Chapter 330

Time to Talk

Cameron looked around the dark cell. The man cowered in the far corner. She looked at the female she'd terminated. She felt some remorse about it. She should have terminated her more swiftly. The data gleaned from her would prove interesting, especially with the pain and fear before death when she reviewed it. In fact, she looked forward to experiencing it herself once she downloaded it.

She bent down and picked something up before she moved over to the man. She let her eyes glow red as she spoke in her natural metallic voice.

The man jumped. He was now aware that there was a Terminator in the darkness with him. She noted the wet stop that formed between his legs.

This man and the group he represented wanted her terminated. She didn't have a problem returning the sentiment. Not only were they a threat to her but to John as well. These people's actions determined their own fates, not her.

She was unsure if this would go swiftly or if she would drag it out. It would all depend on the man's answers and his attitude. She really didn't care either way.

Cameron started her questioning….

John Henry went through the Terminators chip to see what he could find, if anything.

"John, you'd better take a look at this." John Henry said. "It appears the Terminator was stalking the anti-Metal group as well."

John hoped to get some information on the future. He would like a heads up on when the next Judgment Day would be and where it would be initiated from.

"Do we know where he came from, as in which future?" John asked. "Is there any information we can get about the future?"

John Henry found a pattern to that question. It was troubling in itself.

"No, there's nothing about the future." John Henry said. "That information has been erased from every Terminator we've encountered, even the ones Mrs. Weaver sent."

That was hard for John to understand. There should be some clues.

"Why?" John asked. "You would think some would have that or at least some information."

John Henry figured that everyone wanted to protect what they already controlled. It was an effective strategy.

"Everyone is keeping the future to themselves for this very reason. The more we can find out about anyone's future, the more we can change it." John Henry said. "That was the purpose of my mission, as well. I gathered the information first hand. There was no filter that way."

John was aware that they'd hunted future Grays down for years. Cameron also dealt with future Scavengers on the side with her own operation. Many of the later terminations were quite graphic.

"Yes, we've been able to remove a number of Grays and future Scavengers." John said. "I wonder how many timelines we've created."

Both John and John Henry really wondered how many timelines Cameron created or eradicated. There were bound to be a few.

Previously Cameron contacted Summer and Camille and asked that they return to assist her with the interrogation as soon as they finish the target list.

They'd taken down two more drug operations in the last hour.

"How far do we want to go with this?" Camille asked.

Summer tilted her head slightly.

"We need to finish the list." Summer said. "Cameron will need to do it herself if we don't."

They were in another rough neighborhood.

Camille looked in the rear view mirror.

"We have 1962 Impala on our tail." Camille said. "It's lowered."

Summer briefly wondered if it was powered by a four hundred and nine cubic inch engine. There was a song titled '409' that she'd heard one time about a vehicle from that era. It didn't really matter but now the tune of the song was stuck in her head.

"That sounds like 'gang bangers'." Summer said. "I'd think they would use one of the stolen vehicles that populate the neighborhood if there was going to be a problem."

Camille thought that too. This was probably the first contact until reinforcements arrived.

"It looks like some targets of opportunity for us." Camille said. "It won't hurt to terminate a few more future Scavengers."

Summer wanted to get to a more secluded location. She checked her internal satellite images.

"I can't locate an industrial area near here." Summer said.

Camille frowned slightly.

"There are few industries around this location. Most of the residents are on various forms of public assistance." Camille said. "It's a generational thing."

Summer knew that wasn't good. Generations raised without a work ethic led people to either become a Gray or a Scavenger in the future.

"It would be nice to eliminate the riff raff from this community and allow these people to reinvent themselves." Summer said. "We're supposed to help people better themselves."

Camille looked in her rear view mirror.

"I think we will help the community out real soon." Camille said. "There are two more vehicles behind the Impala. Wait. The Impala has fallen back to the third position."

Without looking behind her, Summer reached back and brought forward an M4 for both of them.

"This shouldn't delay us too long." Summer said.

They were notified by CamNet that there was a jamming field in place around them. They were the only ones that would be able to communicate currently.

Camille made a quick turn and sped up a little. This was to draw the pursers off of the original course they were on. If they'd called for additional reinforcements, they wouldn't know where to look now.

The three pursuit vehicles sped up too.

"I wonder how they clocked us." Camille said.

Summer wondered about that too.

"They may have been watching the last drug location we took down. These groups often fight over turf." Summer said. "We were the last ones in and the only ones out."

Camille wasn't sure about that or if their appearance caught someone's fancy. They would bring top dollar in many foreign countries. That was if they were human females.

"It looks like they are about to make a move." Camille said.

Summer saw they were almost to an industrial area in the next community over. She'd checked her M4. There was a full magazine and the weapon was charged. She'd placed an HE round in the M203 below the barrel.

"Here they come." Camille said. "They are going to try and get a vehicle in front of us."

Camille moved into the left lane so the vehicle would pass them on the passenger's side.

Summer placed the barrel of her M4 on the open windowsill. She held the M4 with her left hand and placed her right arm on top of it to hide its position.

The first vehicle went to pass them. Camille waited and sped up so they were side by side.

Summer looked over and smiled at the gang members. There were three men in a sedan. One of them smiled back. She lifted her arm and emptied the magazine into the passenger compartment. All three men died instantly. The speeding sedan went out of control. Camille stood on the brakes as soon as Summer was on her last three rounds.

There was a minivan behind them. That was the second vehicle. They needed to swerve off to the side to avoid running into the back of the SUV. The driver braked hard at the same time.

Up ahead the driver-less sedan turned sharply to the right and rolled over twice. Three lifeless bodies were ejected onto the pavement.

Summer leaned out the side window and fired the HE round in her M203 and the van exploded. It flipped end over end.

They went past the smoking sedan. The van flipped once and landed on the wreckage of the sedan. They were both engulfed in flames. There were bodies and debris scattered all over the right side of the road.

Summer loaded a fresh magazine into her M4 and another HE round into the M203.

Only six seconds passed from when Summer smiled and placed the second HE round into her M203.

Camille used the emergency brake and spun the SUV around almost instantly in a power slide turn. She'd watched Ken Block do that on videos before. It was really easy to turn the vehicle and go in a different direction, especially back the way they'd come from and keep the speed up.

The Impala was slow to react.

They passed the two burning vehicles in an instant. There was one man in the street that was still alive. His right foot and entire right arm were missing. Camille drew her M9 and fired once. She hit him in the head as they passed. His suffering was over.

The Impala made a U-turn to run. Summer leaned out the passenger's side window and fired two shots from her M4. Both of the rear tires were blown out on the Impala. It fishtailed wildly.

Camille looked over at Summer. She'd expected her to use the M203.

They caught up to the disabled Impala almost immediately. Summer fired her M4 two more times. Both occupants were killed. The disabled Impala stopped in the street.

Camille stopped next to it.

"Everyone is terminated." Summer said.

Camille drove away.

"Why didn't you use the HE round?" Camille asked.

"The Impala was a 409." Summer said. "I didn't want to destroy it. It's a classic."

Camille looked back.

"It would have been a waste of machinery." Camille said.

Camille made a turn and then another one soon after. They decided to head for Cameron's base.

Savannah awoke and was comforted to see Sheila by her side. She would rather have Cameron there but Cam or Ally would have been nice too.

She knew if Vanna remained incapable of having children, she would also be assigned at least one permanent Terminator 'friend'. Maybe that is why Sheila was there now.

Savannah looked at Sheila, she was beautiful.

She looked just like Jesse.

Savannah tried to get closer to Jesse but Jesse was 'afraid'. She was afraid of Vanna and of Cameron if she picked the 'forbidden fruit' - her.

Sheila scanned Savannah. Her readings were very much identical to Vanna's before a sexual encounter.

"I know what you're thinking." Sheila said. "Cameron will not allow any of the Terminators, female or otherwise, to do that with YOU. They would face deactivation."

Savannah was pleased to see that Sheila understood what she wanted.

"Don't you have free choice?" Savannah asked. "It won't hurt anything one way or the other."

The 'Jesse' in Sheila wanted to be with Savannah more than anything. She didn't have the same inhibitions or restrains as Jesse either. It was an absolute certainty that Cameron would terminate them in the most brutal way she could devise if they touched Savannah sexually.

"Yes we do." Sheila said. "We also know how to follow orders and none of us wishes to anger Cameron and be terminated as Isabel was, more than once. You know John and Young Allison are your future. It's not any of us."

Savannah frowned. She needed to think about all the things Vanna told her.

"I'm in no hurry." Savannah said. "Vanna has slowed me down with her story. It's MY story in reality."

Just thinking about it again started to make Savannah feel sick. She could only imagine her body being forced to do some of those 'things'. She wasn't sure if it was the acts themselves or that multiple men were doing them over and over. Why did they need to flip her over too? Wasn't the 'real thing' good enough?

Savannah knew she needed to stop thinking of Vanna as a 'mother figure' and more of as 'herself'. In fact they were the same person. She wanted to start sharing more with Vanna as the same person they were. She would ask Cameron if it was possible to use the Neural Interface with Vanna and herself. Savannah wanted to be all of 'herself' to be complete. She wanted ALL of Vanna's memories. They were HER memories and experiences. She wanted to have the good, the bad and the ugly.

She was aware that Vanna also experienced good things as well as the bad. She wanted those good things for herself. Maybe she could share some of Vanna's. If not, she was ready to make her own. She was ready to experiment with more than just herself. She looked at Sheila. She knew Jesse would help her 'learn'. She'd noticed Jesse look at her with hungry eyes many times. Maybe she just needed to be a little more persistent. If she put 'enough' in front of Jesse and they were alone, at some point Jesse wouldn't be able to stop herself.

Savannah decided to 'offer' herself to Jesse again and see what happened. She really needed someone NOW.

She could see one of Sheila's nipple rings. That view made her want more. Maybe a little 'touch' wouldn't hurt.

When Savannah reached out to touch it, Sheila quickly readjusted her top and covered herself. She didn't look forward to ending up on the scrap pile.

Savannah giggled a little.

Cameron questioned the man for hours. He was lying to her over and over. She resisted the urge to strike him repeatedly.

"Open your hand." Cameron commanded.

The man reluctantly did. Cameron placed something in it. She closed her hand around his so he couldn't release.

The man struggled wildly but Cameron held him firmly in place.

He was unable to break free. The man at this point realized there were two Terminators in the cell with him. The other one held him firmly in place.

The man looked frantically around. There were now three sets of red eyes around him. He'd never heard any of them enter. Now there were three Terminators in the cell with him. The very 'things' he swore to eradicate.

"The next lie you utter will be the last words you are ever able to speak." Cameron said. "Speech will be impossible without a tongue."

One of the Terminators forced his mouth open. He wasn't sure what was up but they looked like they meant business.

"Do you wish to start telling the truth or or become speechless, forever.?" Cameron asked.

"Let me do it. He will not comply." The other Terminator said.

The man uttered a bunch of incoherent babble.

The Terminator released all pressure.

"I want the truth, all of it. You're being scanned as we speak. We know when you're lying." Cameron said. "There will be no further warning."

Cameron asked the questions and the man talked and talked. He cried and whimpered until she wanted him to - shut up….

Cameron left the room soundlessly. Camille took her place. The developments at the Resistance base required her to leave at once. She took Summer aside and talked with her.

Cameron explained her sheath would be Resequenced with Allison's DNA and she would be known as Cammy from now on. She would also install a second chip port as well as a second power supply. She wanted Cammy to be 'special'. Cammy would be for someone 'special' to her.

She said they would update one more time and explained what her new duties would be. She was specific on what was allowed and not allowed until she approved of everything.

Summer, now Cammy, would assume her new 'duties' as soon as her sheath Resequenced.

Cameron would have to wait until later to create her own 'Summer'. Maybe with Claire's recent decision it was better if there wasn't a Metal Summer yet. There was no need to rock the boat or upset anyone needlessly.

Cameron called and spoke with Holly to check on Allison. She explained the latest development at the base. It was nothing good.

"I want an update every fifteen minutes." Cameron said.

"What if she is sleeping?" Holly asked.

"Be more careful." Cameron said. "We're losing control."

"What can we do to help Allison or the others?" Holly asked.

"Pray." Cameron said.

Cameron wasn't sure why she said that.

"I have been." Holly said.

That was somewhat of a shock to Cameron. Faith was not in their programming.

"Do you and Claire pray?" Cameron asked. "I've listened to Claire before as well."

"Yes." Holly said. "Belief is a new concept for us, for ME. Claire believes in something I know is impossible. To her it is as real as she is. Because she believes it, it is REAL to her. I want to learn more."

Cameron was aware that humans could 'believe' in something. That belief could make them do anything including blow themselves up for a 'higher cause'. She'd seen a news report on TV one time about some suicide bombers who did that.

There were billions of people on earth and most of them believed in something at some point that wasn't real or provable, even if it was someone else's love for them or to them.

Love may be the thing that most humans believed in that wasn't tangible. Then again sometimes it was. For most of them it wasn't for long. It didn't take much for them to turn in a different direction and seek out a 'new lover'. She'd witnessed that with her own eyes. She'd watched John do that as quick as one could flip a switch.

Cameron looked down at her left hand with disgust. The glitch was back.

There was a soft knock at Jesse's door.

Gail slowly got up and answered it. She'd been suppressing her tears. She no longer could as she sensed Cameron outside.

Cameron and Vanna were at the door when Gail tearfully opened it.

"NO!" Jesse screamed.

She burst into tears when she saw them.

Cameron and Vanna entered the room. Ally and Cam waited outside. The door closed….

Time To Talk

There is a time to listen
There is a time to talk
Listening is more than hearing
Talk needs to be more that squawk

When everyone withdraws into themselves
There is no worthwhile communication
That can lead to trepidation
This often leads to stagnation

If no one is moving forward
Then they might as well park
Going nowhere fast
Will never ignite a spark

The call for help
Can come in many ways
Will that assistance
Arrive in months, weeks or days

At life's door when there's a knock
It's not the time to gawk and mock
There is no need for shock
When two find the time to talk

Nobody

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Cameron Prime Timeline:

Events Continue In Chapter 337

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