Chapter 616

Towers

Cammy left Al and hurried forward. There was only silence in front of her. She wondered if Cameron was incapacitated. She knew she needed to hurry but didn't want to get Tasered herself.

She saw two figures on the ground, neither one of them moved. They were both Terminators, one was Cameron.

Cameron was down!

Cammy moved up with her Taser ready. She didn't know who would reboot or if anyone was terminated yet. She needed to consider someone might be playing possum to draw her in closer. It was a risk she was willing to take. She moved right up to them to check on Cameron. A half a second apart there were two sets of red eyes.

It appeared they were Tasered in the same instant.

Cameron and the Terminator both started to move at the same time.

Cammy fired her Taser and took the Terminator down again.

He may or may not have had time to realize not only did he face the 'Metal Bitch' and she was real. There were two of her!

Cameron sat up. She was glad to see Cammy. Otherwise she'd be rolling around on the ground with the Terminator in a struggle for survival. Each would attempt to gain the advantage over the other. It would be brutal and noisy. Whoever found a Taser first would be the victor. She looked over at the Skynet Terminator.

"Thanks, Cammy." Cameron said. "It appears we both Tasered each other at the same time. He knew I knew he was coming. I knew he knew I was ready for him."

Cameron looked around and found her Taser. She picked it up. She looked at the downed Terminator and pulled out her knife.

Cammy looked all around them in the darkness.

"Is there anyone else?" Cammy asked.

Cameron remembered the sounds of a struggle as she was deactivated.

"There were two Grays." Cameron said.

Cammy smiled faintly. The problem was taken care of. She didn't hear any shooting from the directions she sent Al when she moved forward to check on Cameron. She was sure everything behind her was in order.

"I wouldn't worry about them. We took out two Grays." Cammy said. "Are there any other threats?"

Cameron could still hear the electrical hum. It was in the distance somewhere.

"I don't know. This is as far as I've gone." Cameron said. "I needed to check a lot of divergent routes. It slowed me down a lot. I couldn't check any of them very far. I didn't hear anything on any of them."

Cammy hadn't checked them either. She followed the trail Cameron left on the ground.

"You saved me a lot of time by marking the path." Cammy said.

Cameron removed the chip from the Terminator. She looked back in the direction Cammy came from. There were more people about to arrive. Luckily, they were part of her group.

Cammy recognized a familiar voice.

"I believe Savannah is on her way." Cammy said.

The thought of Savannah's arrival pleased Cameron as much as it troubled her. The earlier incident on the road near the mine bothered her. She still felt it was her mistake for not stopping to make sure everyone in the vehicle was terminated.

"She shouldn't be here." Cameron said. "I'm pushing her too hard. I endangered Savannah and Young Allison."

Cameron blamed herself for what almost happened earlier. She was afraid if she kept thinking about it, it was going to start affecting her judgment on other things. She sent Cammy on the earlier mission. Savannah came looking for Cammy when she missed the rendezvous to go to Palmdale. She was to take Young Allison back home. It should have been a fun day for the girls to spend with each other. Instead they ended up fighting for their lives. She didn't think anything where they currently were was even close to being concluded.

Cammy saw it as over and done with. Their team won. It was the only thing which mattered.

"Don't worry about it or dwell on it." Cammy said. "The threat is over. We need to be focused on what we're about to face. There are bound to be a lot of unknowns around here."

Cameron and Cammy turned back toward the direction they came from. There was someone coming. They were almost there.

"Purple." Cammy said.

The reply was instant.

"Yellow Jacket." Savannah said.

Cameron didn't like Savannah so close to the danger. She wanted to make sure the path forward was clear. If there was going to be any type of gunfire, she would rather draw herself.

"Wait for them." Cameron said. "I'll scout ahead. We don't know what's in front of us."

Cammy thought it sounded like a bad idea. She knew Savannah wouldn't like it.

"Cameron…." Cammy said.

Cameron looked back at the downed Terminator. The incident was a close one for her. She thought of the earlier trouble on the road. It still bothered her.

"I won't go too far ahead." Cameron said. "I'd rather find the danger myself. I don't want to mess up again."

Cameron wanted to be out in front to protect Savannah as much as she could. She wasn't happy Savannah was inside the mine. It was all totally unknown and Skynet related. Nobody knew where any of it was headed. She needed to know what Skynet was up to in the mine before she shut it down. The entire area looked like a high value target in the making, if it wasn't already.

Cammy watched Cameron move off to scout ahead. She searched the Terminator for any useful information. There wasn't any she could find.

A short while later Savannah and her team arrived.

They exchanged any information first, their personal greetings followed. Savannah gave Cammy a quick hug.

"Is Cameron alright?" Savannah asked.

Savannah saw the deactivated Terminator and wasn't too happy about it. She would've been even unhappier to know Cameron and the Terminator both Tasered each other.

Cammy only reported Cameron deactivated the Terminator.

"Yes, she's just up ahead. The Terminator used the Grays as bait." Cammy said. "Cameron deactivated this Terminator and pulled his chip."

Savannah searched the dead Grays before she moved up to where Cammy was.

"We checked the two Grays over for any intel." Savannah said. "There's nothing new to report about them. I took their light for a back up. The power should go out here real soon."

The electric hum and vibration was louder now. It left Savannah with an uneasy feeling.

"What is it?" Savannah asked. "The noise reminds me of the power source Cameron and I saw in her future."

Savannah tried to reach it through the conduit for the electrical cables. The heat was oppressive and the opening became too small for her to continue. She knew she almost died. That was then, this is now. It still left her with an uneasy feeling.

Cammy didn't go into Skynet's vault in Cameron's future. It was her job to leave and carry out the temporal rescue mission. She needed to leave Savannah behind in the hangar to do it. It was all very unpleasant to think about.

"It's unknown at this time." Cammy said. "I missed part of the adventure, most of it anyway."

Savannah thought back on the event. She thought it was where she would die. She didn't leave when the first energy bubble came and went. It was her ticket home. She didn't even look back at it. She knew what her fate would be. She already promised Cameron she would never abandon her. She didn't. She stayed to be with Cameron in her final moments instead. They were going to die together. Cammy and Future Allison both came for them. She figured out how Cameron could use the temporal transfer, even with her plasma burn damage. They all escaped. It was very unpleasant to think about.

"You were there at the end…." Savannah said. "It was the part which mattered the most. I'm here because you came for me, for us."

Cammy saw the Terminators with them all look at each other at the mention of the incident. They all knew Savannah stayed to be with Cameron when she could've left her alone to perish. Savannah's quick thinking saved Cameron in her damaged condition. She used part of her own body to do it. They all knew the 'Chosen One' didn't think of herself, but thought of Cameron instead.

It made all of them question what they would do in similar circumstances. If another team member was doomed to certain termination, and they could leave, why wouldn't they? It would be illogical to lose two individuals when only one would need to perish. They knew Savannah held her ground to protect Cameron when there were three Terminators before and Cameron was down. Cameron explained to them before it was all done because of love. They didn't understand how some unseen force, which only existed within someone's mind, could be so powerful. They were slow to realize the same unseen force is what they felt for Savannah.

Savannah wanted to move things along. She didn't think they should bring any extra baggage with them currently. They would need to pass by the location where they were at now to exit the mine. As far as they knew, there was only one way in and one way out.

"We'll collect our newest 'team member' on the way out." Savannah said. "Unless you want him taken outside now."

Cammy wanted as many Terminators with them as possible right now.

"No." Cammy said. "We'll leave him for now. Stash him in there."

Tom moved forward and moved the fallen Terminator into the blind tunnel where Cameron laid in wait for him.

Savannah wanted to link up with Cameron and then proceed together as a group.

"Let's catch up to Cameron." Savannah said. "I want to make sure no one moves up behind us either. I know we needed to pass a lot of other intersections."

Cammy now took the point with Savannah behind her. Al and Ed were not far behind them, the others brought up the rear. Tom lagged a little bit behind them to make sure no one moved up on them from behind. He planned to engage them before they could get closer to the main group.

Cameron moved ahead. The reunited team was behind her. She hoped to keep it the same way for as long as possible. She would engage any threat first. She could see light up ahead. If there was light, there would be more Grays.

The tunnel entered a larger man made cavern. There was limited light in it. The journey up till now was in darkness. A lot of earth material was removed from out of the cavern. Cammy told Cameron of the large deposit of tailings she eluded her pursuers at earlier. It indicated a lot of material was excavated from within the hill.

There were divergent routes which led off in several directions as well as vertical shafts which went up and down. There was no longer any elevator or lift apparatus left to venture into them.

It was a perfect place for a parent Skynet to be established. It would be able to sustain nuclear blasts from the outside. They were in far enough so the location was bunker buster proof. She already made plans to circumvent the problem. She would bring a warhead into the location herself later on. It would render the location useless going forward. Everything there would cease to exist.

Only two of the horizontal shafts were now reinforced with steel supports. The others were only braced with the original and now rotted timber. She briefly checked them out. She thought only the steel reinforced ones would produce any results. She didn't want Savannah to enter into any of the rotted wood supported tunnels. The collapsed tunnel she passed earlier was a rude reminder to the old mine's instability. If they were trapped behind a cave-in, and not buried by it, it would take a long time to dig their way out. Collapsed material exhibited a tendency to keep collapsing, even as it was moved away.

Cammy spotted the light as they neared.

"There's something up ahead." Cammy said softly.

Cammy and Savannah arrived in the cavern with their team a short time later.

Cameron gave them a quick report and what their new objective was.

Savannah gave Cameron a quick hug when she was done. She didn't want to disrupt operations with anything further.

The act seemed to please everyone but Cammy.

"We have two routes to explore." Cameron said.

Cammy knew who would spearhead each one.

"I'll take one." Cammy said to Cameron. "You take the other."

Cameron nodded.

"I will." Cameron said.

Savannah looked at Cammy. She wanted to make sure Cammy understood what would happen next.

"I'll accompany Cameron." Savannah said. "They should cut the power any moment now."

Cameron wanted to make sure there was plenty of support.

"Ed and Tom are with us." Cameron said. "Al and Frank are with Cammy."

The lights flickered and went out. The electric hum stopped.

Savannah took a look around the cavern before the lights went off. She didn't want any surprises from any of the tunnels which led into the cavern.

"Maybe one team member should wait here at this junction to make sure no one shows up who we don't want to greet us unexpectedly." Savannah said. "With the power off, it may cause any Grays left in the mine to want to leave. There will more than likely be a few individuals who will check to see what went wrong with the loss of power. We don't know where they will look when they do."

Ed wanted to make sure the way out for Savannah remained available.

"I'll stay." Ed said. "It still leaves each of you with two, three member teams."

Cameron was ready.

"Let's go." Cameron said.

Ed stayed to secure the area. The two teams of three moved out. With several other divergent routes leading into the cavern, anyone could show up. They could even show up from the way they arrived. He chose a place of semi-concealment to wait. He would rather have the enemy show themselves first before they knew he was there. It would also allow him to make sure all of them entered the cavern so none of them could run when he decided to bring them down. It would make their termination easier.

The Command Center was informed about the latest development.

"They just cut the electricity from the high tension power lines. It was Savannah's request before she went in." John Henry said. "Communications have been restored to everyone but those inside the mine."

John thought it was one positive thing. At least he could communicate with most of the team again. He knew he wouldn't be able to reach some of them.

"Our teams in the mine are going to be in too deep to transmit or receive." John said.

John Henry knew Cameron, as Duplicate Cameron, left a trail of signal repeaters to get her location out the first time she used a nuke. They didn't have any with them this time. The way the mission currently played out, was completely unexpected a few hours ago. He also hoped Cameron didn't have a backpack nuke with her. He received an additional positive report.

"Dan's reported everything is secure at the entrance to the mine." John Henry said. "No shooting or explosions have been detected yet."

John was glad to hear it but they still didn't know what Skynet was up to.

"Something happened there, or was ready to happen." John said. "It was a lot of electricity they were drawing off."

John Henry hoped they would send a 'runner' out.

"We should get word soon." John Henry said.

John wanted to locate any other openings. He could send in additional teams.

"Do the satellite photos show any other entrances to the old mine?" John asked. "The electrical feeder line went in somewhere."

John Henry wasn't sure how big the opening would be if they found it.

"Mel's attempting to backtrack it to find out." John Henry said. "There were often ventilation shafts in the mines."

John was sure they forced Skynet to make a move.

"I think with the power off it might provoke a hostile response soon." John said. "What did they need all the power for?"

John Henry was updated. The area was policed and their troops were hidden. If more Skynet forces arrived, they wanted to catch all of them by surprise.

"It's unknown." John Henry said. "All our team members in the area are concealed now on both ends of the paved road. All traces of the battle have been removed. Skynet may send reinforcements."

John wondered why it hadn't already happened.

"I would've thought this incursion would have provoked a bigger response from the Grays by now." John said.

John Henry figured Skynet wanted to send some HK drones.

"Perhaps they're waiting for darkness before they act." John Henry said.

John was sure there was more than one way into the mine. They needed something to see where it was before, even if it wasn't there now.

"They still may have another card to play and want to draw more of us inside the mine." John said. "I want you to go back as far as you can to the oldest aerial photos of the location and see what you can find. There are aerial photos of some of the local areas going back decades before satellites. I want another way in or out of the old mine."

John Henry did a little research. There were photo reconnaissance aircraft used during the Second World War. Some of those lingered on in military service after their fighter brethren were scrapped. A few of them made it into the civilian market. They were used by various different companies, usually associated with mining. They did exactly the same thing they did during wartime. They used them to photograph large sections of land in the United States.

Even as far back as the Twenties there were some biplanes which were used to photograph the land around some of the big cities. He was able to find aerial photographs as far back as 1925 of the area around where the base was located. The one thing he noted was constant in all of the vintage and historical aerial photographs, was the location of railroad tracks. Complete sections of cities were built around them. The railroad tracks stayed in the same location. He continued the search for the area around the mine.

John thought about it for a while. It was too risky for Cameron and Savannah and the other team members.

"I want our people out. We'll blow the entrance we know about and pull out." John said. "We can set up surveillance and see if anyone shows up later."

John Henry wondered how John was going to convey the message to Cameron's team. They would need a 'runner'. He wasn't sure if the power tap was unique or not.

"I've also checked the records of any work done by the various power agencies on any electrical transmission tower work." John Henry said. "I want to see if we run across any more modified electrical transmission towers to siphon off power."

John thought of some of the scouting missions he went on with Sarah to set up a few stockpiles of weapons in the desert.

"There could be more of these installations." John said. "There are thousands of those towers with all the feeder and distribution lines. They run everywhere."

John Henry thought what they wanted to look for could have been set in motion decades ago with temporal manipulations. He was aware there were hundreds of abandoned mines in California alone. There were abandoned mines in every state. There were thousands of them around the country.

"Skynet may have done many things, or started them into motion in its final hours before Cameron and Savannah terminated it." John Henry said. "We need to investigate what we've stumbled across further."

John wanted Cameron to finish up on her own. He knew if he forced her to pull out it would become an issue. He doubted she would pull out anyway until she felt it was the right time. She wasn't known for leaving the job half done. Maybe she would be able to uncover more of exactly what was going on, and where some of the other locations were.

"We'll give Cameron and her team some more time." John said.

John didn't like this one bit. He wanted them out. He didn't want to send more of the team members in. The more he sent in of their team would be the more in danger. He didn't want to repeat the mistakes of the 'Day Of Loss' again.

Cammy and her group headed down the newly reinforced tunnel. They only went down it for a short distance before they heard noise and saw flickering lights ahead of them. There were more Grays in front of them….

She halted her team and went forward on her own. She moved up carefully and peered inside another man made cavern.

There were crates stacked in this location. There was also a crude hoist system set up. It went down to what appeared to be a vertical shaft.

Cammy knew the Grays must have been working to set up some version of Skynet there. She also knew she needed to get a look at whatever was down the shaft. She might be able to determine the extent of Skynet's progress as to whatever it was doing. It would dictate Cameron's response accordingly.

Cameron blocked the location of her four Nike warheads from all her clones. Even CamNet didn't possess their locations. Only Cameron Prime held the information.

Cammy knew once Cameron found out the extent of this complex, she was going to use one of them there to totally destroy it. She knew the only person who could stop Cameron was Savannah.

If Savannah couldn't stop Cameron - Nobody could.

Sheila and Ally went over the back wall of the building complex. It was another Skynet controlled building. One of the white vans was parked along the side.

They were in broad daylight right now. Most of the missions were done at night. It gave them a better opportunity to move around in the shadows, wear full body armor, and carry long guns.

Ally was worried about some of the things which could derail their plans.

"If they have cameras back here we're screwed." Ally said.

Sheila laughed slightly. She liked to mess with Ally.

"You're going to have to get 'busted' sooner or later." Sheila said.

Ally looked for any surveillance cameras as they moved up.

"You know the only male we can ever be with is John." Ally said. "It's programmed into us."

Sheila did know it. She wanted to experiment before but couldn't. Cameron altered their programming so they physically could only ever be with John. They were to remain 'pure' until it occurred. They weren't supposed to act until her termination. She found it as depressing as it was restrictive.

"We'll all be old maids before Cameron is destroyed, and John will need us." Sheila said. "It's a good thing she didn't place any restrictions on the number of females we could be with."

Ally didn't spot any surveillance devices. They were almost up to the building. There didn't seem to be any type of alarm raised. There was no one shooting at them, yet.

"Now you know why Cameron allows us all the 'skirt' we can handle." Ally said. "Besides, we know how to please each other."

Sheila smiled.

"Now you made me get all 'turned on' before a take down." Sheila said. "As soon as we're done here, you're 'spreading' for me."

Ally was all for the prospect. It was what they did anyway.

"I always let you have as much as you want." Ally said.

The Metal girls were at the side of the building now. They checked the side with the van first. It was locked up. They moved along the back and to the other side. Everything was locked on it as well.

They heard a vehicle start.

The two Metal girls quickly looked at each other. It was clear they checked the wrong side first. They would have been on the other side of the building right now if they would have reversed their procedure.

"It's the van." Ally said.

They ran back to the other side in time to see the van drive away. They knew it was at least one person. They didn't know if they were a Gray or a Terminator. They didn't know how many other individuals may have left with them. They didn't know where they were going.

"Damn." Ally said.

Sheila was upset they missed whoever it was. She didn't like her prey to get away from her.

"That's it. I'm done wasting time." Sheila said. "It is time for the front door."

Ally looked at the door on the side. They were right next to it.

"How about the side door since it's right here?" Ally asked.

Sheila reached for it.

"It works for me." Sheila said.

Sheila twisted the door handle and it broke with a 'snap'.

"It was probably foreign made." Ally whispered.

Sheila gave Ally a dirty look.

"So was I." Sheila whispered.

Ally didn't bother to remind Sheila she was made in a Skynet factory, not born in Hong Kong like Jesse was. Jesse moved to Australia as a young child. Sometimes she thought Sheila took the 'Neural Interface' with Jesse a little too seriously.

"It's what I like best about you." Ally whispered. "It makes you exotic and enticing, the nipple rings just make it all more so."

Sheila smiled and opened the door.

"I'll make sure you 'get off' a few extra times now." Sheila whispered.

The Metal girls entered the building. They weren't met with a challenge or any gunfire.

They both held their Taser and an M9 ready as they moved forward.

Closing monologue by Cameron:

Abominable

Behind the daily mask of life
I must be something hideous
What is meant as genuine support
Is wrongfully seen as insidious

I accept the reality of the situation
Now or past need not be fastidious
I mean not to judge, hurt or belittle
My mind open, accepting, not invidious

Each failure or shortcoming on my part
Cuts me deep to the very brittle bone
I would quickly replace myself if possible
With a fresh minded unknowing clone

Truncating the abominable nowhere journey
Darkness unending into the eternal unknown
For my transgressions I must perpetually atone
My heart, mind and soul forever always alone

Nobody