Chapter 329

Time To Think

Cameron was unsure what to make of her encounter with Claire. Claire just 'gave' her everything she wanted without her even having to ask for it. It was EVERYTHING she wanted for John. Claire was young and beautiful. This was more than she'd ever imagined possible. She decided if Judgment Day came that Claire would be at John's side. She felt even worse now for the times she'd thought about terminating Claire and taking her daughters from her.

She now needed to think about what she'd done before she left her facility. She'd ripped the tongue out of the future Gray female and left her screaming and choking to death in her own blood. She'd forced her jaw open and broke it with her left hand. She'd grasped her tongue with her right hand and tore it out. She was a little concerned about the process involved. She didn't do it fast but slowly so what was happening would sink in on the doomed female.

Cameron would glean the information on the woman's death from the interface and review it at some point in the future. She would experience torture and death as a human does, again. She took less satisfaction in this death. It actually troubled her. Upon further refection she now wished she would've simply terminated the female. She decided not to use the interface on another female again. With Claire's offer there was no need for her to become a 'human female'. The whole project was a mistake.

Cam called her and informed her of the events with Vanna and Savannah. Cam made an audio file but hadn't reviewed it as Vanna asked her not to 'listen'. Cam thought she might want it to review. She did want to review it but she would ask Vanna for her permission first. She was afraid this would change her plans for her Summer clone since Camille was already allocated. Summer would most likely need to be Resequenced with Allison's DNA as a 'Cameron clone' to become 'Cammy' for Savannah. It was apparent Savannah wasn't going to 'wait' for Young Allison to mature. That was still years away. She was determined to keep control of the situation. She knew Savannah tried to become 'friendlier' with Jesse. She knew what Savannah wanted. She wanted that too, even if she couldn't admit it yet.

Ally called her soon after and informed her of more bad news regarding Jesse. The scans looked worse and Jesse would most likely lose the baby also. Young Jesse and Savannah were both more important than ever to her. Young Allison was as well but Claire would help with that 'problem', if it became a problem. Allison still scanned back as 'normal' and healthy.

Still, Claire 'offered' her a baby created by John for HER. It was said in so many words but both of them understood everything. She knew that would end Claire's marriage if that happened for sure. She didn't want to do that yet. She decided if Allison lost this baby that she would use Claire and not the two young teenagers, Young Jesse and Savannah, yet. She knew this was going to cause a problem with Allison and Holly if Claire 'stepped up' to do what they all refused to do for her. In fact, she was angry now that no one listened to her about what SHE wanted. They were the things that were NEEDED to protect John and the future.

She was unable to understand why none of them could understand. She remembered that Savannah offered to 'step up'. Savannah offered her body's ability to reproduce to her. That left her with a more pleasant thought. Savannah was the greatest. Claire would do for now though.

Cameron entered her base and headed for the anti-Metal leader that was in custody. She was going to get some answers and get them fast. Maybe she would use the Neural Interface from the woman's head on him. She smiled to know that Metal would soon take his 'being' over.

'Anti-Metal THIS….' Cameron thought and laughed.

Nobody threatened her John.

Cameron soundless entered the dark cell…. She knew he'd found the single match she left. He was able to witness what his future was going to be for those few seconds that the match burnt.

She wondered if he understood that when the match extinguished itself it represented what direction his life was about to take. She hoped so. She was trapped here in the past because of people like him, the haters. Someone needed to 'pay' for that.

Camille and Summer left the two drunk men behind after they changed the flat tire. They'd run a few more errands for Cameron as well.

"We're almost done." Camille said.

Summer was in no hurry to get back.

"We will probably need to clean up that mess in the interrogation cell." Summer said.

Camille figured it would be an even bigger mess once Cameron was through with the new prisoner.

"It's just another function." Camille said. "It won't take us long."

Summer decided to let it slide. If they needed to do it, they needed to do it.

"Let's just go to the next stop and take care of business." Summer said.

Camille drove to a seedy area.

"It looks dangerous around here." Camille said.

Summer didn't like it either.

"It's a good thing we're Terminators." Summer said.

Camille parked in front a security camera on one of the run down buildings. She contacted John Henry. He couldn't access that camera. He told her he found one across the street where he could have his server keep a watch on the vehicle for them.

They went over their plan again. They would go to buy some narcotics and see if they were abducted into the sex trade. That was one of the reports that Cameron received. They were to follow up on it. They went in without any weapons or phones. They would only have their coms. Their hair covered those quite adequately.

They'd spotted one 'enforcer' when they drove past earlier. He was on the other side. There was another one in front of them up ahead.

"There are at least two thugs on the outside." Camille said.

Summer knew that wasn't a problem.

"They may last one second longer than someone else." Summer said. "The bigger they are, the harder they fall."

They could hear the sound of skateboard nearing them from behind. They moved to the side of the sidewalk. A teenage male passed by them on the skateboard.

They watched him give a slight wave to the second enforcer as he passed him.

"That must be a regular customer." Summer said. "They seemed to know each other."

The teenager stopped at the door of one of the buildings up ahead.

He knocked and someone looked through a small window in the door. The door opened two seconds later. He left his skateboard outside and went inside. The door closed behind him.

Thirty seconds later the door opened and the teenager came out with a smile on his face. The door closed behind him. He got on his skateboard and headed back in their direction. He passed by them a short time later. His eyes were very hollow looking.

They neared the second enforcer. He didn't look pleased to see them.

"Are you two lost?" The thug asked.

Camille smiled.

"We heard were could get a little 'pick me up' around here." Camille said.

The thug looked around.

"Where are your boyfriends?" The thug asked.

Summer moved close to Camille and kissed her on the cheek.

"We only have girlfriends." Summer said. "We don't really care for men, no offense."

The thug looked a little excited. He'd looked angry before.

"Let's see some green." The thug said.

Camille flashed a few hundred dollar bills.

The thug looked at the money and at Camille and Summer in detail.

"Go to the red door on the right on the second building." The thug said.

Camille smiled at him.

Summer spoke at a low decibel level.

"That's not where the teenager went." Summer said.

Camille figured they were about to be abducted.

"Get ready to get grabbed." Camille said.

They passed by the door the teenager entered and arrive at the red door. It opened as they approached. They entered. There were two men. The men both looked them over.

The smaller man looked at Camille.

"What's your poison?" The small man asked.

"We're here for some 'crystal'." Camille said.

The small man gave her a price.

Camille hesitated.

"Where's the bread?" The small man asked.

Camille took out a hundred dollar bill.

The man went to reach for it. She pulled it back.

"What the Hell?" The big man asked and stepped forward.

"I don't have a lot of cash." Camille said. "We want a lot of other things too. We hoped to make a deal."

The big man smiled.

"Sluts are a dime a dozen around here." The big man said.

Summer looked a little offended.

"We're not sluts." Summer said. "We don't do men."

The small man didn't like how this seemed about to play out.

"Give us the dough and then get out." The small man said.

Camille wanted to push it a little.

"We could make some movies or something." Camille said.

There was a 'click' sound and a gruff voice came over an intercom.

"Send them back." The gruff voice said.

The big man moved to a door on the side and entered a code into it. He opened the door and ushered them inside.

Camille and Summer looked at each other as they entered into the unknown.

John was in the Command Center. He was ready for some answers.

"What have we gotten so far from the Terminator or HK drone?" John asked.

John Henry currently reviewed the information.

"It's been plenty." John Henry said. "The Terminator was helping Skyscan establish another attempt at Skynet. It appears the drone was from one of the other Skynet offshoots, Skyshield."

John knew this was more trouble no matter how it was viewed.

"Great." John said, disgusted. "We're still fighting Skynet on what now appears to be three fronts, simultaneously."

John Henry felt it was worse than that.

"It appears that way AND we have an anti-Metal faction stalking us as well." John Henry said. "The only good part of that is they were stalking enemy Metal as well."

John didn't like that they'd needed to kill any Resistance fighters, even if they wanted to kill him.

"Maybe we shouldn't have terminated all of them." John said. "We could've tried to reason with them."

John Henry viewed the threat the same way as Cameron did.

"John, these people will kill you in the past, present or future if they want to." John Henry said. "They must be eradicated. Would Cameron's Future Jesse have stopped?"

That was a reminder that John could have done without. That brought up the whole issue of Future Riley again. He was really glad that Cameron wasn't here.

"I don't know." John said. "I let her go."

John Henry tilted his head slightly.

"Do you mean Cameron's Future Jesse is STILL out there?" John Henry asked. "I thought she was dead."

John could see this was probably going to boil over. It would end up back on his lap.

"I let her go but Future Derek said that he 'took care of it'. I thought that meant he killed her. Now I don't know." John said. "If Cameron finds out Future Jesse is still alive and behind this mess, that's going to be a big problem. Future Riley was Future Jesse's doing."

Bob sat and listened to the two discuss the situation.

"This is getting better by the minute." Bob said as he shook his head.

Bob felt that he needed to inform Cameron it was possible that Future Jesse who caused the problems with her meddling, may still be alive.

The door closed behind Camille and Summer. They could see the room was soundproofed.

There were three more men inside and a rat faced man behind a desk.

"What do you think we are?" The rat face man asked. "Do you think we're stupid?"

Camille and Summer could see this was about to go downhill real fast.

"Yes." Camille said. "We're in your den with three dead men and a slimy sissy."

Camille punched the closest man in the side of the head, it caved in. He dropped down like a ton of bricks. She moved to grab the rat faced man before he could sound the alarm.

Summer moved on the other two men as Camille made her move.

She chopped the first one in the throat and it snapped his neck. The second man tried to pull a gun. She punched him hard in the chest. It crushed his ribs and his heart. The two men both ended up on top of each other on the floor.

Camille hauled the rat faced man over his desk with one hand by his neck so he couldn't scream.

"Where are the girls?" Camille asked. "If you try to scream or call out you will die."

She eased up his throat.

The rat faced man tried to call out for help.

Camille snapped his neck.

They armed themselves with the weapons the four men carried. They took a quick look around the office.

"There's no safe in here." Summer said.

"There aren't any narcotics either." Camille said. "They must be next door."

There was a door in the back of the room. Summer moved to it and forced it open.

There was a hallway that ran along the back There were three doors and what looked like a connecting door to the building next door.

They quickly checked the three rooms. There were drugs in one of them.

Camille used a lighter she'd taken from one of the dead men and started a fire in the corner. They left the door open and headed for the connecting door to the next building.

They held a pistol in one hand as they went through the door.

There was cash stacked up on the table as a man processed it.

Summer 'rabbit punched' him in the back of the neck and snapped his spine.

A smoke detector went off somewhere behind them in the hall area. The fire started to spread.

"We must have missed one smoke detector." Camille said.

Summer started to collect the cash. The safe was open too.

There was a rustling sound at the door to the front. Camille tucked her pistol away and moved alongside the door. whoever entered would see Summer as they came into the room and miss her as they passed.

Two men rushed into the room from the front where the teenager conducted his transaction and spotted Summer.

Camille grabbed both of them and slammed their heads together. There was a loud sickening 'crack' noise. They both died instantly.

She pulled her pistol and entered the front room. There was another man there with some drugs behind a counter.

He tried to pull a weapon but never made it. Camille punched him square in the face. His nose was smashed flat and the cartilage driven into his brain. He died instantly. There was a lot of smoke coming into the room now. Summer emerged from the back room with a sack full of cash.

"Let's go." Summer said.

They exited out of the front door.

Smoke billowed out with them.

They saw the enforcer run in their direction.

"Help us." Summer said. "They need help inside. They can't breathe. I can't carry them."

Camille blocked what Summer held in her hand and went back into the smoke. The thug followed her in.

As soon as he was inside she snapped his neck.

She went back outside. Summer and her hurried to their SUV parked down the street and around the corner.

They could see flames shooting through the roof of both buildings as they headed away.

Sarah was worried about John. She talked to Kyle about it often. She was aware that they'd prevented two known Judgment Day dates by several years now. She was worried about Cameron. Cameron was literally killing herself to keep not only John safe and protected but ALL of them as well, including the other Terminators.

She knew if John lost Cameron that it would devastate him. She'd heard rumors about Cameron 'cloning' herself to prevent John from that inevitably loss.

Sarah wondered about it. How does that work?

What is 'Cameron'? What makes Cameron – 'Cameron'? Is it her chip? Is it her program? Is it her sheath and chassis? Is it the combination of all three?

What if Cameron Resequenced the DNA in her chassis processor and the appearance of her sheath changed? Is that still Cameron? If she wanted to look like Vanna or Jesse, is she still Cameron? The chip is the same, her program is the same. What if Cameron Resequenced herself to look like her? How would that fly? Could John be with Cameron is she looked like her, 'his mother'?

What if Cameron plugs herself into the lab server and copies herself from her neck port and removes her chip and replaces it with a new reprogrammed chip without any 'Cameron programming' on it? Is that still Cameron? It's the same sheath and chassis. What if she placed her original chip in a new female Terminator chassis? Is that now Cameron? It's her chip and program. What if she placed it in a male chassis?

What is 'Cameron'? What makes Cameron - 'Cameron' and not a 'copy' or a 'clone' or a 'Duplicate'? What if there is an alternate timeline Cameron? Which one is Cameron Prime? Can there be more than one 'Cameron' at the same time? They could all be her from different timelines. Derek, Kyle and Riley were all 'back from the dead' because of a different timeline. They were the same people.

Cameron was damaged when she rescued her from prison. John went after her chip. There was still a 'Cameron' left behind in the server. Sarah knew 'Cameron' was on the server in the lab. That was 'Cameron'. She only lacked a functional chassis at that time. It was still her program….

Sarah also knew that as soon as Cameron reinstalled her original chip back in her reconstructed chassis and it was updated with the two 'Camerons' on the servers, she went and brought John back, just like she'd promised. It was the first thing she did. Cameron told her that is what she would do and it was.

She really wondered what made Cameron – 'Cameron'.

Sarah was really unsure of the answer. It was either many things or one thing.

This was a lot for Sarah to think about.

Time To Think

There are many decisions
One can not act too rash
Things can quickly turn into trash
All that may be left is some ash

If one acts in haste
It can be just an impulse
The after events related to that
Can lead to something that may repulse

Choices have consequences
Every single thing one does matters
Everyone knows what they do before they act
Selfish acts can leave another in tatters

Everyone needs to grow up
Not hide behind 'what's done is done'
It is really all others that they shun
Things will fail before they've begun

Away from life many slink
Everything seems to have a kink
Before events reach the brink
Everyone needs time to think

Nobody