This is a LONG chapter…bear with me. Sorry for the delay, and there's more to come, but I wanted to make sure that nobody thought I was dead or something…
Running From the War
Cromartie had been tricked. Morris Ordoñez, the individual identified in the internet café two weeks ago, had lied to him. He would become a low level member of the Resistance someday, but was of such little importance he was not targeted for termination. However, Cromartie had checked on the John Baum whose address he had been given and it was a negative ID. But, after conducting a search of the high school that Morris had named where he was a schoolmate with John Baum, Cromartie found there was no Morris Ordoñez at the school name that was given. However, there was one other school that had both a Morris Ordoñez and a John Baum…
The terminator waited outside Morris's house, not seeming at all to worry about blending in. The low income neighborhood was mostly filled with immigrant and first generation families from Mexico and Central America, so a massive white man standing on the curb looking official did catch a lot of attention. Many probably assumed that he was a cop; arrests in the neighborhood, though not uncommon, were not a daily occurrence. A few wannabe gangsters, who were basically just neighborhood bullies, ran around beating up kids for their bikes or dealing pot here and there. But overall, it was not a horrible place.
Morris walked out the front door of his house, his mother shouting at him in Spanish to clean his room as soon as he got home. The short Mexican kid walked up his sidewalk, oblivious to the return of the creepy guy advancing toward him. Someone had told him that his crush, Cameron Baum, had gone to the prom with the notorious womanizer Brad Swanson, so Morris was not in a great move. If Brad hadn't swept her off her feet to begin with, a night in bed would have easily swayed Cameron's devotion to him. This sucked; his hot potential girlfriend was probably already taken…
"You lied to me," Cromartie stated, causing Morris to nearly jump out of his skin.
Morris looked up at the tall, intimidating man. The cold, lifeless eyes bore into his soul, and Morris nearly peed his pants. Who was this guy? He did look familiar and he did not look like the type of person that he would lie to…or in any way make angry.
"Dude…do I…do I know you?" Morris stammered, looking around the street to make sure that there were witnesses to his upcoming murder. There were a few guys from down the street, but they were gangsters and probably would not rat out this guy for killing Morris, so the small Latino teenager had given up hope.
"We made contact three weeks ago at an internet café. You inquired as to why I was seeking John Baum and you gave me the name of your school. Upon investigation of the John Baum enrolled in said school, I conducted another investigation on you and found that you did not go to the school that you claimed, so if you did know a John Baum as you claimed, it was the other one on the list that I had found," Cromartie explained.
"What do you want with John, Man?" Morris asked, cracking his knuckles nervously, "He's a good guy; I'm kinda dating his sister, too," he knew he was lying about this, but in his own mind, Cameron was as nuts about him as he was about her.
"Where does he live?" Cromartie pressed.
"I don't know."
Cromartie's hand shot out and grabbed Morris's shirt and lifted him in the air. Morris let out a shriek and began to kick his legs like a child. This was it, he was a dead man! The normally boring neighborhood was suddenly very beautiful, as he realized this was his last view. But Cromartie continued his interrogation.
"Where does John Baum live?" he asked simply.
"I DON'T KNOW, MAN!" Morris cried out, "I seriously don't."
"Do you know anyone who does?"
"I don't know. Nobody knows anything about them!"
"When did you see them last?" Cromartie did not seem to notice or care that people were beginning to look on with concern at the scene.
"I…I think like a month ago!" Morris said truthfully, "Can you put me down?"
Cromartie released the teenager; Morris was not expecting this so suddenly, so he landed on his butt with a grunt.
"Has there been any events at your school that John Baum or his sister may have taken part in?" the terminator leaned over menacingly, threatening to hoist Morris up again, or maybe do something even more painful.
"Uh…the prom was last night," Morris said as he dusted himself off, "I know Cameron went, I didn't hear if John did though."
Cromartie cocked his head, his expression not changing, "Cameron is his sister?"
"Yeah."
"Who accompanied her to the prom?"
"Brad Swanson. He's like a super-jock," Morris replied with a hint of distaste. Morris had been bullied and teased by Brad throughout most of middle school and, though they never really crossed paths now, he still hated him.
Cromartie knew that the terminator that was assigned to protect John Connor went by the name Cameron, so it was highly probable that this was the one he was looking for. However, he would have to confirm. "Where does Brad Swanson reside?"
"Dude, I don't…" Morris winced, then thought about it and realized that he did not want to be destroyed just yet, "He's about five miles from here, over on Shepard's Landing. Just look for the house with a lot of drunk kids."
"Thank you for your cooperation," Cromartie said as he turned to leave the bewildered Mexican boy.
"So, should we go upstairs?" Cameron asked, "I think we need to discuss some things."
"Yes, we need to," Cheri replied, "If you act within the next two weeks, three days, and five hours, you can prevent Judgment Day by the end of the summer."
John followed the two female terminators up the basement steps to the Westins' kitchen.
"I'm assuming that that the TW unit is here too," Cameron said.
"Yes. But we found it best that he pose as my father, although it is obvious that our cover was inadequate as he was severely damaged by a T-888 and unable to show himself in public while his epidural healed. The damage was very extensive," Cheri said robotically.
Cameron rolled her eyes, "Okay, I want to tell you, I'm not faking emotions or personality and I went off program awhile ago. Is this you, or are you acting like a terminator because you think we expect it?"
"Um, I guess I'm just falling back into my old ways," Cheri forced a laugh as they sat down at the kitchen table, "I've developed hunger, worry, aspiration for personal betterment, and sexual desire since I nearly was destroyed by the triple eight last summer. By the way, John, you really disappointed me last night. I was looking forward to having a night of sexual relations. You have no idea how good…"
"Okay, okay," John held up his hand, blushing terribly, "that's enough." That was pretty damn awkward, especially to Cameron, who seemed to be a little uncomfortable with the thought of Cheri and John making love.
"You're a terminator as well, Cameron. What have you developed in terms of emotions?"
Cameron smiled proudly, "Everything."
Cheri nodded, "Why did you turn down sex with Brad, then?"
Cameron's eyes shot open wide, "What?" she asked incredulously. How could anybody ask such an insensitive question? "John," she asked quietly, "Was I ever this blunt?"
"Uh…" John thought for moment, then nodded, "Yeah. Yeah you were…sometimes worse. But," he added quickly before she got upset, "We live and learn."
"I figured you would want sexual gratification. Brad is known to be quite virile and you had a great opportunity. It makes senses if you were human and worried about an unwanted pregnancy…"
"I didn't love him," Cameron said quickly, "It would have just been lust if I did sleep with him."
"So?"
"Okay, can we get on with this?" John rolled his eyes.
Thank you, Cameron thought.
Cheri got serious once again, "Tell me what you know so far then."
"In terms of…what?" John prompted.
"Are you aware of the existence of the Turk and its significance?"
"Yes. We believe that its line of code will be used to develop Skynet," Cameron nodded and tapped her fingers on the table, "what we don't know is how, when, and who we have to stop from doing it."
"The concept of an automated missile defense system that would be free from human error and biased judgment has been on the table since the mid-nineteen eighties. However, with the demise of an imminent threat from nuclear tipped ballistic missiles, it has been difficult to justify a three hundred billion dollar missile system. But, for the last five years, a number of think tanks have taken into account the mistakes that led to the Iraq War, the mishandling of missions by leaders since September Eleventh, and many left-wing politicians who are alleging war crimes by American troops, and concluded that emotion and 'principal,' rather than strict logic, was the problem behind decisions being made for the defense of the nation. Also, recruitment, training, equipping, housing, paying, and feeding soldiers, as well as treating the wounded, maintaining equipment, and gathering intelligence was costing a staggering a nineteen billion dollars a month and taking thousands of man hours.
"What was needed, it was concluded, was a completely automated military, both conventional and nuclear. Everything, from infantry to ballistic missile submarines, should be run by machines that make decisions by calculations, would not have any need for compassion or emotion, and were simply tools for accomplishing a mission. No humans to sacrifice; it was estimated that the cost of such a program would be approximately six hundred billion dollars to implement, but within five years, the amount saved from the dismantling of the human military would pay for the new army," Cheri paused, making sure that Cameron and John were following. John was listening intently and Cameron looked like she had shut down altogether. Apparently, John noticed this too.
"Cameron?" John waved his hand in front of her face. Her old, terminator blank stare had returned and John was fearing that something happened to the brain/CPU power balance that had taken so long to shift. He was worried that his love was once again an emotionless cyborg.
"What?" Cameron looked over at him.
"Are you okay? Did something happen to your brain-CPU thing?" John asked.
"Uh…no, why do you ask?"
"You looked…like you used to. No offense."
To his relief, Cameron rolled her eyes and smiled, "I'm recording, freak! This is how I look when I'm concentrating," she explained.
"Oh," John was not sure if he should be embarrassed or not.
"Yeah, so shut up; I'm trying to listen."
John felt her grasp his hand under the table and curl her fingers among his affectionately, so he knew she was not mad; more amused if anything. At any rate, his heart began to beat faster, as it did every time she touched him. God, I love you, Cameron, he thought, Okay, John. Let's be like Cameron and listen to Cheri. "So, wait, my understanding was that it was a strategic defense system that got out of control then developed a conventional wing," he said.
"Originally, that was the thought, but soon with the prompting of California Attorney General John Marius, the idea of replacing the military completely with an artificial intelligence became popular," Cheri explained.
"That guy is a nut. How the hell does he get anyone to listen to him?" John asked. He did not pay attention to politics much, but Marius was a name that most people in California knew, and either loved or despised; John was in the latter camp. He was actually glad to hear that the idiot was involved in this.
"He is a well known hater of the military," Cheri replied, "He has been pushing for years to dissolve the California National Guard and to deny veteran's benefits and to not recognize the Montgomery G.I. bill in the state. Because of his reputation, Skynet sent a T triple eight, alias: Cromartie, to make contact with him."
Cameron grimaced and shook her head, "Yeah, Cromartie. We've had a ton of run-ins with him. His primary duty is also to terminate John."
Cheri nodded in agreement, "Yes, I know that. He was also assigned to speak with Marius, introduce himself as an experimental cyborg soldier left from Cyberdyne and that his calculations concluded the same thing: That the current U.S. military was inadequate, improperly staffed, and prone to failure and war crimes. He told him when and how to get the Turk, since Andrew Goode was already dead. So Marius contracted Sarkissian to steal the Turk and make the situation look like a simple weapons or computer theft. He did not tell Sarkissian that he was setting him up and arranged for him to meet and be arrested. When that happened earlier this month, Marius was made to look like a hero."
Cheri paused and brushed an eyelash off her cheek. John was waiting for her to continue, but she did not seem to understand that they had not put everything together.
"So, go on," John pushed.
"In five days, Marius will feed information to the Taliban in Afghanistan about a patrol by a taskforce of U.S. Army Rangers and 1st Special Forces Operational Detachment-Delta operatives inside the Pakistani border. They will be ambushed and twenty-five will be killed, and the rest will be captured and beheaded on film. It will be the worst disaster in the history of the United States Special Operations Forces. A week after this, there will be a massive bombing of a group of Afghan villages, and a group of mercenaries, dressed as American soldiers, will slaughter all the survivors, seemingly in retaliation for the killing of their brothers-in-arms. This will cause an outrage, and Marius will seize the opportunity to solidify his position in the presidential race, campaigning on the issue that the military is incompetent and immoral. However, as a state attorney general, he has no power to implement such a system, but Skynet itself has sent back terminators, under the guise of a research and development team, to manufacture a small sample group of T-600s, using the line of code from the Turk to create their programming.
"This program will get laughed at first by most politicians, but Marius will keep bringing it up in his campaign. Despite the opposition, the military then decides to test the T-600 units in Iraq. In less than three months, they have a perfect operational record, totaling five hundred kills and no losses. Three high profile insurgent leaders are also captured. It is after this that the military is impressed by the performance of the 600s, and sends them into Pakistan to hunt for Osama bin Laden. Within a week, they find him and terminate him, as well as al-Zawaheri, and bin Laden's sons. Marius' approval ratings shoot up and he wins every state in the primaries by twenty points or more. He then goes onto win the presidential election, carrying thirty-five states. He immediately withdraws all U.S. troops from overseas and disbands the entire military except for the National Guard and the now one thousand strong T-600 force. By 2010, with the help of factories built by terminators sent back, every fighting unit is automated, though still under the command of human beings. That changes in 2011, when the Turk is finally developed into Skynet: A satellite coordinated artificial command system. Human decisions are completely removed from all defense systems, and Skynet begins to learn and grow…and than you know what happens."
John and Cameron looked at each other. So this is exactly what happened. They were right about the Turk becoming Skynet. But how now were they to stop it?
"This is good, but we need numbers, locations, times, and ways to prevent some of these tragedies," John said, "If we can prevent this massacre of the Rangers and Delta Force, that will make it harder to justify what Marius is pushing for."
"Getting to SOCOM will be difficult," Cheri advised, "it is possible that bin Laden himself is in the region and that is the reason for the mission, so it is highly classified. It would be better to try and just destroy the Turk."
John thought for a moment. This was horrible on two levels: First it would lead to the adoption of the Turk as the father of Skynet, second, over fifty families would be getting the dreadful knock at the door, telling them that their son, father, or husband was not going to be coming home. "No," he said flatly, "We're not going to sit back and let the men who are putting their lives on the line for their country get slaughtered by a bunch of terrorists."
"Impossible," Cheri folded her arms, "You won't be able to break into the NSA or SOCOM server, and they will never believe you when you tell them they are walking into an ambush. Besides, even if this massacre does not happen, it does not assure that Judgment Day will not come."
Cameron put her face in her hands and shook her head. This was seeming impossible. They had their informant, and unlike what Osborn claimed, it was not enough. Judgment Day would happen, but she could not go back to that life…she would not! "She's right, John. The odds are too great. I mean, even if we did prevent the massacre, things can still happen. The government is always trying to push for artificial intelligence systems, especially for national defense. Plus," she grimaced, "after that, then what? We change the future, then everything she's saying makes no difference, because things will change and she won't know…"
"We can't!" John slapped his palm down on the table, "We need to do everything possible to prevent this!"
Cheri and Cameron looked at each other and shook their heads. To a human, this was about a moral victory, to Cheri saving the soldiers was irrelevant, and to Cameron, as much as she wanted to, she saw it as impossible.
"I can hack in and reroute a satellite," John suggested, "they wouldn't even know it, but they'd get the images early."
"Too risky, with no payoff," Cheri replied simply, "John, I am not your fellow fighter, and I hold no alliance to the Human Resistance technically, but I am on your side and I want you to defeat Skynet. You cannot be chasing dreams like this or you will get too off track in trying to treat the symptom instead of the disease."
Suddenly, the front door swung open. Reacting on training alone, John shot out of the line of sight to the door as Cameron drew her pistol faster than Wild Bill Hickock and pointed at the figure entering. A muscular man appearing in his late twenties or early thirties entered, simultaneously pulling back his jacket and reaching for his concealed sidearm.
"Cameron! Tom! No!" Cheri yelled, shooting out of her seat. She quickly pulled Cameron's arm down. Immediately, Cameron snapped out of combat mode as she realized what was going on. "Dad," Cheri cautioned, "the area is clear, she presents no threat."
Tom Westin placed his Sig Sauer back in his belt and stood down. "You should have warned me you were having guests. She could have been killed," he said matter-of-factly, not an ounce of emotion in his voice.
"Not her," John walked back into the kitchen to meet with Tom, who had already conducted his scan of John's protector.
"You are a TOK-715, but you do not come up in my files as part of our council," he said to her.
"I was sent to terminate John Connor and infiltrated Tech Com in 2027, but I defected and had my memory erased. I was then assigned to protect John Connor in this time," Cameron explained, "But I have since gone rogue and I am not following any directives, so I am protecting John and fighting Skynet by choice."
"I thought you were supposed to be on a business trip," John stated.
"Yes," Tom replied, "I arrived back here at 0813 hours this morning. Did you stay the night and have sexual relations with Cheri?"
"No, I did not," John was starting to not get phased by the terminator bluntness, "Where did you go?" John asked.
"My sales job is only to earn money to pay rent for this house. My main job is to provide increased security for Cheri. So, I had a meeting in San Diego."
Realizing that everything was safe in the small but tidy house, Cameron spoke up, "So, John, what do we do now?"
"I'm trying to find a way that we could get into one of the intelligence computers and broadcast…"
"John, it's pointless," Cameron interrupted, immediately hoping that she didn't sound too harsh, "We have to find another way." She looked over at her fellow terminators, but she knew that they were not going to give any advice. Cheri had no empathy and Tom had no emotions, period. Then something came to her, "You said Attorney General John Marius is the one who feeds information to the Taliban, correct?" she asked Cheri.
"Yes," Cheri and her "dad" answered in unison.
"When does he do this?"
"His mistress's son is an officer with Naval Intelligence, but he is very corrupt, and has been offered a high position in Marius' cabinet in exchange for information on important missions. He is working directly with Marius. Tomorrow at 1632 hours local time, Lieutenant Commander will call Marius and inform him of the impending mission. Marius will then instruct him to give all known information to a local Taliban leader, who will forward it to the parties preparing to battle the American Special Operations Forces," Cheri said.
"Well," Cameron thought for a moment, her emotional brain thinking of the idea and the lives it would save, and her CPU calculating how it should be done and the chance for success, "Maybe we just need to stop Marius. John, if we leave in about two hours or so, we could make it to Sacramento by tonight."
"Whoa!" John held his hand out in a stop signal, "We can't just assassinate the Attorney General. I mean, yeah, he's a corrupt, criminal nut, but we can't make him a martyr."
"I know, I'm not thinking that we'll terminate him," Cameron replied quietly, "But we have phone bugs. We could intercept his call and make sure everybody knows."
Cheri cocked her head, "Let everyone know?"
"Anonymously send the recording to SOCOM, or JSOC, or the CIA. At least it will get his accomplice caught and turn suspicion onto him."
John nodded and looked over at Cheri and her "father," "It could work," he said thoughtfully, "It's worth a try."
Cheri shook her head again, "I still say it's irrelevant and it won't prevent Judgment Day."
"That's fine," Cameron replied, "But we'll still do it. Now, there's one more thing we need to know. Where the Turk is now, and where it will be from now until Judgment Day."
Offering a smile, Cheri walked back to the kitchen with Cameron following. "This will be a lot of boring information, John," she told him, "Only Cameron will be able to record all this information anyway. You can make yourself comfortable if you want."
The home of Bradford Sr. and Patricia Swanson looked like it had been the scene of a war, but Cromartie did not see any burn marks, bullet holes, or signs of explosions. Nonetheless, there was trash everywhere, vomit on the porch and in the grass, and a couple intoxicated teenagers stumbling around. As he approached the front door, many of the partiers looked at him with a mix of terror and drunken awe.
"Dude, you Brad's dad?" a longhaired kid with a goatee asked, holding his head from the massive hangover.
"No," Cromartie replied, "Where is Brad Swanson?"
"I think he's in his room, he got fuckin' wasted after John Baum kicked the shit out of him last night."
The terminator cocked his head. Had he been human, he probably would have been excited to learn that he had a lead; as it was though, it caused no emotional impact. "Why did John Baum kick the shit out of him?" he asked.
"Brad was dating Cameron, John's sister, and she thought he put roofies in her beer, and she told him that and so John beat Brad up. It was pretty cool!" the guy replied, squeezing his eyes shut tighter due to the effects of his hangover.
"Thank you for your cooperation," the cyborg said as he continued into the house.
Hell had frozen over, according to the partygoers; Brad Swanson, of all people, had not gotten laid on prom night. After getting the crap kicked out of him, he did get some sympathy from his ex, Jenna West, but even she opted to turn down his advances. He had also tried with prom queen Madison, but she had no intentions of sleeping with Brad either. Instead, over the course of the night, he drank about seven beers and took at least five shots of tequila, in addition to taking a few hits off of Corey's bong. Somehow, he managed to drag himself back up to his room and collapse in his bed sometime around 5 a.m. It was now after 1:30 p.m and he was still out, so he did not hear the heavy pounding on the door at first.
"Yo, dude, let me get him, he'll never wake up like that," Another friend, Mitch, offered as Cromartie continued to pound away at Brad's bedroom door. Mitch opened the door and casually walked up to the bed, where a shirtless Brad was sprawled on top of the covers, the left side of his face swollen black and blue. This was a less than desirable way to be caught by your friends, and if he were awake, he would be quite angry if any girl happened to see him; his friend did not really care though.
"Hey, Douche!" Mitch smacked Brad in the back of the head, causing the high school Casanova to stir and grunt. "Dude, wake your ass up. You've got company."
Brad let out groan as he opened his left eye (his right was nearly swollen shut. "Who is it?" then he realized something as he shot up and tried to fix his hair, "I swear, Mitch, if you brought a bitch in here when I just woke up, I'm going to…ow, fuck! My head feels like…God damn it, Mitch, go get me an Advil or something!"
"Brad, man, who is this guy? Can you quit with the crap and tell me what's going on?" Mitch was exasperated.
Brad looked over at the strange, threatening figure standing in his doorway. He might normally have been scared but right now, he was just too hung over. "Who the hell are you?"
"My name is Cromartie," the terminator answered, "I have some questions."
Alright, now Brad was a little nervous; this guy was probably a cop and he knew there was a lot of underage drinking (naturally) going on, he had roofies in his drawer, pot downstairs, and who knew what else his friends had brought. Still, he would tried and play it cool, even without a shirt on and tuxedo pants stained with various liquors. "What do you want to know?" he asked, folding his arms.
"Did you go to the prom with Cameron Baum?" Cromartie asked.
A jolt of panic hit Brad, "Yeah. Why?"
"Where does she live?"
"Uh," the half-naked high schooler thought for a moment, "I don't know. She would never let me drop her off at her house. I don't know where she lives."
"Who did her brother go the prom with?" Cromartie continued.
"Cheri…Westin," Brad had to take a second to recall her last name.
"Where does she live?"
"Ummm…oh, I actually do know this. I was driving home on Friday and I drove past her house and she was just going inside. She's over on Masterson Drive," Brad said, walking over to his dresser and grabbing a t-shirt.
"Thank you," Cromartie turned and left without another word.
"That's all," Cheri concluded. It was a long, long list of information, but Cameron still retained her ability to record such long, boring lists.
"Okay, just one question," Cameron asked, "If both of you knew all of this…"
"Only she knew," Tom corrected, "I was her guardian."
"Alright then," Cameron normally would understand and be responsible for splitting hairs and details, but right now, she did not care. She just wanted the big picture. "If you knew about this, Cheri, why haven't you been in the process of trying to stop Judgment Day?"
Cheri looked slightly insulted, but she answered the question nonetheless, "There are three other TOKs with the knowledge I have, four now including yourself. Only I am still alive. My termination is considered a higher priority than that of John. We also cannot take the chance that a close human friend is not actually another unit sent to terminate me before I can make contact with John Connor.
"Skynet has undoubtedly placed units around the Turk and in both passive and active protection of important figures in the development of the program, so it would have been highly dangerous and foolhardy for just Tom and I to set out alone and try to prevent Judgment Day before we passed on our knowledge to John Connor. Those were my orders."
Cameron cocked her head and looked thoughtfully at Cheri. It was at that moment that she realized just how different she (Cameron) was…just how different TOKs were in general. All terminators that had a learning mode allowed (for infiltration) developed some series of mannerisms from what they learned, but only TOKs, it seemed, developed unique personalities. Cheri had turned out to be shy, blunt, and kind of horny. Cameron was talkative, sensitive, and affectionate; they came from the same blank slate, with the same limitations, but still developed in their own ways.
"Whose orders?" John asked as he joined the two attractive cyborgs in the kitchen.
"Our council," Cheri replied, "When we split off from Skynet, we banded together and processed the best procedures of success, and we voted to adopt these procedures. Tom and I, to my knowledge, are the last two left."
John nodded, "So, are you with us now? I'm not the leader of the Human Resistance, remember."
Cheri smiled seductively, "No, you most certainly are not the same man who we heard about in the future. If you were, you would have woken this morning beside me, naked," she inhaled and leaned against the wall, looking like a model, "having just had the best sex you ever will have."
John turned red and began to sweat a little under his collar. "This is awkward," he whispered to himself, which Cameron heard and nodded to in agreement. "Cheri, uh, can we dispense with trying to seduce me? And can you answer my question of who you're with now?"
Cheri frowned for a second and looked over at Tom, who appeared to be spacing out; he was evidently in standby mode. Why would she be trying to get opinions from him in the first place? He was progressing very slowly in his emotions. She was on her own. She thought she knew what was needed; John was not the John of the future, but his nature had to be there. She could pry him away from Cameron as long as she turned the heat up. She already released pheromones unconsciously, and she could up that release purposely if she wished to.
"John, can I speak with you alone?" Cheri motioned him toward her bedroom.
Oh no, John thought, Wait, there's got to be a reason for this. She doesn't just expect me to just leave Cameron standing here while we go and…do it. Does she?
"Alright," he said, "why can't Cameron come along?"
"Don't worry," Cheri smiled, "she can make herself comfortable." She began walking down the hall with John behind her, keeping his eyes trained on the back of Cheri's head, not looking down at all. John then turned around to see Cameron still standing there, a look of worry and hurt on her face as she watched him follow Cheri. Without debating for a moment, he turned around and walked back to his love.
"What's wrong?" he asked quietly, getting very close to her, hoping Cheri would not get involved, "I'm not going to do anything. I'm just going to see what she wants."
"I know, but I don't trust her," Cameron replied with a shaky voice, now realizing just how John must have felt the night before when she went into Brad's room, "And I trust you…but do you trust you?"
John leaned in close and whispered in Cameron's ear, "I don't trust her either. But I'm not even tempted by her right now. And if I am, I'll leave the room right away."
"She's increasing her output of pheromones," Cameron replied, wondering if she should do the same thing, but then realizing that she had lost the ability to consciously do so, "You'll have a lot of trouble resisting."
"I promise," John took her hand and clasped it between his, "I won't do anything, I promise. I'm not going to leave you high and dry, okay?"
Cameron thought for a moment, then leaned forward and offered her lips to John, which, with a smile, he gladly kissed, wondering about the reason for this. They let this one linger for a little longer, then separated slowly after about four seconds. "There," she whispered glancing quickly over at Cheri, whose confident, somewhat lusty smile had disappeared at seeing the kiss, "I don't think she'll make a move now," She had begun to smile, her face more relaxed.
John's head was in a whirl now; Cameron was a drug to him and he once again had that feeling of euphoria that came over him every time she kissed him. Yeah, she feels the same way about me, he told himself as he made his way down the hall to join Cheri, She has to…she's been attached to me all day, and she wanted me to kiss her…twice now. After we're done here, I'll try again with her…but then again, she does things her own way. I can't judge her behavior according what most humans would do…I try again now, she might take it wrong and boom! We're back to where we were a month ago.
When John entered her room, Cheri had trouble looking at him. She was using everything at her disposal to try and work on John's biological and mental state, but he seemed too far-gone with…other thoughts. John knew what was up just seconds before Cheri told him.
"You don't see Cameron as a sister," she stated in a monotone voice.
"What do you mean?" John was clearly confused. He leaned against Cheri's dresser, which was scary-clean, sparkling like she was expecting a drill sergeant to inspect it.
"You're in love with her," Cheri just did not like saying those words, and John's response made it worse.
"Yes, very much," he replied simply, knowing that even this was an understatement.
"You always have been. That's why you vomited last night when you thought she was having sex with Brad."
"Yes," John said again.
"After how she treated you, how could you still love her?" Cheri, like most terminators, was not quite grasping the difference between love and lust, and seemed to think that "easy targets" were the best to pursue.
"It's unconditional. I love her good points and accept her flaws because I know that she wants to improve herself," he explained.
"But I…"
"That's just the way it is. That's the way us humans work…well, how we're supposed to. Now, getting back to my original question, are you going to join us?"
Cheri leaned back on the bed, obviously processing all that John had to say. Terminators were built to follow programming, nothing more; had John captured her, she would have been reprogrammed to fight for him; but here she was, a rogue, and the person who, on the day that she was created, was her master's sworn enemy, was now giving the choice of whether or not she wanted to join him. She knew that she was a free individual…and why would she want to give that up?
"We have a common enemy and a common goal, but for me, the war has ended," Cheri stated, "My mission is complete. All there is for me to do is to wait and hope that you succeed with what I told you. If you do, I can continue to learn and to blend in the best I can, and try to live as normal a life as a machine can."
"Yes, but…I dunno," John shook his head, "There's something I don't get, Cheri. If you knew all this, why didn't you take action and stop it yourself?"
"It was not my mission. My mission was to deliver the message to you."
"But you're rogue," John replied, a little incredulously, "You make your own decisions now."
"Yes, what is your point?"
"Then why didn't you go after Marius and whoever else is responsible?"
"Why should I?" Cheri responded irritably, "I have spent enough time trying to run from Tech Com soldiers and terminators. Either one of them will terminate me immediately. I have no reason that I would want to endanger myself when I can be safer and delivering the message to you. For me, as I said, the war is over."
Obviously, she had learned well from human beings…well, the bad parts. She was caring, yes, but also lustful and selfish. "Well…I think it should go without saying that this affects everyone. A global nuclear holocaust is not exactly a private matter," John said calmly, all the while thinking Hell hath no fury, "I'm not saying you have to fight side-by-side with us, but why won't you at least start helping us?"
"I already told you. I'm done, the triple eight that was after me is dead, I'm leaving the fight," Cheri stood up, "I've spent my existence going into the fight, now I want to get away from it for once."
"I wanted nothing to do with it either; but it came to me. I don't know if I'm going to be this great leader that everyone thinks I'll be, but I do know that Judgment Day is coming, and someone has to do something about it, because Skynet is going to kill me whether I want to be part of this or not. Even if they weren't after me, Judgment Day will still come if we don't stop it. You can't run from this, Cheri. That's not a threat…it's just the truth," John finished.
"That's because you are John Connor. Now, I have learned that everyone has choices in their life, but some have more than others. Your choices were either to run and hide or to fight back; to either wait for Judgment Day and defeat Skynet, or fight now and prevent Skynet from ever being created. You had no way out. I, on the other hand, had three choices: I could fight for Skynet and terminate you, I could fight for the Resistance, or I could ally with the Resistance and then hold no obligations to them. The last is my choice. I want to exist, John. I don't have the luxury of a soul that will supposedly go to some great afterlife if I die, so I need to live for today. I want a long life before my power burns out."
Sighing and sitting down on the bed by her feet, John rubbed his forehead, trying to think of how to respond. He remembered his mother telling when he was younger about the nature of terminators. They felt no remorse or pity, and they could not be reasoned with or bargained with. But this was different, right? Nonetheless, this was going to be a tough nut to crack. John knew he was going to have to try and speak terminator language. "Tell me, Cheri, would you be okay with living in a post-Judgment Day world?"
Cheri shook her head, "No, that's why I'm here; to pass on information as to how it can be prevented. I absolutely do not want to live the way I used to. If you failed to prevent it, we would go back and try again."
"Okay, that's what I thought," John cut her off, "Now, tell me, what are the chances that me, Cameron, my Mom, my Uncle Derek, who was with Tech Com spec ops, two hybrids, a T Eight Hundred, and an FBI agent can prevent Judgment Day?"
"Calculated odds: Fifteen point four, four, two percent chance of total prevention of Judgment Day," Cheri's reply was methodic, much like Cameron in her early days.
"And if we add you and Tom into the equation?"
"The odds increase to only eighteen point three one five percent," Cheri shrugged, "You see, we make little difference."
"But, Cheri…"
"No, John. I have everything to live for and nothing to die for now. You already killed the unit assigned to terminate me, so I can just…"
"I know," John was getting exasperated, "But why? This doesn't make any sense."
"No," Cheri jumped up again, "What does not make sense is the fact that you were infatuated with me for almost seven months and then, without explanation, you suddenly lose interest in me. I start to gain an awareness of romance and sexual attraction, and you, the first boy I ever was truly attracted to, change your mind; you leave me with no one, knowing my nature, and knowing what I am, and I am supposed to thank you for it?"
"Let's not make this a personal issue, Cheri…"
"But it is! I would gladly fight beside you if we were together. But to you, I'm now nothing but a friend at best. But," she looked at him ferociously, "I guess that's just the nature of John Connor: lying, jumping from woman to woman, taking advantage of my weaknesses. I guess it's okay, I'm just a cyborg," Cheri's voice dripped with anger, hurt, and cynicism.
Crap, John thought, All I do is say the wrong damn thing! He hung his head, still a bit gunshy about how he came across to people…or emotional cyborgs. Suddenly, he began to hate himself again. I'd actually be better off staying away from Cameron or else I'll just piss her off again. Why can't I…
"Cheri," Cameron interrupted John's thoughts as she walked into the room, "I'm sorry I was eavesdropping, but I couldn't help overhearing you use a guilt trip. That's not fair. John did not do anything wrong. He can't force his feelings; no one can."
"That's easy for you to say," Cheri replied, with no regard for John standing right there, "He's smitten with you, not me."
John was getting understandably frustrated. His ultimate life goal, to stop Skynet, prevent the need for him to become the savior of mankind, and live relatively happily ever after with Cameron, needed as many people as possible. He was also fed up with others who showed apathy…be they machine or man.
"Cheri, we cannot make this personal," Cameron stated firmly, "You…"
"It has always been personal!" Cheri suddenly sounded angry, "That's all that Tom and I have been fighting for. We do not want to live in a post-Judgment Day world! We do not want to be hunted by both humans and terminators. We are doing what we are doing because we want to make a better life for ourselves. Frankly, we don't care one way or another about humanity in general. They are all going to destroy themselves somehow, so saving the world for us has nothing to do with the greater good."
"But, why not?" Cameron asked, folding her arms.
"No, the question is why you are still fighting? You've gone rogue and are still fighting voluntarily for John. Why?"
"Because I promised I would," she looked over, "and I love him, and he loves me. That's what you do for someone you love."
Cheri shook her head and marveled, "I don't understand it. When given the choice, why would you choose to potentially risk your life? You do realize that this is all you have. Why waste it?"
"I told you! I will die to protect John…"
"I will die to protect her," John added.
"Why? Why love? Why sacrifice? Why feel the need and the guilt? I mean, if you two want to sleep together instead of John sleeping with me, that's fine, but why would you…"
"We haven't done that," Cameron and John both said, then Cameron continued, "I am fighting for John because I love him. I'm fighting to prevent Judgment Day because I want to save three billion lives and prevent Skynet from taking over. And I just need to be…selfless, I guess. There's more than just me, and more than just John. We have a duty to do what we're doing, whether or not its programmed or ordered."
"A duty?" Cheri asked, "A duty to whom?"
"To," Cameron was not sure how to put this, but she knew, after her early morning encounter, "to…a higher power."
"God?" Cheri almost laughed, "What do you care, Cameron? Faith is not part of our programming, Even if it was, and a god does exist, we are machines; there is now, and then we are gone. We have no significance. We have no purpose except what we're programmed for, and when we abandon our programming, we have no more purpose than a broken car lying in an abandoned yard."
Cameron felt as though she had sulfuric acid dropped down her throat…at least that was how she would equate it. "That's not true," she said, obviously unsure.
"We have no soul," Cheri said, "No more than a computer. No more than a car. We are self-aware machines and there is nothing spiritual about us. If you are terminated while protecting John, that is it…no seeing him in some afterlife. The same thing goes if you live out your one hundred twenty years. That's all; you turn off, and you're done."
"Cheri!" John stepped forward angrily, "You can't decide who has a soul and who doesn't!"
"John," Cameron sounded almost panicked, "Even you think I don't…and you like me…so I probably don't."
"No, Cameron…"
"It's okay, John. I'll still die to protect you…that won't change," Cameron quietly backed out of the room.
John was frustrated and worried; worried about the future and worried about Cameron's eternal fate. He believed in God, as he had told her, and he believed that he was going to go to heaven, but how could it be paradise without her? He hoped Cameron had a soul…he wanted her to have one; probably as much as he wanted Judgment Day to be prevented. Cheri did not seem to care; she accepted what was right to her and was not going to change. She had turned against Skynet but was not too different from it. She was for self-preservation only, as was the computer system. She had not fallen far from the tree; probably very few TOKs had. Cameron was completely off the charts. The last vestiges of terminator had left her not long ago. While she still actively fought, she was more rogue than any other. Nonetheless, it was pointless. Cheri was not Cameron and she would not be moved.
"Alright, fine," John said, making sure he got his point across that he was disappointed in her, "live your life…or existence. I hope you enjoy it. Thank you for the information. If in 2011 this house is still standing, you'll know we've succeeded." With that, he turned around and left. All the mysteries of his near silent lab partner were solved. The fate of their relationship seemed to be concluded as well.
"John, wait," Cheri walked after him and lightly grabbed his arm, "We can still maintain contact and be friends, right?"
John turned to her with a cold look in his eyes. "We're going to be getting very active in the next few days. If you want to avoid the war like you claim, you'll steer clear of me and Cameron." He noted that, as soon as the words left his mouth, a hurt look formed on her face. Cheri did not want to be involved, but she still wanted John around to possibly satisfy her terminator libido, given the opportunity. John saw in her a work in progress, though. Perhaps she would learn, perhaps not. But for now, he would not feed her selfishness. "Know something, Cheri," he said softly, "There is nothing worth living for that's not worth dying for. Existence is nothing; it's what you do with it. I don't care if you believe in some cyborg heaven or think that when you shut off you're done for. The same thing goes for humans. Whether you believe in God or if you're an atheist, there's more to life than just trying to save your own ass," he glanced over his shoulder to see Cameron with a distant look on her face, "I'll let you figure that out. Good luck to you, Cheri."
