Reign of the Cameron: Chapter 23, by The Crusader
Originally posted on January 14th, 2010
White heavenly light bathed the entire area. At first John could see nothing, but then finally she appeared. Dressed in a purple dress, her long brown hair cascading over her shoulders, she appeared almost angelic. Her lips formed a huge smile, lips that begged for a kiss. And John was ready to comply, when suddenly he noticed a knife in her hand. The same knife that he used to cut into her, allowing him to check her power cell. The same knife that John Henry used to cut her chip out, allowing both of them to escape, and leaving John without his beloved protector. John watched as Cameron used the knife to cut into her arm, just like Uncle Bob did to show Miles and Tarissa Dyson.
"What are you doing?" He asked her.
"Showing you the real me." She replied.
He was unable to watch, but when he turned his eyes to the right, he saw Allison's dead body lie on the ground. In the distance, The Eradicator was coming towards them both. John looked back to Cameron, who now had both arms bare to her skeleton and went to work on her face, slicing it at her mouth level and ripping through the skin and showing the metal underneath. The Eradicator was yelling for John to stay away, which drew Cameron's gaze towards her.
Cameron ran, no longer cutting into her skin. But it continued to remove on its own, falling in clumps on the ground as she ran, until she was nothing but an endoskeleton. She and The Eradicator fought it out, while John heard another voice in the distance, Kyle's. He came from behind John, running with Plasma Rifle in hand. He stopped just as he reached John, holding the Plasma rifle at the fighting Terminators.
"Which one do I shoot?" He asked, alternating the aim of his weapon between the Endo Cameron and The Eradicator.
Suddenly the Endo, Cameron, still holding onto that knife threw it right at Kyle, hitting him right in the forehead. John screamed at the top of his lungs as his father dropped dead. His red blood staining the pure white floor. John looked back to Endo Cameron whose finger was pointing at the Eradicator. "John." Once again, John heard Cameron's voice. He turned around to find yet another Cameron behind him. One dressed in a purple top and a black skirt. It looked a lot like the Cameron that John once knew. But Cammy also appeared to him looking like this. Who was the real Cameron? Was there a real Cameron?
John woke up in a cold sweat.
"John are you all right?" Max asked. John was sitting with his back against the steel wall, as were the other soldiers, save for Max who remained standing, at this ruined convenience store. It served as one of few remaining Posts that the Resistance had outside of Zeira Corp. All the usual fighters had abandoned it, perhaps in light of recent events. For that very reason, John and his "crew" could not stay here long. Max had tried to see if he could use the communications device, situated in what used to be the cash register at the front, to contact survivors. He had no luck. Even the primary emergency hideout had no response.
A bad sign.
In spite of all this, last night the Resistance Fighters attempted to keep up their hopes and get some rest. Soon however it was time to move out again and continue towards the Resistance Base at the remains of Zeira Corp. John looked around and found Lewis still asleep, a fortunate thing considering all he had gone through. At this facility he was given better medical attention, but his pride and grief could not be healed. Maybe that was the reason why the two soldiers on the far wall were still awake. The terror and the heartbreak kept them up all night. Even though they along with John could have gotten the most sleep out of the group. The Resistance took turns on lookout. Just as in "Wizard's First Rule" they divided the watch up into thirds; First, second, and third. It was through reading that book that John knew that First or third watch was the best. Second watch cut your sleep in half. But John supposed that for most people in a situation like this, it didn't matter if they had first or second watch, or even no watch duty. People were too frightened to sleep. John was still fairly new to the idea of someone always having to be on the lookout. Whenever John was in danger before, he always had a machine to keep watch while he and his mother slept. He wondered if it would ever be like that again.
"We should move out soon." Max declared. "Continue towards Zeira."
Suddenly the radio sounded.
"This is First Lieutenant Reese. Any survivors, please respond? Fiat justitia ruat caelum."
It was latin for "let justice be done should the sky fall," the code word in a crucial situation like this one. John got up and hurried towards the communicator, beating Max to it.
"Lieutenant Reese. This John Connor."
"John Connor? You've got some explaining to do. Is Allison still with you?"
"Not anymore sir."
"What do you mean?"
It was quite obvious what John meant, but what Reese wanted to know was how she died. John explained it to him, controlling the pain so that he could tell Kyle all he needed to know, which was exactly what the other Resistance Fighters here needed to know. At least according to John.
There was silence for a long time. John knew that Kyle was attempting to control the pain as well. Then finally Kyle spoke again.
"When...when...did it happen?"
"During the invasion of our camp Sir, About 24 hours ago."
"24 hours ago our base was invaded. You're telling me that the same Terminator is responsible?"
"That's right, Sir."
"And how did you receive this information?"
"Cameron."
"Cameron? Hell John, every time something happens her name comes up. I'm tired of the secrets and the round-about answers. TALK! For God's sakes, TALK!"
"You want answers, this isn't the best way to give them. We should meet up, strength in numbers."
"I'm alone."
"Where's the General?"
"Even if I knew, I couldn't tell you."
"You shouldn't be alone. We'll give you our position and wait for you to come to us."
"Connor." Max interjected. "This will slow us down. Cameron told us to head to the base."
"Cameron answers to me, not the other way around. I'm waiting for our First Lieutenant."
John gave the coordinates to Kyle, before he ended the communication John had one last thing to say.
"For what it's worth, I'm sorry about Allison."
"I'm sorry too. I know she was your friend."
"She still is."
John was surprised by his statement. He never really believed in life after death before. His mother never really believed in it, and the things they both saw lead John to question the existence of Heaven. Why did he believe now? Maybe because it made things easier for him. That's how he explained faith to Cameron once. She asked him after the incident with Dr. Sherman, why some people believe in Jesus Christ and the Resurrection. He said that it made grief easier when people believed that their deceased loved ones could live again. At the time he thought it was a stupid thing and a method of denial. But now he found himself doing the very thing that he criticized. Denial or not it helped him to think of Allison in Heaven. She'd be with her family, and maybe even riding that bicycle she never got for her birthday.
Cammy quickly made her way back toward Zeira Corp. She had seen the aftermath of the attack on John Connor's camp, seen it and witnessed it through her human eyes. Her face was now completely healed, and she didn't have the slightest bit of epidermal damage despite how many machines she fought. Nothing could get in her way, even as her HUD kept glitching, she still moved ever forward, ready for a big battle. Through intercepting communications she heard the rumors about what happened at Zeira Corp. That ***** of a Cameron impersonator, the one with the sunglasses, had attacked the Resistance base. Not that she cared about any of those people, but John was in danger. She couldn't let that impostor live, not this time.
No Endo at the base could touch her, not in this emotional state. Her jealousy, her fear that John might be dead, it fueled every punch, every kick as she headed down the hall and made a left. Standing at the hall was another TOK endoskelaton. This had to be the one that Cammy was after, the one who put John in danger.
"Welcome back to our team, TOK-715." The endo told her, speaking in a very sadistic voice.
"You look like Hell." Cammy remarked, quoting whoever it was that told her that. She couldn't remember who.
"I prefer this as opposed to looking like one of them."
Cammy wasted no time with further questions or remarks, she rushed forward towards her foe. At the last second, the Endo Cameron held up a large pistol. Cammy knew exactly what it was the second she saw it, but at her incredible speed she didn't have time to stop herself. Cammy had only one word, and knew it would be her last.
A word with four letters.
The gun fired, shooting an electric blast that temporarily shut Cammy down. She lay there on the ground, completely disabled. The Endo Cameron took out a knife, cut a hole in Cammy's skin where the chip port was, then pulled the CPU out. Three endoskelatons came from the other side of the hall. At their commander's commands they picked up Cammy's body and carried it as they followed their leader to a control room. The control room was once the General's office. Now it housed two large computers. A main one, similar to what the Qurac building had. And there was another one right next to it. Endo Cameron watched as her three soldiers placed Cammy's CPU into the second computer.
"Delete everything." The Endo Cameron instructed.
They did as they were asked, but the process took several hours, when it should have taken less than a minute. The Endo Cameron could understand why. This CPU was a recreation of the original Cameron's. The real Cameron must have developed such strong sentience that it was near impossible to change her programming. Fortunately this was not the real Cameron's CPU, and eventually they were able to delete it.
"Proceed to Phase 2."
The soldiers unchipped their comrade and inserted the CPU into the secondary computer. They copied Endo-Cameron's programming into Cammy's CPU, essentially cloning Endo-Cameron's mind.
The process done, they put one of the CPUs back in their commander's head. The other they placed inside the main computer.
"I do not understand." Weaver said.
"I do not fully understand either, Ms. Weaver. But this commander has taken over the Resistance base. She is somehow connected to the security system that they built at the base." John Henry explained.
Weaver and Eradicator stood in front of him in his room. The conflict had ended for the time being as this situation was far more important.
"I will go and confront this Cameron impostor." John Henry declared.
"You cannot do that." Weaver replied.
"I can disconnect from my cord, and use the T-888 CPU I have now, to become mobile again."
"It is far too risky."
"I would do it now, from here. But there is no way for me to hack into their connection without getting to their main computer."
"There is now, John Henry." A sadistic voice came from the computer screen. Suddenly the Endo Cameron came on the computer screen behind John Henry. "Did you really think that you could hide from your brother forever?"
"What do you want?" John Henry asked.
"No. What do YOU want?"
On the screen, they could see 3 endos drag in Cammy's inactive body.
"I have your Cameron. How long until you intend to rescue her?"
John Henry would wait no longer. He now had a connection to Endo Cameron's computer system. He attempted to hack it, just like his brother tried to do to him. John Henry made the connection, but suddenly the lights flickered and John Henry went into convulsions.
"A good attempt." Endo Cameron stated. "But of course I anticipated it. This should keep your forces occupied for some time."
The lights and computer screens turned off and John Henry shut down.
The Eradicator looked to Weaver, but the damaged HUD made it difficult to see in the dark, until the emergency lights came on. Weaver looked for a long time at the dormant John Henry. The Eradicator could almost detect an expression of grief on Weaver's face. Then suddenly Weaver stormed out of the room, with Eradicator following close behind.
"Where are you going?" Eradicator asked.
"To defeat this enemy. Stay here, call our armies back, then follow the instructions John Henry left in his desk. They will show you how to bring him back online."
"You have the experience. Shouldn't you be doing this?"
"I will serve my purposes better by destroying this foe."
They were now in the tunnels, heading past the silver door they were never supposed to enter. Weaver was on her way to one of the exits.
"You are upset."
The Eradicator's words made Weaver stop and turn around.
"We are machines. We do not get upset."
"Cameron did. And were you not the one to explain to me that emotions can also be useful?"
"Emotions most often cause destruction."
"Then perhaps you can use them to cause the destruction of this new foe."
Weaver had no answer. She needed none. She left to face her opponent, and she knew that one of them was not going to survive.
NEXT CHAPTER:
"Take her to the melting room. Burn every piece of her."