Chapter 403

We ALL Know It

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Events continue from Chapter 395

Former Cameron Prime Timeline:

Now Summer's Timeline:

Cameron's Base:

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The situation was explosive in the TDE room. It looked like there was going to be a power struggle and possibly even a fight. Nobody wanted it, but it looked inevitable. There was going to be a rebellion over the 'loss' of Savannah.

Summer rapidly lost her support. Sheila stepped back as did Cameron's Terminators who arrived. They knew River and Cammy were correct about getting Savannah back. They ALL knew Savannah was the 'Chosen One'. Savannah mattered to ALL of them. They were no longer going to blindly follow her, even if she was 'Cameron'.

"PLEASE, I am 'Cameron'. We updated completely right before she left." Summer said. "Cameron doesn't want anyone to follow her. She said WE would do the same things like what happened on the 'Day Of Loss'. One by one we would try to follow her until we were all lost, dead, terminated, or trapped."

River could feel Summer believed what she said. It wasn't the issue. It was about more than Cameron. It was about Savannah now. She wasn't going to sit back and see how things played out. She needed to do something. She needed to act. It was personal to her since she was physically there. It was her calculations which sent Cameron and Savannah to wherever they ended up at.

"We have to try." River said. "I have to try."

Vanna didn't care what happened to her right now going forward. Maybe it was really going backwards for her. Savannah would be ravaged in the future. She couldn't let Scavengers get a hold of her. They needed to get her back. She needed to get Savannah back.

"I'm going as well." Vanna said. "Savannah can't be in the future. She can't be. You don't know what will happen to her. I can't allow it. I won't allow it. She can't go through what I needed to endure. None of you know what it was like. You don't understand, Summer."

Summer saw it for something worse than being abused. She saw it as everyone ending up terminated again. It was on her as Duplicate Cameron from before. It didn't matter if Cameron 'fixed' it or not later on. It still happened. What if Cameron hadn't been able to 'fix' it?

"I DO UNDERSTAND." Summer shouted. "I got them ALL killed before. They all died because of me.

Summer knew as 'Cameron', as 'Duplicate Cameron' she only planned on sacrificing herself to defeat Skynet at the time. Instead it turned into the 'Day Of Loss'. Her three friends died because of her. They died because they wanted to help her.

She tried to keep the others out of the loop at the time, but they found out and tried to 'save' her. It in turn led to the loss and the death of Jesse, Vanna, Allison and John's baby. Duplicate Cameron was terminated as well. It became the 'Day Of Loss'. No matter what the final outcome was, it still happened. There was no guarantee everything could be fixed later on. There was no guarantee now either.

River felt the pain and anguish Cameron Prime came to her with as soon as she was able to. The incident overwhelmed Cameron with guilt and remorse. The pain Cameron felt for the deaths of her friends and the girls she loved was immense. They were the girls she knew and loved as well. She knew the pain and guilt tormented Cameron so much she didn't update with HER Cameron, Duplicate Cameron, completely. It was so Duplicate Cameron wouldn't have those same terrible memories and feelings. She actually thought Duplicate Cameron should have them. Duplicate Cameron was the one who initiated the process which went wrong on several levels. If Duplicate Cameron possessed the files of grief, she might think twice before she ever repeated something similar.

She could feel them again radiating from Summer. Summer was 'Cameron'. She was identical until just a short while ago. They made her believe Summer WAS Cameron, and Cameron was the copy. It almost worked. If she would have kept her mouth shut, They wouldn't have restrained her. Savannah wouldn't have acted in her place. She should have been the one to stop Cameron, or go with her, not Savannah.

The pain she felt from Vanna was just as bad, even if the feelings were based on other things. Maybe it made it worse because they were. She was able to feel some of the events Vanna relived as she thought about what was going to happen to Savannah in the future she was now in. They were terrible things. They left her with a physical feeling of sickness. There were a lot of negative and terrible feelings in the room she currently was in.

Summer looked at River. If she couldn't get River to see things her way, even for a short time, it was all lost. The Terminators would rebel and overthrow her. They would deactivate her at the least. Even if the equipment was actually destroyed, they could rebuild it. River would return back to her future and she would use her TDE. Then if anything 'bad' happened to River, it would be on her. She felt another major glitch impulse with her last thought.

"Please! YOU of all people, River, know what Cameron wants. She doesn't want everyone dead or lost again." Summer said. "She doesn't want anything to happen to you, River, or anyone. YOU KNOW THIS."

River did know it. She just thought all those things herself. Maybe they were Summer's thoughts as well at the same time. Either way, Summer did have a point. Now was not the time to fight over it. Not yet anyway. It may still come to it.

She could feel Cammy on the verge of acting on her own. Her feelings for Savannah were overpowering. She didn't think once Cammy made up her mind she was going to listen to anyone. It would probably be worse than what Summer did currently. They both ran Cameron's program. There was a lot of instability to it when she was emotionally involved with the situation. It wasn't part of her original programming. It was part of her expansion programming to be more like a human. The more 'human like' she became, the more unstable she became. It applied to everyone who ran her program. Cam was there as well. It was the same program.

River didn't want there to be a physical altercation. It seemed imminent.

"Wait." River said to Cam and Cammy.

Cammy wanted Savannah back. She didn't want to wait. She didn't want any 'sob' stories'.

"I need to go after Savannah." Cammy said. "She can't be there. She can't be in the future. I need to get her back. I can't let anything happen to her."

River understood Cameron's pain and what motivated her and why. It was clear Cammy experienced it as well. It was a very intense feeling. She needed to try to use some logic. She wasn't really sure logic was going to work with the way everyone currently felt.

"Summer's right." River said. "Cameron couldn't live with the Duplicate girls being dead. She risked everything to change it. It was like the risk she took to 'save' Future Allison. It's the fact there was a second set of Duplicates out there. It began to torment her to termination, again."

Cammy didn't want to hear any of it. It was all yesterday's news. Reminiscing about the problems Cameron created was pointless. If she wasn't so defective, none of it would have happened in the first place. She wanted to leave and she wanted to go now. They didn't need to do any more calculations or figure everything out again. All they needed to do was turn the machine back on and run everything like they did the first time. Sheila should be able to provide them with an accurate record of the time, and when Savannah's movements occurred. She could recreate the exact same thing Cameron and Savannah experienced. The person she needed to do it was already there and willing to go.

If Vanna went with her, it should be the same as when Cameron and Savannah went. They could set the controls the same way. The only variable she could see was Vanna weighed a few more pounds than Savannah. She could wait in the energy bubble and Vanna could enter it at the same point when Savannah did. They should end up at the same place Cameron and Savannah did. Her only concern was they might end up on top of them, or in the exact same space, at the same time. The timing of Vanna would be close, but it could never be exact. Hopefully it would give them enough of a differential so they wouldn't both try to occupy the same point at the same time. The time for speculation was over.

"I NEED to go after Savannah." Cammy said. "Vanna is going with me."

Vanna stepped forward. She wanted Savannah out of the future even more than any of them did for personal reasons. They were personal reasons of the worst kind. She was ready right now.

"Damn straight." Vanna said. "Let's go."

River thought maybe they did need to give it some time. She understood what Cammy reasoned. They could still go back and try to replicate where Cameron and Savannah actually ended up at. They could do it at any point in time. There was no need to rush it. If they didn't think things through, they could actually make it worse.

"Cammy, I know what you're saying and why. I know it's what you believe. I do." River said. "What Summer's saying is what Cameron wants. We don't even know where they went. Savannah being on the TDE pad with Cameron in the final seconds would have thrown the exact calculations off we made to follow the second set of Duplicates. They could be any where or any when."

Cam felt much the same way Cammy did. If Vanna was going to go, she would go instead of Cammy. Vanna would need protection. She knew Vanna would kill herself rather than be ravaged by Scavengers again. River was the key. She could 'fix' all of it.

"We can recalculate." Cam said. "You can do it."

River started recalculating from the moment Savannah made her move. Even at that point, she knew everything would be thrown off. Everything would be different.

"I am running those calculations. I have been running them." River said. "There are too many variables."

River's biggest concern, based on her current calculations, was what the effect of two energy bubbles attempting to arrive at the same location, at the same time, would do to each other. It was possible they could 'bounce' off each other and end up in two completely separate locations other than what the intended target location was. If the two energy bubbles caromed off of each other, they could end up any place, or in any time period. They wouldn't have any control over anything or know what happened.

Cammy was desperate to protect Savannah in the future. She would go alone. She needed to at least try and go there to help Savannah. She would rather terminate 'in some future' than do nothing. To do nothing was the same as signing Savannah's 'death warrant' herself. If she terminated herself, she terminated. At least she would terminate in an attempt to save Savannah. She didn't want to endanger Vanna, or River. She didn't want any of the other cyborgs to risk themselves either.

"Summer, please send me." Cammy said. "I'll go alone. No one else needs to risk themselves."

Summer needed to think about what River said. If the timeline Cameron and Savannah were in was one Cameron created, she must find her way back. If she didn't, then there wouldn't be another timeline, or the 'next timeline'. The current timeline happened so Cameron must make it.

"Cammy, I can't." Summer said. "Cameron doesn't want any more timelines. If what River said about a timeline created by Cameron in a previous life is correct, then Cameron must come back. If she can come back, she will bring the Duplicates and Savannah with her."

Cammy didn't see how any of it mattered. They didn't know the status of any of them right now. It was what would happen to them once they arrived in whatever location they arrived in. They didn't need to think of hypotheticals. They needed to take action.

"It's if any of them are still alive." Cammy said. "I need to check. I need to assist them. How do we know it's not what's supposed to happen? How do we know I didn't help them?"

River could see how all of it became a jumble of events and even timelines. There needed to be a common factor. She needed to go back to where it all began from. She must do it anyway to assist Cameron with her chip swaps. It wasn't anything she did yet, even if there was an indication she would at some point in the future, even if the trip was to the past, a further past.

"Let me go back to 1999 and see if Cameron is there to replace herself." River said. "Before she resets her chip, I can find out what happened. She'll need my help anyway."

Vanna wondered about further timeline contamination. There could be different versions of 'Cameron', and different versions of 'River' there already. There could be arguments like they experienced right now, or even fights. When Cameron arrived from the future the first time, she would see everything as a threat. Whatever they did if they went on a 'temporal trip' now would change whatever was going to happen, or already happened.

"What if you're already there yourself?" Vanna asked. "It can all fall apart in a jumble. Maybe every timeline will get messed up if things happen out of order. Going into the future to assist them is one thing. Going into the past and running into different versions of each other is going to be a nightmare. Do you think it's going to be anything different than what is occurring right here, right now?"

River was sure it all happened at some point. Maybe she was in a different timeline of her own right now. How would she know? She never did anything. Not yet. She was supposed to at some point. She was sure this wasn't the right point in time. There were still too many variables in any course of action they took.

"I don't know." River said. "There are fragments on Cameron's chip I put there. I haven't done it yet. This is my only life so far. Duplicate Cameron and the girls have only been with me less than a week in my timeline. I know it's been years here. Depending on how many timelines actually end up getting created could influence everything as well. It might not even be me, but a different timeline version of me who does it."

The reminder made Vanna wonder about what the girls or River may have 'done' with Duplicate Cameron. Maybe it was nothing if they were there less than a week. She knew it only took a few minutes for things to get started and advance from there. She tried to push the thoughts from her mind. She didn't think it was the right time to bring up the subject.

River looked at Vanna.

Vanna looked away somewhat embarrassed.

"No, Vanna, we haven't, not yet." River said. "We both want it to happen…."

Vanna turned a little red. She hadn't actually asked out loud.

"I'm sorry." Vanna said. "I just wondered."

River looked at Vanna, then at Summer, and then at Cammy as she spoke.

"Make no mistake about it." River said. "I love MY Cameron. She's not a Duplicate to me, or a copy, or a clone. I've always loved her. I believe we will be life partners and share everything. It's what we both want. It's what we both have sought."

River was very pleased she found someone who was like herself, but so totally different at the same time. Somehow it made it even more special. There may be a lot of 'voices' in both of their heads, but it didn't matter. Somehow it gave each of them clarity. Maybe it was because they could hear the 'right voices' now.

Summer was still on the same track. She was like a broken record. She did believe in what she said, well, most of it anyway. She still needed to say it.

"I need everyone to UNDERSTAND." Summer said. "Cameron needs to do this alone the same way she did as Duplicate Cameron and faced Skynet alone. She can't deal with the loss of anyone else."

Cammy was no less daunted than Summer was. There was another easy fix right now. Maybe it wasn't so easy. It would change the future they were in right now.

"Let's go back in time and stop Savannah then." Cammy said. "I will go by myself, alone. If I can't return to now, I'll self terminate to prevent a new timeline."

Cammy made up her mind. She was going to get Savannah back no matter what she needed to do to do it. Maybe there was a temporal lag or Cameron and Savannah ended up at a different location. There were many possibilities as to what could go wrong. The different events may or may not have occurred before. One way or another she was going to get Savannah back.

Vanna considered what Cammy said. She could go with Cammy and take Savannah's place. Cammy and her weren't there when it occurred. No. If it's what they would do, then it's what they would know right now happened. She wouldn't be there to think about it now either.

Summer didn't like arguing with Cammy. It was like arguing with herself. They were both committed to a 'one track' mission right now. Her existence was new. She didn't have a past. Maybe she didn't have a future either. Maybe it was her destiny.

"No, Cammy, you know it will create a new timeline. It's why River placed the block to the past in my program before, or she will. I transferred it to the other TDE to prevent the same type of meddling." Summer said. "If anyone goes it should be me. I'm a new creation. I'm expendable. I have no past, and I don't exist in the future. It must be how I terminate."

Vanna considered the overall picture at this point. It was all related and intertwined with each other and everything else. There was another major player who wasn't directly involved, even if they were indirectly involved.

"What about John?" Vanna asked. "You were going to 'replace' Cameron as his mate."

Summer felt a glitch impulse. She fought it off. She thought she did anyway. As 'Cameron' she changed the direction of John's life from how it was supposed to be. It wasn't for the better either.

"No, Savannah was to do it." Summer said. "I would be John's protector only, or mistress as needed. I'm no longer John's 'wife'. I never should have been. I've ruined John's life by being in it as a lover, and worse, as a 'wife'. It was beyond the purpose of my mission. He can't be married to a machine. What was I thinking?"

River could feel Summer's torment. It was oppressive and overpowering.

"Summer, STOP." River said. "Look at yourself."

Everyone looked. Summer's left hand glitched violently.

River walked up to her and took her hand. The glitch stopped. She took Summer in her arms and held her.

Summer held River close and cried.

River soon cried with her. The pain was real and overpowering. It was the kind of pain only termination could end. It was all wrong. Everything was wrong. They did need to give it some time.

"We can't go." River said. "Cameron - Summer is right. We all know Cameron is one of a kind. If she's able to, she will return Savannah and the other Duplicates. We need to give it some time. There are temporal time lags sometimes. None of it is an exact science. It's amazing it even works at all."

If River wasn't there, Cammy would go back in time right now and prevent Savannah from going. She would make no effort to stop Cameron. The world would be better off without a Bitch like her in it. Hasn't Cameron done enough damage already? She did know Cameron would try to protect Savannah as much as possible.

"I will agree to this for NOW. If they're not back soon, I'm going back in time and stop Savannah from going." Cammy said. "I'm 'Cameron' also. I'm just not updated like Summer is. THIS is what Cameron would do. You know it too, Summer."

Summer felt just a little more time was needed. The girls all needed to believe in Cameron. Cameron would never allow any harm to befall Savannah. They all needed to pull together right now.

"Please. Let's give it some time." Summer said. "We all know Cameron has the ability to make these things happen somehow. If Cameron has truly lived her life more than once, does anyone here believe she would let harm come to Savannah? River's encoding couldn't be on Cameron's chip unless it has already happened before."

River could 'feel' all the Cameron program clones knew it was true. Even if they didn't want to admit it, they all knew it.

"She's right." River said. "Cameron would never let Savannah die, not like this. We all know it. I know it. Every 'Cameron' here knows it. Can you all feel me? I know you all know it."

Vanna only knew Cameron and Savannah were gone and they hadn't returned. It was what she knew. It was all she knew.

"I don't know it." Vanna said.

River looked at her. Vanna believed in Cameron and her abilities. She was just upset because Savannah was in the future. She hoped to remind Vanna of the reassurance and confidence she possessed in Cameron.

"Yes you do." River said. "WE ALL know it. We need to give it some time. Getting the temporal events exactly right is hard to do. If anyone can pull it off, Cameron can. I ask everyone to wait. I've never wronged anyone here. You all know me to be honest and true."

Cammy would allow more time because River made a good case. She was on the verge of breaking down. She wanted to make sure the others all knew where she stood and why.

"If this wasn't coming from you, River, I wouldn't agree." Cammy said.

River looked around the room at everyone. What kind of a disaster would it have turned into if she wasn't there? It was touch and go for a while. None of it was random chance.

"It's why I'm probably here now at this time for this very reason." River said. "We will give it some time. We must believe in Cameron. I do. I know you all do as well. We can never count Cameron out, she's extremely resourceful. Remember, it's never over until Cameron wins."

Vanna and River both went to Cammy as she began to sob and then cry.

"You must agree." River said. "Promise me."

Cammy regained a little composure. She wanted to make her position clear.

"I promise for now, River." Cammy said. "But I won't wait forever. I'm going to get Savannah back one way or another…. I will do whatever I have to do, or change anything I have to change, to do it. Mark my words. Remember I'm no different than Cameron in the end."

River wouldn't stand for Cameron and Savannah being terminated like this either.

"We will go together if we must into the future, Cammy." River said. "I swear it. I believe in Cameron. She never fails…."

Cammy looked at River. She would wait for now to see what happened. Cameron and Savannah weren't gone for very long. It just seemed like an eternity.

Closing monologue by Cameron:

We All Know It

There is a person
There is their persona
Seldom are they the same
Neither is really nirvana

Everyone wears a mask
Even if it's invisible
To be who one really is
May be quite divisible

To look in a mirror
Is just a reflection
Few see affection
Most see rejection

So where does it go
What is the endgame
Doesn't every remake
Always play out the same

Deep within one's self
There is little they can admit
It doesn't really matter because
We all know it

Nobody

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Former Cameron Prime Timeline:

Now Summer's Timeline:

Events continue in Chapter 410

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