Chapter 226

Summer

Bob was still a little uneasy about his 'fun night out' with Cameron. He didn't like the premise of the movie they viewed. It was about vampires. The more he thought about it, the more he thought vampires were like Skynet. The vampires usually did harm indiscriminately. Sometimes their attacks were targeted to a specific individual. They would suck the lifeblood out of them until they were terminated. In some cases there were individuals left alive to become 'familiars'. They were a little more than slaves to the vampire who 'turned' them.

It seemed to be the exact same thing Skynet did in its own way. Instead of 'familiars' it created Grays. They were humans who were slaves to Skynet for the better life it offered them. It didn't seem to bother them when they turned on their own kind, other humans.

Vampires were usually hard to terminate. It seemed to be Skynet was as well. No matter how many times they terminated it, it wasn't long before another version of it seemed to surface.

Their encounter with the three punks in the alley near the theater still troubled him some. He wasn't sure what they may have done to the female who they found with her pants off. Cameron quickly sent her away when he dealt with the three punks.

The next night after Cameron and him went out for 'fun', he went out again on his own. He previously went through the phones of the three punks and determined they were part of a larger group. They were part of the gang. He wanted to clean the nest out. They were all future Scavengers.

He went to the location which they appeared to use as their headquarters. He was sure they didn't think of it in the same way, but basically it's what it was. He took the location under surveillance. He watched as more individuals arrived. He waited until five of them went inside.

Bob didn't detect any external surveillance. He understood the punks were very unsophisticated. The only thing they seemed to thrive on was violence and crime. They were able to acquire funds from both of those endeavors. The funds they acquired allowed them to purchase illegal narcotics and conduct other nefarious activities.

He headed for the building. He went towards the front door. It was how Terminators usually approached their target. He knew what his mission was and he planned to accomplish it.

Bob crashed through the front door. There were three individuals using some type of device to smoke something. He fired his M4 three times. The three punks toppled over. They were terminated. He moved to the next room which was a kitchen. It was empty. He went down a hall. He shoved open the first door. It was a bedroom. One punk sat on a bed. He held a needle in his hand. There was a blank look on his face. He was about to insert it into his arm. He fired his M4 once and moved on down the hall.

He could hear some type of activity in the next room. He slammed the door open. There were two more punks. One of them was in the process of pulling his pants up. The other's pants we're still down. He searched for something. It was most likely a weapon. There was no one else in the room other than them. He fired his M4 twice.

The door next to him opened. Someone came out of the bathroom. They held a knife in their hand. It was clear they heard the gunshots. They jabbed the knife towards him.

"I'm going to kill you." The punk said.

Bob reached out towards the punk. He knocked the knife out of his hand and grabbed him by the neck.

"Wrong…." Bob said, as he snapped his neck.

So far Bob was in the building for eleven seconds.

Bob quickly went through the structure to make sure there was no one else. There could be a detainee, or someone hiding. He found neither. He gleaned whatever resources he spotted. He would turn them over to Cameron later. He tossed two Thermite grenades into different parts of the house and went back out the front door. His total time inside the structure was twenty-eight seconds. It was his goal to be in and out in under thirty seconds.

He was ready for his next mission.

Cameron stayed with Allison and Holly at the Young Residence as it drew closer to the delivery time for Summer. She didn't want to miss the event. It was the birth of HER infant. She still considered taking Young Allison into 'protective custody' along with Summer as her 'own'. She knew it was going to cause problems. It didn't matter. She was sure they would all understand. She couldn't have children for John. They could all have more.

It was the middle of the day. Without much warning, Claire experienced a discharge of fluid.

Holly and Cameron were there at Claire's side almost instantly.

Claire looked at the two Terminators. Allison approached in the background.

"Cameron, it's time." Claire said. "My water broke."

It was a week earlier than anticipated. Claire was as surprised as she wasn't. All the timing was off on the pregnancy. She was sure she hadn't been with Paul when she could get pregnant. The trip she needed to take to see the 'specialist' nine months ago still bothered her. Her regular doctor later said he never scheduled it.

Paul was at work. Allison made the call to inform him. Paul would meet them at the hospital.

Cameron was very concerned for Claire and Summer. She scanned her often.

"Are you in pain?" Cameron asked.

Claire felt OK most of the time, but she wanted to go to the hospital. She delivered Young Allison fairly quickly the last time.

"Not really." Claire said. "It will increase as time passes. We need to go soon. I want to be at the hospital when it does."

Cameron wasn't going to delay. She picked up Claire and carried to the SUV.

Claire was very pleased Cameron carried her. It always amazed her at the great strength the 'special girls' possessed. She didn't like to think of them as Terminators. Allison told her Cameron was a Terminator and Holly was a Restorator. She wasn't really sure what the difference was.

Allison was at her mother's side. She appeared to be more worried than her mother did.

"Mom, it's going to be fine." Allison said. "We'll be there soon."

Cameron was a little concerned with the terminology. She didn't want any unnecessary questions or speculation at the hospital.

"I think you should address her as 'Claire', or your 'sister', when we're at the hospital." Cameron said. "Using 'Mom' is going to raise eyebrows."

Claire was aware her husband was on the way. If he wasn't going to be there, she would address Allison as her 'partner'. She didn't think anyone would question anything.

Holly would stay at the house with the Detail and watch over Young Allison. She would remain at home with full protection.

Claire started to feel more discomfort and pain on the journey to the hospital. It was nothing intolerable. It was simply a reminder of what was to come.

Allison was worried about her mother. She tried to comfort her as much as possible. She hoped she wasn't making things worse.

Both Claire and Cameron reassured her everything was normal.

Cameron specifically downloaded every child birth scenario into her program. She wanted to be able to assist if they were unable to get Claire to the hospital in time. She even carried a medical kit in case she needed to perform an episiotomy or a Cesarean section. She was 'qualified' to do both now. She would prefer not to and everything would take place in a more sterile setting than the backseat of an SUV alongside of the highway. Knowing what to do, and actually doing it, were two different things. It made her wonder if she should have practice on a cadaver first for both procedures. Well, maybe next time.

Allison urged Cameron to hurry.

Claire tried to calm Allison down some. She didn't want her to get all worked up.

Cameron did speed some, but still drove safely and defensively. The last thing she wanted to do was get into an accident on the way to the hospital.

Paul was already there at the hospital when they arrived.

Cameron tried to ignore it when he looked at Allison and her. Most of it was at her. She better understood the strained nature of Claire's and Paul's relationship. He was 'hungry', it wasn't for food either.

Claire was checked in, admitted and prepped. She was good to go. The rest was up to Summer and nature now.

The waiting began.

Cameron looked on with anticipation. She started to play different scenarios in her mind. Soon there were hundreds of them. She was able to quell them somewhat. They were in the care of trained professionals now. They would do their jobs as they were trained to do and did several times a week.

Allison looked on with dread. She was a nervous wreck. There wasn't a whole lot which was pretty about being pregnant, or childbirth, in the future. It seemed like so many things could go wrong. Her mother also told her it was painful. She knew in her future sometimes females died giving birth. Few children were ever born, and fewer lived…. It was all very terrifying for her. She knew the risks and hardships women went through. She really hoped it was better in the past, the present.

She was scared. She was afraid for her mother. She really worried her mother might die. She watched it happen before her very eyes. She knew Cameron would want to take Young Allison as her own, but Allison decided she would become Summer's 'mother'. It would only be if the baby lived and her mother didn't. She was there when it happened too in the future.

She was the only one from the future who was around childbirth there. They didn't see and experience what it was like. Nobody did. She remembered the screams of pain. There was little medicine for anyone. Those were the conditions before things started to go wrong. When they did, it all got worse. The others there didn't know. They just didn't know how bad it could all get.

Allison shook with fear. She wondered if this is where Cameron's 'glitch' came from. She could feel herself 'glitch' inside….

John Henry was informed John and Cameron didn't like Derek and Kyle to conduct recon or surveillance missions. He tried a new procedure. It was to help eliminate some of the risk. It seemed the effort to use the captured drones at night bore some fruit. It was time to bring John into the loop. Cameron already knew. She wasn't in the Command Center right now.

"I've been using one of the drones to conduct surveillance at night." John Henry said. "There's less chance of one being spotted then."

John knew there was a risk involved. Since no alarms were raised, maybe the results were promising. Even with the risk it was something he wanted them to exploit.

"Have you uncovered anything?" John asked.

John wondered what action was going to be necessary if there was.

John Henry was a little concerned as to the nature of what was detected.

"I believe I have." John Henry said. "I think I've uncovered a location where time incursions have been made."

It spelled bad news to John. The last thing they needed were more Skynet operatives. It didn't matter if they were Grays or Terminators. All of them were going to be a problem at some point. They weren't in the past to vacation. They were there to do no good. They were there to do Skynet's bidding. He needed to know more.

"Are they transfers from the future?" John asked.

It was probably enemy action. Maybe Skynet still attempted to save itself. The temporal action could have been initiated at any time for its appearance now. It could have been something Skynet did ten years ago, or ten minutes ago. It could be something it wouldn't do for ten more years. There was no way to know when the process was initiated.

John Henry could only speculate. Logical assumption was it was activity from the future. There were other options as well.

"They're most likely transfers from some future." John Henry said. "They can be from the past as well. You transferred from the past to the future which is now the present for you."

John used the TDE twice. Both times were a rough ride for him. He wondered how they were detected. Maybe some action was already taken.

"How do you know what happened?" John asked. "The transfer doesn't last long."

John Henry reviewed the file before he indicated what he found to John.

"I think I caught one on video. Let's look at the footage." John Henry said.

The video file started. It was dark, the screen looked blank.

John watched as a bright light appeared with arcing and flashing around it. He could tell what it looked like. He just hoped there was a different explanation.

"Is there any chance it's something else?" John asked. "I can see it looks like one."

John Henry would have liked to offer a better or different explanation but there wasn't any.

"It's doubtful." John Henry said. "It's an energy bubble from a TDE."

John only spotted the bubble. He didn't think he could see what was inside of it. He thought something should be visible. Maybe he needed a closer look.

"Can you zoom in on the spot?" John asked. "I didn't see anyone inside of it."

It was the perplexing part of it to John Henry.

"I already did. There was nothing there." John Henry said. "No one else was around or came to check on it. Before daybreak I landed the drone to surveil the spot on a nearby hill. Nothing has happened since then."

John wanted to find some answers. It was clearly a threat to them as long as it remained unknown. It would probably end up as a bigger threat once they found out more.

He was going to ask John Henry why he didn't have the drone attack it. He quickly realized it could be something from Future John. He remembered Cameron's speculation about a possible second group of Duplicate girls along with another Duplicate Cameron. There was also the unknown fate of Mrs. Weaver. She could be anywhere. He wanted to know more. He didn't want to get too specific in his speculation. He knew Terminators like to deal in facts, not guesswork.

"So what was it? Who did it? What were they trying to send?" John asked. "Maybe this is something new. It could even be something friendly."

John Henry was unable to make any type of accurate determination. The only facts were what was just viewed. Everything else was speculation.

"We have no idea if it was some kind of test, or some type of temporal error." John Henry said. "I sent Frank and Mel to check it out. I'll set up some fixed surveillance so the drone can be retrieved."

John didn't want the drone to be found, even if the area was somewhat remote. They didn't need a rancher shooting at it. They could call the authorities or the military. The drone could be taken in for evaluation. It could be copied. When Skynet took over it would take control of the military drones for itself. Maybe he was getting ahead of himself here.

"I don't like it." John said. "Have you ever heard of a TDE test anywhere?"

John Henry hadn't. There was one possible positive explanation. He came to the same conclusion John did earlier.

"No, I haven't. It may not all be bad. I don't know if it is Mrs. Weaver, or the other Duplicate Cameron and the girls from 'some future', trying to get back. It was why I didn't have the drone attack the location." John Henry said. "I don't know why they wouldn't use the coordinates here if it was them. It may be a newly constructed device for all we know. It's possible it's of a more primitive design because of a lack of resources. It still leaves the specter of something more sinister."

John wondered if they would attempt to send some type of animal through first if it was a test. It could be anything from a rat to a dog.

"Was there any type of life form in the energy bubble?" John asked. "They might have tried to send a small animal."

John Henry checked for any type of life form. There was none detected.

"The energy bubble didn't contain anything organic or inorganic in it." John Henry said.

It still left a lot of speculation. Mrs. Weaver returning was one thing. If it was the other Duplicate Cameron they suspected existed, it was another thing. They should both know the location of the TDE at the Resistance base. There was still the timed schedule for TDE activity in place. This looked like something else. They could also have experienced some type of problems wherever they were trying to return 'home' from. There were more questions than answers.

"I like it even less now." John said.

It was going to be some kind of 'bad news' before it was done, John could feel it.

Vanna went to check on the Resequencing process of Isabel. She stood in awe of how it progressed daily. She wanted to use the DNA from her mother, the human Catherine Weaver, to make Isabel look like her for Savannah.

Cameron said there wouldn't be any Catherine Weaver or Riley sheaths, ever. Cameron said she would destroy them herself if she ever saw either one. She didn't think it was fair to Savannah, or her by extension.

Vanna went over all the issues with Cameron during the selection process. It left Cameron a choice to make. She possessed Allison's DNA and another sample. Cameron, when asked what it was, she said it was a surprise. It was something else Gail did when she processed the DNA from Jesse.

It was Cameron's original plan to make an exact copy of herself so she could be in more places at the same time. It would be a clone of her in every way. They would share the same appearance and run the same program. She also needed to eliminate the problem which always occurred when she wanted to be with John. She previously would be rejected because the sheath was different.

Cameron was still upset John rejected her as Isabel the two separate times she was copied into Isabel's chassis. It made her feel John only wanted Allison's 'body'. She wondered how Isabel was any different than Duplicate Cameron who was with John for months before her termination. She knew it was 'her' because of the locket. It should have been the same response for Isabel. The only difference was Isabel didn't have Allison's appearance. It was just that simple.

Cameron made the choice about the sheath and it was ready.

Vanna was impressed….

The time at the hospital was stressful for Cameron, and especially Allison. Claire and Paul took it all in stride. It seemed easier for them this time than it did when Young Allison was born. They both knew exactly what to expect. It was still a little tense and stressful.

Summer was born without any complications. Cameron and Allison were happy. They saw Summer when she was in the nursery through the glass.

Cameron ran facial comparisons of Summer and photos of Allison as an infant. She previously viewed pictures Claire showed her. She was elated. Summer and Allison were going to be nearly identical in their features as they grew. This was good news for John. She hadn't been this 'happy' in a long time. It was Cameron's estimate Summer would be a more beautiful version of Allison….

It meant Summer would be more beautiful than 'her'.

Cameron decided when Judgment Day came. She was personally going to raise the two girls. They would be modeled in her image in every way, both externally and internally. She already started to work out an education and cultural schedule for Summer. The two Young girls, and Savannah, were going to be as advanced as any human could be in this time period.

She continued work to design an implant which could interface between a Terminator and a human. The goal was to download her program into a human body. She always worked on trying to decrypt the files created by River.

Once she could get the TDE repaired to go back in time again, she planned to go back to retrieve pregnant Duplicate Allison before her death and install the device in her. Her plan was to 'take' Duplicate Allison's body and make it her own. Duplicate Allison was dead. She had a right to claim the body before it was terminated. Duplicate Allison's fate was already known. She wouldn't change anything in the overall picture. John's baby was going to live and she was going to have it for him.

Cameron was unconcerned her hypocrisy knew no bounds.

In essence it would be her who 'killed' Duplicate Allison at that point. If she could rescue Duplicate Allison when she was alive, Duplicate Allison was still who she always was. She planned to change it. She wanted her body and she wanted her baby. Nobody would get in her way.

Cameron was going to be at John's side and in his bed as a human female, well mostly human anyway. Cameron looked forward to the day she could send her body, her chassis and sheath she was 'trapped' in, to where if belonged, the scrap pile. It was where 'junk' belonged. Nobody would look down on her again just because she was created differently than they were.

Jesse was usually busy with Vanna. When Gail or Sheila were around it was always 'game on'. She enjoyed Sheila the most, even though Gail and Sheila shared the same original program, one was just a copy. Gail and Sheila always tethered to interface and update their chips. She suggested they use a longer tether and interface while they were alone 'together'. They did. Both of them overloaded and shut down within a few minutes because it was so intense.

She found them and removed the tether. Nothing happened when she did it. She was sure it was going to come back to her for 'damaging' two Terminators. Much to her surprise they both rebooted after two minutes. They then went after Jesse together to share with her. She could hardly wait. One Terminator was a lot to be with. Two would be impossible.

"Bring it on." Jesse said to them. "I can take both of you…."

Gail and Sheila both reminded Jesse they knew CPR.

Jesse wanted them to let her be 'out' for two or three minutes before they revived her. She wanted to see what it was like on the 'other side'…. She never seemed to remember much when she was there.

'Cherry Bomb' by 'The Runaways', blasted from the room as they pleasured Jesse and each other.

Closing monologue by Cameron:

Any Time

Sometimes the inner self
Screams out to be heard
The mind grows tired, weak and weary
Emotions boil over when not stirred

Lonely people need to hear
Good things sometimes, not meaningless pity
Imagine if all people said someone
Was ugly instead of beautiful or pretty

They would hurt them to no end
To praise someone specific
With sweet pleasant thoughts
Should be something terrific

Everything is make believe anyway
We only chose to live certain realities
Where we get stuck at in life
Are really only technicalities

Look around, what is the point
Life is simple like this very rhyme
We follow along for the payoff
Then realize it can end at anytime

Nobody

Thirty One Hours Of Summer

Two short seasons
Too short seasons
Thirty one hours of Summer
Thirty One reasons

Such a short time
To show how we cared
How could they strike it down
It should have been spared

Ravaged by time
Lost in a dollhouse
No escape with the cape
Quiet as a mouse

Tried to find serenity
The path was too narrow
Cried a big river
Dodged a misguided arrow

So without joy we remain
The future sequestered
Maybe in Hawaii
No one will be pestered

Nobody