The Secret Diary of Cameron Baum
SATURDAYcont...
Never have we been in more need of John Connor's leadership qualities. A T-1000's imminent arrival and heaps of semtex quite literally ticking down to explode.
Fortunately, he doesn't disappoint.
"Okay, listen up. The T-1000 is inbound. We need to make sure she doesn't spot the semtex and disarm it or else all this is in vain. And we don't get a do over."
"How are we supposed to do that? It's all over the place," Mac points out.
"We give her a distraction. Someone to chase. Me."
"I don't like this plan," Sarah Connor grumbles. She is such a Debbie Downer.
"All of you go back to the roof. I'll stay and attract her attention. She'll come after me and ignore everything else."
"It's too dangerous. If she catches you..."
"She won't. I'm a fast runner. And once I reach the drone we're free and clear. She can't fly. They're good but they're not that good."
"No, I won't allow it."
"Mom, the more we stand around and argue the less time you have to get clear. Now go. All of you."
Across the vast floor space Cameron subprime catches my eye. I nod my head. She nods back. John's plan is sound. Except we have a better one.
We all head up the steps to the gantry. Mac and Sarah Connor pass through the fire doors heading for the roof and safety. Unnoticed by either Cameron subprime has remained below, pressing herself against the wall right next to the door.
"Okay, you and Jan need to go as well. Where is she?" John spots her by the wall. "Hey, what are you doing? Get up here."
She ignores him.
"What's she playing at? We don't have much time. I order you to get the hell up here."
Again she ignores him. The Prime Directive is in play here, just as we envisaged.
"Dammit. How long do we have?"
"Four minutes to detonation."
The door bursts open and the T-1000 strides in, still in her Jennifer MacKenzie simulcra. Her blonde ponytail bounces up and down. If she wasn't such a monster it would be most impressive.
Cameron subprime launches herself from the wall, thigh pistons on maximum thrust. She tackles the T-1000 around the waist, picking her up and driving her forward like a particularly aggressive linebacker.
On and on she goes, closing to within feet of the shimmering archway that leads to the future.
The T-1000 finally realises what's happening. Her arms elongate and become sharpened spikes that hammer down into the concrete floor anchoring her in place. Cameron subprime's momentum is checked.
Not if I can help it.
I take aim with my pistol and fire three rounds at the concrete under the spikes. It shatters into fragments letting Cameron subprime gain a second wind pushing forward inch by inch until both vanish through the portal.
At once the silvery surface vanishes, like turning off a switch. The archway is now just metal and coiled wires. There's no sign of Cameron subprime or the T-1000. It's as if they never existed. We can see right through the arch to the opposite wall.
"No!"
John tries to go back down the steps. I prevent this.
"What are you doing? We have to turn the machine back on and rescue her."
"No. The semtex will denonate in two minutes and twenty seconds."
"Then we disarm it. Start over."
"No. I'm sorry, John, for what I'm about to do."
I pick him up and throw him over my shoulder. I can hear him yelling as his fists pummel my back.
"Turn around! That's an order!"
Prime Directive Overide request: DENIED
"I order you to put me down!"
Prime Directive Overide request: DENIED
I head back up the stairs with my reluctant human cargo, through the fire doors and along the corridor to the steps leading to the roof.
One minute thirty seconds to detonation...
On the roof I am prepared to knock John spark out if he refuses to fly his drone. But he has recovered some poise and straps into the harness without the need for violence.
"How long have we got?"
"One minute."
"Gonna be mighty close."
We skim across the ground at no more than twenty feet. There's no need to climb to three hundred feet. It won't matter if anyone sees us now.
Thirty seconds to detonation...
The firebreak looms into view. The two vehicles and the others gathered around it.
Ten seconds to detonation...
We touch down. I toss my drone into the back of the pick up.
"Everybody get down. And close your eyes."
The night abruptly becomes day. Then the shock wave hits, causing the two vehicles to rock dangerously back and forth. Debris rains down. Dirt. Leaves. Pieces of the pulverized factory. Jennifer MacKenzie cries out as a sharp piece of flying masonry grazes her bare leg. Suck it up, girlfriend.
And the storm passes. We stand up one by one and look back at where the factory was once situated.
A medium size mushroom cloud slowy ascends into the night sky, smoke roiling in the central column like a living breathing animal.
"Holy shit, did we just set off a nuke?"
"Not quite. It's the Triple-8's powercells. Wind is from the north. The fallout will miss us."
"Well, that's a goddamn freaking relief."
"Indeed. A goddamn freaking relief."
Sometimes humans find just the right words.
SAFE HOUSE
It is the best of times. It is the worst of times. Charles Dickens knew a line when he wrote it.
It's four in the morning. The safe house is divided into two camps. Those who wish to celebrate and those who wish to mourn.
Mac and his sister are in the former. And it's hard not to blame them. Mac has proved himself in battle. For all the fratboy bravado he delivered when it mattered. His sister too has survived capture by the deadliest assassins known to man. Why shouldn't they drink wine, play loud music and party harty? Neither is aware we lost Cameron subprime, both assuming we dropped her off at her fictional apartment on the other side of town. To say otherwise would mean revealing I am not human and that is judged a secret too far.
For John and Daniel this is a desperate time. Daniel took the news of Cameron subprime's sacrifice particularly hard. He spent the most time with her, may even have been in love with her. He left the party early and took a bottle of vodka down to the rec room.
And Sarah Connor? She is as inscrutable as ever, chatting and smiling with Jennifer MacKenzie, even dancing briefly with Mac. She is likely pleased there is now only one of me, though even that possibly irks her.
John grabs a bottle of wine and heads out onto the sun terrace. He switches on the swimming pool lights, kicks off his shoes and sits dangling his legs in the water.
I do likewise. My skin sensors inform me the water is a chilly forty-four degrees. I can already feel my nipples begin to stiffen. I send an abort order. Now is no time for pokies.
John takes a chug from the wine bottle. "You planned what happened, didn't you? The pair of you."
"We agreed a contingency plan if things went wrong."
"Things didn't go wrong. I had it under control."
"We barely made it out. If we had fought a rearguard action against such a powerful adversary we would have perished. The Prime Directive-"
"Screw the Prime Directive!"
I say nothing.
"How did you decide who made the sacrifice?"
"We flipped a coin."
"And you won."
"Oh no, I lost. It is an honor to perish protecting the great John Connor."
"Ha! What a joke that is."
I say nothing. John takes another chug of wine.
"Why did the time portal suddenly switch off like that?"
"Because once Cameron subprime passed through she activated her self-destruct code. The explosion would have destroyed the portal in the future."
"And the T-1000."
"Yes."
"Pretty unlikely they'll build another."
"Yes."
"Well, that's something."
Behind us the door opens. We catch a brief blast of music. Get Lucky by Daft Punk.
We're up all night 'til the sun
We're up all night to get some
We're up all night for good fun
We're up all night to get lucky
"What are you doing out here?"
"Oh you know, just chilling."
Jennifer MacKenzie joins us wearing clothes borrowed from Sarah Connor. She has showered and washed her hair. She is too blonde and bosomy for my taste. She sits crosslegged by the pool. If she dips her legs in the cold water I might have to rip her boobs right off her body.
"I just spoke to my folks. They're pretty relieved I'm okay."
"I'll bet. What did you tell them?"
"That I got in too deep with the wrong type of guy. I kept it vague. Mom will understand and she'll talk Dad round."
The door opens again and Mac joins us. He pulls up a lawn chair and slumps back cradling his third bottle of wine. He's beginning to slur his words. "This a pool party? Cool. Loved those in college. Hey, where's your sister?"
"She has work tomorrow," I lie.
"Too bad. I'd like to have danced with that little cutie. A slo-ow dance, know what I mean?"
John grimaces and drinks more wine.
"According to your mom, those things are stone cold killers. So why aren't I dead?"
"Aw, sis, you're harshing my buzz."
John shrugs. "I don't probably never will. I'm sure they had some dark purpose in mind."
"In the future Skynet often keeps humans as slaves," I add.
"Hear that, sis? You'd be their housekeeper, doing the cleaning and the washing up."
"Oh stop it, you!" She slaps her brother playfully.
"Man, you should have seen it. Cyborgs popping out of nowhere, stark naked with their dongs out."
Dongs? What are...oh. Right. Got it.
"Anyway, I checked the airline website and Delta have an LAX to Dayton flight at noon. Do you want to catch that or should we try for an earlier one?"
"I'm not going home to Dayton."
"The hell you are!"
"I'm making a new life for myself here. That interview I was coming back from? It was at the Disney studio. Just a secretary position but it was a toe in the door."
"Did you get it?"
"How should I know, doofus; I was kidnapped by cyberbots from the future!"
Everyone laughs, even John manages a rueful grin. Cyberbots? Hilarious!
"I was wondering, would it be okay if I wrote about this? I think it would make a great screenplay."
"Why not. It happened to you. Go for it."
"Thank you."
"Come on, sis. No one will believe a word. I was there I can barely believe it myself."
"Doesn't matter. Fantasy is big business these days."
"What will you name the movie?"
Jennifer MacKenzie ponders. "I think I'll call it...The Terminator."
The Terminator? That's a terrible name for a movie. No one will pay to see that.
-0-
Okay, I fudged Jennifer's survival. In truth, she should be dead and stuffed in her own chest freezer. Except then there's no way Mac goes along with the plan. He'd go straight to the cops. Oh and I liked the meta gag at the end. Nice way to round it off.
P. S. I'm on Wattpad now. Username Original_Pjazz. Mainly my Wodehouse shorts, tho I'll add more later.