Chapter 1008
Prior Commitments
Surveillance was set up at the cryogenics lab, the port facility and the old supermarket. There was a good chance that there would be a visit from any Skynet forces they'd missed or thugs from the Syndicate.
Someone was bound to investigate at some point what happened to their troops. If they got lucky and eliminated the entire Skynet group, that particular cell would be done. If anyone showed up, it was most likely going to be some thugs from the Syndicate. The Syndicate would certainly have a lot more soldiers to send than any Skynet cell could muster.
John Henry was a little surprised at how soon the next hit was.
"I've detected some movement around the old supermarket." John Henry said.
That was news that John could have done without. He'd only entered the Command Center a short while ago. He was still very tired from his adventures with Cameron. She'd really worked him hard and literally drained him dry. He'd fallen asleep for a few hours. He was still very tired when he awoke. He needed to get up and do his job..
When he did wake up, he looked around the room and saw that he was alone. That was something that he was used to. He saw no point in making Cameron wait there and do nothing while he snored. He used to want her to do that until he realized how selfish that was on his part. The way he felt right now he was glad that she wasn't there. He still didn't think that he'd be able to perform, even after his rest. Right now he needed to turn to the task at hand. It certainly appeared there was more trouble on the way.
"Is it the Syndicate or Grays?" John asked. "Maybe it is some of the homeless people back to look around."
The individuals were currently on foot as they approached the old supermarket.
"I don't know yet. They're walking through the alley." John Henry said. "There's no vehicle close by that we've detected."
John didn't know if any Skynet forces or thugs from the Syndicate would actually walk there. It seemed like they would want a quick way out if there was a problem. Maybe the size of the group would determine the nature of the threat.
"How many are there?" John asked. "Keep an eye out for a vehicle full of reinforcements that might rush into the area."
John Henry looked for more approaching from any other direction or in the front.
"There are two on foot." John Henry said. "I still don't have anything else."
John looked at the group as they moved through the alley. He knew that looks could be deceiving. Cammy earlier disguised herself as a homeless female by the cryogenics lab. It wasn't hard to do.
"They don't look like either group of heavies." John said.
John Henry couldn't make a positive identification based on the current information.
"They may be some of the homeless people that frequent that area." John Henry said. "That was one of your suspicions."
Homeless people were one thing. Someone posing as homeless people to get in close was another. The Resistance did what they could to 'sanitize' the area.
"What are they going to find?" John asked.
John Henry didn't think they would find much. There were still going to be traces of the small fire in the back of the old supermarket and maybe some dried blood that they'd missed in several of the locations. There weren't any bodies left behind and everything Skynet related had been removed. That included the bunk with the pieces of rope at all four corners.
"We only left surveillance equipment." John Henry said. "There were no booby traps left at any of the locations. Savannah insisted none be left because of the homeless people."
John would hate to see an innocent person die needlessly for a Gray or Syndicate thug.
"I can see why." John said. "Enough people die in our operations anyway."
John Henry didn't think that was a problem. Everyone who died was someone who opposed them or posed a threat. He was able to get more of their troops back into the operation.
"I've freed up most of our personnel that were inspecting and repairing the captured equipment we took in." John Henry said.
That was welcome news to John. He was aware that the main brunt of the operation from the previous night fell on the backs of the Metal girls.
"We were pretty shorthanded for a while." John said.
John Henry thought that everything was sufficiently covered. That was mainly due to the assistance that they received from the Young bunker.
"We managed." John Henry said. "There was no damage reported by any of our troops."
John understood they needed to take the threat seriously even if they didn't know what it was yet.
"Who's the closest team to the old supermarket?" John asked.
John Henry hoped it wasn't going to be a problem after he checked.
"Derek is. He's with Al and Mel." John Henry said.
John made a slight face. That was more news he could have done without. He felt Derek had other obligations that he needed to attend to currently.
"I thought he was going to spend more time with Riley and Precious." John said.
John Henry felt the issue was complicated. Samantha indicated to him what was going to happen and why.
"Samantha thought Riley should take more responsibility. She spoke with Derek about it." John Henry said.
John was a little concerned about the new female Terminator. She'd suddenly been thrust into their operation.
"Samantha…." John said. "What's her story?"
John Henry wasn't sure what John wanted to know.
"She has standard programming." John Henry said. "The Metal girls all gave her a little bit too. Her sheath needs to be Resequencing. Her current appearance is a liability."
John wasn't worried about the programming from the Metal girls. He was a little concerned with someone more specific.
"Is 'Cameron' on her chip?" John asked.
John Henry was unaware of exactly what was on Samantha's chip. He was sure there were some changes.
"I don't know." John Henry said.
John wasn't sure that an outside influence was a good idea for Derek and Riley. He wasn't sure where that could lead. It was most likely not a good place. He knew that Samantha looked very nice. He was aware that when they'd removed Samantha's chassis from the top floor at the casino hotel that her shirt had been torn open. It was obvious that someone had looked at her breasts. He believed it was done by Cameron.
"I think Derek and Riley should work this out between themselves." John said.
John Henry didn't want John to overstep his bounds and his earlier directive.
"I thought you didn't want to be involved in personal matters." John Henry said.
John thought about it. Cameron didn't seem to abide by any rules. Then again, that was really nothing new.
"It seems Cameron doesn't have that restriction." John said.
John Henry didn't see anything new about that. Cameron knew what was best for everyone. She'd even told him so before, more than a few times.
"Cameron is heavily involved in everyone's life." John Henry said.
John thought her life could use some discipline.
"She should get her own life under control before she attempts to control other people's lives." John said.
John Henry tilted his head slightly to the side.
"Hasn't she been trying?" John Henry asked.
John thought about last night and what happened earlier in his room with Cameron.
"I guess she has." John said.
John didn't always like the way Cameron did things but he did have to admit that most of them seemed to be the right call in the end. Sometimes it took a long time to reach the end. He understood it was never over for Cameron until she won. That really seemed to be the case in personal affairs as well. She was relentless in the pursuit of her goals.
Cameron was devastated by what Savannah just said to her. All she could picture in her mind was that Savannah would leave the current timeline to be in a timeline where her parents were still alive. Maybe that was just the past in the same timeline. If she were to prevent her parent's termination, that was bound to create a new timeline. She didn't know what would happen to the current timeline without Savannah in it. Vanna was there where she technically shouldn't be. Would she step up and fill in the blanks for Savannah? If Vanna stepped up, that would most likely force Allison to the forefront as well and sideline Young Allison.
Savannah told her to THINK about what she'd said.
She must have tried to tell her something.
Savannah told her she wanted to go on a temporal mission that most likely would mean she would never return. She told her there were replacements for her in this timeline. There were others who could be with her in place of Savannah.
Cameron glanced over at Savannah. She looked straight ahead.
Savannah still held her right hand.
Cameron wanted to understand what Savannah meant by 'think about it'. She began to run scenarios. They went from the dozens to the hundreds to the thousands.
It hit Cameron like a ton of bricks. Those were her words to John on many occasions. They applied to Savannah and Young Allison as well. She didn't like to hear them, especially if they were applied to her. How she felt now is how the others must have felt when she said them.
She now felt terrible about her previous actions, even more so than she already did.
"I understand." Cameron said. "I'm sorry."
Savannah was a little worried about Cameron's driving at this point.
"Do you want me to drive?" Savannah asked.
Cameron felt she could stay between the lines on the freeway. She'd been all over the road for a short time but that was no longer the case.
"I think I can still function." Cameron said.
Savannah wanted to make a point but she did mean what she'd indicated.
"I understand the analogy but I meant what I said." Savannah said.
Cameron was worried about this. It would ruin her life.
"Are you serious about this?" Cameron asked.
Savannah had given it quite a bit of thought. She'd toyed with the idea previously. For a long time they didn't have a TDE that would function into the past. That was different now since there was a TDE at Cameron's base.
"Yes." Savannah said.
Cameron was desperate, she was willing to make any concessions necessary if she could prevent Savannah from leaving. The impact of her actions on others weighed heavily on her as she thought about it.
"I'll do whatever you want." Cameron said. "I understand the need to do something sometimes. I can also see how I made John feel when I did them. I said before that someone doesn't really understand something until it happens to them. Now I understand what I've done to John multiple times. I know that it affected everyone else as well. I truly regret that."
To make Cameron reflect on her past actions wasn't exactly what Savannah had in mind with her current desire to see her parents. The analogy was impossible to ignore. She felt her mind was made up.
"I guess it's the same thing as that." Savannah said. "I want to go NOW."
Cameron wouldn't stop her, especially if Savannah 'ordered' her not to and 'ordered' her to assist her. There was the baby on the way to worry about.
"What about Vanna's baby?" Cameron asked.
That was a reminder that Savannah could have done without. There was another life inside of her and that life didn't belong to her. It belonged to Vanna.
"I know I have prior commitments and obligations…." Savannah said.
Cameron could see the folly of her own ways and what she'd done before.
"I did too and I followed what I felt I needed to do for myself instead of honoring them." Cameron said.
Cameron feared she'd opened a can of worms by creating cyborgs of Savannah's parents. It reached down deep somewhere inside of Savannah and 'changed' things. They were things she seemed to be unable to control at this point.
Savannah felt very unsure and confused. Everything seemed conflicted.
"I don't know what I'll do, Cameron." Savannah said. "I honestly don't."
Cameron knew there was only one person right now that could reach Savannah. It was her true mate. It was Young Allison.
She increased her speed. She needed Young Allison's love for Savannah to reach her and 'hold' her. She realized at this point that she should have pushed the physical union of the two girls long ago. She should have disregarded everyone else's concerns about age. Age was just a number. It didn't reflect the education of the girls. They were both beyond college level in their studies.
Samantha was in standby. She heard crying. After fifteen seconds she activated. She spotted Riley right away.
"Would you like me to help you?" Samantha asked.
Riley jumped a little. She was a little startled by Samantha.
"I didn't know you were active." Riley said.
Samantha didn't want to create a problem, she wanted to advert one.
"I'm sorry. I detected Precious crying." Samantha said.
Riley held Precious. Things played out a little differently than she'd anticipated.
"I wanted to change the sheets in her crib. I put her in the play pen. She wanted me to hold her instead." Riley said. "I didn't know she would be so fussy about it."
Samantha saw that the issue was resolved. There was no problem.
"I'll go back into standby." Samantha said. "Thank you for explaining."
Riley would like the company. She didn't really know how to phrase it to make it sound good.
"No, if you're up, we can talk." Riley said.
Samantha would prefer that as opposed to going back into standby. Standby seemed like an absolute waste of time to her. There are always other things that she could do. Assisting Riley with the housework was one of them.
"I'll change the sheets for you." Samantha said.
Riley felt it was her obligation to change the sheets.
"I would rather have you hold Precious and I'll do the work." Riley said.
Samantha liked that idea even better. She enjoyed holding Precious. She was so small and beautiful.
Riley continued changing the sheets and cleaned things up.
Samantha thought Precious seemed hungry.
"When did you last feed her?" Samantha asked.
Riley felt she only produced a few drops anymore. She looked down at her breasts with disgust.
"I've been trying to do that for a few hours." Riley said. "She's drained me out as fast as I can produce anything. It seems I have less and less. I may need Vanna for the next one."
Samantha hoped Riley remembered to give everybody plenty of notice.
"Did you notify her?" Samantha asked.
Riley almost called her when she first attempted to nurse Precious. She could tell right away that things weren't working out. She did manage to keep Precious quiet earlier. That was only because Precious needed to work so hard to get anything.
"Yes I called her one hour ago." Riley said. "I told her I would need her in a few hours time."
Samantha thought Riley was doing a good job at everything now. It was a big improvement. She didn't seem as overwhelmed anymore.
"You're doing excellent with everything." Samantha said.
Riley smiled at her. There were plenty of people to help her and anytime of the day or night now. She didn't feel as bad to ask Samantha for assistance that she did when she needed to bother Sarah, Vanna or Jesse before. Most of the frustration she felt currently was her body's inability to perform as it should for Precious.
"I'm trying." Riley said. "It seems my body isn't able to do what I want it to do."
Samantha didn't want her to stress out over the nursing issue. It was covered two times over already.
"Vanna and Jesse are here for you." Samantha said.
Riley appreciated that. She wanted to be able to help herself.
"Is there any way for me to increase production on my own?" Riley asked.
Samantha wasn't sure of that. She didn't know what the root problem was. There seemed to be an underlying issue that would need to be addressed. There were some other avenues that could be tried.
"There may be a few things that could help." Samantha said. "You'll need Derek to assist you."
Riley immediately saw there were two problems with that. The first one was Derek was on an operation the second one was she believed they'd already tried everything.
"Derek's not here." Riley said. "He's on a mission."
Samantha felt that could be dealt with.
"I'll have John Henry recall him." Samantha said.
Riley was well aware that unless Derek was involved with surveillance or recon activities he felt he wasn't doing his part. It was hard enough to keep him out of combat operations.
"NO. Don't." Riley said. "He NEEDS to be part of the operations or he feels very uncomfortable about himself."
Samantha thought Derek needed to reestablish his priorities.
"He has something more precious to attend to now with Precious." Samantha said.
Riley was unsure how to ask this without it seeming weird.
"Can you help me do it?" Riley asked.
Samantha knew she would need to manually stimulate Riley with actual nursing. That would violate Cameron's directives.
"I will be deactivated if I do." Samantha said.
Riley wanted to help Precious. She believed Samantha could help her better than Derek or anyone else. She could do what needed to be done for hours at a time without the need to rest.
"Can't you do it more efficiently than Derek anyway?" Riley asked. "You're the best person for the job."
Samantha tilted her head slightly.
"Yes." Samantha said. "I'll need to consult Cameron on this matter. It would require the approval of both her and Derek."
Riley thought it would only create an even bigger problem at this point. She didn't want Cameron to take it the wrong way and remove Samantha from assisting her.
"Never mind…." Riley said. "I've caused enough problems already. I don't want to create any more."
Riley finished up and took Precious back from Samantha.
Samantha went back into standby.
Once Riley was out of the room, Samantha opened her eyes and took out her phone….
Young Allison went through a vigorous workout. She pushed herself as far as she could without risking physical injury. She could tell Anna was about to stop her.
Anna was now worried about Young Allison's health.
"You need to rest." Anna said.
Young Allison didn't want to seem like a slacker. She needed to make sure she was in shape for the future. She thought maybe now it was time to use common sense.
"I'm a little tired out." Young Allison said. "I'll get started again soon."
Anna felt she should have stopped things sooner. She wanted Young Allison to see what the problem really was and what she was doing wasn't the solution.
"You pushed it pretty hard." Anna said. "You're trying to work out your emotional frustrations physically."
Young Allison frowned. She felt Anna hit the nail on the head.
"It doesn't work, does it?" Young Allison asked.
Anna believed the answer was self evident. She wanted to suggest something to help cool Young Allison down.
"By the way you still feel, it should answer your own question." Anna said. "Are you going to go swimming too?"
Swimming sounded good right now but Young Allison was beat.
"I don't feel like swimming right now." Young Allison said.
Anna wondered if it was because Young Allison didn't want to see her 'tween figure'. It made her feel self conscious about her appearance. It would have been one thing to be created like this as opposed to having to give up her mature female attributes.
"I can watch you." Anna said.
Young Allison looked down at her clothes.
"I need to get cleaned up." Young Allison said.
Anna thought Young Allison looked a little worse for the wear.
"I didn't know you were going to do the obstacle course." Anna said.
Young Allison hadn't planned to do anything other than a normal run when she left the house. As she ran, it gave her time to think about things. The more things she thought about the more everything bothered her. She wanted to run the pain away. It didn't work. That was why she'd done the obstacle course.
"I didn't either." Young Allison said. "I just did."
Anna quizzed Young Allison on history on the way home.
"You've learned quite a bit." Anna said as they neared the house.
Young Allison pushed herself hard today.
They were almost home.
Anna wondered if Young Allison would slack off or stay vigilant.
Young Allison quickly glanced at Anna who blinked twice.
"Look, there's that kitten I told you about. It's hiding in the bush here." Young Allison said. "Watch out for its mother, she'll scratch you."
Young Allison bent down and Anna did as well.
They both pulled out their Tasers out behind the bush. They'd detected a threat.
Savannah recognized the ploy for what it was. She didn't want it to go any further.
"OK. Game Over." Savannah said. "You spotted me."
Cameron appeared near where Savannah attempted to hide at. It was clear their 'ambush' failed. She felt an explanation was in order.
"We were just checking." Cameron said. "It never hurts to check."
Anna felt things happened a little too close for comfort. They should have had advanced warning of what was about to happen.
"Where's the Detail at?" Anna asked.
Cameron was proud of her earlier actions.
"They were all neutralized." Cameron said.
Young Allison was alarmed by that answer. She still held her Taser.
"Purple?" Young Allison asked.
Cameron and Savannah looked at each other.
"Cameron's favorite color…." Savannah said jokingly.
Young Allison didn't like that answer. There was protocol to be followed.
"Purple?" Young Allison asked again.
Young Allison took a step back as he raised her Taser.
This alarmed Anna. She reached back and touched her M9.
"Lion…." Savannah answered.
The Tasers disappeared.
Young Allison ran forward and gave Savannah a big hug.
Savannah knew she'd made a big mistake. She hadn't thought it was a big deal. She figured it was when Cameron said that the Detail had been neutralized that raised the alarm.
"I'm sorry for not responding correctly." Savannah said.
Young Allison held onto Savannah. She didn't want to make a big deal about it. She felt very lonely.
"Don't worry about it. It's over." Young Allison said. "I've really missed you."
Savannah held Young Allison tighter and held her close.
"I've missed you as well." Savannah said.
They both held the embrace longer than either planned. They were both hurt and needed comfort, human comfort. They were hurt about different things but hurt was hurt.
They went into the Young residence.
Young Allison went down to the bunker and checked on what was happening. She knew if anything major was that both Anna and her would have been notified. Those were the standing instructions.
"I need to get cleaned up." Young Allison said. "Who wants to help me out? Will it be Savannah, Anna or Cameron?"
Cameron and Anna both started to go to assist Young Allison. They both wanted to wash Young Allison's back. It didn't seem sexual to them. Well, maybe if they washed the front.
Savannah saw Young Allison's ploy for what it was. She stopped Cameron and Anna from going.
"Nice try. You're on your own." Savannah said to Young Allison. "For now…."
Young Allison was very pleased at how quickly Cameron and Anna both responded to her request. She didn't plan for it to be the last one either. Savannah may have put the brakes on things for now but she wasn't always there.
"What a bunch of Killjoys." Young Allison said.
She looked at the three of them and smiled her sly sideways smile. It was just like Cameron did sometimes.
Prior Commitments
Everyone lacks experience
When things first start out
They're filled with lust and joy
They also feel apprehension and doubt
Things are fun and smooth
At least for a little while
Maybe it's not that long
Before one needs to force a smile
No one wants to buckle
They don't want to fail
They know there will be hurt
They don't want to wail
Often there are others
That are near by association
They reach out to assist
They show their appreciation
Things began to happen
They become more than assistants
It's not very long before
One forgets their prior commitments
Nobody