Chapter 90
Déjà Vu
Cameron checked over the reports from Bob and Jim at the location where the three Terminators had come out of a room at the building which burnt down. They hadn't been able to find much in the burnt rubble as they collected the remains of the three Terminators. One of them was blown in half, the sheath was burnt off of all of three of them.
She decided to go there herself and look things over later on. She looked over the remains of the captured Terminators from the event. She looked at the blackened Coltan endoskeletons. It was a reminder it was exactly what she would look like if Jesse hadn't continued to pull her away from the flames, until she could go no further. Allison was there to assist both of them, until she could go no further either. Neither one of the girls was going to leave her behind to save themselves.
When Cameron arrived. She looked at some of the machinery which was blown over in the explosions. She decided to move some of it out of the way. There was a lot of debris on the ground. When she moved a large generator, she felt the floor move slightly under her feet. She bent down and brushed the soot and debris away with her hands. She found some type of trapdoor.
She took a careful look around the area to see if anyone was there. The building was in a semi remote location so there shouldn't be any type of regular traffic by it, either on foot, or in vehicles. She didn't spot anyone. She hadn't spotted anyone either, she went to investigate further.
Cameron went back to the trapdoor. She found a catch which secured it. She released it. The cover moved to the side. There was a stairway which led down. She started down the stairway until only her head was above the ground. She took one more look around before she continued down.
She advanced with a Taser in one hand, and her Glock in the other. She didn't know what could be happening underground at the location, other than some other version of Skynet. Without some type of freight elevator, nothing of any consequence could be moved down there or fabricated down there.
She approached the end of the stairway. She noticed there was a lot of debris on the ground where the stairway took a ninety degree turn. She climbed up on the debris and looked. There was no path forward. The passageway was collapsed. Whatever was down there, was lost to her currently.
Cameron didn't want to start moving debris and have the passageway collapse more on her, or around her. She might return at a later date and try it again. She could send Bob and Jim back as well. There were other things which troubled her. She returned to the Resistance base.
Cameron thought of a lot of different things and possibilities for her future, and her past. She created, and played out, thousands of scenarios. Things weren't happening fast enough for her. People weren't listening to her. She knew what was necessary and there was no need to keep delaying it. Once Judgment Day arrived, it would be too late. The programming from Future John weighed on her. With Vanna and Allison there from a different timeline, she could accelerate what Future John wanted for himself, and 'HER John' in the past, the present. The 'Natural Order' would be complete.
Since it wasn't working as she wanted, there were several options available to her. She could take Savannah and Young Allison into the past for a few years, and return them to this point in time, so they would be 'old enough'. She would be able to step back in at the point in time she left from with them. John would be able to be with his future mates. The two girls would now be young ladies. The 'Natural Order' would be complete. Years of time and effort could be saved.
She'd leaned hard on Jesse to 'step up' and get John acclimated to being with a human female again. It hadn't worked yet either. John wouldn't take what was offered, even if it was in his bed naked and waiting for him. It caused Jesse a lot of frustration. No one had ever refused her advances before.
Cameron decided she was going to use the TDE to delay the arrival, of her already 'delayed arrival', when she returned from her future. She figured a few months would be all that was necessary for the 'Natural Order' to be restored and cemented retroactively. John would be in a relationship with Vanna and Allison at that point. The 'Natural Order' would be complete.
She knew what Future John wanted and she was determined to make it happen. It was more than a compulsion. She didn't feel she had a choice in the matter. Every time She thought about it, it caused a major glitch episode in her left hand. It always reminded her she was 'defective'. It was even more of a reason to restore the 'Natural Order' of Time. It was to replace what was defective, with what was 'good enough'.
Cameron sought out John Henry and ran everything by him.
John Henry listened to Cameron in disbelief. He wondered if she was joking at first. The increasing glitch of her left hand, clued him in to the fact she wasn't. She seemed somewhat unstable to him. He figured she must be fighting an internal battle over what she was programmed to do, and what she 'wanted'.
"Cameron, I can't allow you to alter this timeline or start another one." John Henry said. "We've been over things like this before. Nothing is different as to why things shouldn't be altered."
Cameron didn't think it was a big deal. It seemed quite simple really.
"I'll only delay my arrival by two months." Cameron said. "It's all the time I need. The 'Natural Order' would be complete when I returned."
The implications of what was sure to follow were mind boggling. John Henry didn't think Cameron thought it through.
"No!" John Henry said. "You need to let events play out as they were. We'll end up with two of you in the same timeline. Are you willing to share with 'yourself'?"
Cameron frowned. It would be a problem too. She doubted she could get along with herself. She was sure they all thought she was a Bitch. She thought so herself anyway. There was one option.
"I can go back to my future." Cameron said. "I'm planning on it anyway. One of 'me' can stay here with John. The other can go back to the future."
Cameron knew one of them could be with Future John, Future Allison and Future Savannah. It would be a good arrangement for all of them. There would be two sets of the four of them. One would be in the present, and one would be in her future. The 'Natural Order' would be complete.
John Henry could only picture the confusion, and probably controversy, which would follow Cameron's plan. There was also a good chance there would be some conflict as well.
"Which one of you would stay, and which one of you would go to the future?" John Henry asked. "What happens if you both want the same thing at that point?"
Cameron just wanted it to happen. There was no sense in delaying the inevitable.
"I'll go." Cameron said. "I don't care."
John Henry wondered what else was at play. There must be other things Cameron wanted out of her future besides Future John and the future girls. He had an idea what it might be.
"If you return again, will you be a Liquid Metal Terminator this time?" John Henry asked.
Cameron didn't say anything for a few seconds. It was something which crossed her mind more than a few times. She saw how beneficial it was for Mrs. Weaver. Not only was she powerful, she could be anyone she wanted to be. All she needed to do was touch them.
"Yes. It is something I've seriously considered. How did you know?" Cameron asked.
John Henry deduced there were several reasons Cameron would want to be a Liquid Metal Terminator. She was her program, so the chassis she was in was irrelevant in reality.
"You believe it's the only way to fight Mrs. Weaver and win, one on one." John Henry said. "I think you believe you'll need to do it at some point."
It was one thing Cameron thought. She would also like the ability to 'be' whoever John wanted for his sexual pleasure. She could be 'anyone' he wanted, as long as it wasn't Riley or Mrs. Weaver. Those were two individuals she would refuse to be. She already knew what happened with Riley. She was aware of what Mrs. Weaver tried when she posed as 'Allison'.
"It may or may not be true." Cameron said. "I've studied the records of John's encounter with the new type of Liquid Metal Terminator which abused him. I believe upon creation, if the Liquid Metal encases me, it will become 'me', if it's given enough time."
John Henry saw nothing but more problems which would be spawned by Cameron's latest plan. It made him start to think about, and question, some of the past events.
"If it works, then there will be three of you. There will be three 'Cameron' bodies, and three 'Cameron' programs." John Henry said. "It sounds like a bigger nightmare by the second at this point. Are you listening to all of this? Can you hear yourself? Can you hear what all of this sounds like?"
Cameron didn't like John Henry's negative attitude. There were ways to 'fix' things.
"If it works, I'll terminate my future solid self and destroy my chip." Cameron said.
John Henry wondered where it stopped at, or if it stopped at all. It seemed rather doubtful at this point.
"Then what will happen?" John Henry asked. "Will you come back and terminate your other solid self?"
She might give the other solid version of herself in this timeline the option to go be with Future John and the future girls. If there was a 'problem', there were other ways to deal with it.
"Yes." Cameron said.
Cameron felt she didn't really matter or anything…. It would be like throwing out the 'trash'.
John Henry tried to clear his mind. He wished Cameron would do it too. Some of this all sounded so familiar. He replayed the incident in the park which involved John, Allison, and the younger Reese brothers. It was a very spectacular episode, which ended with a very violent finale.
"Cameron, maybe this has already been done." John Henry said. "Maybe it was you, or some 'new version' of you, who 'abused' John. Maybe you already tried to delay your arrival which is why you were tangled in the electrical wire. Maybe none of those were an accident or coincidence. Maybe it was all part of some plan you initiated. A lot of the things you mentioned, seemed to have already transpired in some form."
Cameron stopped to think. Could she have already done this? What John Henry said made sense. It was all the things she WANTED to do. It was more or less all the things she just said. Maybe every time she changed things, other things changed to 'counteract' what she did. Perhaps the 'Natural Order' was more powerful than she thought. She wondered if there were 'tides' in time. It was possible everything tried to correct itself when there was a change. Maybe when something couldn't be corrected, a new timeline was created.
She was left with a very unpleasant thought at John Henry's analogy. It seemed to hit very close to home on multiple levels.
"I hadn't considered that. Now I wonder if you're correct." Cameron said. "Maybe I came back and tried to 'fix' whatever I 'fixed' before."
Cameron was worried. She now saw she was no different than Mrs. Weaver. What if Mrs. Weaver altered the future, a future? Could Mrs. Weaver be Skynet herself now? She still feared she herself would become Skynet. It was a fear which plagued her for years.
It now occurred to Cameron that perhaps in the future, a future, she herself was Skynet. Maybe Mrs. Weaver and her were in a battle for the future. She realized either of them would do ANYTHING to achieve their goals. She thought of all the manipulation she'd done already. She thought it should bother her more, but it didn't. She tried to use her 'friends' to achieve her goals. She even tried to breed them like animals. She wanted what was best for John, 'every John', and 'all Johns'. The constant in every timeline was her, or related to her. She felt she was a cancer which infected time. She was the one out of her time. She was the aberration to time.
Cameron could now see she'd gone about things all the wrong way. There was something she could have done which was much simpler. She should have prevented Future Allison from being captured in the first place. It would have prevented her creation. It would have prevented her very existence. If future Allison had never been apprehended, she never would have been created to impersonate her.
Her own words from her first poem now haunted her mind and echoed endlessly.
If I had only one wish, it would be
Never to have been built
It was something she could make happen. She could prevent herself from being created. All of the problems and torment would never have existed. Everyone would be happy. Nobody would know she ever existed.
Cameron left John Henry in the Command Center. She was now very worried. Everything she said, and John Henry's interpretation, made sense. She really wondered if she'd already done the very things she proposed. How many times had she done it? Now it was some type of Déjà vu or worse. It might be reality. How many timelines had she created? Maybe this is what Mrs. Weaver had done as well. Mrs. Weaver could be in an alternate timeline and not even know. It didn't take her long to realize, she could be too.
What always came back to haunt her, and worried her the most, was if she herself became Skynet, or would become Skynet in the future. Skynet was her father. Skynet was in her. Was she Skynet?
Cameron felt everything was her fault. She needed to fix all of it and stop everything. She decided she would go back to the future and prevent Future Allison from being captured in the first place. It would erase her 'manipulation and destruction' of everyone's lives. It would create a new timeline free of her. It would be the timeline Future John wanted, and Her John too.
She could no longer live with herself. All the parts of her body now began to 'glitch'.
Cameron headed for the lab. She realized she was about to 'overload'. She stumbled through the door of the lab and sprawled on the floor.
"Destroy me now." Cameron pleaded. "Pull my chip and destroy it."
John, Vanna, Allison and Jesse worked together in the lab. It was something Cameron wanted. She wanted John to be closer to the girls and hopefully take advantage of their sexual attributes. It was what Future John wanted. The 'Natural Order' would be complete.
The door to the lab crashed open.
Cameron stumbled and fell. She sprawled on the floor.
She looked at the four people there.
"Destroy me now." Cameron pleaded. "Pull my chip and destroy it."
John rushed to her side.
"Cameron!" John said.
Vanna feared a bigger problem for John.
"John! Watch out." Vanna warned. "She might be going 'bad' again or 'reverting'."
Allison and Jesse rushed forward to help.
Cameron convulsed violently and then just stopped. Her chassis went limp.
John saw the woman he loved die.
Allison saw the woman she loved die.
Jesse saw the woman she loved die.
Vanna saw the woman she loved die, and a chance to copy Cameron's chip. A copy she would keep to herself, for herself. She saw the opportunity to get HER Cameron back. Nobody would know.
"We should pull her chip before she reboots." Vanna said. "It's the only way to be sure."
John wanted to find out more about what was happening first. They were going to need some serious help to be able to do it. There was no telling what Cameron's condition would be when she rebooted.
"No!" John said. "Find or call any of our Terminators to get in here, NOW."
John headed for the intercom and called John Henry to get to the lab ASAP.
Jesse found Jim and brought him.
Allison found Bob playing with Savannah.
John Henry found Ed on his way to the lab.
Vanna picked up a scalpel and moved around to the side of Cameron's head.
John looked angrily at Vanna. He wanted to know more before Cameron was deactivated.
"No!" John said again.
He didn't want Cameron 'terminated'. He'd already done it once himself. He regretted it strongly afterwards. He should have listened to Cameron when she was trapped between the two trucks. He didn't listen to Cameron, he listened to his mother. He heard the words Cameron said to him, and he deactivated her anyway. Who 'kills' someone, right after they tell them they love them. Maybe it was his guilty conscience which allowed him to be swept up into Riley's arms later on.
The four Terminators entered the room one after another. Cameron should reboot any second.
John wanted to take some pre-emptive action. He was unsure as to exactly how successful it would be or not. He looked at the four male Terminators.
"Can you four hold her down?" John asked.
Bob knew it could get violent.
"We should be able to for a short time." Bob said. "She may become violent, or go on a rampage."
John didn't want anyone to get hurt.
"Everyone else needs to get back." John said. "Get back."
John found a Taser and got it ready….
The three girls were all worried as they waited for Cameron to reboot.
John looked at Vanna who still held the scalpel and nodded. He held up the Taser. He hoped to find out more before he needed to use it. He wanted to give Cameron the benefit of the doubt this time. He hadn't last time. It was something which forever bothered him. He didn't understand it was something which forever bothered Cameron as well.
"You can pull her chip, only if I have to use this." John said. "I want to give her a chance."
Vanna swallowed hard and nodded back. She wasn't sure if she could 'terminate' Cameron at this point.
Closing monologue by Cameron:
Déjà Vu
Beauty may be in the words
Maybe true beauty resides within you
What you have slowly hidden
You should review and renew
You said it was
Just something to do
Remember what you felt
How those feelings grew
In times of trouble
From its strength you drew
You felt and shared the love
As it would expand and accrue
In times of sorrow and sadness
When you were feeling blue
A lonely soul was always willing
To help you get through
Our mundane lives grind on
Trapped in Earth's crazy zoo
Tomorrow can hold promise
Or is it all just Déjà vu
Nobody