Chapter 1308

Can I Touch One

Savannah watched Steve and Tom fire off a half dozen HE rounds each from their M203 grenade launchers. They didn't hear the explosions and there was no smoke or return fire. She did not like this at all.

Savannah looked at the feed from Cam's body cam. It showed nothing but blackness.

"Maybe everyone can throw their Thermite grenades inside." Savannah said. "Will this SUV fit inside that opening? We can light it on fire and send it through."

Cammy made the calculation that the mirrors would most likely be sheared off of the SUV. She looked inside and the keys were still in it.

"We need to move the drill press and work bench out of the way." Cam said. "It should clear the lathe."

They could hear the sound of a drone approaching very low. It was followed by the sound of another.

They all received new information from John Henry.

Young Allison and Anna watched the barrage of HE round fired inside the portal. They just disappeared inside the wall with no apparent affect or damage.

"Nothing has shown up on Cam's body cam." Anna said.

They heard Savannah suggest sending the SUV into the unseen opening.

Young Allison wanted to try a harder hit. Their troops needed to fallback some.

"I want a drone to line up with the roll up door of the building from outside and fire its missiles into the opening." Young Allison said. "It can fire its minigun too."

Anna thought their troops should withdraw to the outside of the building for that. It might produce some adverse reaction.

"I think Cammy's and Steve's team need to fallback before that happens." Anna said. "We don't know what will happen when the drones do that."

Young Allison wanted to play it as safe as possible for Savannah.

"Make it an 'order' from me." Young Allison said. "I want two drones that are waiting to evacuate them to fire their weapons one after the other. They can then resume their positions for evacuation. Keep 'Cherry Bomb' and 'Coltan Overcast' ready to carry out their original mission if there is a counterattack. They will come in and give direct fire support."

Anna sent out the message.

"The two drones are moving into position." Anna said. "The teams have been notified. John Henry has taken care of everything."

Young Allison did not want CamNet to take over John Henry's job but to work with him instead. That is what they were doing. She only wanted CamNet to act as a 'pinch hitter' if necessary. It was possible as this scenario played out that might be the case.

She'd already started work on another idea to strike back if necessary. It was not going to go over very well with everyone. It was clear that they weren't always going to like the way she did things.

Cammy did not like the 'order' to pull out. It was issued by Young Allison so it needed to be obeyed without question. All the Terminators moved toward the roll up door as the first drone moved into position.

Savannah covered her ears as she passed directly underneath the drone. Cam was in the lead and Cammy was behind her. Steve and Tom brought up the rear. Steve set his body cam on the frame of the standard pass door before he exited. It wedged it in place so it would not fall or be knocked over easily.

They would get footage from each drone and from Steve's body cam. That is the feed they all looked at now from the behind the relative safety of the concrete wall of the building.

Savannah watched as the two drones lined up to take their place. It all happened very fast. They only been out of the building for ten seconds before they heard the first drone fire all four of its missiles and open up with the minigun. She figured that the heat seeking missiles were fired at the air to surface missiles. They became their target.

There were no primary or secondary explosions of any kind. None of the building was blown apart. The two drones both did the same thing in rapid succession.

Savannah moved up as the second drone pulled away to set back down in the parking lot. The interior of the building looked the same as before. It was as if nothing happened.

"This seems impossible that there is no apparent reaction of any type." Savannah said. "Where is everything going?"

Cammy wanted to find out.

"I am going to take a look." Cammy said.

There was no way Savannah was going to allow anyone into the unknown where a massive amount of ordnance was fired with no apparent effect.

"No one is going in there." Savannah said. "That is an 'order'."

Cam wanted to do something.

"Maybe we can have John Henry cut the power soon." Cam said.

Savannah felt they were out of options. Maybe the images could not be transmitted back from the future or wherever this portal led.

"I will get Cam's body cam and then he can do that." Savannah said. "We might be able to get something off of her cam that we can not see transmitted."

Tom stepped up.

"Let me retrieve it, Savannah." Tom said. "You should wait here."

Savannah was going to protest but it did not look like Cammy or Cam was going to let her pass. Nothing was spoken but the body language was there.

"OK." Savannah said. "Drag him out and then retrieve the cam. Don't reach inside there. You should move away from the opening as fast as possible."

They watched on Steve's body cam as Tom hurried over and then hurried back. It looked like he was holding something else besides the cam.

Young Allison and Anna watched the footage from the two drones as they fired their weapons.

"Where is all that stuff going?" Young Allison asked. "It has to be going somewhere."

Anna did not have a clue. She checked other drone images from the outside.

"I have absolutely no idea." Anna said. "There is no apparent damage to the building anywhere else. All of that ordnance is going inside that portal. As to why we can't hear anything afterwards is a mystery in itself."

Young Allison wanted to make a statement. She considered sending for the backpack nuke. They could arm it and put it in the SUV and send it through. The only trouble was she did not know what would happen with that explosion. What would happen if some of that blast came back through the portal? It could cause massive damage and leave radiation contamination around the area.

"I think it is time to cut the power." Young Allison said.

Anna thought that should be a decision made by Cammy or Savannah.

"I will have John Henry contact Cammy and Savannah for their recommendation." Anna said.

Young Allison wanted to make sure the drones sitting in the parking lot were ready to lift off if necessary.

"Make sure the transport drones are good to go and the rest of the teams backing them up are ready to withdraw." Young Allison said.

Anna received conformation.

"John Henry says everything and everyone is ready." Anna said.

They heard Savannah give the command to cut the power.

"Now we will see what happens." Young Allison said.

Tom returned with the cam. That was all he carried. He gave it back to Cam.

John Henry asked about cutting the power.

Savannah talked it over with Cammy and Cam.

Cam and Cammy would reenter the building and wait behind the SUV again when John Henry cut the power. They would make an assessment of what happened. There should be some type of opening visible once the power was off.

"OK, Savannah, we're ready." Cammy said.

Savannah wanted to make it clear to Cammy and Cam.

"Neither of you will go inside whatever is there." Savannah said.

Cam and Cammy both agreed not to.

"Cut the power, John Henry." Savannah said as she took out her night vision.

The lights all around the area went out. John Henry wanted to make sure there was not a secondary power feed they did not know about. They'd encountered one of those just the other day.

Cam and Cammy watched from either side of the back of the SUV.

As the power went out, they both saw a black square momentarily appear and shrink down into a small box in the center of where the opening was. There was a single very small bright flash of light.

With their night vision and thermal spectrums all that they could see after that was the wail. There was no opening apparent. The wall looked like it did before.

"I am going to fire three rounds from my M9." Cammy said.

There were three silenced shots fired.

Cammy looked over at Cam.

"You're not going to believe this." Cammy said.

Savannah was unsure what to believe at this point. Not too much was going to surprise her.

"What is it?" Savannah asked.

"I need to approach the wall." Cammy said.

Savannah adjusted her night vision. She looked at Steve and Tom.

"Let's go." Savannah said. "Wait until we are there to back you up. We're coming, Cammy."

Savannah led Steve and Tom into the building.

Young Allison and Anna watched the images from Steve's body cam and Cammy's body cam.

Young Allison watched the power go out. All she saw was darkness. There may have been a very small flash of light. She was not sure what she was looking at.

"Can you see anything?" Young Allison asked.

Anna was not sure what she saw.

"There was a black square that instantly compressed in on itself. It vanished in a very small bright flash of light." Anna said. "It looks like the wall is still there. I don't see any opening."

CamNet provided Young Allison with enhanced images of them.

They heard what Cammy wanted to do.

"Cammy is going to shoot at the spot in question." Anna said.

They heard the three silenced shots fired and glanced at each other from the image they looked at on their monitors.

"Can you see that?" Anna asked.

Young Allison could see something.

"That makes no sense." Young Allison said.

They heard Cammy was going to investigate and Savannah was going back inside to back her up.

Young Allison wanted to try one more thing.

"Have John Henry get ready to turn the power back on and then off if we need it off again." Young Allison said.

Anna made the arrangements. Savannah would be warned before hand.

"Everything is ready." Anna said.

Anna and Young Allison were perplexed at whatever this new threat was.

Hanna led Jan and Summer back down to the pool deck from the miniature golf area. Gail brought up the rear.

Hanna looked at Jan and Summer.

"Do you two want to go to the buffet again to get a snack?" Hanna asked. "There is also ice cream here."

Jan felt too cold for ice cream. She liked the bedtime snacks they tried yesterday in their suite.

"There are some snacks in the room." Jan said. "There are a lot of them. They were good too."

Summer like what they tried last night. It was a nice selection.

"We can use what's in the room." Summer said. "We will use moderation and restraint."

Hanna was aware that none of the Resistance members liked to waste food if it was possible. The waste of food on the ship was appalling, even to the Terminators.

"That is very thoughtful." Hanna said. "I can see that most of the people on this ship are not."

Jan heard the stories from her father and uncle as well as all of the girls. She knew 'bad things' happened to all of the girls from the future. Having to eat garbage or going hungry for a week was not the worst of them.

"They don't know what's coming." Jan said. "I should say, what may come."

Summer hoped they could avoid a Skynet future. There seemed to be several versions of those too. Maybe the one that Cameron was from was the 'best'.

"We don't know for sure what will happen." Summer said. "We could all be in an alternate timeline at this point and not even know it."

Jan wondered about that. She was not known to exist in Cameron's Future or the future her father was from. It troubled her at times to think about that.

"Do you mean like maybe I don't really exist?" Jan asked.

Summer knew her mother died in Cameron's future. She did not exist in that future either.

"I don't exist either then." Summer said.

Jan heard some speculation. She wasn't going to mention it but it slipped out anyway.

"Everyone thinks you're River." Jan said.

Summer wondered about a lot of things. She only knew what she knew. Her life was here.

"I don't know. I just know that I am 'me'. Metal Summer is with River now in her future." Summer said. "Maybe I am a clone. Maybe we are both clones."

Gail did not care for the speculation. The girls were going to cause themselves unnecessary grief without any basis in fact. She did not comment. She was afraid it might make it worse.

Hanna took the girls down the elevator to the suite deck. They approached the private area. Jim did not open the door. She wondered if he was out. Maybe there was a problem.

Gail and Hanna could hear everyone was busy in their suites as they passed.

Hanna was pleased to hear that. If there was a problem it was not on the ship.

It seemed like a ghost town to Jan.

"It seems quiet here." Jan said.

Summer looked at Gail and Hanna and then she looked at Jan.

"Everyone is 'busy'." Summer said.

Jan suppressed a giggle. Her observation was that the girls were busy a lot.

Hanna opened the door to the spare bedroom of the Honeymoon Suite. Jan, Summer and Gail all followed her in.

Summer looked at Hanna and Gail. She was well acquainted with how things were.

"We know what to do and we won't stay up too late. If you two want to go to the Master Suite you can." Summer said. "We will be OK here. We won't leave. Holly, Ally or Sheila should be back soon anyway."

Gail wanted to be with the girls. They always showed her 'fun' things. Savannah was the only other one who showed her 'fun' things.

"I would like to stay with you two." Gail said. "I like to have fun."

Hanna hoped that Cameron would use her chassis again. It was worth a shot. She was willing to let John and Cameron have a crack at it.

"If Gail wants to stay maybe I will go." Hanna said.

Gail wanted to stay and do everything with the girls that Holly did the night before. Holly told her how fun it was. When she went out with Jesse, her 'fun' was not fun. People died.

Hanna quietly excused herself and headed for the Control Center. She was sure there was a 'problem' somewhere. She wanted to find out a few things while she was at it.

Hanna entered the Control Center. She wanted to find out what Sheila and Ally were up to. If Cameron did not want to use her chassis again, she would either enter the Master Suite or go hangout with Sheila and Ally.

She listened to see what was happening in the Owner's Suite. It sounded like they were finished up for now. She felt a faint smile cross her face. Holly allowed Cameron to take her virginity and share the file with Holly the same way Cameron did with Sheila and her. She did not have any regrets doing that herself and would do it the same way again if she could. She knew Holly was going to be even more in love with Cameron and John now. It was what happened to Sheila and her as well. It was a very beautiful experience. It was better than she could have experienced on her own. She would attempt to get Vanna to try it one time when she came on board. She really wanted to help Vanna work past some of those negative experiences. If John touched Vanna the way he touched Cameron in her chassis, it would 'help' Vanna a lot.

She wanted to see what else was happening. She was surprised at what was going down with Cammy's team. It seemed very unusual. There was nothing she could do at this point. She was on a ship at sea.

Hanna found out where Sheila and Ally were and that there was a new 'player' involved. She'd listened to Claire and Jesse before she entered the Control Center and they were resting now. She knew Jesse was always good to go but she wanted Claire to get some rest. She needed to think about Allison's baby that Claire carried.

Hanna decided to go to where Sheila and Ally were. If that developed into some kind of action there would be three Metal girls and three human girls. They were all Hot looking too. She really liked the look of the newest girl. She was a total knockout.

Sheila let Mary, Laura and Leticia look at her nipple rings and her other set of rings while she stood in her high heels. That would be the normal standing or walking position for the other girls as well. They could see how things were that way. She then assumed the same position on the edge of the bed as she did before so they could all get a good look. She liked as each one did a 'close up' inspection.

She could see the 'hunger' in their eyes. Leticia even licked her lips absent mindedly in anticipation of what could be. She liked that.

This time she stretched everything out. That caught Leticia's attention.

"Wow!" Leticia said. "Everything on you is beautiful."

Mary was sold on the look.

"Can I touch one and see how it is?" Mary asked.

Sheila wanted to make sure Mary was going to go through with it for herself.

"As long as I get to install a set on you, you can." Sheila said.

Mary smiled at Sheila.

"You can." Mary said. "I just want to make sure."

Sheila wondered if Mary would touch more but she didn't. It looked like her pearl was just going to have to wait for later on to receive some attention.

Mary looked at Sheila with a very serious face.

"I'm ready." Mary said. "It's what I want. I want to be as beautiful as you are."

Sheila wanted to get one of the other girls to commit as well. She figured if she made them part of the process they would be aroused enough to try it too.

"I need Laura or Leticia as my assistant." Sheila said.

They both looked at Ally.

"I'm just the referee." Ally said.

Sheila retrieved her 'bag of tricks' and laid out four sets of rings. She was not impressed with the naval piercing Leticia had. It was fine for casual conversation but it was not bold and it didn't have any pizzazz. She hoped to rectify that on her.

Cameron still did not know how she got booted out of Holly's chassis.

She wondered if when she thought about taking Holly's chassis from her by force that maybe Holly 'heard' her. She thought she blocked that file. Maybe she did not. Her program was on Holly's chip twice. It was once as Duplicate Cameron for fifteen months and once with her program when they visited her future the second time.

Cameron felt a glitch impulse. She remembered how she destroyed Holly's sheath and chassis in her future to save the Resistance base as she protected Future John and Savannah. She protected everyone else too, everyone except Holly. She destroyed Holly when she took control of her chassis.

At that time she even considered trading her chassis for Holly's severely damaged chassis. At that point it was a 'nullo' chassis. It was unfixable as a female due to the massive plasma burns and the material that was burnt away. Cameron remembered when Holly lifted her plasma rifle to her head and begged her to end it.

Cameron got up and unplugged the cable from her neck and Holly's neck.

Holly looked very disappointed. She hoped to be able to have Cameron use her chassis again when John was ready. She could see the disadvantage males were at in 'finishes'.

Cameron felt a lot of guilt about what happened to Holly in her future. It made her feel guilty about a lot of other things too.

"I appreciate what you have given to John and me." Cameron said. "I love you dearly for that. I should have allowed you to do it yourself first since you were a true virgin. I'm sorry I took that from you."

Holly didn't know what was happening.

"I wanted you to help me learn what to do." Holly said. "You were able to give me an experience better than I could do on my own. I would do the same thing again if I could do it over. I appreciate what you did for me. I love you, Cameron."

Cameron felt even guiltier now than ever. She'd destroyed Holly's sheath and chassis before and now she just stole Holly's virginity from her. How selfish was she? She knew what she was doing when she stole Sheila's and Hanna's virginity from them as well. They all allowed her to do it because they loved her. She used that love to 'abuse' them.

Cameron looked at Holly. She had a debt to pay several times over. She knew she needed to play all her cards right to pull off what she felt she must do. It was time to make amends.

"I appreciate both of you allowing me to share that experience with each of you." Cameron said. "I am going to go out for a few hours now."

Cameron started to walk away.

"Where are you going?" John asked.

Cameron was not sure. She was still naked.

"I want you two to be alone for a few hours." Cameron said.

Holly did not understand.

"I want you to be here so you can use my chassis again, Cameron." Holly said. "Please, I want you to do it again for me."

The guilt piled on Cameron.

"I promised you one time with John." Cameron said. "You may have several over the next few hours. Thank you again. I appreciate your sacrifice."

Holly needed to say something.

"Sacrifice is the true test of love." Holly said.

Cameron felt another glitch impulse and quickly walked away. She could no longer control the glitch in her left hand. She hurried to the Control Center. She hoped to calm down in there. She turned her hearing to a very low level.

She needed to repay three debts. One was for Duplicate Cameron who inadvertently prevented Holly and John from sharing for fifteen months when they should have been. She needed to repay Holly for the damage she did to her sheath that was so severe that Holly begged to be terminated after she destroyed Holly as a female. She needed to repay her now for stealing her virginity from her.

How could she do that to someone? She needed some better news.

Jim was surprised when Cameron walked into the Control Center. He liked that she was naked but he could see there was a problem. Her hand started to glitch and she tried to hide it.

He looked at the operation that was unfolding with Cammy and her teams and quickly switched those monitors. He was sure if Cameron saw the nature of what was occurring at the location that it would probably shut her down after further agitating her.

"Hello, Cameron." Jim said. "It is a quiet evening. Cammy and Savannah are still doing surveillance and everything on the ship is in order."

Jim wondered if Cameron even heard him. It seemed she was about to shut down. He wished that Savannah or Young Allison was here to comfort her.

He thought he knew who could help Cameron.

Jim quickly made a call.

There was another.