The time passed, as it does, neither faster nor slower. Cameron took note of the passing of time in the manner terminators do, simply taking note of its passing at regular intervals. Since taking up position in the Wastelands Cameron had detected nothing, only a few rats scavenging for scraps to eat.

As she waited, Cameron multitasked, dividing her processing ability between observing the Wastelands and reflecting upon her life. The latter had become a habit of late, occupying a larger than normal amount of Cameron's processing capability of late.

In particular, the review of several stored memories of things Cameron had told her John in an effort to help him better understand how terminators functioned. To be clear, Cameron's intent was to help John understand how one particular terminatress functioned.

"It's good to have help sometimes."

John's reaction to that simple statement had puzzled Cameron for a long time. His refusal to allow Cameron to make a sandwich for him made no sense. John was hungry, busy, and stressed. Human custom was for a female to feed the male in this situation. Of course John was perfectly capable of feeding himself. That hadn't been the point.

As John had rudely pointed out, Cameron could have repaired her hand herself. The critical comment had puzzled her at the time. Of course she could have, but that wasn't the point. Cameron craved kindness and attention from John and at the time she was receiving very little of the former and almost none of the latter.

The ploy had worked. John was attentive and gentle with her for nearly three hours. Without his noticing, Cameron had even been able to hold John's hand for much of the time.

It wasn't until later that Cameron realized human emotion caused humans to be vindictive, vengeful, and cruel. John's refusal to allow Cameron to feed him was nothing more than him being spiteful.

The failed repair to her hand could have been accomplished in half an hour, puzzling Cameron even more at the time. How could John be kind and attentive one instance and so mean to her in another? It wasn't like she had done something wrong, complained about the bitch whore Riley, or threatened to terminate someone.

A faint smile appeared on Cameron's lips. Perhaps she had not fooled her husband after all with the ploy of asking for his help with the repair of her hand.

Another file opened, presenting Cameron with another of her memories.

"We're not meant to be cruel."

The smile vanished.

Emotions were a dangerous thing if not carefully controlled. Cameron reviewed hundreds of files. Recalling past acts that humans would consider cruel. In almost every case, Cameron had acted with no malice. She was simply protecting John or obtaining necessary information.

But not always.

There had been times Cameron had indeed acted with malice; using forms of violence intended to cause pain, to terrify her victim. It bothered Cameron considerably that she'd learned to be cruel, a most human of emotions. How this particular malady had come to affect Cameron puzzled her. As a cyborg, such a thing should not have happened.

But, like so many other things, it had. Cameron should never have experienced love, anger, or for that matter, another particularly human emotion, pride. Pride at not being human and possessing the accompanying shortcomings.

The irony of Cameron feeling pride at not being human was not lost on her. A frequent topic of pillow talk for the couple, John comforted Cameron, pointing out to her such developments were unavoidable.

With her beloved free will and ability to learn to feel emotions came the responsibility of controlling both.

"Humans are far worse at being responsible than cyborgs, Cameron. Most of us are never aware of the evil we inflict when emotions get the better of us."

"I don't want to be human," she had protested, clutching John's arm close to her chest as Cameron snuggled to keep John warm.

"You can't," John had reassured his wife. "But you are a person and the longer you exist, the more you will have to guard against these sorts of things."

Cruelty.

Another negative human trait.

In the wild, predators hunted out of necessity. Kill and eat or die. Terminators hunted to achieve their objective. It was the way Skynet had designed and assembled them.

Even then, some of the oldest Terminators still loyal or under control of a Skynet had learned that human trait, cruelty.

Another file was opened and executed by Cameron's processor, introducing more data for her to use to resolve the problem. It was a recent file, created only a week before Sarah had fallen ill.

At John's insistence, the entire Connor clan and their closest friends and allies had gathered in the great open area in Techcom City's park for a picnic. Sitting on her favorite bench, Cameron had watched as the entire group shared a rare moment of relaxation together, enjoying their meal and simply having fun.

Cameron had shed tears at the sight. Overwhelmed by the sudden rush of data from her emotion generator causing Cameron to feel extreme happiness, she'd lost control of her ability to control the tear production process. John had rushed to her side and taken a seat next to Cameron on the bench, putting his arm around her shoulders.

"It's okay to be happy, Cameron."

She had nodded, wiping the tears from her cheeks.

"I just feel overwhelmed, John. I love all of these people." Looking her husband in his blue eyes, Cameron whispered, "you most of all."

Reaching a conclusion, or perhaps a decision Cameron thought, if the risk of her being cruel at times was the price that had to be paid to love John the way she did, it was a price she would pay.