Chapter 224

Protect Him

Cameron sought John out. She was irritated about the way John treated her program. Her program was essentially her. It was not her chassis and not her sheath. Both of those were changeable. She was her program. She felt that John showed her great disrespect and discrimination towards her and to her kind….

Once Cameron found John she confronted him.

"John, why won't you touch me when I'm in a different chassis and sheath?" Cameron asked. "I can't understand. I'm the SAME inside. My program is ME. Do you only want my 'Allison appearance'? That's it. You want Allison."

John was not ready for this but he was used to it. It happened from time to time.

"Cameron, I didn't even know about Allison when I fell in love with you." John said.

Cameron called it out for what she believed.

"You fell in love with my appearance. You fell in love with the way Allison 'looks'. I acted like 'Allison' and used my infiltration programming." Cameron said. "After you knew I was a machine, you would not have me. You chose Riley instead. Then you rubbed it in my face on top of it. I still remember that smirk you gave me as you went up the stairs. You only use this body as a 'sperm bank'. I'm like a 'blow up love doll' to you. I'm not a 'love machine' or a 'silicone love doll'. I feel like a Metal Whore. No, wait, a prostitute gets paid, I have to serve you. I'm a slave. I'm a Metal Slave."

John found it hard to believe what he'd just heard. Cameron was getting herself all wound up again. This seemed a little worse than usual. They essentially always conducted the same argument. It was always the same questions and accusations with the same answers.

"Cameron, that's not it at all. Since we've been married I've never been with anyone but you and who looked like you as 'Cameron'." John said. "You should take that as a complement rather than an insult."

Cameron tossed her head up and off to the side.

"I'll think about it." Cameron said.

She huffed off very upset and angry.

John wondered what went wrong now. This was obviously part of some other problem.

Allison was every bit the daughter Claire could have imagined and hoped for. She knew she would be a grandmother one day because it was Allison's destiny to be at John's side.

It saddened Claire to learn of a 'Duplicate Allison's' death. What made it worse was that she carried John's baby. It shocked her to know Cameron 'killed' another 'Allison' but risked everything to correct that mistake once she was freed from the enslavement of Skynet.

Allison told her all the stories about the team. Allison would not talk about what happened to her in her future. Allison talked of what happened to others like Vanna and Jesse including other events she'd witnessed. Allison would never speak of what happened to her…. Claire thought as a mother that it was better she didn't know. She did know it must be traumatic for Allison.

Now, Allison and her were almost the same age. Allison was only a few years younger and Vanna was only a few years older than her. Vanna caught her eye as well. There was just something about her. They always shared long looks when Allison was not there.

If Claire did not know the truth about them and was not married, she could have fallen in love with them herself as she'd done with Cameron. No wonder Allison loved Cameron. You can't be around Cameron and not love her, she thought.

She saw the way her husband looked at Cameron. It was a look you learn to know what it 'means'. It was a look of desire and lust. Paul was a good man and never touched any of the girls even if he wanted to. She'd asked each of them personally just to make sure. If she were still single she would have touched them. If it wasn't for the 'pressure' from her family to 'get married and have kids' she would have pursued a different lifestyle…. The very lifestyle her daughter lived and shared was her preference when she was younger. Apparently ALL of her 'daughters' even in different timelines lived that same lifestyle.

Cameron promised to be there when Claire gave birth to her baby. She was told that she was being scanned and monitored every few hours by the Metal girls. That was a surprise to her. They could only tell so much.

She did ask Cameron if she knew the sex of the baby. Cameron said that she did. She finally asked Cameron and she told her. She told Cameron she liked the names Cameron and Summer as good choices for a girl. Cameron said she would rather have her name used as a middle name. She told Cameron she would name the baby Summer Cameron Young.

Cameron thought that was a good choice. Cameron liked the name Summer, she wasn't sure why. There was just something about it….

Jesse looked over at Vanna. She was still asleep. She spent a lot of time with Vanna since Gail and Sheila were away. Allison was with Holly and they were away. That left Vanna and her with each other. They seemed to make the most out of it.

She still tried to get to John since Cameron would not let up on her. Cameron 'pushed' her to do so. The trouble was that nothing ever seemed to happen. Cameron suggested that she would get John drunk and switch places with her. Cameron wanted a 'real female' at John side and in his bed. She wanted them to have a REAL relationship. John needed to be protected and she felt no one helped her to accomplish that task. It always seemed to anger Cameron when she spoke about it.

Jesse tried to explain to Cameron that John loved her too much to do that. All Cameron would say is John needed a 'real female' to protect him from the 'future'. It was very upsetting to her that she could not seduce John. NO ONE ever refused her before. It was actually a challenge now to her. Like Cameron, Jesse did not like to lose.

'I will be the ONE to protect him.' Jesse vowed to herself.

Cameron was very upset at John at this point. She needed to hunt down some future Grays to quell the anger that brewed inside her.

She was a little worried about her last termination. She did not terminate the individual right away as she should have. She tortured him first. She'd used the same chemicals on him as he'd used on the animals in the same way. It seemed like 'justice' to her even if it was not very Terminator like.

Her next target involved a tech firm. They would go on to assist Skynet with programs to infect computer systems in the past. The main target she was after was Charles Fisher. He was currently in prison. It appeared that there were some previous dealings with Future Derek and Future Jesse based on the intelligence reports. It seemed that Charles Fisher returned from the future and was terminated by them. She was not sure why they did not terminate both of them.

She arrived at the tech firm in broad daylight. She carried her Glock with her and the silenced .22 pistol that all the girls liked to use. Maybe she would start out with that. She would switch to the Glock if there was any resistance.

It seemed like a good idea to wear a vest for some protection. She hooked four Thermite grenades to it and put a light jacket over everything. It was very bulky looking but covered what was about to happen from obvious view. She brought one satchel charge with her made from C-4. It should do a good job to bring down most of the building when she left.

Cameron parked a block away and approached the building. She walked in the front door. She was pleased to see that the receptionist was not there. She'd called her away on a 'family emergency' right before she left the base.

She grasped the door handle and shoved the door in. It cracked open with a loud splintering sound. She carried the silenced pistol in her hand.

A head popped out of the first office to see what the noise was. Her pistol coughed once and the man fell. The bullet went through his right eye. She looked in the first office. Only the dead man was there.

She moved on to the second office. There was a man working at a computer. The silenced pistol coughed again when he looked up at her and went through his right eye.

Cameron was aware that the shots fired like this most likely followed the inner circumference of the inside of the skull and thoroughly scrambled the brain after a couple of revolutions through the gray matter.

She moved on to the third office and it was empty. The computer was on but no one was in the room.

She approached the fourth office. A man walked out as he looked at a paper that he held in his hands. He almost bumped into Cameron. He looked up slightly surprised that someone was right in front of him. The silenced pistol coughed once again. The man wore eye glasses but they did not slow or deflect the silenced projectile as it punched through them and into his right eye and the gateway to the inside of his skull.

Each time she killed one of the men she remembered that John continued to disrespect her program.

The fifth office was empty when she looked inside. The lights were off. There were now two men 'missing'. They were there right before she left to go there. She verified that with the receptionist. The receptionist said she was not sure on all the names yet as she'd only started yesterday. That was why Cameron called with a 'family emergency' a few minutes later. She wanted to spare the new girl's life. If she would have still been there, she would have died at her desk.

The last room was the restroom. The door was locked. She listened for a few seconds and smiled. She was going to try something 'special' if everything was as it sounded.

She slowly turned the handle and the lock broke under her force. There was a metal snapping sound but it was not loud. She opened the door slightly. There was a man sitting on the toilet with another man in front of him on his knees. It was clear what was happening.

She aimed carefully and fired twice into the back of the man who knelt. The seated man on the toilet was about to let out a scream once he realized what just happened. The man that was shot in the back fell off to the side. Cameron fired twice more. The scream died in the man's mouth as his head snapped back. The man on the floor was dead.

Cameron tossed a Thermite grenade into each of the rooms with bodies. She left the satchel charge in the center of the building against the central support. She set the timer for four minutes. She wanted to make sure the fire was raging before the building collapsed in on itself and burnt everything.

What John said to her earlier did not brother her right now. She checked her time and hurried back to her SUV. She needed to keep an appointment with John Henry and Bob.

It was time to run the drones through their paces.

John Henry was out in the field to test the drones. Bob and Cameron were with him. They brought a second drone with them.

Cameron insisted she control the second drone. She engaged John Henry in dogfights and simulated aerial combat. She was always able to 'wax' him. They switched drones and the same thing occurred. Bob tried also. She smoked them both.

John Henry could see right away why Cameron was successful.

"It is obvious that by you using irrational tactics that you are able to out perform both of us." John Henry said. "I will use parts of your programming in each of the drones for autonomous control as well as mine for 'stability'."

Cameron was not sure she liked his response. It made her think of a recent event. It was quite eye opening.

"It is not all about three dimensional thinking." Cameron said. "It is fluidity in motion. It is about where you want to be and don't want to be and pushing the outside of the envelope. I recently 'appropriated' an F-16 from the Air Force and engaged two Navy F-18 fighters in mock combat. I flew the Falcon past the point of where the G forces would kill a human pilot to the point of even popping a few rivets. They are still trying to find out who that pilot was."

That revelation worried John Henry.

"That was you who did that?" John Henry asked. "I monitored that event and the investigation that followed. They never found the F-16."

The thought of the event and what followed made Cameron laugh.

"They never will." Cameron said. "I zoom climbed to 80,000 feet and bailed out over the Pacific. I opened my parachute right afterward. I rode the jet stream east. I ended up landing in Nevada. I though I could go further. I didn't."

Bob and John Henry looked at each other. They were disturbed by that news. It was apparent that Cameron took unnecessary risks, again. John would have to know….

Steve and Dan were on patrol. Sheila called Holly and asked her to be extra vigilant. Holly said she would be and asked Allison to watch Young Allison. Holly understood what they wanted to do. She hoped they would not ask Allison to go over. Then again she hoped they did and Allison would look at her and then say 'no' to them. Holly understood she needed to share with Vanna but she did want Allison for herself….

Gail and Sheila faced each other.

"I know were are the same program but I can't look at you and not see 'Jesse'." Gail said. "I want you."

"We are the same and I want you as well." Sheila said. "This should be quite an experience."

"Let's try not to bust up the room." Gail said. "I don't want us to use any specific programming."

"Affirmative." Sheila said.

They both slowly undressed each other.

Then all Hell broke loose as soon as they touched each other…..

'Rock And Roll' by 'Led Zeppelin', shook the house.

Apparently Not

Memories die hard
But they fade, blur and die
The pain is what will forever last
Everyone always questions why

Everyone wonders and asks
Why can't what is good remain
Hurt and pain replaces the joy
Anguish attacks the brain

What does one remember
It is what really did happen
Or do we only remember
What we wanted to happen

Were we ever really
On the same page
Or mindless puppets
Sacrificed on life's stage

We search for our love
Will they remember or not
No one is there – so
Apparently Not

Nobody

Covet

There are those
We may covet
When they become aware
They say cram it

There are those
We may worship
When they become aware
The finger us they flip

There are those
We may want
When they become aware
They see it as a stupid stunt

There are those
We may desire
When they become aware
They throw our heart into the fire

There are those
We may love
When they become aware
Away us they shove

Nobody