Chapter 697

Crate

Steve needed to leave the location of the old newspaper plant to try to tag the two box cars which left with the train. The train moved along to switch some loaded flat cars at a local lumber yard a few miles down the line. It already let off a tank car full of corn syrup at a local food processor.

Al was let off to observe the east side of the old newspaper plant where the rail siding was at. Cam was currently inside in one of the two box cars parked there. She was 'trapped' inside when a patrol of two Gray's passed by and secured the latch on the box car door which was open. She could get out of the box car by forcing the latch and breaking it. It would however indicate to the patrol when they returned something occurred. If the metal of the latch was broken, it was most likely done by a Terminator. The alarm would be raised.

From his current observation point he could see new activity where the two box cars were at. It seemed only a matter of minutes until Cam would be discovered. He sent out a warning to the Command Center.

"They've opened the second door on the building. They just opened the box car door. It appears they've started to unload it." Al said.

John understood it for the trouble it spelled. Cam was trapped inside the box car and believed she might have to fight her way out if she was still inside when they went to unload it. So far there was no report of any shooting. She may have been able to conceal herself further back in the load. He wanted Al to be ready to go down to back her up.

"Are you ready to move in to assist her?" John asked.

Al thought he should sit tight for now, but he was ready to head down and assist Cam if she needed to escape. He didn't think there was a problem. She would be able to assess the situation and take action on her own. Whatever it was, he was ready to back her play. He could create a diversion to draw the enemy forces away from her, or he could engage them himself.

"I can be there in thirty seconds." Al said. "I'm ready to move. She still has the option to bolt."

John strongly doubted any 'Cameron clone' was going to run from a fight. It just wasn't something in the makeup of their program.

"We all know it's not going to happen." John said.

Al believed if Cam was going to run, she already would have done so as soon as the patrol of the two Gray's passed around the corner. He was sure she would attempt to infiltrate the interior of the building. Exactly how she would be able to do it, he didn't know. He knew she would want to complete the mission. She wasn't going to run.

"No, it's not likely." Al said. "I think it's time for everyone to prepare for the mission to go hot."

It was the unanimous opinion of everyone listening to the conversation. They all knew Cam wasn't about to run from combat.

Earlier:

Cam decided on a course of action on how best to survive the box car being opened. There was nowhere for her to hide in the interior as things currently were, and not be discovered within a very short time. She was ready when she heard the roll up door in the side of the building open. Soon afterward was the screeching, dragging sound of the box car door as it was opened. It was followed by the sound of the forklift moving and the ramp as it was placed across the gap between the building and the box car.

The box car shook a little as the forklift entered and started to remove the crates. One by one they were removed. It took nearly an hour to remove them all. The box car was now empty and Cam was nowhere to be seen.

Cam hadn't been in the box car since the third crate was removed….

Cameron moved carefully with Savannah. They were in the hills above the old steel mill and were able to get a direct line of sight to where the activity occurred down below. It appeared two of the very large buildings were in active use. There were a dozen other buildings of all sizes. They would have to check to see what was in each of them. They could all be full of assembled HK equipment, or there could be production lines operating at full capacity. They could be empty and unused too. There was only one way to find out. They were going to have to look.

The area was fenced in. There seemed to be only one guard at the gate on the main road in. The truck they tagged was nowhere to be seen.

Cameron felt more than a little apprehension when she didn't spot the big truck. She wondered if there was a miscalculation on her part. She didn't think so. There were still several possibilities with what she currently looked at. She quickly contacted the Command Center.

"John Henry, where's the truck?" Cameron asked. "The last time we checked with you, it was headed towards the old steel mill."

John Henry checked the position of the tagged truck against Cameron's current position. He didn't see a problem. It was very near where she was currently at.

"I show its position to be two hundred and fifty seven yards to the southwest of your location." John Henry said.

Cameron quickly understood. It was similar to a previous operation they took down if it was the case. She looked at the large buildings before her and made the calculation as provided by John Henry.

"It puts the big rig inside of an old mill building." Cameron said. "It reminds me of the set up at the defunct helicopter base."

John Henry thought the reminder from Cameron should spark some additional caution on her part. If Skynet got burned once, they would most likely take precautions to prevent it from happening again under the same circumstances.

"If it's connected to the same group, they may have learned a few lessons." John Henry said. "More than likely things will be different there. They sent out several armed patrols before. We don't know what will happen where you're currently at."

Cameron wasn't so sure they were dealing with the same group, or any of the offshoots from it. She thought enough things were different they were dealing with a different version of Skynet. She based her assumption on the advanced HK drone power plant design. As long as they were unable to communicate, everything she did now should be new to them. She knew there would be security of some type, she doubted it would be airtight.

"Since the HK drone design is an improved one, it may not be the same group." Cameron said. "It is unlikely there would be any communication between them in a cooperative manner. It's logical to think any Skynet would make the same initial decisions. They may use the same plan as the other group did before. If we took everyone down, they wouldn't know what happened. There would be no one left to inform anyone."

John looked over satellite images of the location Cameron transmitted from. It seemed the cover for concealment was minimal. Savannah and her would be a great risk if there would be some type of fighting directed at them. His assumption was only based on ground troops, not the use of any type of HK equipment. If there were HK drones, they were going to be in serious trouble.

"Are there any patrols?" John asked. "You're both exposed and vulnerable."

Cameron didn't care for John to second guess her or her abilities. She knew how to take care of herself. She engaged numerous Skynet locations over the years. Many of them she did by herself. She received a lot of damage doing it. She protected the others. It was what was important to her.

"I think I can handle anything which comes along." Cameron said. "I have a lot of experience. I know how to read situations when they develop. I know how the enemy will respond. There are still a lot of variables based upon their weaponry or the number of their troops. Whatever develops, I'll be able to handle it."

John was ready for a confrontation with Cameron. He hoped she would keep it as a recon to start out. It would be better if she kept it as surveillance until additional troops were able to arrive. She should wait until darkness before she made her move based upon her location. He wanted to remind her who she was with.

"There's no doubt you can do it, but with how much damage?" John asked. "You can be rebuilt. Savannah can't be. You need to take everything into consideration before you make a move."

Cameron was even further irritated by the conversation with John. She didn't need someone looking over her shoulder. She was the one on station, not John.

"Don't worry about it…." Cameron said and cut her com.

Now Cameron was uneasy about her location and worried about Savannah's safety. It was already something she considered. It seemed John questioned her ability. She knew what to do and how to do it.

If Savannah wasn't with her right now, she would head straight for the buildings and not worry about her security or well being. She would simply do her job and fight her way out if necessary. She knew it was a risk. Sometimes risks needed to be taken to combat Skynet. Things didn't get done by thinking about them or sitting in the Command Center.

Who could know how to do her job better than herself? It seemed like a ridiculous question.

Earlier:

Cam was left with two choices. She could force open the box car door and run. She could go over the east wall and be lost in seconds before the Grays ever knew she was there, or she could wait inside the box car and fight her way out once they opened it to unload it. She wanted to come up with a better option than forced combat. She wanted to get inside the building and be able to look around. It seemed like a pretty complicated choice. She decided to stay and let the Grays take her into the building themselves. She opened one of the crates with the plastic children's toys and crushed them all flat to make room for her body. There was more than enough space when she was done. She pulled the top down and would make sure it stayed secure when the forklift moved it.

It wasn't long until she heard the door to the building open. Soon after the box car door was noisily slid open. She heard the forklift arrive with the ramp. It was followed with a loud metallic 'clang' as the ramp was moved into position. The forklift entered into the side of the box car. She could feel everything shudder and shake as a forklift moved into the box car. She waited as she heard the first two crates moved. Her crate should be next based upon her calculations as to how the box car was loaded.

She heard the forklift go over the ramp and return. There was a slight 'thud' motion. The hydraulic noise of the forklift was upon her. With a slight jerk, her crate was lifted. She sensed the motion of it being moved and then the forklift stopped. The hydraulic noise increased as she was being lifted in her crate. The forklift moved slowly forward and gently set the crate she was inside down. She knew her crate wasn't on the ground level. She didn't know where it was. She knew what followed was going to be tricky.

Now the next question was, would another crate be set on top of her crate? She lifted the lid slightly and peeked out. The crates were being stacked three high, hers was on top. It was what she anticipated based upon what she could see from below the level of the floor when she was outside the first box car. She looked around the workroom floor and there were HK drones being assembled, as well as HK Tracks. It was the third assembly line being set up which worried her. It looked like it was for Terminators….

With the thought of Terminators on her mind, she needed to find out where the Terminator she spotted earlier was at. She didn't think he would be looking at the crates as they came in, but he might spot the movement of the lid lifted up on one of them on the top row. Hopefully she would be able to identify his location before she made her move out of the crate.

Cameron was irritated as she thought about John's rude and contentious conversation. It did nothing but upset her. It added to the troubles she already needed to deal with. Now she began to think about those and what her mission was. She was still miffed he didn't do what she wanted and take Savannah as his mate. It seemed to irritate her even more as she thought about it. She tried to protect John from the future. She decided to push a little on Savannah. She needed to protect John from the anti-Metal faction. Savannah and Young Allison needed to help her do it. It was a specific programmed function from Future John she needed to carry out.

She turned to Savannah and smiled.

"He is ready to accept you." Cameron said. "John will take you for his mate."

Savannah was a little surprised with the sudden twist and new direction of the conversation they were having. She wondered what it was all about. Either way, she would carry on the conversation with Cameron. There were a couple of issues which bothered her physically about her body. She really didn't know how to express them to Cameron because it seemed to be of a very personal nature. She actually didn't feel comfortable discussing them with any female. Cameron was her friend.

She knew childbirth was hard on a female's body in more areas than one. She didn't believe she would be able to satisfy John sexually after the third baby, the one for Vanna. She promised Cameron a baby with John specifically for her. It would be the fourth one. She didn't even want to think about how her body would be after it. It didn't even include a child for John and herself. What if she needed to go back into one of the futures again and help one of the other versions of herself who were trapped there?

She was pretty sure most of the 'bed duty' would need to be handled by Young Allison. She would do everything she could to prevent Young Allison from having any children at all for a few years. She didn't want the duty to fall to Claire, but she would do nothing to stop it if it was an option everyone agreed to. From what she gathered, Claire was the 'same' in just a few weeks after each child. She was fairly certain she wasn't. She asked various Terminators who were with Vanna how they compared. She could tell by the vagueness of their answers what the real situation was. There were still other issues to deal with. No matter what Cameron said, she didn't believe it was true.

"I'm ready too, Cameron." Savannah said. "How can it happen and you not be hurt? I'll have delivered a third child by then, maybe he won't want me. I think Young Allison will be better able to please him sexually since she hasn't had any children. I think you know what I mean, even if no one will tell me the truth."

Cameron was a little surprised by what Savannah just said. She knew there was some truth to it, but it seemed to only apply to only a small percentage of females. Most were able to function as before. All of the Metal girls reported the same thing to her. There was a difference between Vanna and Savannah now. There didn't used to be. She knew the difference would continue to expand. She didn't think it was something Savannah should worry about.

"Everything will be fine." Cameron said.

Savannah wished it would be and she could even feel 'fine'. She did some research on the subject. She was aware multiple childbirths would take a toll on her body. It would be even more so with each additional child. She read up on what some of the women and men complained about after childbirth. It seemed some of the women were permanently 'altered'. No one seemed to think childbirth was 'better' for a woman. Maybe it was a good thing at this point she never was with a male and kept her virginity. With the current situation, when she was with John, she wouldn't know if she was 'different', or what it would've been like before the children. She would only know what it was like now. Maybe she would wait until all the children were born before she tried intercourse. That way neither one of them would know if things got worse, especially from a bad start. Things would simply be the way they were.

She couldn't help but think about Cameron. She knew what all of her clones were like. She knew what Allison and Future Allison were like. She even knew what Vanna was like. Cameron was a cyborg, how could she ever perform at the same level as Cameron in bed with John? She heard Sarah and Claire say they would get tired doing certain things. Jesse seemed to be able to keep up with everything no matter what it was. Vanna and Allison couldn't offer her any voluntary experience references. She wanted Cameron to know how she felt.

"I just don't think it'll be what John wants sexually." Savannah said.

Cameron could see Savannah was deeply troubled about what she thought were personal issues. She could understand them somewhat. She wanted Savannah to know even if John didn't want her, there was somebody else who did. It was her.

"I'll want you." Cameron said. "I really don't care what he does. I want you however you are. It doesn't matter for the love we'll be able to share."

Savannah was pleased to hear what Cameron said. It was Cameron who she loved.

Cameron was a little off guard thinking about John's defiance to her plans. She could care less if he only watched Savannah and her share. Actually, the more she thought of it, the more she liked the idea. She could picture the two of them together. She knew it would look exactly like Vanna and Allison together. She watched them dozens of times as they shared with each other. She still thought it was the most beautiful love making she ever saw over everyone she observed.

She observed everyone over the years. There were even times when she went out at night on patrol and looked inside people's bedroom windows where the drapes or blinds didn't close tight. She watched strangers together. She noticed a lot of couples used alcohol or various types of narcotics, before or during, their time together. None of them seemed to share the same type of pure love Vanna and Allison shared. It didn't matter if they were traditional or non-traditional couples. She wanted the same love Vanna and Allison shared. She wanted it with Savannah and herself. She was lost deep in thought as she pictured it all.

She tilted her head slightly. She almost missed the sound which rapidly neared them. It too was John's fault. Someone was coming and they were almost there. It was time to create a diversion. There was no time to withdraw without being spotted.

She grabbed Savannah and pulled her close and started to kiss her….

Steve was near the lumber yard alongside the railroad tracks. He watched the SW1500 locomotive bringing the short train closer and closer.

He waited by a pile of junk. The short train arrived a few minutes later. It stopped within a hundred and fifty feet of him with a loud squeal of the brakes from the freight cars. The train pulled even with the run around track. The locomotive uncoupled from the train and went forward so it could come back on the run around track to the rear of the train. The SW1500 came back past the train and back onto the mainline. He made his move when the locomotive was along the opposite side of the train and tagged both box cars.

The locomotive coupled onto the full lumber cars and pulled them from the train. It entered the lumber yard. They coupled onto the empties and drug them out. Once the empties were coupled to the train, the locomotive reentered the lumber yard and left the full cars.

It was a smooth and quiet operation for Steve, contrasted to the squealing of the steel wheels, and rumbling of the locomotive.

Steve was already on his way back to Al when the locomotive coupled to the train and departed. The suspect box cars were tagged and being tracked. Wherever they went, they would know.

Cameron realized someone was about to confront them. She was distracted thinking about the future, and the time she would spend with Savannah. Right now she needed to worry about their safety. She thought the best course of action was a diversion. She thought of a pretty good diversion. She was about to kiss Savannah.

Savannah was taken by surprise as Cameron abruptly grabbed her and went to kiss her. Almost instantly she found out why. It wasn't a good thing.

"HEY!" A voice said forcefully. "What are you doing here?"

Cameron released Savannah.

There was a man with a gun pointed at them.

Cameron tried to look as young and innocent as possible. It wasn't too hard for her to do.

"I'm sorry. We were hiking and lost the trail. I was just about to give my girlfriend a kiss." Cameron said. "We're new lovers. We wanted to be away from everyone. Some people don't understand."

The guard began to check them out. They could both 'feel' his eyes undress them. It was a very uncomfortable feeling.

The guard finally regained his composure. He stopped ogling the girls, at least momentarily.

"This is private property." The guard said. "You teenagers shouldn't be up here. I'm going to have to take you two in. Trespassing is a serious infraction of the law. You could easily be hurt around here."

He still held his weapon, but it was only in his hand. It wasn't pointed at them anymore. He determined they weren't a threat. He actually thought about taking them captive, so he could abuse both of them later on. He knew it might bring an investigation directly to their doorstep if someone knew the area where the girls actually went. There was probably a vehicle parked close by as well. The authorities would know right where to look. He was bound to draw some flak for it.

Cameron was pretty sure of the thoughts flowing through his mind. She still tried to look young and innocent. The goal was always to draw the 'mark' in for an easy termination.

"You're not going to hurt us are you?" Cameron asked. "We didn't see anyone around here. There was no sign. How could we know? We didn't want our parents to find out."

The guard still looked them over as if they were naked.

"I was at an observation point right next to here." The guard said. "I thought I heard someone talking, it's why I came to investigate. I'm still going to have to take you two in."

They both saw the Skynet tattoo on his forearm when he moved his arm. They knew Grays didn't treat females much better than Scavengers did. It was time to act.

Savannah let her panties and bra fall to the ground.

They sprawled out as plain as day.

The guard looked down at the underwear. He wasn't paying attention to the females anymore. He was busy thinking about what they must have done to each other without underwear on. He smiled to himself. He was soon going to do the same thing and more to both of them. The difference this time would be they would have the 'real thing' since he was a male. He could see the two females weren't trashy homeless sluts. They were usually dirty and smelly. The two females there were well kept and extremely beautiful. He would give it to both of them good. He needed to decide which one to start with first….

Cameron made her move. She reached up and grabbed his head and snapped his neck. She wondered if he died happy…. There was also a more serious issue.

"The clock is running now." Cameron said.

Cameron turned her com back on. She contacted the Command Center.

"I just needed to terminate a guard." Cameron said. "He confronted us at gunpoint and said he was going to take us in. I decided otherwise. Have everyone stand ready."

John looked over at John Henry with an 'I told you so' look on his face. Cameron once again acted on her own against the enemy. There was no planning involved with her action and what would follow.

"How long do we have?" John asked.

Cameron knew she held a slight advantage, but a code word or shift change would negate the advantage instantly.

"I don't know." Cameron said. "I heard his voice so I can respond to any communications, if they have a code word or phrase, we're busted. Since there was an observation post, there could also be a roving patrol."

Cam communicated to John Henry about everything she was able to observe as she peeked out from inside the crate. It was enough to cause major concern in the Command Center.

John was most worried about the assembly line being set up for Terminators.

"We need to shut the place down." John said.

Cam hoped to spot some version of Skynet. It wasn't readily apparent. It didn't mean it wasn't there or in some underground bunker somewhere. Skynet didn't often hide above ground. She knew sometimes there was an advantage to hiding in plain sight. If something was right in front of everybody, no one would suspect anything.

"I don't see a clean room." Cam said. "I can't see the entire building in detail either."

John needed to tell her the bad news. He needed to tell all of the troops so they could get ready to act.

"Cameron's operation may go hot soon." John said. "She needed to take out a guard. Everyone should get ready to move in or act where they currently are. "

Cam was more than ready to exit the crate and start killing Grays. For some reason the crate reminded her of a coffin. It was probably because of its rectangle shape. It was much taller than a coffin. It was more like two coffins stacked on top of each other. She didn't want to get detected and terminated inside the wooden box. It really would become a coffin, her coffin. She would like to know where the Terminator was at first. If it was possible, he would be the first one she took down. He would be the biggest threat directly to her in the initial moments of combat.

"I can be out of this crate in an instant." Cam said. "I'm combat ready."

John thought about how best to deploy his troops to attack the old newspaper plant. He liked their proven method of using a 'Trojan Horse'. He knew they could do so with some of the trucks they currently took under observation.

"John Henry, I want one of the box trucks commandeered, and a team of Terminators concealed inside the back of it." John said. "We can drive it into the compound. We should be able to back it up to the dock and storm the place."

John Henry liked the idea. The Skynet forces would literally open the door for them as the troops rushed in and began the termination process. He could further complicate and hamper their ability to react or warn each other.

"I will also cut all communications so none of these groups can communicate." John Henry said. "I'm ready to do so where Cameron is currently at. If I acted too early, someone's going to suspect something is up, especially if there is a Terminator there. They may know something is up, but not what or where. I haven't done so yet so no one is alerted to anything at this moment."

John was a little worried about the Skynet jamming field they encountered in more than one location.

"They seem to be able to jam us at some of these places." John said.

John Henry thought the best course of action was to create a plan and actually carry out the plan. Their operations seldom seemed to go down with a plan. He would at least point it out to John. It still wouldn't hurt to have something in place.

"Then we'll make plans now and stick to them in case we are cut off." John Henry said.

Al was ready to move up to be able to support Cam if anything happened. He could go to the same position she first occupied. It would be underneath one of the boxcars. He knew Steve was on his way back as well.

"I can move up to where Cam is at when the patrol passes again. As soon as Bob has a visual they're almost across the south side, I can be at the boxcars." Al said. "Steve can join me when he returns. We can both use the boxcar itself to shield our passage from anyone who might look through the small gap between the building and the boxcar in a northerly direction."

John liked the idea in case things went bad before the main assault force arrived. Steve and Al could get Cam out of the building. They could provide covering fire from below the level of the dock and be shielded somewhat at the same time. He wanted to make sure the option for everyone to leave the building was there.

"It would put both of you in close proximity to Cam." John said. "If nothing else you can cover her retreat."

Al thought more like a Terminator. It's because he was one. He envisioned a different scenario which would happen with Cam.

"Or we can back her assault up." Al said. "We know where the enemy is. There's no reason to let them prepare and mount some type of a defense."

John didn't want to get into Al's comment right now. He wanted more information about the interior of the building.

"Cam, how many people can you make out?" John asked. "We know there's at least one Terminator there."

Cam carefully took another look around the interior from inside the crate she was in.

"I see about a dozen." Cam said. "I don't know where the Terminator went. This is a very big building. There's the office area too. I can't see anything where it's at or what's inside."

Steve heard the plans for the operation they were about to conduct. He thought there was a legitimate 'surprise' in his SUV. He retained some of the captured weapons from the previous operation.

"I have two of the silenced MP5 weapons we took in the last raid." Steve said. "I should be back to the old newspaper plant in three minutes."

John liked the idea of Steve and Al to be able to start the attack silently, or at least with less noise than if it was a 'full on' assault with un-silenced weapons. It was possible only the Terminator would be able to detect what was happening initially.

"You and Al can move down to the box cars after the patrol goes by. Take the silenced weapons and an M4 for each of you, including one for Cam." John said. "I want to make sure everyone can have a hard hit, especially with Coltan rounds if they're needed."

"Affirmative…." Steve said.

It looked like things were about to go hot - everywhere.

Closing monologue by Cameron:

My Vision

What you're seeing
Is my creation, my vision
I'm trying to express myself
Not cause strife or division

Reality and fantasy
May have a collision
Nothing is perfect
Everything is a decision.

For what some have done
The way that they did it
I won't give them a 'pass'
I'll MAKE them relive it

This is my choice
This is my right
I don't want it to be something
Over which we will fight

Everyone is entitled to their beliefs
I am too
This is MY vision
I respect yours too

This isn't just a story
It's my life retold
Things that seem gory
Must be told

I'm working REAL hard
Nobody knows how much
I want to spread joy and happiness
As I reach out to touch

My words are like art
As they paint images in one's mind
Through the maze of darkness
Myself I try to find

Much of what we seek
Is real only if we pretend
I'm never trying to hurt
I don't mean to offend

What you see presented
Is all that I have
They are pieces of my mind
That break off and calve

I don't want to create
Any anger or a hard feeling
I want to express and share
I hope my words spark healing

It's very, very lonely
From the outside looking in
With so much time and effort
It leaves the skin very thin

When I'm questioned or challenged
It makes going forward tough
I think I've failed
I feel I'm 'Not Good Enough'

I cower from an 'attack'
The hurt makes me cry
It's times like this
I wish I could die

Nobody