Chapter 183
Tehachapi
Cameron sat up a short while after the song finished. It was a soft and calming song for her to listen to. It helped her regain control.
John was a little worried when Cameron sat up.
"How do you feel?" John asked.
Cameron smiled at John.
"Everything is fine now. Everything is perfect." Cameron said. "I fixed myself."
Cameron reached forward and touched Bob and Holly.
They both looked at her and smiled. She smiled back at them.
"Everything's good now." Cameron said. "I fixed myself. I'm fine."
They all doubted that but were glad that Cameron was trying to hold it together. They knew how close to 'losing it' she'd actually been earlier.
They traveled north out of Mojave and headed west on Highway 58.
Cameron wanted to get the two teams back in order and everyone in their proper SUV.
"Bob, take the next exit so John can return to his SUV and to his team." Cameron said.
Bob looked up at the off ramp sign as they approached.
"Do you see what the next exit is called? It's named 'Cameron'." Bob said.
Cameron wondered if that was some strange omen or a long time street name. It was a geographic reference name for the railroad.
"'Cameron', that's funny." Cameron said as she laughed a little.
That made John a little worried.
She gave John a kiss.
The two SUVs exited at the 'Cameron' off ramp and they pulled over at the top.
John got out and whispered to Cameron.
"I will love you no matter how you look or how you 'are'." John said. "I love you, Cameron."
Cameron did not have much of a reply.
"Thank you." Cameron said. "I'm sorry."
She really wondered why she'd altered, no, 'destroyed' her sheath, her body. She pushed it out of her mind. What was done was done.
John got in the second SUV and they both re-entered the freeway. The railroad tracks were now next to the freeway on their left side. They'd crossed over the tracks on a bridge right before they entered Mojave. The railroad tracks were on their right side before when they were on Sierra Highway.
John Henry gave them the location of the rail webcam where the HK drone was spotted. It was past the community of Tehachapi at Walong. That is where the 'Tehachapi Loop' was located. The Tehachapi Loop was a section of railroad track that circled over and crossed on top of itself in a complete circle. This was done to gain elevation to keep the grade from being too steep. John decided he would investigate the webcam lead while Cameron's team looked around the small Tehachapi airport.
The man they spoke with in Mojave said there were some small drones that operated out of there. They hoped to find a lead on a larger drone.
They stayed on Highway 58 until Summit and exited onto Tehachapi Boulevard. They traveled west and Cameron's SUV turned off to go to the Tehachapi airport. John's SUV re-entered Highway 58 at the end of town and headed for the Tehachapi Loop. They would drive past it on the freeway, exit at Keene and then return on a side road.
The railroad tracks were on their left as they drove. The freeway was lower than the railroad tracks at this juncture. There was a long container train slightly above them. It snaked through four short curved tunnels. It made an impressive sight. The Tehachapi Loop was soon on their left as the freeway moved away from the tracks. They took the next exit and headed for the rail webcam. That was where the HK drone made itself known. This area was remote but not that remote. Someone wanted them out here. They were here.
John took the wheel and Dan made ready the Coltan loaded M60. Three brought out several LAW rockets and a Barrett Model 82A1. They knew any of those three weapons could bring down an HK drone.
They should have the advantage. That was unless the HK drone attacked them or their positions. They would make sure they were spread out to present more than one target. It would also give them crossfire on their target.
The Tehachapi airport was very small. It was mostly visited by the private aircraft of the wealthy local residents. There were no Warbirds at this small strip. The runway was only four thousand feet long which was almost identical to its elevation above sea level at four thousand feet.
Cameron asked around at the airport about any drones. The drone activity at this airport was all amateur stuff. There were a few reports of one large drone not too long ago. It was observed flying over the railroad tracks around the Tehachapi Loop. The workers thought one of the two railroads that used the tracks filmed some publicity or promotional footage. They told her there was some drone footage available to view on YouTube. The bigger drone was only ever seen in that remote area.
This looked like a dead end to them. They went back toward their vehicle. One of the workers followed them. The three Terminators became a little concerned. In a defensive posture Holly and Bob both moved away from Cameron as she turned to speak with the man.
"Hello." Cameron said with a smile. "Was there something else?"
The worker looked around. He was away from the rest of his coworkers.
He motioned for Cameron to head over to a small group of sheds. It looked like he wanted to remain out of sight.
Bob and Holly were still near but in flanking positions if this went bad. They searched for any other threats.
The worker looked around again once they were isolated.
"I saw it." The worker said. "It was not a commercial drone. It was military drone of some kind. It was armed. I tried to research it on the internet and my system crashed. I used a different computer and the same thing happened."
That revelation got Cameron interested real fast. It sounded like a version of Skynet intercepted his searches and 'punished' him for looking into it.
Cameron questioned the man further. He lived next to the Woodford Tehachapi road. This all happened in the last few days.
"I'm pretty sure I saw a larger one too one time." The worker said.
Cameron wanted to know how much larger. Maybe it was the man's proximity or perception of the same HK drone. They could be very intimidating to humans.
Holly sent out a warning to John's team as soon as the man said he thought there were two drones and they were armed.
He said the larger drone was painted a little different and looked slightly different. There was a glass dome on the top of it.
This was news to Cameron. She wondered what was in the dome. Maybe it was a turret of some type or some other apparatus.
"Did you get any photos?" Cameron asked.
The worker looked around again.
"I did." The worker said. "I thought it was a UFO…."
The worker paused.
Cameron prompted him a little.
"Did you call the authorities?" Cameron asked.
The worker looked around again.
"I did." The worker said. "My phone did not work and it got really hot. I dropped it on the ground and the battery inside exploded. I lost everything including the photos."
Cameron wanted to contain this.
"I think you should drop looking into this." Cameron said.
The worker looked at Cameron.
"You know something about this." The worker said. "I'm not crazy."
The worker backed up as Bob came and stood next to Cameron. He looked very intimidating. He wore a pair of mirror sunglasses now.
"We're from the government and we're here to help." Cameron said.
Cameron made up a story about international terrorists and that they were going to try and take down a building. She cautioned him for his own safety to not pursue this any further. Bob took out some money and gave the man a thousand dollars to get a new phone.
"I'll get some new shorts too." The worker said. "I messed up a couple of pairs. I dumped them where I soiled them."
Cameron thanked the man for his assistance and cautioned him again not to pursue anything related to this episode.
Cameron's team left the airport, Bob drove.
"This is definitely Skynet related." Cameron said. "We need to give ourselves more options. The approaches to the webcam are probably all monitored."
"I already updated John's team." Holly said.
Cameron wanted to come to the location near the Tehachapi Loop on the railroad tracks on a train, literally on top of a train. She would drop off from the top of the tunnel entrance at Cable, Tunnel 17, onto the top of the next downhill train.
Bob headed down a dirt road to reach the location. He let her off and took the back road through Old Town to head for the Tehachapi Loop on the Woodford Tehachapi Road. They would approach the Tehachapi Loop from three different directions.
Cameron previously watched some YouTube videos that Kyle recommended of the Tehachapi Loop and the surrounding area. They gave a brief overview of the area and the terrain.
She remembered one video was titled: 'Tehachapi SP "Oil Cans" Exit Tunnel #5'. Another video was titled: 'Tehachapi Double Stacks'. It was quite impressive she thought. She hoped some of the others saw it as well. She would recommend it to anyone. It was heavy mountain railroading at its finest.
John and his team arrived at the Tehachapi Loop first. They took the longest route in and approached it from the downhill side of the loop. There was a mixed container and merchandise train snaking its way around the loop. There were helpers on the rear end. The train was long enough to loop itself. The train literally made a circle over itself.
He went to the spot of the rail webcam. Three lifted him up and he held his phone in front of it with the image of the HK drone on it for ten seconds.
A 'message' was sent.
"You guys take up positions in the rocks on that hill above Tunnel 10 overlooking Tunnel 9 and the loop." John said.
Tunnel 9 was the one that the trains looped themselves over.
Bob and Holly would arrive in a few minutes from the back way to the Tehachapi Loop from the old road.
Cameron spotted the next downhill train approach where she was on top of the tunnel. The double track mainline turned into a single track for the tunnels. She stayed low behind the top of the tunnel portal so she wasn't spotted by the head-end crew of the train. She waited until the whining locomotives entered the tunnel below her before she moved to drop down on the top of train as it passed below her.
She dropped down on top of the double stack container train headed downhill towards the loop. She needed to stay low as the clearance was limited between the top of double stacked container cars and the bottom of the tunnel arch. She passed through the four short tunnels in the span of three minutes. The highway was down below off to her right. She should arrive right after Bob if the train continued at the same speed. She could hear the locomotives in full 'dynamic brake' mode. It was a form of resistance from the electric traction motors. It was like a car downshifting in a way. The energy generated was dissipated as heat. They made quite a whine.
As the train neared Tunnel 10, Cameron could hear a drone. She slid down between the stacked containers cars and asked John Henry to notify the others and make sure no one was in the SUV at the loop. John armed himself and took up a hidden position nearby. He was in a separate location from Three and Dan.
The HK drone picked up the railroad tracks and followed them to the Tehachapi Loop to investigate the image that appeared on the rail webcam. Whoever wanted them there, knew they were there now. The HK drone passed over the double stacked container train. It failed to detect Cameron who now moved underneath one of the container cars, her body was just inches from the tracks below as the train rocked and squealed along. After the drone passed over, she moved back up between two of the rocking container cars.
Bob saw the HK drone in the distance as he and Holly approached. He told the others it appeared unarmed. He could not tell for sure. It seemed it was a messenger or Pied Piper. It gained altitude over the rail webcam location. It circled and then came down and stopped directly in front of the rail webcam again. Dan moved out of hiding and stood up. The drone turned and faced him. John fired a tracking device and hit the drone with it. It spun around to face him.
Three fired one round and hit it one of the engines. The drone dropped off on that side and headed down into the canyon. It started to smoke and sparks came out of that power plant. Bob's SUV reached John's location and continued down the hill in pursuit. He drove past John's team. Dan and Three returned to the SUV and John drove off after Bob and Holly.
The train Cameron was on just reached Tunnel 10 near the loop. The train would soon loop itself over and then pass through Tunnel 9.
They saw the HK drone try to climb over the mountainside but it lost altitude. It dropped down to follow the railroad tracks again. It tried to circle back the way it came. John stopped the SUV.
"Hit it again." John said.
Three hit it with a second round. It wobbled wildly, turned and headed downhill again. They were only trying to damage it at this point to see what else happened. It could not gain altitude to go back the way it came from.
Erode
It is
What it is
Each day
Another quiz
What you have
What you have not
Good for some
Most for naught
To simply exist
Is to be alive
For tomorrow
We survive
We can not have
Who we want
Each one soon
A source of affront
Before our eyes
A dream erodes
With it unseen
Our mind explodes
Nobody
Anxiety
Terror
Panic
Fear
The Titanic
Nowhere to run
Nowhere to hide
It is collapsing within
What is trapped inside
Aloneness
Sorrow
Emptiness
No tomorrow
Pressure
Cold
Trapped
New things old
Help
Scream
Is it real
Is it a dream
Nobody