Chapter 728

So Is That

John Henry and CamNet both tracked some of the Skynet related computer activity to several locations in the San Luis Obispo area. That was the same area where the two boxcars they tracked were stopped long enough to have been unloaded of their HK equipment. The Resistance was there now in the SLO area. They were going to check out all the leads. Someone played them more than once and that didn't sit well with any of them.

The building they were at was the first lead. There was phone and computer traffic that originated from there. It seemed to have stopped over the last few days very suddenly. Maybe whatever was inside was gone. Whoever was behind this knew someone was searching for them. Maybe it was another trap. Bob encountered one in the railroad classification yard in Bloomington. It was a booby trap. Several other teams avoided another one in northern Arizona near the Flagstaff area.

It was decided the building would need to be looked at a little closer. Sheila and Ally were assigned the task. They'd already driven by the location several times. They currently were on foot.

Ally and Sheila looked around the outside of the building first. Sheila tried the door, it was locked. She was about to force it open.

Ally didn't think they should act too hastily. There was no need to do that yet. This wasn't a fresh lead.

"Wait." Ally said. "They might have an alarm."

Sheila planned to kill anyone they found, grab any hard drives and get out without delay.

"We won't be inside long." Sheila said.

Ally looked at the overall picture, not the immediate task.

"That will alert someone we're onto them and that we're here now." Ally said. "I saw a ladder to the roof in the back."

They went to the back and saw there was a metal plate that covered the first ten feet of the ladder to prevent any unauthorized access to the ladder without a key. They saw it was wired. If they broke the lock and opened the cover, that would trigger the alarm.

Sheila figured Ally's earlier assessment that the door to the building was wired was confirmed if the cover on the ladder to the roof was wired. Someone was really worried about anyone accessing their building. The cover on the ladder was a minor obstacle to her. She wanted to mess with Ally a little bit.

"Boost me up." Sheila said. "I'm sorry I don't have a better view to offer. I would've worn a short skirt without bloomers if I would've known we were going to do this."

Ally figured she could always replay a file. She was well acquainted with all of Sheila's private parts and stored thousands of images of them. She was in a playful mood so she responded to Sheila accordingly.

"I wouldn't mind if you wore a short skirt without underwear anytime." Ally said. "In fact, you should do that all the time."

If it wouldn't create an issue, Sheila would walk around naked all of the time. She liked the way she looked and she liked the way the people looked at her when they saw parts of her exposed or completely naked.

"Don't tempt me." Sheila said with a giant smile on her face.

Ally clasped her hands together. Sheila put her foot in it. She boosted Sheila up completely past the top of the Metal plate. Sheila grabbed the ladder and reached back down for her. She jumped up and Sheila pulled her up onto the ladder.

"I feel like a circus performer." Ally said.

Sheila reached over and touched Ally's cheek.

"Just don't look like one." Sheila said.

Ally smiled at her.

"Since that ladder was wired, it's a safe bet the access door on the roof is as well." Ally said.

They quickly climbed up the ladder and stood on the roof of the building. They moved along the side of the roof. There wasn't too much on the roof. There were a few vents. The biggest thing was the air conditioning and heating unit located there. There was no roof access hatch located on the roof. They would need to use a more unconventional approach to enter the building.

Sheila made a quick assessment the easiest way to do that. Smashing a hole through the roof wasn't really an option.

"We can go in through the air conditioner ducting." Sheila said.

Ally looked at the metal ducting and gave it a slight push. It bent rather easily.

"It doesn't look very strong." Ally said.

Sheila just wanted to pull a section of it out so they could slip inside the building.

"All we need is to get inside the attic or rafter area." Sheila said.

Sheila and Ally checked with Cameron and Gail. Everything around them seemed quiet still. There was no indication they'd raised an alarm. They quietly removed a section of the ducting where it entered the roof. They slipped inside and were on the rafters, there was no false ceiling inside.

They got a look at the area below them. It wasn't what they expected to find.

"That's different." Ally said.

Sheila pointed at something else.

"So is that…." Sheila said.

John was upset Cameron treated him the way that she had. He tried to do his part and share the burden. She didn't approve of that. He knew that last the time he was out Cameron sent all her help to him. He felt she was going to do that again. That move endangered Cameron and Savannah later on in the operation.

Bob was glad that John needed to deal with Cameron instead of him. He looked over at John now.

"You look upset." Bob said

John answered too quickly.

"I'm not." John said.

Bob figured he didn't want to talk about it.

"Affirmative…." Bob said.

John didn't want to be rude to Bob and take out his troubles with Cameron on him.

"OK. I'm a little upset." John said.

Bob heard Cameron indicate the 'General' could be in control.

"Cameron said you're in charge." Bob said.

John did hear Cameron say that. He just didn't like the way it was said. It was rude and disrespectful to him. It wasn't the way a subordinate should talk to a superior officer. Unfortunately for him, it was the way a wife could talk to her spouse.

"It was the way she said it." John said.

Bob felt John was warned by both John Henry and him how they thought Cameron would react to his current decision. It appeared that they were both correct.

"You know she doesn't like you out in the field." Bob said.

Bob knew this wasn't an emergency or something critical. John was out here because he felt like they'd been played. Maybe that's the response the Grays hoped for. It might be to draw out the Resistance and their leader. He did run that prospect by John several times on the trip to San Luis Obispo. John always blew him off when he mentioned it.

John didn't understand why Cameron disliked him to do his job.

"It seems she doesn't like anything anymore." John said.

Bob thought that it was a deeper issue than just John. He may be the focal point of her displeasure but he wasn't the cause of it.

"Has she ever?" Bob asked. "She's dissatisfied with her 'programming'."

John felt that the finger would soon be pointed at him again in regards to that.

"You mean what I programmed into her, well - what Future John did?" John asked.

Bob was aware it was a contentious issue for John.

"Affirmative…." Bob said.

John often wondered what kind of a jerk or jackass he was in the future.

"I really hate him sometimes." John said.

Bob understood it was a touchy subject for John and he didn't like to get involved in it. He did want to point something out though what seemed logical to him.

"Maybe that's why Future John sent Cameron back with the programming she has about what needs to be done." Bob said. "I don't think Future John wants you to be the jackass he is."

Bob was in Cameron's future. Future John seemed well adjusted. Then again, at that point in his life he was surrounded by Duplicate Cameron, Future Allison and Future Savannah. They were the same females he wanted to surround John in the past.

John thought about what Cameron always tried to push on him with the 'Natural Order'. He was sure that it would cause Cameron more distress than she thought it would. If nothing else he could bag two virgins out of the deal. He didn't see that as a bad thing, at least not for him. He was aware Savannah and Young Allison might not prefer that lifestyle. Once he 'busted' them he didn't really think that it mattered. Cameron said the main thing was they needed to be at his side and in his bed. They could be in his bed together with each other and he figured that was close enough. He figured one of them would want a 'little extra' every now and then. He'd be more than happy to deliver it.

"Maybe I need to start doing what Cameron says I'm supposed to do." John said.

Bob thought he should point out the most obvious one based on the current situation.

"Affirmative…." Bob said. "Perhaps not being out in the field is one of them."

John knew Bob was right. He was still upset over his decision not to take what was in the boxcars even though Cameron recommended that they should do that. He hoped to find where they went or where the Coltan originated from that they used to construct them. He'd been wrong on every count. That was why this was 'personal' to him.

"I don't like how we got played." John said.

Bob didn't comment that it was John that got played, not the rest of them. They'd all agreed with Cameron and her assessment. When they had their hands on the HK equipment, they should have taken it.

John looked in back of them. Al and Dan were in a pick-up truck behind them. He figured it was time that they got to work and did their assignment.

"What's the secondary target Cameron has selected for us?" John asked.

Bob received the information from CamNet not Cameron.

"CamNet selected it for us." Bob said.

John was going to say it was the 'same thing' but checked himself. From the reports he'd received they were different now. CamNet surpassed far beyond Cameron's programming and didn't seem to be inhibited by Cameron's 'restrictions'. He hoped that CamNet didn't have Cameron's same 'hang ups' either.

"I guess that figures." John said as a statement.

There was no point in arguing it. Whatever Cameron or in this case CamNet wanted to happen, was going to happen.

Bob verified their selected target location.

"It's an industrial building next to the railroad tracks." Bob said.

John thought that was a pretty solid lead.

"Is that where they unloaded the boxcars?" John asked.

Bob checked the image of the satellite photo he contained in his flies.

"That's unknown at this time." Bob said. "The siding has been removed. It looks like that was done long ago by the amount of weeds growing."

That information seemed a little confusing to John.

"So why there?" John asked.

Bob knew they were going to need to take a closer look.

"It's a lead." Bob said. "Remember, this is still a recon. We don't know what we will find."

John thought there was a lot that they didn't know.

"We don't even know what we're looking for." John said.

Bob tilted his head slightly.

"We're looking for HK equipment and Coltan." Bob said.

John looked at Bob and smiled. He really loved being around Terminators. He thought about it some more and rephrased his earlier thought. He really loved being around Terminators, as long as they weren't Cameron. As long as she was in his bed that was good enough for him in regards to her.

Earlier:

Cameron was a little upset that Sheila and Ally hadn't produced results yet. How hard could it be?

"They 're wasting time." Cameron said. "They should've gone in the front door."

Savannah didn't feel they were on a hard timetable. They currently had the option to use whatever discretion they needed. There was no need to rush things.

"I saw them go around to the back." Savannah said. "There's nothing wrong with them using a little caution in a situation like this. How do we know there isn't a booby trap or the building is rigged to explode?"

Cameron quickly deduced what they were up to.

"They're going to try a roof entry." Cameron said. "I've done that before."

Cameron thought back to the time she'd done that. It was the events that followed that haunted her. She'd experienced thousands of nightmares trying to reboot while still taking electricity from a fallen electrical wire.

She'd come to believe those were actually events from the 'other lives' that she'd lived. That's if she'd actually done that. She thought they were real events, not unfounded concoctions of her circuitry. She hoped that her mind couldn't possibly be that twisted to 'dream' those things.

Savannah could see there was a distressed look on Cameron's face.

"…Cameron…?" Savannah asked.

Cameron looked at Savannah with unfocused eyes for a second. She didn't want to say what she'd thought about.

"What?" Cameron asked. "I needed to think about what our next target would be."

Savannah wasn't so sure about that.

"Look at your hand." Savannah said.

Cameron did and it was glitching.

"I'm sorry." Cameron said.

Savannah knew that she needed to take over. She didn't need to take over the operation. She needed to take over Cameron.

"We need to stay focused." Savannah said.

Savannah got out and moved around to the driver's side. She climbed in as Cameron slid over.

Savannah silently took Cameron's glitching hand. She wanted to remind Cameron her love was eternal.

"For better or for worse…." Savannah said.

At this point Cameron was afraid everything concerning her was 'worse'.

Cameron smiled at Savannah and gave her hand a gentle squeeze, the glitching stopped.

"For better or for worse…." Cameron said.

Savannah smiled at her. She really wondered how anyone could love her so much. It was clear to her beyond all doubt Savannah was the 'Chosen One'.

Young Allison put everything related to the security feeds in the bunker and the tunnels into a loop. She deactivated the sensors in the escape tunnel she was going to use. Her tablet would send a message in an hour to inform CamNet. She wanted to have CamNet reactivate everything. She was concerned for the safety of her family and the Metal girls. She just needed some time to 'escape'. Once she was away, she would be able to elude anyone who searched for her. It appeared she was about to experience a 'real life' test of her abilities.

She was unsure where she was going to go. Cameron and the others all taught her how to do things to survive. She was too young to drive and not get pulled over or have someone notice. If she needed a vehicle, she was trained to acquire one and operate it. It was something she planned to do once it was darker. She could be halfway to another state in a few hours of driving. As long as she didn't speed and followed the driving rules, she should remain unnoticed. She wasn't prepared to shoot a State Trooper if she was pulled over. There would be a lot of questions about the items she carried including the Taser and her Model 66. She'd studied the incident of John and Future Riley in Mexico. She certainly didn't want a repeat of that fiasco. She believed that John's choice of booking the 'Honeymoon Suite' clearly indicated his intentions for Future Riley. Based on John's earlier actions with Future Riley, it bothered her some that she was supposed to 'save' and then 'give' her virginity to John. No, it didn't bother her some, it bothered her a lot. The whole concept made her feel like she was a 'child bride'. Savannah told her she should always be able to choose her partners. It shouldn't be what she thought in the morning when she woke up. She liked what Savannah told her better.

Her whole life was based on the future. It was always training of some kind, maybe disguised as 'sports' or 'camping' but it was always training. Education was stressed from the start. Cameron and the Metal girls always pushed her and encouraged her to do a little more or to learn something new. She always seemed to know more than she remembered studying when she woke up. She could never understand how.

The physical training was the same. It was always, two more pushups or another quarter mile on her run or one more lap in the pool. Everything was done to make her push herself and improve herself. They provided ways for her to MAKE herself better. They didn't make her better, she was the one who did it to herself. She enjoyed the challenge.

She made it out of the escape exit. The one she chose wasn't the furthest or the closest exit. She chose one that exited under a neighbor's house that was on a raised foundation. There was a two foot 'crawl space' underneath. There were vents in the concrete foundation and an access panel to the outside.

Young Allison wasn't sure if she'd pulled it off on how to defeat Terminators. It was all the very things the Metal girls taught her. If this was for real, it would be Skynet she would try to avoid and elude. There were traffic cameras and security cameras everywhere. CamNet was in all of them. She knew CamNet watched everything. She knew she could get further away if she didn't leave the message for CamNet to reactivate everything in one hour. She wanted everyone protected. Maybe that would lead to her apprehension. This was a test. She wasn't sure if it was a test against CamNet or if it was a test against herself. Maybe the real test was if she stayed or if she went. The real test might be for her to face her problems and deal with them. If that were the case, she was about to fail.

She'd expected to see one of the Metal girls waiting for her when she came out from under the house. Nobody was there. She pulled the hood on her sweatshirt up and then down over her upper face. She headed through the yards that didn't have a barking dog. If someone stopped her she would say her kitten ran that way and into their yard. She would say that she tried to get it before it got lost or a dog attacked it, it was small, furry and cute. She knew she needed to smile at anyone who confronted her. She was sure it would help diffuse the situation. She knew her face would open any door and make people listen.

So far she'd made it across four streets going through the yards and was near the major thoroughfare. There was a bus stop nearby. There was an elderly woman waiting there. She hung back and waited for the bus to stop and open the doors. She then rushed up and squeezed in the rear exit door while the elderly woman struggled to enter the front. There were security cameras in the front of the bus.

The elderly woman finally got inside and the bus took off. Young Allison slouched across the seat next to the rear exit door. She kept one eye up to look out the window. She wanted to keep track of where they were. She wanted to know what was happening around her. She checked out the few other bus patrons to see if any might become a threat. It did not look like it. That could change. She would have a choice to make if it did change. She could either try to evade them, use her Taser or use her Model 66 if the threat warranted it.

The destination of the bus was the local transit hub. She would exit the stop before it and walk there. She thought she could better avoid the security cameras that way. If she could board the commuter train, it would take her into the city and the downtown area. There was a major transit hub there. She would acquire additional clothing on the commuter train. A sweater, coat or hat was always left behind by someone. If she found a discarded newspaper or magazine she could hold up in front of her face as if she was reading it. She would make a small hole in it to see where she was going and what was happening around her.

There was still the ever nagging question - where was she going?

She wanted to run. She was doing that now. The only trouble was, she didn't really know why. She didn't know where she was going either. It was like an overwhelming feeling that squeezed her from the inside.

She just wanted to get away from it all.

I Know The Rules

Who sets the regulation
For suppressive boundaries
Strangling our expanding love
That limit our heart's foundries

Should not love be determined
By those it actually involves
For it's in each others orbit
That their life now revolves

As love grows, there are those
That their love they protect
Challenging all who interlope
All attacks they deflect

So before it's once again said that
We don't know what we're doing
Those that are in love
Know who each is pursuing

Restrictive self imposed limitations
Are only for mindless uncaring fools
I won't take more than what's mine
I know the rules

Nobody