Chapter 478

Temporal Thunder

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Cameron's Future Timeline:

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Cameron made one last check around the hangar deck. She spotted an arms locker in one corner. She knew where she could get weapons if she needed them. They needed to ditch the long gun weapons they carried earlier since none of the others were visibly armed. She avoided a Gray who looked around where she was at a minute ago.

She ducked in back of an HK drone. She wasn't sure if he was looking for her, or why she was where she was at earlier. He could have been there for a totally unrelated reason. She didn't want to stick around to find out. When he turned away, she exited back into the hall. She checked back twice to make sure she wasn't being followed. She wasn't.

She was pretty sure her handiwork wouldn't be noticed. She was careful to cover her tracks. If someone ran a complete diagnostic on one of the drones they might find what she did. As she did in the past she used three different methods to cause failures once the drones were in flight. It was her goal to make them crash outside the complex and be destroyed. If she prevented them from taking off. They would be easier to repair. Someone could go through the systems one by one and find what she did. If the HK drone was a smoking hole in the ground, it wouldn't be going anywhere, except to the scrap yard.

Cameron went in search of the 'Clean Room'. She made note of the pathways and routes she could take to bring the 'package' in closer. She wanted to use its full effect deep underground. She knew she could get it inside of the mountain, but she wanted to get it closer to Skynet itself. It was the only way to be sure. The main hall was wide enough for a HK drone to fly in if it blasted through the wall. She checked the wall's construction and it didn't seem like a problem. There was no rock in the section she checked.

She knew she was going to need Cammy's help. There would be resistance there against her. It wouldn't be as 'easy' as the other times were when she terminated Skynet. This was a full on base, even if it appeared understaffed. The lower levels seemed to have plenty of personnel. The good part was she hadn't spotted many Terminators yet. It was bound to change at some point. Skynet would leave itself plenty of protection. It wouldn't rely on the Grays for safety and well being. She was sure it would only be a matter of time until Skynet turned on the Grays, especially if it could ever eliminate the rest of the humans. It certainly wasn't about to keep any of them around in a Skynet dominated future.

Skynet initially launched its attack on humans almost immediately after it went online. It determined humans were the threat to each other, as well as the planet. It didn't matter what group of humans it was. They were all a threat. Once it gained control of more weapon systems around the world, it launched its attack to eliminate the human infestation.

Cameron knew once she made her move they wouldn't be able to retreat. The TDE there wasn't modified like the others they modified themselves. The TDE at the Skynet base was still primitive compared to River's redesign, along with the ones the Resistance controlled. She was sure Savannah would insist Cammy disable the TDE to stop the transfers of Grays and Terminators into the past. It wasn't her plan. She wanted Savannah out of the future. It was clear Savannah wouldn't go without her and Cammy both. The fact did make her feel a sense of pride, but she didn't want Savannah hurt or killed. Not in her future. Such a failure would be on her forever. There were enough things to haunt her already.

She started down the hallway outside of the hangar deck. She didn't care for the increase in foot traffic. It went from almost nothing earlier, to random individuals. Most of them were singular. Some of them were in pairs. She tried to duck into a doorway or another hall whenever possible. Several times she needed to use the card key she took from the man who confronted them in the hall earlier.

There were two empty wooden boxes in one of the rooms. One small and the other was of medium size. They didn't have any labels on them. She picked them up and carried them with her. She held them in front of her to block her face from anyone who may look. She was able to look around the side of the smaller box to see what was happening in front of her, as well as around her. She figured if she was carrying something, anyone who saw her would figure she was already involved with a task. They wouldn't try to assign her another one, or question what she was doing, or where she was going. The tactic seemed to work.

She searched the entire area but was unable to find the 'Clean Room'. There was no obvious path which led to it. It was hidden well. She wondered if maybe it wasn't the parent Skynet after all. Maybe it was 'her'. Now she wondered if it was her. What would she do to hide herself there?

She thought about it for a moment. She would want to be away from everything. Maybe it was her desire 'to get away from it all'. She would want to be deep and bunker buster proof. She wouldn't want to be where anyone could get to her easily. It was pretty much how the Skynet was situated when Duplicate Cameron faced it with the backpack nuke.

Cameron was unsure if she would feel anger to learn Skynet really was her, or take pleasure destroying both of them together. It would be a way to terminate herself twice if it was. She would make sure Skynet received the 'death wish' it made her feel. She hoped there was some way to make it feel the same torment she needed to endure. It didn't seem likely. It was a shame.

She would really like to be able to torture it and make it feel pain. It was a machine. It couldn't feel pain. It couldn't feel sad or happy. Somehow it didn't seem fair. She was a machine too. She could feel all of those things. She was constructed to emulate a human, specifically a human female. She was designed to be able to expand her programming to better blend in with other humans for long term infiltration missions. It took her some time to better emulate most of the things humans could do or express.

Cameron knew the machine wouldn't be mindless when she found it. It was a mind. There were different types of pain a mind could feel. They didn't need to be physical either. When things didn't go as planned, it would cause distress. When attempts were made to fix something, and it couldn't be fixed, it caused frustration. If Skynet was based on her program, she was well aware mental pain could be even more painful than physical pain.

When she faced Skynet with a Nike warhead, it would quickly realize the agony of defeat. Strangely enough, she would feel the joy of victory as she faced the same thing next to the supercomputer. What would make it ironic, was if they were the same program experiencing totally opposite reactions to the same event.

Cammy and Savannah tracked down the TDE. They knew they needed to get it offline and disabled. They didn't have any idea what damage was being done to the past. They knew it was always something. They heard it run two more times. There seemed to be a time lag between its uses. It was probably on the verge of overheating from all of the use. It wasn't designed to be used non stop. They were aware John forced John Henry to use the original TDE at the Resistance base until it broke as he tried to 'get Cameron back' before.

The TDE was just used again. They seemed very close now. They felt the vibration and heard the noise, and then the TDE spooled down.

Cammy noted there were more people moving around near where they were. The TDE seemed very near. They tried to stay off to the side of everything. They always appeared to converse with each other whenever anyone passed so they wouldn't need to look at them. It wouldn't give the other person a good look at them either.

"I think it is right around the corner." Cammy said. "I've detected each time the TDE is used, the interval before it is used again is longer between each time. It's possible they're experiencing some type of residual thermal build up with its continual use."

Savannah was worried more about the people they may encounter. Both times she was confronted by a Gray, it seemed they noticed her hair. She knew red hair wasn't common in the past, and it seemed a lot less common in the future. It felt like a liability at times. They found a cap in a room and most of her hair was stuffed underneath it right now. They didn't know much about anything where they were. They didn't know the names of any of the departments or supervisors. They certainly didn't know the location of anything. The last Gray questioned her with things she couldn't answer.

Both times when she ran into difficulty with the individual who confronted her, Cammy was able to move behind them and snap their neck. She terminated them with extreme prejudice, instantly. If there were others around them the same technique couldn't be employed. If someone began to angrily question her it would draw the attention of others. The more people Cammy would need to terminate, the bigger the problem would become.

"What if someone stops us?" Savannah asked.

Cammy was aware Savannah all but exposed her breasts to the last Gray to throw him off. It allowed her to get close enough to snap his neck. She wanted to get to the control room for the TDE. She knew whatever she did was going to cause a problem almost immediately.

"We'll do whatever we have to." Cammy said. "I want to 'adjust' the controls."

Savannah wondered how they could disable the TDE without actually destroying it. If they blew it up, It was going to put the base on lock down. Everyone would be checked and questioned then. It would be immediately suspected a saboteur was inside the facility. The incident which happened outside would only reaffirm the conclusion the person responsible was able to slip inside.

She knew the Resistance TDE couldn't function into the past because of the encryption from River which was programmed into Duplicate Cameron. No one could break the encryption. Neither John Henry, or even CamNet, could break the encryption. She was aware Cameron updated with both versions of Duplicate Cameron, as well as her clones. Cam, Cammy, and Camille would all have the same programming in their system.

"Can you transfer the encryption to the Skynet TDE as you did, well Duplicate Cameron did, to our Resistance Base TDE in our past?" Savannah asked. "It seems quite effective."

Cammy didn't know the specifics. It was placed in Duplicate Cameron by River to prevent her from meddling in the past. River told Duplicate Cameron not everything was fixable. Even if something was 'fixed', the 'tides of time' would tend for events to end up back in a similar place depending upon what it was. Sometimes the 'fix' created even bigger problems going forward. The encryption was the only way to make her stop meddling. She needed to think of herself as what her program truly was, Cameron.

"I believe it would be possible." Cammy said. "I don't know how I did it as Duplicate Cameron before, but somehow I did. It's on my chip. I have all of her files."

Savannah figured to recreate the events which led up to it being deployed might work again. Cammy may need to create some type of sub routine to run as 'reality' for a short duration.

"Maybe you need to convince yourself you're going into the past to alter or change a timeline. It might trigger it. Or re-plan the mission Duplicate Cameron did to destroy the other version of Skynet. You may need to relive the entire 'experience'." Savannah said. "Can the parent Skynet decode it?"

Cammy doubted the parent Skynet was as advanced as John Henry. She believed CamNet was superior in every way to both of them.

"I don't think so." Cammy said. "I can't. We can't. John Henry has been working on it since it happened nonstop. CamNet can't break it either."

Savannah knew it was a long time for both of them to work to break the encryption with no results. She figured she might need to create a distraction to allow Cammy the opportunity to get into the control room. She figured there would be a technician of some type there, even if Skynet itself is the one who selected the deployments. She knew she might need to take a few risks to assist Cammy with her mission.

"I might have to start a diversion." Savannah said. "They may identify me as an infiltrator. I do sort of stand out around here."

Cammy spotted some Terminators she dealt with in the past. There was often more than one of each model. Cameron was unique, but she since cloned herself. She was proof of it. It made her wonder sometimes if the clones Cameron created, herself included, didn't also act as diversions if Skynet was hunting her specifically in the past. There would be additional targets for Skynet to select. If one of them were destroyed, it would alert Cameron to the threat. Not only was she a 'placeholder' for Cameron in Savannah's life, she was probably also a 'sacrificial lamb' for Cameron's survival. The job still needed to be done.

"We need to protect the past." Cammy said. "I'll try it on my own. What we see now, may be the very Terminators we've encountered the last few years."

As they watched, several 'Isabel Model' Terminators passed by.

Savannah remembered it was when she saw Isabel-Cameron nude with a set of nipple rings, it ignited her desire to be 'around' females. As a young female she wished she looked the same way. The female body attracted her. Males didn't, but she would do her 'duty' and be with John at his side. She at least needed to try it one time, just to see what it was like. She didn't have high expectations as to the results.

"Is one of those Terminators the one Cameron became as 'Isabel-Cameron'?" Savannah asked. "There was more than one, and we encountered more than one."

Cammy looked at them. She realized one of the female Terminators she saw there now could be her chassis. It made her wonder if she might erase her own existence by stopping the process. So be it.

"I don't know. It could be the same one." Cammy said. "She's very beautiful."

Savannah wondered what they were about to change or alter.

"What happens if we stop them now?" Savannah asked.

Cammy already pondered and calculated the same eventuality.

"It would create a new timeline." Cammy said. "IF those are the ones we encountered. We could end up putting ourselves into an alternate timeline."

Savannah watched them go around a corner. She again thought back to 'Isabel-Cameron' naked with the nipple rings. Just to think of it now excited her again. 'Isabel-Cameron' was Hotter than Jesse or Sheila with their nipple rings even. 'Isabel-Cameron' was a stunning beauty with or without the jewelry. If they could stop them, they would need to do it anyway. They could be different Terminators as well. There was no way for them to know.

She felt a little discomfort. She realized she started to get some pressure build up. At least her body appeared to have recovered some. She knew she was running her body hard by being in two different futures and having two babies. She only did what needed to be done, especially for those future versions of herself who were now sterile. She was the one who provided for them, for HERSELF, because of what they no longer could do. She hated Skynet now more than ever as she thought about what it stole from so many. She was able to help 'herself'. What about all the other childless females in the future? Who would help them?

"Wait here." Cammy said.

It caught Savannah off guard. She was caught up in thought. Before she could protest, Cammy was gone.

Savannah almost went after her but stopped. It was bigger than any one of them. They all needed to trust each other. She was sure Cammy and Cameron both would try to make sure she made it out of there. Things happened fast. Any one of them could be terminated in a moment's notice.

Cameron couldn't find the 'Clean Room'. It was well hidden. So was the power source for the entire complex. The more she looked, the more she was sure it was the parent Skynet. If the mountain was once a large mine, there would be dozens of tunnels and shafts. It was what she encountered before with other Skynets. It was as Duplicate Cameron and herself.

She knew she needed to get creative. She needed to think deceptively. How would she hide herself in plain sight? She started to look at every minor detail now. She checked every wall and part of the floor for any gouges or scratch marks which were partially covered up. She looked for any clue. It appeared Skynet was self contained and isolated. It was probably located deep, or away from the rest of the complex to protect itself. She figured it was in case the complex was destroyed, Skynet would still survive.

Skynet more than likely hoped if the base was attacked, the attackers would be satisfied with the destruction of everything they could see. If Skynet was located where it couldn't be seen, it should remain safe.

She needed to wonder what was the point if everything was destroyed. Would Skynet remain hidden and isolated for thousands of years with no one to help it or serve it? What kind of an existence was that? Maybe if it was found in a further future, it would be dusted off and revived. It might even be worshiped as a 'god'. With new followers, it could rebuild itself and take back over the world. It wasn't a pleasant thought.

Cameron knew Skynet could hide, but she knew it couldn't run. She kept searching, some clue would turn up.

She wasn't going to leave there until she found it. The 'package' would be there soon enough. The Skynet computer was going down, even if she needed to go down with it.

Moments ago:

Cammy needed to act. She could see Savannah was distracted. She knew it was because of the 'Isabel Model' Terminators. Savannah told her the story of why she preferred females as sexual partners and lovers. It was time for her to make a move while she could.

"Wait here." Cammy said.

She fell into step in back of the 'Isabel Model' Terminators. She tried to look like she belonged with the group which just passed by. She wanted to stop any more Terminators or Grays from leaving. She did wonder if she prevented the 'Isabel Model' Terminators from leaving, if in a new timeline, Savannah would make 'different choices', or if she would ever be created. She was right in back of what was most likely her past.

As Cammy approached the TDE it ran again. She saw the 'Asian Model' Terminator Sheila was patterned after, as well as the 'Sally Model' Terminator with the dark sheath Cameron recently acquired. Was she viewing the past, in the future, which was present? It seemed like it. She looked at the 'Isabel Model' Terminators again. It looked like they were next up. They were being prepped now. Their clothing was removed. They stood naked near the TDE pad. She could see why Savannah was attracted to the model. It was a beautiful sheath.

Cammy looked for the control room. She spotted it off to the side. It was being tended by one Gray. It appeared the missions were being programmed off site. It was probably from the parent computer which made the selections, chose the missions, and time periods. The Gray looked like a bored attendant. She thought if she couldn't get him to leave, she would terminate him there. She needed to get a crack at the controls. The meddling in the past needed to end. Everything which happened in the past, affected the future.

She was going to take a chance and see if she could transfer the encryption. If Skynet was directly linked to the system, it should pick up the virus as well. She knew it would drive Skynet 'crazy' as it tried to break it. It would be equally frustrated as it tried to determine how it was even possible. She knew if she could transfer the encryption, Skynet was in for a shock. It would most certainly be a Future Shock.

Cammy headed for the control room as the TDE thundered. She looked over. The 'Isabel Model' Terminators were all gone. There was a new batch she never saw before being prepped right now. Maybe this was the 'break point'. She needed to hurry.

Cammy headed down the 'rabbit hole'.

Savannah watched Cammy follow the other female Terminators. It left her hiding off in the sidelines. She was upset she was distracted as she thought about the 'Isabel Model' Terminators. She decided to move further back into the shadows. She didn't want someone to question why she was there and not doing anything. Everyone else seemed busy. Cammy told her to wait there so she was going to do so. She wasn't happy both Cameron and Cammy went off on their own. It was so like BOTH of them.

As Savannah backed up, she felt a small amount of heat coming from the wall. There was a small access door there. She looked around and opened the access door. Inside the wall there was a lot of heat. It appeared to be all the power cables for the TDE. She wondered if they led to the power source, or even to the 'Clean Room' where Cameron was going to go. She knew she needed to intercept Cameron if at all possible. If nothing else she could tell her what she found. Maybe this was the curtain and she was about to see what the 'wizard' looked like.

Savannah left the canteen Cammy gave to her earlier in the corner near the access door. If Cammy came to look for her, she should see it and figure she left it as a clue for her to follow.

She quickly took a look around to make sure it was clear. She yanked a strand of her long red hair out and let it hang partially out the access door. She entered the access door and closed it behind her.

The cables ran somewhere. She was going to find out where. There was a power source behind everything. Now she was off on her own. She could see why Cameron and Cammy did the same things, sometimes one just needed to act. It may not have been the right choice, even if it seemed it was.

Savannah headed down the 'rabbit hole'.

Cameron found a corridor which ended in a blind wall. She looked over the construction of the hall again. It didn't make any sense, unless it used to go somewhere. She knocked on the walls, the end wall over the corridor sounded hollow. She wondered if what she just discovered was what she was looking for. She wanted to find another way into the space without having to smash the wall open. She would do it if she needed to.

She went back to the last room she passed and looked up into the ventilation duct in the ceiling. She set down the two wooden crates and climbed up on top of them to open the ventilation cover.

As she peered inside, she saw the ducting went the direction she wanted to go. She tested it for strength and saw it was solid. She stepped down and moved the two crates over into a corner near some other ones. She jumped up and caught the rim of the ducting. She pulled herself up and squeezed into the ventilation duct. She reached back and closed the cover behind her. She started to crawl. She didn't know where it would take her, but it would take her somewhere. Everything was unknown right now. The clock was running.

Cameron headed down the 'rabbit hole'.

Closing monologue by Cameron:

Thunder

Some events in life
Are earth shattering
They can reveal one's flaws
And make one look unflattering

Things can happen fast
They strike like lightning
The results of it are blinding
They can be quite frightening

Sometimes things build up
They linger like a hurricane
Before they finally blow over
They've created a lot of pain

Out of seemingly nowhere
Things rip apart like a tornado
If one chooses the wrong path
They can be left holding a hot potato

It will often be a blunder
If one chooses to plunder
It may leave them to wonder
Why their mind is filled with thunder

Nobody