Chapter 5

Poems

Sarah Connor:

There are some who believe they're the ones to dictate what's normal. Who are they to judge? When presented with a truth unknown to them, they want to say it's insane. When a mind won't listen, is when the new reality gains a foothold. It appears only those who've experienced it will believe it. When they do, it's already too late.

One week had passed since John 'left'. Sarah and Mr. Ellison resumed gathering intelligence with the aid of the John Henry AI.

The enemy who'd most recently attacked them, needed to be dealt with and delivered a fatal blow. It was an attack delivered by someone who didn't understand the true nature of the threat they'd chosen to engage. They didn't realize they'd just kicked the hornet's nest.

Sarah double checked everything with Cameron. Cameron Two watched everything and double checked every piece of information. She would then update Cameron Prime with everything relevant.

As Sarah came to accept Cameron for what she'd become and the individual she'd evolved into, she trusted her better now. If her son sent Cameron from the future, there must have been a good reason for it. The more she thought about the disgruntled Resistance fighters showing up now, made her wonder if Future John sent Cameron back to also protect her from them.

It was clear Future John also must have loved Cameron. To love someone so much they needed to send them away to save them, was a great sacrifice for both of them. Sacrifice is the true test of love. She knew sometimes when you loved someone, you needed to let them go, or at least let go of them.

She felt angry at herself for the way she'd treated Cameron earlier. She was blinded by her own hatred. Her son loved Cameron in both the future and in the present. It wasn't about her. It was about John. It was something she always needed to remember. How could she have been so cruel and blind?

Cameron was there to help. It's all she'd ever done. She'd even come to help her get out of jail. It still sickened her to think of the damage inflicted on Cameron. It was John's fault for sending Cameron to rescue her. They should have run instead. They wouldn't be in this mess. John wouldn't be in an unknown future somewhere, facing who knows what. He would be with Cameron. She would still be in jail. She would gladly go back to prison if John was still in the present.

Mr. Murch hooked up a connection in the lab so Cameron would be able to work alongside Vanna. They moved Cameron and her server there into the lab from the computer room. Cameron now had a longer tether so she could move around freely. Well, as free as one could move around with a cable connected to their neck and their mind trapped in a metal box.

Vanna was pleased Cameron was able to help her with many of the problems she'd been working on. It was with synthetic sheath material and its repair. Her previous work with John Henry greatly helped her. Her work on Cameron's chassis, and now with Cameron as a functioning entity, furthered her progress. Cameron was able to provide her with solutions from the future which hadn't been invented yet.

Cameron would spend all her time in the lab now. She didn't have a choice. Vanna would be there much of the time. Cameron Two fed her information on a regular basis. She transferred files back to Cameron Two. She wanted to have a back up copy of her program in case there were any more incidents. As long as her program existed, she existed. She didn't like her essence confined to a metal box. At least she existed because of it.

Vanna told Cameron she would help her with anything she wanted or asked for. She promised Cameron she would personally remove and protect her hard drives if there was any further threat. She understood Cameron was her program, not her chassis. If she protected Cameron's hard drives, she protected Cameron. She would die before those hard drives could be compromised or destroyed in an attack.

She mentioned to Cameron she'd purchased a swimsuit so she could teach Savannah how to swim. She told Cameron it was two shades of purple. Cameron said she would like to see it sometime. She went to her room at lunchtime and brought it into the lab so Cameron could see it.

Cameron liked the colors as soon as she saw it. She looked at Vanna and an idea formed. It actually surprised her. She was curious to see Vanna, as Vanna previously saw her. She wanted to convey the thought with some tact.

"It's very pretty, Vanna." Cameron said. "The doors are locked and all monitoring devices are shut down in this room…."

Vanna wasn't sure what it meant. Maybe Cameron wanted to wear her swimsuit.

"Do you want to try it on?" Vanna asked somewhat confused.

Cameron wanted something else. She wasn't sure why.

"No, I'd like to see how you look in it." Cameron said. "If you don't mind."

The thought of the idea excited Vanna. She could be naked in front of Cameron with a good excuse now. She wondered if this was Cameron's true goal for asking. She felt they'd grown very close. She didn't want to impose her personal feelings into the situation. She didn't want to 'read' more into it than was there.

Cameron developed feelings of friendship, while Vanna developed other deeper feelings.

"Not at all." Vanna said. "I would love to show you."

Vanna went off to the side to change. She was still where Cameron could clearly see her. She wanted Cameron to see her, even if it wasn't outright in front of her. She knew she saw all of Cameron, it was only fair Cameron saw a little more of her.

Cameron did watch Vanna without watching until she saw something which bothered her. There was damage to Vanna's body. It was very noticeable. It bothered her to see the scar. She wanted to find out more about what caused it.

"You have a serious scar on your lower abdomen." Cameron said.

Vanna's hand quickly covered it over. She was so used to it, she didn't even think about it as she changed. The scar held a lot of meaning and pain for her. Several life altering events ended up revolving around it. The scar reminded her of love and sacrifice. A lot of her life was tied in with the scar on several different occasions. The Liquid Metal Terminator who posed as her mother, Mrs. Weaver, offered several times to have it removed by the best plastic surgeons in the country. She was very tempted but politely declined. She felt some of the past, the future, start to weigh on her.

"I'd rather not talk about it right now." Vanna said. "I will later on in time."

Cameron didn't want to push the issue about the damage. She noticed something else too about Savannah's hair elsewhere on her body.

"I'm sorry." Cameron said. "I see you haven't dyed all your hair black, what little is left."

Vanna reached down and touched a scruff of curly red hair.

"It is nothing my last laser treatment won't take care of permanently." Vanna said. "It's a look I really like, Allison would have liked it too."

Cameron liked the idea. She thought John would like it as well.

"Tight." Cameron said.

In the absence of Allison's presence, Vanna spent a lot of time looking at images and videos on the internet at night before bed. It always gave her something 'fresh' to think about, in those few moments before she tried to go to sleep.

"It's smooth too. In my future razors were a luxury, not often found." Vanna said. "I've viewed a lot of images on the internet since I've been here. I wanted to try it. Once I did, I wanted to make it permanent."

Cameron thought she would like to try it too. She might bring it up some other time. She was stuck in the lab for now. There was no machine for her to be able to use.

Vanna stood and faced Cameron in her swimsuit.

"You look gorgeous." Cameron said.

Vanna reached into the bag she'd carried her swimsuit into the lab with. She pulled out another identical one.

"Here, you can try this one on." Vanna said. "I bought one for you too."

Cameron was surprised, pleased and confused. There were a couple of issues involved which would make it difficult on her part to take advantage of a swimsuit.

"You did? You got one for me? Thank you." Cameron said. "I'm sorry, but I don't swim."

Cameron absentmindedly reached back and touched her tether.

Vanna didn't think swimming was necessary to wear it.

"You don't need to swim." Vanna said. "You'll look HOT in it."

Cameron tilted her head slightly. She liked the idea.

"I'll give it a try." Cameron said.

Cameron slipped out of her clothes and put the swimsuit on in front of Vanna.

Vanna was unable to take her eyes off Cameron as she changed. To see Cameron naked and inoperable was one thing. To see her 'alive' was another. It made her miss Allison even more. Cameron did look HOT in the swimsuit, or without it….

"You look absolutely stunning, Cameron." Vanna said. "You're incredibly beautiful."

There was something about the way Vanna spoke which seemed deeper to Cameron.

"Thank you." Cameron said.

Vanna smoothed her swimsuit.

Cameron liked how Vanna looked.

"If looks could kill, there would be a lot of dead people." Cameron said. "You're beautiful as well."

Vanna blushed a little. It wasn't something she'd heard much anymore. The last person to tell her she was, was Allison. Somehow it was even more special because Cameron said it as well.

"Thank you." Vanna said.

Vanna was aware Cameron looked better than her. She always felt Allison looked better than her too. Maybe it was because Allison was younger. Cameron certainly looked younger.

"I don't look as good as you." Vanna said.

Cameron thought she could work with Vanna on some makeup. All Vanna needed was a little refining. It actually seemed to her as if Vanna tried to hide or mask her true beauty. Maybe it was a holdover from the future. Beauty was a liability for females. It made them targets for exploitation by every group. Vanna was in the past, the present now. She didn't need to hide her beauty anymore.

"You look good enough, Vanna." Cameron said. "You really do. You are beautiful. I'll help you look Tight."

Cameron really thought Vanna should allow her hair to go back to its natural color. It didn't seem like the right time to bring it up.

Everything about Cameron seemed perfect to Vanna. Maybe she would let Cameron help her some. Some of the things Cameron said made her think of her beloved, who was now lost to her somewhere in the future.

"It reminds me of a poem Allison gave to me once." Vanna said.

Cameron tilted her head slightly. It got her attention real fast. It was a surprise revelation to her. She didn't expect to hear it.

"Your Allison wrote poems?" Cameron asked.

There was a sad look on Vanna's face.

"Yes, she did. She experienced a troubled past before we met. It was her way to tell her story and express pain. She referred to the deepest sadness and sorrow she'd endured. She also used them to communicate her feelings to me. She wrote of bitterness and anger with such beauty. So much could be said in just a few lines."

Cameron walked over to Vanna and gently brushed a tear from her cheek.

"I'm sorry for your pain, Vanna. I believe I feel much the same as you do. I've evolved greatly these last few years." Cameron said. "I'm much more than I was, but not yet all I will be."

Vanna froze up a little when she heard the words. They were familiar to her.

"What did you say?" Vanna asked.

Cameron thought she was clear.

"I'm much more than I was, but not yet all I will be." Cameron said again.

Vanna heard almost the exact statement before from her beloved.

"Allison said something like it to me once." Vanna said.

Cameron made a poem about it before. She'd actually made quite a few of them.

"I wrote it in my poem book once too." Cameron said.

Cameron's new revelation was a surprise to Vanna. It wasn't something she'd expected a cyborg to create. She wanted to make sure what Cameron said.

"Do you write poems?" Vanna asked.

Cameron never got over John's criticism of her original poem for school. She wrote what she'd felt because she was supposed to. It was the assignment. Everything she wrote after the first one, she kept hidden. They were very personal to her.

"I have. I actually like to think about them as rhythmic short stories. Each one tells a tale." Cameron said. "I never showed them to anyone before except one - once."

It surprised Vanna somewhat. She felt poems should be shared.

"You didn't even show them to John?" Vanna asked.

Cameron didn't want to relive the incident. It still bothered her.

"Let's skip that part." Cameron said.

Most of her poems were about what John made her feel, for better or for worse. There were many feelings she'd experienced trouble dealing with. They still bothered her. She wanted to share some of them with Vanna. It should answer a lot of Vanna's questions, without her needing to actually ask them. She would prefer not to talk about them verbally. There were other ways to communicate which could actually touch much deeper.

In the background, the printer began to spew out page after page.

Cameron started printing the pages from her hand written poem book from her files. She referred to it as, 'My Story', on the cover.

She made the stack very neat. She walked over and handed the stack of poems to Vanna. She tried to explain herself with words John told her to use.

"Here are some you can look at. Each one is a part of me, Vanna." Cameron said. "It's my way to express myself. Each one is a piece of my heart, my mind or my soul."

Vanna thought the last statement said a lot about Cameron's development. She took the stack of papers and sat down.

Soon Vanna began to cry as she turned page after page. She could see into Cameron. It allowed her to see inside Cameron's mind about how she felt and thought. It was amazing. Cameron's thoughts weren't all about zeros and ones. They were full of emotion and feeling.

Vanna came over and hugged Cameron. She said she was sorry for her pain and hurt.

Cameron hugged her back and cried a little too. Printing all the poems made her relive the feelings and events which created them in the first place.

Vanna was surprised to see such 'emotion' from Cameron and how much it 'hurt' her to talk about it.

Cameron felt a lot of pain. It never went away. Time and distance didn't do anything to make her feel better about past events. When she thought about them, it was like they just happened again. None of it ever dulled or hurt less. It only got worse. She was glad Vanna was so understanding and supportive. This was a new experience to share with someone. Vanna made her feel things inside of herself, she didn't know she could feel.

Ending monologue spoken by Cameron:

Poems

The creation of a poem for you
Is a picture painted in your mind
My consciousness and heart shared
Expressing sensations intertwined

Emotions, thoughts and feelings
Converted into words to send
Transferred from one mind to another
As they've been honestly penned

I've always tried to communicate
In the only way I know how
It keeps the statements true
As into your brain they plow

Each poem is something special
Conceived in that moment of time
When two hearts align
It's never ever a crime

Nobody