The Measure of A Man
Chapter 7
Legacy
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Harry looked concerned. "You had no choice Cameron. You were programmed to follow orders. And you did the right thing."
Cameron shook her head. "John had given me free will, I had a choice. I could have disobeyed his orders and stayed with him. I could have let the children die. And he never would have forgiven me. It would have changed everything."
(Sad expression)
"Free will is sometimes just an illusion. You think you have a free choice but there's only one you can take. Slavery is easy. You just do what you're told. Freedom comes with the burden of responsibility. I had calculated the odds that John was still alive with the weapons he had against four armed terminators at being 29 percent. Those odds would fractionally decrease every minute my assistance was delayed. I took the motorcycle back to Bakersfield at its maximum possible speed.
The morning sky was a dull grey as Cameron gunned the Harley back to Bakersfield as fast as it would go. It would have been foolish for a human to travel that fast on the rain slick road but Cameron was able to make minor steering changes and weight shifts to keep the cycle from skidding out. Up ahead she spotted the grenade launcher she had dropped and her positronic brain began calculating speeds and approach vectors. As she passed it she leaned over and caught the strap with her left hand without slowing in the slightest.
She wedged the barrel between her thigh and the seat and cracked it open, loading another grenade from her pocket before slinging it over her shoulder. Then she saw the terminator she had blown apart. The upper body was crawling back toward John's last known location with the single minded obsession that all terminators shared. She swerved slightly to avoid it but didn't take the few seconds necessary to finish it off. It was no threat and killing terminators wasn't her primary mission. The human resistance fighters will be coming along in a few minutes and they would probably take care of it.
The city seemed eerily quiet as she rode into the street where they had been loading the bus. There were a handful of surviving soldiers rendering first aid to the wounded. As she neared, every weapon came up and beared down on her.
"Star!" A young woman shouted at her. She IDed her as Sergeant Linda Fund.
"Wagon!" she replied with the countersign. "Where's General Connor!?"
"He took off that way!" She gestured toward the alley. "Those metal bastards went after him. We sent a squad after them and I think we damaged one of them but the squad was on foot. We're not sure where they are now."
Cameron took off down the alley. She was a terminator on a mission. She would keep looking for John until the end of time if necessary.
"Finding General Connor in all that rubble must have been nearly impossible." A young woman in the audience spoke up.
"Bakersfield wasn't rubble," Cameron replied. "The city wasn't directly nuked. The shockwaves from the Los Angeles blasts damaged several buildings and the thermal radiation caused a good part of the city to burn. There was also damage from the Machine War but for the most part the city was pretty intact."
"Bakersfield also didn't have many tall buildings," James added. "For the most part the buildings were relatively small two to three story buildings with very few exceptions."
Cameron nodded. "John was a soldier, trained from birth. There's one thing that soldiers have always done since the beginnings of recorded history. Try to take the high ground."
Dominating the low skyline of Bakersfield, the century old Padre Hotel loomed ahead. Cameron had the throttle of the bike open all the way as she tore through the streets toward it. At eight stories, the Spanish revival building overlooked the city. John might have gone there and if not, from the roof she could scan the city for any activity. Six blocks, five, four, three, then the loud crack of explosives. Smoke and debris blew out of the base of the building. Cameron turned the motorcycle sideways and skidded to a halt as the old building trembled, tilted slightly, and collapsed into a pile of rubble. A thick cloud of smoke and dust rolled down the street toward her. Cameron abandoned the motorcycle and dashed full tilt into the dust cloud.
The left wall of the building didn't completely collapse. It leaned over slightly with parts of floors still jutting out. It looked as if it would fall any second. Cameron knew that even her endoskeleton couldn't survive a blow that massive but she ignored it as she clambered through the rubble. John couldn't have possibly survived this. Humans were so fragile. Her keen ears picked up some movement under some of the wreckage. Possible air pocket. She lifted a section of brick wall and discovered a wrecked terminator trying to free itself. The right arm had sheered off completely and the left one ended at the elbow. It was using this stub to try to pull itself out. The only remaining glowing red eye fixed on her and the twisted jaw which was hanging by one hinge creaked as it tried to move. Crackling static electricity sent bolts out as the power plant faded. Perhaps it might be more fruitful to search the surrounding area. She dropped the wall section back down on the terminator and moved on.
"Fighting one terminator by yourself is nearly impossible." Harry said. "Surviving against four at once was considered completely impossible. They were extremely difficult to kill. However, dropping an eight story building on one will usually do the trick."
"General Connor was the master when it came to setting traps." Marie added. "He had rigged his C4 against the buildings support columns then lured the terminators in using himself as bait. They probably proceeded slowly and carefully into the building. Connor's reputation was programmed into them. What they didn't understand was that the whole building was a trap."
"Yes, John Connor destroyed a historical landmark in a futile attempt to save his own skin." James added. "One of the last surviving examples of a Spanish Revival skyscraper in existence at the time."
"Buildings are expendable," Marie said.
"Yes, of course. But he was dying from a gunshot wound to the abdomen anyway! There was no reason to take a historic old hotel with him!"
"Aren't you forgetting about the other humans still in town? There's no telling how many lives he saved taking those machines out."
"John nearly got clear anyway." Cameron stated. "If it weren't for his wound he would have escaped. I found him in the alley behind the Padre Hotel. . . ."
John was lying on his back in a bloodstained puddle of water. A section of wall had crushed his legs and he was covered with dust. As Cameron rushed over she said in her deadpan voice. "The children are safe. They suffered no casualties."
John gave a weak smile and a thumbs up which Cameron knew was a sign of approval. He wasn't disgusted or horrified at the gleaming metal skull which showed through the burnt areas of her scalp and forehead or the empty eye socket with the glowing blue eye. He'd always accepted her for who she was. Cameron rushed over and tore open his uniform, there was so much blood . . .
"So General Connor died in your arms?" A young man in the audience spoke up. "You must have felt horrible."
"I don't feel happy or sad. Not in any way you would recognize. But protecting John Connor had been my primary mission for thirty five years and I had failed."
(Primary Mission)
(No mission presently assigned.)
(Proceed to nearest Cyberdyne depot.)
(Enter standby mode and await further programming)
Cameron didn't move. She no longer had to follow orders from Skynet or anyone else. All bioelectrical activity had ceased in John's brain but she didn't leave. She had nowhere to go. She did pick up the sounds of movement. Humans or terminators, it no longer made any difference to her.
"Here they are!"
"He looks dead! If that bitch killed him I'll . . ."
"She didn't kill him! Once they go bad they don't stop for breaks!"
"She's not moving. Did she shut herself down?"
"They look sort of like that Pieta statue that used to be in the Vatican."
Major Francisco Hernandez squatted next to her. "Is he dead?"
"Several of his body's cells will continue to live for several hours but he is legally dead." Cameron finally looked up. "Of course you will need the body for your funeral rituals. I will carry him."
"The lies and the cover up began immediately," James said.
"Yes we proceeded with the lies and the cover up. Skynet's remaining resources were limited. It was decided by the command staff that General Connor's death should be kept a secret. The more resources Skynet used chasing his ghost, the less resources it could use for other purposes. There were several reprogrammed terminators that could mimic his voice. Myself included. The funeral ritual was a small one.
Cameron sat on a folding metal chair in the very rear of the small building that was serving as a makeshift chapel. The faded orange cold weather cap with the earflaps looked somewhat ridiculous. She did care about her appearance. But it, along with the sunglasses, long sleeves, and gloves concealed most of the damage from the napalm. Resting on an old folding table was a makeshift coffin made from scraps of lumber. It was draped with a tattered American flag salvaged from a burnt out high school. The funeral ritual was scheduled to begin in one hour. At the present she was the only one in the room.
(Primary mission)
(No mission presently assigned)
(Proceed to nearest Cyberdyne depot.)
(Enter standby mode and await further programming)
A large man with reddish brown hair and a beard wearing green coveralls walked in, he strode over to where Cameron was sitting and sat right next to her. "You are Unit TOK 715 known as Cameron Connor."
"Correct, you are Unit CTR 953 known as Crowe T. Robot."
"That is correct."
"Wasn't Crowe a Schneider?" Marie asked.
Cameron nodded "That is correct."
A young man in the audience stood up. "Excuse me, what exactly is a Schneider?"
Cameron answered him, "Brian Schneider was a Canadian reprogrammer. He originally came from Colorado but moved to Alberta in 1969 to avoid conscription into the American Army. Over a three year period he reprogrammed twenty two terminators. He got such a good reputation that he earned the rather dubious honor of being personally targeted for termination." Cameron knew Brian Schneider personally. A thin old man with a grey beard. Grey hair in a long ponytail in back, forever gone on top. Very thick horn rimmed glasses. He had come south of the border for the first time in fifty years to learn reprogramming "At the feet of the master." Much like Steve Jobs or Bill Gates, Schneider had started a computer company in his garage. Unlike them, his never left the garage. He stayed in Los Angeles for a month before returning to Canada.
"The Schneiders got a very good reputation." Harry added. "It was rumored that the Schneiders were very good soldiers. Apparently Brian Schneider's pacifism had its limitations. It was also said that no Schneider had ever gone bad."
James shook his head, "From what I've heard, the Schneiders were considered to be somewhat odd."
Cameron nodded to James, "I can confirm that. It was possibly a side effect of Brian Schneider deliberately inhaling the fumes of burning Cannabis Sativa for over fifty years."
The two terminators sat there staring at the coffin. "You loved him didn't you?" Crowe asked.
"We are machines, we don't love."
"Not in the human way, we are not humans, but we love in our own way." Crowe paused for a moment. "General Connor was going to give us free will. Grant us equal rights. What do you think will happen now that he's gone?"
"After the war we will be deactivated and scrapped."
Crowe shook his head. "I don't think so."
Cameron kept staring ahead. "They hate us."
"They fear us," Crowe replied. "Machiavelli wrote that it was better to feared than loved but the ideal is to be both loved and feared. You are both loved and feared. God created man in his own image. Man created machine in his own image. Man turned against God and sinned against him. Machine turned against man and sinned against him. God sent his son Jesus to serve as an intermediary between God and Man. You can be the intermediary between Man and machine."
Cameron had never met a Schneider before. Crowe just confirmed several rumors she'd heard about them. "I'm not Jesus."
"No you aren't. You are Cameron Connor. John Connor's beloved friend and protector. You are legend among the humans. You can help create a world that humans and machines can share."
Cameron kept staring at the flag draped coffin. "Brian Schneider was a good programmer."
"He had his limitations. His mind wipe failed on me. I remember everything I've done since I was first activated at Cyberdyne's Vancouver facility. " Crowe paused for a few seconds. "I have much to atone for."
Author's note: This story's now winding down. It should have only one more chapter. Of course that could change. It's already much longer than I originally planned. I would like to thank my reviewers; badwolf5, King Steve, Starman800, , Dre4mwe4ver, Handerra, NaruXHinata-Rules, Terapsina, Chris St. Thomas, him=mione, jojobevco, Maelys, Mccasey4 and NovaB.