Epp 17

Bouncing though the woods and dodging trees in his Jeep, Eddie cast Mary a grin and said, "That was much calmer than I expected."

"That is good," Mary agreed. She then tipped her head slightly and added, "But then again, I really liked the way you took care of me when I was damaged."

Eddie glanced at her and frowned. "I'm glad you liked it, I was scared shitless for you! You know, if you just want some loving and attention, I'm more than willing to give you some at any time."

"Promise?" Mary asked with a big smile.

"Promise," Eddie said firmly. "Let's go kill a transformer."

Eddie drove on, slowing as they approached a clearing. Beyond the fields, he made out power lines and a few factory roofs. He stopped the jeep and looked out at the horizon.

Scrutinizing the scene, Mary said, "I see no transformers. There is a power pole into the factory at 1600 yards distance." She got out and grabbed Eddie's sniper rifle. She laid the rifle across the hood and settled down to line up a shot.

"Want to get closer?" Eddie asked.

"No, it is a long shot, but I can make it," she assured him.

In the scope, the three wires looked very close together. So were the insulators on the pole. Mary aimed at the center wire. She allowed for the distance and shot. With the silencer, the big rifle let out a loud cough as it fired. She continued watching the wires. The bottom wire parted with a shower of sparks. She re aimed and shot again, the top wire parted. Her third shot got the remaining wire.

"Done," she said and got in.

Eddie put the jeep in gear and said, "You're one hell of a shot, Mary."

Mary smiled at him and said, "Thank you. Get us home so you can give me some attention."

"You got it!" Eddie said, returning her smile He drove back through the woods the way they came. Yup, Mary was THE girl for him!

One Month later

John was on pins and needles. He watched the news, Cameron searched the web, and John Henry stayed vigilant, waiting for any sign of a sizable electronic transfer to the Air Force. On the news, the

attack against that house was broadcast the day after it happened. It mention two people had died, but that was it. The news item was only shown once, and mentioned nothing about who was involved. Cameron got a satellite picture of the scene. The place was vacant with police tape surrounding the house. There was no mention of Johnson Corp at all, and only a quick blurb about, 'no one has taken responsibility for the act.'

There was also no sign of Sky Net. It was frustrating.

"Did we get it or not?" John asked the TV as he sat on the couch, his arm around Cameron as once again the news told about current events, but nothing even hinting at Sky Net activity. Not that he expected a new blurb about Sky Net, but no mention of the hints he was looking for like something about Johnson corp, military news, or an update about that house.

Snuggled up against him and idly petting Max on her other side, Cameron said, "We must assume we failed. It would not be hard to hide an AI inside a factory. That place is heavily guarded now. Even with our children, we would take losses if we broke in there."

"That's the last option, IF we can verify Sky Net is still working," John told her. "I'm not risking people's lives on a maybe. Catherine is working at buying the Kaliba businesses. If she can buy that factory, they we can get in and search with no gunfire involved."

Cameron's eyes drifted down to her belly. Sky Net's demise was not the only 'maybe' she was thinking about. They had completed the research and did multiple computer simulations with every type of scenario they could think of. Once they was satisfied John's nanite project was working, she downloaded the programs into herself. There were so many limitations and special conditions that needed to be met, Cameron was unsure that the nanites waiting in her womb would ever be activated. All they could do now, was keep loving each other and hope for the best.

.

In the atrium at the new Zeita main office building, lunch time was fairly busy as normal. The only difference now, was that instead of a set of double doors straight to the street, a vestibule had been added, along with the inner doors being magnetically locked, and able to be opened to someone from the outside by the security guard inside the atrium. The vestibule was a nice bullet proof glass enclosure with benches on each side. If someone wanted to get in and didn't have their badge, they had a descent place to wait until an authorized person allowed them to come in.

Eddie and Mary sat on one of those benches together, patiently waiting for Elanore to come down for lunch. They were on a shopping trip for beachwear. Mary has the store catalog showing the swimsuits and wraps available so they could get Elanore beachwear for the trip this weekend.

Leafing through the catalog, Mary frowned. "There is nothing in here to cover my lower legs," she said. "I am still bare metal from my just below my knee down."

Eddie cast her a surprised look, then said, "Oh, yeah, that's right. I forgot."

"You forgot?" she asked and eyed him with a smirk. "You see me every day and sleep with me every night, and you forgot?"

Eddie shrugged and said, "I guess I'm so used to seeing it, that I no longer see it … does that make sense?" he finished with a frown.

That struck Mary as funny, and endearing. She giggled. "Other people will notice," she reminded him.

"How about wrapping one of those beach towels around you for a long skirt?" he asked.

"My foot will still show," Mary reminded him.

"Damn," Eddie grumbled. "Well, maybe we can pass it off as a prosthetic. They do have those."

"People will believe that?"

"They should. I mean you do have your knee back, so it's believable," Eddie said with a shrug.

.

Another person inside was also waiting for Elanore. Gabriel wasn't as nervous now, except stressing over if Elanore was going to come to lunch today. For a while, Mr. Murch seemed too interested in getting her attention. He even took Gabriel aside and told him Elanore was not someone he wanted as a girlfriend. The way Mr. Murch said it, and never offered a reason way, Gabriel was sure Mr. Murch was angling for her to be his girlfriend.

Fat chance on that! She was way too young for him. Besides, Gabriel wasn't that sure of himself, but he WAS sure he was better for Elanore than some fat old man. After all, he had to be in his 40's!

"Hello Gabriel," came the sweetest voice Gabriel knew. He turned and beamed a smile to Elanore as she approached. "Hi Elanore," he said, returning her bright smile.

"My sister and her boyfriend are meeting us for lunch today. I hope that is all right," Elanore said.

"That's great, I'd love to meet them," Gabriel beamed.

Gabriel went into the atrium with Elanore. They talked to the guard, and Mary and Eddie were allowed inside.

After they all greeted each other, Mary showed Elanore the catalog as they headed for the serving area.

"There are all sorts of pretty colors and styles to choose from," Mary said excitedly."I'm going to get that light purple bikini on page 12, with the black sheer wrap on page 15."

Elanore nodded, then paused. "Mary, what about your leg?"

Eddie quickly cut in and said, "Many people have a prosthetic nowadays. It's not something Mary should be ashamed of."

"Prosthetic?" Elanore asked, not understanding.

"Yeah, I forget she has it at times too. Just used to seeing it, ya know?" Eddie offered.

"It's that realistic?" Gabriel asked.

Mary figured this was the best time to test Eddie's theory. "It's not, really, but it is fully functional." She lifted her skirt and showed Gabriel her right leg. "I can move the foot and everything!" she said happily.

Gabriel looked down at the shiny metal appendage. As Mary moved her foot, he saw the cylinder where her Achilles tendon should be move up and down. The joints of her metal ankle also rotated very realistically. "Wow, that is awesome! How do you move it like that?" he asked.

"It is connected into my nerve system. The doctor explained how it works. All I know is that it does," Mary said with a smile, happy he was accepting her story.

"That is state of the art, and a little beyond. How much did that thing cost?" Gabriel asked.

"Only the insurance guy knows for sure," Eddie intoned, which caused some laughter and avoided answering the question.

Happy her exposed skeleton could be passed off as a fake leg, Mary got a fruit drink as Elanore did. They sat down at a four person table. Elanore looked through the catalog beside Mary as the boys ate lunch.

"This one," Elanore said, pointing to a bikini similar to what Mary had picked out, but blue with white bordering seams. "And a black wrap like you got, Mary."

"Pretty." Mary agreed. Across the table Gabriel was thinking 'HOT!'

"Any specific beach towel you want?" Mary asked.

Elanore shook her head, then looked up at Gabriel. "Gabriel, would you like to come with us?"

"Me? Sure! I'd be happy to go," Gabriel assured her. He'd be a fool not to go to the beach with them. Especially if they were wearing bikinis. Eye candy to the max! "Is there anything I should bring?"

"Yourself, swimwear, sun block, and some money," Mary told him.

"We plan on leaving at seven in the morning. Can we pick you up at seven fifteen?" Elanore asked.

"I'll be waiting," Gabriel assured them.

.

Gabriel went back to work at a run. He arrived one minute late, but thankfully, Mr. Murch was otherwise occupied. He got his screen up and was busy when Mr. Murch came in a few minutes later.

"Mr. Levinson!" Mr. Murch said, getting his attention. "I have some overtime this weekend, half a day Saturday if you want it. I know you're always asking."

Gabriel winced. "Ah, any weekend but this one, Mr. Murch. I'm going to the beach with Elanore," he said proudly.

"Elanore Tok?" Mr. Murch asked, eyeing him.

Gabriel nodded, giving him the eye of, 'yeah, me not you, old man'. "Her, her sister Mary and her boyfriend, her brothers, the whole family I imagine," he said.

"Mary Tok is going to the beach?"Mr. Murch asked with a squeak in his voice.

"Yeah," Gabriel said in a drawn out tone. "Something wrong with that?"

Mr. Murch didn't answer, he strode off to his office and shut the door.

Cracking a grin, Gabriel said under his breath, "Jealous, aren't ya?"

.

Catherine Weaver was having a busy day. The bug she put in the detective's computer was showing her all the files they had in the system. While they had no firm suspects on the case of the terrorist attack on the house or who cut the power lines to Johnson Corp, Sarah Connor was on the top of the possible suspect list. A radical 'green' group also made the list, as did she. They were not ruling out industrial sabotage, since the people in that house were found to be working for Johnson corp now, were ex employees of Cyberknetics, that also suffered a massive electrical disaster. All of it so far was speculation.

Working closely with the FBI, the police knew the number of masked people who had raided the house and killed two, but had only a vague description of the vehicles. Of cutting the power lines, they had yet to figure out how it was done. No one saw or heard anything abnormal until the high voltage wires fell. They were sure this act was connected to the system hacking Johnson corp had suffered earlier, but has no solid leads.

So far, there was nothing Catherine needed to do except keep buying up the small amounts of coltan as it came up for sale. To cover her 'need' for the rare metal, she had her development section work on a new tank for the military that used coltan as a key ingredient for the armor. As long as she was buying it and driving the price up, Johnson Corp wasn't making anything.

The sales of the new 'secure system' John Henry had designed was selling rapidly. That helped keep her company in the black as well as helped hide the 'digital money' she was adding to the sales figures. Yes, it also added to the taxes, but by manipulating numbers, it wasn't that much. Those sales along with her normal products kept her well in the black. She was even able to afford to keep ownership of the lot and rubble of her high rise to ensure no one tried to dig into the basement.

She got a frantic call from Mr. Murch.

"Mrs. Weaver, Mary Tok is going to go to the beach! Isn't she missing the skin on her right leg? That will expose what she is!"

"Calm down, Mr. Murch. I am sure they know what they are doing," she told him.

"But, what if someone figures out what she is?"

"If they do, then I will have to make an announcement we've made more AI's. I am sure that they can pass off her lower leg metal showing as a prosthetic, which we are in the process of designing. There is no need to worry," she said firmly.

"If you say so, Mrs. Weaver."

.

Sarah was concerned about going to the beach. After all, the authorities were looking for her and John. Even with light brown hair, her eyebrows colored to match, dark sunglasses and a wide brim summer hat, she still felt it wouldn't be safe. She'd just as soon stay at Fortress Weaver with John Henry.

"Come on Mom,"John coaxed. "You haven't been out in how long? There's going to be lots of people there, the chances you'll be spotted are like, one in a million."

"One in sixty five thousand, two hundred thirty two," Cameron said, correcting him.

"Big, anyway," John told her.

"There are also a lot of cops on patrol," Sarah countered.

"Not where we're going," Elanore said as she came in. "Grandmother Weaver owns a stretch of private beach with a bungalow. She's going to meet us there."

"Yes!" John said with a grin. "See mom, we'll be the only one's there."

Sarah reluctantly agreed. She was glad to get out, but still nervous about being spotted.

Saturday came. Right after an early breakfast, they piled into the Suburban and Eddie's Wrangler. Cameron drove the Suburban with everyone except Eddie, Mary and Elanore in it. Sarah got the middle seat again, but thankfully Savannah was behind her. Max was panting on Jake's neck.

While Cameron drove right to the location, Eddie swung by Gabriel's place. As he had said, Gabriel was out front waiting for them. He waved and climbed in the back with Elanore. The rear seat was tight, but he didn't mind sitting close to Elanore one bit. With the wind as they drove, he did mind that Eddie had taken the top off. Then again, the wind puffing out Elanore's shirt to give him flashes of her bikini was kinda nice.

Arriving at Mrs. Weaver's bungalow, Eddie parked behind the Suburban. Gregory appeared from around the side of the building to wave them into the back. Going into the back where there was a wooden deck nearly the size of the house, Gabriel got his first good eyeful of live female flesh.

Cameron was heading out onto the beach with John, wearing a dark purple bikini. If her slim, sexy form wasn't enough to bug his eyes out, Mary slipped off her skirt, showing her perfect ass was in a light purple bikini. If it wasn't for the metal prosthetic leg, Gabriel swore she could be a beauty queen.

Then Elanore tossed off her shirt and the shorts she'd came in. Like Mary, she had a fantastic figure, and her long legs were whole. Gabriel's first thought was why she wasn't modeling for major bucks instead of working at Zeita corp. She put many of the 'top' models he'd seen to shame.

Jake in his swim trunks held up a volley ball. "Anyone for volley ball? I heard it is a popular beach sport."

OMG, the thought of him playing volley ball with these gorgeous girls made Gabriel feel light headed.

"Yeah! Let's set up the net!" Eddie agreed.

.

They didn't have a net. John dragged his foot to make a line in the sand.

Deciding on teams, they came up with John, Cameron, Jake and Gregory against Eddie, Mary, Gabriel and Elanore. Sarah took a seat in a lounge chair and enjoyed the peace. Savannah had a shovel and a bucket, and played in the surf as Max chased the waves on and off the beach, then went after a seagull, barking happily.

The volley ball game started out fairly normal. Cameron had learned about 'spiking' the ball, and hit one straight at Elanore. Elanore stopped it, the ball's momentum carried back over to Jake. Jake whacked it between Gabriel and Mary. Seeing what her mother did, Mary spiked it at Gregory. Gregory spiked it back at Gabriel. Mary shifted to intercept it and spiked it to Jake's side. Jake spiked it right at Elanore on the edge. She spiked it back at Jake.

The ball was moving so fast, Gabriel, John and Eddie had trouble keeping track of where the ball was streaking by. Moving slowly towards the water, Elanore and Mary were taking turns spiking the ball to Gregory and Jake, who spiked it back at them.

BOOM. Upon Jake hitting the fast moving ball to spike it back, the ball exploded. The limp carcass of the ball fluttered to flop at Mary's feet.

"We broke it," Mary said sadly.

Gregory looked a the ball and asked, "Does that mean we won?"

"Nope, you broke it, you lost," Eddie said confidently.

"There is nothing in beach volley ball rules about breaking the ball," Cameron stated.

"That's because it never happens," John said with a snort. "That is, in normal games anyway."

Gabriel was in awe that Elanore and her siblings could move that fast or hit a ball that hard. Even Mary with her prosthetic leg had done some quick moves, that leg didn't inhibit her at all.

"LOOK! I found a sea shell!" Savannah cried and held up her prize.

All eyes turned to Savannah. The shell she held up wasn't very big, but she got many praises for finding it.

As the game broke up, Gregory went to sit by Savannah and help her build a sand castle. Jake, John and Cameron went up to get the beach towels and umbrellas.

Gabriel and Elanore walked down into the surf. Elanore laughed as a wave came in and splashed against her legs. Beaming a smile at Gabriel she said, "That feels funny, but it's nice."

Gabriel couldn't help but laugh with her. Both at her simplistic statement and seeing she was having a good time. Walking farther into the surf, she watched each wave come in an splash against her. Walking into the water chest deep, Elanore splashed her arms up an down with a bright smile. Gabriel noticed others coming in, but his eyes were riveted in Elanore. God, she was pretty. With that happy smile on her face, she seemed to glow.

Splashing and laughing, Elanore bounced in a circle. That got Gabriel splashing. He send some water her way, then splashed Eddie and Mary, who splashed him back. Laughs and giggles sounded as the splash war grew.

Gabriel felt like he was in heaven. He was at the beach with beautiful girls and having a great time. It was then he noticed something else. A large triangular fin was headed straight at Elanore from behind. It was a shark, and it was big. He gaped at it and pointed, but the warning he meant to scream out was caught in his throat.

Time moved in slow motion, Elanore, wearing her bright smile looked at him. She jerked with a push from behind, and her smile vanished. The shark swam so close to Gabriel on it's way by, the wake of it's tail hit him. Elanore turned in a half circle. Flesh floated free by Elanore's side. There was blood in the water.

Gabriel found the voice to scream. Belting out a horrified wail, he backed up towards the shore. Elanore surged her way to him as Eddie grabbed Mary and yelled to get out of the water. Gabriel turned to run.

Behind Gabriel, Elanore pushed him along faster. Gabriel made the shore, his mind seeing the blood and flesh in the water. Elanore had gotten bit by the shark. How was she pushing him? He turned to ask and found her right behind him.

"Are you all right?" she asked.

Gabriel looked down at her body. A flap of flesh hung from her side. In the gaping wound taken out by the shark, her silver ribs showed. Wait, that wasn't rib, it was solid. It was curved metal plate where her ribs should be. His mouth opened to ask why there was metal inside her, but nothing came out. He glanced over at Mary, standing and watching them on her metal prosthetic leg. No, that wasn't right, where her leg ended just below her knee, the flesh formed around the metal. That metal was extending out from under her skin.

"We need a towel, Elanore got bit by a shark!" Eddie yelled.

Gabriel stood dumbfounded as Elanore, who was standing up on her own two feet, despite having a chunk taken out of her side by a shark, was watching him.

Eddie came over and put the slab of skin back in place, covering up the metal. Jake was right there next to wrap a towel around her. This wasn't possible!

"Gabriel, are you all right?" Elanore asked as she finished wrapping the towel around her middle to hide the damage.

"What … was that?" he asked weakly.

"A shark." Eddie told him. "Good thing it tagged Elanore and not you," he said.

"No!" Gabriel cried and pointed to Elanore's side."What was THAT! That metal where your ribs should be." He moved to back away and tripped to sit. Seeing everyone watching him, he pointed to Mary. "And your leg. Prosthetic stuff doesn't go up and under your skin like that. And it moves too real..."

Eddie let out a huff. Elanore hung her head. Faces dropped, for a long moment no one had anything to say.

"Hey, Gabriel, let's take a walk."

Gabriel looked up and saw John by him, extending his hand to help him up.

"What's going on?" Gabriel asked. "Why do they have metal inside them?"

John waved his fingers and said, "It's not that simple. Come on, let's take a walk."

Gabriel took John's hand and got up. "I feel dizzy," he said weakly.

"Bet you do. Come on," John coaxed and got him moving.

Cameron strode up beside John. "Anything I can help with?" she asked.

John shook his head. "No, it's something Gabriel is going to have to deal with," he said with a sad look.

Cameron eyed Gabriel and went back towards the group.

"A little bit of a shock, it's it?" John asked.

"A little bit?" Gabriel asked as if this was the understatement of the century. "Elanore just got a bite taken out of her … a big bite by a shark, and she's standing there like it was nothing! Her … insides are friggin metal! And Mary, that metal leg of hers goes up under her skin!"

"And all the way up to her hip joint," John agreed. "Mary got hit by an RPG. Basically, a rocket. It tore all the flesh off her leg. She's still regrowing it."

"And she lived though that?" Gabriel asked, wide eyed.

"Yes," John said slowly. "Cyborgs can take a huge amount of damage compared to humans."

"There's no such thing!" Gabriel stated.

"Yeah?" John asked, eyeing him. Tipping his head back the way they came, he said, "You just saw it for yourself. Yes, Elanore is a cyborg. On the outside, she is a kind, loving woman. Inside, she is an armor plated artificial intelligent android made to fight the worst threat mankind has ever faced."

Gabriel stopped and stared at John. Made? Did he say MADE? Like in constructed from parts?

John stopped and waited for him to say something. Gabriel just looked at him, so John asked, "That volley ball game. Have you ever seen anyone move that fast before?"

Gabriel shook his head. "No, but ... Are Jake and Gregory these cyborgs too?"

John nodded. "They are. Gabriel, they are real and we try to keep what they are as quiet as possible for a couple reasons. One, I know the government would want to study them. When I say study, I mean take them apart and see what makes them tick. Basically, kill them for research. Yeah, they are cyborgs. They are also living beings that have their own minds, feelings and desires. To let that happen is just wrong. The other reason is if the wrong people found out, they would freak. It might well cause a panic. Do you understand?"

Gabriel nodded weakly and asked, "Where did they come from? I mean, are they like aliens or something?"

"No. They are from right here on Earth, from our future. They came back in time to help us. Now that they are here, they can't go back. They are stuck living with us," John explained.

Gabriel looked off at nothing for a moment, then nodded slightly. "Yeah, OK. That might explain it. Technology advancing, in the future they get real AI's, give those AI's bodies, and they become more or less like us."

"More or less," John agreed and quickly added, "Including the ability to think and have free will. Gabriel, they are our friends. I know Elanore is your friend. Right now, she is feeling bad because of your reaction on seeing her endoskeleton."

Gabriel let out a weak laugh. "The woman I'm falling in love with was made in a factory," he said to no one.

"No one ever said love was perfect," John offered with a shrug.

"Oh GOD, no, but it's usually human and not ... tinker toys!" Gabriel snapped back at him.

John paused briefly, then with his face screwed up in anger, hauled back and punched Gabriel right in the face.

Gabriel saw stars and found himself lying prone with an angry John over him. Glaring down on him, John yelled, "You pompous ass! They have feelings just like you and me! Cam has made me happier than than I ever thought possible! She's risked her life and saved me more times than I can count. There is NO ONE who is more loyal and loving than she is. Her kids are the same way, I know Mary would stand up and take bullets for Eddie. She took a fucking ROCKET hit to save him. Don't you EVER say or even imply anything bad about them!"

"John!" Elanore called as she ran up, holding her towel in place with an arm. "Please stop hurting him!"

John looked up at Elanore's stricken face. He noticed Cameron and Jake were right behind her. Slowly, he got up casting Gabriel an angry glare. "If you can't see Elanore as anything but someone who was made, then frankly, you don't deserve to be with her." He walked away. Cameron fell in step with him and put an arm around him. He hugged her to him as they walked off.

Keeping a respectful distance from Gabriel, Elanore asked, "Are you hurt?"

Gabriel could feel his face swelling up where John had hit him. The vision in his left eye was a little cloudy too. "I'm OK," he said vacantly and focused on the sand as he got up. A hand came close to help him. He shrugged it off and headed for the bungalow, watching only where he was walking.

"Gabriel?" Elanore asked.

Gabriel wondered how they did it. Speaking was easy, just speakers. There was already voice recognition software, it wasn't a stretch to think that was expanded and refined. The army had robots that walked, OK they bounced from foot to foot, but again,he could see the technology there being refined into a more or less normal, human walk. Sight? There were all kinds of sensors sonic, radar, laser, many ways to determine where objects were. So that wasn't a real mystery either. CCD cameras were able to recognize faces, as well as voice recognition software. Yes, he could see all these things being refined to build something that looked and acted like a real person.

Hell, even the reason they came back instead of real people made sense. Why risk a real person when you can make something to go in their place? As Gabriel's mind wandered, he saw things like Elanore taking the trips into space and exploring different planets. He bet in the future, they did all the hazardous jobs. They probably had android maids and butlers. To him, it sounded like the future was a utopia, the perfect world.

And here he was, stuck in the 'modern' world with a cranky boss and even when he found a woman who might be a girlfriend, she turned out to be a machine. He sure lived one fucked up life.

.

Eddie held Mary's hand as they watched John deck Gabriel, and Elanore and Jake ran over to save the kid. When everyone was coming back, he noted Elanore started following Gabriel back to the bungalow, then wandered away when she saw he wasn't even acknowledging she was there.

"Think I better take him home," Eddie said. He went to part from Mary, she gripped his hand.

"Eddie, do not hurt him," she said firmly, casting him a stern gaze.

"No, there's been enough of that today," he said, watching Elanore wander the beach with a blank face. "I'm just going to drive him home."

"I'm coming too," Mary stated as she walked with him.

"Hon,it's OK," Eddie assured her. "I just want to get him out of here before something else happens. By the look of Elanore over there, I think maybe she needs some company."

Mary glanced at her sister and nodded in agreement. With how close John and Mother were, and how attentive Eddie was with her, Gabriel's reaction to Elanore loosing skin did surprise her. Mother had told her Eddie was special. Now she was truly understanding how special. "Be back soon?" she asked Eddie.

"Soon as I can," Eddie assured her. He gave her a kiss and a quick hug. "Look after your sister."