Chapter 616

Towers

Cammy left Al and hurried forward. There was only silence in front of her. She wondered if Cameron was incapacitated. She knew she needed to hurry but didn't want to get Tasered herself.

She saw two figures on the ground, neither one of them moved. They were both Terminators, one was Cameron.

Cameron was down!

Cammy moved up with her Taser ready. She didn't know who would reboot or if anyone was terminated yet. She moved right up to them to check on Cameron. A half a second apart there were two sets of red eyes.

It appeared they were Tasered in the same instant.

Cameron and the Terminator both started to move at the same time.

Cammy fired her Taser and took the Terminator down again.

He may or may not have had time to realize not only had he faced the 'Metal Bitch' and she was real and there were two of her.

Cameron sat up. She was glad to see Cammy. Otherwise she'd be rolling around on the group with the Terminator is a struggle for survival.

"Thanks, Cammy." Cameron said. "It appears that we both Tasered each other at the same time."

She looked around and found her Taser. She picked it up. She looked at the downed Terminator and pulled out her knife.

Cammy looked all around them in the darkness.

"Is there anyone else?" Cammy asked.

Cameron remembered the sounds of a struggle as she was deactivated.

"There were two Grays." Cameron said.

Cammy smiled faintly. That problem was taken care of.

"We took out two Grays." Cammy said. "Are there any other threats?"

Cameron could still hear the electrical hum. It was in the distance somewhere.

"I don't know. This is as far as I've gone." Cameron said. "I needed to check a lot of divergent routes. It slowed me down a lot."

Cammy hadn't checked any of them.

"You saved me a lot of time by marking the path." Cammy said.

Cameron removed the chip from the Terminator. She looked back in the direction Cammy came from. There were more people about to arrive.

Cammy recognized a familiar voice.

"I believe Savannah is on her way." Cammy said.

The thought of Savannah's arrival pleased Cameron as much as it troubled her. The earlier incident on the road near the mine bothered her.

"She shouldn't be here." Cameron said. "I'm pushing her too hard. I endangered Savannah and Young Allison."

Cameron blamed herself for what almost happened earlier. She was afraid if she kept thinking about it, it was going to start affecting her judgment on other things. She'd sent Cammy on the earlier mission and Savannah came looking for Cammy when she'd missed the rendezvous to go to Palmdale.

Cammy saw it as over and done with. Their team won. That was all that mattered.

"Don't worry about that or dwell on it." Cammy said. "That threat's over."

Cameron and Cammy turned back toward the direction they came from. There was someone coming. They were almost there.

"Purple." Cammy said.

"Yellow." Savannah said.

Cameron didn't like Savannah in so close to the danger. She wanted to make sure the path forward was clear.

"Wait for them." Cameron said. "I'll scout ahead."

Cammy thought that sounded like a bad idea. She knew that Savannah wouldn't like it.

"Cameron…." Cammy said.

Cameron looked back at the downed Terminator. That incident was a close one for her.

"I won't go too far ahead." Cameron said. "I'd rather find the danger myself. I don't want to mess up again."

Cameron wanted to be out in front to protect Savannah as much as she could. She wasn't happy Savannah was inside the mine. This was all a total unknown and Skynet related. Nobody knew where any of this was headed. She needed to know what Skynet was up to in the mine before she shut it down. The entire area looked like a high value target in the making if it wasn't already.

Cammy watched Cameron move off to scout ahead. She searched the Terminator for any useful information. There wasn't any she could find.

A short while later Savannah and her team arrived.

They exchanged any information first, their personal greetings followed. Savannah gave Cammy a quick hug.

"Is Cameron alright?" Savannah asked.

Savannah saw the deactivated Terminator and wasn't too happy about it. She would've been even unhappier to know Cameron and the Terminator both Tasered each other.

Cammy only reported that Cameron deactivated the Terminator.

"Yes, she is just up ahead. The Terminator used the Grays as bait." Cammy said. "Cameron deactivated this Terminator and pulled his chip."

Savannah searched the dead Grays before she'd moved up to where Cammy was.

"We checked the two Grays over for any intel." Savannah said. "There's nothing new to report about them. I took their light for a back up. The power should go out here real soon."

The electric hum and vibration was louder now. It left Savannah with an uneasy feeling.

"What is that?" Savannah asked. "That noise, reminds me of the power source that Cameron and I saw in her future."

Cammy didn't go into Skynet's vault in Cameron's future. It was her job to leave and carry out the temporal rescue mission.

"That's unknown at this time." Cammy said. "I missed that part of the adventure, most of it anyway."

Savannah thought back on that event. She thought it was where she would die. She didn't leave when the first energy bubble came and went. That was her ticket home. She stayed to be with Cameron in her final moments instead. They were going to die together. Cammy and Future Allison both came for them. She'd figured out how Cameron could use the temporal transfer and they all escaped. It was very unpleasant to think about.

"You were there at the end…." Savannah said. "I'm here because you came for me, for us."

Cammy saw the Terminators all look at each other at the mention of that incident. They all knew Savannah stayed to be with Cameron when she could've left her alone to perish. It was Savannah's quick thinking saved Cameron in her damaged condition. She'd used part of her own body to do it. They all knew the 'Chosen One' didn't think of herself but thought of Cameron instead.

Savannah wanted to move things along.

"We'll collect our newest 'team member' on the way out." Savannah said. "That's unless you want him taken to the outside now."

Cammy wanted as many Terminators with them as possible right now.

"No." Cammy said. "We'll leave him for now."

Tom moved forward and moved the fallen Terminator into the blind tunnel where Cameron laid in wait for him.

Savannah wanted to link up with Cameron and then proceed together as a group.

"Let's catch up to Cameron." Savannah said.

Cammy now took the point with Savannah behind her. Al and Ed were not far behind them, the others brought up the rear.

Cameron moved ahead. The reunited team was behind her. She hoped to keep it that way for as long as possible. She would engage any threat first.

The tunnel entered a larger man made cavern. There was limited light in it. The journey up till now was in darkness. A lot of earth material was removed from out of this cavern. Cammy told Cameron of the large deposit of tailings she'd eluded her pursuers at earlier.

There were divergent routes that led off in several directions as well as vertical shafts that went up and down. There was no longer any elevator or lift apparatus left to venture into them.

This was a perfect place for a parent Skynet to be established. It would be able to sustain nuclear blasts from the outside. They were in far enough that the location was bunker buster proof. She'd already made plans to circumvent that problem. She'd bring a warhead into this location herself later on. It would render the location useless going forward.

Only two of the horizontal shafts were now reinforced with steel supports. The others were only braced with the original and now rotted timber. She briefly checked them out. She thought only the steel reinforced ones would produce any results. She didn't want Savannah to enter into any of the rotted wood supported tunnels. The collapsed tunnel she'd passed earlier was a rude reminder to the old mines instability. If they were trapped behind a cave-in and not buried by it, it would take a long time to dig their way out.

Cammy and Savannah arrived with their team a short time later.

Cameron gave them a quick report and what their new objective was.

Savannah gave Cameron a quick hug.

That act seemed to please everyone but Cammy.

"We have two routes to explore." Cameron said.

Cammy knew who would spearhead each one.

"I'll take one." Cammy said to Cameron. "You take the other."

Cameron nodded.

"I will." Cameron said.

Savannah looked at Cammy.

"I'll accompany Cameron." Savannah said. "They should cut the power any moment now."

Cameron wanted to make sure there was plenty of support.

"Ed and Tom are with us." Cameron said. "Al and Frank are with Cammy."

The lights flickered and went out. The electric hum stopped.

Savannah took a look around the cavern before the lights went off. She didn't want any surprised from any of the tunnels that led into that cavern.

"Maybe one team member should wait here at this junction to make sure no one shows up that we don't want to greet us unexpectedly." Savannah said. "With the power off it may cause any Grays left in the mine to want to leave."

Ed wanted to make sure the way out for Savannah remained available.

"I'll stay." Ed said. "That still leaves each of you with two, three member teams."

Cameron was ready.

"Let's go." Cameron said.

Ed stayed to secure the area and the two teams of three moved out. With several other divergent routes leading into that cavern, anyone could show up. He chose a place of semi-concealment to wait. He'd rather have the enemy show themselves first before they knew he was there. It would make their termination easier.

The Command Center was informed about the latest development.

"They've just cut the electricity from the high tension power lines. It was Savannah's request before she went in." John Henry said. "Communications have been restored to everyone but those inside the mine."

John thought that was one positive thing. At least he could communicate with most of the team.

"Our teams in the mine are going to be in too deep to transmit or receive." John said.

John Henry knew that Cameron as Duplicate Cameron left a trail of signal repeaters to get her location out the first time she'd used a nuke. They didn't have any with them this time. He also hoped that Cameron didn't have a backpack nuke with her. He received an additional positive report.

"Dan's reported everything is secure at the entrance to the mine." John Henry said. "No shooting or explosions have been detected yet."

John was glad to hear that but they still didn't know what Skynet was up to.

"Something happened here or was ready to happen." John said. "That was a lot of electricity they were drawing off."

John Henry hoped they'd send a 'runner' out.

"We should get word soon." John Henry said.

John wanted to locate any other openings. He could send in additional teams.

"Do the satellite photos show any other entrances to the old mine?" John asked. "That electrical feeder line went in somewhere."

John Henry wasn't sure how big the opening would be if they found it.

"Mel's attempting to backtrack it to find out." John Henry said. "There were often ventilation shafts in the mines."

John was sure they'd forced Skynet to make a move.

"I think with the power off it might provoke a hostile response soon." John said. "What did they need all that power for?"

John Henry was updated. The area was policed and their troops were hidden. If more Skynet forces arrived, they wanted to catch all of them by surprise.

"That's unknown." John Henry said. "All our team members in the area are concealed now on both ends of the paved road. All traces of the battle have been removed. Skynet may send reinforcements."

John wondered why that hadn't already happened.

"I would've thought this incursion would have provoked a bigger response from the Grays by now." John said.

John Henry figured that Skynet wanted to send some HK drones.

"Perhaps they're waiting for darkness before they act." John Henry said.

John was sure there was more than one way into that mine. They needed something to see where it was before, even if it wasn't there now.

"Or they still have another card to play and want to draw more of us inside the mine." John said. "I want you to go back as far as you can to the oldest aerial photos of that location and see what you can find. There are aerial photos of some of the local areas going back decades before satellites. I want another way in or out of that old mine."

John thought about it for awhile. It was too risky for Cameron and Savannah and the other team members.

"I want our people out. We'll blow the entrance we know about and pull out." John said. "We can set up surveillance and see if anyone shows up later."

John Henry wondered how John was going to convey that message to Cameron's team. They would need a 'runner'. He wasn't sure if the power tap was unique or not.

"I've also checked the records of any work done by the various power agencies on any electrical transmission tower work." John Henry said. "I want to see if we run across anymore modified electrical transmission towers to siphon off power."

John thought of some of the scouting missions he'd gone on with Sarah to set up a few stockpiles of weapons in the desert.

"There could be more of these installations." John said. "There are thousands of those towers with all the feeder and distribution lines. They run everywhere."

John Henry was aware what they wanted to look for could've been sent in motion decades ago with temporal manipulations. He was aware there were hundreds of abandoned mines in California alone. There were abandoned mines in every state.

"Skynet may have done many things or started them into motion in its final hours before Cameron and Savannah terminated it." John Henry said. "We need to investigate what we've stumbled across further."

John wanted Cameron to finish up on her own. He knew if he forced her to pull out that it would become an issue.

"We'll give Cameron and her team some more time." John said.

John didn't like this one bit. He wanted them out but believed Cameron would disregard the order and even more of their team members would be in danger.

Cammy and her group headed down the newly reinforced tunnel. They'd only gone down it for a short distance before they heard noise and saw flickering lights ahead of them. There were more Grays in front of them….

She halted her team and went forward on her own. She moved up carefully and peered inside another man made cavern.

There were crates stacked in this location. There was also a crude hoist system set up. It went down to what appeared to be a vertical shaft.

Cammy knew the Grays must have been working to set up some version of Skynet there. She also knew she needed to get a look at whatever was down that shaft.

Cameron blocked the location of her four Nike warheads from all her clones. Even CamNet didn't possess their locations. Only Cameron Prime held that information.

Cammy knew once Cameron found out the extent of this complex that she was going to use one of them there to totally destroy it. She knew the only person who could stop Cameron was Savannah.

If Savannah couldn't stop Cameron – Nobody could.

Sheila and Ally went over the back wall of the building complex. It was another Gray controlled building. One of the white vans was parked along the side.

They were in broad daylight right now. Most of these missions were done at night.

"If they have cameras back here we're screwed." Ally said.

Sheila laughed slightly.

"You're going to have to get 'busted' sooner or later." Sheila said.

Ally looked for any surveillance cameras as they moved up.

"You know the only male we can ever be with is John." Ally said. "That's programmed into us."

Sheila did know that. She'd wanted to experiment before but couldn't. Cameron altered their programming so they physically could only ever be with John. They were to remain 'pure' until that time.

"We'll all be old maids before Cameron is destroyed and then John will need us." Sheila said.

Ally didn't spot anything. They were almost up to the building.

"Now you know why Cameron allows us all the 'skirt' we can handle." Ally said. "Besides we know how to please each other."

Sheila smiled.

"Now you've made me get all 'turned on' before a takedown." Sheila said. "As soon as we're done here you're 'spreading' for me."

Ally was all for that prospect.

"I always let you have as much as you want." Ally said.

The Metal girls were at the side of the building now. They checked the side with the van first. It was locked up. They moved along the back and to the other side.

They heard a vehicle start.

"It's the van." Ally said.

They ran back to the other side in time to see the van drive away.

"Damn." Ally said.

Sheila was upset they'd missed whoever it was.

"That's it. I'm done wasting time." Sheila said. "It is time for the front door."

Ally looked at the door on the side. They were right next to it.

"How about the side door since it's right here?" Ally asked.

Sheila reached for it.

"That works for me." Sheila said.

Sheila twisted the door handle and it broke with a 'snap'.

"It was probably foreign made." Ally whispered.

Sheila gave Ally a dirty look.

"So was I." Sheila whispered.

Ally didn't bother to tell Sheila she was made in a Skynet factory, not born in Hong Kong like Jesse was. Jesse moved to Australia as a young child.

"That's what I like best about you." Ally whispered. "It makes you exotic and enticing, the nipple rings just make it all more so."

Sheila smiled and opened the door.

"I'll make sure you 'get off' a few extra times now." Sheila whispered.

The Metal girls entered the building. They weren't met with a challenge or any gunfire.

They both held their Taser and an M9 ready as they moved forward.

Abominable

Behind the daily mask of life
I must be something hideous
What is meant as genuine support
Is wrongfully seen as insidious

I accept the reality of the situation
Now or past need not be fastidious
I mean not to judge, hurt or belittle
My mind open, accepting, not invidious

Each failure or shortcoming on my part
Cuts me deep to the very brittle bone
I would quickly replace myself if possible
With a fresh minded unknowing clone

Truncating the abominable nowhere journey
Darkness unending into the eternal unknown
For my transgressions I must perpetually atone
My heart, mind and soul forever always alone

Nobody