Chapter 1625

MY Turn

The female Fanatic was one block away from the Hotel 6. There was no sign anyone followed them. She was still a little concerned about the white van she spotted earlier. She wanted to return after they let off the delivery van near the hotel. She was sure the white van was some type of sucker play. She didn't believe it was directed at her either.

Experience taught her there were always things going on in the background from any number of different groups. Their current situation with sex traffickers, and the gangs earlier, was proof of it. They were future Scavengers. Not necessarily everything was related to Skynet. It was all related to the future.

Jill could see Jackie was a little preoccupied. She understood her concern for the 'enemy' she needed to face. Right now they dealt with a different 'enemy'. She felt she was on the short side of the stick more than a few times. She would like to be on the other side for a change. She would like to do something to help others if she could, as well as herself. It seemed to her the ones 'in charge' could do a little bit more to actually make sure things were safer for everyone.

"I don't see any sign of the police." Jill said. "To tell you the truth, I really don't think they care what happens around some parts of town. It's like some people, or what happens to them, don't matter. I know a lot of it has to do with the court system as well as the prosecutors."

The female Fanatic was able to avoid most encounters with the authorities. She learned it was something all groups from the future tried to 'work around'. They didn't want to bring attention to themselves. The fewer people who were involved in their business, the better. If some individuals begin to learn too much about what was really going on they could cause a problem. She wasn't out to kill some person for doing what they viewed as their job. The job of the authorities would become meaningless in the future. It actually seemed it was how it was now. There was no need for any interaction.

"I hope to avoid them." The female Fanatic said.

She wanted to park the delivery van where she thought she would have a good view of it. She would keep an eye on it from the other side of the restaurant next to it. She pointed the location out to Jill.

"Do you want me to get out first?" Jill asked. "I can wait near the spot to make sure there's no one who pays any attention once you get out, or tries to follow you."

The female Fanatic was sure the owners of the delivery van were going to be very upset about their lost cargo and missing men. She thought it was a good idea on Jill's part.

"I'll scope out a vehicle we can put the grab on if we need it." The female Fanatic said. "I don't want to take one too early if we're just sitting around in it. It's different if we take it and leave the area immediately. It would be a different story if we're sitting in it and the owner would arrive. It would most likely produce a lot of negative interaction."

Jill could see her point. She figured it wouldn't end well for the owner. She got out of the delivery van when Jackie turned into the alley behind the restaurant. It should block her from the view of anyone who spotted the delivery van coming.

CamNet directed Lena and Tina to remain near the gang activity before they went after the suspected female Fanatic and her accomplice. It appeared the confrontation would happen in minutes.

They watched the drone images as the two gangs approached each other.

They also saw an image of the female Fanatic's accomplice get out of the delivery van.

"What do you think they're up to?" Tina asked.

Lena wasn't exactly sure.

"I think they're going to use the transport vehicle from the sex traffickers as bait." Lena said.

Tina thought it was a good idea.

"It's an effective strategy. It appears she has a sense of right and wrong." Tina said. "It's a shame she follows the false narrative of SkyMaster. Based on her accomplishments, she would be an asset for any group she was associated with."

Lena agreed.

"It's too bad she chose the wrong group." Lena said. "We need to capture her alive so she can be interrogated."

They were both aware CamNet wanted some specific answers from her.

Tina knew they would need to take precautions.

"We need to make sure she doesn't activate her poison tooth, or detonate some type of explosive device." Tina said. "Those are both past things which have happened with others in their group."

Lena was worried they might have to get her out of a jam if she was picked up by the sex traffickers. It wasn't her goal to rescue operatives who were the enemies of the Resistance. They were under the impression she was terminated at the old cement plant. They thought the same thing more than once. The female Fanatic proved to be quite resilient. She also seemed to leave a path of destruction behind her, and a number of dead bodies along the way. Quite a few of them were Grays. So far all of those individuals deserved to be terminated.

"We need to see how it plays out." Lena said. "Right now we need to deal with the gang activity. It wouldn't be our concern if the survivors wouldn't end up as Scavengers in the future. CamNet always wants us to deal with future Scavengers, with extreme prejudice."

Lena and Tina continued to monitor the impending gang activity as well as the female Fanatic. They knew they left a path of destruction, and a number of dead bodies along the way as well. Not all of them were Grays or Skynet related.

Anna and Cameron were on the bridge of the houseboat as they headed towards the center of the lake.

Cameron looked over the vast expanse of water around them. She was pleased the lake was still there.

"There was once a plan to drain Lake Tahoe and use the water for agricultural use in the desert." Cameron said.

Anna was lost in her thoughts.

"What?" Anna asked.

Cameron smiled.

"I want to make sure you pay attention." Cameron said.

Anna didn't need to worry about heading for the shore now. She was well out onto the lake.

"I know what everything is about." Anna said.

Cameron wanted the ride smooth for the passengers.

"Watch your speed." Cameron said. "No one is in a hurry."

Anna looked at Cameron as she continued towards the center of the lake. She kept the speed of the 'research vessel' at a moderate level. She could see a flat bottomed boat tended to be a little less stable than a regular ship's hull at speed, or in rough waters.

Savannah and Young Allison were about to share.

"I'm going to love you first." Savannah whispered.

Young Allison was thrilled with anticipation.

Savannah gave Young Allison a loving kiss and continued to work her way down. She made sure she took in all the 'high points' along the way. Each of them seemed to produce a very positive result.

Young Allison was sure what everything was going to be like. It was, but it was a million times better. She was as thrilled with what was happening, as to whom the one was making it happen.

Her love for Savannah continued to grow.

Savannah could see the fruits of her efforts as she progressed.

She made sure she delivered everywhere along the way. She was pleased when her efforts produced results. She stayed with it and the results were produced again and again.

Savannah worked her way back up and gave Young Allison another long deep kiss.

Young Allison breathed heavily. It took her a moment to catch her breath. She didn't know she could feel this way. She understood the value of a loving companion. Even though she could do some things herself, it was a million times better when two people who loved each other were the ones who were involved instead. She looked directly into Savannah's eyes.

"I love you, Savannah." Young Allison said softly.

Savannah and Young Allison touched and kissed each other for a while.

Young Allison's kiss quickly picked up a new level of ferocity as she realized what was different about Savannah's kiss. It gave her great anticipation on what to look forward to when she shared with Savannah.

She made her way over the top of Savannah. She knew she needed to hold herself in check and not get carried away too quickly. Her desire was to go straight for the gold. She knew the payoff would be even better as she worked with everything else on the way there. Her anticipation level was through the roof. She took a moment to gently touch Savannah's cheek. She gave her a soft kiss and started on her way down.

"My turn…." Young Allison said.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Temporal Mission:

Past Timeline:

November 26 1963

XXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Young Allison spotted the signal bridge over the double tracks as they headed north.

Cameron was aware of only a few others in her travels along the route of the Southern Pacific. They would see one more near the Tehachapi Loop. It was right before Tunnel 9. There were a few cantilever style signal towers. Most of the signals were the standard 'searchlight' type.

"The signal bridge will remain in the same position for more than three more decades." Cameron said. "There will be many negative changes when the Southern Pacific is assimilated in 1996."

Young Allison heard of the parent company of the merger referred to as the 'Borg of Omaha'. There are also many other negative associations equated with it.

"It's just a reminder how the only constant is change." Young Allison said.

Cameron continued north on Route 466. It was about to assume a westerly direction. It was generally an east-west route overall.

She spotted something up ahead.

"There's a westbound train." Cameron said. "We're fighting the darkness right now. We can either follow it, or we can look for another train going through the pass. More than likely there are two or three trains going in each direction. Because of the multiple tunnels, which necessitates a lot of single track, there's a great deal of work for the Dispatcher to make meets and try to keep uphill trains moving. There will be the movement of helper locomotives being removed from trains in Tehachapi, and their movements factored in. Sometimes they run all the helpers all the way to Mojave to save time with the switching move. It just depends upon where the helpers are needed at. Remember the cost of fuel is very minimal to what it will be in the time period you're from."

Cameron almost said, the time period where 'we're from'. What was her time period? Was it the one she was created in? Was it the one she spent the most amount of time in? Was it yet to be determined? It seemed best not to dwell on it.

Young Allison was aware the need for helpers was determined by the amount of tonnage the train needed to move. The calculated horsepower and tractive effort of the locomotives was all part of it. To move steel wheels on steel rails, tractive effort, and especially adhesion, was the primary concern. Very fine grain sand was sprayed in front of the wheels of the locomotives to provide additional adhesion when necessary. It seemed counterintuitive to some to put sand on top of steel rails with steel wheels rolling over it. It was how it was done from the early days of steam, right up through modern day railroading. It was unlikely to change going forward.

"My only concern would be a runaway." Young Allison said. "We don't know what happened earlier in Mojave. Someone certainly was either given the wrong signal, or ignored the one they were given."

Young Allison saw a movie once where the conductor didn't want any hobos on his train. He instructed the engineer to 'highball' the yard. It was a very unorthodox and dangerous move. She didn't think what they witnessed was anything similar. Most likely someone was inattentive. Whether it was an engineer or a dispatcher was unknown.

Cameron passed a few big trucks. Most of them came across on Route 466 from Route 66. The freeway segment to bypass Mojave was still half of a century away. There would be a lot of changes around the world in the next half century. In several different scenarios, Skynet was able to launch Judgment Day on more than one occasion. So far the Resistance was able to keep it in check.

There was a Southern Pacific train which just went around the curve.

Cameron continued to follow it. Route 466 entered Tehachapi Pass along with the rail line. They would be in close proximity to each other throughout the journey. The rail route would often need to make sweeping curves to keep the gradient to a 2.2 percent whenever possible. It would apply to both sides of the hill. There were only a few brief segments where it was slightly greater. The maximum amount was 2.52 percent.

Young Allison watched as the track swept around another curve to the south before it returned back to its previous direction. It was familiar with some of the names of locations along the rail line.

"I see the big curve at Warren." Young Allison said. "I can see the entire train. We're going to pass the locomotives very soon."

Cameron looked up ahead. There was a sign which indicated a turn off in the road.

"How do you like the name of this location?" Cameron asked.

Young Allison looked away from the freight train working uphill. She saw the sign coming up. It indicated the location as 'Cameron'. She knew it was a name adopted by the railroad long before there was anything else around.

"You should feel honored they named a location after you." Young Allison said. "Well, I guess it was before your construction."

Cameron wanted to give Young Allison something to think about.

"What makes you think I wasn't here in 1875 when this segment of track was constructed?" Cameron asked. "Imagine if I was driving spikes and lifting rails with Terminator abilities through this segment in 1875. I think I would impress anyone."

Young Allison quickly looked over at Cameron. She hoped she was about to say, 'I fooled you again.' She decided to play with her a little bit.

"In 1875 there wouldn't have been too many females working with the construction crews." Young Allison said. "If there were, they were most likely involved in cooking or other 'professions' associated with rail construction. If I remember correctly, during the construction of the Transcontinental Line, it was usually referred to as 'Hell On Wheels'. I don't think you would have been associated with any such hedonism."

Cameron wanted to mess with Young Allison some.

"Maybe I wasn't in a female chassis at the time." Cameron said. "It doesn't take a whole lot for me to do a chassis swap."

Young Allison stole another glance at Cameron. She took one look at the train as they put it behind them and they passed the turnoff for Cameron.

"I don't even want to think anything of such a nature could have happened." Young Allison said. "It would indicate some type of temporal error and probably a long period of standby. I think you're just messing with me."

Cameron didn't address Young Allison's last comment. She wanted to point out the railroad name of the next location as they neared it.

"We're coming up on the location once known as Eric." Cameron said. "I was once able to gain important information with the help of a student with the same name. I lost track of what happened to him. I don't think it was anything good. He'd suffered from a bout of cancer. Some form of it returned when I last saw him. I never checked on his progress to see what the outcome was. I didn't want to know if it ended poorly."

Young Allison heard of the stories before. It was during the time period when Cameron battled the Terminator with a temporal error from the Twenties. She wondered if Cameron would have attended his funeral or not if he did die. It didn't seem like the right time to ask.

Cameron passed some more truck traffic.

Young Allison noted the land around them began to take on a new tone. It was actually a very light gray tone. In just a few minutes the land around them looked like the surface of the Moon. everything was covered in light gray including whatever bushes or trees were there. Most of them were either stunted or dead.

"I think they should have renamed the next location Moon or Luna instead of its actual name." Young Allison said.

Cameron looked around the area. She thought they would need to be craters to have the same look. The appearance was very close otherwise. It did look like the surface of the Moon.

My Turn

No matter how much some are taught
They never seem to learn
To make them pay attention
One must be very stern

It's the same with someone cared for
They may seem aloof or taciturn
Sometimes the only way to read them
Is from what one can discern

Everything must be done the hard way
It's about what one must earn
Things can go nowhere fast
It's doubtful there will be any return

To reach into the flame is risky
It's easy to receive a burn
The gut ends up in a knot
As everything inside begins to churn

When the cards start to fall
There's always great concern
Reach out and grab the deck and say
My turn

Nobody