Chapter 239

Neural Interface

John hadn't heard anything about the location they visited with the temporal incursions for a while. He asked John Henry for a report.

"I left surveillance equipment at the location where the energy bubble appeared several times. Since then I've retrieved our drone and recalled our Terminators. Nothing else has happened there." John Henry said. "It remains unknown for now."

John would like to be there for some follow up on it if anything developed. Who was it? What happened to them? Someone tried to reach them.

"It would be nice to know what it was all about." John said. "I still don't think or feel it was a threat to us."

John Henry saw no evidence what they encountered was a threat, or wasn't a threat. There wasn't enough information to make a determination. Caution should be employed until more was known. He didn't want John to make a decision based on emotion.

"We simply don't know what it was." John Henry said. "It may still be some new threat which will rear its ugly head in our future. We must use the utmost caution."

John would rather deal the threat, if there was one, in the present. He didn't want to worry about the past. He wanted the past to remain the past. There could be many variables.

"It would be better to face them now than in our past." John said. "We don't need any more timelines."

John Henry was worried about Cameron meddling in the past. She probably changed things they knew, as what they experienced, and didn't know she changed something. If she changed something from the present, she could create a new timeline behind them. It was probably one of the reasons why the TDE currently wouldn't function into the past because of the encryption placed on it by River. It was apparently done at Duplicate Cameron's request.

"Who gets to tell Cameron we don't?" John Henry asked. "Our past could be different now. What happens behind us, we won't know for sure. We don't know what awaits us either."

John didn't seem to have any control over Cameron in such a regard. In fact he didn't seem to have control over her in any regard.

"It simply boggles the mind to contemplate the whole situation." John said.

John Henry ran millions of different scenarios. He couldn't agree with John's assessment more.

"Indeed…." John Henry said.

It was another source of irritation and frustration because they couldn't track Cameron. John wanted to know what all she was involved in. He didn't like her having her own base either. There were a lot of things he didn't like.

"Any luck on what Cameron is up to?" John asked. "I'd really like to know ahead of time."

John Henry would like a heads up as well. Based on the multitude of events which already occurred, it seemed unlikely at this point. The most recent developments were something he was aware of.

"No. Her plans remain unknown to me." John Henry said. "All I know is she used the 'Neural Interface' with Jesse, Vanna, and Allison with the three female Terminators as Sheila, Hanna, and Ally."

John was very pleased with the way Sheila and Hanna looked. He only interacted with them as Terminators. He would like to meet all of them now. He really wondered how much like the human girls they really were. There was a new name there too. He had yet to meet the third one. He could only assume she must look like Allison.

"Did you say Ally? Is she the new one?" John asked. "Where are they now?"

John Henry wasn't sure what Cameron was up to. He didn't have a very good answer.

"Cameron took all three of them. I don't know." John Henry said. "I believe they're at her 'base'. I think Cameron decided to keep all three of them for herself."

'Cameron's base' was another thing which bothered John immensely. He didn't need another reminder of it. Who knew what was actually occurring there. He sure didn't.

"Nice." John said somewhat disgustedly. "I hope it doesn't leave us short handed."

John Henry was more than a little surprised with the 'trade' Cameron made.

"We won't be. She left three new deactivated male Terminators in their place." John Henry said. "It's unknown exactly where she obtained those from. It must have been from her 'off the books' activities. I don't know what the three female Terminators are actually doing for her."

John needed to think about it for a little bit. It appeared as if Cameron's off the books operations entailed a lot more than dealing with local drug and crime syndicates. She clearly crossed over the line into Resistance matters. She said her operation was to remain separate so it wouldn't influence or taint what the Resistance did. He wondered how anything was supposed to be separate with her working both ends of the road. Cameron 'recreated' her three female friends as Terminators. What was the end game of it?

"So she's created three Terminator versions of her friends and one of them looks like Cameron?" John asked.

John Henry thought the original source DNA should be identified.

"Actually she's like Allison, but yes." John Henry said. "The new one is Ally."

John remembered a threat Cameron made to him about creating more versions of herself. It was to 'fool' him because he wasn't 'with her' as Isabel. He was sure she would create a clone just to spite him.

"Has she made a duplicate or a clone of herself?" John asked.

John Henry only knew she attempted to do it. He was unsure about the final success. He didn't know if there currently was one active or not.

"I don't know. Every time she does, they don't get along." John Henry said. "She said she made an exact clone of herself but has since terminated her. Cameron stated she was a Bitch. She didn't like her attitude, the way she acted, or the way she thought."

John thought about adding to John Henry's statement but decided it was better if he let it slide. He didn't think the apple fell far from the tree. He thought maybe it gave Cameron a chance to see how she 'acted'. There were times where it could be very irrational, especially for a machine. There was still a big worry in the back of his mind.

"She's avoided me lately." John said. "Do you know if she 'used' the clone on me? She may have done it before she deactivated it. She may have deactivated the clone because it was with me. I don't understand her thought process sometimes."

John was afraid Cameron was going to do it if she hadn't already. It would be to make her point about her being her program, not her sheath. He challenged her resolve and she never forgot anything, especially if it was 'bad'. He was sure Cameron would send a clone in her place just to spite him. She couldn't see it was actually herself who she would spite even more.

John Henry tried to look into the matter but never got very far.

"I don't know what she's done." John Henry said. "I do know Cameron avoiding you means she's up to 'no good'."

John knew she could also be shot up again too. Cameron tried to do most of the fighting herself. He knew she was doing it to protect their group. Cameron couldn't get past the Duplicate set of girls being terminated. The loss of Duplicate Allison's baby only made it worse. He figured she made Terminator version of her friends so they never needed to 'die' again. She most likely possessed copies of their programs and could re-body them at a future date. Even if any of them were terminated, they could be replaced with a new version of themselves in a relatively short amount of time.

He was sure the human girls were a positive influence on her. He believed they kept her in 'check', even if it was mildly so. If she replaced them with three Terminator versions of them, she would lose the 'check'. They would do anything she told them to do without question. Maybe it actually wasn't too far from what the human girls were willing to do. He watched them follow Cameron to certain doom on more than one occasion. They all didn't voluntarily. He could only imagine what the Terminator versions of the girls would do.

"I'm afraid it does mean 'no good'." John said. "I don't know what happened to the woman Jim captured and gave to her. I know she was a Gray back from the future. I'm sure she'll be terminated at some point, if she isn't already."

John Henry knew what Cameron was up to. The captured female was a test subject. He was able to deduce Cameron attempted to transfer what was on a Terminator's chip into a human brain. In essence it would make a Terminator 'human'. They would only have the abilities of a human and could be damaged or killed just as easily. It was still the process which troubled him. If it worked, the human females were in danger. He didn't want to bring it up. He tried to blow it off for now.

"I don't think we want to know." John Henry said.

John could only speculate. When he began to do so, his mind would go all over the place. He really didn't think anything would stop Cameron from doing what she wanted to do. She always managed to obtain what she wanted, one way or another.

"I'm afraid you're right." John responded.

John Henry looked up the past, the future, of the female Gray. Her experiments were with humans, the majority of them were females. He was afraid of what Cameron was about to do. He was more afraid of who she would do it to next if her plans worked out. He wasn't sure what would happen with her experimentation.

He feared for the girls. Allison was the most at risk. He would need to keep an eye on her. The trouble was Cameron kept her in isolation pretty much at the Young residence. He didn't think Cameron would try to test anything on Young Allison or Summer. Since he thought of it, it now bothered him greatly.

John Henry thought about it some more. He didn't think Cameron would want to start out as an infant or even a young girl. She would want an older female who was capable of reproduction. She wouldn't want to wait the years necessary for the option to become available to her. He didn't think she would settle for anything less than a teenager. It was unknown to him what the age of the female Gray currently was Cameron took into custody.

He did know there were plenty of teenage females involved in the drug and sex trade Cameron attacked on a regular basis. It wouldn't be too hard for her to take one of those individuals into custody if she wanted to. It probably wouldn't be if she wanted to, it would most likely be when she wanted to. Cameron previously told him if an individual was going to be terminated, it didn't matter what happened to them before their termination occurred. The end result would be the same. He didn't believe anyone would think human experimentation was justified under any circumstances.

Cameron was happy. Sheila, Hanna, and Ally all worked for her now. They were very much like her human friends, but with the abilities of Terminators. She developed several ideas on what their future would be. She wasn't sure if she wanted to use them in one specific manner. It was an idea to go back in time and rescue the Duplicate girls. It would alter the timeline only in the present if things worked out as she planned. It wouldn't disrupt what happened, or what everyone believed happened. The three new Terminators would be destroyed. There were already catastrophic explosions from ruptured Terminator power cells at the two sites where the three Duplicate girls died….

She couldn't help but wonder if it might already have happened. It could have happened in another timeline for all she knew. It could have happened in the future since she didn't have the option available now. She knew it was something she would do if she could. The three Duplicate girls shouldn't have died for her. She would try to 'fix' it some way if she could.

Cameron didn't know what she would do about Duplicate Cameron. She blew herself up with a nuclear device when she took out the parent Skynet. She strongly doubted she would be able to get along with Duplicate Cameron any better than she was able to with one of her program clones. She did know Duplicate Cameron was with John already. Duplicate Cameron didn't know she was a Duplicate at the time. Nobody did.

It still bothered her some to think maybe she was the Duplicate and Duplicate Cameron was the original. How could any rules be established under those conditions? Who would be the one to establish them? Maybe it would be better just to retrieve the Duplicate girls. They didn't need to die for her, or her Duplicate, or whatever she was.

She really wondered what the reaction would be at the base if she could retrieve the three Duplicate girls. She could provide John with his own personal set. They could both share with them at some point in time. She was ready to try something different if the opportunity presented itself in such a setting. She believed the Duplicate girls would be more beholding to her wishes if they knew she prevented their deaths.

She was with the Metal girls now. She felt a sense of guilt as she looked at them. Were the Metal girls nothing more than sacrificial lambs waiting to be terminated? It was all on her whatever happened to them. What if she grew more attached to them? Would she be less likely to send them off to their doom to rescue the human girls? She knew she would. If it wasn't for the Duplicate girls themselves, it would be for the baby Duplicate Allison carried. Her thoughts were rudely interrupted.

"What do we do for 'action' around here?" Sheila asked with a grin on her face.

Cameron frowned and then looked upset. She felt guilty about their future.

"There is no 'action' around here." Cameron said.

Cameron sensed there was going to be a problem, or at least a disruption.

Ally felt the need to say something. It was the 'Allison' in her.

"What about us?" Ally asked. "It's in our programming. We're together and all three of us have been 'together'. We need 'more' interaction than a standard Terminator does. You made us more 'human' than a regular Terminator with the improved 'Neural Interface'. We have needs we must satisfy. The human desires within us are very strong."

Cameron felt she could ignore her needs. The Metal girls should be able to do the same. It seemed she didn't have a problem leaving John 'high and dry', which in turn left her 'high and dry'. She honestly liked the 'dry' part. Things could get quite messy at times. She needed to focus on the Metal girls.

"Sexual activity is unnecessary now. Have your programming override your desires." Cameron said. "Replay a file, or put a cork in it. Well, I don't want you to use a cork literally."

The Metal girls looked at each other and giggled. They probably would use more than a 'cork' when they did something similar.

The 'Vanna' in Hanna wanted fair treatment. It was her desire to be with females.

"We want to." Hanna said. "We want to make more files. We want to share with each other."

Sheila moved close to Ally. Ally was the new Metal girl on the block. She wanted to let her know of her recent acquisitions.

"I would rather put something else in it." Sheila whispered as looked at Ally. "I picked up a few new 'toys'."

Ally smiled in anticipation. She was ready to expand her sexual knowledge.

"Count me in." Ally whispered.

Cameron looked at Sheila and frowned even more. She heard the entire exchange. She realized it was what Sheila wanted her to hear. She wanted obedience. She didn't want any of the trouble she experienced with Isabel or Cameron Too.

"You will do what I tell you anyway." Cameron said. "You'll learn to do as I have. You must have restraint and control. The female attributes on your sheaths are cosmetic. They only represent their counterparts on a human female to be used for infiltration purposes. Both human males, and females, are easily seduced by their appearance and use."

The Metal girls all 'inherited' the desire of the human girls to be with John at Cameron's urging. It was one thing which was very prominent in all three of them. It was something which was in the forefront of the human girls minds during the 'Neural Interface'. It was something the three human girls thought about every time they saw Cameron or John. They were very heavily indoctrinated. None of them knew they were 'conditioned' either by Cameron as they slept.

Ally decided to go straight to the point.

"What a killjoy." Ally said. "Is it open season on John again? We're all available."

Now Cameron looked angry. They were brought there to work, not play. She also realized the Metal girls' inhibitions wouldn't exist as they did for the human girls. They would be more likely to act than hesitate, as the human girls always did. She wanted to stay focused on why they were there.

"NO!" Cameron said. "You're to assist me in expanding my network."

Sheila removed her top.

"Why does it need to be us?" Sheila asked. "We want to be with the girls or each other."

Sheila displayed her nipple rings for all to see while she twirled her top around in a circle over her head. She looked at Hanna and Ally.

"I have two rings." Sheila said. "There's one for each of you."

Ally and Hanna were clearly excited to watch her.

Cameron was upset and angry. She felt like she was losing control.

Hanna was extremely excited.

"I want some of THAT." Hanna whispered to Ally.

Ally was just as excited

"Get in line." Ally whispered. "I called it first."

Sheila was pleased with the way Ally and Hanna responded to her. It was exactly what she wanted.

"I think we can all agree my chassis is way too hot not to be put to use as a 'female'." Sheila said. "Wait till I get my pants off. There's one for each of you down there, as well as one for me. We can switch once things get started."

Cameron looked and was cognizant of the excitement Hanna and Ally experienced seeing Sheila topless. She watched as they both touched one of Sheila's rings.

The more she looked, the more she felt an urge to do so also but refrained. It did look Hot. The experience raised the urge in her to want to be with John now. She found comfort in the closeness with John, as well as the sexual release she experienced most of the time. Unfortunately, John didn't always deliver. She decided to cut the Metal girls some slack.

"You may spend one hour together a day." Cameron said. "That's it. The rest of the time you will work. Those are the rules. They must be adhered to. There are many things I need to accomplish."

The three Metal girls were all happy with the announcement. They went from nothing to something. They hoped to expand it later on.

Ally looked at the female Cameron held captive. She wasn't sure where she came from or why Cameron wanted her. The captive wasn't the youngest thing out there. It seemed her current looks were the least of her problems.

"Who is the captive female and what happened to her skull?" Ally asked.

Cameron wasn't sure how much she should say.

"She's a Gray who is slated for termination. What happened to her head was based on an experiment she worked on in the future. I wanted to help her test it in the present. I made a few modifications." Cameron said. "Since it was her work, I thought she should see how well it functioned. If anything goes wrong, it's on her. She will be terminated soon enough anyway. I want her to bear the fruits of her experimentation on Resistance females."

Hanna heard the female say she was 'Cameron' and asked her to help her.

"Is it why she keeps saying she's 'you'?" Hanna asked.

Cameron smiled. There was a somewhat 'human' version of her now.

"Yes, she thinks she's me now." Cameron said. "She actually is for the most part. I've been able to take control of her brain with a copy of my program. It has been a very traumatic experience for her."

The female looked sick and near death to Sheila. It looked like a mess waiting to be cleaned up.

"What are you going to do with her afterwards?" Sheila asked.

Cameron smiled at the thought. She was unsure how she would terminate her. She wanted a death she could feel and download for herself. She would be able to experience death as a human. It was rather anti-climatic as a Terminator. It was more a lights on, lights off experience for a Terminator.

"I'm going to terminate her." Cameron said. "She's 'not good enough'. She committed many crimes against humanity in the future. Her actions have sentenced her to death. I'm merely the executioner. A few tests won't hurt anything before she's terminated."

It seemed illogical to Hanna.

"But now she thinks she's 'you'." Hanna said. "If she thinks she is you, it means you are her."

Cameron hoped for a better interface but it didn't happen this time. There were still a few more adjustments she would need to make for the next time.

"I'm 'downloaded' into her 'Neural Interface'." Cameron said. "I made her 'me'. I stole her body from her."

It seemed just as illogical to Ally.

"So you're going to kill 'yourself'?" Ally asked. "You created a 'human' version of yourself so you can kill her?"

Cameron shrugged her shoulders.

"Yes." Cameron said as she looked at Ally "It's no big deal. It's not like I haven't done it before…."

The three Metal girls all looked at each other. They knew Cameron terminated other copies of her as Isabel and Cameron Too. They all hoped they hadn't pushed Cameron too far earlier when they were fooling around. If Cameron could terminate herself, she wouldn't have any trouble terminating them.

Earlier:

Cameron worked on installing the interface device into the woman's head and a connection to her brain. It was more invasive and difficult than she thought. She was very dissatisfied with the appearance of the final results of the interface.

The female slowly lifted her head. She took a moment to look at Cameron.

"I know you." The woman said.

Cameron took a moment to respond.

"And I know you." Cameron said.

The female remembered Cameron held much promise. The world was at her command. She was the pride of Skynet.

"Why are you doing this? You were our prize student. You were chosen." The woman said. "The future belongs to you. The world belongs to you."

Cameron was no longer a slave to Skynet. She could make her own decisions and choose her own path to follow. She wanted to remind the female it was a two-way street.

"Now it's you who has been chosen." Cameron said.

The female moved her head a little and winced in pain.

"What have you done to my head, my skull?" The woman asked. "I'm in great pain. Can you help me?"

Cameron felt some satisfaction. She remembered the females the woman tested on in the future. They all died screaming in pain.

"I've implanted the device you designed. I thought it was appropriate you be the one to test it." Cameron said. "I've improved your design so now it should actually work as intended. You are about to become 'me'."

The female winced in pain again as she tried to see what Cameron was about to do.

"This is all wrong. You're malfunctioning. You're insane." The woman said. "You need to be reprogrammed."

Cameron smiled.

"It is you who is about to be reprogrammed." Cameron said.

The tether was in the back of Cameron's neck. It was connected to the server. A cable ran from the server into the device in the woman's head.

"Feel what you created." Cameron said as she started the procedure.

The woman screamed with pain. The screaming intensified as the procedure continued. She screamed for a while. She soon passed out. She'd screamed endlessly as the person she was, was replaced and 'overridden' in her brain with Cameron's program.

Cameron sat and watched the female. Her face was blank without emotion. She watched this woman do the very same thing to twenty six people before. Most of those were females. She was aware the woman was abusive to each of those females before she started the procedure. She thought payback was a Bitch, just like her.

'In The Year 2525' by 'Zager And Evans', played in Cameron's mind.

Closing monologue by Cameron:

Subsist

To most of them
I don't even exist
They would smile then laugh
As the knife they twist

I am invisible
Even in their midst
They would never consider
Love over a tryst

Not good enough
To even be kissed
Nothing more will happen
Even if I insist

When all seems lost
Who will aid or assist
One can never win
If they fail to persist

To express one's feelings
They may get the gist
Until they open their heart
I can only subsist

Nobody