Disclaimer: I don't anything other than the OC.
A/N: Thanks for reviews people!
Chapter 5: Pizza, Plans, and Plenty of Guns
April 18, 2012 12 pm
For all three people, cyborg and human, the week went by rather slowly, without much to do Cameron and Jim spent most of their time working on the farm or repairing any number of things.
By the time the week was up, Cameron had started to become a little impatient. Everyday she would listen for the mailman to arrive.
So when Cameron heard the mailman pull up, she was already halfway down the drive by the time Jim looked out the window.
She walked across the state highway to the mailbox, not really needing to look for traffic. She had previously calculated the average car per hour at 6.34 on weekdays.
She opened the mailbox and pulled out the stack of mail, some were bills or junk mail, all of which she ignored for the two large sealed manila envelopes at the back. Cameron closed the mailbox and walked back to the house with a small smile on her face.
The permits had come for building the bunker, and so had the contract and schedule.
Before she had even closed the door, Jim was already asking what came.
"What we've been waiting for". She said simply as she dumped the rest of the mail on him and tore open one of the envelopes.
John Henry emerged from his basement hideout, he too knowing the mail had come.
"Did it come today Cameron"?
"Yes, both the permits and the contract". She said in her typical flat tone as she began reviewing the permits. Jim tore into the one from Zanthum Construction Corp. He handed John Henry the contract to check over while he began looking over the plans and schedule.
Jim whistled as he scanned the projected project schedule.
"Man, they don't mess around. If I sign these today, they'll begin construction in two weeks".
"Good, the permits are all in order, John Henry, what about the contract"? Cameron asked the cyborg standing to her left.
"I see no legal issues with it, although the price is higher than what we expected".
"That's not an issue though". Cameron said before turning back to Jim. "Are you ready to sign them"?
"Yeah, I say we get this show on the road". He took a pen off the desk and signed the documents.
"We'll drop these off at the nearest FedEx box right after I eat, last pick up isn't until 5 pm anyway". Jim said as he put the documents back down on the kitchen table.
"You eat, I'll put papers and permits in the envelope. While were out we need to get boxes to pack up the things in the house, it needs to be empty while they modify the foundation". Cameron said as she straightened the papers that were going to be mailed.
"Yeah I figured as much, we also need to move the cattle to the fields closest to the barn. Then we'll take them to town and sell them so we wont have to worry about them".
Cameron's eyes widened in surprise, she was going to suggest that but figured he wouldn't be so willing.
"I thought you liked farming"?
"I do, but this is more important, we can't be worrying about the cattle when were working on this".
She cocked her head a bit, thinking about his reaction.
"You're committed to helping us no matter what". She said as she sat down next to him. "Aren't you"?
He turned his head and met her gaze.
"I am".
Cameron smiled at him, and it honestly surprised him, she rarely smiled anything more than a smirk, but here she was grinning at him.
"I'll make your lunch".
Jim's face scrunched in confusion.
"Why".
"Sometimes it's nice to have help".
Jim chuckled.
"Yeah, it is".
Two hours later...
Now that they were in public again Cameron was in her disguise once more with her curly blonde hair and blue eyes. They walked through the hardware store in Kirksville, the closest major town, picking up cardboard boxes, packing tape, and plenty of packing peanuts.
As Jim loaded up different sizes of boxes, Cameron decided they needed to talk about a rather urgent matter.
"Jim, we need to decided on where were going to live while the bunker is under construction, and where your belongings are going to go".
He turned back to her as he set down another stack of folded boxes on the cart.
"I already have a large storage unit rented here in town, we can use the cattle trailer to haul the boxes".
He paused as he pulled down one last stack.
"As for where were going to live, well, I still own my Aunt's house in Kansas City, haven't had the time to sell it yet".
"Is it maintained"?
"Yep, ready to move in right now, there's even enough basement space for John Henry to put all of his stuff in".
"He'll be pleased". She paused for a beat as she rechecked her surroundings. "You don't procrastinate as much as you say".
Jim just shrugged as they walked towards the checkout.
"And you're more human than you'll ever admit".
She looked a little taken back by what he said for a moment, but her slightly shocked look dissolved into a small upturn of her lips.
Later that evening after they got back, they filled John Henry in on their plan and he immediately agreed with it.
As they finished, Jim's stomach began to growl and decided that it was time for dinner. He went into the kitchen and pulled out a frozen pizza he'd been saving. He heated the oven up and put the pizza on a pan, as he turned to get a soda out of the fridge, an idea struck him.
"Hey Cameron"! He yelled as he grabbed the soda.
"Yes"? She said right behind him.
Jim nearly jumped out of his skin.
"Jeez girl, don't do that, I'd like not to die of a heart attack".
She gave him a blank look as she responded.
"Then you shouldn't eat so much greasy food".
He just rolled his eyes.
"Anyway, I was going ask if wanted to watch a movie"?
"Why"? She cocked her head to the side, a little confused by the request. Jim simply flapped his jaw for a moment before he answered.
"I... well, it was something my family and I would do once a week. We'd sit down and watch a movie while we ate pizza and popcorn". Jim rubbed the back of his neck, not comfortable reminding himself of times past.
"You think of us as family"?
"Not really, we haven't known each other that long, but I consider you both friends. We'd invite those over too".
She looked for a second or two more before she let a small smile appear on her face.
"Yes, I'll watch a movie with you". She looked at the soda in his hands. "Only if you make me a soda too, lots of ice".
Jim was speechless as she walked away to go find John Henry and invite him, but after a second or two he let a genuine smile fill his face.
For the first time in over a year Jim Anderson didn't feel alone.
Twenty minutes later the pizza and popcorn were done as were the two drinks.
Jim walked into the living room to find John Henry sitting in one of the two recliners and Cameron searching through his movie library on his computer.
"Did that deal include you picking out the movie"? He said with a mock sarcastic voice.
She simply looked at him and deadpanned a yes. He rolled his eyes and sat down in the other recliner.
"Did you choose something yet"? He asked as he bit his first piece out of meat lovers pizza.
"What's Firefly? It has the actress who played me in it". She said as she turned around and looked at Jim. He just choked back a laugh.
"Basically space cowboys, just play it".
Cameron turned back around and hit the enter key. She sat on the floor to the left of Jim as he handed her the soda. She accepted it without a word, already too engrossed in the show to devote the necessary processing power to say thanks.
During the whole pilot episode he just watched the two machines reactions as the story progressed. They didn't move much, they were like little children mesmerized by Sesame Street.
After it was over, Cameron moved to start the next episode but was stopped by Jim.
"Let's wait til next week".
"You want to continue this tradition of yours"? She asked him after deducing his reasoning.
"Yeah, one episode per week, there are only 13 all together plus the movie".
"I'd like that" She turned away from him and towards John Henry. "Would you mind"?
The Skynet-like AI thought about it for a second before answering.
"No, however, I would prefer if we had a better audio system".
Jim almost fell over in surprise, since when did machine care about such things?
John Henry noticed his reaction and answered the unspoken question.
"The TV's speaker quality is low, it's distracting to filter out distortion when I'm trying to analyze all the different sounds".
Jim chuckled a bit before telling him to pick one out and have it shipped to his aunt's house.
Just as he left the bathroom after his shower, he found Cameron waiting for her turn.
"You know, there's a lot more to you two than I thought, you keep on surprising me".
"Now you know why we ask so many questions about humans". She said simply as she walked in and shut the door.
Cameron was right, both races had their quirks that fascinated the other immensely. It amazed him how intricate their personalities were, not to mention how diverse.
He could honestly say that these two were the most interesting people he had ever met.
As he climbed into bed, he wondered what Weaver, or even Sarah Connor were like for real...
The next few days were a blur for Jim. The three of them had gotten to work the next morning packing up the contents of the house and making trips to the storage locker. Jim also had to take care of the cattle, which Cameron and John Henry helped him with to speed things along.
Three days after contract had come in the mail they had the house completely packed up save for the bare essentials for Jim. He had an air mattress, a few sets of clothes, some disposable utensils and plenty of microwavable food that stayed in a mini-fridge.
Most of his personal belongings had been put into storage, but the tools and workbenches were at the house in KC as were all the computers.
His aunt's old house had everything needed to live in it, the only things that had to be moved in were his clothes, and some of the belongings in his room and his toiletries. What little Cameron owned, not to mention John Henry, was easily moved in a single box.
The house was located on the Kansas side of Kansas City, but since this wasn't his permanent address, he didn't have to change his license plates, nor his driver's licence itself. The three trucks had been moved as well, leaving the smaller farm truck, a green 1997 4WD Chevy S-10 LS, in the tractor shed back on the farm. The Ram was left with John Henry in Kansas City while he set up his basement lab. Jim and Cameron took the burgundy Chevy Silverado 2500 flat-bed back to the farm so they could begin hauling the cattle off to the sale barn.
Herding the cattle, especially the ones with calves, was proving to very interesting for Cameron.
Which is the situation that she and Jim now found themselves in.
"Bovine aren't very smart". She says in her traditional flat tone, but Jim knew by the look on her face that she was frustrated.
As usual, some of the Angus cattle did not like being herded, and when you tried to drive them to the gate, they tried going the opposite direction.
"Yeah, they're a bit crazy, it's all part of the fun though". He cracked as he gently slapped a cow with a cattle prod, and the it took off, kicking dirt on Cameron.
"I don't see how this is fun". Her face had gotten more annoyed now that dirt was in her immaculate hair.
"That was joke silly".
"Oh".
He laughed a little as they drove the last of the heifers into the sorting lot.
"Alright, grab that tagging gun out of the truck, I'll get the tags and paint pen out barn".
"Got it". She said as she pulled it out of her back pocket and handed it to him.
They retagged a few before they but some into the trailer and took them away. It took them three days to get all the cattle moved into the sale barn lots, and then they spent two days at the auction selling all of them.
When they were finished, Cameron picked up the check from the sale barn and looked over the total.
It was over 100,000 dollars, not a large amount considering how much they were going to spend on TDE and the fusion reactor, but it would still be nice to have just in case.
What little was left in house they packed up before they hit the road and went to Kansas City. Not long before they reached the city did Cameron decided she wanted to strike up conversation.
"We made more money than I predicted".
Jim nodded his head. "How much more"?
"$18,296.23 more than I predicted, I think it was because one of the farmers who had a herd that got killed when the river flooded".
"Yeah, Simmons was telling me about that while I was at the gas station a few days ago, I guess that's where you heard it"?
"Yes, I was still in the truck". He gave her a questioning look. "This body has exceptional hearing".
He nodded in acceptance before changing the subject.
"People in town have asked about you and John Henry".
"That's generally what happens in small towns, people get nosy". She turned her head to face him once more as they continued driving down the road.
"Yeah, but they look out for one another, and that's something you rarely find in the city. But your right, we can't have people getting too curious about you and John Henry. We'll have to come up with a cover story". Jim said as he met her gaze for a second before flicking his head back to the road.
Cameron seemed to think the idea over for a second as her head tilted a few degrees to the right.
"We could be distant cousins on your father's side, John Henry could create the paper work and put it in the system".
Jim thought it was feasible, after all the house he was living in was his maternal grandparents house. His father's side of the family came from a different part of the country.
"How do we explain the bunker"?
"I don't know, humans are better at lying than we are". Her wistful tone made Jim think she found that curious. He responded with an agreeing snort, but as he thought the situation over, they would have a lot of tools, a ton of computer equipment, and special CNC machines plus a small foundry.
"We could say were in a competition that competes in building rail gun, so if anyone looks close enough, the incoming materials will be similar enough to what they use to make them".
Cameron picked up on his train of thought and finished for him.
"Yes, we could say you were the only relative that had enough land. We built the bunker to protect the expensive equipment from a severe storm".
"Well, we won't have to use it for a while yet, but I think it'll work". Jim said as he turned off the highway.
"We'll see". She said before they fell back into silence.
A few minutes later Cameron checked her mental list of things she needed to do, crossing off those that were accomplished while reviewing those that were on hold or needed to be accomplished.
One that was needed to be brought up concerned Jim's request from days before.
"Jim".
"Huh"? He said without taking his eyes off the road.
"We need to talk about your request".
Jim knew from her serious tone what request she was talking about.
"Yeah, we do. You said you'd think about it".
"I did". She paused, trying to gauge the change in his emotions as the conversation continued. "Have you changed your mind"?
"No". He said as he met her gaze once more. His eyes conveyed his seriousness to the cyborg.
"I still don't understand your decision, but I talked to John Henry, and we agreed to grant your request".
His tense features relaxed when she said that.
"There are things you need to learn before we leave. It will be very hard for you after we jump. The post Judgement Day environment has little food and clean water is virtually nonexistent".
"What training do you think I'll need"?
Cameron tilted her head as she compiled a list.
"I know that you suffer from sports induced asthma, we need to work on your lung capacity or you wont be able to run long distances".
He nodded in understanding as she continued.
"I need to train you in hand to hand combat tactics, not all humans will be friendly. Then I will train you in machine combat tactics, how to evade them, fight them, and kill them. You need to know how we think, what our habits are like, and how to exploit our weaknesses. Then I will train you will all kinds of weapons pistols, shotguns, rifles, automatic weapons, and grenades".
He didn't seem overwhelmed by the challenges she laid before him, he only nodded without saying a word.
"Lastly, you will need to how to survive in our future, your need to harden your body against starvation and disease. We will have to get your body used to unpurified water".
Cameron's gaze never left his face, monitoring to see if he would give up on what she thought was a foolish decision, but alas his face remained serious and unperturbed by it all. She figured that the emotional pain he'd been through did not compare to any physical hurt she could dole out on him.
He was as stubborn and determined as Sarah Connor, but his mind was more open than hers. This was why she liked him, both her and John Henry had developed a fondness for him, a little stronger than what she had for Eric, or John Henry with Mr. Murch.
Only this was different, Jim knew more about them than Eric and Ellison combined.
"I'll do it". Jim said, breaking Cameron out of her thoughts.
"We'll start tomorrow, 5 am".
With that she turned her head back toward the windshield and they spent the last few minutes of the trip in silence. Jim spent those minutes thinking about how quickly his life had changed in such a short amount of time, but this time around, it was a change that he welcomed...
April 25, 2012, 5 am
Cameron pulled into driveway after doing a little errand she needed to run. She almost didn't get back in time to start Jim's training.
She went inside the two-story house and looked around for Jim, but there was no sign of him.
Maybe he was in the basement with John Henry, or maybe he was somewhere else, somewhere he better not be.
When she entered the master suite, her eyes burned purple...
There was Jim, still sleeping, his alarm clock next to him blaring.
Cameron was not happy.
Jim's peaceful dreams of a perfect life quickly gave way to a harsh reality when he suddenly found himself drenched in cold water.
"Get up James, It's 5:03"!
He jumped as water continued to roll off of him, but he was still moving too slowly for Cameron's taste.
"GET UP, If this was a Skynet attack you'd be dead already"!
Cameron wasn't messing around when she grabbed him by the neck and dragged him out of his bed into the adjacent master bathroom.
She casually tossed him into the shower and turned the handle to cold and closed the door.
"OKAY OKAY, I'm awake"! Jim yelled as he flailed around on the shower floor. Cameron, however, made no move to help him.
When he finally turned off the water and opened the door, Cameron was already throwing him a towel and running clothes at him.
"You've got 30 seconds to get dried off and dressed before I put you back in that shower".
Jim could tell that she was dead serious about that threat and he wasted no time in making use of the towel and dry clothes.
When he was done Jim looked back at Cameron standing in the doorway.
"29 seconds, you have to do better". The cyborg said as she gave him a look that reminded him of the one she gave John after she found lipstick on his neck.
It was one of disappointment.
"I will, I'm sorry".
She didn't answer him, but instead she dragged him out of the master suite and into the hallway.
"Get your shoes on, we're jogging a mile this morning".
"What about breakfast"?
She turned back to him with that look once more and walked outside.
Jim groaned a bit, but sucked it up, he'd live, he'd gone without breakfast before.
He followed her out the door and ran after her.
Twenty minutes later Jim felt like his lungs and throat were on fire. He was wheezing and coughing like crazy when they finally finished the mile. When they walked in the house Jim collapsed on the foyer floor coughing still. Cameron finally took pity on the man and helped him over to the couch.
While he sat there catching his breath she got him a glass of water and handed it to him.
After he chugged the whole thing he set the glass down and let out a long contented sigh.
"Thanks".
"Your welcome".
Cameron walked out of the room and into the kitchen. Jim turned on the TV and began watching the morning news.
"...early this morning a local weapons dealer was robbed. The thief took several automatic weapons and combat shotguns along with several other types of weapons. The police are asking for tips so they can hopefully identify the thief caught on surveillance. As you can see, the thief wore a heavy disguise, and the police aren't even sure if the suspect is male or female. If anyone has any information as to who did this, please..."
Jim turned off the TV as he thought for a second.
That coat the thief was wearing... he recognized that coat, it was HIS!
"CAMERON"! Jim yelled as he got off the couch, but as soon as he did he heard the sound of a weapon having a round chambered.
"Yes"? She said with an innocent tone.
When he turned around his suspicions were confirmed when he saw Cameron wielding a M-16.
"Figures..." He said while rolling his eyes. "Get bored last night"?
"Yes, I don't sleep".
"And with no Terminators to hunt and no John to protect, what is a Cameron to do"? He said sarcastically as he crossed his arms.
"True, but you know that some of the weapons we used aren't legal to own".
"I know that, but you could have at least told me what you were planning".
"And you could have gotten up on time". She countered as she glared at him. They stayed there staring at one another for a moment before Jim conceded and let out a sigh.
"Look, I'm not John, I'm not Derek, and I'm not Sarah Connor. I know you do things because you think they're necessary. You don't need to lie to me, or keep your activities from me. It's better if we don't and you know that. As for me not getting up, it won't happen again".
She placed the weapon on the kitchen table and looked back at him, she felt something akin to shame for letting him down, and she didn't know why. What she did know is that he's placing his complete trust in her, and now he's asking the same in return.
"If it does, I'll place your head on a pike for all to see".
His eyes widen briefly before he picked up on her wicked sense of humor.
"You almost fooled me". Jim said as he pointed a finger at the cyborg. Cameron scrunched her nose a little in disappointment, she had always liked fooling humans that way, even before the explosion.
"It would have worked on Derek".
Cameron took the rather large assortment of weapons to the basement while Jim ate some much needed breakfast, but instead of cereal and coffee he had an egg with fresh fruit and a bowl of oatmeal. To top it all off he had fresh orange juice to go with it. After he was done eating he went down to the basement to find out what the two terminators were up to.
When he got down there, he found John Henry working in front on a 3D rendering of something on the server computer. Cameron was breaking down various weapons and cleaning them.
"Good, your here". Cameron said to him as she glanced over in his direction. "We need to start your weapon's training".
"Alright, I'm guessing you want me to learn how they work first"?
"Yes, and how to maintain them. We wont actually practice with them until later".
"Awesome". Jim sat down at the table and picked up a Desert Eagle, but just before Cameron began, Jim asked John Henry a question.
"What are you working on John Henry"?
The cyborg responded without looking over at him.
"I'm finishing the fusion reactor design, I plan to order what parts we can't make as soon as possible".
"Cool, when do you think that will be"?
"Not for a few weeks, but we can't have these parts shipped, we will have to pick them up ourselves if we want to avoid unnecessary attention".
Jim looked confused so Cameron explained.
"Deuterium and tritium are the fuel sources we'll need, tritium is slightly radioactive and rare, we don't want to get on the government's radar".
"I see, so we'll be taking a road trip". He said as he picked up the DE once more. "So what did you want to teach me about pistols"?
Jim said as he switched back to training.
"I saw how you cleaned your Remington, it was insufficient".
"Okay Master Chief, teach me something". Jim challenged as he popped the slide off of the DE, and to his surprise Cameron smiled,
She had gotten the joke.
"I will".
A/N: A bit more of a humorous chapter after the last few and it gets the ball rolling.
Expect the next several to be similar.