Chapter 1630

Gloom

The female Fanatic and Jill arrived near the location of the Hotel 6.

Jill got out of the delivery van when Jackie turned into the alley behind the restaurant. It blocked her from the view of anyone who may have spotted the delivery van coming. She moved behind one of the dumpsters as she watched the delivery van with Jackie continue down the alley.

She could see the sun was low on the horizon to the west. It would set soon. She watched the delivery van stop next to the Hotel 6.

The female Fanatic watched in her side view mirror as Jill moved behind a dumpster in back of the restaurant. She checked around her as she approached the Hotel 6. She didn't spot anyone paying attention to her. She stopped just short of the building. She took another look around before she got out.

If she would have carried an explosive device with her, she would have set it now. She didn't care for the group of future Scavengers who obviously exploited females in the worst way possible. Her mission was to bring down Skynet. When she didn't have a set target, she didn't have a problem with bringing down future Scavengers whenever she could.

She left the doors unlocked and got out on the passenger side. She took another look around as he went back down the alley. She could see Jill waiting behind the dumpster. With her hand in front of her body, she pointed towards the front of the restaurant and then made a circle with her finger.

Jill watched Jackie's hand gesture and realized she was going to go around the front of the restaurant before she returned to the rear where she was at, rather than take a direct path. She thought it was a good idea in case someone took her under observation when she dumped the delivery van off. She kept her hand on her Beretta, even if it was out of sight, as she waited for Jackie to come around the side of the restaurant. She knew the traffickers were a rough group. They already dealt with some of them, she knew they would need to deal with more. If the scum of the Earth wanted to challenge her directly, she was ready to meet the challenge.

The female Fanatic walked across the front of the restaurant. She casually glanced around her as she passed the entrance. No one seemed to pay her any attention. She continued past the entrance to the far side of the building. She moved to the back where Jill was at behind the dumpster.

Jill kept a careful watch on the van to see if anyone approached it, or pursued Jackie when she moved away from it.

"I haven't spotted anyone near the delivery van since you left it." Jill said. "I didn't see anyone follow you."

The female Fanatic looked around the street off to the side. There were several vehicles parked there. They would most likely need to borrow one.

"Keep a lookout here for now." The female Fanatic said. "I want to see what we can have available for a set of wheels when we need them."

Jill watched Jackie walk away. She watched as she looked at all of the vehicles in the area.

When she turned back to look at the delivery van, there was a black sedan in back of it. She realized she was careless and not watching the delivery van as Jackie told her to. At first she wondered if it was an unmarked police car. It didn't look like it. The two men who got out of it looked like thugs. She didn't want to have any unscheduled encounters with the thugs or the police.

She looked over in Jackie's direction and waved her hand down low in front of her body and pointed towards the Hotel 6.

The female Fanatic spotted two potential vehicles they could 'borrow'. She looked back over at Jill and could see her indicate someone was at the delivery van already. She hadn't been away from it for more than five minutes. It made her think someone must have been looking for it. There could have been a tracker on it as well. She was glad they dumped it when they did. She actually wished they would have dumped it sooner. If whoever was at it knew it only arrived a few minutes ago, they might start looking to see who else was around the area. It was time to get away from where they were.

She decided to make her move on the closest vehicle. It was a small import. She motioned to Jill she would be there momentarily.

Jill waited for Jackie to arrive with the vehicle. She kept an eye on the black sedan and the delivery van as she waited for her to pick her up. She got down low so she can monitor the situation without being spotted. It took some effort but she was able to move the dumpster several inches away from the wall so she could continue her observation. She saw the two men look around several times. If they saw her the first time, they wouldn't see her again.

If they headed in her direction on foot, in the sedan, or the delivery van, she knew she needed to leave immediately and seek cover elsewhere. She took another quick glance in Jackie's direction.

Lena and Tina continued to monitor the impending gang activity as well as the female Fanatic.

CamNet was able to direct both gangs towards the rear of a closed electronics' store. She would make sure it was where they engaged each other at. She didn't want it to happen on the street. It didn't take long for the two groups to arrive and soon start to fight. It took a little prompting from the drone at altitude and a couple of well placed gravity shots of 'metal hail' to get things started. Each gang thought the other one attacked them first when projectiles began to land around them.

Lena and Tina would take care of any survivors, if there were any. They were to follow the female Fanatic and her accomplice on their new endeavor as well. The female Fanatic was the enemy. She also attacked targets they wanted brought down. They included Skynet related targets, as well as future Scavenger activity.

"I think the gang problem will take care of itself." Lena said.

Tina thought about the earlier incident.

"They do seem to have a way of becoming quite terminal to all of those involved." Tina said. "The future will be better without all of them."

Lena didn't think what was happening at the Hotel 6 was much different in reality, even if it was in scope.

"I think I understand what the female Fanatic is up to." Lena said. "She's probably low on Skynet related targets and wants to make productive use of her time. As much as I disagree with her intended mission of the advancement of SkyMaster, I can't disagree with the elimination of future Scavengers."

Tina wasn't sure what the decision making process was.

"I believe she's acting on behalf of all abused females." Tina said. "I'll still need to terminate her when I encounter her. Anyone who's a follower of SkyMaster, is a serious threat to both the present and the future."

CamNet quickly reminded both of them she wanted the female Fanatic taken alive. She wanted to learn more about 'The Redheaded Witch' as well as 'The Good Skynet'. The implication was, somehow some version of Savannah Weaver was 'The Redheaded Witch', and some version of Cameron, or her, was 'The Good Skynet'. Logically it should be her since she was the interface with a supercomputer.

Lena didn't think the female Fanatic currently possessed any explosives. It would be their biggest threat when they actually decided to take her down, since they needed to take her alive. They would need to make sure she couldn't activate her poison tooth either.

Tina noticed some activity with the drone over the location of the female Fanatic.

"It looks like they're going to have a target very soon." Tina said.

Lena monitored the progress of the two gangs. The problem seemed to take care of itself nicely. It appeared most of the gang members were down. By the amount of blood on the ground around them, it was permanent.

"I don't think we're going to need too much cleanup behind the old electronics' store." Lena said.

Lena and Tina watched the gang activity wind down. It looked like it was about to pick up for the female Fanatic and her accomplice.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Temporal Mission:

Past Timeline:

November 26 1963

XXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Cameron and Young Allison passed through the small agricultural community of Edison. The sky continued to darken.

"There's a train headed towards Bakersfield up ahead." Cameron said. "We'll catch up to it in just a few minutes. It's already slowed down before it will enter the yard at Bakersfield."

Young Allison looked ahead in the gloom.

"Is it a Southern Pacific or Santa Fe train?" Young Allison asked.

Cameron could see it was a red caboose with a cupola.

"It's a Santa Fe train." Cameron said. "It will cross over the road in front of us to get to the Santa Fe yard. it's a little further to the West. It's perpendicular to Highway 99."

Young Allison wondered exactly what Cameron planned to do. It seemed like Cameron was going to stop in Mojave earlier. She could understand following the tracks through Tehachapi while there was still enough light to see. There wasn't much light left at all. There wouldn't be much to see, especially for her.

"Is there something we're going to do here?" Young Allison asked.

Cameron was about to mention a reason. She spotted something else a few seconds later.

"There's another train coming." Cameron said. "It just came out along the side of the Santa Fe train."

In just a few seconds, Young Allison could see the bright headlight along with the oscillating light right above it. She could roughly make out the shape, but couldn't see any details, especially in the glare of the headlight.

"It looks like some type of 'Covered Wagon'." Young Allison said.

Cameron was pleased to see exactly what type of locomotive was on the point.

"It's an F7A." Cameron said. "It still has the Black Widow paint scheme."

Young Allison wondered how many locomotives finished out their lives in 'Black Widow' attire.

"I doubt even half of the F7A and F7B units were ever painted Gray and Red." Young Allison said. "They probably went to the scrapper with very worn out Black Widow paint schemes. Some of the ones we viewed so far didn't look very good at all."

Cameron knew it was because the decision was made to retire them, rather than rebuild them. Some of the first F Units procured by Southern Pacific were F3A and F3B units. Some of them were rebuilt into the equivalent of an F9A and F9B. The horsepower was increased from 1,500 to 1,750. They produced the same horsepower as the GP9 and the SD9.

She didn't like to think about machines being retired because something newer came along. It always made her feel a little uneasy.

The decision was made not to waste the money on repainting the locomotives which would be scrapped in a few years. Some of the Black Widow units did survive for nearly a decade longer into the very early Seventies. It was a little upsetting to her to know they were nothing more than machines to the railroad. They were machines procured to do a specific task. It was to move freight to generate revenue. The passenger business was already soured due to the introduction of the jet airliner. Machines could be pushed until they wore out or broke. Since they were machines it didn't matter to anyone. It didn't even matter to the machine.

"There were seven hundred and seventy F Units of several different models on the Southern Pacific and its subsidies. The majority of the passenger units were repainted. Only twenty percent of the freight locomotives received the Gray and Red paint scheme. Approximately five hundred of them were scrapped with their original paint job. There were a few which were destroyed in accidents prior to the mass 'trade-ins' and those scrapped outright."

Young Allison thought seven hundred and seventy of one basic type of locomotive on one railroad was a lot. She knew at the same time there were dozens of other models from EMD and the other major manufacturers.

"I guess the last of the covered wagons were the German built ML-4000 locomotives." Young Allison said. "I think it's one of those things which looked better on paper, than in practice."

Cameron glanced over at Young Allison.

"Much like 'sports cars' from Europe, they didn't hold up or last very long." Cameron said. "They couldn't stand up to the vigors of mainline railroading in the United States. They used two diesel engines to produce approximately four thousand horsepower. Each diesel engine powered a hydraulic drive system, instead of a diesel electric system. The actual power available to the rails dropped to just under three thousand six hundred horsepower after going through the automatic transmission. At the time they were procured, they were some of the most powerful locomotives powered by diesel engines, even if the drive system was unconventional."

Young Allison was aware some of the large steam locomotives could deliver as much as four or five thousand horsepower. The trouble was wheel slippage trying to start with a heavy train. They were also very labor intensive. There were a lot of moving mechanical parts which needed continual maintenance. Some of the gas turbine electric units produced over eight thousand horsepower. It turned out jet engines worked better on aircraft, than they did on locomotives. The exhaust gas from the jet engine turned a turbine which generated electricity. They were very noisy to operate and created a lot of complaints.

"It looks like the train headed towards us is picking up speed." Young Allison said. "Once they go through the horseshoe curve at Caliente, speed's not going to matter. The grade slows everything down. Gravity still needs to be conquered."

The Southern Pacific freight train passed them by. There was a combination of various hood units on it, along with a set of mid train helpers. A quick account of the cars indicated the train would loop itself at Walong, the Tehachapi Loop.

They rapidly overtook the Santa Fe train as it continued to slow. She wanted to get ahead of it before they reached the Southern Pacific yard. the Santa Fe tracks would cut across East Truxton Boulevard. It was the street Edison Highway would curve into.

Cameron was easily able to get ahead of the Santa Fe freight. It was relatively short. There were four F Units on the point. She crossed over a wye. There was a railroad yard tower next to them as they did.

"There's the Bakersfield Tower." Cameron said. "It controls the movement of the Santa Fe trains onto, and off, of the Southern Pacific tracks. It will be around for a few decades more."

She knew when advances were made in the control systems the interlocking tower would become redundant. Like many things it would disappear into obscurity in the name of progress. Progress itself would lead to those who created it being eliminated. It was something she wanted to prevent.

Cameron made a turn onto Sumner Street right after they passed the tower. She crossed over the Santa Fe tracks and continued along the side of the Southern Pacific yard in Bakersfield.

Young Allison could see several switchers moving around in the yard. Their shape and paint Scheme were identifiable in the gloom, not much else was. They all lacked the conical exhaust stack setup of an EMD Switcher. It meant they belonged to one of the other manufacturers. They were most likely built by either Fairbanks Morris, Baldwin, or ALCO. The latter two were former manufacturers of steam locomotives who tried to transition into the 'modern era'. They didn't make it. None of those three manufacturers were able to go on.

"I see two 'Tiger Striped' switchers." Young Allison said. "I can't make out what they are."

Cameron spotted them earlier as she approached.

"Both of them are ALCO S6 units." Cameron said.

Cameron continued along Sumner Street until they reached the Bakersfield depot.

Young Allison visited the depot before.

"It's one of the few stations which survived into modern times in its original location, even if there was no passenger business after 1971." Young Allison said.

Cameron spotted a couple of cars at the stoplight. They looked like local street racers. She heard Speedy and Eddie mention something. She wanted to know a little more.

"I'm looking for a yellow Deuce Coupe." Cameron said. "I hear it's the fastest car in the Valley. I think it's in town tonight."

Young Allison quickly looked over at Cameron. She knew why they were in Bakersfield now. Cameron wanted a little more. She wanted to compete against the best.

Gloom

When there's no hope
Everything seems like doom
Out of the darkness
Some things will still bloom

It does no one any good
The be angry and fume
They go nowhere fast
When they retreat into a room

Their own self pity
Will grow and slowly consume
If they don't get out
It can turn into a tomb

Keep a watch out for those
Who want to control and groom
There's more behind the curtain
Than just to guess or assume

It doesn't matter the strength
Of what one will presume
More than an iceberg
Can loon out of the gloom

Nobody