Chapter 939

Kiss - Into Oblivion

The Metal girls finished tearing the trailers apart. The second two went much faster. They knew what they were looking for and where to find it. The trailers were dismantled anyway to make sure nothing else was hidden.

Cam wasn't surprised at what they'd found.

"We've recovered three of the missing nuclear weapons." Cam said.

Ally was glad that was all that they found. She didn't want to have to do any more work than necessary.

"At least we didn't have to fool around with a bunch of Cobalt." Ally said.

Gail gave Ally a dirty look. There was a specific task that she needed to accomplish herself.

"I'm to take custody of the weapons for Cameron." Gail said.

Cam tried to contact Cameron to let her know exactly what they'd found.

"I can't reach Cameron." Cam said.

CamNet made sure the specifics of what they'd found wasn't disclosed to the Resistance base on Cameron's previous instructions. This part of the operation was dark and clandestine. The specifics of it were not to be released.

Gail had been in contact with CamNet as per Cameron's instructions.

"CamNet has blocked all communications related to this matter. We've been instructed that 'it never happened'." Gail said. "Everyone needs to remember that."

Gail wasn't sure why Cameron entrusted her to take custody of the nuclear weapons. The logical choice should have been Cam. Maybe Cam was to be used in some other way on this operation that they didn't know about yet. If it was, it might not end well for Cam.

Ally rolled her eyes when Gail disclosed that information.

"Oh, boy…." Ally said. "It's another one of those missions."

Cam was irritated with Ally's attitude. If Cameron wanted something done clandestinely, there was a good reason for it. She wanted everyone to follow the rules.

"You can discuss it with Cameron later." Cam said. "Nothing happened out here today. Does anyone not understand?"

Cam looked at the weapons and then at Gail. She thought the same thing that Gail thought. She hoped she wasn't going to be a 'stand in' for Cameron in some terminal part of the operation. There was a lot about this operation they didn't know.

Nobody responded back to Cam. It was clear they understood the unspoken threat. They were all aware of the seriousness of everything that occurred, even if they didn't know the specifics. Nobody wanted to cross Cameron or CamNet.

The Metal girls all looked up. They could all hear two drones.

Samantha stated what everyone was worried about.

"It's HK drones." Samantha said.

Gail already knew why the drones were there.

"They're our drones. They've come to take these weapons away." Gail said.

The two drones landed.

The Metal girls lifted the weapons onto the drones and secured them. Two of the nuclear weapons were secured to one drone. The other drone only contained one nuclear weapon.

"I will accompany them." Gail said.

Gail was about to climb on the drone with only one nuclear weapon attached.

The Metal girls all looked up again. There were more drones approaching.

Samantha's original concern was restated.

"There are more HK drones." Samantha said. "We're being attacked."

Ally looked around at the barren landscape.

"Are they attacking?" Ally asked. "There's nowhere for us to go…."

The Metal girls were caught out in the open. They didn't have anywhere to fight from or cover to seek.

They figured the new drones that were about to arrive must have followed the first two in. It looked like their drones may have led them there.

Cam wondered how a group of HK drones could have slipped in on them like that. There seemed to be only one explanation possible.

"HK drones must have been sent from the mine." Cam said. "I think they wanted these trucks back for their cargo. The nuclear weapons would have been very important to Skynet's plans for the construction of the C-bombs."

The Metal girls all wondered if the HK drones would attack them or go straight after the weapons. If the HK drones attacked the nuclear weapons, would one of them actually explode? It was clear to all of them at that point it didn't matter if they had cover or not. Anything around their immediate area was going to be vaporized.

Ally couldn't help but be a little sarcastic.

"Cool, at least if I'm going to go out, it looks like it's going to be with style." Ally said.

None of the Metal girls thought being vaporized was 'going out' with 'style'. It would just be 'going out' unceremoniously with no trace left of their existence.

A group of drones approached Cameron's position. It caused quite a bit of concern among the girls. They all felt they'd been caught out in the open.

"Are they attacking?" Young Allison asked. "There's nowhere to go…."

Savannah moved to shield Young Allison with her body.

Cameron received an update from CamNet.

"No, they're here to help us." Cameron said. "It appears CamNet was instructed earlier to send additional drone support."

Cameron looked at Young Allison.

Young Allison shrugged her shoulders. In this case she was glad she was responsible for the extra drones. She thought additional help or fire support might come in handy on the mission. She'd done that before she left to go to Nevada. She figured if she was going to be there that there was going to be a lot of concern over her presence. She hoped to alleviate some of that concern with a sufficient quantity of drones.

"It seemed like the right thing to do." Young Allison said. "I didn't know they would arrive this early. I'm glad they did."

CamNet acted on the previous request by Young Allison to 'look out for them'. She'd already acted before Young Allison's specific request.

CamNet observed over the past few days Young Allison repeatedly making the right call. CamNet knew of almost everything Young Allison did, both in going over missions already completed, to planning ongoing ones as well. CamNet now desired something more from Young Allison than her physical contact. Maybe it was what was really desired all along….

"I hear the manned drone." Cammy said.

That was good news to Savannah. She would be able to get Young Allison away from there safely now.

"Allison will take that." Savannah said. "I want her out of here."

The drone whine increased in volume. Savannah and Young Allison put their ear protection in.

Cammy checked her time. It was rapidly running out. They needed to be away from there earlier. The drones would buy them back some time as opposed to trying to drive out. No matter what, at this point in time every second counted.

"We need to get away from here." Cammy repeated.

Sheila was worried about Ally and the other Metal girls at the deconstruction site.

"We need to warn Cam's team." Sheila said. "I can't reach them."

CamNet assured Cameron that everything was taken care of.

"CamNet has it covered." Cameron said. "They're being extracted in the same way."

Cam had been unable to contact anyone. She was a little surprised when CamNet contacted her. It was a big relief too.

"Relax, they're our drones." Cam said. "CamNet has instructed us to board them for emergency extraction. We must do this immediately."

Three more drones landed.

"Get on." Cam said.

Ally looked around at the drones.

"There aren't enough." Ally said.

Gail figured if she was riding shotgun with a nuclear bomb that two of the Metal girls should be able to double up without a problem.

"I'm riding with a nuclear weapon." Gail said. "Two of you can double up. Let's go."

Samantha thought of her earlier conversation with Ally and their planned clandestine activity that they were going to engage in before her deactivation.

"I'll ride with Ally." Samantha said.

Hanna had hoped to ride with Ally. She understood what more than likely was going to happen with Ally and Samantha. She wanted to share some of that with Ally and Samantha too.

"Don't forget to keep hanging on when you two start kissing." Hanna said. "If one of you 'makes it', you might accidentally release your grip on the drone. It seems like it would be a Hell of a way to go."

Cam received her final instructions from CamNet. She looked in the distance at some low level mountains.

"Get moving." Cam said. "We need to get behind that ridge in the next four minutes."

Samantha thought that sounded pretty drastic.

"What will happen then?" Samantha asked.

Cam knew the Terminators and the drones all needed to be shut down by that time period. The low level mountains would give them some additional protection from any direct blast.

"We need to be on the ground and shut down." Cam said. "If we aren't, we'll all be down for good."

That sounded like a pretty grim prospect to all the Metal girls.

Savannah saw they were one drone short. The drones were all armed. She was afraid the load would be too heavy for one of them. The incident at the power plant still haunted her. That might happen here. She remembered how the unknown electrical field affected all of the machines. She wasn't going to chance it. She wanted all the others to get to safety.

The drones landed around them.

Savannah helped Young Allison onto the manned drone, which arrived unmanned.

"Strap in." Savannah said.

Savannah jumped off and went to Cameron.

"I want you four to get mounted now." Savannah said. "Take off and go as soon as you're ready."

Cameron was a little concerned with Savannah's statement and demeanor.

"You're riding with me." Cameron said. "It will be like before. We need to get moving."

Savannah remembered the last time. On that occasion the drone was being affected with some type of electrical field and struggled with both of their weight on it. If she would have stayed on it with Cameron, she didn't think the drone would have made it. She'd elected to send the drone on its way with Cameron on it and stayed behind. She knew the time for talking and the inevitable argument was over. It was time to take decisive action. Cameron gave her the ability to do that, she planned to exercise that ability now.

"I order you four to mount and order CamNet to make sure you depart NOW." Savannah said.

The Metal girls boarded the drones.

Cammy wanted Savannah to get on the drone with her.

"We need to go." Cammy shouted. "Come on, Savannah."

Savannah could see the great concern she'd caused all the Metal girls. It was time to act.

"CamNet, I order the drones away to safety NOW." Savannah said.

The four drones with the protesting Metal girls took off.

Young Allison saw what was about to happen. She wasn't going to have any part of it. She quickly unstrapped from her seat in the manned drone.

"What the Heck?" Young Allison asked as she climbed out of the cockpit of the manned drone. "Get up here, Savannah."

Savannah was more than alarmed that the manned drone was still sitting there. What made it worse was Young Allison was now outside and on the superstructure of the manned drone.

"You need to go." Savannah said. "You need to leave."

Young Allison wasn't having any of this. She'd gone over the specifications for the new power plants that they'd fitted all of their drones with.

"These drones all have the new and more powerful and quieter power plants." Young Allison said. "They can all cut it. Get up here."

Savannah could see that Young Allison wasn't going to get into the cockpit of the manned drone. This was a problem she didn't need right now. She knew that she couldn't order Young Allison.

Young Allison stood and moved to the edge of the manned drone.

"Come with me, if you want to live." Young Allison said.

Savannah hesitated.

Young Allison knew when to stand her ground. This was one of those occasions.

"Get up here or I'm getting off this thing." Young Allison said. "I swear it."

Young Allison reached her hand down to Savannah.

Savannah knew Young Allison wasn't bluffing.

She smiled at Young Allison. She would've done the same thing herself.

Savannah took Young Allison's hand and pulled herself up. Young Allison motioned for Savannah to go past her and get into the manned drone.

"Get in. I'll sit on your lap." Young Allison said. "It won't be the first time."

Young Allison referred to when she was younger and she would sit on Savannah's lap. Savannah would read a book to her or brush her hair.

Savannah and Young Allison both hoped it wouldn't be the last time either. They knew what the future held. Neither one of them wanted to give that up.

As soon as Young Allison sat on Savannah's lap, the canopy started to close and the manned drone was airborne.

Savannah wasn't sure how rough the ride was going to get.

"Strap us in." Savannah asked.

Young Allison knew that every second counted. They'd already lost more than a few by waiting for Savannah to join her in the manned drone.

"How much time do we have?" Young Allison asked.

Savannah didn't have the exact answer to that. She only knew from Cameron's previous statement that it wasn't very long.

"Not enough…." Savannah said.

Young Allison thought about the whole situation. For any of this to happen she must have survived anyway. Savannah was with her so she must survive too.

"We must make it." Young Allison asked. "Otherwise none of this would be happening. Let's get crackin'."

Savannah wasn't sure that was necessarily the case. When they started to deal with temporal events, they were bound to change things, even inadvertently. She wanted to hedge their bet some and push the manned drone a little.

"CamNet, give us ten percent past the redline." Savannah said.

Young Allison looked at the other drones that were already in the distance. She decided to push it all the way. She didn't think it would be a problem since the flight shouldn't be that long.

"Screw that." Young Allison said. "CamNet, give us thirty percent past the redline. Hit it."

The manned drone screamed away from the area that they were all at just seconds ago. The G-force was immense.

Savannah noted right away the abuse of the equipment.

"That's really pushing it." Savannah said.

Young Allison didn't want to be caught out in the open or suffer the effects from the EMP blast that would accompany the nuclear explosion. Either one was sure to bring the manned drone down.

"If we're not far enough away, does it matter?" Young Allison asked. "We'll make it."

Savannah agreed with Sheila's last assessment of Young Allison. She didn't want to use the 'atomic' reference in this particular case. She went back to the original wording.

"You are a real firecracker aren't you." Savannah said.

Young Allison could feel the effects of the increased G-force.

"I'm just a girl trying to help protect the future." Young Allison said.

Savannah reflected on when she used terminology very similar to that in the past.

"I know what you mean." Savannah said.

They were strapped in now.

Young Allison could feel the effects as the G-forces continued to build up on them.

"I feel heavy and darkness closing in over my eyes. I'm starting to get tunnel vision." Young Allison said. "This must be the G-force level where we black out at."

Savannah warned CamNet not to give her too much G-force when she was evacuated previously.

"CamNet won't let us black out unless she needs to push it more." Savannah said. "I told her we would need pressure suits to prevent from blacking out. Too much G-force can kill us."

Young Allison could feel the heaviness increase along with the darkness that started to close in on her eyes. Her vision was almost gone at this point.

"She may have to." Young Allison said. "I wish I was facing you."

Savannah could feel the effects too as the manned drone sped low across the landscape.

"Why?" Savannah asked.

Young Allison figured if they weren't going to make it that they might as well go out in style.

"So in case we don't make it, we could share our first 'real kiss'. It would be a kiss - into oblivion, together." Young Allison said.

Savannah actually liked that idea but she didn't want to encourage Young Allison too much. She was sure that they made it or none of these events would be able to happen as they were happening.

"You really are pushing it." Savannah said.

As their vision narrowed further, they saw they were gaining on the other four drones. They would actually overtake them at the rate the manned drone was being pushed.

"Savannah…." Young Allison said as she tilted her head back and up.

Savannah tilted her head forward and down to meet it.

If they were to perish, they would be as one.

The darkness overtook them….

Earlier:

John wondered if the news could be any worse. There was a force of HK drones approaching their troops and their drones were down.

"Beautiful…." John said.

John Henry received the information from CamNet. It was welcome news for their troops.

"No, they're not shot down." John Henry said. "The other drones that are about to arrive were sent by CamNet for emergency extraction of the girls, all of them."

John figured if there was an emergency extraction of the girls, what was going to happen next seemed pretty obvious. It seemed evident that the H-bomb was going to explode

"That can only mean one thing." John said.

John Henry was actually worried it could be more than one thing. He remembered the recent incident at Serrano Point. All of the machines were affected by some type of electrical disturbance that emanated from deep within the ground. It appeared to be a giant power cell of some type that failed. As it began to fail, it emitted some type of electrical energy that incapacitated all the machines to some degree. In Cameron's future the giant power cell detonated at the same time as the Nike warhead did. The blast completely flattened the mountain that the mine complex was located in. Skynet and all of its associated equipment was destroyed.

"I think we can expect a massive EMP blast from at least one nuclear weapon." John Henry said. "There may be a massive power cell as well. If the giant power cell fails like it did previously, the drones and Terminators will all be sluggish and affected before the final blast."

John was confused by the chain of events. Something didn't add up right. Everything that happened seemed to happen at the last moment. There was no clear cut evidence as to exactly what was going to happen or when.

"Why is this all happening at the last second?" John asked. "If they knew of this in the past, there should have been better planning."

John Henry was more than a little concerned about that himself.

"Something may have changed in the timeline." John Henry said. "It happens. You need to remember that this was set up more than half of a century ago. A lot has happened in the timeline since then."

He didn't want to bring it up but it was possible there was a division in the timeline between what happened in the future and in the past and where they were at now. There could have been one timeline that had since been divided into two based upon any other changes that were made. Their group may be reacting to what actually happened in another timeline that was parallel to theirs.

John wondered if he was to blame for any of what was going on. He was afraid it was because he went to Las Vegas when he knew he should have stayed in the 'Command Center'. His being there affected the entire operation and series of events. It may not have been that way in a different version of the timeline. He didn't know that for sure or not. It did bother him though.

"I hope it wasn't me that changed things and screwed this up." John said.

John Henry thought a lot of things could have happened. Skynet could have done things as well. Not everything that happened was their doing.

"That's unknown at this time." John Henry said. "All we know is this was done to protect the four of you and the future."

John was aware that all the evidence pointed the finger at Young Allison. Was that really the case? Even if it was Young Allison, was it their Young Allison?

"It was done by a girl." John said. "It was done in the past with information from the future."

They both knew what that meant.

John Henry didn't think Young Allison was just any girl. If anything, she was a very special girl.

"She's a highly educated and trained girl, John." John Henry said. "The girl you wanted back. The girl you sent Cameron back in time to get for you to protect the future and make available to you in the present."

John knew that was true. Everything that happened revolved around Future John sending Cameron back in time with her mission to protect him and safeguard Savannah and Young Allison.

He really didn't know if he should look at it as problems that Future John created are as problems that Future John attempted to solve. Either way, everything associated with the Future John revolved around problems.

Earlier:

As soon as Bob arrived back at the base, he found Vanna and Allison waiting for him.

"We've been waiting for you." Vanna said.

There was a concerned look on Allison's face.

"We need to go to Cameron's base." Allison said.

Bob looked unsure about that. He didn't know if that would be allowed or not. He didn't think so. He wanted to find out more.

"Why?" Bob asked.

Vanna didn't want to get into details.

"Because we need to go…." Vanna said.

"Why?" Bob asked.

Allison didn't care for all the questions

"Please just take us." Allison said.

"Why?" Bob asked.

Vanna started to get irritated with all of Bob's questions.

"Stop saying that." Vanna said. "It's really irritating."

Bob almost said 'why' again.

"Affirmative…." Bob said. "Let's go."

Bob couldn't figure out why Vanna and Allison needed to go to Cameron's base. The only thing there that was not at the Resistance base was CamNet.

Nobody visited CamNet other than Cameron and Savannah.

Earlier – Later on:

Bob was still very unsure about bringing Vanna and Allison to Cameron's base.

They arrived in the carpool area.

"We're here but this isn't a good idea." Bob said.

Vanna didn't want to discuss it with Bob.

"We think it is." Vanna said.

Allison felt it was important.

"We want to see CamNet." Allison said.

Bob wasn't sure why the girls didn't understand. He'd told them repeatedly on the way over what the rules were. They didn't listen to him. It was abundantly clear to him that females were very hard to deal with. He could see why John didn't have much success with them.

"That's not allowed." Bob said. "I've told you this twelve times on the way here. Nobody sees CamNet."

Vanna felt she had a very logical argument.

"Savannah has." Vanna said. "I'm her. I'm Savannah Weaver. We're the same person…."

Bob knew that was technically correct. There was no difference between Vanna and Savannah. They were the same individual. The only real difference was Vanna was older than Savannah. She also came from an alternate future. Either way she was still the same individual.

He escorted them to the lower level. He knew that he was only allowed to go so far like all the other Terminators. There were strict rules associated with CamNet's bunker.

"I can go no further." Bob said.

Bob watched as the lights in the corridor in front of them lit up one light segment at a time. It seemed a little over dramatic.

Vanna and Allison reached the first blast door. It opened for them. They entered. They both looked back at Bob as the blast door closed behind them.

Bob was actually surprised to see that happen. The girls did nothing but walk in the direction he showed them. There was no verbal communication with CamNet. He wasn't sure if CamNet contacted them and asked them to go there or if they actually decided on their own to go and see CamNet. It was out of his hands one way or another right now.

"Whatever…." Bob said as he went back up to the main level.

He figured there was a little bit more going on than he knew about. He figured whatever it was that he probably didn't want to know.

Vanna and Allison were very unsure about what was happening as well as excited to be part of a new adventure.

Allison found the journey somewhat suspenseful as well as exciting.

"I don't know if this is spooky or I'm getting turned on." Allison said.

Vanna felt much the same way that Allison just described her feelings.

"I'm experiencing both feelings myself." Vanna said.

They reached the second blast door and it opened.

Vanna and Allison entered.

The room was dark except for a multitude of computer monitors.

There was a figure seated before them.

The chair rotated and the figure stood.

The lights came on.

Cameron stood there.

Rules Do Not Apply

You wake up in the morning
You go about your merry way
Thinking seldom or very little
About what you do or say

Where's the moral standard
Your commitment to a good life
Isn't there more than just now
Maybe a future with a loving wife

So the going gets rough
The waves break over the bow
Can't you see beyond the now
And just someone new to plow

So it's my heart
That ends up on the grill
While you seek another
To try to get your fill

This isn't a game we're playing
That's why you can't feel me cry
If it's not a contest to you
Rules do not apply

Nobody