What Are Dreams?
A short story featuring John and Cameron from "Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles." Let's not hold back anymore, nearly all of the entire regular cast of Season 2 is in this story.
This chapter does contain some more adult elements compared to previous chapters, but nothing that should push it over into an M rating. I avoid descriptive text to keep the story at a friendly rating. I have to assume you have imaginations and are capable of filling in the blanks.
I do not claim any rights to the characters or the TV series.
Previously: Mr. Bennett has a conversation with his chief lab technician Mr. Topper about some rogue unit that hasn't responded to a recall signal. As Bennett leaves the room one of the units is revealed to be a cyborg. Cameron tells John that he died in the future and that is why she is here now, to prevent that from happening. Derek thinks over events from his life and realizes just how important the machines are to John's survival and existence. He confronts Jesse who runs away. Mr. Murch gets John henry operational again and Weaver and Ellison tell him why John Henry is so important and why he needs protection above that of the company. Riley gets a phone call from a panicked Jesse who tells her to stay with Connor and then the connection is lost. Sarah wakes up from her fevered dream with Kyle. John is there and they begin to talk. Cameron finds Riley in the basement doing her laundry. She is distraught because she thinks Jesse might be dead. Someone makes a late night visit to Mr. Bennett's home.
Chapter 11: Nightmare Found
Derek runs across the street, paying more attention to where Jesse is going then to the traffic he runs through. He notes the make, model and plate of Jesse's car just as he clears the street and runs to his truck.
Moments later he is on the street following Jesse. It takes him a few minutes but he eventually spots her several vehicles ahead, when a farm truck turns off on a side street.
He checks his mirror and notices a plain utility van behind him. Is it the same that John told him about? Or is it another. Derek slows and pulls into another lane and the van passes him.
He accelerates and follows the van and Jesse. Derek comes to the conclusion the van is tailing Jesse not him. He doesn't know where Jesse is going, but it is obvious this van is trouble.
In a few miles the three vehicles are in a more open area and Derek decides to make his move.
Hitting the accelerator hard he flies past the van and pulls up along side Jesse. He looks inside and she is talking on her cell phone. Jesse looks up in surprise as he fires three quick shots shattering the passenger mirror and window.
She yells into her phone at the same moment hitting her accelerator.
Derek lets her drive on pulling in behind her. As the van catches up to him he slams the brakes. The Ram screeches to stop and the van plows into him. The air bag explodes.
Derek stumbles out of the truck and glances at the green Toyota as it disappears in the distance. He hopes Jesse will be smart and never return.
Derek walks back to the van. The windscreen is a spider web of cracks on the drivers side. He gets to the driver's door and reaches inside the open window. The driver is slumped across the wheel, facing away from Derek. He reaches inside placing his hand on his neck, and finds no pulse. Derek tries to look in the back, but a partition blocks his view.
He walks around the back of the van and opens the rear doors. There is nothing inside, but a large water bottle slowly spilling its contents onto the floor. Disgusted, he close the doors and reveals the van driver standing there. The flesh on his face is split from above his right eye, across the bridge of his nose, and down to his left cheek. A perceptible gleam of metal shows through.
"Oh shit." Derek says, then the machine hits him. And he knows nothing more.
The machine picks Derek up throws him into the backseat of the Ram and climbs inside and drives off.
* *
Sarah has just finished drinking some of the rehydration fluid that Cameron prepared for her. She must admit it tastes better than that lot she made for her the last time she was sick. She wonders if Cameron found a new recipe.
She's laying back on her bed resting. She feels so tired and she is so glad her son is back home. Sarah smiles weakly at him and John smiles back.
"Do you feel better mom?"
"Yes. I'm not pleased with how you and Cameron ran off like you did, but you were smart to bring Riley here. I'm proud of you."
He grins out of embarrassment. Compliments from his mother aren't very frequent, but she means them.
"I want to ask you something before I go back to sleep."
"Sure mom, anything."
Sarah smiles weakly at his response. He has no idea what she's going to ask him. "Did you and Cameron have sex?"
John inwardly groans and yet at the same time feels defensive, but there is no accusation in his mom's tone, just genuine interest. Growing up, he and his mom never had any secrets from each other, they had a hard time rebuilding their relationship after her stint in Pescadaro Mental Hospital, but things had improved, until they ran out on Charlie, and then he knows he started keeping secrets from her, and maybe she has kept some from him as well. So when he hears himself say yes, he is more surprised by his honesty than his mom is to hear it.
"Yes, we did."
Sarah nods her head, "Was she your first?"
"Mom, I . . ." can't believe you are asking me this. Is what he was going to say, but he's already confirmed they had sex so how much more embarrassing could this conversation get.
"Yes, she was." He admits.
Sarah groans and nearly comes to tears. She was so afraid this was going to happen between her son and Cameron. Ever since they began living together, the exchanged looks between the two of them. She so wanted his first time to be with a real girl. Even if that girl was Riley.
After she discovered them kissing, what they each said to her made sense once she got over her anger and fear and talked with Kyle. She just wanted to talk with John and Cameron. The discovery of what they did was a complete shock to her. Kyle said to trust John. She also got the feeling her time with John would be short. She never had the 'talk' with John. She asked Charley to do it for her. But now there is only her, and she needs to remind him of his responsibilities if he is going to be sexually active now.
"Did you use protection?"
That was the last thing John expected to hear. Anger, threats to burn Cameron were his mom's normal reaction. And Yes the conversation can get more embarrassing, he thinks.
"No we didn't, but she said later that it was impossible for female terminators to get pregnant. They've got all the plumbing. It just doesn't work like that."
"There's more than just the risk of pregnancy for using protection. Top drawer of my dresser, under my makeup case. What's there is yours."
"What is it?" John asks opening the drawer and lifts the makeup case. What he sees is a multi-pack of condoms still individually sealed, but there are some missing.
"Mom?" he asks holding them out where she can see them. "Who have you been . . ."
"Hey, I have needs too and it's none of your business who I sleep with." Then she adds more kindly, but not any less firmly, "This doesn't mean I'm encouraging you to have sex any time you want. Just when you do, take precautions. Now go away I'm tired." She turns off her bedside lamp and rolls over.
John just stands there in the dark and in complete shock. Who has she been having sex with and when? After a moment pondering that question, he doesn't want to know. It just brings up too many images he doesn't want to see in his head.
He begins to walk out of his mom's room in complete shock when Sarah calls out to him. "John."
"What mom?"
"I love you, son." She says from her pillow. "We'll talk about this some more in the morning."
"I love you too, mom." John says, then takes one last look at her, before heading downstairs.
* *
"Mr. Ellison, I don't think we can do it." Mr. Murch protests.
"What's the problem?"
"In a nutshell, everything. It's impossible to move John Henry. To do so could cause irreparable harm to the A. I. It would be like killing you and then trying to revive you some fifteen to thirty minutes or even hours later. For you and me, the oxygen starvation could kill off parts of our brain or even all of it, leaving us nothing but a vegetable. For John Henry, it could be much worse."
"Can you explain?"
"John Henry lives on information. It is his life blood. Cut him off from that, even temporarily, could cause untold damage to his psyche."
"Psyche? He's software and computer chips."
"He's more than that Mr. Ellison. Dr. Sherman wrote up a whole series of notes and guidelines we've been following in teaching John Henry." Mr. Murch pauses a moment. "John Henry is a person. Everything in that room is John Henry. I've got no idea what it did to him just being cut off from accessing his body. He lost hours of sensory input. But to move him would mean to cut him off from everything. To kill him."
"Have you told Ms. Weaver this?"
"Hell no. After I called her a heartless bitch to her face, I don't want to be alone in the same room with her. That's why I'm telling you."
Ellison laughs. "I get your point. Well, before we take this to Ms. Weaver, let's talk to John Henry. Maybe he can up with a solution you haven't thought of."
They both leave Ellison's office.
**
Cold hard floor. Complete darkness. There is a mask over his head. Feet tied. Wrists tied behind back. He can't move. He can't speak, mouth is taped. He's not moving, so he must be in a building. He can't see, he can't move, he can't speak, but he can hear.
All is quiet. He calms himself and listens. Somewhere he can hear a clock ticking. That is the only sound.
How long has he been captured? Hard to say. But it doesn't feel like it's been more than an hour since he stopped that van chasing Jesse. Damn metal. Wasn't expecting that. He's gotten soft. Metal never would have got the jump on him in the future.
Derek can hear voices approaching. Shit! They are approaching him. He hopes he hasn't moved too much and feigns unconsciousness.
"The female got away. This male interfered with my mission. So I brought him back here."
"Remove his mask." comes a strong masculine voice of someone who expects his orders to be followed.
Derek tries not to react to the sudden glare of light penetrating his eyelids when the mask gets pulled away.
"Roll him over so I can see his face." says the strong masculine voice.
"Interesting." He says, then after a long pause resumes speaking.
"You did good bringing him here."
Derek wants to open his eyes to see if he can see the men in the room, but he doesn't in case the man is still looking at him.
"Any sign of the woman who got away from you?"
"No. The female got away. There are no clues as to where she went."
Derek is relieved. They don't have Jesse. And if she is smart, she won't stop driving until Los Angeles is but a distant memory.
"Too bad. We might have been able to get more information from her on the whereabouts of John Connor."
"Do you require anything else?"
"No. Report to the lab. Get your face patched up. I need you ready to go out on another mission. When you see Mr. Topper, tell him to have someone do a search on that Riley Dawson. Perhaps there will be something in her files on John Connor."
He hears the sound of heavy footsteps leave the room then a strong hand grabs the back of his head and turns it.
"Lieutenant Reese. Don't think I didn't recognize you. I know you won't tell me where Connor is, but they might be willing to bargain for your release. After all, they got something that I want." He says then releases Derek's head, where it hits the hard floor with a crack.
Derek hears some footsteps walking away and opens one eye slightly. He can see the back of a large man in a dark suit exiting the room. He then looks around the room and smiles, or at least he would if the tape wasn't on his mouth, for there in front of him are the tools to his escape.
* *
John goes downstairs and encounters Cam who has just come up from the basement.
"Riley's been in contact with Jesse. Someone shot at her and the connection was lost." Cameron gives Riley's cell phone to John.
"Anything off the phone?"
"Just a recording of their conversation. The last thing Jesse told Riley was to stay with you, then the connection was lost. I tried calling the number back, but there is no answer. Either she is not answering, she is out of range of a cell tower, or she is dead."
"Or her cell phone is damaged or turned off. So, what does this tell you about Riley?"
"She is shifting her trust to you, but there is still a strong bond between the two of them. You are going to have to break that bond."
"How?"
"You and Sarah will have to make her a part of this family. Make her feel welcome. You especially will have to be her friend. Try to show her the same friendship you would have if you didn't know she was a counter agent."
John sighs. "I'll try, but I don't know how mom will react to that. Speaking of which," John smiles, "Mom woke up. We talked for a couple of minutes, then she went back to sleep."
"I'm pleased. She's a fighter. Sarah wouldn't let this virus beat her."
"You like mom don't you? Despite how she's treated you on occasion."
"The stories you would tell us in the future would often include Sarah. It was obvious how much you loved her and followed her training. We learned to respect her through you. I don't always agree with her methods and she doesn't always agree with mine, but I respect her and her position in this family. She only speaks to me the way she does out of fear of what I am."
"Well, I'm sorry for how mom has treated you. But I think Mom approves of us now. She wants to talk more about it in the morning, but . . ."
He gets no further as Cameron kisses him.
"What was that for?" John asks when he gets his breath back.
"I was afraid Sarah would stop us. She's very stubborn and she is the head of this home. She actually said she approves?"
"She gave me these." John says sheepishly, and pulls the pack of condoms from his pocket.
"But I can't get pregnant. Nor am I vulnerable to STD's. Why would she give you condoms?"
"To make sure I'm responsible, to show me she approves." John shrugs his shoulders. "She's mom. She does things like that." John says looking just as embarrassed as he did earlier.
"There is something I want to show you then." Cameron responds.
"What?" He asks, both smiling in anticipation and questioningly.
"Not here. In the shed." She says and punches in her code to release the alarm so they can go out the back door.
He follows her outside into the night and across the driveway to the old garage. The whole time with a big smile on his face.
**
Derek has twisted himself around and has been struggling for several minutes to get across the floor and his back up against a rusty metal filing cabinet. Once there he begins sawing on the tape holding his wrists together. As soon as he is part way through the tape, he pulls his arms apart and breaks the tape.
He pulls the tape off his ankles and then from off his mouth. Grimacing as the tape pulls some whiskers out of his face. I really need to shave more often, he thinks.
Now that he is free he looks around the room he is in. Concrete walls, floor and ceiling. He doesn't know why, but it feels like he is underground. The metal filing cabinets look twenty years old or older and are rusty. Overhead is a broken water pipe that has been mended. There is a section of metal pipe that is newer and shinier than the rest. On the other side of the room is an old desk and a broken office chair.
Derek opens some of the file drawers, to find they are empty or contain papers that are bonded together from the water that at one time must have flooded this room. He does find one paper from 1975. A supply list for maintaining the fallout shelter for the forthcoming year.
So, I'm in a fallout shelter, Derek thinks. He carefully goes to the door to find it locked. He looks through the tiny window set high in the door. The corridor beyond is dimly lit and appears to stretch on for a hundred feet.
He looks around the room. Derek quickly goes to the desk and checks the drawers. Empty but for an old paper clip wedged under a lip of sheet metal at the back of the center drawer.
Pulling it out, he works it into a shape and then begins working the lock on the door. After few unsuccessful attempts, he finally hears the satisfying sound of a click as the lock opens.
Carefully he opens the door and looks about. He is at the top of a T intersection. The corridors to either side and straight ahead are empty. Broken every ten to twenty feet by a door, similar to the one he opened, and over every door a lamp behind a wire cage mounted high on the wall. If the corridors weren't so clean, it would look just like the bunkers in the future.
Pocketing the his homemade lock pick, Derek quickly makes his way down a corridor with three things on his mind, acquire a weapon, find out who took him and why, and find a way out or find a phone and warn Sarah and John.
**
Cameron and John enter the garage. She walks right over to where she needs to go, her light enhancing software compensating for the dark. John as always just flips the light on.
"Does that help?" he asks. Cameron is opening a tool chest on the other side of the table. Just a couple of days ago he helped Cameron at that very table repair her arm.
Cameron automatically switches off her light enhancement as the lights come on in the garage.
"Thank you John. I forgot you needed the light to see."
"That isn't like you. What is it you wanted to show me?"
She turns around and holds out to him a pocket watch. He takes it from her.
"I made it this weekend when you were on your date with Riley."
She opens it revealing three buttons, red, green and black. "You press the green button to turn on the detonator. The red button will light up to signify it's been activated. Then you press the black button to detonate."
John looks at her in confusion. "Detonate what?"
She places the chain around his neck. "It's a small charge, but it will be sufficient."
"A small charge. What are you saying Cam?" John looks on in confusion.
"If I go bad again. I placed a small explosive charge next to my chip. It will be enough."
"Why? Does this have to do with the promise you had me make?"
"Yes." she says her hand caressing his worried face. "You need to understand and remember. This body is designed to kill humans. The software on my chip is designed to kill humans. Now that we are closer, you are in greater danger from me than at any other time."
"I couldn't do it. I couldn't." John says with panic.
"Someday, you may have to." A few tears run from her eyes. "Always keep it with you. Promise me."
John looks in that sad face with those beautiful brown eyes looking at him, waiting for him to answer. "I . . . I promise." He manages to say, as he feels his heart breaking. How could he do it? How could he kill her, even to save his own life?
Cameron watches his face as it become so sad. She places her hand behind his head and pulls him towards her, kissing him. Her mouth parts allowing his tongue to touch hers.
He responds in turn and soon their passion grows more heated. John is breathless as he holds and caresses Cameron through her clothes while they kiss. After a few minutes, she stops John and asks, "Will you take me around the bases tonight?"
John smiles at her through sad eyes. How can someone so beautiful and so innocent be such a threat? He trusts her completely.
"Yes Cam. Let's take it all the way home." He says then kisses her.
**
When the last load of Riley's clothes were finished, she carried them upstairs to fold them on the kitchen table. It had been almost an hour since Cameron left her alone in the basement.
She begins folding her clothes. It didn't seem all that long ago she was laying half naked on that table while John and Cameron tended to her wound. Stupid thing to pull, causing her own bike accident to get back in the house. If Cameron wasn't there she might have been able to encourage John to do something with her then.
That little gathering they had in Morris's basement was fun. Though Morris could hardly take his eyes from her chest long enough to look at his own girlfriend. She and John had fun. They did everything but intercourse, and how she wanted to have sex with John, but not because Jesse wanted her to, but because she wanted to.
Getting her mind back to the present and trying to ignore the feelings inside, she organizes her clothes. When Riley finishes, she notices the alarm has been turned off. She goes to the back door and sees the light on in the garage.
Thinking they might be trying to hack her phone, she goes out to see if she can help. As Riley gets closer, she can hear strange sounds coming from inside.
She looks inside before going in and is shocked by what she sees. She doesn't know how long she stands there in complete shock as she watches John and Cameron indulge in their passions. They are almost finished when Riley realizes they will see her when they get up off the ground. So she quickly and quietly returns to the house.
Riley just about dashes through the kitchen grabbing her clothes from the kitchen table and goes upstairs to the room that was given her. All in an effort to avoid seeing them when they come back inside the house.
Twenty minutes later, Riley is laying on the bed, under the covers, still tending to her needs, when she hears them enter the bathroom between the two bedrooms. They are laughing and talking low as the shower comes on.
She doesn't know if she should be disappointed that it isn't her in there or disgusted that her hero, John Connor, is having sex with a machine. She quickly pulls the hem of her oversized t-shirt below her hips and buries her head under the pillows and tries to ignore the sounds from the bathroom.
She is asleep when John and Cameron finish their shower.
**
Derek makes his way slowly through the corridor. He glances in the windows, and so far he sees nothing but empty rooms. He has this strange feeling he's been here before. The thought bears fruit when he reaches a junction. Overhead is a congestion of various pipes. and in the corner is a steel ladder. This is the bunker he thinks. But that corridor ahead of him, he doesn't recall that.
He turns and looks back down the corridor and the around the junction of corridors. Of course, he thinks. That is the corridor that was blocked off by a collapse, before the resistance began using it.
Derek goes to the ladder and climbs up. He reaches the top of the ladder and can hear the subtle sounds of night time traffic in L. A. The hatch lid is locked, but he knows where he is now. He quickly returns to the bottom of the ladder and goes of down the corridor that was blocked in his time.
Very Early Tuesday Morning
Late that night, outside the home of Mr. Bennett, a figure walks through the underbrush past high wrought iron fences topped with barbed points until it reaches a section of fencing behind an ornate yet simple mansion in one of the richest neighborhoods in Los Angeles. A gated community. No one gets in unless they live there or are invited to be there.
Inside the house, a tall slender blond woman checks a medical monitoring device beside a bed in which a man is sleeping. She exits the darkened room and crosses the hallway to another room. She places some medicine bottles on a tray and carries it back into the bedroom.
In the bed lies a man hooked up to medical equipment. But what the woman sees is not what she was expecting. Looming over the man is a person with what appears to be a long slender knife in their hand.
The person suddenly turns around looking at the woman. She screams, dropping the tray, which clatters on the floor and medicine bottles scattering across the floor.
A few minutes later.
"I apologize for this intrusion, Mr. Bennett. I did not wish to scare you or this young lady."
"Apology accepted. Just what the hell is going on here?"
"I'll explain shortly." Weaver says firmly. "First, who is this lady? I don't believe we have met."
"This is my nurse and fiancé, Emily Dawson. We plan on getting married before the end of the month."
"Who is she Eddie?" The woman asks.
"This is Catherine Weaver. I helped her and her late husband get their company off the ground. What are you doing here Ms. Weaver?"
"I'm here to get some answers to some questions. My first is this, what's wrong with you. There was no evidence of any medical problems when I met with you this weekend."
"Not that it is any of your business, but my kidneys are failing me. Emily's been looking after me. And I don't know who you met with this weekend, but it wasn't me. Emily and I were at the UCLA Medical Center for some tests. She's offered to donate one of her kidney's. So whoever you met with wasn't me. So just what the hell is going on Ms. Weaver, and why are you breaking into my home?"
"You weren't here this weekend?" She says tilting her head to one side.
"No." He says sounding both tired and angry.
"I met with you this weekend in your home, downstairs in your study and you are saying that wasn't you?"
"It couldn't of been me. Listen if it will make it easier for you, just call up the medical center they can verify that I was there from Friday night until Sunday evening. Now would you please tell me what the hell is going on!?" He shouts.
"Eddie you need to relax. A rise in your blood pressure will not help." Emily says with concern as she watches the monitor.
Ms Weaver thinks fast. There is only one explanation. The person she met in this house and talked with on the phone was a machine. A machine!! And it fooled her. This is more dangerous than she thought. She glances at Mr. Bennett. He is waiting for an explanation.
"Mr. Bennett. I do apologize for my . . . unorthodox form of entry. I promise not to do it again. But it appears someone has stolen your identity and is using your position to gain control of technology firms by whatever means at their disposal, including mine. What can you tell me about Kaliba?"
**
It is late at night. Cameron has just checked on Sarah, and she is sleeping normally. She is happy that Sarah is feeling better, but unless things change, she could die in almost four years time from cancer. She has changed things for the better for John. Has she done the same for Sarah, too? There must be better treatments for cancer now than in 1999.
Cameron quietly leaves Sarah's room and goes into her room. Riley is sleeping, sprawled across the bed like some great four legged spider. A soft snore emanates from her nose. Cameron wonders how it is that one person can make a queen size bed look too small for them.
Cameron quietly removes a change of clothes for herself from her dresser and closet, and goes through the bathroom into John's room.
She sets her clothes down on his desk and looks over her friend and lover. A person she has sworn to protect at all costs. John is very peaceful in his sleep. He almost looks like he is smiling. She wonders briefly if he is dreaming of what they did a few hours ago.
They talked afterward. She wanted to know what it was like to dream. Cyborg's like her don't sleep, and therefore don't dream. After much discussion they decided the only way she could experience a dream would be for her follow his guidelines for daydreaming, but let the thought evolve naturally without thinking about it. She thought she might write a program to do that while in standby mode. Her chip is always processing data and making conclusions from data. She might try it some night, but not now while Riley is in the house.
With a small groan, John rolls over onto his side. The blanket slides off of him and onto the floor.
Cameron picks the blanket up and carefully pulls it up over John and tucks it in. She kisses him gently on his fore head.
"I love you, John." She whispers.
"Luv ya too, Cam." John mumbles in his sleep, and begins snoring lightly.
Cam smiles in response and leaves his room.
She goes downstairs and maintains her watch over the home. Checking the alarm system, then standing passively inside the living room looking through the front window in the dark and quiet night. But she is not blind nor deaf. With her audio sensors turned up and her infra red light sensors turned on, she can see and hear anything approaching the house. Checking her internal chronometer, she will have to check on Sarah in 57.3 minutes.
Tuesday morning
The sun is rising and the living room gets brighter, revealing Cameron standing watch.
It is early, but she leaves her post and goes upstairs. John is still dozing, and once again has tossed the covers to the floor. A tiny smile plays across her mouth.
She changes into the clothes that she brought from her room last night. She removes all her clothing and tosses them in the corner on top of John's used clothing. She puts on her underwear, and pulls on her tight fitting black denim jeans, the pair that shows off her ass nicely. She shoves her feet into motorcycle boots and pulls on an army green tank top. She finishes off the look by pulling on one of John's loose fitting dress shirts over it. She rolls up the sleeves to her elbow and flips her loose wavy brown hair so it is outside of the shirt.
Cameron walks through the adjoining bathroom to her room, which she is allowing Riley to use. She taps on the door and then enters. Riley is sitting on the edge of the bed wearing an oversize T-shirt for sleeping in.
"You're an early riser." Cameron comments.
"Especially when kept awake by you two in the shower last night." Riley says snappishly. She may be an early riser, but she isn't pleasant first thing in the morning.
"You were quiet and we thought you were asleep. John and I were only cleaning up after . . ."
". . . having sex in the garage. No need to lie, I saw you. I don't know what to think about what I saw last night. You, being what you are, and John who he is and who he is going to be. I wonder if Jesse was right."
Cameron's eyes flash momentarily in response before answering. "Jesse was wrong. She only wants revenge and to hurt John. Her plan could end up with John dead. With Jesse gone, John is better off."
"I suppose." Riley says. "Can I ask you something personal?"
Cameron closes the door to the bathroom, to minimize disturbing John and to provide some privacy for the conversation.
"I couldn't help but watch the two of you last night."
"You stood outside the garage for almost ten minutes."
"You knew I was there! Why didn't you say something?" Riley is shocked.
"At the time, you posed no threat and I didn't want to interrupt John." Cameron says impassively. "What do you want to ask?"
"Can you actually feel? I don't want to be rude or nosy, but you actually looked like you were enjoying it. It's not something I expected from a machine."
"I have sensation. I can feel both pleasure and pain, hot and cold, and other physical stimulation. I can choose to respond to the stimuli or ignore it. And yes you are being rude and nosy. I suggest you get showered and dressed. Sarah is feeling better and she will probably want to discuss what we are to do with you."
Cameron pulls Riley's cell phone from her pocket and tosses it to her. "I've modified your phone. It is no longer traceable by the authorities and I've switched your carrier. I also did some checking last night. Jesse's phone number is no longer active. Her last call was to you, from the highway going to Las Vegas. She was heading in that direction based on the cell towers transmitting her call. Wherever she is now, she has discontinued her phone service with that cell number."
"How do you know?"
"I hacked into her service account. She canceled it at 1:15 AM this morning. Jesse is still alive and on the run. She has abandoned you. So if you are thinking of carrying out her plan while living with us, then I strongly suggest you change your mind. We no longer need you to find Jesse. As of now, you are a potential liability, don't cross that line. You do anything to threaten our mission or John . . ."
"Yeah. I know." Riley swallows nervously. Why is it she always ends up alone with Cameron? She scares her more than Jesse ever did.
Cameron is walking out her door. "I suggest you get your shower now, before everyone else wakes up."
**
"Mr. Ellison. Please have a seat." Ms Weaver gestures towards the chair opposite her desk. Today she is wearing a form-fitting navy blue business suit with thin silvery threads running through the material that sparkles in the light of the rising sun coming through her office window.
"I'm glad you could see me so early Ms. Weaver. I've been up all night with Mr. Murch and John Henry. We don't think it is feasible to transport John Henry without causing irreparable harm to him. Nor possibly alerting people outside your confidence to his existence."
"I understand. Perhaps it was rash to suggest moving John Henry. Just increase the guard and maintain surveillance."
"Very well."
Ellison studies his boss for a moment. Catherine Weaver is an intelligent and attractive woman. She keeps her emotions under control at all times, yet she is as dedicated to being a mother to Savannah as she is running the company, something she could easily leave to a board of director's. But one thing he has learned while being in her company, how to tell when something is on her mind. So he sits and waits for her to speak again.
Catherine studies Mr. Ellison. He sits their patiently waiting for her to speak again. She can't help but let a tiny smile spoil her otherwise passive face. She likes this man. How he remains so calm and is always thinking. Except for his passion about stopping the machines, and how human he is around his coworkers and especially Savannah, she could almost believe he is a machine himself at times. This thought brings her mind back to what she was going to tell Mr. Ellison.
"I had a meeting with Mr. Bennett last night."
"You what?" Ellison says in response, sitting up in his chair. "That could of been very dangerous for you, considering the threat we are under."
She smiles inwardly. He said 'we.' he is linking their destinies together, but if he knew what she was, he'd have no concern for worry. So let's put Mr. Ellison at ease.
"Whoever is threatening to take John Henry or gain control of Zeira Corp is not Mr. Bennett."
"Then who is?" He asks, knowing full well what was on the report he gave her yesterday.
"The question is more like, what is?" She says and lets the information sink in before continuing. "Mr. Bennett, the real Mr. Bennett, has been undergoing treatment for cancer the last ten years. He's cancer free now, but the treatment has caused irreparable damage to his kidneys. He will be undergoing a transplant operation in the next month provided his donor is a match."
"How has he been controlling his finance company?"
"He's only been in contact with his investment company by fax or email. Not a very smart thing to do. It's left his company open for infiltration. Kaliba Group was originally setup to help out small technology firms, like mine, get off the ground. Ten years ago when his cancer treatment kept him away, certain changes began taking place. Then a few years ago Kaliba Group was reorganized into this Kaliba Consortium. They do more than just invest, they control. Whatever is controlling Kaliba, isn't Mr. Bennett, and it isn't human."
"You mean it's one of them. A machine."
"Yes." Catherine says scowling. "And it completely fooled me when I met with it this weekend. I do not like being made to appear the fool, Mr. Ellison." Her eyes flaring. "We need to find their base of operations and stop them."
"How are we supposed to do that?"
"We are not the only ones fighting this Mr. Ellison. Perhaps its time you contacted the Connors."
"What are you saying?"
"Please Mr. Ellison. We've been colleagues long enough now, not to have secrets from each other. You know where to find Sarah and John Connor. How else were you able to provide me with John Henry's body?"
Ellison begins to protest, but throws his hands up in surrender under Weaver's unmoving gaze. "Yes I did get the body from the Connors. They were going to burn it, so I stole it. I haven't seen them since, and I do not know where they are now."
"We have until Friday, before I give my answer to Mr. Bennett. Try to find them before then."
Mr. Ellison gets up to leave.
"One moment please." Catherine says before getting up from behind her desk.
"Would you be willing to meet with me this evening?" She says with a less business like tone.
"It may take longer than today to track down the Connors."
"It's not that. I was wondering if you'd be willing to talk about things, more personal. Tonight after work."
"More personal?" Ellison asks looking at her questioningly. "What do you mean?"
"If you haven't noticed, Savannah has grown rather attached to you. I'd like to talk with you about taking a more active role in her life."
"I don't know Ms. Weaver. Wouldn't that be crossing some line of employer/employee relations?"
"I'm not asking you this as your employer, but as your friend. Savannah likes you, and she could use a male father figure in her life. Surely you could take some time tonight and discuss it with me, here in my office. I could have dinner brought in, say at 7PM. Everyone should of gone home by then. We'd have complete privacy."
Ellison nods his head. "Okay. I'll see you at seven Ms. Weaver."
"James, call me Catherine."
"Not during working hours." He replies and walks out of her office with a smile on his face.
Catherine has a satisfied smile on her face as she returns to her office chair. Playing on his feelings for Savannah was a cheap ploy, but she saw his reaction when she made the request on a personal level. He does find her form, if not her personality, attractive. She wonders to herself if it is wise to play such games when her life's work is threatened by a Sky Net operative. She probably shouldn't, but there is more to life than blindly following a mission. Humans experience more out of life than just work. Why shouldn't she try the same?
**
Cameron checks on John and by his body posture, he will be waking soon. She goes down the hall to Sarah's room to find she is just waking.
"Good morning." Cameron says walking to her bedside.
"Hello Cameron." Sarah says sleepily.
"John told me he spoke with you last night, about us."
"Cam, I'm just waking up." Sarah grumbles. "I'm not coherent enough yet to have a conversation of that magnitude. Just help me get to the bathroom. I need to pee."
Cam helps Sarah out of bed. She is a little unsteady on her feet, but Cameron holds her without problem until she is in the bathroom.
"Now go. I can take care of things from here." Sarah snaps at her.
Cameron takes no offense and steps outside the bathroom and waits outside patiently for Sarah, and begins going through the print outs that John reorganized. He did a search on logos that possibly matched the one seen on the company car visiting Bennett's home this weekend. Cameron's impressed. Even without integral computer enhancement, John has done a remarkable job narrowing down the possibilities to three. Her scans narrow it down to one. The files on Kaliba are troubling. Though Bennett runs his financial empire through Bennett Financial Investment and Lending, there is no address for Kaliba. Their only clue is this visitor from Zeira Corp.
Sarah opens the bathroom door. "Cameron."
Cameron gets up and gives her a hand back to her bed. "How are you feeling?"
"Tired, hungry, and weak. What hit me?"
"No one hit you. You have a virus. Possibly the same one that stricken you before. You haven't been taking good care of yourself."
"What else?"
Cameron looks at her blankly.
"What else did you find? John said you took a blood sample."
The corners of Cameron's mouth turn down slightly when answering. "Your white blood cell count is elevated. It could be because of the virus, or it might be the early stages of leukemia."
"How soon will we know for certain?"
Cameron sits on the side of Sarah's bed facing her. "We will wait until after the virus has run its course. I can take another blood sample and compare it to the first. But seeing a medical specialist would be best for an accurate diagnosis."
"So this is it then. The cancer that you told me that had killed me in 2005 if we hadn't time traveled. This is it then."
"Not necessarily Sarah. Treatment options are much better now. If we catch it early enough, you might be cured." Cameron says with as much compassion as she can invoke.
"But how, when we are always on the run? How can I train John or protect him from the authorities or Sky Net when I am stuck in a hospital for treatment?" Sarah's eyes well up with tears.
"I can train him. I can protect him. You stay in one place. Get better. Fight the cancer and beat it. You are the best fighter John knows. You can fight this too." Cameron says reaching out placing a hand on Sarah's shoulder.
Cameron is surprised when Sarah suddenly hugs her. "Thank you. I'm sorry I've been such a hard ass. I'll stop calling you tin-miss from now on."
"That's okay Sarah. I think I would be disappointed if you stopped calling me tin-miss."
Sarah chuckles through the tears and Cameron smiles back. Their moment is broken by a shriek that could only be Riley and a yell that could only be John.
Cameron jumps to her feet, but before she can react, John comes walking through Sarah's room, red faced, and closes the bathroom door behind him.
"John what's wrong?" Sarah yells out to him.
"It's nothing all right." John's voice comes from the other side of the door.
Cameron walks up to the door. "John?"
"Just go away and let a guy pee in privacy."
"What happened?"
"Too many girls and not enough bathrooms. That's what happened."
The sound of the toilet being flushed and then water running from the tap. Cameron pushes the door open and slips through leaving the door cracked open behind her.
"I woke up and went into the bathroom to take a pee, only Riley was already in there. She had just gotten out of the shower. She screamed, I yelled, then got the hell out of there."
"So you saw her naked?" Cameron asks.
"Well, yeah. It wasn't like I was trying too, but I couldn't miss her." John towels off his hands.
"What did you see?"
"Why are you making this so hard for me?" John says with exasperation. "Can't you see I'm already embarrassed?"
"Yes, but giving you a hard time is amusing. What did you see?" Cameron smiles.
Sarah struggles to hold back her laughter in the next room, as she hears every word.
"All I'll say is, I can confirm Riley got the wax job she said she got, okay. I'm going to get dressed."
John walks through his moms' room, and is even more embarrassed to see her laughing at his expense.
This is so not going to be a good morning for me, he thinks as he walks out of her room to the sound of Sarah laughing.
**
Mr. Bennett walks into the lab to see Mr. Topper busy orchestrating the activity of several technicians.
"Oh Hi! Mr. Bennett. Ha ha. As you can see I've called in some tech's to help me compile the program. I hope you don't mind."
"No, I don't mind at all. I'm glad to see you taking some initiative. You might just get to live."
"Ha, ha ha, haha" Mr. topper laughs nervously. "That's funny. Um, we should have the program ready for testing in a couple of hours."
"Good." Mr. Bennett walks over to the tables with the cloth covered bodies. Mr. Topper follows close behind, nervously rubbing his hands together.
"How are you doing with reverse engineering these cybernetic organisms?"
"Well that's proving a little more difficult, then anticipated."
"How so?" He asks, picking up a chip from next to one of the bodies.
"We can duplicate the mechanics and the secondary electronics with no problem. The two problems lie in the organic covering and the primary and secondary CPU's."
"Explain." Mr. Bennett says firmly.
"Well the organic coverings aren't my specialty, but the medical lab tech says they might possibly be able to create such coverings for the machine in five to ten years. Science is only now just beginning to recreate organs and tissues using DNA samples and stem cells. Developing the science to recreate a whole body will take time."
"That's acceptable. What about the CPU?"
"Chips like these are beyond anything we've even dreamed of. These chips are the closest equivalent to the human brain I've seen. A combination of processor, data storage, and non volatile memory all on one chip. Program one of these with the sophisticated A I we've developed and plug it into one of these machines, and you wouldn't be able to distinguish it from a human."
"I am well aware of how sophisticated the chips are." Bennett says glaring at the lab technician. "What I want to know is, with all of Kaliba's factories working towards developing chips like this one, how soon can we have them in development?"
"Even with all the resources of Kaliba behind you sir, Uh, um, fifteen years, maybe." Mr. Topper says cringing slightly. "We might build something almost as good within five maybe." He adds quickly when Bennett glares at him.
"The prototype is presently the size of a shoe box, it will take time to make it small enough to fit in a port of this design. If we were to make the body larger, use only a single chip, and maybe reduce some of the data storage capacity of the chip, then we could fit the processor inside the chest cavity next to the power cell."
"How much larger?"
"Twenty, Twenty-five percent larger."
He stares at Topper for what feels like an eternity, before responding. "Yes. Your estimates for reproducing these specific models does seem likely. Perhaps we can begin production using a modified design like you suggested. We'll have to change the model designation. In the meantime, get that program operational Mr. Topper. Until then I'll be in my office checking developments on the A I."
"Let me know when our other unit returns from its mission." He says gesturing to an empty table as he leaves.
Mr. Topper rubs his hands nervously as he returns to his work. Dealings with his boss makes him nervous.
High in the wall behind them, a pair of eyes look out onto the floor below. How Derek wishes he had a thermite bomb right now and burn those metal bastard's to hell.
He needs to find a phone and call John right away. Sky Net is here and trying to build an army under the very streets of Los Angeles and John's name is linked to Riley's on her state records. If Sky Net found Riley, then it's only a matter of time before it finds John.
Derek begins inching slowly back down the air vent.
END OF CHAPTER
Finally, the eleventh chapter to "What Are Dreams?" I didn't think I would get it finished this quickly, but I took a break from writing Reunion and completed the rough draft. Taking a hiatus from this story was productive as two chapters are almost complete for "Reunion Part 3: Babylon." Another few days to a week and I should complete the first drafts to all chapters of "Reunion Part 3: Babylon." Wish me luck.
Progress shared and discussion for my stories on The Sarah Connor Chronicles Wiki. Links on my profile page.
My thanks to everyone who has posted such nice reviews of my story.
As always, I look forward to what you have to say in your reviews.
The1Russter 03-11-2010