Chapter 9- School Days
In the painted flower bedroom, Seen was asleep on the bed, covers halfway covering her entire face as she was sound asleep. Pieces of sunlight sneaked its way through the window as it was darker than normal for a room being right in the direction of the raising sun. Quietness and peaceful, sleep was what the young girl longed to have as she had all day to acquire it before working on her new equipment of computers downstairs in the basement. Peaceful sleep was a good cure to start the new day but in Seen case the new night.
The door opened as Sarah saw the sleeping teenager in her bear like slumber. Without any warning, Sarah pulled the covers off the young girl abruptly as she had on a white shirt and teddy bear character red pajama bottom. However, this didn't faze the teenager from waking up.
Annoyed, Sarah tapped Seen on the chest as the girl grumbled. "Come on Kid wake up."
Seen touched her head hearing a disturbing voice early in the morning. It was only two other female voices in the house and it wasn't Cameron's voice though she wished it was. It only met John's mother was standing next to her bed. Seen squinted her eyes and looked at her superior officer in the house.
"It's still daylight." Seen mumbled in a groggy voice.
"Get up now and get dressed. You're going to school." Sarah said and left the room.
What was she talking about; Seen just ignored her words not actually caring and closed her eyes again. It was then that it dawn on her the words that came out of her mouth.
Her eyes widen in shock. "School?!"
Surprised, she quickly stumbled out of bed hurting her pinky toe in the process. Who? What? When? Where? How? She didn't care. She wasn't going to school. If she knew what type of school she was talking about then no, Seen thought. Sarah wasn't getting her to attend no matter what future orders John given her to follow.
Seen rushed downstairs catching up to Sarah in the hallway. The loud stomping noise caught the attention of John and Cameron who was already at the kitchen table eating breakfast. Well basically John was the only one eating breakfast as Cameron was waiting for him to attained school. Derek was watching TV flicking through the channels until he heard the commotion behind him.
"You can't make me go to school without my consent."
"Look Kid, I don't need your consent," said Sarah smiling at her about turning the situation into a discussion. "I'm your legal guardian and teenagers go to school, especially sixteen year olds. Besides if you're under eighteen the cops have the authorities to stop you on the street during school hours. Knowing how you deal with situations, I can expect a car chase on the one o'clock news."
"No, you're putting me in an institution from 7:30 to 2:45 five days a week, which is crazy. I'm not going." Seen argued and stood by her words.
Sarah chuckled to herself of the stupidity of this child as she walked up closely to her. Standing in front of the girl, Sarah smiled brightly in which Seen stepped back feeling remotely afraid from that creepy smile.
Sarah was inside of a jeep looking at the disobedient teenager in front of her. Though her loud out burst in the morning was amusing, but she always get the last laugh in the end. Sarah could sense the evil vibes from Seen as the teenager gave her an irritated look.
"Try to learn something Seen," said Sarah. Sarah rolled up the window but stopped. She looked at the teenager one last time. "Oh by the way…never underestimate me. It will be the last thing you do."
Sarah pushed the button and whined the window up. She drove down the school driveway leaving the teenager to face her worst fear. John couldn't help but laugh at the whole situation. He already knew how it was going to turn out the second Seen began to argue with his mother.
"You owe me lunch." John said as he walked passed the engineer.
"Welcome to my world." Cameron said following right behind him.
Seen sighed from the rage and anger built up inside of her. She turned around and finally looked at the full view of the high school. She went to one of these before after she time jumped and she hated every minute of it. At least with college she came when she wanted and left early in the day. She didn't think she was coming back to one of these and it was all thanks to John's mother.
"This is just perfect." Seen remarked and walked into the main walkway towards the school entrance doors.
The personal bodyguard of Dealer's walked into her home office as she was sitting in a chair. Her eyes were closed and relaxed as she rested her arm on her arm chair holding up her head in place. Six flat screen computers in two rows on top of one another were on her desk as images rapidly flashed on the screens searching through files from the FBI, CIA and LAPD. The task she set her program to find started to pick out ten identification cards, birth certificates, and home address to find the people she was searching for.
The heavy footsteps from her bodyguard's boots caught her attention as she slowly awakens. Barrack stopped in front of her desk and placed a small receiving black device down in front of her. Finally moving from her position, Dealer placed her hand down on her desk and picked up the unknown present her bodyguard given her.
Puzzled at first, Dealer smirked of the expectations she's had from her target. It was always intriguing to her how far she came in nine months span of chasing the engineer around the country.
"They found it attached to the hard lines in the main command room." Barrack said.
Further examining the device she knew it was a tracking device. "Change shipment dates and time as of now. I will command the shipment on our database. Though I am enjoying this game but we can't let her steal our equipment were collecting for our survival. Those that don't understand will create more problems in the future."
Dealer looked at Barrack as he wasn't moving to follow her orders. She had a funny feeling that it was bad news.
"Yes."
"The coltan off the coast of L.A. Jack reported that he acquired the coltan as scheduled and was shipping it to the army base you specified. However, eye witness found destroyed military truck filled with illegal shipping of coltan at the bottom of a cliff not to far from the army base that Jack was in charged of." Barrack replied.
Dealer smiled that her plan to store coltan in one of the unused military bases was interrupted.
"Where's Jack now?" She asked wanting to know where her T-850 went.
"Found him in the bunker trapped behind a reinforced blast wall. Even though it took awhile but I got him out. I placed him on another mission that was brought to my attention dealing with a situation at Cape Town in South Africa with one of our black market dealers. It appears Richardson was being dishonest and sealing information to the CIA on our operation. A placed a termination order as Jack will carry out the mission. I'm expecting to hear from him in an hour." Barrack explained the situation.
"Good. Very good judgment. Well for us, let the cat and mouse games begin," said Dealer as she glanced at her computer as it pulled up more files of ten unknown people. "The engineer will target Cyberdyne soon. Hire more security in the building. This should be entertaining how this all plays out."
Barrack stared at her blankly as this was an indication to Dealer he was worried about her actions.
"Don't worry Barrack, I already have my own plans in motion. You're forgetting I'm good at that."
"I never forget. Please try not to get yourself killed this time."
"If I don't then you'll worry about me all the time." Dealer smiled at him as this was starting to turn into an exciting adventure for her.
A tray of food was placed in front of the savior of mankind as he smiled brightly that he didn't have to eat his packed lunch his mother made for him. Making a bet with Seen was worth it, he thought. When his mother gave an order, it was the law in the house. The new member in the house had to learn it the hard way. There was nothing scary then forcing somebody to attend high school. Lucky for him he enjoyed it when it didn't evolve his life in the process ruining it for him for a normal life.
John had to chuckle again how the event went down with his mother and the engineer. If he could record it and placed it on Youtube it would have a million hits in less then a week.
"School is not that bad. Besides you can't walk around angry or people will think you're crazy." John said cheerfully.
Seen sat next to Cameron sitting across the table from John.
"John have you actually looked around this place?" asked Seen opening her milk carton. "High schools are death traps to keep children occupied while the parents have the real fun in the outside world and get paid while doing it. I mean, how she figured out my age."
Hearing wrestling of a brown bag, Seen suspiciously looked at Cameron and watched the machine placed a sandwich, sealed neatly inside a plastic wrap, on the table. John's protector was oblivious of her friend's stare as she kept focus on her task, placing everything out from her brown bag, neat and perfect in place to eat her meal. Though she only needed small supplements of nutrients for her skin, today she decided to eat lunch with the others.
"Ehh Cameron…Did you tell Sarah my real age?" Seen asked nicely already knowing her answer before she will respond.
"Yes." Cameron replied.
Seen smirked. "Thank you."
"You're welcome." Cameron answered and bit into her sandwich.
Not really hungry and tired of wasting her time being in this situation, Seen stood up from the table.
"I'm going to class."
"But it's a lunch period." John said confused as he saw Seen walk away from them shaking her head in disappointment.
Maybe she was truly angry towards his mother, John thought. If he was in her position and did whatever she wanted until now, he would feel being in a box as well. What was he talking about, he felt that way most of his life. Trying to get out of the box was the complicated part he was still working on.
"You shouldn't make Seen angry John. She doesn't like that."
John looked at his protector and smirked as that was an understatement. Deadpan, Cameron saw him amused by her comment.
"Why are laughing?" Cameron uncomprehendingly stared at him as this made John stop laughing immediately, that her warning wasn't for humor.
Cracking his knuckles while looking around the custom store, Derek was amused by the brightly color fabric that was hung on the walls. It resembled a hippie store than a normal fabric store. Not seeing anybody around, Derek made his way to the counter and tapped a small bell once. It ranged loudly throughout the store as he heard movement in the back.
Coming out an open doorway, having two needles between her lips and holding a blue piece of fabric, a middle age woman looked at the scruffy man in front of her counter.
She smiled politely and took out the pins in her mouth. She laid the fabric on the counter and looked at her customer.
"How can I help you sir?" She asked.
"Hi…I heard you can make anything." Derek said feeling somewhat nervous even asking this woman to complete this task for him. He didn't trust strangers as far as he could spit. However, what he needed in a short time frame he couldn't do by himself and plus he doesn't sew.
The lady looked at the man and then walked around the counter. "You've came to the right place. I have everything…while not everything, but whatever you request I can make."
Scanning the place to make sure nobody was in the store coming in or out, Derek took out a photo. It was one of his surveillance photos from Cyberdyne he took previously of a janitor.
"I need two of these made by Saturday. I can pay extra to get it done quicker if that's what you need." Derek said smiling at her hoping she would take his request without numerous questions.
Around her neck on a string, the lady put on her glasses to see the picture clearly. She looked at Derek suspiciously as it was odd the way the picture was taken. But she needed the client and over looked the bizarre askew picture.
"No problem. It looks pretty easy besides the few modifications for the uniforms. I just need the measurements." The store owner asked as she smiled at Derek.
In the back of the class doodling on her book with a blue pen creating the Sponge Bob character, Riley was humming a tone in her head, waiting for the class to start. Art class wasn't always interesting but she didn't have to think much to participate in class. Her teacher was carefree in which she liked about the woman in her geeky and corky personality.
Finally finishing her Sponge Bob picture, she needed something else to occupy her time. She looked to her left and saw Morris staring in the front. The three students surrounded him was also looking into his direction. Thinking it was strange she followed their gaze and saw a new student entering their room. The girl handed the teacher a white slip as she took it in delight having a new student in her class.
"Ah a new student in our lively class," said the teacher thrilled. The entire class looked towards the front as the new girl looked disinterested of the class from her expression. "Students this is Seen Manhattan,"
The teacher looked at Seen oddly and smiled in amusement. "What an interesting name for a girl."
The teacher looked around her classroom quickly and then saw what she was looking for. "Riley raise your hand please?"
Hate bringing attention towards herself, Riley complied raised her hand halfway wanting the students curious gaze to divert back to the new girl.
"Sit at the empty seat next to Riley." The teacher said placing her hand out in the direction.
Seen exhaled out of boredom and followed the teacher's instructions. She weaved her way through the class and sat next to Riley. Staring at her for a minute as the class continued with the teacher telling them of their new assignment, Riley saw the new girl upset about something. She knew the feeling of coming into a new school and maybe a part of her wanted to help the new girl to feel more welcomed to their school.
"Don't worry about Mrs. Tipton. She always acts like that." Riley explained as she smiled.
Desperately, Seen looked at the clock as it was only one o'clock in the afternoon. Almost as if about to cry from frustration silently inside, Seen looked at Riley emotionless not saying a word to her comment. Looking at her expression, Riley seen this before as this made her feel awkward, though she couldn't figure out where she seen it before.
Seen looked forward and then placed her head on the desk, miserable that the day will never end as if stuck in a time loop of the eight hour long day in this repetitiveness school. Sarah was lucky that she was John's mother, Seen thought. A big 'Thank You' was waiting for her after the day was over.
As the school day was almost finished, Sarah stepped out of the jeep smiling at the irritated girl leaning on a tree, as the engineer gave her a death glare. The way her expression settled into Sarah's mind was priceless as she knew children had hatred towards school, but she never seen a child hold a grudge the entire day.
Although she wanted Seen to be working on tracking down Skynet, however Sarah wasn't comfortable with the idea of leaving a teenager by themselves in a deserted house. She left John in the house by himself when they time jumped and he left the house without even discussing where he actually went when she found out. The situation could have ended severely in which in the rare luck they have it didn't come to terms.
Having that image in her mind, and the events that taken place, keeping Seen in check was going to be another full time job. She already had Derek, John and Cameron on her list. Now she had to keep another team member in line from getting in trouble. Her team was turning into a true family as she was becoming the tough discipline mother. Though she didn't want too as this would distract their primary objective, but with machines, police, and unknown men with guns chasing after them, being the mother enforcer in the house may not be such a horrible plan after all.
Still laughing about the entire situation, Sarah looked at her watch curious, then back at the teenager. How she did it, she will give the girl credit for her unauthorized actions.
"How was your first day of school?" Sarah asked humorously. Seen walked up to the woman and looked around the school ground disinterested but smugly smiled. "Why are you out here early?"
"Computers are wonderful things aren't they, in responsible hands of course." Seen said gloating about her background skills in computer engineering.
"Responsible huh?" said Sarah not humored by her answer.
"I didn't hack the system if that what you mean. The secretary left the school database on her computer screen when she went to the bathroom for a very long time. Must have been the coffee." Seen chuckled to herself.
Judging by her snicker, Sarah wanted to know did she do something to that coffee. A full time job, Sarah repeated to herself.
"Your lying impresses me to no end."
"I try my best." Seen said sarcastically.
"Don't get cute," said Sarah seriously dropping the joking act with her. Her tough mother attitude returned and now she became the law enforcer. "Last thing I need is you getting busted hacking the school's database for your own enjoyment. I know what your classes were before and I want them changed immediately."
Seen put her hands up half way as if saying okay. It still was amusing to her in the end. What did Sarah expect? Bored teenagers do idiotic things. She never had the chance in the future and she wasn't going to pass up on the opportunity. If Sarah was born in a post-apocalyptic war she would understand, Seen thought.
Looking at the entrance door to the school behind her, Seen glanced back at John's mother; glad school didn't end just yet.
"I figured it out. John is watched by Cameron while I watch Cameron from killing your son again." Seen explained.
Sarah looked at her surprised.
"I've been debriefed on the situation what happened from Cameron considering the hostel environment in the house I sense everyday between you guys," said Seen understanding Sarah's expression. "In which in my opinion you're extremely lucky."
"Lucky," Sarah said in disbelief. What part of the story she didn't understand? Cameron trying to kill her son or Cameron trying to kill her son, Sarah thought.
"And should be grateful too," Seen continued as this caught Sarah attention by her words. "You think dealing with men who cares about money is going to let you walk away, skipping down the street in taking something valuable from them. No. They make examples out of you. It could have been you…Lt. Reese or John in that jeep, or maybe all of you."
The bell rings in the background as Sarah and Seen ignored it from their heated conversation, not flinching from there position. Children started to pour onto the school grounds as Seen glanced to her right seeing the future leader and his protector coming towards them in the distance, and then reverted back towards John's mother.
"Nothing in this world is perfect Sarah. It's an overrated word that humans use to describe their inventions they create to produce market share. Cameron is not even close to perfect…and would be boring in my book if she was. You'll understand what I mean one day." Seen said in a serious tone.
She walked towards the jeep and opened the back door.
Confused, Sarah saw the young girl step into the jeep. Her words 'nothing in this world is perfect' was imprinted in her mind. It was the first time she heard Seen talk on an intellectual level and a second time defending Cameron in her actions. How come she wasn't afraid that the machine she reprogrammed tried to kill the future leader of the human race? Why wasn't she afraid that Cameron could kill him again? Why wasn't she afraid it would be her fault if it does happen? Did she even care?
Or was the girl right hinting to Sarah that it's her fault that Cameron almost killed her son. If she didn't contact Sarkissian about finding the Turk, Cameron would still be the same Cameron that saved her son in 1999. Was it her fault in the end? She was the leader of the house and leaders take full responsibility for their actions on what happens on the battlefield. Was it her fault of the divided shift in the house between Derek, John, Cameron and herself? Was it her fault?
"Mom. Mom. Mom!" John said repeatedly as this interrupted her thoughts.
"You okay?" John asked carefully looking at his mother out of space expression, calling her for the past ten seconds.
Looking at her son not answering, Sarah watched Cameron get into the back of the jeep sitting next to Seen.
"Did something happen?" John asked puzzled as he looked at Seen then back towards his mother. He wanted to know did Seen say anything to her.
"No," Sarah smiled and touched her son's shoulder to divert his attention from her perplexed state of mind. "Come on."
Placing keys on a nightstand coming into the house, Derek checked the mail shifting through it uninterested in none of them. He quickly glanced around the house as it was quiet but he knew somebody was home smelling rice being cooked. Throwing the mail back on the nightstand, he followed the cooking scent into the kitchen, as Sarah was making dinner. He wondered what the occasion was. Her cooking a full meal meant there was something on her mind that was bothering her.
"Hey." Derek said making his presence known by going into the refrigerator grabbing a beer.
"Hey." Sarah responded using a fork to move the rice around to not affix to the bottom on the pan.
"Everything okay around here?"
Sarah looked at him curious. "Sure, why not?"
"Just checking," said Derek not really wanting to fully say what's on his mind. For once he won't mention it. "Where's the Kid?"
"Which one?" Sarah chuckled at his question as she had two in the house now. He knew he wasn't talking about Cameron or he would have said 'Where's the machine'.
"Seen I mean. I need her to fix something for me." Derek said taking the top off his beer glass and gulp down the refreshing taste he's been missing in two days of his side project.
"She's either upstairs or downstairs doing god knows what," said Sarah as she started to stir the mash potatoes adding a whole stick of butter to give it its sweeten flavor. She stopped stirring as she had a question that Derek may only know.
"Can I ask you a question? How did Seen become a Sergeant in the future?" Sarah asked. She needed to know was Seen acting like an immature child because of her presence or was she always like this.
"You're asking me," Derek looked at her clueless. "I don't even know. Maybe you should ask her then tell me."
Derek chuckled then walked out the kitchen leaving the baffled mother alone.
"Everything is a joke in this house." Shaking her head as her questions lead to no where, Sarah was actually frustrated of it not being answered.
On a computer screen, algorithm codes was rapidly being read in the background as Seen was examining a photo out of ten, from the surveillance camera she acquired in the train station a week ago. They were pictures of the men that were chasing John and her as she was lucky they weren't turned over to the authorities or she would have been on their radar. If she had to choose of which police force she wanted after her, it would be the FBI or CIA. They were more discrete with their actions and keeping situations out of the media to not cause a panic. The regular police love to cause fear putting up rewards of a murder on the loose in the neighborhood. Seen still didn't understand that logic in the local police dealing with criminal situations. It only made the problem worse.
If her actions could keep quiet for a couple of weeks, then she wouldn't have to dance around John's mother. She felt like a double agent but not in the betrayal way. It was to keep Sarah stress free from who was after her. Lying to Sarah and even John would help them further sustain some what of their normal life they established. All she needed was a few days to construct a plan to make sure things wouldn't become more chaotic then it already was.
Bored with nothing to do as it was peaceful in the house, which he thought was odd, John saw his protector and the engineer in their shared bedroom, focused on what they were doing. John thought Seen would be downstairs working on the equipment they recently stolen. A quick glance at her laptop screen, knowing it was computer language, it caught his interest. He walked into the girl's room and glanced at his protector sitting on the bed reading a book called, A brief History of Time by Stephen Hawking. Puzzled, John smirked at the idea of his protector reading a book in her position like a normal girl. It was probably one of the books she acquired at the school library. At least he knew one of the books name.
"Hey, what are you doing?" John asked standing behind Seen curiously gazing at the photos in her hand. The place and time on the photos, John recognized the men immediately, looking at Seen surprised wondering where she acquired them.
"Trying to figure out who was trying to kill us a week ago. I seen two of these men before but the other six are unknown to me." Seen replied.
"Why would they want to kill you? You stole something from them. I noticed you're very good at that." John sarcastically said grinning.
"Actually I'm going to take that as an accomplishment, but why do people kill each other John. A group of men like them, I have a funny feeling it involves money."
"Makes sense."
"Hey John…let's keep this between us until we have more concrete information on them. I'm trying not to give your mother a heart attack just yet." Seen explained switching the photos in her hand to another picture.
"Trust me I understand." John chuckled and then looked on her computer screen. "What is this anyway?"
His question caught Cameron's attention as her eyes diverted away from the book. She gave Seen a look as her friend glanced at her and then back at John.
"It's just another side project," said Seen smiling at him. "Beside the signal coming into this house is really weak."
"I had no problem with it before." John answered.
"That's because I'm working on something bigger."
Looking around the room and noticing the time of day, the room resembled a night time setting. John stepped back and glanced into the lit hallway by the incoming sunlight from the windows in the multiple rooms, and then into the girls room. Were his eyes playing tricks on him?
Curious, John asked, "Why is it so dark in here?"
The room wasn't completely dark having the night lamp on that lit up the entire room. However, it was darker than the other rooms in the house being five in the afternoon. Then John looked at the curtains covering the window as it looked like something was blocking the sunlight. He walked over and opened the curtains as it surprised him which left him baffled what he was looking at.
"Wow you duct taped it. Why would you duct tape a window?" John asked confused.
"No offence John but you are my happiest fantasy." Seen jokily smiled.
Surprised by her comment, he almost chocked. It was a comment he never heard from Seen which made him nervous to quickly respond.
Clearly his throat as if something was lodge in it, John folded his arms feeling on the spot at a talent show.
"W-What?"
Seen ignored his body language as his cheeks turned red. "As a sniper John, I can kill you from two thousand meters on top of another house in the distance in your sleep just by looking into your window. You don't just have one window you have two, double the opportunity."
John smirked as he knew the question had to be something else of what his mind was processing it. From his amusement expression, Seen kept a straight face. The engineer pointed to Cameron as his protector took the duct tape on the bed and handed it to John as they just finished the task themselves a few minutes ago.
"Tape it up or put a poster there. You'll thank me later John." Seen said and then continued her task at assessing the photos again.
John shook his head as Seen reminded him of his mother just for a second, ordering him around without his input on the situation. Although he would have argued, but the crazy logic behind it, she had a point. Though they never encountered a machine that used a sniper rifle before, thanking God they never will, however humans are a different story. They have many enemies and letting them have an opportunity as easy as a bedroom window, would only give them an advantage that could have been prevented. Exhaling though it was a tedious task, John walked out the room going to work on the new assigned project Seen had given him.
Watching his nephew walk out of the room as he came out of the bathroom himself, he only heard about the duct tape conversation. Derek decided to wait on asking Seen what he needed from her and went into his room to ponder about executing his own mission.
While the family was asleep in the house, Cameron was on guard duty scanning every nock and cranny of the perimeter for unwanted intruders. It would have been quiet like before in the house during this time, however, not able to sleep herself at night as nighttime was her daytime in the future, Seen was relaxing on the couch near her. Lying down, eyes glued to the ceiling playing with a Nerf football that she found in the basement, Cameron and her was playing the children game called I Spy. It was a game they played in the future to pass the time when they were on missions together.
"I spy something grey outside thirty nine meters away." Seen said throwing her ball in the air.
"The 2005 Keya parked two doors down and it's actually forty meters from the house." Cameron replied monotone.
Seen gave John's protector a bizarre look. "Okay that was an easy one. Alright I spy something green with words indoors in a three meter radius."
Still concentrated outside, Cameron replied, "The dictionary located on the third row on the bookshelf."
Seen gave her another odd look. "Wow, you really are scary."
"Thank you." Cameron said taking it as a compliment.
In the kitchen for the past forty minutes unable to sleep herself, Sarah was finishing up the pound cake as a midnight snack. Sleeping at night wasn't always her forte, which was why she liked acquiring sleep during the daytime. Something with sunlight makes her sleep better then in the gloomy nighttime. To many shadows where things could hide she presumed that accompanied the darkness.
Placing the plate in the sink, she walked out of the kitchen and made her way to the hallway. About to head upstairs to the bathroom, she saw Cameron looking outside and then saw a Nerf football thrown into the air. For once Cameron wasn't alone tonight as Sarah wondered who it was lying down on the couch.
She was about to ask Cameron a question until she heard a familiar voice and it wasn't her son or Derek.
"Cameron…was John angry." Seen asked wanting to ask her this question since they found each other. It was a question that she's been holding her tongue, afraid Cameron may say something else.
When Sarah heard her son's name she stood still. Was she talking about her John or future John? Either way she wanted to hear the answer from his protector as she stood at the base of the stairs.
"Yes." Cameron replied.
Dispirit by her answer, Seen continued to repeatedly throw the ball in the air.
"I thought so," said Seen. "I think maybe John made a mistake. He should have sent another engineer back. I'm just a field soldier."
Finally, Cameron looked at her unconfident friend. Self-doubting herself was starting to concern Cameron as this wasn't the Seen that she knew in the future. She wasn't sure if the past was affecting her friend's judgment as she noticed it was leading her life in increasing danger than it was in the future. This was one of the reasons why John sent her specifically back to make sure Seen didn't divert from her objective. It was one of the reasons why John only sent specific Resistance Fighters dedicated to there campaign against the machine. The past could change a mind of a Resistance Fighter and cause further damage to the timeline.
Seen sighed. "I guess I can't question John's logic at this point, though most times I do. I remembered hearing the stories from the older adults talking about how great everything was before the war. I didn't understand the feelings of it because I grew up after the bombs dropped. When General Neil gave me the job in a last minute decision, I thought it was going to be easy. But…living in the past and knowing the future of how it becomes…"
Seen hold onto her ball and looked at Cameron with concern. "How do you save a world that's already broken?"
"You're you," said Cameron confronting her friend. "You'll find a way because John believes you can. I believe you can."
She smirk feeling her confidence coming back. Seen was grateful that John sent Cameron back. She was the only machine that understood everything about her. Not anybody she served with that was still alive even knew about her full history. She kept her distance from others to never become attached again. With Cameron she was more resistant then others and wouldn't die so easily because of what she was. She was basically her only friend in this time that she could fully trust with her life.
"I have a lot of homework to do in saving the world, on top of school work," said Seen continuing to throw her ball in the air. "You know you can help me with that."
"Sarah said I can't do your homework even if you ordered me too since you dislike school. She said I would suffer consequences if I do." Cameron stated.
In the background Sarah smirked by that comment.
"Figures." Seen shook her head, irritated by Sarah's rules and regulations in the house.
Wanting to tell Seen to go to bed for school tomorrow since she had a hard time waking up, Sarah decided to leave her be. Breaking up the calm atmosphere in the room would seem awkward and she didn't want to become over barren to the girl. However, her conversation made her think about her son's future position in the war.
Walking up the stairs, Sarah stopped at a familiar door she stood in front many nights thinking about his future. Sleeping in his bed, as the door was cracked, Sarah remembered Cameron's words to Seen, giving the girl a since of self-belief from their future leader. It showed the characteristics of trust her son had for a young girl such as Seen to not send back up. It made her wonder about Seen abilities. If her future son could trust her then she could trust her as well. If only Seen would act like a Resistance Fighter, she could believe more into that thought.
Sarah smirked about that notion and then walked towards the bathroom as tomorrow was going to be another Connor day, hoping it was the good instead of the bad ones.