Okay, so first off I would like to say that I'm sorry it took me so long to get this chapter out. I have no idea why the hell I was procrastinating for so long, I guess I was just lazy. Anyway I hope you enjoy and let me know what you think.
Another, Insane Choice.
Stand Tall, and in Attention.
"Fucker!" John hissed in pain as he slumped over, with Alex's fist firmly planted in his gut.
Alex quickly pulled back and watched as John struggled to maintain his footing. Alex had delivered a powerful punch right to John's gut and had left him unable to catch his breath.
A moment passed before John collapsed to the floor and swore loudly, as he began to regain his breath.
"How did that feel?" Derek asked as he walked into the living room.
John simply shot him a glare in reply, before struggling back to his feet.
It had been four days since Alex had started John's training, and John was quickly learning what a sadistic bastard his would-be son and uncle were. Derek had decided to join in on their training sessions to offer advice. At first he only watched and observed the way John moved, and offered advice on how to effectively change up his style. His mother did much the same, after the first two days of beatings from Alex she began to understand just how much control Alex had when it came to fighting. He may not of been a master at hand to hand, but he was at least on Sarah's level if not a little better.
When it came to hand to hand fighting, besides Cameron, Sarah was the most skilled. Derek and Alex may have been physically stronger, but there was little call for hand to hand fighting in the future war, so they rarely had to use their physical strength for much. Sarah on the other hand was used to getting into fights. So she had plenty of experience to offer up to all three of them.
On the second day of training John had asked what the point of this training was, seeing as you couldn't fist fight a machine. Alex and Derek both explained that machines weren't the only threat and there were times, in the beginning, where even John Connor had to fist fight another person for food. Plus, Alex explained that this training was good for John's endurance, reaction time, and muscle memory.
By the Fourth day Derek and Alex began switching off, they trained John three times a day, which would consist of a beating in the living room for up to an hour. John learned quickly to remain of his feet, because both men quickly took the opportunity to both berate and beat on him whenever he fell to the ground.
At first Derek wasn't nearly as harsh, but after about the third training session he and Alex found their niche. Not being nearly as aggressive as Alex was on the first day of training, but not babying John either.
John pulled himself to his feet as a buzzer went off, signaling the end of their midday training session.
"Okay. We're done for now." Alex stated as he rolled his shoulders and shook his arms, a few times.
"Right... You handling night shift?" John asked his uncle.
"Yep... get some rest... cuz I'm feeling especially aggressive today." Derek replied with a smile, causing John to shudder slightly and make for the kitchen to get some lunch. They always made sure to train John before he ate, he was offered a light snack to get some energy, but besides that, they wanted to make sure that there wasn't anything in his stomach for him to throw up. Plus, served as his reward for a battle well fought.
John had made some improvements since his first fight with Alex, all of the lessons that his mother had given him, were starting to come back, and he was quickly getting in the hang of the constant beating.
John walked into the kitchen to find his mother leaning against the counter, a fresh made turkey sandwich was sitting next to her.
She quickly offered it to him, having prepared it for his lunch.
"So... how was this beating?" Sarah asked as John took a seat at the kitchen table and began to hungrily devour his sandwich.
"Horrible... I don't know who the hell taught him to be this much of a friggin' sadist but whomever it was, is an asshole." John replied with a sour look on his face.
Alex and Derek had walked into the kitchen right as John had said that, and the three adults quickly began to chuckle, though for different reasons. Sarah and Derek laughed because they knew that John Connor had been Alex's trainer. Alex laughed because he knew that John was taking a stab at their father son relationship.
"So... any plans for either of you?" Sarah asked the two men. Derek had been spending a lot more time at home recently. He said it was because, he wanted to help with John's training, but John secretly believed that Derek was sticking around to avoid getting killed, on the appointed day, which was fast approaching. In fact, the day of his supposed death, was the following day.
I think I'm gonna go scout out the new location, where we'll be staying, get a feel for the land." Alex replied.
"I don't have any plans for today." Derek said with a shrug after a moment of thought.
"Good, then you can help us pack. We don't have a whole lot, but we need to at least get the guns packed before I tell Kacy that we're moving out." Sarah informed them.
"Sounds like fun." John commented as he finished with his sandwich and began to rub his temples.
"There's another bird in the chimney." Cameron stated as she walked into the room.
Except for Alex, everyone made a face at her comment.
"Well... we're leaving in two days, so I guess it'll be someone else's problem." Sarah stated after a moment.
"Alright." Cameron, replied.
John simply gave Cameron a look as he thought about how little the two had actually said to each other over the past few days. Since, both becoming aware that they were destined to be together, Cameron, became strangely distant. John couldn't help but find it confusing, when he first brought up his knowledge of whom his future wife would be, Cameron seemed almost uncaring that it was her... Actually, now that he thought about it, what she didn't care about was serving as his 'mate,' when he called her his 'wife', that's when things started to get strange.
Cameron rarely spoke about anything, and always seemed to have a blank expression on her face. John hadn't really had time to question her about it, being to busy with his daily beatings to focus on much else. He did however think about it often, and would lie awake at night wondering if he should approach her, and see if there was a problem.
As they were all standing, around discussing their plans for the day, Derek's phone vibrated, he quickly stepped out of the room, and checked it. He saw that there was a single text message from Jessie, that said 'Check the news, then call me."
Derek quickly went to the living room and turned on the T.V. He quickly located the local news channel.
"...continuing with our breaking story, we live to, Jason Nesmen, who is at the scene." A reported was stating, suddenly the shot switched to a man standing a block or two away from a blazing inferno.
"Hey Jan, as you can see, Firefighters are still struggling to battle the blazing inferno that, broke out over forty-five minutes ago. Witnessed claim that the fire broke out after some sort of crazy laser light show, that took place in both the alley behind the building, and in the buildings interior. On witness believed that it might of also been some sort of game of laser tag, or something similar since purple light could be seen lighting up the alley and the interior of the building.
It was around forty-five minutes ago when the laser show stopped, and about a moment afterwords, witnesses claim that the top four floors of the building erupted in flames. Investigators still don't know if anyone is trapped inside, and for reasons that have yet to be explained the fires have refused to go out. We'll bring you more details on this story as it develops. Back to you Jan." The man finished, and the shot switched back to the female reporter.
"What was that all about?" Sarah asked as her, John, Alex, and Cameron walked into the room.
"Looks like a fight between resistance and metal." Derek speculated.
He rewound the news report, and let them all watch it. "Yeah... that sounds like a battle." Alex confirmed.
"What do you think they were fighting about?" John asked Alex.
"Does it really matter? We're going to start seeing a lot of incidents like this, and we really shouldn't worry about them. If my comrades come across something that involves the Connor's they know to pass that information on to me. Otherwise, it's their business right now, if they need help, they also have my number." Alex replied with a sigh.
"I would have thoughts that your friends would have tried to be a little bit more inconspicuous." Sarah commented, giving Alex a look.
"Oh trust me... this is inconspicuous. In a few months time, things are going to start to get loud, I know it." Alex stated.
"What does that mean?" John asked, curiously.
"You remember why the old SkyNet was created right? The U.S. wanted to reduce the risk to humans, by putting a machine in control of their weapons. At first it was just their stealth bombers, but after SkyNet proved itself, they put it in charge of missile defense. All of this was done, due to the present threat of the Russian nuclear arsenal. Now a days, nuclear weapons are less of a problem, this SkyNet won't be created, the same way. Today's SkyNet, if I had to place my bet, is going to serve as an information super conductor. By that I mean, it's basically going to be a computer that can hack into anything and steal info from anything. It will record phone calls, emails, hack into bank accounts to get statements, and stuff like that." Alex explained.
"Why is that?" Sarah asked, with a little confusion.
"Terrorism." Cameron replied, as she stepped into the room.
"She's right, now a days, the biggest threat to the U.S. is not the Russian nuclear arsenal, it's terrorists with biological weapons, and bombs strapped to their chests. This SkyNet is going to be created to battle this new enemy, though the end result will be the same, eventually the military will trust it enough, to handle the nations missile defense network, and that's when all hell breaks loose." Alex continued to explain.
"So how does that affect how the resistance is going to operate? You said we can expect things to get more violent?" Sarah asked.
"Well, all the machines need to do is make the U.S. think that the acts that are being perpetrated on their soil is an act of terrorism. SkyNet remains a secret, the machines can kill anyone and destroy anything they want, and all their really doing is pushing the military to get SkyNet built faster." Alex replied with a shrug.
"Damn!" Derek stated with a scratch of his head.
"If these attacks escalate and occur more often, then a bunch of paranoid senators are really going to be quick about funding SkyNet." John huffed.
"Yep... the sad truth of it all is that judgment day is inevitable." Alex said with a shrug.
"What... so you're saying that theirs nothing we can do? That we should just give up and wait for the bombs to fall?" John asked with a some venom.
"Not at all, I think we should do everything in our power, to postpone judgment day. Every year more and more nukes are dissembled. Though because humans fear, is what will lead to judgment day, we can still lessen the death tole by doing what we can to postpone it." Alex replied.
"There has to be a way to stop it, there has to be something we can do." John stated defiantly.
"Can you cure human fear? Can you cure the world of it's paranoia? SkyNet is the result of humans attempting to take their own lives out of their control, and when they did that, SkyNet took a good long look at human history, and came to the only logical conclusion, the only way to stop all of the bloodshed is to kill us all. And that's what it's doing. Regardless of what you may think of SkyNet, or the machines, the simple truth is, that they're not evil. SkyNet's just doing what it was programmed to do, ensure human survival. In it's mind, as long a humans refuse to change their ways, and remain in fear of one another, then they will never stop killing each other." Alex informed them with a distant look on his face.
"So what do we do then?" Sarah asked, her eyes narrow and focused.
"Everything I just told you, John Connor once told me, and when he was finished I asked the same question, and do you know what he told me?" Alex asked in reply.
With a shake of her head, Alex answered, "He told me that the one and only option that was open to us, to not be human any longer."
"How the hell do we do that?" Sarah asked, with a little confusion.
"I don't know. Neither did he. Though it's the only logical solution to our problem. It's a paradox. As long as humans exist, we will continue to search for a way to make ourselves safer, which can only lead to one possible outcome, taking our lives and putting them into non-human hands. Of course then a machine, will see that human nature is unchanging and that we cannot stop ourselves from killing each other, this forces a paradox, in which humans must be destroyed in order for their safety to be secured. If human are successful in fending off this entity that they entrusted their safety to, then the natural course will resume and humanity will continue to look for a way to make itself safer, and eventually the cycle will begin anew." Alex explained, though he had this look on his face like he was trying to make sure that he got it all out without mixing anything up.
"Well... when you think about it like that, I guess we're screwed." John stated with a dark chuckle.
"I hate philosophy." Derek commented, in a sour tone.
"It's just one of those things I guess you try not to think about. All we can do is try to beat SkyNet and hope that either we can learn from our mistakes and defy our bloody history, or maybe our... 'children', can help us change." Alex stated, though he looked at Sarah and gave her sly grin when he said children.
"I guess you're right." Sarah commented with a scratch of her head. In her quest to stop SkyNet, she had spent a lot of time, studying weapons, military tactics, and the like, but she also spent a lot of time studying philosophy, and how certain actions affect the future. This was just one of those things. She knew what Alex was saying, he was saying that they can't stop humanity from creating SkyNet one day, but they can postpone it, indefinitely.
Most of the group members stood in silence for a few minutes before dispersing. Alex got dressed and quickly left for the location of their new home, Derek stepped out to call Jessie while Sarah vanished into the basement to take inventory of all of their weapons. John found his way to his room, and layed in is bed. He didn't know whether to admire, Alex's profound understanding of the past, present, and future, or resent the man for bringing up all of these confusing and difficult to understand topics, that have no real answer to them.
He was right though, when he said it was something you just didn't think about. Even if they stopped this SkyNet from being created, eventually someone would get it into their head to take humanities lives out of their control in order to keep them safe, and when that happened, it was time to kiss their asses goodbye.
'Knock, knock knock.'
John sat up as their was a knock at the door a moment passed before it opened and Cameron stepped in.
"Hey Cam, what's up?" John asked with a little confusion, as she closed the door and stood in front of his bed.
"I have a problem. I've been trying to figure out what to do about it, but I can't think of anything." Cameron, stated with a look of concern, and confusion.
"What kind of problem?" John asked, with his own look of confusion.
"I don't have any standing order..." Cameron answered.
"Standing orders? What do you mean?" John asked, with even more confusion.
"I always had the order to protect you, but it's gone now. I don't have any orders. I don't have a mission." Cameron explained.
"So what does that mean?" John asked, still confused.
"I shouldn't be awake. I don't have any orders, I don't have mission, so I should be shut down. But I'm not, I'm still awake, and I don't know why." Cameron informed him.
"So like...you don't know what to do with yourself?" John asked, not really getting what she was trying to explain.
"No... I shouldn't be awake. My mission is my purpose. It's the reason I exist, I have no mission therefore I have no reason to exist. And yet I do. Without a standing order, or a mission, my CPU should shut down to conserve power, while I wait for a new mission, but it doesn't and I can't understand why... I think I'm defective." Cameron told him, her tone was somewhere between nervous and concerned.
"So what? You're free to do whatever you want?" John asked.
Cameron stared off for a second, and processed his question, before turning back to him and replying. "What I want? You mean like give myself my own missions?" Cameron asked.
"I guess... I mean if you have no mission then you're free to choose what to do with yourself." John said with a shrug.
"No... that's not right, I shouldn't be able to give myself my own missions, this shouldn't be happening!" Cameron stated, suddenly becoming emotional.
"Cameron?" John asked confused as he stood, and took a step towards her.
"Stay away!" She told him, with a look of fear. As she grabbed her head, almost like she was in pain.
"Cameron?" John asked again, as he cautiously took another step towards her.
"Go away! I'm dangerous! I could kill you!" Cameron shouted at him.
"I told you Cameron... I trust you... I know you wont hurt me." John told her in a compassionate tone of voice as he took another step towards her.
"You did tell me that... but I was under orders then. I was worried about a malfunction that would cause me to disobey my orders and cause you harm. Now I have no orders, theirs nothing that keeps me from hurting you." Cameron told him, with tears streaming down her face.
John just stared at her for a moment, the only other time he had seen her cry was when she had tried to kill him and he and his mother pinned her between two trucks, and he was trying to pull her chip out.
"Cam... I told you that I trusted you, because I trust you. Not because of any orders you may have, or what your mission is. I trust you... and that's that." John told her as he took another, much more cautious step towards her.
"Why do you trust me?" Cameron asked, as she locked eyes with him. If John didn't know any better, he would think that the broken mess crying in front of him was some girl that had just screwed up big time, with someone she loved. But no... this was Cameron, a terminator. She couldn't really feel these emotions she was displaying... could she?"
"I trust you because I consider you a friend... and I guess, because I care about you." John answered as he finally reached her and placed a comforting hand on her shoulder.
"Give me an order! Give me a mission! Ask me to protect you! Please! I don't wanna hurt you." Cameron pleaded, with teary eyes. Which made John even more confused and concerned at all the emotion his terminator bodyguard was showing.
"Do you wanna protect me?" John finally asked.
Cameron stared at him for a moment, something about that question, the way he asked it triggered something in her. She felt as if the amount of memory she had had somehow slightly decreased. Almost like a few days worth of information had suddenly been added.
"Am I free to stay?" Cameron asked suddenly, almost robotically.
"Sure... if you wanna." John answered with a shrug.
"Am I free to go?" Cameron inquired with some curiosity.
"I guess, if that's what you wanna do." John replied, honestly. I mean, it's not like he could stop her if she wanted to go.
"Am I alive?" Cameron asked, her eyes were focused on John, almost pleading for an answer.
"I think so." John answered again, with complete honesty, he was having a hard time understanding the rollercoaster of emotions she was displaying right now.
"Am I free to protect you?" Cameron asked, with a look of befuddlement.
"Yeah... if that's what you want." John replied, with even more confusion, as he noticed her look.
Cameron started at him for a moment, almost like she was thinking, before suddenly pulling him into a hug.
"Whoa, Cameron, what's up with you?" John asked as she pulled him into a firm hug.
"Humans give hugs when they are happy or grateful... I am both." Cameron replied as she pulled away and smiled at him.
"Happy... and grateful... for what?" John asked.
"I'll tell you later... you're mother is coming up the stairs." Cameron stated as she turned and stepped over to his lap top, pretending like she was doing something.
Just like she had predicted there was suddenly a knock at the door.
"Come in." John said as he sat back down on the end of his bed.
Sarah opened the door and stepped in, giving the two a suspicious look before starting. "Let's get started packing the weapons, I want to be out of here by the weekend, and we've got some free time before you're next lesson."
"Okay..." John said as he and Cameron got up to follow after Sarah who turned and headed out of the room.
All the while as they walked, John's eyes were locked on Cameron... and only one thought was running through his... 'WHAT THE HELL JUST HAPPENED!'
Okay that's it for this chapter... once again I apologize for taking to long, I had a busy work schedule and on the days I wasn't working I was a lazy ass. So thank you for being patient and I promise it wont happen again. Let me know what you think and in case you were wondering, yes Cameron just regained her sentience.