Chapter 105
Desert
The arching and flashing began and intensified brightly.
The energy bubble appeared.
There was a giant surge of energy.
The arcing and flashing slowly dissipated.
The women lay on the ground unmoving. They were inside a structure. It was dark and cold.
Cameron was shut down from the massive power surge and the other girls were unconscious.
There was some movement among them, it seemed something scurried away. They slowly became aware of each other and Cameron. There was some more movement among them and then Cameron rebooted.
The four of them lay on the ground. This last trip was different.
Cameron opened her eyes and looked around. She counted the women in the group. It seemed at one point there was one more with them somehow. She replayed her files. She was able to review three distinct realities or different time periods and locations that they'd been to in a very short amount of time. In one of them, the last one, there was a girl who looked like 'Allison' that was not Allison. When she touched her she registered something 'different'. She was holding the girl's hand in a handshake when that vision ended.
The time displacement transfer seemed completed at this point.
This was all very confusing.
Cameron knew they actually were in those realities even if it was only briefly. She checked her files three times and each time it was confirmed. Everything that she'd just experienced actually happened. She was not sure how or why that was or how that it was even possible. Somehow with them where they were now was the proof that it was. Otherwise they would not be here.
She checked Allison, Vanna and Jesse. They appeared to be undamaged. They were not bleeding or burnt from the power surge. They were all starting to look around. She was worried the girls were injured in some way.
Allison lifted her head and sat up.
"What the Hell happened?" Allison asked. "That was one wild ride."
Cameron checked the time since the energy bubble left the TDE pad.
"I only register leaving our base sixty two seconds ago." Cameron said.
Jesse sat up and looked around.
"I saw a lot of things happen in just over a minute." Jesse said.
Cameron did too and was as confused as everyone else was.
"This time travel was different from my eleven previous trips." Cameron said.
Vanna looked over Allison and Jesse to check them out.
Cameron's statement seemed a little 'off' to her.
"Eleven?" Vanna asked. "I thought it was only seven temporal transfers."
Cameron looked at Vanna and tilted her head slightly.
"Yes that is what I thought, it should only be seven." Cameron said.
Somehow it was eleven in Cameron's mind but she could only remember seven like Vanna said. Her other temporal files were damaged or deleted. There seemed to be even more of them missing….
Cameron did not think she was operating at one hundred percent but her systems showed that she was. Things still seemed off to her. She checked herself again and everything came back as 'normal' even if it still did not seem that way.
The girls all stood up. It was very dark where they were.
"So where and when are we?" Allison asked. "It seems like a lot happened in sixty seconds."
Allison touched herself and looked at her skin. She could not see anything in the near darkness.
Cameron became alarmed. Maybe the girls were damaged in some way.
"What are you doing?" Jesse asked Allison.
Jesse started to look at herself too.
"I'm looking for insect bites. I think I was stung or bitten several times in that one reality." Allison said.
Vanna touched and checked herself too.
"I can 'feel' them too but I don't actually see or feel any." Vanna said. "It is like something happened but didn't happen somehow, even though I know that it did."
They all wondered what actually did happen at this point.
"Did we all experience multiple realities together?" Allison asked.
The women talked it over and they all experienced the same things. Their perception and recollection was all very similar. It was not a dream or mass hallucination.
Cameron confirmed they all experienced the same thing. That meant is was real, like she thought it was. It also meant that she did not experience any more nightmares in her mind. She never wanted to do that again.
Allison asked the question they all wanted to know.
"Were we in prehistoric times in the first reality that we went to?" Allison asked. "It sure looked like it."
That was the same thought all of them shared.
"That is what I thought, especially with that volcano." Jesse said. "The last thing I would have needed to see would have been a dinosaur. It was bad enough to have to hunt and catch a lizard to eat. I sure did not want a giant lizard to hunt me and try to catch me to eat."
That was a common fear all the girls faced.
Cameron needed to pull it together. The girls would need to depend on her at first until they were situated.
"I was unable to see the stars then. I do not know when it was." Cameron said. "I detected no man made noises of any type. It could have been the jungle in some other part of the world. It could have been any time in the past, present or future. There is no way to know now."
Jesse remembered a movie she watched late one night between sexual encounters at the base.
"I would hate for it to have been a 'Planet Of The Apes' type situation." Jesse said.
Allison felt they faced a similar reality in their own future.
"I doubt that 'Planet Of The Terminators' would be a better choice." Allison said.
Vanna was sure the distant past would have been more detrimental than the future.
"I think sixty million years ago would have been worse than either of those." Vanna said.
The girls could clearly see Cameron was upset and their joking was not having any effect on her to cheer her up.
"That future war zone looked and sounded like it was a full on conflict." Jesse said. "It was a real battle zone."
Vanna recognized the sound of some of the weapons. There was a distinctive sound to one of them when discharged.
"There was plasma rifle fire going on in that one. I clearly heard it." Vanna said. "It was a future timeline for sure."
Cameron was able to look over the edge of the bomb crater they were in on that transfer.
"It was the future but I was unable to tell when or where." Cameron said. "Skynet was there in some way. I saw several terminated Terminators."
She knew they could have been Restorators from the other future too.
The strangest thing to all of them was the 'other Allison'.
Vanna liked what she saw in the girl for obvious reasons. She loved Allison and Cameron. The girl looked like them.
"What about Allison's and Cameron's twin?" Vanna asked. "We all saw that ship she was on, whatever that was."
Cameron was puzzled at how the girl identified her as 'a weapon' almost instantly. No one every 'made' her as a Terminator that quickly, especially when she was polite and cordial.
"I scanned her DNA. She is distantly related to the Young family." Cameron said.
Vanna wondered how distant.
"So one of the 'Allisons' got 'lucky'?" Jesse asked.
The girls laughed.
Allison wondered which one of them it was. There were at least three 'Allisons' that she knew of. There was Future Allison, Young Allison and herself. They all started as the same individual.
Vanna did not remember any other human contacts.
"Does anyone remember anyone or anything else?" Vanna asked.
Cameron rechecked her files half a dozen more times.
"I show no other interaction." Cameron said.
Wherever they were it was very cold.
"Does anyone else have hard nipples besides me from the cold in here?" Jesse asked.
"I do." Allison said.
"Me too." Vanna added.
Cameron did not think her nipples were much different than before. She did not comment.
"Can we move around from here or are were going for another ride?" Allison asked.
Jesse thought they'd been here the longest at this point.
"It looks like we are staying in this spot for now." Jesse said.
Allison wanted to know more. She wanted to know where or when they were in time. She did not want to get separated or left behind.
"Is it OK to look outside?" Allison asked. "Is it safe to split up or do we wait?"
Cameron waited as the girls watched her. She did not know for sure but this ending seemed final to her at this point.
"I think we have stopped traveling. We are here, wherever and whenever that is. Let me see where we are or when." Cameron said. "Stay here. Stay together for now in case something happens."
The girls waited nervously. None of them thought it would be good news. They worried what would happen if the energy bubble reappeared and Cameron was not in it. Should they get out of it or stay and go to the next location?
Cameron came back. She did not look well. It looked like she was about to experience a 'melt down'.
The girls expected the worst at this point.
"There was a temporal error." Cameron said.
That was not the news that any of them wanted to hear.
"Are we lost in time?" Vanna asked.
That was not the problem as Cameron saw it.
"No. We are in a timeline that is concurrent to the one we left." Cameron said.
That left a lot of leeway as to where they were.
"Is it the same one?" Allison asked.
Cameron could not determine that. She needed to check on some more things. She didn't have any way to do that at this time.
"I do not know yet." Cameron said.
Jesse wondered when they were.
"Is it the same date?" Jesse asked.
A single tear ran down Cameron's cheek.
"I show it several months after we - left." Cameron said.
Allison could see Cameron's pain. She tried to redirect the focus.
"So in sixty seconds we lost months? We went months forward in our timeline?" Allison asked. "I guess that is one way to keep from getting old."
Cameron remained silent. There were more tears on her cheeks now.
The girls all looked at each other. John and Riley were together and 'alone' for months now. They were alone without Cameron or the girls there to 'stop' them. They were all gone and it must have seemed they were gone forever to John after several months passed. That most likely meant one thing.
Allison asked what everyone thought.
"If we are in the same timeline, then what will happen?" Allison asked. "Are you going to terminate her?"
The girls all wondered the same thing.
"I don't know…." Cameron said. "I am 'not good enough' for John."
The girls all decided to act on their own and independent of each other.
Jesse thought if Cameron doesn't act, I will. I will kill that 'Bitch Whore' for hurting Cameron, even if it is a 'different' one.
Vanna thought that she would 'handle' the 'Bitch Whore' herself if she touched John. She would do it for Cameron so John would not hold it against Cameron.
Allison thought she would do what was 'necessary' to reunite John and Cameron and remove the 'Bitch Whore' from the mix, once and for all. The cards would land where they fell.
Cameron thought, John has been able to spend time with Riley. There has been enough time for him to make a choice. She was painfully aware that the last time John had a choice that he chose Riley over her.
Cameron said to herself. 'If he has chosen her again I will use the Thermite. My choice is termination. I will let John have what he wants, his choice. 'Everyone sacrifices for John Connor'.'
She sadly reflected history was about to repeat itself. She would not be a part of it this time.
Allison broke the long moment of silence that they experienced as they pondered the immediate future. Each of them secretly planed an act of violence. The girls would all seek to kill Riley. Cameron planed the act of termination against herself.
"So where are we?" Allison asked.
Jesse touched both of her breasts.
"We are freezing our nipples off in the cold darkness." Jesse said.
Cameron stated the obvious which did not yield much.
"We are in building that is in the desert." Cameron said.
That was the only fact that she knew for sure at this point.
Vanna was afraid of the answer but she asked anyway.
"Which desert?" Vanna asked.
Cameron remained silent as more tears silently streamed down her cheeks.
Nobody could feel the tears that streamed from her 'heart'.
Flaming Downward Spiral
These are more than just words
That appear before ones eyes
They are pieces of my soul
Nobody can hear my painful cries
I can honestly say
It has ALWAYS been that way
'Not good enough'
Is all I have heard them bray
From where I exist
There is nothing new to learn
This is what it looks like
To watch someone crash and burn
It is happening again
As the thoughts compound
The pain only goes away
When one is put in the ground
I wanted my thoughts
To be enjoyed and go viral
Now I am once again trapped
In this flaming downward spiral
Nobody