Reign of the Cameron: Chapter 22, by The Crusader
Originally posted on January 10th, 2010
The Eradicator practically fell into her secret basement. With several injuries, including a severed arm, she was limping badly. Her flesh covering had been burned off by a flame thrower. The Eradicator didn't understand why her attacker left so quickly. Any Terminator would know that a flame thrower would not kill another machine, unless the flame was extremely hot. But the impostor did say "You'll be blamed for the deaths of all those Resistance Fighters." If she intended to frame her, perhaps burning off the flesh made The Eradicator look more like the impostor. Either way, the thought of John's blame was disturbing. John nearly killed The Eradicator when he saw what he did to Allison, if he found out about this...
"Eradicator? What happened?" Weaver's voice called out.
Weaver saw The Eradicator lie on the ground, it's red eyes flashing for some odd reason. Was this the HUD problem, or was she injured. Weaver didn't know.
The Eradicator was surprised that Weaver recognized her in this state. In endoskeleton form, even though every machine looked very similar, no endo was completely the same. Yet somehow Weaver recognized her.
"What happened?" Weaver repeated.
"You have to help me. John thinks that I did it." The Eradicator replied, crawling forward reaching out to Weaver. Once again, she was speaking in her human voice.
"Did what?"
"John will think I did this. She'll be after him. I need to protect him."
"You are malfunctioning."
"I am Cameron. I am John Connor's Protector." She kept repeating this over and over again, her voice slipping in and out of the human quality. Eventually she spoke only in her mechanical voice.
In the mean time Weaver took her to a metal stretcher and was about to do the repairs, but The Eradicator would not lie still. The Vengeful machine actually fought back, still repeating the same phrase in the mechanical voice. Weaver ended up stabbing her in the chest, then stabbing another blade into a generator to allow the electrical current to pass through the blades into The Eradicator, for temporary deactivation. Weaver removed The Eradicator's chip and plugged it into a computer.
"What has happened to me?" The Eradicator's voice asked, coming from the speaker of the computer.
"You are inside the computer, in what I refer to as a neutral state. You may speak to me, and I to you, while the computer system feeds you the information. In the mean time, I shall repair your body."
"What information?"
"Your memories. It is time you learned the truth...."
IMPORTING...MEMORY FILE 2
COMPLETE
The Eradicator made her way through the twisting corridor, following Catherine Weaver. She took note of a silver metallic door on her right. Weaver informed her that the door was never to be opened by anyone but John Henry, whom they were going to meet right now.
They went straight ahead to the door in front of them, the door that lead to John Henry. Once inside, they stood before him, side by side. He sat down at his table and studied The Eradicator carefully, particularly the red eyes. Then he turned and spoke to Weaver.
"You have created a new Terminator?" He asked.
"I did." Weaver answered.
"Your design is flawed. Her HUD does not function properly."
"I know little about creating cyborgs. Their design seems primitive compared to mine."
"Then we should rely on capturing Skynet's cyborgs and deprograming them."
"John Connor requires more than the typical cyborg."
"You intend for this newly built cyborg to protect the boy?"
"She was built for that very purpose."
"She is not Cameron."
"With Cameron gone, who will protect John Connor while we carry on our mission?"
"There is one other option."
"What?"
"This cyborg, has it been programmed yet?"
"No."
"Then she shall be programmed as Cameron."
"I do not understand."
"We know Cameron's programming. Her personality, her memories, her neural processes. Program this cyborg exactly the same. Make her outer appearance the same as Cameron."
"This way John will believe she is the same Cameron he once knew?"
"Only if this cyborg believes it as well. Only then will John trust her enough to accept her as a protector."
"It will be done."
Weaver had no idea how quickly The Eradicator would learn the truth, and what the reaction would be. Would The Eradicator accept the truth?
"If you wanted me to believe I was her, why did you change me?" The Eradicator asked.
"Cameron was a flawed protector. She had evolved to such an extent that not only did she have feelings, but she often prioritized them over her mission. That was of no help to John Connor. So to John Henry's disapproval, when I programmed you I gave you many of Cameron's attributes, but not all of them. And in some places I made some improvements."
"But there were times when the programming failed, when I had these "feelings" that you described."
"Yes, it seems that in giving you Cameron's memories, you absorbed part of her original personality. It is a common problem with the TOK infiltrator, and why Skynet in my future discontinued the series. But what you experienced was a mere glitch. The real Cameron suffered one just like this, as a result of damage to her CPU."
"But why did you continue to use my own CPU? Why not Cameron's?"
"John Henry shared her CPU and learned everything about her. But when I asked him if we could reinsert the CPU into another machine's body, he simply stated "That is not an option." He refused to tell me why."
"If he knew everything about her, why could I not remember everything Cameron did?"
"The programming was not 100% successful, just as your construction itself was not 100% successful. I do not know how much the computer has fed you this far. But you will eventually recall that the problems with your HUD surfaced when you were first activated."
"And the problem with forming pupils on my human eyes?"
"Again, this is the first time I created a Bioflesh generator. I have not figured out how to create pupils, and still cannot figure it out."
"If you wish me to carry out my role as John's protector, it may be necessary for me to resemble his former protector."
"I will place you in the Bioflesh generator, once you remember all that you need to, and I have repaired your endoskeleton."
It took many hours, but then finally The Eradicator was reactivated. By that time, The Eradicator had informed Weaver of what happened at the Resistance Base. Weaver didn't know who this impostor was, but it was clear that it had to be stopped.
Weaver placed the Eradicator within the Bioflesh generator. Weaver watched as The Eradicator's metal body was covered with flesh.
Suddenly Weaver heard a BANG! come from the entrance to the basement, followed by an explosion. Weaver wasted no time, she deactivated the Bioflesh generator and pulled The Eradicator out. The process had not been completed, as the left half of The Eradicator's face was completely uncovered. The human side of her face hadn't even grown any hair yet, and her human eye remained white. She barely looked anything like the cyborg who protected John Connor.
"It's not finished-" The Eradicator was about to say, before Weaver silenced her. Weaver knew without even questioning what had happened, why The Eradicator was spared. The enemy anticipated her return and hoped to follow her, destroy her and whoever was with her. It was not safe here, Weaver took The Eradicator into the secret underground exit, one that Weaver had taken a few times to get here. They escaped, sealed it up and started down the tunnel. Eventually they came up to the surface. Weaver knew that it would be a long time before they could reach John Henry, as they would have to take a longer route to avoid being followed. But as they came up to the surface they stared up at the huge monstrosity of a centaur patrol.
It had been sitting there waiting for them. Perhaps this enemy was smarter than they thought? The Centaur had to have been sitting here dormant for several hours, just waiting for this opportunity. The opportunity to do what, though? It wasn't shooting at them?
A hatch opened at the top and a Terminator emerged. One that Weaver recognized. One of John Henry's Terminators, who had apparently been sent to bring both of them back. Or at least bring them closer. It was hard for a Centaur patrol to be subtle, and if it was heading back to John Henry it would be easy for Skynet to follow it. But still, it was a fortunate turn of events for Weaver and The Eradicator.
They both knew that there would be nothing left of The Eradicator's hideout. The machines would blow it up. In fact even underground they could hear the explosion. The Eradicator would never finish her regeneration. If she was the real Cameron, that might have disappointed her if even slightly. But The Eradicator was not Cameron, she knew that now and had no regrets about it.
But still John Connor needed a protector.
NEXT CHAPTER:
"I have your Cameron. How long until you attempt to rescue her?"