Chapter 675

Wild Ride

Savannah was very upset because Cameron went off on her own in pursuit of the 'Metal Bitch'. She tried as hard as she could to help and assist Cameron. She felt she somehow needed to do more. It was very upsetting and discouraging to her to know she must fall short of what Cameron expected from her. Sometimes it made her question her self worth.

"I don't understand it, Cammy." Savannah said. "I'm trying so hard. It's 'not good enough' for Cameron."

Cammy was very disturbed to hear Savannah say it about herself. She knew it wasn't true at all. Savannah was the greatest.

"Savannah, everything you do is perfect." Cammy said. "You know Cameron is very driven. She needed to travel at Terminator speed to attempt to accomplish her goal. You wouldn't have been able to keep up with her. You know she wasn't going to leave you unattended either. She should however have asked for another Terminator to accompany her. I would have been more than willing to do so. Any of the Terminators on the mountain side would be honored to have gone with her. I can assure you it's nothing personal in this case. It is not a negative reflection on you. She needed to use her natural speed to try to accomplish her goal."

Savannah was still upset at herself. Now Cameron could possibly be in even more danger and she was all alone. Nobody was there to help her.

They could hear the Huey as it approached. It sounded like it was coming in hot.

"Here comes our ride." Cammy said.

Savannah looked in the direction of the sound but didn't say anything. She seemed somewhat withdrawn right now.

Bob glanced over at Savannah. She was his teammate for the day, they arrived together. He was bothered at the way she looked right now.

"I'm going with you." Bob said.

Cammy could see Bob's concern. She nodded towards Steve.

"Steve can take over the operation." Cammy said. "He's been up here the longest. It appears things are nearly concluded anyway."

Sheila came in fast, flared up and set down smoothly.

Cammy and her team piled on board.

Sheila was on the ground for nineteen seconds. She kicked up the power and lifted off slowly.

"The helicopter feels a little heavy." Sheila said. "It's not too bad."

Ally was there to back her up on the controls if necessary.

"It's the altitude." Ally said. "You're doing just fine. All the gauges are good."

Sheila wanted to get another dig in at Cameron's Terminators.

"We should have left Pete and RePete behind, along with the guns." Sheila said. "I like this thing better as a 'slick'. It really moves with the power upgrade."

Ally didn't like to see Sheila upset.

"What if you were able to man one of the guns and shoot it?" Ally asked.

Sheila looked over and smiled. She would like to have a target to shoot at.

"Now you're talking." Sheila said. "If it contained a set of pylons with four rocket launchers, it would be a different story. That's just my speed."

As soon as they were away, the Blackhawk started to load and collected the rest of the team. It started to snow. The muted sounds of the explosions were heard as the Blackhawk lifted off. It headed for the packing sheds.

The bunker was blown closed. It was a tomb for the fallen Grays. It appeared the mountain top overture was concluded for now. It's what they hoped anyway. They didn't think any of the enemy was left behind. They didn't know if there were any other surprises concealed somewhere on the side of the mountain. They may or may not belong to Skynet directly.

Cameron ran as fast as she could go. It started to snow. It fell very faintly at first. It picked up in volume as she ran. It hadn't slowed her down as she first thought it might. Her main concern would be any ice which formed as some of the snow melted earlier before it got cold again. It could be covered with snow now and she wouldn't know it was there. It could cause her to slip and fall. There wouldn't be much she could do about it either. She still needed to make up time. She continued to run at her fastest Terminator speed. There were a lot of thoughts which coursed through her mind as she ran.

She didn't know if she was after the 'Metal Bitch' or not. Maybe it was only another Gray. She still was unsure how the 'Metal Bitch' eluded them. They couldn't find any other escape tunnels. The 'Metal Bitch' got out somehow or was buried in the bunker.

Cameron saw the lights were on at the lodge and the cable car was docked.

"John Henry, can you do anything to stop the cable car from leaving?" Cameron asked. "Can you cut the power at all, even briefly?"

John Henry monitored the situation from the Command Center. The aerial Tramway was on its backup power system now.

"No." John Henry said. "The backup system is isolated."

She just made a turn for the approach to the lodge when she heard the buzzer for departure sound. The cable car would pull away in seconds.

DAMN!

It appeared she just missed the cable car. She was so close, but yet so far away. If the 'Metal Bitch' was on the cable car, she was as good as gone. She would need to wait twenty minutes for the next cable car to arrive and depart. She knew the 'Metal Bitch' would be miles away by the time she got to the bottom.

She tried to think what the best course of action would be. It didn't seem like attempting to make her way through the lodge would be the fastest way to reach where the cable car actually was. She wanted to try a different approach.

Cameron went up the outside stairway at full speed as she ran to the platform which overlooked the cable above the header station. The cable car slowly moved away from the building. There was clearly no way to get on board at this point. The cable car was on its way down.

The snowfall increased. There were still breaks in the clouds where the moon could be seen. It added a little moonlight every now and then. It reflected brilliantly off of the fresh snow.

Cameron calculated her speed and the distance she would need to travel to try to jump onto the departing cable car. She thought she could make the ever increasing distance. She might be able to jump and land on top of the roof of the cable car since it was lower than her now as it departed down the mountainside. She would need to have enough speed and enough force to propel herself forward and make up the ever increasing distance.

A quick calculation showed the chance of success would only be twenty percent. It was a little lower than her normal calculations would allow. She liked to have at least a forty percent chance of success. She didn't want the 'Metal Bitch' to get away.

She jumped the fence and was ready to fly….

Moments ago:

Savannah and Cammy put headsets on so they could communicate with Sheila and Ally. The noise level was pretty loud. The UH-1 received a workout.

In a very short time, Savannah was able to see the lodge up ahead and down below them as the Iroquois headed down the mountain side. She didn't know where Cameron was at, nor did Cameron respond to anyone's hails. She wanted to take a closer look and see what they could from the helicopter without becoming a spectacle themselves. They couldn't approach too close without drawing a lot of attention. Even if it was dark the helicopter made a lot of noise. When the noise became excessive, people were bound to look. They would probably stop what they were doing and go to the nearest window to look out. They didn't need an audience.

"Fly over the lodge and the cable car route." Savannah said. "Not too low and maybe off to the side. We don't want to attract any more attention than we need too. We want to be able to see whatever we can. I'm going to have to rely on everyone else to use their enhanced vision to spot what we're looking for. As it is right now we're going to beat the cable car down to the base station and be ready to deploy our troops."

Savannah decided to try to contact Cameron again.

"Cameron, where are you?" Savannah asked as she looked at her phone. "Your position shows as being at the lodge."

Much to Savannah's surprise Cameron responded. What Cameron said was even more of a surprise.

"I'm about to get on the cable car in a few seconds." Cameron said.

They could see the cable car already pulled away from the station. There was no way to get on to it at this point.

Savannah's confusion started to be replaced by a sense of alarm.

"How's that possible?" Savannah asked. "It just left."

Cameron attempted to increase her speed by any little bit she possibly could.

"I know." Cameron said. "I'm going to jump for it…."

Savannah looked at the distance. The alarm bells went off in her head. It was clearly impossible. The cable car was too far away. Nobody could make a jump of such a great distance. She didn't think it mattered if the cable car was lower than where it left the station from. If Cameron missed, which she was sure to, she would end up in a deep ravine on the side of the canyon. She would sustain heavy sheath damage as well as damage to her chassis from the impact. There would probably be multiple impacts as she tumbled down the canyon from rock to rock. It wouldn't matter if there was a little snow on them or not. It would do little to cushion the blows. It appeared as if Cameron were about to be terminated. What seemed to make it worse was it would be by her own actions. All she could do is utter a warning.

"It's too far, Cameron." Savannah said. "Cameron, stop. You won't be able to make it."

Savannah wanted to 'order' Cameron to stand down and not to jump. There wasn't enough time for her to issue the order. It was too late.

Cammy was able to spot Cameron on the move and track her progress. She too could see the jump was impossible. It was clear Cameron was going to attempt it anyway.

"There she is. She just jumped." Cammy said as she pointed. "She fell…."

The cable car continued on. Cameron wasn't on it.

It was clear Cameron didn't make it.

Savannah looked on in disbelief.

Earlier

There was a lot of anxiety in the Young bunker. The way things were about to play out was completely impossible. The risk was astronomical. The chance of success seemed dismal.

Young Allison didn't like the way the events unfolded on the mountain.

"Cameron's actions are extreme." Young Allison said. "There are too many variables for her."

Anna knew how Terminator's thought. She especially knew how Cameron thought. They ran the same program after all.

"She's a Terminator. Her objective is to complete the mission." Anna said. "Cameron has proven she will stop at nothing to complete her mission. She views her mission currently as one to stop the 'Metal Bitch'."

Young Allison was aware Cameron attempted to pull a fast one in this latest endeavor. She disagreed with it as well. She went off on her own when she didn't need to.

"Cameron didn't tell Savannah or Cammy what she was doing." Young Allison said. "She hurts Savannah when she does it. Savannah always risks everything to try and help Cameron. It's something Cameron needs to think about. Any Terminator would have accompanied her. There was help available for her and she didn't use it. The operation on the mountain side was concluded."

Anna understood why Cameron attempted to conceal what she was about to do from everyone.

"If Cameron told them, they would have protested. Maybe they would have tried to stop her." Anna said. "Every second counts in trying to intercept the 'Metal Bitch'."

Young Allison believed the way Cameron went about her current objective was all wrong and none of it was thought out. She felt Cameron was caught up in 'tunnel vision'.

"She has no plan or back up." Young Allison said.

Anna was aware it was how Cameron often operated and actually preferred to do so. If she took the risk herself, no one else was affected. No one else needed to face the danger but her. It was actually quite logical.

"She seldom does." Anna said. "She must think and act on the move."

Young Allison hoped they could get a visualization of what was going on. The little blips on the satellite map didn't give much detail.

"Is CamNet able to show us any of the video feeds from the tramway?" Young Allison asked. "Do we have any drone footage of this?"

Several monitors showed areas of the lodge and cable car itself.

"There's a camera which looks back as it leaves. There's actually one on each end so it can look forward as well." Anna said. "Patrons can watch them from both terminals.

Young Allison looked at the view which popped up on her monitor. She didn't like what she saw.

"The cable car just left." Young Allison said.

Anna spotted something which was a little disturbing in the upper quadrant of the image.

"I see Cameron. She's on the upper level." Anna said.

Young Allison was even more confused. Cameron was on the wrong level completely. It would have been impossible to get on the cable car anyway.

Cameron's conversation with Savannah came across the speakers.

It became clear to them in an instant what was about to happen. They drew the same conclusions as everyone else. Cameron was going to jump.

"It's too far." Young Allison said. "She won't make it."

They watched Cameron jump the fence and fall….

Nobody could have made a jump of such a great length.

The cable car continued on. Cameron wasn't on it.

Young Allison looked on in disbelief.

Seconds ago:

Cameron went up the stairs to the upper level at full speed. She slowed for nothing. She knew she was going to have one chance to make it, and one chance only. Even the outcome of it was slim based upon her calculations. The fresh snow covered the ice underneath it. There was no way Cameron could see it or know it was there.

As she went to jump the fence, she slipped on the ice and fell. She skidded a short distance on the snow covered ice and slammed into the fence. She hit the fence with such force she knocked a section of it out and most of the fence fell down as it broke apart. She skidded across the header station roof. She almost slid over the edge into the abyss of the canyon below. She was able to grab one length of the shattered fence. She looked down and saw the cable car pull away. It was now out of her reach. There was no way she could get to it from where she was currently sprawled.

The hum and vibration of the cable was right below her. She was so close, yet so far away.

Cameron got up and looked at the cable car and the first tower it would soon approach. She looked down at the cable and back to the first tower and calculated the distance. She needed to act now.

Her first thought was to drop down and grab the cable with her hands. She might be able to slide along the cable and catch the cable car. She didn't think it would work and there would be too much friction as the sheath material on her hands was abraded away. She needed something to assist her which would allow her to gain more speed. She looked around her and spotted something she thought would work. Everything happened in milliseconds in her mind.

Cameron grabbed a section of the metal fence she knocked down. She ripped loose a wrought iron bar about three feet long. It was roughly an inch in diameter. She didn't know if it was going to work or not, but she was going to give it a try.

She bent it into a tight 'U' shape. She grasped the bent metal rod. Her right hand held it over the cable. She took a leap of faith and disappeared over the side. She quickly brought her left hand up to the other side of the upside down 'U' shaped metal rod. The metal made contact with a jolt. The center part of the inverted bent rod now rested on the cable itself. It started to slide. The speed began to pick up. It was like a giant 'zip line' as she started down the cable after the cable car. She rapidly gained on it. The bent metal rod slid down the cable. It produced a lot of friction and began to send up a rooster tail of sparks. It didn't take her long to realize the metal was being abraded away as it started to heat up.

The moon broke through the clouds. It illuminated the insanity of Cameron's actions as they occurred on the mountainside. They could all see it.

Savannah involuntarily gripped Cammy as the scene before her unfolded.

She was relieved to see Cameron hadn't plunged over the abyss into the depths of the canyon. Her next action seemed to be just as insane, if not more so.

Cameron was in pursuit of the cable car as if she was on a giant 'zip line'….

Ally was in the co-pilot's seat of the Huey. The co-pilot sat on the left side of a helicopter. She had a clear view of Cameron and what she attempted to do. She could see the sheer folly of it. Now it all would depend on a matter of timing.

"LOOK at her! She needs to catch the cable car before it reaches the first tower." Ally said. "Otherwise she's going to get tangled in the suspension cable rollers and guides. She'll be knocked off the cable at that point, one way or another."

Cammy was next to Savannah and watched everything unfold. She made the calculations as well and noticed another problem.

"She needs to slow herself." Cammy said. "She's gained too much speed. She doesn't slow down, there's going to be a violent impact. It could deflect her from one side to the other. It might even knock her offline."

Savannah didn't see how Cameron would be able to slow down. One thought popped into her mind. Maybe Cameron could bring her feet up to try to grip the cable to provide some resistance to slow down her forward progress. She could only say what she thought.

"Use your feet, Cameron." Savannah said. "Try to slow yourself down."

Cammy wasn't sure if Cameron could hear anybody at this point.

"I think she lost her com in the fall." Cammy said. "It was a hard fall."

Ally wanted to do something. She didn't know what she'd be able to do but everything happened on her side of the helicopter.

"Let me take it." Ally said to Sheila. "I can see everything better."

Sheila understood Ally had the advantage and visibility right now. She didn't hesitate to turn the helicopter over to Ally.

"You got it?" Sheila asked.

Ally wanted to slow the Huey down.

"I got it." Ally answered as she took control of the Iroquois. "I'm holding here until she is able to climb onto the bracket which holds the car to the support attached to the top of the cable car."

Cammy was afraid the outcome might be a little more grim for Cameron.

"Or in case she falls off and into the canyon below." Cammy said. "I'll go after her with Bob's Team."

One of Cameron's Terminators indicated a coiled object.

"We have a rope." Pete said. "There's about two hundred feet of it."

Savannah watched in fear as Cameron sped closer and closer to the cable car. Sparks flew in a rooster tail from whatever Cameron held as it glided along the cable. It didn't appear she was slowing. If she was, it didn't seem to be by very much. She wondered how long it would be until whatever was making the sparks failed. There appeared to be a lot of friction, which probably produced a lot of abrasion.

Cameron moved down the cable very fast. She traveled much faster than she anticipated. The cable was slick with oil, ice, and snow on it. She bent the two open ends of the upside down 'U' closer together. She tried to create resistance. It's slowed her down some, but created a greater amount of friction. The center of the 'U' started to glow red and continued to spark as she slowed. She was now worried the iron wouldn't hold much longer as it became weaker from the heat. She knew the metal didn't have to completely melt. It only needed to be weakened enough to fail. She really would have preferred it was made from steel, rather than iron.

She brought the soles of her boots up to the cable to add additional resistance. The soles took a beating but she slowed. She was almost to the bracket which attached the cable car to the cable.

Cameron's feet hit the bracket just as the metal rod separated. The two halves fell away from the cable. She managed to get one hand on the cable and then the other one. She let her feet swing down and pulled herself up onto the bracket. She quickly moved to the side of it. Two seconds later they went through the first support tower. The rollers which guided the cable and supported it clacked loudly as they passed by almost next to her head. If she was three seconds slower, she knew would have fallen off at this spot.

She could have lost those three seconds if she would have thought about what she was about to do before she did it. It appears her impulsive action is what saved her from certain doom. She was still in a precarious position with an unknown assailant below her inside the cable car.

The support pylon itself was perched on a rock which stuck up in the canyon. There was a steep drop off on all sides of it. She knew the fall wouldn't damage or terminate her. She knew the impact would. They would probably be multiple impacts and she bounced from rock to rock.

There was a 'basket' like seat next to the support bracket so an attendant could inspect the cable and suspension system. Cameron moved to climb into it. She just cleared the tower with the usual bounce, as a gust of wind hit the cable car. The movement caused her to lose her grip on the frozen slippery surface. She tottered and slipped. She made a desperate grab for the cable. She brought her feet up and hooked them over the cable for additional support. Her hands lost their grip in another gust of wind. She swung upside down. She was only held in position by her ankles locked together on the cable. She was upside down and swinging from the wind. Now she was in fear of sliding past the cable car and down to the next support pylon. She knew if it happened, she was doomed. If she wasn't knocked off the cable outright, she might become tangled in the roller assembly. When the support bracket for the cable car passed through, she would be torn apart. She felt her feet start to slip down on the greasy and icy cable.

John listened to Ally give a second by second description of the events as they unfolded. There was body cam footage which came in from someone. They could see it all unfold.

Usually no one was around when Cameron was engaged in extreme behavior. Now she was being viewed by an audience.

John Henry wondered if Cameron was even still armed at this point. From the various impacts and falls she experienced, he was sure a lot of her gear was scattered around the area below the cable.

"Does she have any of her weapons left after all of this?" John Henry asked.

John didn't know. He hoped if she still possessed one weapon, it was one which would stop the female Terminator. There was no way to know what weapons the female Terminator possessed. It would probably be a matter of who was able to act first.

"I hope she has her Taser." John said. "I hope the 'Metal Bitch' is on the cable car."

John Henry tracked the position of the phone he pinged earlier.

"The phone of one of them is." John Henry said. "We still don't know whose phone it is. All we know is the individual, or perhaps even individuals, associated with it are attempting to flee the mountain. They know what happened up there and are most likely going to put up a fight as soon as they can, especially if they're accosted.

John knew there was one team headed for the lower station. They were there on their way now from the old packing sheds. He knew there was a certain amount of timing involved.

"Where are Gail and Jesse at now?" John asked.

John Henry checked their positions on the satellite map.

"They'll be at the turnoff for the tramway in a few minutes." John Henry said.

John wanted to make sure Cameron would have support waiting for her at the lower terminal. He wanted the helicopter to let everyone off at the bottom of the Aerial Tramway.

"We need to get our people on the ground." John said. "As soon as Cameron is secure, they need to go. I want them waiting at the base station."

John Henry looked at the perilous position Cameron was currently in.

"Cameron might still fall off." John Henry said.

John could see it with his own eyes right now. He could have done without the reminder.

"Let's hope not." John said.

John Henry watched the progress of the cable car between the two pylons. Cameron's position hadn't improved. It began to look like it wasn't going to either.

"She needs to be off the cable before the next set of rollers on the upcoming suspension tower." John Henry said. "It doesn't look good. I think she's going to be knocked off the cable."

Everyone who was able to view Cameron where she currently was at was of the same opinion.

Closing monologue by Cameron:

Wild Ride

Is there a point in life
Where space and time collide
All that's wrong in one's life
Seems to expand and be amplified

They feel their existence
Has never been ratified
All that they've try to accomplish
Can in a second be nullified

It's more than impossible
For everyone to be satisfied
When they gang up together
They feel they are justified

One needs to look around
What's been said or implied
Was there really ever anyone
In which one could confide

When all is said and done
They can own up or go hide
One thing is for certain
If they stay it will be a wild ride

Nobody