Chapter 49
Future's Past
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Cameron's Past Timeline:
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Early 1999:
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On the remote outskirts of town the arcing and flashing started. An energy bubble appeared with three figures in it.
The arching and flashing ended.
Cameron slowly stood up. She looked around. She looked up to the sky. Her naked figure was back lit by the full moon. Even in the darkness her beauty was unmistakable.
She arrived in the past at a time before her 'first' arrival from the future. So far things seemed to work as she'd planned. She did not want to get 'lost in time'. There was always that risk. There were many risks.
Cameron knew she needed to be careful not to alter anything that would change her future once she arrived and met up with John in Red Valley. She needed to calculate her every move and every action.
Her first impulse was to go find John and Sarah. She could go to them and protect them. She could team up with 'herself' when Future John first sent her back. They could be with John as twins. This time they would be his girlfriends and not his twin sisters. That was a very enticing prospect to her. She already knew what would happen and could make things safer for John. There was always the risk that her 'other self' may perceive her as a threat and terminate her. She'd evolved greatly from who she was back then. It would be like night and day.
'No.' Cameron thought. 'I can not change any of this here or now.'
Cameron wanted to return to her current life with John who was now her husband. She wanted to resume life again from the point where she'd left. It should be a seamless event if everything worked properly. She'd been able to consummate her love with John. It was a very pleasurable and rewarding experience for her. It was more about the 'feeling' to share their love both 'emotionally' and physically. She was not sure what a human female felt during a time of sharing like that. Maybe they had a more intense experience, maybe she was the one who did. There were files regarding Future Allison and Future John. She chose not to view them. She wanted her experience to be her own.
She wanted to be with John as he took his role in the future and at his side as his wife. It would be man and machine as equals for the future. It would set an example for everyone that man and machine could exist and thrive side by side. There could be harmony instead of conflict.
Unit Two and Unit Three arrived with her. They stood naked next to her as they waited for her instructions. They both scanned for any threats. They knew it was their duty to protect Cameron at all costs. They'd been instructed to do as little as possible on their own so that they did not affect anything. Cameron wanted to direct and control their actions.
The trio carefully walked into the nearby town under the cover of darkness. They avoided a few late night drivers and remained unseen. They located a 'Goodwill' donation bin and took some clothing out of it. There was plenty for all three of them. They took the bare minimum. They did not want to look too tacky or homeless. They did not need to interact with local law enforcement. Questions could arise that they would not be able to answer. That would end badly for the policeman.
The next step would be to get to one of the other banks that was built with a TDE. Cameron planned their arrival close to one location. So far everything was going as she'd planned. They would be ready in the morning. Cameron wanted to get back to her future before they inadvertently changed anything in the past.
There was a chance the TDE might not function. They would ride on public transportation and not appropriate any vehicles if they needed to go elsewhere. They would not interact with anyone if unnecessary. They would try to stay off everyone's radar. She did not want Cromartie to know she was here.
Cameron and her entourage headed to the bank.
They arrived before it opened. They waited for the manager to arrive. They waited across the street as they watched everything around them. Cameron saw a car pull into the back of the parking lot. A man with a suit headed for the door. Cameron moved up behind him after the alarm was shut off. She put him in a choke hold and choked him out as carefully as possible. She did not want to hurt or damage him in any way. She then disabled the security cameras. She called Unit Two and Unit Three forward.
"We have to move fast before anyone else gets here." Cameron said.
John Henry was able to look up the records as to what the combination was on the vault at that time period. They were within the time lock parameters as planned. Cameron opened the lock and swung the big vault door open and they went in.
Cameron closed the vault door behind them. She'd set it to lock automatically. It should look undisturbed when the bank actually opened.
The TDE was the same type as the one she would use to time jump from 1999 to 2007.
She set the TDE up. She gave them all enough time to make it appear the vault was untouched. Everything would be set back to the way it was when they'd entered. It would also allow the TDE to be used again. There was no plasma rifle being fired at the same time that the energy bubble would form around them. There should be no explosion this time. There should be no indication they were ever there.
She'd checked the local newspapers of the location and date that she planned to leave from in the past. There was no mention of any trouble at any bank. Cameron hoped the banana peel she left by the bank manager's foot would help explain why they 'fell'. At any rate there was no record that anything happened.
Everything was set.
Cameron went over what her goals were and how best to pull them off without changing anything. She did not think she would be able to succeed. It did not matter. She was going to do this no matter what. She hoped all her prepositioned supplies would be where she hid them before she left. If they were not, that would mean her future would be different than it was before she left. It also might mean that she was in the wrong future or that she may have experienced a temporal error. There was a slight glitch impulse that shot through her left hand. She was able to control it. It was time to go.
"Back to the future." Cameron said. "MY Future. Back to my future's past."
The arcing and flashing occurred, the time bubble formed and then they were gone.
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Cameron's Future Timeline:
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The arcing and flashing started. An energy bubble appeared with three figures in it.
The arching and flashing ended.
Cameron didn't need to wait until darkness to determine the time or date.
She'd planned their arrival during the time when a Skynet transport crashed. She knew the exact time and place. In fact she knew precisely when everything would happen in HER Future down to the micro second, including where it was safe to be or not to be. That all depended on everything being the same and unchanged. She was very aware that Mrs. Weaver could have returned to her future and altered things.
That thought sent another glitch impulse through her left hand. She was able to control it.
The energy bubble appeared in a small gully next to where a Skynet transport crashed. There was a massive explosion thirty seconds after the initial impact. That was the window Cameron aimed for. They arrived right on time. The massive secondary explosion happened as the energy bubble dissipated. This should mask them from any Skynet detection. She'd instructed Unit Two and Unit Three to drop prone as soon as they were able to.
She hoped to avoid detection by Skynet, Grays, The Resistance or Scavengers.
Cameron carefully lifted her head as soon as the debris stopped landing around her. There were destroyed Terminators, dead Grays and dead Resistance fighters all around the area they were in. Clothing was not a problem even if it was torn or with burn marks and drenched with blood. They were able to gather supplies. They obtained food, water and other materials out of the wreckage. There were things she would need for Future Allison if she succeeded. She did not know yet if the items she stockpiled before she left would still be there in their places of concealment. It would aid her greatly if they were still there. She planned to make Future Allison a better person than she was before the 'incident'. She planned to make up for what she'd done.
Cameron needed to set up a secure area where Future Allison would be brought and held until after 'her future self' - Future Cameron was sent into the past. She selected several locations in the past from what she knew from her future and hid some supplies. She would then return Future Allison to Future John and Future Savannah. At that point getting back to her time with John would be a risk and gamble with all the changes they'd made.
She would keep trying no matter what timeline she ended up in to get back to John. She hoped Allison and Vanna would be able to comfort him if she failed to return. John deserved the best and they were the females of his future anyway. There was no need to wait. She hoped Savannah would keep her promise to marry John when she 'grew up' if it took her years to get back or if she was terminated. Cameron reflected on the fact she never may return. It comforted her to know Young Allison would grow to fill any void as well. She'd left specific instructions with Bob, Jim and John Henry as to what the future would be for Savannah and Young Allison. Their destiny was already determined by the future. They were to make sure it happened.
Cameron programmed four of the Terminators she captured to protect both Young Allison and Savannah in the advent of Judgment Day. Two of them would stay with each girl until John 'needed' them. They would not suffer the same fate that Allison and Vanna experienced. They should both be with John by that point in her 'absence'. Bob, John Henry and Jim would look after John and Vanna and Allison if Judgment Day ever came.
She tried to think of everything to protect everyone else. That was everyone but herself. She hoped John would accept Allison and Vanna as her replacements. Cameron made it as clear as possible that is what she wanted. It would mean a lot to her if John would choose them. She wanted it to be them. 'Allison' was in her system. John deserved Allison. It was the 'Natural Order' of time. Every John deserved Allison. Every Allison deserved John. She thought she better stop thinking about that before she ended up crying or worse and experienced a 'melt down'.
Getting on the aircraft carrier would only be a small problem. Being at the right place at the right time is what would be the hard part. It would all come down to split second timing. She hoped to do this without having to destroy any Terminators or kill any Resistance fighters. Until the moment Future John sent her to the past, Cameron did not want to alter anything, except Future Allison's termination. There were things about herself that were erased. She would need to leave them that way.
Cameron and her team donned Skynet clothing from the wreckage of the transport. That is where they were headed. It was deep into Skynet held territory. There were no Resistance patrols in the area they would traverse. If they ran into any Scavengers they would be terminated. That was something she was willing to change. It would help protect females if nothing else.
Future's Past
We can live in the moment
But moments do not last
Or live today for tomorrow
Today quickly becomes the future's past
There are things one can change
But change is often slow
We believe everything we know
Yet do not have much to show
Hearts become battered and bruised
They may often shatter and bleed
Was it only a moment of greed
Or the true love we all need
I can't say there will be a tomorrow
I know there was a yesterday
There needs to be more in play
Than what happens on any given day
We can fight windmills
Ignore the future's forecast
Cling to what once was
And forever live in the future's past
Nobody