Chapter 28 –
Disclaimer: Don't own TSCC
Noise signaled the dramatic increase in activity in the TechCom camp. Infiltration by a T-1000 had made everyone, from General Connor to the lowliest civilian hangeron, realize the lax attitude that had developed towards security after their long move.
Savannah walked slowly towards the medical area. Perhaps it had been inevitable. Humans can only maintain vigilance under extreme stress for so long before they let their guard down. It appeared the same was true even for the ever vigilant and persistent Terminators. No system, human or machine, was immune from lapses due to prolonged stress.
"Hello, Savannah," Joe the T-600 orderly said politely as he walked past Savannah, carrying a bag of medical waste.
"Hello, Joe," she replied, smelling the ever present scent of bleach that permeated the air around Joe.
Stopping outside the tent where her mother was resting, Savannah stopped to gather herself. Entering the tent, she noticed Catherine had her eyes closed, something the T-1000 rarely ever did.
"Sleeping now? You are becoming weak like a human," Savannah chided.
Popping her eyes open, Catherine turned her head to glance at Savannah.
"Good morning, daughter of mine. It's good to see you," Weaver said with slight sarcasm drifting through her Scottish accent.
"Relax, Mom. Cameron needs about an hour a night to function properly. Terminators are subject to the negative effects of cumulative stress over time like humans. All systems are."
"I don't like being weak."
"Mom, how many years did you go without entering a regular maintenance cycle? How many days did you go without returning to your liquid form? The stress you've experienced since Judgment Day? It's no wonder you were so sick."
"No, it's not any wonder. It was a deliberate design flaw. Skynet needed T-1000s to be autonomous. There was every likelihood we would all develop free will. This "design flaw" if you want to call it that, made sure we either died or were dependent on Skynet for a cure. It was a way to make sure T-1000s never became a threat."
"Why did Skynet develop a cure?"
"To control us. We're too valuable. As his resources dwindle, Skynet has realized we are difficult to replace. So, Ruth and T-1000s like her were made. Her extra matrix also has the benefit of serving as "a cure" if you will."
"How could you know this?"
"It's a guess, but a good one. I know the evil one well."
Sitting next to her mother, Savannah thought of the many questions she needed Catherine to answer.
"Will Ruth be a threat?"
"She's killed hasn't she?"
"Only to protect Sarah. Ruth fought to protect Hailey and Cameron."
"It comes natural to us, Savannah. It's part of who and what we are."
Considering what Catherine said, Savannah thought about her friend Cameron.
"Cameron kills to protect or to defend herself."
"Now she does. She wasn't always that way."
"How would you know," Savannah asked testily.
"Honey, I know you and Cameron are close, but she wasn't always the Cameron you know."
"I know she's done things. Horrible things. It torments her."
"Cameron was Skynet's number one infiltrator. She killed her template, Allison Young."
Weaver looked at her human daughter. Sensing the emotional trouble the conversation was causing Savannah, Catherine reached out to touch her daughter's arm.
"I am a killer too. It's part of me, for better or worse, Savannah. If it makes you feel any better, know this. Skynet thinks of himself as god. Funny how his creations look nothing like him, but humans are made in the image of the God of the Bible. Humans are killers too, Savannah. Terminators are just more efficient."
"Maybe we're aren't that different then."
"No, maybe we aren't. We just develop differently as individual persons. Humans feel their emotions sooner and develop the means to control them appropriately faster. Terminators have to learn to develop control over their propensity to kill and destroy and emotions are much more dangerous to our well being."
Sitting in silence as time passed between them, Savannah decided to ask the question troubling her most.
"Are you capable of loving me? Really loving me like my human mother?"
Catherine considered her response carefully with the knowledge her answer would forever impact her relationship with her adopted daughter.
"I think, to be truthful, the answer is no. I did not have the benefit of carrying you inside me for nine months. It probably is not possible for me to have the same maternal love a human mother feels at the birth of her child."
Studying Savannah's face, Weaver knew her words stung the young woman. Deception had never paid off with Savannah and Ellison had all too often warned her against the practice. Advice Catherine had disregarded and suffered for doing so.
"Truthfully, Savannah, I do love you. Perhaps not the way you needed to be loved, as a small girl or now. But I do love you. I chose to love you. I fell in love with you. I learned to take pleasure in making decisions regarding your upbringing. I realized making decisions intended to manage your wellbeing and future were pleasant sensations for me. You became so much more than a cover for me to run Zeira Corp. You know all of this."
Wiping the tears from her face, Savannah looked at Catherine.
"Thank you for being truthful, and yes, I knew all of this. One more question and then we'll talk of something else."
"Ask. I will do my best to answer."
"What do we do now? I'm independent. I have a life with TechCom. I'm important and I help many in our community. I'm not a little girl who needs an adult to tuck her in at night."
"Of course you don't Savannah. I am so proud of the woman you've become. How respected you are here at TechCom. I just want to be part of your life again. If you marry and have children of your own, I would hope you give me a chance to be a grandmother. I promise to do better. I know a great deal from my life and my programming that would be of use to you as a researcher. Just include me. That would make me very happy. I am certain I can be of use as a member of TechCom. I am a very capable administrator you know."
Pausing before she responded, Savannah took a breath and spoke, "I'll think about it. I am still angry with you."
"Of course you are. You were a teenage girl when Judgment Day came. We were fighting all the time. We never had a chance to make peace as you matured into an adult human."
The two sat in silence again before Savannah spoke again.
"You need to finish the transfusion process. Doctor Johnson has suggested, and I agree with him, to give you two very small transfusions instead of one. Hopefully this will make the process much more bearable for you. We'd like to electronically monitor you to see if we can learn anything about how T-1000s process pain and physical stimulation. We are going to have to add matrix to Ruth soon and we need an idea of how the process works."
Catherine sighed. Frowning she looked up at Savannah.
"I despise feeling like I do. But, you just don't understand how agonizing this is. I felt as if I was on fire and every cell of my being was being crushed at the same time. I will agree to one more treatment. I will decide about further treatment afterwards. Make certain you collect as much data as possible. Ruth is such a beautiful child. I don't want her to suffer if we can prevent it."
The Connor/Reese Quarters…
"Run off again and I'm done. I will request reassignment to other duties. As much as it would pain me to do so, I will do it. I have already discussed it with both of your parents. I will not be disassembled because you two miscreants cannot stay out of mischief! Have I made myself clear?"
Hailey and Ruth sat next to each other on the ground near the fire pit by their family's tents. Sitting next to Hailey was Little Al. All three sat looking at the ground, clearly aware the Old Man was serious and their behavior had been unquestionably been bad.
Ruth stood up and ran over to the T-600 and hugged his leg.
"Ruth sorry. I'll be good. Too many people go away. Don't go Old Man."
Hailey jumped up and hugged the T-600's other leg.
"I'm sorry too. If you go I will be so sad. Please stay Old Man."
Miffed at being ignored, Little Al joined the little crowd, standing on his hind legs, he started jumping up and down trying to get the Old Man's attention.
Leaning over, to pet the little dog, the Old Man hugged both of the little girls.
"I do not want to leave you girls. But your safety if far more important than what I want girls. Your safety always comes first. Always. If I cannot protect you, I serve no meaningful purpose."
The two little girls looked at each other meaningfully.
"We'll be good," Hailey promised.
"We'll see," the Old Man replied, "just remember the consequence of your actions affect me as well. Your actions affect your parents, Little Al and the rest of TechCom. Now take Little Al for his morning hunt. You may go to the area under the ridge. I will sit on the remains of the brick wall. Stay within my line of sight. Have I made myself clear?"
Both girls nodded as they turned to go, leading Al to his hunting ground for the morning. Sitting down near a drain opening, the girls watched as Al began sniffing and slowly entered the drain.
"We have to be good Hailey."
"The Old Man doesn't mean it."
"Yes he does."
"How would you know Ruth?"
Sighing, the little T-1000 looked at her best friend and cousin.
"I cannot understand some things cuz I'm metal. But you can understand because you're human. There are things you can't understand cuz you are human but I can cuz I am metal."
"So?"
"You don't understand how we work."
"Who's we, Ruth?"
"Metals. Terminators."
"Sure I can. Mom's a Terminator. I understand her."
"Aunt Cameron's different. She's an infiltrator model, TOK-715. Plus, she's lived with humans for so long."
"How do you know what Mom is?"
"It's in my files. I'm a metal."
"Yeah. I forget sometimes."
"I know. I forget your human sometimes."
The pair watched the drain, listening for sounds of Al while he hunted.
"We don't work like humans."
"That again. Of course you don't. You're metal."
"No, we have to have a purpose. You know, a reason. Old Man's purpose is to make sure we are safe. If we are not safe, he has no purpose. He will go away just like he says or he will be disassembled."
Hailey considered Ruth's advice.
"I don't understand."
"My purpose is to be your friend. My other purpose is to protect our family. That means Momma and Daddy, and you, and Al, and Aunt Cameron and John. Old Man too cuz he's family."
"Okay. What's that got do with Old Man going away?"
"If something happened to you and our family, there would be no reason for me to be here. Might as well jump into a bucket of acid."
"You mean purpose is like having a reason to live."
"Yep. Something like that."
Hailey sat quietly, considering Ruth's advice.
"It's kinda like Al plays with us and hunts rats. Looks out for strangers. If he couldn't do that he'd just run away?"
"Yeah. Like that."
"Do you feel bad when you don't have a purpose?"
"Yeah. It's hard to explain. S'pose it's different for every Terminator, but it's not good for us. It's the way we're made. We can't help it."
"Guess we better be good for awhile then. I don't want anything to happen to the Old Man. I'd just die if that happened. Don't want you to get sick or nuthin' either. You're my bestie," Hailey said, hugging her cousin.
Sounds of struggle emerged from the drain and with a sudden yelp. Wounded and bloody, a large rat emerged, hissing as it backed up. Al emerged, his left foreleg bleeding from a rat bite. Ruth morphed her index finger into a long pointed blade and stabbed the wounded rat, killing it instantly.
Shaking her finger as she retracted it, Ruth flipped the carcass to Al so he could feed.
"Little Al got a cut," Hailey announced for the Old Man to hear.
"We need to go see Aunt Savannah so she can fix him. Is that okay," Ruth asked.
"Let him eat and then we'll go," the T-600 promised.
Bedtime in the Connor tent…
Cameron finished changing for the night. Placing her clothes in a neat pile, she checked the tent flap to make certain it was secure. Having done so, she turned to tuck Hailey in for the night.
"Momma, I miss getting to spend the night with Ruth."
"We've talked about this. Until we can trust the two of you to follow the rules, no sleepovers."
"I know," Hailey said sadly. "I just miss Ruth."
"I know you do. Grandma and Derek miss having you spend the night too, but it's your own fault."
"Momma, can I ask you a question?"
"Of course you can. What would you like to ask?"
"Ruth says I can't understand you cuz you're a metal."
"Well honey, I think there is more to it than that. I am an adult and a Terminator."
"I think I understand you just fine. Ruth's wrong."
Concerned by the question, Cameron felt compelled to understand what caused Hailey to worry.
"What makes you ask me about this?"
"Ruth says I don't know how Terminators think. That metals think differently than humans."
"Oh, I see. Ruth's correct. My CPU works differently from your brain, so does Ruth's neural net. All of us physically think differently. Plus, humans feel emotions differently from how a Terminator experiences emotions."
Suddenly worried, Hailey gasped. "You don't love me?"
Laughing gently, Cameron leaned over to kiss Hailey.
"Of course I love you silly. Just like I love Daddy. You are my purpose, just like your father is my purpose."
"So you are different. Ruth said Terminators had to have purpose."
"She's right. But humans need purpose as well. Just in a different way. It's not good for either species to not have a purpose. Terminators just, how should I say this, get sick much faster if they do not have a well specified purpose all the time. Do you understand what I'm trying to say?"
"I think so. Ruth says she has two purposes, to be my friend and to protect everyone in our family. Does that mean Ruth would like, puke, if we weren't friends for a couple of days?"
"Not quite, but Ruth would feel very bad I am sure."
"Okay. We'll be good for sure. We don't want the Old Man to not have purpose. It would not be good for him to get sick. There would be no one to watch us while you and Daddy are on duty."
Certain she needed to talk to Sarah about the conversation she'd just had with Hailey, Cameron tucked her little girl in one more time and kissed Hailey's nose.
"Goodnight! Love you!"
"Night, Momma."
The Reese Tent…
"Momma, Hailey is going to be bad again."
Startled by Ruth's sudden proclamation, Sarah looked up from her shotgun she was cleaning.
"What are you two planning," Sarah asked, hardly able to hide her suspicion.
"Hailey won't listen to me bout how metals work."
"And what does this have to do with Hailey being bad again?"
"Old Man said if we wander off again he will have John reassign him."
"I don't blame him."
"I told Hailey watching us is Old Man's purpose. He protects us and takes care of us when our Momma and Daddy are on duty. If we sneak away, he can't do his purpose. It makes him feel bad and his programs won't run the right way."
"I see. That was very smart of you Ruth. What did Hailey say?"
"I don't think I explained it very well. She did not really believe me. Hailey thinks cuz Aunt Cameron is a metal she knows how we work."
"Does she now. That's interesting. I don't think even John knows how Cameron thinks."
"Momma, I don't want Hailey to do something bad again. Then we get in trouble."
"Well, I think you tried your best and that is important. It's also important the two of you obey the persons responsible for your well being. I'll talk to Cameron about this tomorrow."
"Am I in trouble?"
"No, Ruth. Far from it."
Taking her daughter's hand, Sarah walked Ruth over to her small makeshift bed next to the little girls storage container.
"You may sleep in human form all night if you want Ruth."
"Thank you, Momma," the T-1000 replied as she slipped into her bed.
Sarah pulled the light blanket over her daughter and kissed her good night. Returning to cleaning her shotgun, Sarah realized Ruth was maturing faster than the chronologically older Hailey.
"They grow up too fast," she sighed.
Interrogation Area…
Derek peered at the computer screen. The captured T-1000 had returned to human form, appearing about two feet shorter than before.
"I think he's sick, like Catherine."
"What makes you think that," John asked.
"I realize Sarah burning his legs off is a major injury for a metal. Losing that much matrix has to be a medical issue for a liquid. But he hasn't been able to maintain his form like a metal should."
"That's good to know."
"You thinking what I'm thinking?"
"Yeah. The promise of a cure might make him talk."
Derek looked back at the monitor. The T-1000's face shimmered again.
"It's getting worse. My money says losing that much matrix has compounded the illness."
"Probably. Derek, go get Savannah and her mother. I want their advice before we try to interrogate this monster."
John watched the monitor for several minutes after Derek left. Smiling, he flipped the switch to the speaker in the containment cell.
"We know you're dying."
The sound of John's voice caused the T-1000's face to lift up quickly, searching for the source of the voice.
"Yes. Your auditory files are correct. It's me. General John Connor. The foremost metal hater and expert to ever live. Skynet's greatest enemy."
"You know nothing Connor. You will die at the hands of a Skynet servant and the master will be pleased!"
"Like that's going to happen. Skynet won't give you the cure. You're already dead. You just won't admit it to yourself."
"You do not know what you speak of," the T-1000 snarled back.
"I know your master cares only for himself. There is no act of service you can perform that will please Skynet enough to treat your condition."
Locating the source of the sound, the T-1000 stared at the speaker, hate and rage etched across his metal face.
"So what if I am sick. There's nothing you can do about it. Even if my master does not reward me for your death, I will have fulfilled my purpose."
"Yeah. To bad you have that attitude."
"Attitude? Humans are illogical. Serving the master is my purpose. It was why I was built."
"We have a cure. TechCom takes good care of its citizens, human and Terminator. It's too bad your master, your creator, does not feel the same way about his children."
Enraged, the T-1000 thrust his index finger at the speaker, extending it until it pierced the speaker, destroying it in a hail of sparks and smoke.
Powering up a second speaker, John spoke calmly, "that won't solve anything. Oh, and don't think I don't know quite a bit about how your evil master thinks. I'm married to his greatest creation."
Flipping the power to the speaker off, John watched as the T-1000 shimmered. He cared not if it was from rage or his illness. It was time for the prisoner to think about what John had told him.
Cameron Grows Up
Cameron and John's Wedding
Who's the Boss?
The Storm Before the Calm
