Chapter 116
Do This
John went with Bob on a recon mission. They needed to run down some more leads. The Skynet related activity had dropped off some. That may or may not be a good thing. It was getting harder to track. What they feared was that Skynet was getting better at hiding. In every encounter so far with Skynet, the Resistance was the victor.
John Henry suggested they concentrate on information that was gleaned from the alternate future. The files indicated that there were still plenty of future Grays to wade through. He knew he could come up with more potential targets. They needed to be tracked down and terminated.
Later on:
John Henry provided John with a couple of targets.
John looked over the information.
"This looks like good intel." John said.
"It is." John Henry said.
John wanted to act.
"Get me Bob and Jim." John said. "I want to get right on this."
John Henry knew Cameron liked to be included.
"Don't you want to wait for Cameron?" John Henry asked.
John frowned.
"Is she even around?" John asked. "I don't see her much any more."
John Henry did not like the attitude.
"I can check." John Henry said.
John wanted to go now.
"Don't bother." John said. "If she is not here then wherever she is at or who she is with is more important to her."
Bob and Jim arrived in the Command Center.
John stood up.
"Fill them in." John said. "I'll be back."
He left and headed for his room. It really was 'his' room anymore since Cameron was no longer around.
He arrived there and looked around. The room was empty and cold. He shook his head in disgust.
He collected his gear and checked his weapons.
He looked over and noticed Cameron's poem book was out. He went over and picked it up. He looked to see if there were any new poems in it. There were. He quickly read them. It was clear to him now that Cameron's poem book was her 'diary'. It was full of sayings and thoughts written down in rhythmic form. It was actually quite unique. He carefully put it back.
He used the rest room real quick and collected his gear. He opened the door to go out into the hall. He was a little surprised to see Bob and Jim standing there. They were armored up and read to go. They held their weapons ready.
"We've been waiting for you." Bob said.
John wondered how long he'd been in his room. It did not seem that long. Time seemed to pass rapidly when he read Cameron's poems. Maybe it was because he thought about them and tried to figure out what she really said. The true message was often cryptic. Maybe it was cryptic to her when she created it as well.
"I'm sorry." John said. "I was doing something else."
Jim and Bob looked at each other. They looked at the closed door to his room.
"Is Cameron going too?" Jim asked.
John shrugged his shoulders.
"I have absolutely no idea." John said.
Bob looked back at the room.
"Can't you ask her?" Bob asked.
John noticed that they both looked at his room door.
"She is not in there." John said.
Bob and Jim looked at each other again.
"Nobody is in there." John said. "Let's go."
The three of them headed out to the carpool. John put his vest and gear on as Jim held his M4.
As soon as John left with Bob and Jim the door to his room opened. A lone figure emerged from the room and ran down the side hall away from John, Bob and Jim. They were headed to the carpool from the back way.
"Which vehicle are we going to take?" John asked.
They heard a vehicle start in the back somewhere.
"It will probably be that one." Jim said.
An SUV came around the corner. The lights were on so it blinded John a little. It stopped next to him and the passenger door opened.
"Come with me if you want to go on the mission." Cameron said.
John was very surprised to see Cameron and that she was ready to go on the mission.
Cameron exchanged pleasantries with the three of them.
John was not sure what to say. He was glad Cameron was here. He noticed there was a 'blankness' to her look. She seemed to be there but not really all the way there.
"Fill me in." Cameron said.
John started out and Bob filled in all the details and specifics.
He noticed Cameron gave him a sly glance every so often.
It made him wondered about earlier when he was in his room. Bob and Jim seemed to think she was in there.
Maybe Nobody really was in there.
"We will be at the target location in three minutes." Cameron said.
"Jim and I will take the back." Bob said.
"The General and I will take the front." Cameron said.
Nobody spoke again until the mission was over.
They arrived at the target location and took the future Gray out in only a few seconds. Cameron left drugs and a weapon taken from a gang member at the scene.
They headed back to the base.
Cameron decided to concentrate on future Scavengers, while John worked on the future Grays. To Cameron, the Scavenger problem was personal for what they'd done to her friends and to females in general. She was Metal so she understood that the machines followed their programing when they acted. They did what they did because they did not really have a choice. The Scavengers however did what they did because they liked it and they didn't care who in the Resistance paid the price as long as they got their way. That seemed worse to her than a machine doing what it was programmed to do.
She liked to terminate drug dealing operations and street gangs. She targeted them over a large area. Once she determined where they kept their money stashed, she would hit it. She would take the cash, valuables and all serviceable weapons with her as well. She tried to leave evidence of another local gang or drug operation so they would keep attacking each other and add to the turmoil. The more the gangs killed each other, the less she needed to kill them herself. She continued to obtain funds to run her own side operation this way.
Since her actions against future Scavengers was not directly related to Skynet, she worked outside of the Resistance in secret. She did not want her actions to 'taint' the Resistance. She needed to roam in the dark underbelly of society. Even as Cameron did this, she wondered if this is how she became Skynet herself, if she actually did. For her to become Skynet was her worst fear.
Cameron confiscated funds from the international drug trade. Once she identified the suppliers of the local drug lords, she went after the bigger fish. She took in millions of dollars as she worked through the various cartels. What was irritating to her was that as fast as she cleaned one group out, that another group sprung up to fill the void. It seemed to her that at the rate people were willing to consume illegal drugs that Skynet could wait for awhile and let the humans destroy themselves.
She really wondered how people thought drugs helped them with anything. They seemed to ruin more lives and set more people up to become future Scavengers when J-Day arrived.
River was interested in Savannah. It seemed Savannah was like her in a way, at least like how she was before they started to 'work' on her. Savannah held such strong beliefs and ideas. She knew what her future held and with who. It was her love for Cameron that surprised her the most. It was a deep emotional bond. It was a stronger love than any other she'd ever felt from any of the other people. That included her future and the present. It was a love so strong that Savannah would die for it.
She wanted to know more why Savannah believed Cameron was invincible and eternal. River knew there was more to this than the words at face value. She felt somehow she figured into this equation of what Savannah believed. She was not really sure how.
River knew there was one other person she needed to meet on her own, it was Young Allison. She believed that Young Allison was instrumental to everything in the future. She was aware what needed to be done. She knew how to 'help'.
John was aware that Cameron wanted to leave. She stood before him. She looked emotionless.
"Isn't my love, our love, strong enough to keep you here?" John asked.
Cameron said nothing. She showed no emotion.
"Look, Cameron, I know you are unhappy." John said.
Cameron said nothing. Her face was blank.
"What can I do to make it better for you, Cameron?" John asked.
Cameron said nothing. She removed her clothes.
"Cameron, what are you doing?" John asked.
Cameron said nothing. She lay on the bed.
"I can't, not like this." John said.
Cameron said nothing. She stared at the ceiling.
"What are you doing?" John asked.
Cameron said nothing. Her eyes no longer blinked.
"Did John Henry reprogram you?" John asked.
That seemed to trigger the first response from her.
"I am the new reprogrammed Unit." Cameron said.
"What?" John asked.
"My designation is - Nobody." Cameron stated.
"What?" John asked.
"To provide you with sexual favors is my only function." Nobody said.
John looked in disbelief.
"Do as you please…." Nobody said.
The girls were ever increasingly worried about Cameron. No one knew how to help her. They wanted to help her but Cameron was distant to them. They knew whenever Cameron was trying to distance herself from John or them that it was bad news.
"What are we going to do about Cameron?" Vanna asked
"I don't know." Allison said. "We are losing her."
"Is it River's fault?" Jesse asked.
"No, River is not encouraging her in any way." Allison said.
"How do you know?" Jesse asked.
"River talked to me and wanted to know how to help Cameron 'get better' herself." Allison said.
"River wants to go home. She wants to go back to her brother and family, her ship family." Vanna said.
"How did we bring someone from the future, in space, here anyway?" Jesse asked.
"Who knows? It seems anything is possible around here, time travel both forward and backward, different timelines, Liquid Metal, cyborgs, people that were dead are alive again…." Vanna answered.
"If we can stop Skynet, will any of this still be possible?" Jesse asked.
"Who knows?" Vanna asked. "Who really knows?"
"We need to do what Cameron wants, what we want…." Allison said.
"Tell John." Jesse said.
"I am going to do that." Allison said.
"We can not lose Cameron, we have to do something." Vanna said. "I can't lose her."
"I won't lose her." Jesse said. "She is everything to me."
"I love her too as strange as that seems. I see her as HER, not as looking like 'me'. I only see myself in the mirror a few times a day. I seldom saw myself growing up. I see Cameron as Cameron all day. Besides she is way hotter than I could ever be." Allison said.
"If you had your choice would it be Cameron or John…?" Jesse asked.
"Cameron." both Vanna and Allison said in unison.
All three girls giggled. It was a unanimous choice.
John sat up in bed.
'Thank goodness that was a dream.' He thought.
He looked and Cameron was in bed next to him. He jumped.
Cameron was lying on the covers next to him in a dress.
A dress…?
"River?" John asked.
"Yes." River replied.
"Why are you here?" John asked.
"I am here for Cameron." River said.
"Did she tell you to come here?" John asked.
"No." River said.
"You know I won't touch you, right?" John asked.
"Yes." River said.
River knew John would not touch her, she also knew he wanted to. She always felt it when he looked at her. He felt if for the other girls too. It was just stronger for her.
"Then why are you here?" John asked.
"I must try to help Cameron." River said.
"I don't understand Cameron anymore." John said.
"I do, I see everything in her mind. She is going to destroy herself, John. I need to do this for her or take her back to my future with me when I go. Maybe we need to go further into the future. She belongs here but if she stays she will self- terminate. That is the only reason I am here. It is for HER. I must save her."
"Do YOU want to 'do this'?" John asked.
"No." River said. "I don't WANT to."
"Then why are you here?" John asked.
"I will do anything for Cameron. She is like no other. I am like no other. We must 'help' each other. No one understands us. No one CAN understand us. We should go into the future of my future. Maybe we will be accepted there. I can not protect her HERE. I can not protect her from herself."
"River, I can't do 'this' to you." John said. "Not like this. I can't."
Cameron came into the room. There was a look of sadness on her face. She said nothing.
River got up and straightened her dress. She walked out of the room with Cameron.
Cameron took River's hand as they walked away. River looked back once as the door closed behind them….
Dance Is The Hidden Language Of The Soul
Dance is fluidity of movement
Whether it is styled or freelance
It can physically express one's feelings
Even take a cunning chance
With proper choreography
And a well timed glance
One can send a signal
Even a desire for romance
With good form
And a proper stance
One can enthrall the spectators
Hold them in a binding trance
Dance is poetry in motion
Smoothly sidestep or advance
Pirouettes, spin, turn, back step
Or expand and enhance
One can physically express emotion
It can help make one whole
To those who appreciate metamorphosis
Dance is the hidden language of the soul
Nobody