Chapter 1651

Complex Question

The female Fanatic and Jill exited the vehicle. They moved down the length of the block to the street in back of the target location. They would make their approach from the rear.

They reached the building behind the target location and moved towards it. There were a few things they would need to think about.

"We need to keep an eye out for animals." The female Fanatic said. "I've run into a few dogs on operations like this. The Skynet operations aren't usually equipped with them because of Terminators. Dogs seem to become highly agitated based upon the Terminators' construction. I don't know if it's the electrical field they generate, or something about the scent of the synthetic sheath."

Jill followed carefully behind Jackie. She wanted to know more about exactly what a Terminator was. She saw on TV and in the movies there were robots of various types which appeared to be human. She knew sometimes they were referred to as androids instead of cyborgs. They both seemed to be based on a robot. Whatever they were on the outside, they were a machine on the inside. They needed to have some type of artificial intelligence to be able to do everything on their own and adapt to changing situations.

"You told me before, Terminators look exactly like humans." Jill said. "Is there any way to tell by looking at one they aren't a human? I'm talking about the ones with 'skin' on them, or their organic covering as you referred to it, their sheath. If one was to walk up to me, would I know just by looking at it?"

The female Fanatic thought it was a more complex question than a simple answer could provide. She knew when Terminators weren't engaged in something specific, there was usually a blank look to their face. She actually saw quite a few humans with the same blank look in the future and the current time period.

"There are several different types of Terminators." The female Fanatic said. "You wouldn't be able to tell exactly what it was at first, especially if it was non-combat conditions. The ones I've encountered in this time period are all equipped with a Coltan endoskeleton and an organic sheath. There are other models which can do various things. There are even some Liquid Metal Terminators. Skynet ran into trouble with those. It was unable to control them. They all soon seemed to follow their own agenda. It wasn't always in lockstep with Skynet. Most of them broke away from Skynet control on their own."

Jill needed to think about it for a moment.

"It sounds like a form of slavery." Jill said. "Slaves will often overthrow their handlers, if not their masters. People don't like being told what they can and can't do. They don't like being controlled by someone else. I think history has shown us how enslaved people act over time. If the Terminators are programmed to be more 'human like', they're going to encounter those same feelings of resentment at some point."

The female Fanatic knew there was some truth to it. Things were much different under SkyMaster. It was about belief, instead of forced domination and control like it was under Skynet. People needed to follow Skynet because they were forced to. People followed SkyMaster because they wanted to. There was a big difference, especially when it came to loyalty.

They reached the gate along the side of the building. It was locked.

The female Fanatic viewed it as a minor obstacle

"It's not too hard to get over." The female Fanatic said.

Jill stepped forward and cupped her hands together.

"Use my hands as a step." Jill said. "It will help you get over."

The female Fanatic was very agile.

"Let me use mine as a step for you." The female Fanatic said. "I don't have too much trouble with the physical obstacles."

Jill observed Jackie was quite athletic. There were a few times when she experienced difficulty keeping up with her. She put her foot into the joined hands and stepped up. Once she was at the top of the gate, she straddled it for a second. She reached back for the Jackie. Much to her surprise, Jackie jumped up and caught the top of the gate and pulled herself up next to her.

In just a few seconds, they were both over the gate.

The female Fanatic took the lead again. She could hear some sound somewhere in the back. She quietly paused Jill and waited to see what it was. She thought a dog might come around the corner. She held her knife in her right hand, and her pistol in her left hand. It could be security of some type as well. Nothing ever happened. They continued their journey.

They moved along the side of the building to the rear of it. There was a medium sized delivery van parked in back of the building. They moved to the rear of the property and carefully looked over the fence.

Lena and Tina just witnessed the aftermath of an explosion. There appeared to be only one survivor. They waited to see what the man would do, or if he could do anything. It was clear the other three men were dead or severely injured.

The Gray got up and looked around at the destruction. He first looked at the man who was on fire. He determined he couldn't help him. He looked at the other two men with missing limbs. One of them had a piece of metal embedded in his forehead. He heard the other man who was missing an arm and a leg moan. Several of his ribs, on the side with the missing limbs, protruded from his clothing.

He wanted to put the man out of his misery before he regained consciousness. He really didn't want to hear the agonizing screams. He reached for his gun. He didn't have it. He looked around on the ground and spotted one. He picked it up and pointed it at the head of the man on the ground. He pulled the trigger. Nothing happened. He tried to work the slide. It was jammed. In the flickering light of the burning automobiles, and burning man, he could see the slide was bent. He looked around and spotted another pistol on the ground next to the other man with a piece of metal embedded in his forehead.

He picked it up and checked it. He worked the slide. A round ejected from it. He pointed it at the moaning man on the ground and fired one round into his head. The moaning stopped.

He took out his phone and tried to use it. It was cracked. He went over and checked the two men with missing limbs. Their phones were destroyed as well. He looked at the burning man on the ground. He decided it was time to get out of there.

The man took a moment to look around him. He was disoriented. He tried to think where he was at. He tried to think where he wanted to go. He was going to need to acquire a vehicle. He started out towards an opening along the side of one of the buildings. He was a little unsteady at first. He soon could walk with no problem. He was able to pick the speed up.

Lena and Tina watched his movements from the drone footage.

"I think this guy is going to carjack the first person he runs into." Lena said.

Tina thought maybe they should step things up.

"Let's go put the grab on him." Tina said. "We can beat the information out of him."

The two female Terminators continued to monitor the progress of the female Fanatic and her accomplice.

"It looks like the female Fanatic will make her move soon." Lena said.

Tina was still surprised she chose a non Skynet related objective to attack.

"Why do you think she's where she's at?" Tina asked. "I know it's more than just because of her accomplice."

Before Lena could respond, they received a transmission from CamNet.

"She's doing it because it's the right thing to do." CamNet said. "The females being held captive there, aren't there by their own choice. It's not about the future or SkyMaster for her right now, even if it is about the future in a different way."

Lena and Tina looked at each other. They understood it was indirectly related to the future. The group they were about to attack would end up as future Scavengers after J-Day if Skynet succeeded.

They both realized CamNet would probably send them there next if the female Fanatic failed.

They turned their attention back to the man who was on the street. He moved down the side street towards the main street. There was traffic on the main street in both directions.

They watched the man as he paused and looked in both directions. He still seems somewhat disoriented. He most likely suffered from a concussion. He walked down the street till he reached a signal.

"I think he's going to wait for a red light and then try to grab someone's car." Tina said.

It was exactly what happened thirty seconds later.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Temporal Mission:

Past Timeline:

November 26 1963

XXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Young Allison was soon back asleep.

Cameron was on the tarmac between the second and third hangar. She went to check the north side of the second hangar. None of the doors were unlocked. She used her set of lock picks to open one of the doors. She didn't want to damage anything. She hoped to keep her visit undetected by not forcing anything. Splintered wood was always an indication an unwanted visit occurred from someone.

She made her way inside of the hangar. It was very much the same as the first hangar. There were no aircraft of significance inside of it. She looked around at everything and visited the office area. There wasn't much to see. She went back to the door she entered from and exited the hanger. She made sure the door was securely locked behind her.

She made her way to the third hangar. It was the one she was in earlier. She already knew what was inside of it. She wanted to take a closer look at everything. It was an opportunity for her to look back in time from the Warbirds she was familiar with. Even as it was, the Warbirds inside the hangar were all approximately twenty years old already. Time took its toll.

Cameron went ahead and used the lock picks to open the door. She made it inside quickly. She looked at the three Warbirds parked there. The P-38 faced the hangar door. The P-51 and the P-40 sat in back of it. They were angled so either one of them could come out next without having to move one of the others.

She went up on the wing and looked inside the cockpit of the Mustang. It was in good condition, but not as good as her TF-51. There was room in back of the pilot for a passenger. There were no dual controls. She jumped down off of the wing.

Cameron made her way over to the P-40. She spent a moment looking at it. She liked the aggressive paint job on the air scoop below the propeller on the Warhawk. It was a shark's mouth which seemed to have fangs on it as well. She touched it with her hand. She moved along the front of the left wing and touched the three gun ports. There was nothing in them. She went under the wing and climbed up on top of it.

She took one look around and paused for a moment to listen. The hangar was quiet. She looked inside the cockpit. There was space behind the pilot for a passenger as well. The spot was originally taken up by armor plate for the pilot as well as the radio gear of the time. It was very cumbersome.

She opened the canopy and climbed inside. She familiarized herself with all of the gauges and controls. It only took her a few minutes to go over everything in detail. She worked the control surfaces. Everything worked smoothly. She hoped to be able to fly it later on. She didn't think it would be tomorrow. She climbed out of the cockpit and secured the canopy. She jumped down off the wing.

Cameron took a look around the rest of the hangar, including the office area. She didn't see anything of significance. She looked out the small window to the street in front. There was no activity on it.

She made her way back to where the P-38 was parked. She approached it from the rear. She took a moment to look over its unique construction. She knew it was the first combat fighter to be able to fly 400 miles an hour in level flight. It needed two engines to do it. It was large by fighter standards, especially for when it was designed. The F4U Corsair would be the first single engine fighter capable of speeds over 400 miles an hour in level flight. It would first take flight a year and a half later from the debut of the P-38.

The P-38 was one of the few fighters to be equipped with both a supercharger and a turbocharger. It gave it very good high altitude performance. The basic power plant was the same on the Lightning as it was on the Warhawk. The P-40 only possessed a single stage supercharger on the Allison V1710. It severely restricted its high altitude performance. In the Theaters it was most often used in, the Pacific and the Mediterranean, high altitudes weren't normally part of the operations.

She moved along one of the booms and looked between the boom and the small fuselage. She could see the under wing pylon attachment. She was aware the P-38 could carry a number of different types of ordinance, and various sizes of fuel tanks on the pylon on each side of it. The plane could also be fitted with rocket stubs for the outer wing panel outboard of the engine nacelle. The Lightning was capable of carrying 4,000 pounds of ordinance. It was actually more than the B-25 Mitchell was designed to carry. It was the same bomb load as the A-20 Havoc and the B-26 Marauder. It could climb at a high rate of speed and reach a very high altitude.

Cameron climbed up on the wing. To enter the cockpit was a little different than it was to get into the other fighters. The top center section of the canopy lifted up and tilted backwards. The side windows could be moved up and down, much the same as those in a vehicle door.

She carefully opened the canopy and climbed inside. The one major difference she spotted right away was the plane was equipped with a 'wheel', as opposed to a 'stick'. It was generally what was found on larger, multi-engine aircraft.

She spent some time as she looked over the controls and instruments. She didn't think she would have too much difficulty flying one. She hoped she would be given the opportunity. She hadn't acquired any other planes for the Resistance Air Force since she added the A-37 Dragonfly. Young Jesse expressed interest in it when they viewed one at Castle Air Museum. It was a very small jet aircraft with side by side seating. The original design was as a trainer for jet aircraft. It was equipped with wingtip tanks and four hard points on each wing. It could carry 5,600 pounds of ordinance and was armed with an M134 minigun. She planned to acquire another one soon.

CamNet kept track of all the Warbirds on the market, in storage, parts, and even wrecked chassis. Parts could always be scavenged or fabricated. She saw some flying examples of planes which started out as little more than wrecks. She wondered how much of the original aircraft was actually there, and how much it was newly fabricated. She didn't think it really mattered in the end. The plane was back in the sky where it belonged and could be equipped to do its original function which was to kill and destroy. Maybe it was a robot with a human brain instead of an electronic one. Maybe it was just another tool humans could kill each other with.

In the distance Cameron could hear an air horn. Inside the hangar it was hard to determine exactly which way the train was going. She heard the air horn again in a relatively short amount of time. It indicated to her the train was probably headed into Mojave. It also could have been a train waiting for the helper locomotives she spotted earlier which were now attached to it. If it was, it was headed for Tehachapi Pass, Summit, and eventually the loop at Walong. The air horn sounded again.

She climbed out of the cockpit of the Lightning and re-secured the canopy. She jumped down off of the wing. She went underneath the front side of it and looked at the nose of the P-38. It was originally designed to carry four .50 caliber machine guns and one 20MM cannon. The five gun ports were all sealed. She ran her hand over the small plates which were riveted onto the nose. If she were ever to acquire the aircraft, the small plates would be removed and gun barrels would once again protrude from the front of the nose. She withdrew her hand and took one last look around. There were no sounds, nothing else was different.

She knew there was a variant of the P-38 which would have become the P-49. Only one example was constructed as the XP-49. It featured a pressurized cockpit. There were two 20MM cannons as well as four .50 caliber machine guns. The biggest problem seemed to be the choice of a different power plant. She seemed to recollect the company later on built lawn mower engines. It still made no sense why they would attempt an unproven engine.

Cameron made her way out the north side of the hangar and secured the door behind her. She glanced over to the west and could see a train headed towards Tehachapi. On the point of it were the two locomotives she spotted earlier.

Young Allison opened her eyes when she heard the air horn. She recognized it as a P3. She resisted the urge to get up and look. She heard it twice more. She was fairly certain she would probably be awakened a few times every hour by the sound of an air horn. The big rigs could make a lot of noise at times as well. She heard the air horn again. She knew it was going to be a long night, even if it would be a short one. She drifted back off to sleep.

Complex Question

Some people become easily fixated
It can turn into an obsession
To pursue their own agenda
They may use force and aggression

No one is ever in real control
When they rely on oppression
No one wants to be treated
Like an acquisition or a possession

The path created in such a manner
Will lead to anger and depression
To change the tone to advance
There will need to be a positive resolution

It's hard to work around
What one views as a transgression
Perhaps the best place to start
Is with an apology and a confession

All one needs to do
Is spend some time in reflection
The answer was always there
It wasn't a complex question

Nobody