Chapter 1563

Don't Get Caught

Young Allison watched the drone footage of the UH-1 set down two miles away from the damaged HK drone. It sat in the dry riverbed. Randy exited and started towards the location the downed HK drone was at. The Iroquois lifted back off and headed out a little further.

Randy ran at 'Terminator speed' and covered the ground very quickly. When he was a quarter of a mile out, he slowed and paused.

Young Allison's thoughts were interrupted. She was given the feed of 'Coltan Overcast'. She saw Young Jesse blow it a kiss. She didn't have any audio. It made her wonder what it was all about. Maybe the kiss was for her. She could see how Savannah was captivated by her. Her lips were full and beautiful.

Anna made a cough sound.

Young Allison knew Anna didn't cough. It was for her benefit. She quickly switched back to the drone footage which looked down on the damaged HK drone and Randy.

"Make sure there's nothing moving through the dry riverbed in either direction." Young Allison said. "The sun will be up very soon. This needs to play out by then."

Randy carefully made his way forward the last quarter mile.

Anna monitored all their drone feeds.

"I have a flatbed tow truck approaching the downed HK drone on the side road." Anna said. "It's three miles out. It just made the final turn to reach the cut off for the road which runs along the wash. There's a car on the back of it already so it didn't seem like our target at first."

Young Allison looked at the images. It was what she didn't see which caused her concern.

"Keep a lookout for anything in the air, especially low to the ground." Young Allison said. "I don't trust Skynet on any of this."

Randy moved within a hundred yards of the damaged HK drone.

The HK drone faced away from him. It was the approach they'd used. There was a slight cloud of dust which formed around the HK drone.

"The HK drone is powering up." Anna said.

Young Allison suspected the ploy.

"I knew it was playing possum." Young Allison said. "Get ready for a gravity shot if Randy can't stop it."

They watched Randy raise his M4 and take the shot with a 'sticky shocker' round from the M203 unit below the barrel.

The shot was good and the HK drone powered back down.

"The flatbed tow truck is one mile out." Anna said.

Randy ran and closed the distance. He moved right up to within fifty feet of the HK drone. He moved to the side of the dry riverbed. He wanted the driver and the passenger to exit the flatbed tow truck. It would give him a clean shot with his silenced M9.

The flatbed pulled up a minute later. He heard two doors open and close.

"I thought you said this thing was turned on." The first voice said.

"They said it would be." The second voice said. "We were supposed to dump this car we picked up, and it was supposed to fly onto the back of the flatbed."

"Call HQ and see what they say." The first voice said.

Randy poked his head out some. He wanted a clean shot. The driver of the flatbed held a phone. He began to fool with it.

"Son of a Bitch…." The second voice said.

"What's wrong?" The first voice asked.

"I made the call and they answered. When I went to talk, my phone went dead." The second voice said. "Let me try it again."

"Let me try mine." The first voice said. "It's dead too."

"They said we needed to get this done before it was daylight." The second voice said.

"Let's see if we can winch this thing up." The first voice said.

The two men walked over to the inactive HK drone.

Randy didn't know for sure if they were Grays or someone working for the Grays. They didn't seem too surprised at what the HK drone was. He figured they were Grays or would be soon enough. They were collaborators if nothing else.

The men went down the side of the dry river bank. As soon as they reached the HK drone he fired twice. Both men fell. He moved out from his place of concealment among some rocks and approached the men. They were both terminated. There was no one else in the truck either.

"The Iroquois is on its way." Anna said.

Randy could hear it thirty seconds later. It moved fast right up the riverbed.

In another thirty seconds the UH-1 hovered right above the ground next to the downed drone. It kicked up some sand and small rocks.

Randy tossed the two dead Grays inside and made sure the cable was ready to attach the HK drone under the UH-1. It was soon taken care of. The UH-1 lifted up four feet more and drifted over the top of the HK drone. He secured it and climbed up on top of it and inside the UH-1.

Brian looked back and saw Randy was in. He gave him 'a thumbs up'. He lifted the HK drone as Randy strapped in. He started down the riverbed back the way he'd come. The drone was only six feet off the bottom of the dry riverbed as they flew away at low altitude. The eastern sky was brighter now. The sun would be up soon.

Anna watched one man from the truck make the call from the drone footage.

CamNet allowed the call to go through before she killed the phones.

"Did CamNet get a location?" Young Allison asked.

Anna checked with CamNet.

"Yes." Anna said. "There's a drone headed there now."

Young Allison watched the Grays get terminated and the Huey arrive. The bodies were taken care of. They were loaded into the helicopter. The procedure went smoothly to attach the HK drone to the helicopter. The UH-1 was soon away.

"It looks like they made it away OK." Young Allison said.

Anna monitored everything.

"Maybe they haven't yet." Anna said.

Young Allison looked over her screens.

"What do you have?" Young Allison asked.

Anna didn't like what she viewed.

"Trouble…." Anna said.

Sheila watched the Gray in the room from outside the doorway. It looked like he monitored something. She didn't know what it was. There appeared to be a number of security screens. They were all nothing but 'snow'.

She moved a little further into the room. There was no one else in it. The room may have been the security center, or at least a secondary one. It was blinded right now from the jamming field John Henry put in place.

It didn't look like any of the monitors showed the lower level they were on. It was a good thing for them, even if it was an oversight on Skynet's part. It was clear Skynet felt secure down there.

Sheila moved up behind him to snap his neck.

A phone rang.

She paused and backed up.

"Hello." The Gray said.

Pause.

"Harrison's on his way." The Gray said.

Pause.

"Is the 'Metal Bitch' still offline?" The Gray asked.

Pause.

"It's too bad." The Gray said. "I was hoping to 'do' her."

Pause.

"I know, right…." The Gray said.

Pause.

"Don't get caught." The Gray said.

The Gray hung up the phone.

Sheila snapped his neck as he adjusted his 'junk' in his pants. She figured he died with a happy thought inside of his mind, before his world went black. She tucked him away behind the console and disabled the phone.

She exited the room and went the same direction Ally and Cam went. She wanted to link up with them.

Cam and Ally followed the Gray who'd said he was going to make a personal report to the male Terminator. He was referred to as 'Robby The Robot'. There may be a problem with the female Terminator. They referred to her as the 'Metal Bitch'. It seemed to be a very standard reference to female Terminators.

They watched him enter a room with large computers inside.

"It looks like the 'clean room'." Ally whispered.

Cam nodded. She moved up to a small window in the door and peeked one eye into the glass.

There was a male and a female in there. They both looked like Terminators. They were both active. There was the Gray who'd entered and another Gray in there working at a keyboard. She watched him hang up a phone.

Sheila caught up to Ally and Cam. They hadn't gone far. She didn't want to spook them.

"I'm behind you." Sheila whispered. "I don't want to get zapped."

Cam motioned for her to stay where she was to watch their six.

"Let's wait a minute and see if anyone will come out." Cam whispered. "If either of the Grays exits, we'll take them out."

Cam and Ally backed up into another dark alcove. They hoped to find out as much as they could before they needed to act.

Sheila moved back a little further the way she'd come from.

Hanna went after the Gray Cammy indicated she should follow. She trailed him to a room near the end of a hall. He went inside. She moved up to the door and listened. There was no talking, but she heard some kind of activity in there.

She moved to the room at the end and listened. It was quiet there. She opened the door and looked in. The room was dark. She didn't detect anyone. She entered the room and closed the door. She didn't close it tight. She wanted to monitor what happened in the hall.

The room contained computer gear. It looked like it was older. She wasn't sure it was a good thing. If this was previously some version of Skynet, it appeared to have been around for awhile. It wasn't hooked up. She looked out into the hall again and went back to the computer gear. There were some hard drives in some of the computers. She quickly removed them. She went back to the door and looked. The door to the other room was open. She stashed the hard drives in her gear and quickly exited the room. She moved to the open door and was about to look in.

The Gray she'd followed was standing there. There was a look of surprise on his face. He opened his mouth to call for help. She quickly grabbed him by the neck and crushed it before he could scream.

There was another Gray in there with his back to her.

He heard the commotion and turned to look.

Hanna dropped the Gray she'd just terminated and did the same to the other Gray. She went and looked back in the hall. It was clear. She moved the two Grays into the end room and stashed them out of the way. She didn't want anyone to find them before they were able to get a good look around. She locked the door as she exited.

She went back into the room she'd just killed the Grays in and searched it. It looked like a communications room. Everything was locked up. She left it as it was with the lights on and closed the door. She went back the way she'd come. She wanted to link back up with Cammy and Samantha.

Samantha went the way Cammy instructed her to go. It was a dark passage. There were two rooms. There was one on each side. She listened outside of each one and then checked them. They were empty. It looked like some consoles were recently removed. She wondered if it was some of the stuff which ended up at the mine.

She wasn't sure what was wrong with this location. It seemed like a good one and it was bunker buster proof. Then again, they were all down there now and apparently undetected so far. She went back out to the main hall. The elevator shaft was to the right. The hall led the other way.

Samantha paused and listened. She was pretty sure the elevator was on its way down. She was about to go look. She spotted Sheila down the hall to her right as she faced the elevators and Hanna was at the far end of the hall.

Cammy wanted to find Skynet. She went in the direction of the Gray who'd passed by earlier came from. There was a distinct hum the further she moved along.

She came to a door. It was locked. She looked at the keypad. She didn't have time to fool with it. She was pretty sure the power source was inside the room.

Cammy pushed on the door to force it open. She wondered if the door was wired to an alarm. She decided it didn't matter. They needed to get the operation concluded. She pushed the door open. It was a metal door. It bent before it opened.

There was a medium sized large power cell in there. It hummed and gave off a throb pulse sound. She looked over the control panel and tried to see how to shut it down. She felt a 'tingling' sensation throughout her chassis every time it throbbed. She could see the room was insulated with some type of foil material. It was probably to protect the electrical equipment and the Terminators.

There was a sound behind her. She turned around and a Gray stood there with his side arm pointed at her.

"Intruder…." The Gray shouted.

He fired at her. She dodged out of the way. The projectiles struck the instrument panel and the power cell. When it happened, an alarm went off. It was loud and could most likely be heard everywhere down there. The gunshots would have been heard as well.

There was a bright flash. Cammy felt paralyzed for a second.

She was able to get off one shot before she fell to her knees. She struck the Gray. He fell over backwards.

There was a strong vibration and the pitch of the power cell changed. She could visibly see it vibrate now. She looked at the smashed control panel. The bullet holes in it seemed to indicate there'd be no help from it.

She was able to stand in a second. The control panel began to smoke. The throb of the power cell increased. There was a 'hiss' sound where the bullet impacted the power cell. There was another bright flash of light and she was paralyzed again. She fell to the floor.

Cammy experienced something like this before. She needed to get the Metal girls and get out. She needed to get out of the room first. The further they could get from those pulses. The less affected they would be. The pulses would continue to grow in strength as the power supply became critical before it ruptured and exploded.

She made it out into the hall. There was another pulse. She fell to the ground. She saw Hanna lying on the ground as she tried to go back the way she'd come. She could only manage to move on her hands and knees. It appeared it was all Hanna could do too.

Sheila, Ally and Cam all heard what sounded like gunshots. It was bad news. Their team all carried suppressed or silenced weapons. It meant the gunfire was from a Gray. One of the team had most likely been discovered and shot at. An alarm sounded. A second later they all felt a pulse of energy. They were momentarily paralyzed. They all staggered but remained upright.

Cam read the reports from Cameron about another encounter like this.

"We need to get away from here, now." Cam said. "If we don't, we're going to get stuck down here."

Ally wanted to take down the clean room first.

"Let's finish the job." Ally said.

They all felt another pulse of energy. They were all paralyzed for a second.

Sheila moved her fingers.

"It didn't seem as bad." Sheila said.

Cam knew it would fluctuate and vary. The pluses would be worse sometimes and less others. They would also seem to have a cumulative effect.

She looked in through the little window. No one inside seemed affected. There must be some kind of insulation. She didn't feel they could wait around without some type of negative impact. The Grays wouldn't be affected the same way Terminators were.

"We need to go." Cam said.

Camille made her move to follow the Grays. Gail dropped in on her six. They didn't know how many Grays there were. They'd encountered only small groups so far. They still didn't know where they came from.

There was a dead Gray just inside the doorway she'd received hostile fire from.

She went past the doorway across to the far side. She didn't draw any gunfire. Gail moved up to the other side of the doorway.

Camille looked at Gail in the light. She was filthy. She was covered from head to toe with dirt and dust which clung to her clothes. It was the stuff which wouldn't brush off.

Camille spoke with Gail in a low decibel level only another Terminator could hear.

"There's a Gray back twenty three feet, he's five feet off on your side of the doorway." Camille whispered. "He's wounded. I didn't spot any others."

Gail and Camille knew the Gray waited for them to enter the doorway before he'd opened fire. He was sure to shoot at least one of them if not both. If he knew they were Terminators or not was another issue. He'd seen Camille was female if nothing else.

"Let's open up on him from out here." Gail whispered.

Camille nodded. She wanted things over and to get back to Young Jesse.

They both stuck their M4 around the corner and fired blindly at the spot Cam indicated. Gail fired low at ankle level and Camille fired at lower abdomen height. They were most likely to score hits firing blind.

They heard a muffled cry of pain.

They both changed their magazine and hit the bolt release.

Camille entered the room. The Gray was sprawled on the floor. The area where he'd been was chewed up.

She moved forward into the room. She left Gail at the doorway to watch their six. She checked over the fallen Gray and looked around the room

"It's clear." Camille said. "The Gray's terminated. There's no one else."

They exited out from the room and went back the way they'd come.

Gail felt guilty about leaving Young Jesse. She didn't care for the looks Camille gave her earlier. She didn't feel she'd done anything wrong under the circumstances.

"Young Jesse told me if I didn't go to assist you, she was going to go." Gail said.

Camille thought it sounded like Young Jesse. She'd also heard the exchange. She didn't want Gail to feel guilty or self conscious about it.

"She would have." Camille said. "One of the drones is with her."

It still didn't make Gail feel any better.

They stopped by the hangar area and checked on everything there. They saw 'Coltan Overcast' was in the hangar and active. It flew slowly around the hangar area. Camille started the forklift and drove it inside past the inner set of blast doors. Gail followed behind her as she scanned both sides of the room.

Camille noticed 'Cherry Bomb' setting in the middle of the room. She didn't see Young Jesse. She noticed the drum of cable over the shaft was spinning. It wasn't pulling cable up, it was playing it out. The elevator was going down!

She drove the forklift past 'Cherry Bomb' and hopped off of it. She ran to the shaft and saw the outer doors of the elevator were propped open and the 'package' was gone. She leaned over and looked down the shaft. There was no sign of Young Jesse, the 'package', or the elevator car.

"No!" Camille said. "I need to go after her. I can't let anything happen to her."

Gail thought Camille was about to jump and grab the cable as it unwound. She looked at the spool of cable. It was almost played out.

"Wait." Gail said. "It's getting ready to stop."

Three seconds later the cable slowed and stopped.

Camille looked down the shaft one more time and went over to the direct line for communication Samantha and Hanna took with them.

"She better be on this line pretty soon." Camille said.

Gail wasn't sure if she'd be able to get to it.

The lights all flickered once.

Gail and Camille looked at each other. It didn't seem to be a positive development.

"What was that?" Gail asked.

It happened again a few seconds later. It became intermittent afterwards.

Camille understood what the end result was going to be.

"We're losing the power." Camille said. "The elevator is going to get stuck down there."

Young Jesse was on top of the elevator. She didn't know how far down it would go. She could feel a pressure change at one point.

There was a slight slowing sensation and the elevator stopped with a mild jolt.

She looked over the front of the elevator. She could see a set of outer doors with a gap of dim light between them. She was at the bottom.

She briefly wondered if there was more than one lower lever. The mine was several layers deep.

She heard what sounded like a gunshot and then an alarm. It seemed like things just got worse. It looked like she was on the right level anyway. She took a deep breath. She touched the backpack nuke with her left hand. She was there to deliver it and make sure it exploded. Her life was most likely on a timer at this point. So be it. Skynet needed to be stopped.

The Terminator listened as footfalls moved around the top of the roof. It sounded as if it was only one man. He knew at least one man went around to the east side.

The truck driver of the second truck was the one who went up on the roof. He paused for a moment after he made it over the top. He looked around in the darkness. He could see there was a small fire burning over near the railroad tracks, not too far from where the next major street crossed it at.

"Homeless losers…." The truck driver muttered to himself.

He went over to the first skylight and looked inside. He couldn't see any signs of movement. He could see there were some crates and containers inside of the building. He wanted to get a better angle so he could see what else he was able to spot.

The truck driver spotted the roof access hatch.

"Here we go." The truck driver muttered to himself.

He went over to the cover on top of it and attempted to lift it. It didn't budge.

"Typical…." The truck driver said.

The truck driver left the roof access hatch and went over to the next skylight. He was able to see all the way over to the east side of the building.

"What the hell?" The truck driver asked.

He could see something was missing. It was the two boxcars. He went back to the roof access hatch and tried it again. The results were the same. It didn't budge.

"Piece of crap…." The truck driver said.

The truck driver went back over to where the external roof access ladder was at. He didn't see either one of the other two men. He figured they were on the east side. He went down the ladder and could see he would have a little bit of a jump. He reached down and grabbed the second exposed rung of the ladder. He lowered his body down until he was hanging by his arms. He let go and dropped a few feet down to the ground. He landed on his feet.

"It wasn't too bad." The truck driver muttered to himself.

He hurried over towards the east side.

Minutes ago:

The first and second man headed towards the east side of the building.

The second man tried the door. It was locked. He moved over to where the elevated door was at and attempted to lift it. It was locked as well.

"I already tried both of those." The first man said.

The second man didn't want to make a big deal about it.

"We need to see if we can loosen something up before we break it." The second man said.

Two men reached the rail siding on the east side. They went up on the external loading dock. They tried both of the doors located there. Nothing moved. They jump down off of the dock and approached the double doors over the railroad track where it went into the building.

"Do these doors open inward or outward?" The second man asked.

The first man could see a few circular scrape marks on the pavement which extended out of the building before it turned into the wooden ties with the ballast underneath.

"It looks outward to me." The first man said.

The second man looked further at the doors.

"There are no external hinges or we could try to knock the retaining pins out of them." The second man said.

Two men pulled on the doors. There was a little bit of play in them. It wasn't very much.

"The doors seemed pretty secure to me." The first man said.

The two men started to walk back the direction they'd come from.

They were almost to the south side of the building when they spotted the truck driver come around the corner.

"The boxcars are gone." The truck driver said.

The two men weren't sure what the big concern was.

"They were probably unloaded and moved away." The first man said.

"We are here to pick up what was in them." The second man said. "They told us we would need to make at least three trips each."

The truck driver thought about what he saw and didn't see inside of the building when he looked.

"I didn't see any HK equipment inside of the building." The truck driver said.

"Maybe it's been moved by the loading doors." The second man said.

"We're going to need to go inside." The first man said.

The three men went back to the south side of the building.

A short time ago:

The Terminator felt the truck driver attempt to open the roof hatch one more time. He heard the footsteps move away. He heard some 'clanging' over by the ladder. He figured the man went down.

He decided to go down the interior ladder into the building. He moved over towards the east wall. He could hear the men outside attempt to open the doors on the external siding. They were both securely latched from the inside. He moved further north in the building until he was near the doors for the internal rail siding.

He wanted to see if the men could figure out how to open them the same way he'd done. They couldn't. He didn't think they tried very hard either. He followed their progress Along the east side as they went towards the rear of the building. He heard the exchange between them and the truck driver.

The Terminator felt it was time to invite the men inside of the building. He hadn't been able to gain much useful information from them other than the possibility someone named 'Ajax' was probably a Terminator.

He went over to the door on the south side near the single bay loading door. He quietly unlocked it. He moved away from it.

The truck driver hadn't tried the two doors on the south side when he'd hurried around to the east side.

He went up to the door to turn the handle.

"It's locked." The second man said.

"I couldn't open it either." The first man said.

The truck driver started to lower his hand before trying it. He lifted it back up and turned the handle. The door opened.

"No way…." The first man said.

"I must have the magic touch." The truck driver said.

The second man hurried over to the door.

"Close it, man." The second man said. "I want to try it myself."

The truck driver started to close the door.

"Maybe one of us should go inside before we close the door and get locked out again." The first man said.

The first man went inside of the building and closed the door behind him.

The second man tried to open it. The handle turned and he opened the door

The other two Grays entered the building. They immediately went over to the loading dock where the boxcars were supposed to have been parked. They didn't spot any HK equipment anywhere.

"They're gone." The second man said.

"Where'd they go?" The truck driver asked.

"They're just gone." The second man said.

The three Grays continued to look around the interior.

The Terminator shadowed them as they moved around. They stayed together as a group.

The Grays headed for the office area.

"Wait out here." The first man said.

The first man looked at the truck driver.

"What for?" The truck driver asked. "I doubt you're going to find a bimbo occupying the 'comfort bunk'."

The first and second man already discussed the prospect.

"Just make sure the area out here stays clear." The first man said.

The first and second man entered the hallway. The truck driver remained outside the door.

The Terminator decided to make his move.

The female Fanatic and Jill could go no further. The water continued to rise around them. It looked like it was the end of the line. The water was halfway up their torsos.

"We're trapped." Jill said. "We didn't know this was going to happen."

The female Fanatic shined her light around to see why there was more room where they currently stood. She spotted something she didn't expect to see.

"There's a ladder." The female Fanatic said. "We need to go up it now."

Jill turned around and saw the ladder with her light. She quickly jammed the phone into her pocket and grabbed the ladder. She pulled herself up a couple of rungs. She reached back for Jackie. She could see the water was all the way up to her neck. She held her phone above her head to light the area.

"Come on." Jill said. "We can both fit on here at the same time. You need to come up now."

The female Fanatic handed her phone up to Jill and started up the ladder behind her. Her body was next to Jill's on the outside of her, but a couple of feet lower. The water continued to rise behind them. The entire tunnel was completely flooded at this juncture.

Jill could see there was some type of manhole cover above her. She moved up a little further and pushed on it with one hand. Her other hand was wrapped around the ladder as it held the light. She looked back down and could see Jackie below her. The water was up to her waist. It still seemed to be rising, but at a much slower rate.

"Climb up higher." Jill said. "Take the phone."

The female Fanatic climbed up as high as she could. Her feet were one rung below Jill's feet. She held on around the outside of her body.

"I'll hold you in place." The female Fanatic said. "Try to push with both hands."

Jill could feel Jackie's body pull tight against her. She felt secure enough to let both of her hands go on the ladder. She reached above her head and pushed. The hatch didn't move.

"It won't budge." Jill said.

Jill tried again. There was no change.

The female Fanatic felt the water level change around her waist.

"The water's going down." The female Fanatic said. "We're not going to drown."

The female Fanatic and Jill watch the water level start to go down even quicker than it had risen.

Lena and Tina could see the main building was a total loss. They proceeded to head towards the other outbuildings.

They cautiously approached one of the outbuildings they hadn't been inside of earlier. The earlier drone scans hadn't been able to provide them with much detailed information.

Lena held her silenced M9 in her right hand. She reached for the door handle with the other hand. The door was unlocked.

Tina held her silenced M9 and Taser. She nodded at Lena.

Lena pulled the door open in one swift motion.

Tina entered with both of her weapons up. She covered the front and left side.

Lena followed behind her. She covered the right side and behind them.

The two female Terminators quickly made their way through the building. There was no one inside. They didn't see anything of value either. They made their way back outside and proceeded to the next outbuilding.

They quickly went through all of the outbuildings. They didn't find any more Grays.

They looked back at the remains of the burning building. There were a few of the steel structures which still stood inside of the mostly collapsed building. They were twisted and leaned at strange angles.

They decided to burn all the buildings. They started a fire in each of them.

"It appears we're done here." Lena said.

Tina looked back at the burning structures.

"I think everything turned out rather successful." Tina said. "For us anyway."

Lena felt things could have gone a lot worse then they had.

"We need to get the two big rigs out of here." Lena said.

They proceeded to make their way back to the main entry road of the complex. They stayed off to the side of it and didn't walk directly down the middle of it. They knew they were back-lit by anyone who might be on the outside of the compound. Without any drone coverage, they really didn't know what else was out there. CamNet couldn't provide them with any detailed information. She told them more drones were on the way.

The big rigs were where they'd left them. They did a quick circuit around them to make sure everything looked the same. There were no new footprints other than their own near them. They each climbed into one and started it. They drove back onto the road. It didn't take them long to reach the main highway.

They made a turn onto the main highway and continued in the direction they'd gone to reach the complex. They didn't want to go back past any of the areas they'd already been to. They were driving trucks which belong to Skynet in some way. It was possible someone could identify them easily. They would need to watch around them and behind them to make sure they weren't followed.

Lena led and Tina followed her. They put some distance behind them and the facility they'd just destroyed.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Temporal Mission:

Past Timeline:

November 26 1963

XXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The eastern sky showed some brightness as they left the safe house. It made traveling a little easier for Young Allison. She could see they were on a different route from yesterday. It didn't appear as if they would go to Stony Point first. They moved north and west on several horse trails.

They went up a small ridge north of the curve of the railroad tracks into Tunnel 28.

"Topanga Canyon Boulevard will be extended right up through this section of the hills." Cameron said.

They paused when they reached Mayan Drive. There was no traffic on it. They were on the north side of Santa Susana Pass Road.

Young Allison looked behind them.

Cameron understood what Young Allison wanted to check.

"The sun will rise in three minutes, two minutes." Cameron said.

They continued forward for a short time longer and paused. They turned and watched the sunrise. They started on their way again.

Young Allison thought about some of the stories Allison told her about the future. There'd been over a decade without a visible sunrise. Even when they'd started again, they weren't very clear and intermittent. It was something she hoped to prevent from happening. She needed to focus on where they were at. There was no clear cut trail they were on any longer.

"The 118 Freeway we'll run right through the middle of this small valley through a big cut in the hill in front of us." Cameron said. "Right now this is still one big movie ranch."

Young Alison spotted what looked like the entrance to a cave.

"I think I see one of the sets." Young Allison said. "The cave entrance looks out of place."

Cameron took a look around to make sure no one was near them. She didn't spot anyone. They headed for the 'cave'. They reached the entrance of it. She took a moment to look at the outside of it.

"This is all built on the outside of the rocks behind it." Cameron said. "It's made to look like it belongs here."

Young Allison wondered if she'd seen it in any of the movies. More than likely she had at some point.

They entered the 'cave'. As soon as they'd gone into it ten feet, they could see the wooden construction which affixed the outside of the 'cave' to the hill in back of it. It went around a corner and came out through another opening. From the outside of both openings, it looked like they went into a cave. More than likely whatever was to be filmed inside of the cave was done on a sound stage at one of the studios. They would probably have several false rock walls with multiple cameras to film the different images of people interacting with each other.

Young Allison was pleased to have found the location.

"I think this is pretty cool." Young Allison said. "It looks like most of the terrain around here is set up for more open area shots."

Cameron nodded as she looked around.

"The entire area has been used in all different types of movies." Cameron said. "Everything from Westerns to Science Fiction movies has been filmed on this property."

Young Allison looked up towards the top of Oat Mountain. She could clearly see what looked like a giant golf ball at the Fire Control Center for LA-88.

"How does the large white radar dome figure in?" Young Allison asked.

Cameron believed a careful camera operator could keep it out of the shot. Sometimes in a shot with motion, the radar dome was captured.

"It's made a brief appearance in more than one movie." Cameron said. "It usually happens so quickly, nobody is able to notice it. You need to remember there's no instant rewind. There isn't any way to freeze the image on the television screen or a movie screen for people to review it, frame by frame, like they do in more modern times."

Young Allison wondered if some people missed the point of what a movie was about. It was supposed to be about entertainment. Not everything was always a hundred percent accurate in any movie ever made.

"I think some people miss the point." Young Allison said.

Cameron frowned slightly.

"Sometimes people get lost in their own little worlds." Cameron said. "They're usually the people who never actually do anything. It's easy to be a 'Chairborne Warrior' or an 'Armchair Quarterback'. It's a lot harder to actually do something."

It reminded Young Allison of a couple of sayings she'd heard over the years.

"Those who can do. Those who can't teach." Young Allison said.

Cameron smiled. She wanted to add a new layer to it.

"Those who can do. Those who can't also criticize." Cameron said. "What they don't realize is all they're doing is highlighting their own shortcomings and personal failures."

Young Allison was aware a lot of people didn't like the way Cameron did things. it wasn't so much the case anymore, but it was at first and in the future.

"When push comes to shove, few people are willing to put their money where their mouth is." Young Allison said. "I guess it's one thing which never changes."

Cameron couldn't help but think about what she'd heard when she was on the cruise ship. It was one of the waiters talking to the assistant waiter. They were at a different table. The conversation was in Castilian. The two crew members were from Spain.

"It's almost like some of these people go on vacation just to be unhappy." The waiter said.

"I've seen it before." The assistant waiter said. "Instead of trying to make the best out of a situation, they want to make it the most miserable for themselves. I would like to see what their bar tab is when they get off the ship for some of them. I bet it's substantial."

Young Allison could see Cameron was drifting.

"Where do we go next?" Young Allison asked.

Cameron looked over a small rise in front of them.

"I can hear some trucks just ahead of us." Cameron said. "I think they're getting ready to set up to shoot a few scenes."

Young Allison thought about their encounter last night.

"Do you think we'll see Tiny?" Young Allison asked.

Cameron hoped so. She didn't know what all they would find once they made it over the rise. They might be asked off the set. She hoped Tiny was there and would vouch for them if a situation developed. She figured she could also strip down and just wear the gun belt with the holster and be the 'Sexiest Gun In The West'. She didn't think anyone would complain any longer. Nudity didn't bother her. If someone didn't care for it, it was their hang up, not hers.

"I hope so." Cameron said. "He seemed like a nice person."

Cameron and Young Allison made their way to the top of the rise.

Don't Get Caught

One's life can be very complicated
It can't be viewed through a snapshot
It's bound to leave them reeling
If not deflated and distraught

Some count their winnings too early
Once they think they've hit the jackpot
More than likely they'll end up
As little more than a mascot

The ones who learn the most
Will be the ones who are self taught
They don't need to be a genius
Or some kind of robot

Stay on the accelerator of life
Plow through strife like a juggernaut
Things that were an issue
Should be firewalled and forgot

Everything which is done
Needs to be more than an afterthought
Focus on the future
Don't get caught

Nobody