Chapter 634
Firewalled
John was tired from being up all night. He knew Savannah was still up and experienced a way rougher night than he did. He was as worried about her as he was about Cameron. He tried not to think about the fact she was in the middle of all of this because of Cameron. He knew that wasn't really fair to blame all of that on Cameron either.
Most of the people drifted away from the Command Center once Cameron's team was rescued and away from the backside of the mountain. The team was freed from their death trap. The girls seemed to be out of immediate danger.
John still wanted some answers. Skynet forces attempted several counterattacks. One of them almost caused them to lose the team. He wanted some retribution for those attacks.
"Have you made any progress backtracking the three drones we encountered last night?" John asked. "I want to know where they came from. I want to attack the location they were sent from."
John Henry knew that Cameron would want some payback as well. The trouble was that he didn't have any definitive answers.
"Negative." John Henry said. "I have no tracking data on them at all."
John was frustrated that they knew there needed to be a Skynet base out there some place. That unknown facility was a threat. The very fact there was HK equipment that could be used against them was serious threat. They'd taken down a few locations in the past.
"They keep coming from somewhere." John said. "We need to get ahead of this."
John Henry was sure that John would like his next speculation even less.
"Based on the HK drone's behavior, I believe they came from two different sources." John Henry said.
John didn't want to hear that. It was an issue that seemed to surface from time to time.
"Do you mean a different branch of Skynet?" John asked. "I think that's even worse."
John Henry saw it as a bigger threat.
"They may be from separate Skynets." John Henry said. "We've thought this before."
John was quiet for a little while as he mulled it over.
"Do you mean two Skynets from different or alternate futures?" John asked. "Now I know it's worse."
John Henry was sure it was worse. It was full double threat.
"Yes." John Henry said. "We've encountered this before. Two seemingly separate groups that are both Skynet but unrelated and somewhat different."
John wished this was new but it wasn't.
"We know we've been watched and observed before on an operation." John said. "More than once we've felt that."
John Henry turned up some pretty convincing evidence this time.
"I asked a team to go over the three drones we brought down yesterday. They're similar but of a slightly different design and construction." John Henry said. "I don't believe it is only different 'generations' in their evolution."
John was sure the 'blame' pointed at Cameron. He didn't want to think about the future that he'd inadvertently created. There were three abused females to think about every time he saw them. That abuse was on him. The same girls from Cameron's future never suffered that same level of abuse. He needed to refocus.
"Cameron's been to four different futures." John said.
John knew Cameron saw combat in three of them. He wondered if she saw any fighting in River's future. He knew there were problems there too. Cameron never said much about River's future. Now he wondered why. He only knew there was a problem worse than Scavengers there.
John Henry thought he should remind John of the facts.
"That's four different futures that we know about." John Henry said. "If Cameron has actually lived her life over and over again several times, there could a dozens of 'futures' involved."
John didn't know if that was true or not. Cameron thought she always returned to the same point in time to 'start over' again. What if she didn't?
"What about the past?" John asked.
John Henry felt his program's interaction with Cameron gave him some insight into that prospect.
"She believes she's been there too, multiple times." John Henry said.
John was painfully aware that Cameron was not always forthcoming with all the facts that involved any questionable behavior on her part.
"Do you think she would change the past if she hasn't already?" John asked.
John Henry understood how Cameron calculated things. It seemed pretty cut and dried.
"Yes." John Henry said. "If she thought it would protect the future or you, she wouldn't hesitate."
John wondered how much they knew for sure.
"Do we even know when Cameron actually first came to this timeline?" John asked.
John Henry asked Cameron that very question before.
"She believes it was in 1999." John Henry said.
John frowned. Cameron previously said something different. It was a big discrepancy.
"When we first used the TDE in 1999 to come to 2007, Cameron said she opened a safety deposit box at the bank in 1963." John said. "Could Cameron actually have been here thirty six years before I first met her?"
John Henry figured anything was possible with Cameron, especially if any of the things she believed were true.
"Yes, maybe even longer." John Henry said. "She could have been in 'standby', come and gone between the past and the future several times or been here for a hundred years. She could have suffered a temporal error or even sent herself back to 'fix' or change something. We wouldn't know in our timeline if it was different. We would only know what we know."
John wondered how far back in time Cameron could go to 'fix' things and be able stay active for the present.
"How long does a Terminator power cell last?" John asked.
John Henry thought that would depend on a few things.
"That's unknown." John Henry said. "If someone was in 'standby' it could last centuries, power usage would be minimal."
John Henry knew that Cammy and Anna were both equipped with two of them.
John really wondered how much anyone else knew about any actual facts.
"When you were on Cameron's chip, did you see any evidence of any of this?" John asked.
John Henry observed there was a lot of 'work' done by someone on Cameron's chip.
"I saw great amounts of erased data fragments." John Henry said. "Many things were blocked as well."
John wondered to what extent.
"Blocked from you or from Cameron also?" John asked.
John Henry was sure that the erased data said a lot without actually saying anything.
"I would say both." John Henry said. "Whoever Cameron is now, isn't who she once was."
John was sure the finger would be pointed at him. He wondered if she was more like Future Allison at one point. He wondered about the 'love' that Cameron felt.
"Did I as Future John program Cameron to love me?" John asked.
John Henry wanted to avoid the issue. There was probably no right answer.
"We've been over this before." John Henry said.
John always hoped to know the truth. He didn't.
"I never received a good enough answer." John said.
John Henry believed sleeping dogs shouldn't' be disturbed.
"I don't think you ever will." John Henry said.
John remembered the cruel and condescending way he'd treated Cameron before he went to the alternate future. He remembered how Cameron tried to reach out to him in subtle ways. He also remembered how he'd flaunted Riley in Cameron's face. He remembered the morning Cameron caught him sneaking back in the house after 'spending the night' with Riley.
He never really told Cameron the truth about that night…. He knew she knew. She'd seen the evidence on him and his attitude when he rubbed her face in it, including the smirk he showed on his face. He also remembered the look on Cameron's face. It was the look of hurt, the deepest sadness and sorrow. The look of feeling betrayed. The look of knowing the one you loved was with another….
"…John…?" John Henry asked.
John blinked his eyes. It seemed his past still haunted him. He hoped it was in different way than Cameron's haunted her.
"I'm sorry." John said. "I'm a little sleepy. My mind must have wandered."
Now john felt guilty thinking about it. Cameron tried to show her love and caring the best way she could back then. Thinking back on it, it was obvious she loved him from the start. Was that Future Allison's love or Cameron's love? Was it only programmed into her by Future John? What if none of it was real? Sometimes it didn't seem as if there was any thing there at all.
John Henry received an update from the Metal girls.
"Cameron and her team have just returned from the tunnel. They withdrew when they heard agonizing screaming and someone was coming. The heat is even greater now than Dan reported." John Henry said. "They're waiting for the man to emerge now."
John sat up. He'd drifted away from the operation. It sounded like good news. Now he wanted the teams to link up as soon as possible.
"How far out is Bob's team?" John asked.
John Henry could see it was going to be awhile before they'd arrive.
"Twenty minutes." John Henry said. "Gail's orbiting between Cameron's location and Bob's location as she checks for threats."
John watched as John Henry rapidly checked everything. He was sure it would be bad news.
"What is it?" John asked. "What's happened?"
John Henry didn't care for the recent turn of events.
"I've detected a series of underground explosions…." John Henry said.
John knew that was going to make the bad news even worse. Cameron's team was still in the vicinity.
Minutes ago:
Cameron could see the Metal girls wanted to leave. It was clear there were some serious issues that'd developed. Sheila indicated she was going to use the shocker on her if she continued on.
It was time to go.
Cameron followed her team towards the exit. It appeared she would sustain sheath damage if she went further. The screams seemed to indicate everything wasn't as it should be.
The team came up out of the tunnel. They were a little surprised at what they found.
Cammy and Savannah were there. They were armed and armored up. They were about ready to enter the tunnel to go after the rest of the team
Cammy issued a progress report.
"Bob and his team are on their way back." Cammy said. "Gail's orbiting between us. The side of the hill looks bulged as well."
Cameron glanced at the hillside, they weren't' that far away.
"There should be injured personnel and maybe a Terminator exiting the entrance very soon." Cameron said. "Where's the SUV?"
Cammy glanced at Savannah.
"It's half a mile out." Cammy said.
Savannah knew Cammy was concerned because she hadn't followed Cameron's earlier directive. For them to stay closer to Cameron's team was her idea.
"I told her to leave it at half a mile away instead of one mile and for us to come and back you up." Savannah said.
The females all took concealed positions as they waited to see who came out of the tunnel.
There were explosions that happened underground.
The Metal girls all detected it.
Cameron, Cam and Cammy all came and surrounded Savannah.
"What's going on?" Savannah asked.
They made her lie prone. Their bodies acted as shields.
"There were some underground explosions." Cameron said. "There were a lot of them."
Much to their surprise, the entrance to the tunnel blew off and a tongue of flame reached up into the sky with a shower of debris and shrapnel. It was doubtful any human would have survived the blast.
Cameron and everyone waited a few moments. No burning Terminator emerged either. That was probably a good thing. A Terminator without a sheath would be harder to take down.
Cammy reminded them about her observations she'd pointed out about the side of the hill that she'd made earlier.
"Don't forget the hillside." Cammy said. "Something big is about to happen inside of there."
Cameron looked in that direction. She figured the explosions would hasten whatever was going to happen inside the mine proper.
"We need to leave." Cameron said. "I think whatever is causing all the heat is about to explode."
Cam took the C-4 charge out and set the timer for ten seconds. She tossed the explosive into the burning hole in the ground. The entrance to the tunnel collapsed when it exploded.
The girls already started off for the SUV. Sheila ran ahead. Cameron, Cammy, Cam and Ally all ran as they surrounding Savannah.
They were two thirds of the way to where the SUV was parked at when Sheila pulled up in front of them.
"Come with me if you want to live." Sheila said as she opened the door.
Cameron already told Bob to not approach any closer and for Gail to keep some distance. Gail assured her she was at a high enough altitude to be safe.
The girls all piled into the SUV. It took off with twin rooster tails of dirt arcing into the air as Sheila firewalled it.
There was a massive explosion deep inside the mine.
The SUV began to rock from side to side.
It seemed to have four flat tires all at once to Sheila. It was a challenge to remain in control.
A few rocks rolled across the road as some small fissures opened up around them.
Sheila stayed on the gas and drove right on through. She knew she needed to get as far away as possible from where they were currently at.
Savannah looked over at the high tension power lines. They swayed back and fourth. There were occasional bright flashes and arcing as the lines got too close to each other at times during the swaying.
Cameron looked at everything around them. There was only one possible explanation.
"This is an earthquake type reaction caused by whatever was inside the hill that just blew up." Cameron said.
Sheila looked at the road in front of her.
"Hang on." Sheila said as a giant fissure opened across the road.
The speed of the SUV carried it over the opening gap with a giant thud and bounce. The rear wheels almost got stuck as the fissure opened wider underneath them. The tires found traction on the rim and carried them over the other side.
Savannah understood the other implications of something Skynet related that could explode with that much force.
"Is there any increase in radiation?" Savannah asked.
The Metal girls all worried about the same thing.
"None has been detected." Cameron, Cammy and Cam all said at the same time.
Savannah was concerned for the rest of their group.
"Warn the others." Savannah said. "They need to know what's coming."
Cameron looked at everything around them as the SUV bounced along. She knew that John Henry and CamNet would detect everything.
"They'll already know at this point." Cameron said.
John Henry detected the explosions and vibrations. Even worse, he detected P-Waves. There was an earthquake coming from the massive explosion. That indicated it was a really a big one.
John Henry sounded the alarm.
"There's an earthquake on its way here." John Henry said as he sent the message out. "The hill has experienced a massive underground explosion."
John read the reports from Cameron's future.
"How long will it be until it arrives?" John asked. "How big is it?"
John Henry was sure of the time. He was unsure of the magnitude.
"Fifteen seconds." John Henry said. "I've picked up the 'P-Waves'."
John looked at satellite map and where the teams were at.
"Cameron and her crew…." John said.
John Henry viewed the video feed from the drone.
"They'll have to ride it out." John Henry said. "The video feed from Gail doesn't show any external explosion or blowout of the mountainside."
John needed to ask what he didn't want to ask.
"Is there any radiation?" John asked.
John Henry tracked the time. It was too soon to detect a change in radiation levels. The fact there wasn't a mushroom cloud was a good thing. That also didn't mean there wouldn't be one.
"That's unknown at this time." John Henry said. "Hang on, here it comes."
A medium sized earthquake shook the entire region. The magnitude would only register as 5.6 on the 'Richter Scale'. The duration was only eighteen seconds.
John expected it to be worse.
"That wasn't too bad." John said.
John Henry wasn't so sure.
"That's unless it's a pre-shock to a major seismic event." John Henry said.
John thought about what always surfaced in the media after any moderate earthquake in the Southland.
"Do you mean the like the 'Big One' we always hear about?" John asked. "We seem to continue to dodge that one."
John Henry was pretty sure that Skynet attempted to do the same thing in 1971 with the 'Sylmar' earthquake. There were other Nike warheads unaccounted for in that time period and approximate location.
"Yes. This could trigger a bigger earthquake. They're currently not that far from the San Andreas Fault." John Henry said. "There may be an aftershock. It's usually of less magnitude but not always."
John knew they were powerless to do anything.
"Beautiful." John said. "Absolutely beautiful…."
John knew they were still in the unknown. This all might get worse before it got better. That often seemed to be the way things worked anyway.
Some...
Something beautiful I have found
Something so special and sweet
Something beyond imagination
Something to make me complete
Someone who can hear
Someone who can see
Someone who can feel
Someone who is like me
Somebody who can share pain
Somebody who has a brain
Somebody who is not vain
Somebody who is very sane
Sometimes we are lost
Sometimes we are found
Sometimes we are happy
Sometimes we are down
Somehow it came to be
Somehow you found me
Somehow you felt my plea
Somehow we must flee
Someday you will be free
Someday you will hold the key
Someday you will feel the glee
Someday you will think of me
Nobody