Chapter 1497
Head Out Head In
John was worried about what the drone images showed.
"We need to determine how long the Skynet forces have been associated with the mine." John said. "It will give us some idea as to what they may have accomplished inside there."
John Henry already started a search of everything related to the mine. If the endeavor was only a few weeks old, they may not have progressed too far. It was the trouble with old mines. There was no way to know. Everything was already excavated for Skynet. They just needed a power source and they were good to go. They could start moving equipment right in.
"I'm on it and checking to see where they can get power from." John Henry said.
John was aware Skynet tried to construct giant power cells in several of its underground installations. They'd been successful in Cameron's future. What they'd encountered so far usually ended catastrophically for Skynet.
"The power cells are very unstable while they are being charged." John said. "We need to take advantage of their weakness."
John Henry needed to check things out before they got too far ahead of themselves. There was a large mine shaft visible too. It indicated there were probably multiple levels associated with it. They could run in any direction.
"I'm going over everything." John Henry said. "I want to get all the details."
Summer already knew what her plan was. She would defer until John Henry and John came up with a plan. Right now she needed to worry about her mother.
Cameron moved on to the next group of planes. They were the F-100 Super Sabre, the F-101 Voodoo, and the F-102 Delta Dagger. They were the first of the 'Century Series'.
"The F-100 Super Sabre was the final improved version of the F-86." Cameron said. "There were so many changes, it was given a new model designation. It was the first US fighter capable of supersonic speed in level flight."
Camille felt they'd made a wise choice with the armament as well.
"There was extensive use of Titanium in its construction." Camille said. "It was used in numerous roles. It also carried four 20MM cannons like the later model F-86 Sabre did."
Cameron wanted to tie up a loose end from an earlier conversation.
"We spoke of George Welch earlier." Cameron said. "He was a test pilot for North American. He was involved in the development of this aircraft. He was killed during a test."
The revelation seemed somewhat ironic to Young Allison.
"It's a shame." Young Allison said. "He fought in a war, and was killed in a test flight."
Anna thought of another tragic example. A pilot risked their life in combat where they could be killed on every mission. When they're acting as a test pilot, the dangers were just as intense, even if there were no projectiles aimed at them.
"It happens sometimes." Anna said. "Major Bong, the top US ace of World War II was also killed testing an aircraft. It was the P-80. He died on the same day the first atomic bomb was used in combat. They both made the front page."
Savannah and Young Allison quickly looked at each other. They'd used nuclear weapons which were many times more powerful than the little 'firecracker' used in 1945. Even the backpack nuke was more powerful.
Young Allison felt a little guilty. She'd been prepared to use them another time too. CamNet kept it covered up like she'd asked her to do. She'd planned to send them through the unknown portal. She didn't know where they would go, but she knew anyone not wearing two million sunblock was gonna have a real bad day.
They moved on to the F-101 Voodoo.
"This was the direct predecessor to the F4H, later redesignated the F-4 Phantom II." Cameron said.
Young Jesse could see the similarity in the design to the plane which would follow.
"I can see the resemblance." Young Jesse said.
Young Allison looked over the nose and front fuselage of the Voodoo.
"I can see it doesn't pack any 'heat'." Young Allison said.
Cameron felt all military aircraft should be armed, even if it wasn't in the design parameters, or normal function of the aircraft. It would still give them the option to protect themselves if the situation arose.
"It was originally designed with four cannons. It quickly lost them to carry only missiles instead." Cameron said. "It was the same mistake carried over to the F-4."
They moved on to the F-102 Delta Dagger.
"The F-102 was flown by a US President." Anna said.
Young Allison knew it ran in the family.
"His father was also a US President. He flew a TBM Avenger in World War II." Young Allison said.
Cameron was aware of a common nickname for the Dagger. She also knew it suffered from insufficient foresight.
"The F-102 Delta Dagger was often referred to as the 'Deuce'." Cameron said. "It too lacked guns and relied on missiles."
It was a problem when the designers thought the missiles could replace guns in combat. They couldn't. They weren't reliable enough to always score. She thought things hadn't changed much when similar military planners decided to put Skynet in charge of the nuclear response. It clearly hadn't been developed enough to be stable and act responsibly. She was sure John Henry and CamNet would fare much better, when they were in control.
It was clear to Savannah any fighter planes without guns, which only carried missiles, were at a disadvantage. Sometimes things happened dirty and up close. She could think of a few movies where they'd made the same point. There was a 'textbook' response, and there was a 'seat of the pants' pilot's response.
"It seems to be a common mistake during this time period." Savannah said.
Cameron wasn't so sure things changed much. She decided to allude to her earlier thoughts.
"Sometimes the promise of technology gets ahead of what's really ready to work reliably." Cameron said. "Some governments thought a computerized AI running the nuclear arsenal, and the military response, might be a good idea…."
The girls all knew Cameron referred to Skynet. It was an example of technology performing beyond its duties as opposed to underperforming.
Underperforming was often the problem of the early missiles. There was a time lag once the target was acquired before they could be launched. The missile might not come off the rail. Other times it came off the rail, and fell away without igniting the rocket propulsion. Sometimes it wouldn't track, or it ended up as a 'moon shot' and disappeared up into the sky somewhere. Often the pilots selected two missiles at a time to fire in the hopes one would do what it was supposed to do. In most of those instances, if they'd packed a 'gun', they could have shot the adversary down.
It seemed at some point the people in the budget department would have figured out cannon shells were a lot less expensive than having to fire multiple missiles in the hopes one of them would strike, or explode near enough to, the target to bring it down. Then again, it often meant pilots would need to be better trained. Additional training cost money. Jet fuel cost money. Planes damaged in training cost money. Better pilots, were simply better pilots when push came to shove. It seemed like a 'no brainer'.
Cameron pointed out the basic design of the delta wing by the manufacturer. It was used on multiple designs from them. The test bed was the XF-92A.
"The basic design of the airframe of the 'Deuce' was used for the B-58 Hustler which we saw earlier, and the F-106 Delta Dart which we'll see later." Cameron said. "The aircraft manufacturer toyed with several similar predecessor designs as well with the 'Delta' type wing."
Young Jesse knew the two interceptor aircraft which went into production looked very much alike.
"The Dagger and the Dart look very similar." Young Jesse said. "I used to get them mixed up."
Camille pointed out one of their earlier observations.
"It's another example of just redesigning the same plane again." Camille said. "It happens."
Savannah didn't think it was necessarily a bad idea. Maybe the only bad part was incorporating the same flaws as the predecessor aircraft experienced.
"I guess it saves on development costs and time." Savannah said.
Young Allison spotted a way to identify the Dagger and the Dart apart. It was a quick look at the tail.
"There's an easy way to tell the two aircraft from each other from a side view. The 'Deuce' has a pointed rear stabilizer . The Dart's tail is flat on the top." Young Allison said.
Anna knew of another quick identifying characteristic.
"The intakes are below the cockpit on the F-102 and behind it on the F-106." Anna said.
Cameron thought the main difference was in performance.
"The F-106 was only two feet longer, but packed a much more powerful engine. It was a full Mach faster than the F-102." Cameron said. "Let's look in back of us."
The girls turned behind them.
"This is an EB-57A Canberra. This particular version was modified for Electronic Countermeasures from the B-57." Cameron said.
Young Jesse instantly recognized the design of the aircraft.
"I know it was a licensed copy of the English Electric Canberra from Great Britain." Young Jesse said. "There were some of those Down Under in our air force."
Camille felt the Martin version took a step backwards.
"The Martin Canberra version used tandem seating as opposed to side by side on the English Electric Canberra." Camille said.
Cameron pointed out another variation with a notable difference.
"There were a few RB-57 versions with wings twice as long for reconnaissance." Cameron said. "It was to give it the ability to reach high altitudes before the U-2 became available. NASA used three of those variations for years. It was for several decades after all the others were retired."
Young Jesse liked the Australian version better.
"It's sort of a homely design." Young Jesse said. "I still prefer the side by side seating."
She looked over at Savannah and smiled. It made her think about the T-37 they'd spotted earlier. She really wanted to fly an A-37 Dragonfly.
Claire headed back to her room after a long kiss with Sarah. She would get cleaned up a little and see about Summer. She didn't need to worry about getting any dinner ready. The teams who were already out would pick some up.
She was going to have a talk with Allison and see what she was trying to prove by going out on an operation. It didn't sit well with her. When they were in Palmdale, Allison seldom went on any kind of an operation. Samantha said it was a recon and those were low risk.
She wondered if anything around there was low risk.
Sarah was elated at everything she'd done in the last two days. She knew one thing for sure. If Cameron ever offered her a Terminator to protect Jan again, she was going to jump at the prospect as long as it was a female Terminator. She was aware one day the same female Terminator could end up as Jan's Metal girl lover. As long as it was her Metal girl lover until then, she didn't mind.
She needed to get cleaned up and calmed down before Kyle got back. They were supposed to bring some food so she wouldn't need to worry about it.
She stripped and looked in the mirror. She pictured herself with a set of rings. It was really something she wanted to do now. She entered the shower.
Since she'd been with Claire, Riley, Samantha, Jesse, and Young Jesse, she was ready for more. She wanted to try another Metal girl and she hoped it could be Sheila. She wouldn't turn any Metal girl down if the opportunity arose.
She realized she'd started to pleasure herself again. It sort of just happened as she contemplated the future. She wanted to stop but needed to finish first. She did. She really wondered what got into her.
Sarah smiled. When Kyle got back, she knew what else was going to 'get into her'.
She looked forward to having the best of both worlds.
Maybe one more finish would be good right now….
Jesse was finished with Precious. She was as dry as a bone. She figured by tomorrow she would be even bigger than she started out the day. It seemed to be the way it worked for her.
She was pretty sure Samantha and Riley were 'doing the dirty'. It was OK with her. She knew she could be with Riley anytime if she wanted to. She'd promised Cameron she wouldn't get between Derek and Riley, with either one of them.
She'd thought about being with Derek every now and then. She knew he was game if she did. She could see the way he looked at her still. Since she'd been with John, he was the only male she wanted to be with again. She was able to feel the love they'd created and shared.
She let Jan get one last look at her and bid them all farewell. She hoped to get some action before dinnertime. She started to head for her room. She changed her mind and went the other direction. Her top was still open.
Jesse headed straight for John's room. She really wanted some more of 'him'.
John waited for John Henry to give him some better information on the mine. He looked at satellite images and past historic aerial photos. It seemed the mine was dormant for decades.
A new image popped up on his screen, it was of Jesse. She was headed to his room. He saw her top was open. If it wasn't an invitation, what was? He didn't want to neglect his duties. It seemed everything was at a standstill currently.
"Do you have anything else right now?" John asked.
John Henry was unable to locate any additional information.
"There's nothing conclusive." John Henry said.
John saw Jesse pause at his door.
"I'm going to head out for a little bit." John said.
John Henry could see where Jesse was at currently.
'You mean, 'head in'.' John Henry thought.
He didn't see any reason to make a big deal about it.
"If anything develops, I'll contact you." John Henry said.
John wanted to get to his room. He looked to see if Summer was still in the Command Center. She wasn't. She was slick and silent. He tried not to think about the movie again. He really hoped to catch Jesse before she left. It was too good of an opportunity to pass up.
Riley took over Precious as she bid Jesse farewell.
Jan stayed a little longer and then left Samantha and Riley behind and went in search of Summer.
She saw John up ahead. He looked like he was headed for his room. She wondered why the door was already open.
They waved at each other as he disappeared inside. He closed the door.
She headed for the rec room.
Jan found Summer in there.
She looked around and then told Summer about what she saw on Samantha.
Summer didn't remind Jan her mother and Samantha were identical. Well, almost identical. There was a difference now. One sported rings, the other didn't. Not yet anyway.
The girls started to study after Summer told Jan it was still a little ways off until dinner. The returning teams would bring back some 'take out' food with them.
Cam drove the SUV with the girls in it.
Vanna was upset about the 'traffic incident'. It all seemed so needless to her. She didn't want to go soft on future Scavengers, but it still seemed unnecessary.
"You sure look glum." Allison said.
Vanna didn't want to 'take it out ' on Allison. It was best just to drop it.
"I'm fine." Vanna said.
Cam and Holly both looked back when she said it. They knew when Cameron said those same words, she seldom was fine.
CamNet sent what two locations they would need to stop at for the food to bring back to the base.
"It looks like we'll pick up some Chinese food and Mexican food." Holly said. "They're both on the same block."
Allison could see they were about to have a variety of different types of food.
"It sounds good." Allison said. "I think we are going to have a feast."
Vanna wondered how Allison was so unaffected by what happened. Then again, she'd watched Young Allison shoot everyone in the head to make sure they were dead in the presentation they'd watched. Young Allison didn't just shoot people, she killed them. It was exactly what Allison was about to do with the gang members.
She really didn't want to rehash everything, but she felt the need to say something.
"I hate Scavengers, but what we did was wrong." Vanna said.
Cam, Holly and Allison all looked at her.
Allison felt insulted by the insinuation. She decided she wanted to take things one step further.
"Hardly." Allison said. "Cam, go back so I can finish them off."
Allison took out her Model 66.
Cam felt their actions were justified on more than one level.
"They were the ones who escalated the incident. They were given the opportunity to leave before they chose to stay and threaten us." Cam said. "We all heard they wanted 'a little more' from us. You heard it too. Would you want to be abused, busted up, and have the tip of your nose cut off?"
Holly wanted to offer a different perspective. It was one with a less positive conclusion.
"What if it would have been Mary, Leticia and Laura instead of us?" Holly asked. "What would the outcome of it been like?"
Vanna frowned. She knew they were all correct. She just felt none of it needed to happen.
"I don't want to talk about it." Hanna said.
Allison smiled and put her Model 66 away. There were other more pressing matters on her mind.
"Good." Allison said. "Let's talk about the other food we're going to have."
Vanna looked at Allison and frowned.
Kyle drove the SUV.
"I just received our food instructions." Jim said.
Derek was aware what the normal bring home food items were.
"Don't tell me." Derek said. "I think it will be Chinese food."
Bob was aware of all of the restaurant assignments.
"Cam's team gets to pick up the Chinese and Mexican food." Bob said.
Kyle thought those were already two good choices to start out with.
"Now I'm already hungry." Kyle said. "It sounds good."
It already reminded Derek of the buffet. He figured it could only get better.
"It sounds like a spread on the ship." Derek said. "What do we get?"
Derek looked at Jim.
"You said don't tell you." Jim said.
Derek laughed.
"Now you're just messing with me." Derek said.
Jim tilted his head slightly. He figured he would just tell Derek what their assignment was.
"We're to pick up some American food and Indian food." Jim said.
Bob thought the Indian food was a different choice from normal.
"I wonder how they'll like the bison and deer meat for the Indian food." Bob said.
Kyle and Derek laughed.
"I think it's the wrong kind of 'Indian'." Kyle said.
Bob tilted his head slightly. He thought it was a valid question.
"There are options at some American restaurants too for those choices of meat." Bob said.
Derek thought back to some things he tried on the cruise.
"He's right." Derek said. "I tried both of those from the grill on the ship. They were good too."
Kyle thought back how Derek decimated his burger with a few bites.
"I did as well." Kyle said. "If I remember right, you ate most of mine."
Jim wondered if they were just messing with him now.
Gail and Hanna pondered what their food assignment was going to be.
"Maybe we will need to get some fast food." Gail said. "Jan and Summer will like it."
Hanna always found the food choices to be very interesting.
"I like to try a taste of everything when they get it." Hanna said. "I like to see which establishment sets off the most 'warnings' in my HUD."
Gail normally didn't sample any food items.
"I usually refrain from trying anything." Gail said. "I'll try a taste of ice cream."
Hanna was aware all of the humans liked ice cream. There were a multitude of flavors.
"What flavor do you like?" Hanna asked.
Gail thought about the ice cream Savannah let her try.
"I like pink ice cream." Gail said.
Hanna tilted her head slightly.
"Pink isn't a flavor." Hanna said.
Gail didn't think it mattered.
"I don't care as long as it is pink." Gail said.
Hanna wanted to mess with Gail a little.
"I have something pink you can treat like an ice cream cone." Hanna said.
Gail was well aware anything private, on any version of 'Savannah Weaver', was as pink as it could be. Hanna's sheath was based on the same DNA.
"Later." Gail said. "I don't want to have an accident."
Hanna giggled. She wasn't sure if Gail was messing with her or not. It was really hard to tell with her.
Leticia was a little worried because 'Peggy', 'Sue' and 'Barbara' never played volleyball before. She wanted to give them a subtle warning.
"The other team is really good." Leticia said.
Sheila liked to watch the girls with the bigger breasts jump up and down. Because of the angles of movement, some of the girls were up on one side and down on the other. They stayed the same way for several jumps, with the same lopsided motion. It eventually evened out some.
"I just like to watch everything bounce around." Sheila said. "I won't bounce much, but my rings will."
Sheila frequently stretched her piercings so her rings moved freely.
Cammy was ready for a challenge. She was superior to any human.
"We will win." Cammy said. "How hard can it be?"
Leticia heard 'Sue' say the same thing earlier.
"You all did excellent at horseshoes." Leticia said.
Ally didn't see it as much of a challenge.
"We never played horseshoes before and we did OK." Ally said.
Mary knew they did better than OK. They made every shot, even when they looked the other way. She still didn't see how 'Sue' made the last shot from a cabana. It was a long distance away. She wondered at what speed the horseshoe was actually thrown to travel the distance, and not lose its trajectory to the stake.
"If you can play volleyball like you can play horseshoes, we'll have a sure win." Laura said.
Mary agreed it sounded like a sure win.
"We should bet them something." Mary said.
Sheila looked over the other team. There were a couple of nice looking girls on it.
"I can think of a few things." Sheila said.
Leticia smiled at Sheila. She knew what they were.
Cammy would like to give Cameron another slap in the face.
"Maybe we can have the losing team 'do' Tony." Cammy said.
Cammy didn't mind sticking it to Cameron. She'd 'taken' Savannah away from her.
Leticia looked at 'Sue'. She still wanted to be with 'Tony' herself.
"I'd like to do it." Leticia said.
Sheila nodded. She wanted a three way with John and Leticia as well.
Ally didn't want everyone's mind to get distracted before the game started. A game was supposed to be about fun. She knew if it was about competition, it wasn't always fun.
"Maybe we can just play to have fun." Ally said.
Cammy was sure the other team would be more distracted than they were.
"I think they'll be so busy looking at our bodies, they'll miss half of the shots." Cammy said.
Mary could see the other team was Hot.
"You'll be looking at them too and not the ball." Mary said.
Sheila didn't think it would be an issue. They could process a lot of information at the same time.
"We have two eyes." Sheila said. "We can do both."
Mary and Laura quickly looked at each other.
"You're funny." Leticia said.
Sheila reiterated her statement from earlier. She hoped it would avoid any further questions.
"That's' me, 'Funny Sue'." Sheila said.
The two teams of girls looked each other over.
The other team of girls thought it was really something to see four girls on one team with rings, and two sisters who were super hot with the prettiest faces.
It was clear which team was better looking.
They started out the volleyball game. The other team wanted to play by modified rules. After the end of a volley, the other team would serve regardless of who won. That way everyone would get a chance to play all the positions. Whichever team didn't return the shot, lost the volley.
The girls were spaced so every other one was a Terminator. They went through a rotation. There were always two Terminators in either the front row or the back row.
Leticia was the first up. She jumped up and served the ball. It went over the net and the other side hit it twice and one of the girls went to spike it. It was directly above the net. Cammy jumped up and spiked it down into the sand.
Everyone was a little taken aback. The volley was over in an instant.
The other team served. The ball went to Mary and she did the first hit to set it up. Cammy didn't wait for the set. She jumped up and spiked it down over on the other side.
Sheila was next to serve. She jumped up very high, but not what she was capable of. She sent the ball over the net with a lot of force. It moved so quickly, it passed between two girls before they could react.
The other team could see they were in for a rough go.
The competition was never a challenge before. What they faced now was a total massacre.
The other team almost scored a point when the ball was spiked at Laura. It flew high into the air. It looked like it was headed to parts unknown when Ally jumped up and redirected it back to Cammy who promptly spiked it down from a great height as well.
The girls from the ship were impressed.
Leticia needed to ask about what 'Sue' said earlier.
"I thought none of you ever played before." Leticia said.
The Metal girls were quick learners and were superior to any human.
"This is our first time." Sheila said. "I'm sure if we practiced, we could do better."
The other team didn't seem happy at all.
After losing the first game, the other team was upset.
Cammy offered to have two of them play against six on the other team.
After the first ten points went to Cammy and Sheila, the other team left.
Cammy felt a little disappointed. She developed a real feel for the game. She was ready to take things up a notch.
"We were just getting warmed up." Cammy said. "I calculated a number of angles and hit velocities which would make the ball untouchable by them."
Ally could think of a few other activities where the Metal girls would excel.
"If the other team wanted to really lose badly, we could go target shooting." Ally said.
Cammy liked to show off her superior strength.
"Or we could do a little arm wrestling." Cammy said.
Leticia liked one of the ideas.
"I want to do that." Leticia said.
Cammy wondered if it was the last one mentioned.
"Do you want to arm wrestle?" Cammy asked.
Leticia was more intrigued by the other prospect.
"No. I want to target shoot." Leticia said.
Sheila didn't think it would be a problem. There were several options open to them.
"We'll look for some taggers on the way home." Sheila said. "It shouldn't be too hard to find some targets of opportunity."
Leticia smiled at 'Sue'.
"You're funny." Leticia said.
Sheila looked at Cammy and Ally. She figured she probably shouldn't push the issue.
"Funny Sue, that's me." Sheila said.
The Metal girls took future Scavengers very seriously.
Claire was pleased to find Summer and Jan hard at work when she checked in on them.
Summer noticed her mother's top was very tight. She could see everything in detail.
Jan thought it was for John to see at dinnertime.
Summer knew it was for Sarah to see.
Jan could see the way Claire's top clung tightly to her shape. She thought about what she'd witnessed earlier in the nursery. She thought it was something which could benefit everyone.
"You should let Samantha wear your top." Jan said.
Claire looked down and could see the 'headlights' were on.
"Maybe I will." Claire said. "It seems the top is a little smaller than I remember it."
Claire looked down again. Every detail could clearly be seen. It looked like she was topless with blue skin. She noticed Jan couldn't stop staring. She understood why. She'd stare at anyone who looked like they were topless too. It never hurt to look.
CamNet provided her Terminator with a location on the phone which attempted to contact the terminated thug. He reactivated the thug's phone. He knew what the thug sounded like. It was one of the reasons why he hadn't terminated him outright.
The next time the phone rang, he answered it. He used the thug's voice.
"Hello." The Terminator said.
"Where have you been?" The man asked.
"I'm at the mall. All hell broke loose." The Terminator said. "I was lucky to get out alive."
"Why didn't you answer the phone earlier?" The man asked.
"I just told you." The Terminator said. "I needed to get away. I saw everyone else was wasted. I wanted to make sure they weren't after me too."
"Yeah, you sound like a real lucky guy." The man said.
"You could have gone instead of me." The Terminator said.
The conversation went on for a few minutes. It was clear the man on the other end of the phone suspected some type of foul play on the thug's part.
The drone proceeded to the location where the call was made from. It was in a vehicle moving towards the destroyed massage parlor.
"I want you to go back to the massage parlor." The man said. "I'm headed there now."
The Terminator wanted to make the conversation a little more suspenseful.
"They're here." The Terminator whispered.
"Who's there?'' The man asked.
"It looks like the Cartel." The Terminator whispered. "It could be the Syndicate too. It's hard to tell sometimes."
The Terminator made some grunting noises and disconnected the phone. He took it out of service.
He wanted the man to think something happened to the thug. He glanced at the trunk of the car the thug was in. Something did happen to the thug.
The Terminator would wait and see where the man who made the call ended up at. The drone currently orbited around the area of the massage parlor, as well as the mall.
The Gray figured they wanted to keep an eye on him. He couldn't really blame them with everything that happened over the last few days. He headed towards the large building.
As he neared one of the outbuildings, a big door on the side of it opened. A man stepped out and waved him inside. He could see there were several other cars in there. The truck backed in behind him.
The large door on the side was closed.
The Gray thought he was about to get the third degree.
"Open the trunk." The first man said.
The Gray open the trunk.
The man who'd opened the door searched his vehicle.
"Everything happened like I told you man." The Gray said.
The three men in the building with him all looked a little tense.
"We've lost a lot of locations in the last few days." The second man said.
The man who searched the car looked at him.
"I think you're the only survivor from any of the locations." The third man said.
The Gray didn't like the insinuation.
"One guy made it out of the mine." The Gray said.
The third man looked around.
"Is he here now?" The third man asked.
The Gray swallowed hard.
"You can see he's not." The Gray said. "I think all the damage revolved around the HK Tracks. It was what the man from the mine said too. I could hear one or more of them shooting inside of the building before it exploded."
The other three men looked at each other.
"We've got a couple truckloads of them here right now." The first man said.
The Gray thought they should play it careful.
"I'd recommend you make sure all of them are off until they can be inspected." The Gray said. "It looks like they went on a killing spree, at least two of the locations I know about. I don't know what happened at any of the others."
The man who'd opened the door to the building ushered him along.
"Let's go talk to the boss." The third man said.
The Gray could understand their concern. He didn't feel he'd done anything wrong. He wondered how he was going to explain he was the only survivor. He wasn't sure who the boss was.
Lena and Tina could see what the female Fanatic's next move would be. They watched her turn onto the access road for the high tension power lines.
They observe where the Gray was taken when he approached the abandoned industrial complex.
"I don't think the big rigs are inside of the building he went into." Lena said.
Tina figured they were going to need to take a closer look.
"Once it gets darker, we can have the drones scan the area." Tina said.
They watched as the female Fanatic started down the dirt access road for the power lines.
"It doesn't look like they're going to wait for anything." Lena said.
Lena and Tina moved off of the main highway to the other side of the road away from where the complex road was located. They would need to hold for now and see what developed.
The female Fanatic knew there was usually some type of access road which followed the power lines for maintenance.
"I think we can follow this road for a ways and see what we find." The female Fanatic said. "I'm sure whatever there is will be between those hills where the road leads."
They were currently in a vehicle which came from the mine. They didn't know if it would be recognized as such or not. They knew they certainly wouldn't be. They hoped to be able to spot any threat before it spotted them.
Jill was a little concerned.
"Do we need to wait until it's darker?" Jill asked.
The female Fanatic needed to have a better idea of what their target was.
"We need some intel on what we're going to face." The female Fanatic said. "If no one recognizes this vehicle we can always pretend like we're lost. All the Grays are going to see is two females, and think about what they're going to do to us."
Jill touched her weapons. She didn't want to be abused again.
"I think in order for it to work, we need to put some of this gear away." Jill said.
The female Fanatic wanted to take any of the Grays by surprise if they were accosted by then. She would try to use her knife if she could. It depended upon how many of them there would be. They certainly couldn't be carrying tactical gear and not expect to get engaged immediately.
"Pull over once we get a half of a mile or so down the dirt road." The female Fanatic said.
Jill pulled over a few minutes later. She'd been traveling very slowly so she didn't raise a dust cloud. They'd seen the vehicle the Gray was in leave one behind him.
They both got out of the vehicle and put everything into the trunk. It was everything except their two Berettas and their knives.
Jill checked Jackie out.
"I guess we look like two lost tourists at this point." Jill said. "At least until they find a trunk full of weapons instead of luggage. Do you want to drive?"
The female Fanatic thought it would be better if she kept her hands free.
"You can drive." The female Fanatic said. "Keep going very slowly like we have been. I'll keep checking in the direction we saw the Gray's car go. If he comes out the same way he went in, he should leave a dust cloud. If we see it, we'll turn around. If we don't we'll continue on."
The female Fanatic wasn't sure what they were going to find. She didn't think they were going to find it very soon.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Temporal Mission:
Past Timeline:
November 23 1963
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Cameron didn't plan to miss the train's departure. She was sure the conductor would hold the train for her.
She made her way into the station. It was very small. She spotted some payphones. She'd already tried to make arrangements earlier when she was out last night. She didn't get any answers with any of the phone numbers she thought might work. Everything was supposed to fall into place when they arrived into the past. She still didn't know how they ended up with a temporal error with both time and location.
She hadn't seen anyone else get off the train. There was one couple waiting to board. They'd moved out from the station when she went into it.
Cameron really didn't think it would be to their advantage to get off the train in El Paso, or even where they were at right now. Unless they could book passage on some type of aircraft, they would have to spend the night driving anyway.
She didn't think procuring an aircraft in 1963 was going to be very difficult. She didn't want to start out with the report of a stolen plane. She currently only had a few hundred dollars left from the money she'd taken. It's not like it was in the future where there were literally millions of dollars available to her at any given point in time. CamNet controlled millions of dollars taken from the Syndicate and the Cartel. It also included the stock manipulation which happened over the years. Cammy and Sheila obtained a lot of stocks in the past, which they only found about upon their return. It was millions more.
CamNet wasn't there to make things happen for them like it did in the time period where they came from. Accounts could be created and deleted in a fraction of a second.
Young Allison stayed in the room like Cameron asked her to. She was tempted to go out with her. She couldn't see where she was at from the window in their room.
Cameron made her way back towards the conductor.
"Did you find what you were looking for?" The conductor asked.
Cameron smiled at him.
"Everything worked out fine." Cameron said.
Cameron re-boarded the passenger car. As soon as she did, the conductor picked up the step. He placed it inside the passenger car and stood up on the steps. He gave some type of hand signal to the head end crew. She could hear a gentle 'hiss' of air. The train started to slowly move. It was a very smooth start. It was probably why the conductor signal the engineer to leave one minute early.
She moved back through the sleeping cars to their room. She saw the room steward.
"We'll be at the High Bridge in exactly one hour." The room steward said.
Cameron smiled at him.
"Thank you." Cameron said. "We'll be sure to take a look."
Cameron made her way back to their room.
Young Allison sat in the chair and looked out the window. Her hand was down alongside of her. She watched Cameron close the door.
"I guess I won't need this." Young Allison said.
She placed the Model 19 back into her purse. She'd held it in her hand out of sight. She'd wanted to be ready to act if it was necessary. She remembered a scene from a movie about a location they would pass very near to once they entered into Arizona. It was still quite a few hours away.
Cameron knew no place was safe. She was sure it was a lot safer in the past, at least for them. There were always threats in different places. They just weren't the same kind of threats, even if some of them were.
"No." Cameron said. "I don't think it's a good idea for us to get off the train in El Paso an hour before midnight. I checked on a few things and I don't think I can arrange anything suitable for us with the limited funds currently available to us."
Young Allison was aware 'money talked'. It was something Savannah encouraged Cameron and the other Terminators to use instead of brute force and terminations to get things done. It was much better to have them done with a smile on someone's face, for something they would never do under normal circumstances.
"There should be plenty when we arrive at our proper destination." Young Allison said.
She needed to think about her dream and the younger version of 'herself'. She would have had to been from an alternate future. What if they were actually in the past of an alternate future? Would their past, still be the past in the alternate future if someone was making changes? Was the past always the past? The future wasn't always the future.
Cameron wanted to get to California.
"I certainly hope there are quite a few things when we reach our proper destination." Cameron said. "We'll be at the High Bridge in fifty eight minutes."
Young Allison saw the pictures in the brochure.
"It's a very large bridge." Young Allison said. "It's both long and tall. The river looks so small underneath it."
Cameron knew the bridge was built after the southern transcontinental line was constructed. There was a more winding route to cross the Pecos River and get back up to the elevation on the other side. The bridge saved a lot of mileage and especially time.
"It's actually the second bridge at the same location." Cameron said. The bridge we're about to cross was built during World War Two. Special permission was needed to allocate the resources to have it constructed. It used a lot of steel and concrete. It was determined it was necessary to speed up the transportation of war material to and from different parts of the United States. The original bridge remained in service for a few years after its construction."
Young Allison didn't remember reading those facts in the brochure.
"I see you did a lot of research before we left." Young Allison said.
Cameron smiled.
"I don't sleep." Cameron said. "John is only good for so long. You know I don't want to go into standby."
Young Allison could tell Cameron gave her a very simplified answer without getting specific. She wondered what the reason was. She would have to see what she could find out on her own.
"Let me know five minutes before we arrive." Young Allison said.
Young Allison looked out the window at the landscape. It was exactly like it looked before they arrived in Del Rio. She figured it was going to look the same until they made the next stop.
She was afraid it was going to look like all of the stops until they actually reached the Los Angeles area. There was a lot of nothing, out in the middle of nowhere.
Head Out Head In
Sometimes one needs to deliver
A blow to the chin
It can do some good
To knock off a silly grin
It isn't always about
One's skin being too thin
It's a little more complex
About what makes up one within
No one wants to be
The one that becomes a trade-in
Any more than one desired
To be little more than a stand-in
When the boat is rocked
One can end up in a tailspin
When one is headed for the rocks
It's not close to a win
Not everyone has a heart of tin
Nor are they a has been
It all about what's perceived as sin
When one wants to head out, head in
Nobody
