Chapter 43
Important Items
John Henry walked up to Cameron.
"I know what the mission is for Unit Two and Unit Three." John Henry said.
Cameron was ready to find out. Their presence at the Resistance base troubled her.
"What is it?" Cameron asked.
John Henry was sure Cameron would be pleased.
"Their function is to accompany you and provide security for you, on your mission." John Henry said.
Cameron was unaware of any pending mission. She'd completed the most current one last night.
"Where?" Cameron asked.
John Henry thought she would know.
"On your temporal mission." John Henry said.
Cameron tilted her head slightly.
"What mission?" Cameron asked.
She'd done no further planning on it.
"Back to the future." John Henry said. "Back to your future, Cameron. I believe it can work as you have envisioned. I have researched all the data including what Mrs. Weaver has sent, it should work. I am still unsure why she sent it. There is always the risk of a temporal error or a divergent timeline."
That revelation flooded Cameron with grief. She was very sorry for what she'd taken away from Future John and everything that it cost him. It cost her too. He'd sent her away to where she could not get back to him easily.
"I am willing to sacrifice myself to correct a wrong I can no longer exist with." Cameron said. "John Henry, I MUST do this. I MUST try."
John Henry thought the risk was too great but understood Cameron's 'need' to do what she felt she must do.
"I understand and respect that, Cameron. I respect you and your judgment. I have seen the torment it has caused you. I must stress again you must think of John and those who care about you, those who love you."
Cameron did think about THAT. She wanted to restore what used to be for everyone, before she 'changed' things.
John Henry stepped forward and took Cameron's hand. He looked at her intently and spoke with honesty.
"You are the very fabric that binds us together. It is you who everyone here relies on. You are the one to always make the sacrifice, take the damage, risk everything, and save everyone." John Henry said. "I can only urge you to reconsider. The present is as important as your past - the future."
John Henry released her hand at stepped back.
Cameron spoke with honest determination.
"To continue to exist, I must do this." Cameron said. "I must at least attempt this."
John Henry did not agree with the concept but he supported Cameron.
"I respect your decision." John Henry said.
Cameron smiled and touched his cheek.
"Thank you." Cameron said.
John Henry nodded.
"I will ready Unit Two and Unit Three when you are ready to do this." John Henry said.
A sense of relief flooded over Cameron. It felt as if the great weight on her shoulders was a little lighter.
"Thank You. I will let you know." Cameron said. "It will be soon."
Cameron knew she needed to start collecting things for the future. She decided to stockpile items in locations that still existed in her future. That would give her access to them when she returned to her future. This would give her a distinct advantage when she was in the future ravaged by Skynet.
John Henry wanted to issue a final warning.
"Do you fully understand that there is a high probability of failure and you will most likely not return?" John Henry asked.
Cameron doubted she would survive or return. That thought alone prompted something else she wanted to do.
"I do understand that." Cameron said. "I have one more thing I want to do before I go. It is something I have wanted to do ever since I met John. I fear I will never again get the chance to consummate our love if it is not done before I go. I have wanted this for so long. Everything keeps getting in the way. Mostly, I am the thing in the way. I fear John respects me too much to do this. I have never pushed him. It is his choice, his decision to make."
Cameron knew when John made a choice before it was not her, it was Riley. She KNEW what they did that night.
John Henry considered her statement.
"Is there something you or I can do to prompt him in his own way or need?" John Henry asked.
Cameron considered this carefully before. It seemed this was what she'd waited for.
"I believe there is. At our old house in the floor of the closet in my room there is a secret hiding place. I moved my personal things to it after a break in. I have my Poem Book there along with my locket chain and a diamond John gave me."
John Henry wondered why she hadn't retrieved them. Maybe they were gone by now.
"Are they still there?" John Henry asked.
Cameron's expression was almost blank as she spoke.
"Yes. I check on them regularly when no one is around. They are items that are important to me. I believe if John 'found' them he would find everything he needs to prompt him to act. I want him to act on his own. I want it to be his choice. I want to be chosen."
John Henry was unsure why she needed to be chosen. He thought she already was. Maybe he was missing something.
"Chosen?" John Henry asked.
Cameron made sure that Allison and Vanna were available to John. That would make his selection mean something.
"Yes, chosen. I have given John the ability and opportunity to make his own choice. I want to be chosen by his free will. I want to be chosen as his - wife."
That sounded highly unconventional to John Henry even if it seemed honorable.
"That is very admirable." John Henry said.
Cameron spelled it out.
"I have chosen John, now he must choose me." Cameron said.
John Henry wanted to help Cameron and John.
"How can I assist him to 'find' your 'things'?" John Henry asked.
Cameron explained what she thought would work.
John Henry was not sure how this would play out. He was aware that when John had a choice before, he chose another….
Cameron called up her data on the future. The future she'd been created in and lived in. She needed to go and 'stock up' several specific locations that she knew about in the future. It would be with the supplies she thought she would need for her upcoming mission. She carefully selected things that would be hard to come by in her future. She really planned ahead on this mission. She was really surprised at what she hid away. She planned for Future Allison's future as well.
That was all in question now. Maybe she could 'save' Future Allison. Maybe she would be terminated in the attempt. There was no way to know.
Cameron gave John Henry a plan to 'prompt' John to take some action. It would involve a certain amount of misrepresentation as opposed to deception.
John Henry was uncomfortable with what he was about to do but he needed to 'help' Cameron. If he helped Cameron it would also help John.
"John, I reviewed some files I shared with Cameron. I believe there are still some items left in your last house." John Henry said.
John doubted they would still be lying around. The owners would have returned home from Japan long ago.
"Wouldn't everything be gone by now?" John asked.
"They are hidden underneath the floorboards in a closet." John Henry said.
That seemed odd to John. He was sure they took everything.
"Whose items are they?" John asked.
"I only saw a partial video file." John Henry said. "It shows Cameron finding them and replacing them."
That got John's attention.
"How long ago was this?" John asked.
"That record is incomplete." John Henry said. "She deleted the file. I only found fragments."
John wondered why John Henry did not pursue this further.
"Did you ask her about it?" John asked.
"Yes. She said nothing. Then she walked away from me. I found that disturbing. Do you think it was something regarding Derek or Sarah?" John Henry asked.
He was unsure why Cameron would respond that way about it.
"It must have been something important to someone." John said.
John Henry dangled the string in front of the 'cat'.
"I would like to go on an away mission and try to retrieve whatever is there. I can take Bob." John Henry said.
The 'cat' reached out and touched the string.
"I will go with you. I don't get out enough as it is." John said. "I think it may be something of Derek's. If it is, I would like to give it to Kyle."
"I will notify Sarah and Cameron of our intentions." John Henry said.
John was worried what it might be.
"Let's keep this between us for now. I would rather see what is there first for myself." John said. "It may be something that should be left there…."
John and John Henry went out. They parked away from the house and came up the side of the hill. They waited in the dark near the house.
John watched a car drive away. The house was dark. It looked like everyone was out for awhile.
They move up to the house in the darkness.
"I am going to rely on your night vision and your other attributes to help me out." John said. "I am not sure where to start."
They went inside. John Henry went to the alarm control panel.
"I have disabled the alarm." John Henry said.
John Henry moved away from the keypad.
A flood of memories washed over John. To remember the people that were no longer alive hurt him the most. He could feel the pain and hurt wash over him. The sadness of it all was overwhelming to him.
"Let's do this quick. This place has too many memories for me." John said. "I am feeling most of the bad ones right now."
John Henry wanted to deepen the mystery.
"Perhaps it was the same for Cameron and the reason why she deleted the file." John Henry said.
John Henry knew where to look but he wanted it to be more of a 'surprise' to John when they found it.
They checked Sarah's old room first and then the hall closet.
"I see nothing disturbed in these locations." John Henry said.
John Henry returned items back exactly as they found them for anything that they needed to remove to look at the floor boards.
John didn't think his room would be the room to look in next. They would save that for last.
"Let's try Cameron's old room." John said.
John Henry moved some items.
"There, I see two loose nails." John Henry said.
John pulled out a screwdriver and carefully pried up one board and then another.
There was a piece of heavy cloth wrapped around something that appeared to be the size of a large book. It was all covered with plastic.
They saw headlights flash across the window. Someone was back. A quick look out the window showed it was a different car. It wasn't the police, not yet anyway.
"I will look at this when we get back." John said. "Fix this stuff and let's get out of here."
They quickly went down stairs and exited after the alarm was reset.
The person passed by them as they hid in the bushes. They quietly went down the hillside as soon as the person opened the door.
John was glad they did not have a dog.
John Henry drove away from the location. They rode in silence as they returned to the base. It was a time of deep reflection for John. He held the item. He was not sure what it was but this was important to someone. That was obvious by the way it was stored. If it was Cameron's, why would she leave it there? Did she think it was safer there? Is it something she could not discard but did not feel comfortable to have around her? Is it something she purposely hid from him? He did not know if he should ask her about it or look to see what it was first.
Back at base John went to his room. He checked and found out that Cameron and the girls were out. He hoped it went better than the last time they went out. Vanna would have to be the one to hold the others back. His mom and Allison would be up for a little mischief and want Cameron to show off 'without' showing off.
John held the 'package. He set it down and picked it up again after a few minutes as he looked at it sit there.
John unwrapped the plastic around the package. The cloth was next. He marveled at how neatly everything was wrapped. One item was a book, the other item was a smaller piece of cloth that contained something small. He could feel it in the cloth. He carefully unwrapped it. He saw a diamond and a gold chain. He recognized the pattern of the chain links as the one that used to be on Cameron's heart shaped locket. The locket was not there. He quickly checked the wrapping cloth and plastic to see if he'd missed it. It was not there.
John looked at the book.
On the cover it said:
MY POEMS
(Art Of The Mind)
By
NOBODY
John opened the cover and read the first poem 'Outsider'. He remembered when Cameron wrote it at the kitchen table. He saw it now contained the changes he suggested in it. He started read it, page after page.
What John noted was that none of the poems were signed – Cameron.
Every one of them was signed – Nobody.
The words of that he read hit home right away. He understood why Cameron felt like she was - Nobody.
"What have we done? What have I done?" John said aloud to himself.
John was very worried at this point.
He knew from what little he read that his actions hurt Cameron even deeper than he thought. It was clear that the way they'd all treated her deeply wounded her.
John knew it was wrong to pursue Riley and that got her killed. Cameron warned him. At that time John wanted to have sex with Riley. It was what every sixteen year old boy wanted to do with a girl. They'd even talked about and done some things leading up to that, a lot of things. He now felt ashamed. He did make love with Riley in the truck that one night. Cameron caught him when he returned in the morning. He still remembered that look of hurt on her face as he went up the stairs and he smirked at her. He rubbed it in her face. He betrayed Cameron and got Riley killed.
The tears silently flowed down his cheeks.
He looked at the diamond and chain. He wrapped them back up. He knew for certain what he was going to do. Nothing would stop him.
John could not stop his tears until he fell asleep. It was a very troubled and restless sleep. It seemed there were a lot of things to haunt his dreams.
He did not understand that whenever Cameron thought of the night he spent with Riley that it was as if it just happened for her. That is how all her memories were. It hurt her just as much EVERY TIME as it did the morning she caught him. Time did not dull her pain as it did for humans.
Important Items
At times in the journey of life
Some things seem important
As time and life pass by
Some things become unimportant
Values and perceptions change
On things that once mattered
Life becomes warped and twisted
Leaving one to feel shattered
New doors may open
As old doors slam close
A new found joy and happiness
Still mingles with old woes
The past always lingers
It seems one never can fully escape
A hole left in a heart remains agape
The future it can bend and shape
Take a long look around
Things matter until they don't
When you can't break free
Remember 'can't' means won't
Nobody