Chapter 36 – A Choice to Make

Disclaimer: Don't own TSCC

It had taken 36 hours of exhausting effort, towing each other, driving in whiteout conditions and walking ahead to scout the road conditions. The Connor family and their prisoner Mueller had finally made it across the California border. To the surprise of everyone; Sarah checked them into a upscale hotel.

Mueller, too exhausted to sleep, sat in a chair, watching John sleep as Cameron rested in maintenance mode. Sarah entered the room through the adjoining door and stood in silence watching her son sleep while Cameron's body repaired itself. After several minutes of watching the two rest peacefully, Sarah sat by Mueller.

"If I hadn't seen her wounds and her metal endoskeleton after the firefight, I would never have believed you that Cameron was a machine. I have never seen anyone ski and shoot with that kind of accuracy, let alone throw pipe bombs with that kind of deadly effect. To watch her now, you'd think she and John were young newlyweds," Mueller whispered to Sarah.

"Don't let her fool you even now," Sarah told Mueller. "She's protecting John even though her body is focused on repairing itself, particularly the wounds in her skin. See how she's draped herself across him? Now look at the entrance door."

Glancing at the door and then back at Cameron, Mueller nodded. "I see what you mean. A gunman rushing the door and just shooting at the beds would hit Cameron, not John."

"They're comfortable lying like that," Sarah said with a sigh. "She gives my son a sense of peace when he sleeps he has never had. Keeps his nightmares in check. I would never have believed it a year ago, but Cameron needs for John to let her curl up with him like that for about 30 minutes an evening. Helps her feel secure in their relationship, reduce her stress and anxiety. She's a machine, a machine mind you, and she's insecure."

"How? Her outward appearance is quite attractive. Cameron seems pleasant enough if Derek is not irritating her. John is certainly attentive. Riding with them yesterday made that obvious."

"Well, they have issues. John dated this busty blonde named Riley for awhile and pushed Cameron away emotionally. He couldn't have done it at a worse time. Cameron's control of her emotion simulator had just broken as a result of damage from an explosion. That's when we discovered she could feel all types of negative human emotions, jealousy being one of them."

"Cameron can get jealous?"

"Mueller, I told you that. John has to deal with it still. Cameron feels threatened anytime an attractive blonde notices John. He's learned to reassure her as soon as he notices, but she still can be a handful when jealousy strikes. It's puzzling because Cameron is usually very logical, even when she's emotional. John thinks her CPU wrote a sub-routine during the time he dated Riley to help her deal with the emotions she felt. Now, its part of her coding and Cameron's default response to any blonde is to see her as a threat to John. Cameron doesn't like it when any female pays too much attention to John, but she doesn't have the same awful response to a brunette that she does to blondes."

Mueller laughed softly, trying not to wake the young couple up. "Wow. John's got his hands full. I wouldn't want a jealous girlfriend who could kill the competition in a hundred different ways. Has she ever tried to kill any of these blondes?"

"No. I'll be honest though. Cameron has told me she wanted to terminate Riley. I've had a lot of talks with her about this and so has John. Cameron handles it better and is able to recognize what she is feeling, but sometimes she really needs for John to reassure her their relationship is solid."

"Sarah, I have to hand it to you. You've done a remarkable job dealing with raising John and, well, raising Cameron. All at the same time the two of them are dating. With the insanity of your family life, those two are pretty normal, all things considered."

"I suppose you're right," Sarah said. Reflecting on the truth of Mueller's words, she realized he was correct. She had in some ways raised Cameron. A girl who was not only a machine, but a machine who loved her son John.

"It's a strange life I have led Mueller. It's the stuff of science fiction. The father of my son came from the future. My boyfriend is the brother of my son's father and came from the future. My son's protector and girlfriend is a machine designed to kill him that he sent back from the future. Our family life is spent fighting a machine that doesn't exist yet. It's no wonder people think I am insane."

At the roadside motel…

Agent Johnson stood in the parking lot, watching the FBI and State Police search the area for evidence. Standing at western end of the ravine close to where Derek's machine gun nest had been, Agent Ellison stood fuming in anger. The body count was 41 dead mercenaries and no logical explanation for their presence. Ellison had just gotten word of five dead individuals at the convention center, all members of FutureNet. All five had been executed with a gunshot through their left eye.

Unable to avoid Ellison any longer, Agent Johnson finally gathered his courage and approached Ellison, holding out a thermos of hot coffee as a peace offering.

"Go ahead, Agent Ellison. Say it."

"I told you so!"

"Feel better?"

"No, I don't. This was senseless waste of life. The higher-ups won't believe me but I'm standing here looking at the carnage. Sarah Connor didn't attack these people. They attacked her. But it doesn't change the fact we have 46 dead bodies in two locations and no sign of Connor."

"Put out an APB?"

"Why? They'll never be found in this weather. I have no evidence at all they were here. The manager is drunk and didn't recognize the photo of Sarah I showed him. She will have sanitized the rooms she and her people stayed in, so it's pointless to try to find forensic evidence. The weapons they used have probably already been hidden or destroyed."

The Hotel…

The door to Sarah and Derek's room opened and Derek entered carrying pizza boxes, Chinese food and drinks. Sarah and Mueller woke up from their slumber, stiff from having fallen asleep in uncomfortable chairs. Cameron had left to examine the hotel again for threats, leaving John alone to sleep. Sarah gently nudged John to wake him up.

Still exhausted from the stress and shock of two ambushes and the danger of traveling in whiteout winter conditions, the four ate in silence. Cameron's return broke the silence as she wanted to "make conversation" with John. Taking some food with her, Cameron led John back to their room.

Curious, Mueller felt compelled to ask, "What does she mean by 'make conversation?'"

"It's not what you think. Cameron really does mean she just wants to talk when she uses that phrase. It's one of her Terminator quirks," Sarah explained.

"And just what does she want to 'make conversation' about?"

His mouth full, Derek laughed as he answered, "It could be anything. Usually it something she's locked in on that is silly. Like why television networks run programming while most humans are asleep. Sometimes though, she'll catch you off guard and ask you some real philosophical question. Guaranteed to give you a headache when she does that."

Swallowing his food, Derek continued, "With John, it could be anything. She really likes to be with him. They talk about all kinds of things, the future, ethics, how she is coping with her emotions, right and wrong, philosophy and even art. I try to tune those conversations out completely. When she's upset, or feeling insecure, Cameron's like any other woman I've ever known. She wants to talk about their relationship."

"Oh, she's not that bad Derek. I've had pleasant talks with her about a lot of things."

"Yeah, Sarah you've had a lot more not so pleasant talks where threats of disassembly and burning were involved," Derek reminded her, teasing Sarah with a smile.

"Oh, and who was usually right behind with the thermite, ready to light the match?" Deepening her voice to imitate Derek, Sarah did her best impression of the older Reese brother, "Machines can't be trusted. Burn her I say! Keep that metal away from John! She's up to no good!"

Sarah leaned into Derek and hugged him as the two laughed. Sarah let Derek wrap his arms around her as she faced the mercenary, "Mueller, I still keep a close eye on Cameron. She's a Terminator. You have to keep an eye on her. I've learned I can trust her with a lot of things, including John's safety. I've also learned she could betray us all, just like a human. You see, Cameron really does have the ability to make her own decisions."

"Does that worry you?"

"Yes. It worries me," Derek said. "I'm a bigger machine hater than Sarah. Much bigger and with good reason, a Terminator killed my brother Kyle. I have watched thousands upon thousands of innocent people be slaughtered by HKs, T-600s, T-800s and the worse kind of Terminator of them all, a T1000 liquid metal Terminator. I've been a captive in Skynet slave labor camps. I know exactly what the machines are capable of. Cameron doesn't worry me like that anymore. What worries me is she's becoming a person."

"Isn't that good? Why would she betray you?"

"Why would any human betray another human to an enemy? She's not bound by her programing anymore. Her code can't stop Cameron from making a choice she has decided to make. Want some beer?"

"So you don't trust Cameron?"

Derek shook his head as he swallowed his beer, "Didn't say that. We go into a firefight, especially against metal, I want her there. We need to do a recon, she's the best. I mean, she's an infiltrator, the best Skynet ever built. Problem is, she's like one of us now. You have to trust her like you would a human. So far, with the exception of when she tried to kill John, and John's convinced that was due to damage to her chip, Cameron's always been trustworthy, even though she's a royal pain in the ass at times."

"Then why worry?"

"You haven't seen her go from a cyborg dependent on her programming to a sulking, pouting girlfriend bent on making John miserable. You haven't seen her cry because she's been hurt emotionally. You've never seen her create beauty. Not much makes me cry, but I cry when Cameron dances. Let me show you some art she's made."

Letting go of Sarah, Derek stood and retrieved his backpack. Reaching into one of the compartments, he withdrew the small, plastic encased drawing and unwrapped the protective layers of cloth. He extended his arm towards Mueller, who took the object.

Mueller held the drawing up in the light and was stunned at the image. Sarah was dressed in her black combat fatigues with combat boots. The tank top Cameron had drawn not only showed Sarah slender figure and curves, but emphasized her lean fitness and muscular arms and shoulders. Armed with her beloved MK-5, Sarah's hair was worn down, falling to her shoulders. The drawing flattered the female warrior. It captured her defiance and determination. So well executed was the drawing, Mueller felt as Sarah was about to run off the page and attack. Movement, emotion and Sarah's unique beauty radiated from the small charcoal drawing.

Mueller looked up, first at Sarah and then Derek. Looking back at the drawing, his words came softly, "It's like Sarah's alive in the drawing. She's captured who you are!"

Derek reached for his prize. "Yeah, a machine did that. Now do you understand? Cameron's a person now. She can create and understand beauty. She feels powerful emotions sometimes. She feels love, not like we do, or at least that's what she says, but she does. Mueller, Cameron also feels the bad emotions. The one's that make humans do the evil we do. Cameron can feel anger, rage, jealousy, envy, just to name a few. Lately, she's even felt remorse."

"So do you see the problem," Sarah asked. "We used to fear and distrust Cameron because she was a Terminator. Now we choose to risk trusting her because she's become a person."

John and Cameron's room…

"John, you did nothing wrong. Those men were going to kill you. They would have helped Skynet come into existence. Billions would have died because of their stupidity."

"Cameron, I blew a man's brains out. I literally blew his head of his shoulders. I will never erase that memory from my mind so long as I live."

"What were we supposed to do? They came to kill all of us, you, Sarah and Derek. We did nothing to them. We did not attack them or provoke them. They hunted us down."

"They were humans Cameron. There was not a single Terminator."

"John, they were no different than Greys in the future."

"Cameron, we killed men. Not once, but twice."

Cameron sat up on their bed and lovingly stroked John's hair. The anguish on his face caused her CPU to run numerous programs, ranging from scanning John's vital signs to trying to control the troubling emotions her emotion simulator was flooding her CPU with. Cameron hurt because John hurt.

"John, they would have captured me. Do you know what the leaders of FutureNet would have done to me? They would have taken me apart. Taken my chip and taken who I was, who I have become from. Is that any different from Skynet enslaving innocent humans? Nobody made these men do what they did. They either chose to believe in the cultish beliefs of the leaders, or they were paid mercenaries. Either way John, these men were a force for evil."

"It doesn't change the fact we killed them. They never had a chance."

"John, it was combat. You'd be a fool to give them a chance. That's how lives are lost in war."

The turmoil and pain John felt was running from his chest up through his face and exploding from his eyes. As Cameron wiped his tears as they rolled down his cheeks, her own tears falling on his face as she cried for his pain.

"John, if we don't fight. If we don't act against these people who attack us, others will die. Others who don't have our ability to defend ourselves. How many people in the hotel would have been killed simply because they were caught in a snowstorm and had to take shelter? How many people will Skynet kill if it comes online? How many people would the leaders of FutureNet have murdered if we hadn't dealt with them? John, they came to kill us! They came in numbers that should have overwhelmed us. If I had not captured the scout and spotted the droned, you, Sarah and Derek would be dead. I would be on a table with my chip removed, my personhood taken from me. Know this John Connor, we defended ourselves and we had the right to do so. We fought for innocent people who will never be able to defend themselves. It is noble that you feel remorse and I admire you for it. But John, you know you did nothing wrong."

The next morning…

Mueller awoke and stretched. Sore and stiff from sleeping with handcuffs on, he sat up and looked around the room he shared with John and Cameron. The sounds of John showering had awakened him. Cameron was gone and so were all of their possessions.

Sarah and Derek entered the room and sat down, grim expressions on their faces. Both were armed with pistols.

Sarah leaned forward and with startling intensity glared at the tall mercenary. "Well Mueller, time for you to make a decision. The storm has lifted and the roads are being cleared. We're leaving for home. You either go with us, or well…what is it going to be?"

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