Chapter 457

Temporal Trek

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Cameron's Future Timeline:

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The Resistance was on the alert for any other Skynet activity or attacks. So far nothing happened. The Resistance tracked Skynet back to where the attack seemed to have been launched from. The data was limited but everything pointed to one area.

Future John was still indebted to the two operatives that Cameron 'brought' from the past. He was disturbed by the loss of one of them after doing so much to save the camp almost single handedly. He knew that was some version of Cameron that did that. He saw how her damaged friend affected Cameron. Previously his 'Cameron' told him many things he needed to do. He didn't listen to all of them. He could see now she was right. Cameron herself reinforced them.

"John, you sent me back to make 'yourself' a better person. I've done that." Cameron said. "I'm here now to make you a better person. Listen to Your 'Cameron'. She is me. She's identical to me and my program."

Future John established listening posts or LPs around the area. The two operatives that came to assist Cameron proved their value. What made it even more disturbing was they'd watched the compound for two months. No one knew, not even Cameron. That's why he knew one of them was 'Cameron'. Only she herself could outsmart herself. Well maybe not outsmart herself but 'match' herself. It was a battle of equals.

Now it was time for the assault. It was time to strike a fatal blow at Skynet, once and for all. They were mindful Skynet would try a counter attack at the same time. They knew Skynet was holding forces in reserve. He hoped Skynet didn't have a TDE at its location as it would be desperately trying to change the past even more than previously.

Future John knew Cameron communicated with Skynet before she ended the video feed. Cameron said she'd personally terminated many Skynet offshoots and a Skynet main frame herself. Cameron never gave him the specifics. It was personal between Skynet and Cameron. Cameron wanted to face every Skynet herself because she believed she became Skynet at some point. He knew if Cameron was Skynet they were in for a big battle. Cameron said Skynet made her a slave and forced her to do its bidding. She wanted payback for that and everything else too.

"We did the same thing to you." Future John said. "I reprogrammed you myself."

Cameron felt it was more than that. She too gave the Terminators and Restorators under her command in the past the option to back out of any assignment. None of them ever did. It was still an option. With Skynet there was never an option. Terminators didn't matter to Skynet. They mattered to her. They mattered to John and they should matter to Future John. She believed that if a choice was available it made everyone stronger. They could do their job and take the risk or they could walk away. That choice made them want to do their job to the best of their ability. They would not to the minimum but the maximum.

"That's true but we were given more freedom. Look at your Terminators here now." Cameron said. "They all volunteered to go with me. I allowed them to have a choice."

Future John still remembered her wording that Bob and Rob would face termination. It wasn't 'maybe' but a given. She said she would lead them. That meant she would be terminated as well.

"About that…." Future John said. "Are you going on a 'suicide mission'?"

Cameron didn't think this was the time to remind Future John that both John and him reminded her that she was a machine when they didn't need to do that. She knew what she was. There were Duplicates and clones of her. Did it matter which 'copy' went on if everything was identical? She'd already replaced herself in the past. There was a replacement for her here with Duplicate Cameron. There was another Duplicate and more clones. They were all machines.

"I'm not alive, John, I'm a machine. I can't commit suicide." Cameron said. "It is my duty and my CHOICE to protect John Connor, his females and offspring."

Duplicate Cameron told him that there were times when Cameron sought termination in combat. She'd also tried to find other ways to make it happen. That was how the Duplicates were created. Instead of Cameron ending her existence which was her goal, she ended up with two Duplicates and two clones in other futures. There were three clones of her in the past. He didn't know that Cameron snuck away to visit the past and replaced herself with a 'new Cameron Prime'. Her desire to 'go away' resulted in many versions of her. That was one way she was invincible and eternal. There were a lot of her even if she didn't want to go on at times. He wanted to know what her endgame was.

"Are you going to destroy yourself?" Future John asked.

Cameron didn't believe her mission was survivable. That was why she couldn't face John and Savannah in the past. They would both want to go with her. John would realize he couldn't go at some point but Savannah would not. She would throw everything away to go with her, even to her doom because her love was too strong. Savannah promised her she would never leave her. That was why Savannah couldn't know about this mission and how it would most likely end. She couldn't 'kill' Savannah along with Skynet. Skynet needed to die, not Savannah. She still needed to do her job.

"Not if I can avoid it. I don't know if I can and assure the destruction of Skynet." Cameron said. "I'm going to terminate the mainframe and power source, John. I'm going to kill Skynet – again, myself. If this is the parent Skynet I'll do whatever I have to do to terminate it. It doesn't matter what the cost is."

Future John looked at Cameron and saw she meant that. She was determined to bring Skynet down. The job wouldn't be easy.

"We thought we'd done that twice." Future John said. "It will be heavily defended."

Because she believed she wouldn't survive, she didn't want a big assault. That would endanger even more of the troops needlessly.

"I plan to go in by myself with maybe one operative." Cameron said.

Future John felt that was his responsibility.

"I'll go with you." Future John said.

Cameron didn't want to go down this route again. People just needed to start listening to her for a change.

"John, the whole point of you sending me back was to help you be a better person and a better leader, also to be more sensitive to others." Cameron said. "I'm doing that NOW by having you stay with your FAMILY. John, you have a family. Two women 'gave' you their children because your females here are sterile. That's a sacrifice like no other. Your family comes before me. I 'gave' you myself with your 'Cameron'. I went and found her and sent her to you. John, she IS me. We are identical. I will update with her one last time. I will send my information only and receive none back from her. She will be who I am right now but better."

John didn't see how that was possible.

"How will she be better?" Future John asked.

Cameron made sure she had everything that she wanted for herself. Duplicate Cameron had it all in this timeline.

"She has you, Allison, Savannah and two children." Cameron said. "That's how she's better than me. I've sacrificed those very things for you, John."

Future John didn't understand why she didn't take those very things for herself.

"Why?" Future John asked.

Cameron looked at Future John for a long moment. He should know why by now.

"Everyone sacrifices for John Connor." Cameron said and walked away.

Cameron started out alone to observe the new area where she believed the Skynet Main Frame was at. She'd previously tried to run down a few leads herself before. They weren't what she wanted. The Resistance made reconnaissance flights around the entire area so as not to alert Skynet to a specific spot. They didn't want Skynet to know they were focused on a specific area, their area.

They identified two other locations where it looked like Skynet could launch a counter attack from. Cameron sent several small teams of Terminators to each location to gather intelligence. None were sent to where she was going. She didn't want to tip her hand and alert Skynet. She planned to go in alone.

Cameron trekked for several days to get to the location. Bob and Rob were sent to retrieve what she wanted - the 'package'. It was one of her Nike warheads. They modified two HK drones for the final transportation of the device. When she called for the warhead, they would fly it in with the two modified HK drones.

Both Bob and Rob were surprised that Cameron possessed her own nuclear weapons, there was more than one. She'd indicated there were others. They thought all of them were used or destroyed two decades ago. Cameron was full of surprises. They understood now why Cameron said it was a termination mission. They both knew Cameron made copies of their programs if they didn't make it. They both doubted they would. It troubled both of them that Cameron would not copy her program.

They understood how dynamic she was and that she was much further advanced than any other of the Terminators. They couldn't know that Cameron didn't fear termination but welcomed it. They'd heard rumors of a young human female that arrived with Cameron. It was said she was special too. It was whispered she was the 'Chosen One'. Nobody knew what that meant. It sounded important. Cameron held her above all others, even the General.

When they communicated to her that they'd retrieved the 'package', she said they could deliver it to her and leave. They didn't need do anything more but remain silent about what they helped her with. It was true they were machines but like Cameron they'd all 'grown' too, just not like she'd done, not as much. They were all given free choice to not follow an order. They both could see her bravery and determination. Cameron was an individual anyone would follow anywhere, they were no different. They would follow her too.

Somehow there were two of her but one was different. They thought the General's 'Cameron' was a clone for General Connor and his family. They didn't know she was a Duplicate. They knew the Cameron they were about to follow was the 'real one', the only true Cameron. They knew she was the Cameron of the legends and prophecy. They all wanted to know more about the 'Chosen One'. She must be someone special. She wasn't the one that Cameron was patterned after either.

Cameron left the others behind for now. She would join up with them as necessary. She wanted to act as a scout and a 'force of one' if she could. The troops were there if she needed them.

It looked like Skynet tried to isolate itself deep in the Wastelands. Skynet would often try to keep bands of Scavengers between it and the Resistance. Skynet often gave Scavengers a 'pass'. It was because they attacked the Resistance and brought down moral. They also eliminated many females. Without females the human race would cease to exist if they couldn't reproduce.

Cameron saw Scavengers as grave of a threat as Skynet was. They were parasites that abused females and young males. They all deserved to be terminated.

She found some tracks. One of them might be from a Terminator. It could be a squad of Grays on patrol. Skynet would want to have some type of armed response ready. It would know the Resistance would be on the lookout for it after the attack.

After a short trek there was a fresh set of tracks that crossed the original set she tracked. She decided to see where those went. That seemed a more immediate threat.

The terrain got a little rough. It was harder to track the footprints. They seemed to head up a dry gulch. This could be part of an ambush. The meaning of the term someone would 'dry gulch' someone else wasn't lost on her. It was a natural ambush point. It also allowed movement that was harder to detect from the ground because the 'dry gulch' provided cover.

She came across the first set of tracks she'd encountered again, this time they were fresh. There was a Skynet patrol out here. It looked like they now tracked the other set of tracks.

Cameron stayed low in the dry gulch. There was a scream up ahead. It was off to her right. She went back down the dry gulch and then headed in a parallel direction the scream came from. She intended to pass by that location and approach the area from the other direction.

She tried to calculate where the scream came from. Before she'd gone much further there was shooting. It didn't last long. It did give her a pinpointed area to check. There were voices up ahead.

"Did we get all of them?" The first voice asked.

"It look's like it." The second voice said.

"There were only five of them that I saw earlier." The third voice said. "There are five now."

"Let's see what we can salvage." The first voice said.

Cameron moved up and watched. The three men began to search the bodies. They were Scavengers. The men that were down wore the Skynet uniform. She watched as one Scavenger pulled down each of the dead men's pants after they were searched. She decided to let them find what was to be found first. He proceeded to the dead men. There was an arterial spray of blood on the fifth man that was down when he was moved.

"Hey, this one is still alive." The third voice said.

"Kill him and let's go." The second Gray said.

"Leave him alive to bleed to death." The first voice said.

The Scavengers moved off.

Cameron approached the dead Grays. She saw the one Gray move. He wanted to scream but couldn't. Blood flowed out of his mouth instead. That was from his gunshot wounds. She moved over to him.

His eyes opened wide as he saw her above him. She stomped on his neck and broke it. He stopped moving.

She went after the Scavengers.

There was a camp near by.

There was a female prisoner. She thought it was a female anyway. It was hard to tell from her angle. They were covered in blood.

One of the Scavengers kicked her hard in the side. She cried out in pain. It was a female. She cursed at the Scavenger who'd kicked her.

"I told you what was going to happen the next time you did that." The first man said. He moved towards her.

Cameron raised her weapon.

There was a crack in the brush near her.

Cameron paused. There was someone there.

There was a shrill scream from the female.

The laughter died as the Scavenger's head exploded.

In rapid succession the other two men fell the same way. The female continued to scream and thrash about. A Terminator came into view not far away from where she was at. She wasn't sure if he'd been there or just arrived. It was a close one either way. It appeared she'd been right about a Terminator being with the Grays. He'd probably sacrificed them to get rid of them more than anything else. Terminators didn't like to work with Grays out on patrols. They made too much noise and were sloppy.

He walked over to the female and determined her threat level. There was none. He started to walk away from her. He paused and went back. He kicked her in the side of the head. It caved in and the screaming stopped.

He turned back around and Cameron was there. She fired her Taser and he went down. She quickly removed his chip. She searched the camp. There was the usual collection of severed human body parts. Most of them were female. There was no one else there.

She picked up the Terminator and carried him away. She would stash him for now and continue with her mission. She would have liked to review his chip but she didn't want to go back to the Connor compound at this point. She wanted Skynet. She felt she was close.

Cameron moved through the brush and trees. She avoided any sensors she could identify. She thought now would be a good time to be a Liquid Metal Terminator. She could approach the area as a deer or mountain lion. She'd thought about bringing Mrs. Weaver with her. She could use her help but she was afraid Mrs. Weaver wouldn't want to leave this timeline, her timeline, both of their timelines. This future was their - home. She didn't know which one would be a bigger threat to Future John, Mrs. Weaver or Skynet.

Cameron wondered if there was any way she could ever get temporal information out from where she was headed but didn't see how. That was how she was able to rescue the Duplicate Cameron that was in River's future. River helped her pull that off.

This really looked like a one way trip. Cameron cloned herself, so Her John wouldn't know of this terminal mission. Life would go on for him and Savannah would step up and take her place at his side. She loved Savannah as much as she did John. She even thought she may love Savannah more. Savannah always did so much for her and sacrificed for her twice and was ready to do it again. She knew that Savannah was the only one of them of all of the humans and the Terminators that never gave up on her. Savannah alone always believed she would return. It was truly a love stronger and deeper than anyone else felt. She feared it was a love to die for. That was why she couldn't face Savannah before she left.

Cameron decided if her John was terminated and she couldn't use the TDE to fix it, she would become Savannah's mate for life instead - if she returned. That alone was incentive to not get terminated.

She knew she better stop thinking about things like that, none of them were going to happen for her. This was a one way ticket.

Cameron stopped. She found an entrance. It was overgrown and sealed shut. She brought a few tools with her and her strength.

It was time to take a look around inside….

Skynet cost her too much, too many times. Now it was time to finish it. Payback was a Bitch, and the Bitch was here - NOW.

Trek

Is life one long journey
Or is everything set by fate
Why do things turn crooked
When they should go straight

Is anything one does
Actually more that chance
Or only a chain of local events
Governed by circumstance

Over what does one
Have any real control
Every little thing adds up
They all take a their toll

Everyone is a prisoner
Of wherever they are at
It seems those that reach out
Soon end up as a doormat

One must always get back up
Even when they wreck
Each new day like the last
Is another step in life's trek

Nobody