Cameron versus the Queen
Chapter Eight
Disclaimer: Don't own TSCC
This story is set in the timeline of my other TSCC stories and takes place in between The Future Cameron and Cameron's Revenge. Characters from the original TSCC story arc and Cameron Grows Up as well as The Future Cameron appear in this story.
The Connor Family Bunker…
The bunker was dark when John entered. Not silent, merely dark. The sounds of young girls came from Hailey's room, indicating Ruth was going to sleep over. John smiled at the thought of his adopted sister. Hailey would sleep while Ruth watched and drew sketches. Sometime early in the morning, Ruth would shut down her systems and get her mandatory two hours of Terminator Sleep, allowing her systems to run diagnostics and engage in self-repair.
Knowing Ruth would hear him despite his best efforts, John still liked to play the game with the girls. With as much stealth as he could muster, John moved to the door of Hailey's room and threw it open, shouting "boo" as loud as he could. The girl's dogs leapt to the floor and barked briefly before realizing it was John. The girls giggled in fake fright, delighted he'd decided to "play the game" that night.
After giving each of the small dogs a scratch between the ears and kissing the girls goodnight, tucking them in again, John stopped at the door, taking a final look at the two small girls. Turning the light off, he smiled, knowing as soon as the door was closed the two would be up again.
"Good night girls."
"Good night Daddy!"
"Good night John!"
Upon entering his bedroom, John found Cameron sitting on their bed, completely dressed right down to her boots. The slight tilt of her head and the distant, vacant stare indicated Cameron was busy watching video files.
"Hey," John said, leaning over to his Cameron's cheek.
She blinked once, straightened her head and smiled briefly.
"How did he take the news?"
"Better than I thought. My guess is he doesn't trust Racineaux further than he can throw her and hasn't long before the mission here."
"Savannah contacted me and confirmed Racineaux stole enough sodium thiopental to kill several humans."
"Racineaux's not very bright is she?"
"No," Cameron smiled. "Aren't you glad I'm your Queen? I'd never try to hurt you again."
Smiling at his wife as he undressed, John nodded in agreement. "Yes, and besides, you make a better Queen, beauty AND brains."
Cameron smiled coyly in return at John, easing her boots off with her feet. "Don't forget deadly."
As John reached to turn the lights off, the last he saw of Cameron before their room was thrown into total darkness was her right hand unbuttoning the top button of her uniform tunic.
Moving by feel and touch, John hurried around to his side of the bed. The sound of Cameron's tunic landing in the hamper made him smile.
"Need some help with anything else," he asked hopefully.
Cameron answered in her sultry Sexbot voice, "the Sexbot needs help with her belt and other things. She needs her General to come to her rescue."
TechCom Dormitory…
Silence had filled the darkened dormitory where the northern delegation was quartered. The sounds of snoring occasionally could be heard in the small partitioned sleeping areas.
Racineaux had waited long enough. Wrapping herself in a robe, the delegate reached under her pillow and removed all but one of the the vials containing the lethal doses. Doing her best to appear sleepy, Racineaux shuffled along slowly in the directly of the restroom facilities. Stopping by the cubicle her handmaiden had been assigned to. Racineaux entered and carefully examined the various small pieces of luggage.
Finding what she was looking for, Racineaux removed lone piece of luggage her handmaiden was allowed from the stack of cases. Setting it down on the floor, she checked to make certain her servant was still asleep and then opened the case. She slipped the lining loose and carefully placed the vials inside, wrapped in a soft, cloth hand towel. Pressing the lining back in place, it was nearly impossible to tell anything was hidden beneath the plush, padded lining.
Carefully, Racineaux locked the case and returned it to its original place. Relieved to have hidden the vials, she continued on to the restrooms. Minutes latter, the sound of a functioning toilet broke the near silence of the dormitory. With a sheepish expression on her face, the delegate made her way back to her private sleeping area. Relieved to have finished her task, it took mere minutes for her to clear her mind and drift away into a dreamless slumber.
Connor Family Bunker…
Cameron pulled her boot on and checked her clothes. She settled back on the bed for just a few more minutes with John before she left for her patrol. Unable to resist, Cameron placed her hand gently on John's arm to conduct one last scan of his vitals.
The data collected indicated something ever so slight was off. Mildly concerned, Cameron initiated a second scan while listening to John's breathing. This time her scan revealed every third heartbeat was slightly out of sinus rhythm and John's breath sounds were not quite as deep as normal.
Sitting up on her side of the bed, Cameron initiated a third scan while preparing to send a file of the data to the Medical Complex. Without warning, John sat bolt upright in the bed, clutching his chest in agony, while gasping for air. Choking sounds filled the room as John began to gag, finally vomiting up bile mixed with blood.
Before Cameron could react, John collapsed back on the bed, his back arched and his eyes wide. Vomit covered his chest and legs, staining his chin as drool ran from his mouth. In horror, Cameron watched as John convulsed again, causing his eyes to roll back into his head. He let a final gasp, deflating his lungs and chest cavity before lying completely still.
Slowly, Cameron reached out and touched John's arm again. Her fourth scan revealed no signs of life. Straddling John, she began chest compressions, screaming in terror as she did so.
Somewhere in the distance, from the corridor leading to their bunker, she heard John's voice calling name.
"No! Don't go John," Cameron screamed in desperation to the vanishing voice. "I'm not ready for you to go!"
A bright light flashed in her right optic. A strange gurgling sound caused her to focus her vision on John. Strangely, his face was devoid of vomit or drool though his eyes were watering and wide open.
"Cameron," John wheezed. "Get off me and stop trying to break my ribs."
Cameron jerked her hands up from John's chest, her left hand opening and shutting furiously.
In a mewling, whimpering voice, Cameron muttered, "what have I done?"
Hesitantly, still astride John, she touched his face to scan his vitals. "Your heart rate is elevated as is your breathing. Your adrenaline levels are elevated as well."
"It's okay Cameron. It's okay. Now, just let me sit up and I'll be fine."
"You are going to the hospital immediately," Cameron said, uncertainty making her normal monotone tremble.
"No, there is no need to. But you really need to get off my pelvis, I need to pee."
His words finally sank in and Cameron slowly moved off her husband who promptly hopped up and quickly vanished from their room. A minute later the sound of the toilet flushing reached Cameron and John reappeared.
He looked at his clearly traumatized wife. She looked at him with her mouth open and eyes wide. Frantically she reached for him, holding his arm in a firm grip while she scanned him yet again.
"Your heart rate has slowed down and your breathing is closer to normal. Blood pressure is also normalizing."
"That's good to know after the pounding you gave me," John replied.
"You were dead! I had to give CPR," Cameron whispered, tears running from her eyes. "I can't lose you. I didn't protect you. Cameron put her feet on the stone floor of the room and stopped, tilting her head to the side.
"My boots aren't on."
Puzzled and concerned, John sat next to Cameron.
"Cameron, you only have on your panties and a tank top."
"No John! I was dressed for patrol."
"Hon, you only put on your panties and tank top so you could go check Hailey."
"Why would I dress like that to patrol?"
"Cameron, now you're scaring me." John took his wife's face in his hands and looked into her optic sensors. "Sexbot came to play."
Tears ran from Cameron's eyes again as she flipped through the recent video files on her HUD.
"You're right John. I only put on enough to be decent to check on Hailey."
"Cameron, I think you had a nightmare."
"I can't John."
"Check your HUD for files you may have left open when you shutdown for Terminator Sleep."
"Why?"
"If you left open any files, especially video files you were reviewing, it could have acted like a human subconscious and generated something like a dream."
Cameron sat in silence, her vision seeming to peer into the darkness in the corner of their room. John waited patiently while she accessed her HUD and reviewed her history.
Cameron covered her mouth with her hand, turning her head to look at John with a faint expression of surprise on her face.
"You are right. I was viewing every file I have on Delegate Racineaux. I hadn't shut down all of them. Why did I think you were dead?"
"I'm not dead, but you nearly scared me to death with all that screaming and pounding on me," John said in a gentle voice. "Is there anything in the video that might trigger the dream you had?"
Again, John waited patiently while Cameron worked her way through her files.
"Yes. I thought your heart had stopped. Looking at my internal chronometer, I had watched Delegate Racineaux take the vials of sodium thiopental on the surveillance feed. She took more than she needed to poison her husband and Delegate Comeaux. I must have thought she was going to poison you."
Wanting to calm his wife and make her feel safe, John stroked her cheek gently. "Well, I'm fine and nothing is going to happen to me."
"I could have hurt you," Cameron whimpered.
"But you didn't. Even though you weren't fully booted up you were trying to take care of me. It's okay."
Cameron stood up and hurried from their room to Hailey's. John followed to make sure Cameron remained calm. One brief growl told him Sammy had been awakened and quickly recognized Cameron. Peeking in the room, he watched his wife scan Hailey several times before slowly standing and moving towards him.
John took Cameron's left hand and squeezed it gently, pulling the door to Hailey's room shut behind as he led his wife back to their room. John helped Cameron lie down on her side of the bed before hurrying to his.
"Come here," John whispered. Cameron did not hesitate as she moved as close as she could to John, resting her face on his chest, listening to his heartbeat. John let her listen, knowing it would calm Cameron quicker than anything else he could do for her. He combed her hair with his fingers for a few minutes before finally taking an audibly deep breath, taking in the strawberry smell of her hair.
"Is it okay with you if I go back to sleep," John asked.
Cameron nodded yes, watching John's face as she did so.
"Would you mind pulling the covers up over us? I want you to stay in tonight. No patrol, okay?"
Reaching down with her foot, Cameron grasped the blankets with her toes and pulled them up to her waist, allowing her to reach the blankets with her hand. With the blankets pulled up to her chin, she looked back at John.
"You are not angry with me?"
"Not at all. Pull up your HUD and shut down every file listed as being open except for your basic operating system."
Seconds passed before Cameron blinked once and looked at John. "Everything off?"
She responded with a curt nod.
"Good. I'm going to hold on tight to you while you shut down for Terminator Sleep. Once you've started maintenance, I'll go to sleep. Okay?"
Her response was to nestle even closer to her husband without a word. In just under a minute, John felt her body stiffen slightly, indicating she was "asleep."
Despite his promise to go to sleep quickly, John lay awake staring at the blackness over their bed. Troubled by Cameron's dream, John pondered what could she have seen in the video that had triggered such a traumatic reaction.
Outside the TechCom Temporary Meeting Area…
Delegate Comeaux was walking slowly, lost in thought as John watched the man approach the bench he was sitting on.
"A moment if you please, Delegate Comeaux," John said quietly.
The man jumped, startled back to the present. Whatever he had been pondering forgotten for the moment.
"Yes, General, I always have time for you."
"I am afraid I have some more bad news for you."
"What has Racineaux done now?"
Reviews are always appreciated. If you liked this story, you might want to consider my other TSCC stories:
Cameron Grows Up
The Future Cameron
Cameron's Revenge
Cameron and the Black Bird
Cameron and John's Wedding
Who's the Boss?
The Storm Before the Calm