Chapter 1644

Anytime Soon

The two Grays were inside the destroyed compound. They cautiously entered to see what they could find. They were on their way down to a lower level. They were about to enter a door on the stairway.

The first man opened the door slowly as he shined his light inside.

"Let's see what we can find." The first man said.

The first man entered.

The second man was sure everything we were doing now was unnecessary and dangerous. He wanted to leave now so they could get back and make their report. He thought the first man took too many chances and operated carelessly. He took a deep breath and entered. He didn't let the door close tight behind him. He didn't want to get locked in some unknown part of the complex. He put a broken piece of concrete against the door jamb to prevent it from closing tight. The fact there was a broken piece of concrete on the floor was a good indication of the stability of the area they were in. It was clearly as unsafe as it was unstable.

"We need to keep track of how to get back here too." The second man said.

The first man was a little irritated.

"There's no lock on the door." The first man said.

The second man knew there wasn't. Based on the condition of the passageways, he didn't think a lock was the problem.

"It's in case there's any kind of ground movement or cave in. I don't want the door to be wedged closed." The second man said. "Based upon what we've seen, it's a real possibility we can't ignore."

The first man was about to make a snide comment. He heard a few cracking sounds since they were inside the passageways. He saw the rivulets of dust and crushed concrete raining down from the ceiling in streams in places. He was aware things could be a little better. They didn't have a choice. It was what it was.

"It sounds like a plan." The first man said. "Let's keep moving."

The first man continued to shine the flashlight ahead of them.

The second man was sure the light looked dimmer than it did earlier. He had experience with the batteries running out on a flashlight before. The failure of the light was usually rather abrupt. He really thought it was time for them to turn around. He already mentioned it a number of times without any apparent effect. He still felt he needed to say something about the light.

"I think the battery is running down in the flashlight." The second man said. "It'll get dimmer to about half brightness and then just go out. When you try to turn it back, on the bulb will just glow a little bit and then go out permanently."

The first man was a little concerned. The light did seem dimmer to him. He wanted to push ahead for now. If the light got dimmer he would think about retracing their path. There appeared to be a solid wall in front of them. The light was redirected to one side of it. There was an opening. It was something they encountered several times already.

"There's another zigzag up ahead." The first man said.

The two Grays approached the zigzag. There was another loud 'crack' sound behind them.

CamNet's Terminator quickly removed the hard drives and stowed them in his pack. He made his way back to the doorway and listened.

He could hear a faint noise. It was constant. He looked in the direction he originally came from. There was a layer of dust in the air further down. The noise stopped. He figured it was dirt drifting through one of the cracks. The integrity of the passageway system continued to seem worse to him. He was there to do a job.

CamNet's Terminator turned back in the direction the two Grays went. He approached the 'T' intersection with caution. He paused and listened. There was only quiet. He looked around the corner with one eye. The passageway was clear up to the elevators and stairway. He decided to go to the location. He rapidly made his way there as soundlessly as possible. He took a look down the elevator shaft. All he could see were rocks at the bottom. He entered the stairwell and started down. He knew it was the direction the two men went.

It was a little quieter than he thought it would be. He wasn't sure the men were still in the stairwell. He spotted a door half a flight below him. He could see it wasn't closed tight. He approached it and listened. He could hear voices. He recognized them as the two men. He could see the door was blocked open with a piece of broken concrete.

He was faced with a choice. He could continue to pursue the two men where they currently were, or he could choose to go further down the stairway and be ahead of them. He should be able to hear them coming if they came back out of the passageway they were in.

The two men could either go up or down when they re-entered the stairway. He would be ready for them whichever direction they took.

He decided to continue down. If there was anything of value, he would take it before they arrived. There was more debris on the steps as he continued down. There was a good chance there could have been another cave in. When he looked down the elevator shaft, all he could see was debris at the bottom. The stairwell was located very near the elevator shaft. It more than likely could be in the same condition.

He hoped to find whatever the computer he removed the hard drives from was connected to. It was getting power from somewhere. He hoped to be able to hear an electric hum at some point. It most likely would be a power source, or connected to a power source. Whatever it was would be something of interest for him.

CamNet's Terminator continued his journey down. He paused halfway down each flight of steps to listen ahead of him and behind him. The continued sounds of 'cracking', and the small impacts of debris on the floor were very concerning to him. He decided he would take the stairway down till it reached its destination, or went no further. It was the point he would turn around and go back out. If he passed the two men along the way, he would terminate them as he made his exit. His HUD currently showed there was only a forty three percent chance of survival under the current conditions.

Jesse held Precious as Vanna watched.

"Are you going to sing to her again in Chinese?" Vanna asked.

Jesse smiled.

"It's what my Mum used to do for me." Jesse said. "I think I remember it more from hearing her sing it to my sister."

Vanna didn't know if she wanted to lead Jesse down the path to what happened to her family in the past, the future. They were all currently still alive now in Australia because the Resistance delayed Judgment Day multiple times. It still wouldn't change the fact of what happened to her parents in the future they came from. She wanted to change the subject.

"I thought the others would have been back by now." Vanna said. "Maybe I should call them."

Jesse didn't want to be a bother.

"Maybe we can go look." Jesse said. "I can put Precious in her stroller and push her around. It would do her good to get out."

Vanna thought they should take her to the park. It would be nice for Precious to be outdoors. It was dark now, so it wouldn't happen anytime soon. In the past, the future, few good things happened in the darkness.

"Maybe we can take her to the park tomorrow." Vanna said. "It would give Riley and Derek some alone time together without any interruptions or anyone listening to them. Samantha would need to go with us. I'm sure there are a few male Terminators who aren't busy right now. Well, maybe they are. There might be more available tomorrow."

Jesse carefully put Precious in the stroller.

Vanna checked to make sure everything was secure. She opened the door for Jesse, as she pushed the stroller into the hallway. They checked around them to see if anyone else was nearby. They didn't spot anyone else.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Temporal Mission:

Past Timeline:

November 26 1963

XXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Cameron opened the hood to adjust the timing. She reached inside and loosened the retaining bolt on the distributor with her fingers. She moved it back closer to the stock setting. She retightened the bolt with her fingers and closed the hood.

Young Allison drove up to the pumps and shut the engine off. She got out to assist with fueling up the vehicle. She looked at the octane rating on the three grades of fuel.

"It's a shame they don't have octane like this anymore." Young Allison said.

Cameron didn't think they could do much about it. She could always procure aviation fuel.

"It all goes back to the misguided politicians." Cameron said. "Most of them were driving the 'People's Car' in the late Sixties and early Seventies before they switched out to Gremlins and Pacers to further humiliate themselves. Some of them were able to find wealth they didn't earn or deserve. They switched over to Arian super machines and lived the good life fueled with plenty of illegal narcotics."

Cameron thought it was a waste of time and effort for the ignorant politicians to try to 'save the planet'. They didn't know what Skynet had in store for it. In her future, the planet survived nuclear war. So did groups of humans. It was a much larger group than Skynet calculated would survive. It resorted to chemical and biological warfare to try to thin the herd. All they did was eliminate the weak links, and people with pre-existing conditions. The strongest and most able humans were the ones who survived. They were better able to make use of the limited resources they could obtain.

Young Allison was a little surprised when the attendant came out to put the fuel in for them. It wasn't something which occurred in the time period they left from. She wasn't exactly sure when it stopped.

"I've got it, thank you." Young Allison said.

The attendant looked a little upset. He was used to people not even getting out of their cars. Now they were too hot chicks, doing his job.

Young Allison put in 102 octane gasoline. She took a step back from the fuel hose where it went into the opening to fill the tank up at. She could definitely smell the gasoline vapor. She knew it was filled with lead and other additives. Maybe they should have let the attendant fill the tank for them.

Cameron allowed the attendant to clean the windows. She borrowed his tire gauge and checked the pressure in the tires. She knew they would show a little higher temperature because they were driving. The friction of the tires on the road created heat which raised the pressure.

Young Allison watched the numbers on the fuel pump advance. It amazed her how slowly the price went up.

"It's only going to cost five dollars to fill the tank up." Young Allison said. "It's the same amount for a gallon of gasoline in the timeline we left from. It's the cheap 'premium', ninety one octane stuff too."

Cameron planned to get some more high octane avgas in Mojave.

"It will do for now." Cameron said. "I don't think we need to worry anyone will be faster than us, even on pump gas. Our vehicle puts more horsepower to the rear wheels than any of the other vehicles. We were still able to overcome a weight disadvantage in our last contest of speed."

Cameron kept track of the vehicles which went eastbound on Route 466 while they fueled up the Galaxie. She didn't see any potential competition. She knew for a human, the Galaxie would be a handful on a road course. It wouldn't be for her at all.

The fuel was in, the windows were clean, the tires and oil level were checked.

The attendant approached them with a smile on his face.

"Will it be cash or credit?" The attendant asked. "You can get Blue Chip Stamps or Green Stamps as well."

Cameron handed the attendant a ten dollar bill.

"Thank you for your assistance." Cameron said. "We won't need any of the stamps. You gave excellent service. Keep the change for yourself."

The attendant was a little upset before. Now he was elated. He got a tip from about one out of every hundred customers, if he was lucky. It rained anywhere from a nickel to a quarter. It never was a 'Fin' before. It was nearly as much money as he would make on his shift.

"Thanks." The attendant said. "I really appreciate it. Thank you again."

Cameron looked at Young Allison.

"Do you want to take us back over the hill?" Cameron asked.

Young Allison was a little tired. She figured Cameron could probably drive the route with her eyes closed, since she drove it once already, even if it was in the opposite direction.

"I'll be your copilot." Young Allison said. "You'll do much better in the dark on the twisty road then I will. I know you need to be on the lookout for wild animals as well."

Young Allison thought about it a little further. She figured there could be domestic animals as well. Someone's dog or cat may be out looking for some wild animal it spotted and its natural instincts induced it to attempt to catch it. It didn't really matter. vehicles didn't seem to mean much to animals of any type.

Cameron moved to the driver's side and got in. She buckled up and made sure Young Allison was buckled in as well. She pushed in the clutch and started the engine. She looked around, slowly let out the clutch, and pulled out onto Route 466.

Young Allison noticed the headlights were off.

"Can you see?" Young Allison asked.

Cameron glanced over.

"I see everything." Cameron said.

Cameron turned on the headlights as they headed eastbound. She didn't want to cause Young Allison any unnecessary worry.

They passed through the small community of Edison.

Young Allison could see a bright light flashing in front of them. It made an arc in a Figure Eight pattern. It was the oscillating headlight on a locomotive.

"There's a Southern Pacific train coming." Young Allison said.

Several cars passed them going westbound. In a couple of minutes they could see the oncoming train almost next to them.

Young Allison only caught a glimpse of the lead locomotive. It was too dark for her to make out the details.

"I believe it was an SD9 on the point." Young Allison said.

Cameron took in everything with one eye as she looked over. She kept the other one on the road.

"It was two SD9 units, two GP9 units, and an ABBA set of F7 units." Cameron said. "The two SD9 units will probably be cut off in Bakersfield. The other units should be able to handle the train on the flat land of the Central Valley."

Young Allison couldn't see much on the way back. She recognized when they reached Woodford. She knew they would be at the Tehachapi Loop in approximately ten minutes. She could see the block signals were red in the direction they were going.

"I think there's a train coming." Young Allison said.

Cameron was aware how the signaling system worked.

"We're actually about to overtake a train which just passed." Cameron said. "The signal will usually turn red once the locomotive passes the green light. It's to keep a train behind it from following too close. I didn't see the block signal behind it because of the curvature of the tracks away from the road. It most likely was yellow. I think if I pick up the pace, we'll be able to catch the train at Walong working uphill."

Young Allison could feel the RPMs pick up. They would need to negotiate a curvy section of the road, in multiple directions, to reach the Tehachapi Loop from their location in Woodford.

Cameron downshifted into second gear to give her maximum control of the car as they climbed uphill on the curvy road. Every time she let off the gas for a corner, the car rapidly decelerated. She got on the gas and she came out of the corner but not too much.

Young Allison could see the car was surprisingly agile for its size.

"How would this thing do on a road course?" Young Allison asked.

Cameron tilted her head slightly.

"I don't know." Cameron said. "It handled very well through Soledad Canyon and on Route 466 from Mojave to Edison. I actually think it would do quite well. If I were racing against other vehicles, I would be able to catch them in the corner and simply out horsepower them on the straightaway. Maybe something will turn up. "

Young Allison wasn't sure what was going to happen. She hoped there wouldn't be any challenges on the curvy mountainous part of the route they were on. She was sure Cameron would use good judgment and think about her safety, even if she didn't think about her own. Right now there was a train to catch. It shouldn't be too difficult with Cameron behind the wheel.

"Let's just see if we can beat the train to the Tehachapi Loop." Young Allison said.

Anytime Soon

When the darkness creeps in
It usually isn't like a typhoon
One can still get lost easily
There's more than one way to maroon

There are many who think
From troubles they're immune
It doesn't take too much
To get them to crawl into a cocoon

A strong wind and high tide
Will leave wreckage and debris strewn
There goes all the hard work
From which a future was hewn

The songs which are sung
Are seldom melodic or in tune
One needs to watch their back
When another holds a harpoon

The time to take action
Is seldom obvious or opportune
It's all a cruel reminder
Not to expect much anytime soon

Nobody