Chapter 63

Absorbed

John couldn't believe his eyes. It was 'Cameron' - sort of.

"Cameron?" John asked somewhat befuddled.

She didn't look quite 'right'. Her features were 'shimmering'.

John could tell something was off. None of this made any sense.

"Are you Cameron?" John asked.

The Liquid Metal Terminator shimmered and turned silver for a few seconds. All of its features were lost. It started to reform and looked like John for a second before it returned to the shimmering form of 'Cameron'. It appeared to be unable to hold the form of 'Cameron' for very long. It looked more like a photo image of Cameron than actually 'Cameron'.

"What are you?" John asked.

"John, I am me. I'm trying to get somewhere. I'm not sure where that is but I know I want to go there. I think I was there last night or at least part of me was." The Liquid Metal Terminator said. "I need to find - John."

John wondered why the Liquid Metal Terminator knew his name but said she was trying to find him. She should know it already found him. He looked over at the two Terminators that each carried a 'Thumper'. They were ready to fire on the Liquid Metal Terminator with the acid rounds.

"Why are you here?" John asked. "What is your mission?"

"John, I am after that 'Bitch Whore'. Don't interfere. I don't like the way she 'looks'." The Liquid Metal Terminator said.

John was not sure what was going on here. How is this possible? Cameron was now Liquid Metal? Something was not right here. Cameron did not look 'right'. She turned silver then featureless again.

"Are you Cameron?" John asked again.

The features on 'Cameron' seemed to be in flux and unable to maintain the same form for more than a few seconds.

"John, I think I am." The Liquid Metal Terminator said. "Part of me is."

Bob was not convinced this was Cameron.

"Who am I?" Bob asked. "If you are Cameron, you know who I am."

The Liquid Metal Terminator did not answer.

"She's lying. She's the 'Bitch Whore'." The blonde Terminator cut in.

John wanted to affirm his control of the situation and remind the two Terminators that he held all the cards right now.

"Everyone stand ready. Frank and Al move up." John said.

They both carried an M79 with the acid rounds.

"John Henry, get ready." John said.

Tension filled the air.

"Ladies, take cover, I think this is going to go 'HOT'." John said to Allison and Vanna.

John moved closer to a rock formation for better cover. His weapon was ready, it was Cameron's Glock. She was always 'with him' this way in combat.

"I don't want you to move. If you do, we will light you up." John told the Liquid Metal Terminator. "You need to listen to me and understand this. I need to know why you are here and who sent you."

The Liquid Metal Terminator did not look like she was going to comply.

"John, we don't have to do this." The Liquid Metal Terminator said.

Sarah and Kyle arrived with more weapons, an M79 and Thermite grenades.

"Like Hell we don't." Sarah said. "What is that thing?"

John wanted his parents reinforced.

"Dan, cover them." John said.

Dan moved forward to reinforce them.

"I'm on it." Dan replied.

Right now neither of the two new Terminators moved. They did not seem to want to attack or retreat.

John wanted some answers from someone.

"OK Blondie, start talking. I think you both can see you are out gunned with weapons that can destroy both of you." John said.

There was a Coltan loaded M60 pointed at her. If she tried anything she would not get more than a step or two in before she was cut down.

"Let me start at the beginning." The blonde Terminator said.

"This better be good." Sarah said.

Allison wanted to know some more too.

"I'm dying to hear it." Allison said.

The Resistance fighters were all on edge with itchy trigger fingers. The Resistance Terminators there with them looked to be about the same. It appeared they could be dealing with more than one timeline. That was bad news if it was the case.

The blonde Terminator was Unit 645. She was sent by Mrs. Weaver to protect young Derek and Kyle at Derek's request. It was feared Skynet would try to make a move on them. Derek with the aid of Mrs. Weaver's 'friendly' Terminators known as Restorators worked alongside the Resistance They'd smashed the last few traces of Skynet. A last ditch effort was made to kill Derek before he became the face of the Resistance. She was sent back to protect the younger version of him.

She was supposed to arrive at the Resistance base but ended up elsewhere instead. She was not sure what happened but somehow she was thrown off course. There was also a temporal time lag. She should have arrived months ago.

John Henry warned John about using their TDE over and over to try and send a 'lifeline' out to Cameron. It appeared they disrupted Unit 645 from arriving when she should have and where she should have. They may also have drawn the unstable Liquid Metal Terminator to them. It appeared that if they actually did 'pick' something up with the TDE that it ended up some place other than the base. The two energy fields deflected each other off course and time. It was possible if Cameron tried to reach them that they may have 'bounced' her away to some other place or time. They did not know at this point.

Unit 645 just acquired the boys at the park and spotted the Liquid Metal Terminator. She knew trouble was coming. She was about to swoop the boys up and run. It was at that point she saw Allison. Allison was in her top priority mandate along with Savannah, Vanna and John. She moved to cut off the Liquid Metal Terminator to buy Allison time to run. She knew she would not be able to defeat the Liquid Metal Terminator. She could only hope to slow it down. She agreed to submit to chip extraction to prove what she said was true. Once the chip was removed all data could be confirmed. Unit 645 dropped to her knees in an act of submission. She could see the Resistance forces were about to open up.

"She is the 'Bitch Whore'." Unit 645 said as she looked at the shimmering form of 'Cameron'.

Most of the weapons were trained on the Liquid Metal Terminator.

"John, I am not here to hurt you 'anymore'." The Liquid Metal Terminator said. "My original directives were altered by you. I only knew to search for you."

John was sure this was not Cameron. Maybe Cameron was destroyed and this is the only information they were able to get off her chip. Maybe all they had was her damaged chip and that is why the Liquid Metal Terminator could not form into a convincing 'Cameron'. It must not have been able to 'touch' her.

"Why are you in that form?" John asked. "Change it now. It offends me."

"John, it is the form you chose for me. I need 'more' to be complete." The Liquid Metal Terminator said. "I don't have everything I need yet."

John was irritated. He wanted answers and he was not getting them. He was sure the Liquid Metal Terminator was unstable on several levels.

"When? How? I've never seen you before." John said.

John noticed Sarah seemed like she was about to act.

"John, I am from 'some future'. I need the female to complete my 'anatomy'." The Liquid Metal Terminator said. "I can then be what you want. I can be 'Cameron'."

The Liquid Metal Terminator indicated she wanted Allison.

Allison gripped her Model 66 a little tighter.

"Where is Cameron? Is she alright?" John asked.

The Liquid Metal Terminator said nothing.

"This gets creepier by second." Allison whispered to Vanna.

Vanna was not happy that the Liquid Metal Terminator appeared to want to target Allison now.

"Who sent you?" John demanded. "I need answers now."

John wanted Allison away from there.

"John, 'The Evil One' tried to create me secretly with material captured from Skynet. I escaped. One like her inadvertently released me." The Liquid Metal Terminator said as she indicated Allison. "She gave me freedom from 'The Evil One', she tortured me daily."

John felt he had a pretty good idea who 'The Evil One' was. He wanted to make sure. It might affect their operation going forward.

"Who is 'The Evil One'?" John asked.

She pointed at Vanna.

"She reminds me of her." The Liquid Metal Terminator said.

Allison was even more worried now that Vanna was just targeted.

They all figured she referred to Mrs. Weaver.

"How did you get here?" John asked.

"John, I was pulled into your timeline by your TDE." The Liquid Metal Terminator said. "I escaped from 'The Evil One'. The TDE there was not functional yet. There was no power source."

John Henry wondered what that meant. The TDE worked fine where Mrs. Weaver was. This was all very strange to him. Too many things did not add up. He was sure there was more than one timeline involved.

John grew impatient.

"WHERE IS CAMERON?" John screamed.

There was a long pause.

"John, I do not know where she is or even when." The Liquid Metal Terminator said. "I do not know where or when I came from. I only know it was from 'some future'."

John grew angrier. That answer seemed to indicate Cameron was 'lost' or stuck in some divergent timeline.

"John, I have chosen to replace her for you with myself. I no longer serve anyone. She freed me. You freed me from that servitude. When I joined with you I learned everything. I want everything. I want more. I NEED - MORE." The Liquid Metal Terminator said.

This seemed to confirm what John suspected.

"You violated me?" John asked.

"John, no, it only happened in your mind, our minds. It was beautiful. I only - absorbed you. No actual genetic material was transferred yet. I want that too. I want - MORE." The Liquid Metal Terminator said.

Sarah took the M79 Kyle was holding. She felt this was like some sick perverted side show.

"I am going to fry this 'Bitch Whore' myself." Sarah said. "THAT is not Cameron."

John could not help but feel violated. He knew something happened. But was it really all in his head? How did that work? Maybe there was only a small part of her that touched him. He knew Mrs. Weaver could 'shed' parts of herself to do things. They would join back up later with information for her.

"Will you join us?" John asked.

"John, I already have." The Liquid Metal Terminator said. "I only knew I needed to terminate the 'Bitch Whore'. She reminds me of someone I WANT to terminate. I don't know why. Then I saw 'Cameron' - I mean HER. She looks just like me. She looks like how I am going to look. She looks like Cameron. I must absorb her too so I may be complete. I want all of her. I want MORE. I will absorb her 'anatomy'. She will become part of me. She has the body parts I need to be 'complete'. I must have - MORE." The Liquid Metal Terminator moved towards Allison as her arms turned to blades.

"NO!" John screamed as he raised Cameron's Glock.

Allison stood her ground and raised her Model 66.

"Go to HELL you 'BITCH WHORE'." Allison shouted as fired all six rounds into her head.

Vanna moved to protect Allison.

"Absorb this." Vanna said by her side as she fired her M4.

Sarah capped off an acid canister from the M79 she'd taken from Kyle.

"Light her up." Sarah yelled.

The entire group opened up on the Liquid Metal Terminator.

In seconds it was a withering disjointed mass on the ground.

"It is time for closure." John Henry said.

He handing John a Thermite grenade. Sarah already held one.

"What the Hell?" Sarah asked.

"Mom, I have no idea. I am not sure what happened. All I know is something happened to me that I could not remember or explain. I believe that 'thing' touched me as I slept. I think it was completely around me. I thought it enveloped me. It could have just been a piece of it that touched me too. It was able to get in my mind somehow. It made me think of Cameron. It used the weakness of my mind to lure me, trick me and USE me. I think this is a new Skynet weapon. It appears be one we have not encountered before."

"Well one thing is for certain, John, you sure have a way with the female Terminators." Allison said.

"He has with the REAL females too." Vanna whispered to Allison.

Unit 645 remained on her knees since she said she would submit to deactivation for chip extraction and review. She looked at John. She was fascinated by him too. Mrs. Weaver hard wired it into her. It would not show up on her chip review. If they reactivated her, she would get to know him 'better'. She would share her vast programming with him to 'comfort' him, to serve him and to please him. Her thoughts ended in darkness….

Bob removed her chip.

"She is terminated." Bob said.

Nobody was really sure of what they witnessed and all that just happened.

Absorbed

We are who we are
Either adored or abhorred
From the knowledge and experience
That we have shared and adsorbed

Everything we say or do
Has consequences and matters
If we are careless with a heart
We can leave it in tatters

We can all be more
Than the sum of our parts
It also matters greatly
From where it all starts

What we have to offer
Is something to give and share
Maybe it's better not to dare
That way we won't scare

What happens around us affects us
Everything is absorbed like a sponge
We can either dodge or lunge
Maybe it's time to take the plunge

Nobody