay for the night. Cameron needed to get a first hand look at what the town was like, where the high school was and where she should stay. She also needed to find a good place to leave the bike and not have anyone witness her riding the bike.
Minutes later, Cameron had reached the outskirts of the town. She slowed the bike down to proper speed limits and proceeded to download any useful information about the town.
The welcome sign had indicated a population of 11000 and that everyone in Red Valley was friendly.
There was a modern gas bar, a small Mall with a giant Wal-Mart located right beside it, a town hall, police station, bowling alley, and miscellaneous smaller individual stores along the main road through the town.
Ten minutes later, Cameron had passed through the main part of town and came upon the high school off in the distance.
Crestview High School
Under the main sign, a smaller sign claimed the school was home of the Roadrunners.
There was also a cartoon drawing of a bird made to resemble a Roadrunner, but upon closer analysis Cameron determined the drawing not to be very accurate.
She also noted that school would be starting up in sixty days. I will have plenty of time to find a location to set up as a home base. Cameron was pleased to have been able to gather so much information in such a short space of time.
She made plans to come back to the school during the day and map it out for escape routes. She would also need to acquire a computer with internet access so she could set herself up to enroll in the high school.
John had explained to her how she would need to be in the school, so she could have a better chance to meet up with the younger him. He had also told her some of the names he might use when he enrolled in the high school.
Searching Data…
Files found…
Run file…
"Cameron?... I need to explain some details about going back to 1999." John waved his hand to indicate he wanted her to come closer.
Cameron walked up and stood beside John as he sat at his desk.
John sat back in the chair and tucked his hands behind his head as he explained things to her.
"I remember going to Red Valley High School in 1999, but I'm not sure when I got there. You'll need to enroll in the school just before the new school year starts. I do remember getting there just after school started, but not the exact date, so you will need to be there right from the first day of the new school year." John had his serious leaders face showing as he explained to Cameron.
"Why do I need to go to school John? I could just remain outside and contact you when you arrive." Cameron asked innocently.
John shook his head, placed his hands over his face and let out a small groan.
"Are you okay John?" Cameron asked with a hint of concern in her voice.
John peeked out from behind his hands and sighed. "Cameron…we have some work to do…"
Cameron's lip curled up into a half smile as she recalled that moment when John was trying to explain to her why she should not just wait for him outside the school.
"Cameron…you can't just wait for me outside the school." John explained.
"Why not John?" Cameron asked with a look of simple innocence.
"Cameron…you'll freak young me out for one thing and my Mom would probably go warrior woman on you…turn you into scrap." John smiled at Cameron, even his eyes were smiling as he saw her try to process what he had just said.
"So how do I get close to younger you John?" Cameron's deep brown eyes locked onto his blue green eyes.
John's eyes sparkled, his face breaking out into a wide smile. "Cameron…you are a very beautiful girl and all you need to do is come up to me in school and make small talk, the rest will take care of itself."
"All I need to do is talk to young you John?" Cameron looked puzzled.
"Well you will need to basically infiltrate into the school, you need to fool me into thinking you are not just there to protect me. You need to get close to me and it will be hard to do, especially with my Mom hovering around." John chuckled.
"So I will need to infiltrate the school…but how will I know what to do in school?" Cameron had a look of being totally lost, her eyes seemed to plead with John for an answer.
"That's where you will need to do research before you go to school. You will need to read teen magazines, watch TV shows about teens, go on the internet and look up teen sites and watch how the teen girls act and dress in 1999… you will need to watch, learn and blend in so you fit in." John winked at Cameron, smiled and held up one finger before speaking again." One more thing…don't let young me know you are a terminator, unless it is a matter of life or death."
Cameron thought for a second and looked into John's eyes. "Thank you for explaining John." Then she smiled, it was a genuine smile.
Cameron continued on past the school and outside of the town limits.
A couple of miles down the highway, on the side of the road, was a motel.
Cameron slowed down to check it out.
Roadrunner Motel
Cameron was beginning to wonder why every place seemed to be named after the Roadrunner. It must be a very important bird…I must do more research on this bird.
Again the sign had a cartoonish drawing depicting a Roadrunner, along side the lettering.
Cameron eased the bike into the parking lot by the main entrance doors. She stopped the bike, turned the ignition off and proceeded to climb off and set the kick stand.
She pulled her helmet off and set it on the seat of the bike, then she walked into through the doors to the main office counter.
She kept watch for anything out of the ordinary, her head and eyes panning back and forth as she made her way to the counter.
An older man was standing behind the counter, he was short , balding and was wearing a white shirt that was in desperate need of washing.
"Hi there missy." The man greeted her with an almost toothless smile, his eyes drinking in the leggy brunette's slender figure before settling onto her face.
"My name is not missy, it is Cameron …I would like to have a room for the night." She replied dryly.
The bald man scratched his belly and spun the register book around for her to fill in.
"You'll need to fill this out Cameron and it'll be forty three dollars for one night, but that's only if you are traveling single." The man lifted his brow in question as he looked straight into her eyes.
Cameron matched his look and never blinked, her eyes burning into the man's with no sign of emotion. "I will be staying alone." She replied coldly.
The man got a bit nervous at the look the young girl had dispensed him, she was giving him the creeps, almost like a serial killer from the TV shows he watched.
Cameron looked down at the register, picked up the pen attached to it by a chain and signed in her name, Cameron Phillips. John had told her to use Phillips as a last name, mainly because it was a name he had never used and so it would not draw any suspicion from Sarah or young John.
She pulled out some of the money from her pocket and paid the balding man, he happily took the cash all the while never taking his eyes off of her chest area. I must have done something wrong with the way I put on the shirt or maybe it is the jacket. She thought to herself.
The man briefly turned around to grab a key off of the rack and handed it to Cameron.
" You're in number fifteen, it's the last room on the end of the row when you turn left outside." He explained.
"Thank you." Cameron reciprocated, her face remaining like a stone sculpture.
Cameron turned around and walked out of the office, the man kept close watch on her rear as she sauntered out of the office. If only I was twenty years younger. The man mused as a sinister smile came over his face.
Cameron grabbed her helmet, popped back onto the bike and started it up. She turned the bike towards the row of rooms and slowly drove to the last one, number fifteen, just like the man had said. She parked the bike in the spot directly in front of the door, climbed off and proceeded to enter inside.
Typical of a less than stellar motel, the room was Spartan with threadbare covers on the bed and dusty curtains. There was a small stand in the corner, with an older color TV on top of it, there was no remote. The bathroom was directly ahead as one entered the room, but Cameron would worry about cleaning herself up tomorrow.
She turned to lock the door and put the chain across it, to slow down or prevent anyone from bursting in on her. Cameron needed to go on standby and check her systems to make sure everything was okay, the last thing she needed was to be caught off guard. She was still wondering why her files were being mixed up and thought it might be due to her time travel. Things were just not right in her CPU and she needed to know why.
Cameron still wondered why John had sent her back and not some one else, she didn't want to go back in time, but she didn't know why. She was puzzled over why memory files were being selected that had nothing to do with her mission.
Cameron stood by the window with the lights off, she would remain here until she finished her scanning of her systems, then she would clean herself up and find a spot to get rid of the bike. Tomorrow morning she would begin her study of teen girls in 1999 and learn how to best infiltrate the school and get close to young John Connor, the teen boy destined to become leader of the resistance against Skynet.
Cameron had promised John she would protect young John, but she was not to tell him about key turning points in the future. John had told her about important people he had sent back and the approximate time they had arrived in the past, so she could contact them if required. She was also told of certain spots where time travel equipment had been set up to be used in case of emergency and about Skynet machines also sent back to try to stop Sarah and John. Her mission was to remain with John and protect him at all costs and to ensure the fight against Skynet would continue at any cost, even if it meant she had to sacrifice herself.
Standing completely still as if she were a statue, Cameron pondered over what young John might be like. Will he be kind like my John? Will he treat me like a person? She thought for a second and then continued with sorting through files, she would not concern herself with such questions, she had more important items to deal with.
Cameron needed to allocate all her resources towards finding and protecting John Connor, he was her most important mission and she had made a promise not to fail him.
She continued to stare out the window as she began to set up her programs for scanning.
Her internal chronometer was set to alert her in six hours to re-boot and then she would prepare for her new life with young John Connor.
She would help protect her John for the future.
...
Six Hours Later
Cameron re-booted and came back to full power exactly six hours later, all her systems checked out fine.
She was puzzled. There must be something wrong... why did I cry? Why do I keep going back to happy and sad memories? All my systems are fine.
Cameron did some more internal scanning and did find something in her personality matrix, an anomaly. She went deeper into her files to discover her systems were changed, evolved in some way, but not in a bad way.
Certain parts of her memories were intertwined in with her normal systems she used to interact with humans, basic code was being re-written and adapted to existing code.
Cameron was learning and adapting.
She was puzzled at first, but then she began to understand that she was finally breaking further away from her Skynet programming. I am reacting to physical and emotional stimuli, just like a human might. Am I learning to become a person ?
Cameron smiled, her lip curling up ever so slightly, she was beginning to understand what her John had told her before she had left. He had told her she was capable of learning and adapting to the point of maybe becoming something or someone different.
This could help me in my infiltration. Cameron mused. But I cannot let this interfere with protecting young John, showing emotions could lead to making mistakes and endangering John.
Cameron made up her mind to only use her new skills when necessary and to suppress her new emotions at all other times, so as to ensure she would be at her best, when it came to protecting her John.
Happy that she had figured out what was going on inside of her, Cameron decided now was the time to begin her new learning process to help infiltrate into the teen lifestyle of 1999.
Her first order of business was to get rid of the bike and then start her new identity building process.
Cameron was pleased with herself, she turned towards the bathroom and strode across the room. First I must clean myself up and make myslf presentable to the public.
She entered the bathroom and stripped down, then she turned on the shower and adjusted the temperature to warm. She proceeded to climb in and rinse off the dust and dirt from her travel back in time, the droplets of water playing upon her sensors. She felt the water, she not only knew it was water and that it was warm, but she felt it. Cameron smiled again, happy in knowing she was not broken or damaged, but evolving into something different and maybe better.
Her new life in 1999 was starting at that moment and she was looking forward to what it had to offer.
Authors Note-
Well that Chapter 3 of Cameron's first day back in 1999.
If you like the story, please review.
A big thanks goes out to all those that read my story and left reviews.
Thank you to The1Russter for beta reading the story and providing help and advice.( I'm really happy you took time out of your busy schedule to check it over)
Some have indicated I should continue and I gave it serious thought...so I will keep going as long as you guys like how the story unfolds.
I'm over halfway done chapter4 and plan to continue up until Cameron meets young John at school. ( I had incorrectly called the school Red Valley high, in this chapter, but have now named it what it was called in the pilot episode...Crestview High!)
I don't know what will happen after they meet, I might continue AU.
Moe
