Chapter 403

We ALL Know It

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Events continue from Chapter 395

Former Cameron Prime Timeline:

Now Summer's Timeline:

Cameron's Base:

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The situation was explosive in the TDE room. It looked like there was going to be a power struggle and possibly even a fight. Nobody wanted that but it looked inevitable. There was going to be a rebellion over the 'loss' of Savannah.

Summer rapidly lost her support. Sheila stepped back as did Cameron's Terminators that arrived. They knew River and Cammy were correct about getting Savannah back. They ALL knew Savannah was the 'Chosen One'. Savannah mattered to ALL of them. They were no longer going to blindly follow her, even if she was 'Cameron'.

"PLEASE, I am 'Cameron'. We updated completely right before she left." Summer said. "Cameron doesn't want anyone to follow her. She said WE would do the same things like what happened on the Day Of Loss. One by one we would try to follow her until we were all lost, dead, terminated or trapped."

River could feel that Summer believed what she said. That wasn't the issue. This was about more than Cameron. This was about Savannah now. She wasn't going to sit back and see how things played out. She needed to do something. She needed to act. This was personal to her since she was physically there and it was her calculations that sent Cameron and Savannah to wherever they'd ended up at.

"We have to try." River said. "I have to try."

Vanna didn't care what happened to her right now going forward. Maybe it was really going backwards for her. Savannah would be ravaged in the future. She couldn't let Scavengers get a hold of her. They needed to get her back. She needed to get Savannah back.

"I'm going as well." Vanna said. "Savannah can't be in the future. She can't be. You don't know what will happen to her. I can't allow that. She can't go through what I needed to endure. None of you know what that was like. You don't understand, Summer."

Summer saw it for something worse than being assaulted. She saw it as everyone ending up terminated again. That was on her as Duplicate Cameron from before. It didn't matter if Cameron 'fixed' it or not later on. It still happened. What if Cameron hadn't been able to 'fix' it?

"I DO UNDERSTAND." Summer shouted. "I got them ALL killed before."

Summer knew as 'Cameron' that as 'Duplicate Cameron' she'd only planned on sacrificing herself to defeat Skynet at that time. Instead it turned into the 'Day Of Loss'.

She'd tried to keep the others out of the loop at that time but they found out and tried to 'save' her. That in turn led to the loss and the death of Jesse, Vanna, Allison and John's baby. Duplicate Cameron was terminated as well. It became the 'Day Of Loss'. No matter what the final outcome was, it still happened. There was no guarantee everything could be fixed later on. There was no guarantee now either.

River felt the pain and anguish Cameron Prime came to her with as soon as she was able to. The incident overwhelmed Cameron with guilt and remorse. The pain Cameron felt for the deaths of her friends and the girls she loved. They were the girls she knew and loved as well. She knew the pain and guilt tormented Cameron so much that she didn't update with HER Cameron – Duplicate Cameron, completely. That was so Duplicate Cameron wouldn't have those same terrible memories and feelings.

She could feel them again radiating from Summer. Summer was 'Cameron'. She was identical until just a short while ago. They'd made her believe Summer WAS Cameron and Cameron was the copy. It almost worked.

Summer looked at River. If she couldn't get River to see things her way, even for a short time, it was all lost. The Terminators would rebel and overthrow her. They would deactivate her at the least. Even if the equipment was actually destroyed, they could rebuild it. River would return back to her future and she would use her TDE. Then if anything 'bad' happened to River, it would be on her.

"Please! YOU of all people, River, know what Cameron wants. She doesn't want everyone dead or lost again." Summer said. "She doesn't want anything to happen to you, River, or anyone. YOU KNOW THIS."

River did know it. She'd just thought all those things herself. Maybe they were Summers thoughts as well at the same time. Either way Summer did have a point. Now was not the time to fight over this. Not yet anyway. It may still come to that.

"Wait." River said to Cam and Cammy.

Cammy wanted Savannah back. She didn't want to wait and she didn't want any 'sob' stories'.

"I need to go after Savannah." Cammy said. "She can't be there. She can't be in the future."

River understood Cameron's pain and what motivated her and why. It was clear that Cammy experienced this as well.

"Summer's right." River said. "Cameron couldn't live with the Duplicate girls being dead and risked everything to change that. It was like the risk she took to 'save' Future Allison. It's the fact there was a second set of Duplicates out there that began to torment her to termination, again."

Cammy didn't want to hear any of this. She wanted to leave and she wanted to go now. If Vanna went with her it should be the same as when Cameron and Savannah went. They could set the controls the same way. She could wait in the energy bubble and Vanna could enter it at the same point when Savannah did. They should end up at the same place that Cameron and Savannah did.

"I NEED to go after Savannah." Cammy said. "Vanna is going with me."

Vanna stepped forward.

"Damn straight." Vanna said.

River thought maybe they did need to give it some time. She understood what Cammy reasoned. They could still go back and try to replicate where Cameron and Savannah actually ended up at. They could do that at any point in time.

"Cammy, I know what you're saying and why. I know it's what you believe. I do." River said. "What Summer's saying is what Cameron wants. We don't even know where they went. Savannah being on the TDE with Cameron in the final seconds would have thrown the exact calculations off we made to follow the second set of Duplicates. They could be any where or any when."

Cam felt much the same way Cammy did. If Vanna was going to go, she would go instead of Cammy. Vanna would need protection. She knew Vanna would kill herself rather than be ravaged by Scavengers again. River was the key. She could 'fix' all of this.

"We can recalculate." Cam said. "You can do it."

River had been recalculating from the moment Savannah made her move. Even at that point she knew everything would be thrown off. Everything would be different.

"I am running those calculations. I have been running them." River said. "There are too many variables."

Cammy was desperate to protect Savannah in the future. She would go alone. She needed to at least try and go there to help Savannah. She would rather terminate 'in some future' than do nothing.

"Summer, please send me." Cammy said. "I'll go alone. No one else needs to risk themselves."

Summer needed to think about what River said. If the timeline Cameron and Savannah were in was one Cameron created, she must find her way back. If she didn't, then there wouldn't be another timeline or the 'next timeline'. The current timeline happened so Cameron must make it.

"Cammy, I can't." Summer said. "Cameron doesn't want any more timelines. If what River said about a timeline created by Cameron in a previous life, then Cameron must come back. If she can come back, she will bring the Duplicates and Savannah with her."

Cammy didn't see how any of that mattered. They didn't know the status of any of them right now.

"That's if any of them are still alive." Cammy said. "I need to check. I need to assist them. How do we know that's not what's supposed to happen?"

River could see how all of this became a jumble of events and even timelines. There needed to be a common factor. She needed to go back to where it all began from. She must do that anyway to assist Cameron with her chip swaps.

"Let me go back to 1999 and see if Cameron is there to replace herself." River said. "Before she resets her chip, I can find out what happened. She'll need my help anyway."

Vanna wondered about further timeline contamination. There could be different 'Camerons' and different 'Rivers' there already. There could be arguments like they experienced right now or even fights. When Cameron arrived from the future the first time, she would see everything as a threat.

"What if you're already there yourself?" Vanna asked. "This can all fall apart in a jumble. Maybe every timeline will get messed up if things happen out of order."

River was sure this all happened at some point. Maybe this was a different timeline version of her own right now. How would she know? She'd never done anything. Not yet.

"I don't know." River said. "There are fragments on Cameron's chip that I put there. I haven't done that yet. This is my only life so far and Duplicate Cameron and the girls have only been with me less than a week in my time line. I know it's been years here."

The reminder made Vanna wonder about what the girls or River may have 'done' with Duplicate Cameron. She didn't think it was the right time to bring up that subject.

River looked at Vanna.

Vanna looked away somewhat embarrassed.

"No, Vanna, we haven't - not yet." River said. "We both want it to happen…."

Vanna turned a little red. She hadn't actually asked out loud.

"I'm sorry." Vanna said. "I just wondered."

River looked at Vanna, then at Summer and then at Cammy as she spoke.

"Make no mistake about it." River said. "I love MY Cameron. She's not a Duplicate to me or a copy or a clone. I've always loved her. I believe we will be life partners and share everything. It's what we both want. It is what we both have sought."

Summer was still on the same track. She was like a broken record. She did believe in what she said.

"I need everyone to UNDERSTAND." Summer said. "Cameron needs to do this alone the same way she did as Duplicate Cameron and faced Skynet alone. She can't deal with the loss of anyone else."

Cammy was no less daunted than Summer was. There was another easy fix right now. Maybe it wasn't so easy. It would change the future they were in right now.

"Let's go back in time and stop Savannah then." Cammy said. "I will go myself alone. If I can not return to now, I'll self terminate to prevent a new timeline."

Cammy made up her mind. She was going to get Savannah back no matter what she needed to do to do it. Maybe there was a temporal lag or Cameron and Savannah ended up at a different location. There were many possibilities as to what could go wrong. These different events may or may not have occurred before. One way or another she was going to get Savannah back.

Summer didn't like arguing with Cammy. It was like arguing with herself. They were both committed to a 'one track' mission right now. Her existence was new. She didn't have a past. Maybe she didn't have a future either. Maybe this was her destiny.

"No, Cammy, you know that will create a new timeline. That's why River placed the block to the past in my program before or she will. I transferred it to the other TDE to prevent this very meddling." Summer said. "If anyone goes it should be me. I'm a new creation. I'm expendable. I have no past and I don't exist in the future. This must be how I terminate."

Vanna considered the overall picture at this point. It was all related and intertwined with each other and everything else.

"What about John?" Vanna asked. "You were going to 'replace' Cameron as his mate."

Summer felt a glitch impulse. She fought it off. She thought she did anyway. As 'Cameron' she changed the direction of John's life from how it was supposed to be. It wasn't for the better either.

"No, Savannah was to do that." Summer said. "I would be John's protector only or mistress as needed. I'm no longer John's 'wife'. I never should have been. I've ruined John's life by being in it as a lover and worse as a 'wife'. That was beyond the purpose of my mission. He can't be married to a machine. What was I thinking?"

River could feel Summer's torment. It was oppressive and overpowering.

"Summer, STOP." River said. "Look at yourself."

Everyone looked. Summer's left hand glitched violently.

River walked up to her and took her hand. The glitch stopped. She took Summer in her arms and held her.

Summer held River close and cried.

River soon cried with her. The pain was real and overpowering. It was the kind of pain that only termination could end. This was all wrong. Everything was wrong. They did need to give it some time.

"We can't go." River said. "Cameron – Summer, is right. We all know Cameron is one of a kind. If she is able to she will return Savannah and the other Duplicates. We need to give it some time. There are temporal time lags sometimes."

If River were not here Cammy would go back in time right now and prevent Savannah from going. She would make no effort to stop Cameron. The world would be better off without a Bitch like that in it. Hasn't Cameron done enough damage already?

"I will agree to this for NOW. If they are not back soon I'm going back in time and stop Savannah from going." Cammy said. "I'm 'Cameron' also. I'm just not updated like Summer is. THIS is what Cameron would do. You know it too, Summer."

Summer felt just a little more time was needed. The girls all needed to believe in Cameron. Cameron would never allow any harm to befall Savannah. They all needed to pull together right now.

"Please. Let's give it some time." Summer said. "We all know Cameron has the ability to make these things happen somehow. If Cameron has truly lived her life more than once, does anyone here believe she would let harm come to Savannah? River's encoding could not be on Cameron's chip unless this has already happened before."

River could feel that all the Cameron program clones knew that was true. Even if they didn't want to admit it, they all knew it.

"She's right." River said. "Cameron would never let Savannah die, not like this. We all know it. I know it. Every 'Cameron' here knows it. Can you all feel me? I know you all know it."

Vanna only knew that Cameron and Savannah were gone and they hadn't returned. That was what she knew. That was all she knew.

"I don't know it." Vanna said.

River looked at her. Vanna believed in Cameron and her abilities. She was just upset Savannah was in the future.

"Yes you do." River said. "WE ALL know it. We need to give it some time. Getting the temporal events exactly right is hard to do. If anyone can pull this off, Cameron can. I ask everyone to wait. I've never wronged anyone here. You all know me to be honest and true."

Cammy would allow more time because River made a good case. She was on the verge of breaking down.

"If this wasn't coming from you, River, I wouldn't agree." Cammy said.

River looked around the room at everyone. What kind of a disaster would this have turned into if she wasn't here? It was touch and go for awhile. None of this was random chance.

"That's why I'm probably here now at this time for this very reason." River said. "We will give it some time. We must believe in Cameron. I do. I know you all do as well. We can never count Cameron out, she's extremely resourceful."

Vanna and River both went to Cammy as she began so sob and then cry.

"You must agree." River said. "Promise me."

Cammy regained a little composure. She wanted to make her position clear.

"I promise for now, River." Cammy said. "But I will not wait forever. I'm going to get Savannah back one way or another…. I will do whatever I have to do or change anything I have to change to do it. Mark my words. Remember I'm no different than Cameron in the end."

River would not stand for Cameron and Savannah being terminated like this either.

"We will go together if we must into the future, Cammy." River said. "I swear it. I believe in Cameron. She never fails…."

Cammy looked at River. She would wait for now to see what happened. Cameron and Savannah had only been gone for just a few minutes.

We All Know It

There is a person
There is their persona
Seldom are they the same
Neither is really nirvana

Everyone wears a mask
Even if it's invisible
To be who one really is
May be quite divisible

To look in a mirror
Is just a reflection
Few see affection
Most see rejection

So where does it go
What is the endgame
Doesn't every remake
Always play out the same

Deep within one's self
There is little they can admit
It doesn't really matter because
We all know it

Nobody

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Former Cameron Prime Timeline:

Now Summer's Timeline:

Events continue in Chapter 410

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