Chapter 986

Easier Now

Cammy indicated they were going to release natural gas or some other flammable gas into the room. It would cause an explosion to collapse and burn the building. There was someone hiding inside and they wanted to see if it would bring them out and cause them to show themselves.

The Metal girls made it sound as if they all quickly departed once the 'gas' was released. It would mean the room was empty.

The 'gas' hissed loudly in the back room at the cryogenics lab. It sounded as if the room would be full of gas in a very short while. The smallest spark would ignite it. The results would be catastrophic.

There was movement inside the lab area after about thirty seconds. It was the reaction the Metal girls hoped for. Whoever was hiding decided they better get out before the building blew up.

A lone figure crawled out from inside of a work bench storage area. It was a very thin man.

The thin man heard the place filling with 'flammable gas' and knew he needed to get away before it exploded. He wanted to make sure the intruders were gone. He heard them leave. He thought he waited as long as he could and still get out alive.

He crouched down on the floor and quickly looked around. He didn't smell the 'gas' yet so he thought it was a good thing. It looked like the intruders weren't around. He thought it was strange they all sounded like females.

The skinny man carefully stood and looked in the direction of the hissing.

It was the air compressor tank releasing 'air'. It wasn't flammable gas.

Wait….

He knew he just got played.

He turned around and looked. There were four armed young women there. He could see one of them only seemed to have a bikini top, or colored bra, on under her vest. It struck him as unusual. He actually thought it looked kind of Hot.

He wanted to run but there was nowhere to go. They blocked his path. He knew he was busted for what he was doing. He thought the girls were from some law enforcement agency. He was arrested enough times to know to keep his mouth shut. He remained silent and said nothing. He raised his hands in the air.

The chance of him getting convicted after he was arrested was slim to none. Even if he was convicted and sent to jail, it would probably be the county jail, not the state prison. He would end up as someone's 'Punk' for a few weeks and then be out. He would take his chances with the court. He was pretty sure nothing would happen. It always amused him how some individuals believed the criminals were the victims.

Cammy walked up and searched him.

She ripped off his sleeves and looked at his arms. She checked to see if he was a Gray. She found something just as disgusting to her.

"These marks are 'needle tracks'. This guy's a drug addict." Cammy said. "I bet he was doing this for drugs, or the money to buy them."

Ally was used to dealing with plenty of lowlifes. On Cameron's 'off the books' operations she dealt with plenty of them, both in the sex trade, and in the illegal drug trade. She wanted some answers so they could wrap up their part of the operation. She looked at the skinny man with disgust.

"Start talking, junkie." Ally said. "It better be good and the truth."

The skinny man was nothing more than a doper. He was going to keep silent until he got a lawyer. The court always appointed him one. He would see if he could get the charges dropped first. If not he would see if he could work out some kind of a plea deal, most of the time it was just a slap on the wrist if he agreed to go to rehab. All he ever did in rehab is make contact with other drug users and found out where to go to get additional drugs as soon as he was released. He was used to 'playing the system' and he would play it again. He really thought the liberals in charge were morons. Did they really think a leopard could change its spots?

He was glad the courts were soft on the offenders. He never really understood it since everyone who was brought before them was actually guilty. He never once saw an innocent person arrested and brought in for no reason. Most of the people committed a dozen or more crimes and got away with it. His experience indicated a person might get arrested for one out of every twenty or thirty crimes they actually committed. If anyone ever actually was convicted, they probably got away with ninety nine crimes before. He never knew anyone who served their full sentence. Everyone was released early, even if they were a problem in the 'big house'.

He tried not to laugh as he thought about how he would play the system again. He already started to concoct a couple of different stories he would tell. He would try to see what they wanted to hear first. It's what he would tell them. For now he needed to play it cool. It always seemed to make them more willing to make a bargain later on if he didn't say anything at first. He looked at the four females and smiled.

"I wish to remain silent." The doper said.

Holly was a little confused. She didn't normally go on Cameron's 'off the books' operations since her assignment was to watch over Allison in Palmdale.

"He wants to remain silent?" Holly asked. "He must think we're the authorities."

The smug look on the skinny man's face began to fade. He looked the four girls over in detail. He didn't think any of them looked old enough to even be a policewoman. He was sure someone needed to be at least twenty one to join the police. He was pretty sure the normal people needed to be twenty-one to own a handgun. Where he grew up, he obtained his first one when he was twelve. The guy who he bought it from told him it was stolen and already used it in a couple of crimes. For twenty bucks he wasn't going to complain. It was exactly how much he was able to take out of his mother's purse earlier in the day.

He really wondered what he stumbled into at this point. He was on the fringes of some drug gang wars but it didn't look like one of them. He wondered if it was some female vigilante force. He knew a lot of the chicks thought they were a lot more important than they actually were. What did they know? As long as they 'put out', he didn't complain.

Cammy could see the doper was confused and didn't understand what was going on. She wanted to help clarify things for him.

"You know the people you've been dealing with?" Cammy asked. "I'm talking about here, not about your drug contacts. I'm talking about the people who were just here. We hunt them down and kill them. Your association with them makes you fair game. You're a collaborator."

The doper was speechless. He stared at them with wild wide eyes.

Holly wanted to get this part of the operation over. She didn't like collaborators. She didn't like criminals. She didn't like drug users. There were a multitude of reasons to terminate the weasel looking individual.

"I'll terminate him now." Holly said. "He's obviously an enemy of the future."

Holly raised her M4.

The doper realized he was about to get popped. He could tell by the blank looks on their faces they weren't kidding. He needed to think fast. He tried to think of a few of the things he learned in prison. He thought the bimbo who just spoke packed a pretty good pair of knockers. He couldn't concentrate on those right now. He needed to buy time.

"WAIT!" The doper screamed. "I know things."

Holly aimed her M4 at his head. She didn't like the way he looked at her. She was highly offended by it.

"I'm going to terminate him anyway." Holly said. "He looks untrustworthy. I don't like the way he looked at me. He's a future Scavenger, if he isn't actually one already."

The doper was desperate. He would say or do anything at this point. He could see they weren't kidding around. He thought the four girls were pretty, but all of them had a stone cold look on their face. There was no expression on any of their faces. All he saw when he looked at them was death. He saw the same look on some 'lifers' in the 'slammer' before. They were the guys who didn't have anything to lose. They were in the 'joint' for the rest of their life no matter what happened. If they killed a few more people it didn't matter. They would just get a few more life sentences added on to the ones they already received. It didn't mean anything.

"No. I know stuff." The doper said. "I can help. I swear it."

Hanna gently pushed down the barrel of Holly's M4. She felt they made their point they were going to kill him and he understood it. She hoped it would make him a little more talkative. She needed to agree with Holly though. He looked untrustworthy.

"Start talking." Hanna said. "It better be good. Your survival depends on it."

Cammy listened in her com as CamNet contacted her. She was asked to question the man to see if he knew anything about the female the Grays kidnapped. She was informed of the evidence on the stained mattress.

She felt the anger well up in her. She wanted answers and she was going to get them.

"Where's the girl?" Cammy asked.

The skinny man remained silent.

Cammy was irritated at the doper's silence

"Where's the girl?" Cammy asked sternly.

The skinny man looked away. He shifted uneasily.

The act caused Cammy's anger to grow. She was done fooling around and trying to be nice.

"Where's the girl?" Cammy asked forcefully.

Cammy moved up and grabbed him by the neck and lifted him off the floor. She was going to get some answers one way or another. She would beat them out of him right now.

"TALK…." Cammy commanded. "You know something. You WILL tell me everything. I'll know if you're lying."

Cammy would beat the man to a pulp if she needed to.

"Where's the female?" Cammy asked again.

Hanna, Holly, and Ally were all updated by CamNet as well as to what occurred at the old supermarket, and the evidence found in the sleeping quarters of the Grays. Each of them was now as angry and upset as Cammy was.

Four angry cyborgs was no way to make friends. Three of them were Terminators. One of them was a Restorator. If they didn't hear what they wanted, it would be the same as facing four Terminators anyway.

Cameron looked over at the closed door to the freezer. She was glad Savannah was on the other side of it. It took some of the worry away from her on several levels. She wondered what she would find when the vats were opened. She didn't know if she was about to 'let the genie out of the bottle' or not.

She was aware of what happened 'in some future' with Mrs. Weaver's experiment. Mrs Weaver was unable to program the Liquid Metal Terminator she created. It was highly unstable and unpredictable. She didn't think the Skynet forces would be able to do any better if they attempted to create a Liquid Metal Terminator in the current timeline, the present.

She went over to the work area and looked at what was on the workbench.

Cameron opened the vat she closed earlier. It was the one the man was working with when she first entered.

Bob looked around and set a large flat container next to her. He backed up to cover the area. Gail and Sheila stood ready.

Cameron carefully dumped the vat into the large container.

There was a cloud of vapor over the liquid.

Cameron looked around and picked up a pair of tongs. She cleared the vapor with her hand to see better. Her vision spectrum picked something up in the misting liquid.

The stripped and shivering man was back among the couscous. He moaned and then looked around. He seemed very confused as to what was going on.

Cameron looked over at the man with disgust. She wanted some answers from him. She hoped the insulated freezer would mute some of his screams. She knew what was planned for him next. She looked over at Sheila. She remembered what Savannah whispered to her. He understood why Savannah did it. It was what she wanted as well.

"Sheila, find out where the female is." Cameron said. "MAKE him talk. Do whatever is necessary. Do it - now."

Cameron knew asking the Gray about what they were doing for Skynet was a waste of time. She figured they would have better luck getting answers about what happened to the female or whatever captive was tied to the bed in their sleeping quarters.

Sheila started to reach for the man's neck. She paused for a moment. She looked a little lower and smiled. She reached down there instead and lifted him off of the ground. It produced a shrill scream. She carried him over to a corner and dropped him to the floor. She was sure she felt a couple of ligaments rip loose during the carrying process. The shrill screaming stopped. She started her interrogation.

Cameron picked up the silvery mass from out of the liquid nitrogen with the tongs and placed it on the workbench. Bob and Gail stood back on each side of her. They were unsure what they all looked at. It didn't look like anything good.

The object was small, but they didn't know what it was capable of or would do once it started to thaw out. Someone from the Skynet force decided the only safe way to transport it was in liquid nitrogen. It was a warning all of them planned to heed.

Savannah was going through some paper receipts when she heard the shrill scream. She thought Sheila started the interrogation. She figured there were only a few things which would produce a scream like it. She wondered what it actually was. She really didn't care what happened to him. She wanted him to suffer for what was done to the female.

She looked at Cam and Jim who were going through all the personal belongings of the men looking for clues.

Neither one of them looked in the direction of the scream. They seemed unaffected by it or its implications. Maybe it was the best thing to do. They all were on some of Cameron's 'off the books' operations at some point. If one of those operations involved sex traffickers there was usually some form of 'punishment' before the perpetrator's termination.

Savannah decided to tune it out and went back to searching for anything. She knew the Gray's actions were what sealed their fate, not her or their team.

They would merely administer the sentence the Gray earned by his own actions.

Savannah briefly thought about 'those eyes' which looked at her as she strangled the female Gray before. Right now she didn't care. They didn't bother her at all. She shrugged her shoulders and kept searching. She felt the enemy received what they deserved. What came around, went around. When people played with fire, they would eventually get burnt.

John and John Henry watched the monitor. It was hard to tell from the body cam footage what they were looking at.

"Can you tell what Cameron has?" John asked. "What is that thing?"

John Henry wasn't sure what he looked at. He thought it was small but he didn't know how deadly or dangerous it was. It appeared Cameron used quite a bit of caution in her initial contact with it.

"No. I don't know what it is." John Henry said. "It may be some form of Liquid Metal. It's very small."

John knew there were two interrogations going on. They were at two different locations. Most of the audio track wasn't being sent to his equipment. He figured they would be brutal. He wanted to hear how they were conducted.

"I can't hear the interrogations." John said. "I think I should be able to hear them."

John Henry tried to be as diplomatic as possible. He was sure both of the interrogations would become very violent before they were finished. He knew Sheila conducted the interrogation inside of the freezer with the Gray. He was pretty sure how it was going to end, sooner or later. If Sheila wanted to work on him for some 'special treatment' he was pretty sure it was going to be later. It was unless the Gray expired before she was done.

"Once what the men know is determined, you'll receive a report." John Henry said.

John felt it was more than a report in the making. He saw the body cam footage. He wanted to make his official position known. The current operation wasn't one of Cameron's 'off the books' operations. It was a Resistance matter.

"One of those interrogations I don't agree with." John said. "You know I don't approve of those methods."

John Henry didn't think John would have much control over what happened with either interrogation. He certainly knew he wouldn't. He wasn't even going to mention anything to anyone himself. He figured the only person there who would be able to do anything about what was happening near the freezer was Savannah. She currently was elsewhere as the interrogation was being conducted. He didn't know Savannah told Cameron to make sure Sheila 'worked' on the Gray. He decided to stick with the pertinent information.

"It's important to Cameron the fate of the female is determined." John Henry said. "If she isn't already dead, they may still be able to 'recover' her."

John wondered what condition she would be in currently. Then again, the girls from the future all 'recovered' and moved on with their lives. It was a different environment, but they all made it. Maybe the difference there was it happened to every female. It was simply the way things were.

"I get it." John said. "I still don't like it."

None of the Terminators liked it either, except Sheila. The subjects didn't always survive the questioning when it was done Terminator style.

"Nobody does." John Henry said. "Some are more reluctant than others to talk. Either way, they will be terminated."

John was aware not everyone worked for Skynet, even if they were an unwitting dupe. It was possible for the Skynet forces to manipulate other people into doing their bidding who didn't even know Skynet existed. The situation with the Syndicate casino was another indication of how people could be manipulated to serve Skynet and not even know it. All they knew is they were being leaned on by Syndicate thugs.

"What about the guy at the lab?" John asked. "He sounds like a drug user, not a Gray."

John Henry felt assisting Grays with dubious activity was a pretty fine line.

"He's a collaborator and a loose end." John Henry said. "He'll most likely end up as a Scavenger or a Gray. I'm actually surprised he hasn't been terminated yet."

John thought it was simpler than the Terminators saw it.

"He just wants a fix." John said. "Once people get addicted to dope, they'll do anything to get their fix. It's what runs their life, not Skynet."

John Henry didn't think it made a difference in the end. If Skynet provided the drugs, or the money to purchase the drugs, Skynet was what controlled him, even if it was indirectly.

CamNet informed John Henry it's what the doper would receive. He would be overdosed on his own drugs and left there. He didn't share information with John.

"Perhaps we should concentrate on the truck and where it goes. The teams will notify us of anything relevant." John Henry said. "These things take some time to play out."

John watched what he could. He was most concerned with whatever it was Cameron was 'playing' with. It looked to him as if she was waiting for whatever it was to thaw out so she could 'mess' around with it in some fashion. He didn't know what it was, but he did know it was something dangerous.

Samantha watched over Riley and Precious. Derek was called off after dinner. She was aware why.

The dinner was done and the dishes were washed and put away.

Samantha was given specific instructions by Cameron about how she was supposed to operate when she was in Riley's quarters. There were times when she was supposed to be active to tend to Precious. There were times when she was supposed to be inactive until she was needed.

"Do you wish for me to go into standby?" Samantha asked. "Is there anything else I can assist you with before I do?"

Riley was taken slightly aback by the question. Samantha helped her through much of the day. It seemed like it would be mean to tell her to go stand in the corner until she was needed again. There was something else she would like. She knew she wasn't supposed to push things. There were a few personal things she needed to deal with.

"I was going to take a quick shower." Riley said.

Samantha decided to wait until Riley was finished. She didn't think it would take very long.

"I'll tend to Precious." Samantha said. "There's no need to hurry."

Samantha was aware Riley started to undress and it wasn't in the bedroom either. She was unsure what was about to happen. She hoped Riley didn't expect her to shower with her. She wanted to find out exactly what was going on.

"Is this what you normally do?" Samantha asked.

Riley hadn't really thought about it. Privacy was never something she grew up with. Everyone just did what they needed to do. It was no big deal really.

"I'm sorry." Riley said. "Sometimes when I'm in our quarters I don't get dressed much. I've been wearing a bathrobe the last couple of months most of the time. I wasn't thinking."

Riley felt tired and lacked energy for the last few months of her pregnancy. She hadn't done much better after Precious was born. Some days all she wore was a bathrobe and nothing else. She wasn't going out to do anything and it was easy to put on. She usually tied the front of the robe with the cloth belt but not always. What was there to hide anyone hadn't seen before? She was just a female, like half the people on the planet. What was the big deal? No, really, what was the big deal? If she was alone or with Derek only in their room, nobody knew how she was dressed or undressed. Derek seemed to like it.

Samantha wondered if Derek did the same. Maybe she was infringing on their lifestyle. If they were used to being alone, they were used to their privacy. In privacy people could do whatever they wanted because it was private.

"It's not a problem. You must always remember my limitations. I don't wish to be deactivated." Samantha said. "I take it Derek does the same thing around the quarters?"

Riley felt a little embarrassed at how lazy she became over the last few months. It was more than just being lazy. It was because she always felt so tired and out of it recently. She thought about it a little bit more. She knew tiredness was just an excuse. It was about being lazy. The other things were just excuses she used so she could be lazy. Now she felt bad about herself.

"I guess we'll have to wear more appropriate attire now." Riley said. "Most of my clothes didn't fit anymore anyway. Any of the ones Sarah still had from when she was pregnant with Jan were too small for me. Growing up in the Wastelands and tunnels there wasn't much privacy. It's not even something you think about. Everyone has a body. You just hope someone doesn't notice yours and decide they want to use it for one or two minutes. It happened, and it happened a lot."

Samantha wanted to ease Riley's mind some. She didn't care if they were dressed or undressed. It was just her limitations she was worried about. She didn't want to be deactivated, especially over some minor infraction.

"I understand." Samantha said. "It doesn't bother me. Nudity means nothing to me. I'm a machine."

Riley looked Samantha up and down, she thought Samantha was a knockout. The fact she was a 'fresh face' only seemed to add to it. She didn't look like anyone else. She tried to think about what was underneath the facade of her appearance. It was a Terminator chassis. Terminators were designed to kill humans. She watched how Samantha took care of Precious. It was anything but a killing machine.

"When I look at you, I find it hard to remember." Riley said. "You look like a human female to me. I can tell you that you're very beautiful. You're different from any of the girls here, but you're just as beautiful as they are."

Samantha was pleased to hear it, but none of it mattered. Things would need to change soon for her to remain in the Resistance and active. She decided to spell it out some.

"This sheath will be Resequenced." Samantha said. "I'll appear differently soon. The change will happen over the next few weeks."

Riley wondered about it and what all would change. She wondered how 'deep' the changes would actually go.

"I heard about it." Riley said. "Will 'everything' change?"

Samantha was well aware no part of her sheath would be identical to the way it was now. Every detail would be different.

"Everything will be like the new donor's DNA I use." Samantha said. "It's the whole purpose of using the donor's DNA to copy the subject we're going to replace."

Samantha knew they were world leaders, and other people important in various jobs which could be replaced by Terminators. The goal was to remain undetected as they assumed their new role.

Riley didn't want to be a problem for anyone.

"I'll be back soon." Riley said. "It won't take me long to finish."

Riley went off to take her shower. On the way there she thought how cool it would be to be able to change her appearance. Everything would be different and 'new' on her. She could look like anybody or nobody. She was pretty sure if she had the ability to do it she would change her appearance every six months. Wait. If it only took two weeks to Resequence a Terminator's sheath, she might even do it every other month. She would start with all of the females at the Resistance base and in Palmdale. It excited her to remember what Isabelle and Metal Summer looked like.

She realized she was in the shower now and touching herself as she thought about all of the different females she could look like. She would be sure to do with each one of their sheath's what she was doing now with herself. She was surprised at how quickly she 'finished'. She thought she would do it more often when she pleasured herself.

Samantha updated with John Henry and CamNet for any relevant developments. She thought the developments were serious enough to take a little more action on her part. Instead of going into standby, she would go on patrol. There was no active threat, but the base was short on Terminators. Being a Terminator was her true calling, not a babysitter. She was pretty sure she was as much of a bodyguard for Precious as she was a babysitter.

She called Jesse to see if she was going to come to the room next door. Jesse said she would come in case she was needed. Claire asked to come also. Claire wanted to check in on Young Allison and work with Summer on her music lessons for an hour. Jesse said she would come to the room first.

With Jesse there, Samantha would feel more comfortable about being on patrol. She liked it when there were others, other than Riley, to help watch over Precious.

Riley finished up in the bathroom and came out dressed.

"I can get some of my clothes back on now." Riley said. "Some of them are starting to fit again. I didn't think I'd ever be able to wear them anymore. I still need to burn off some of this fat. I think I 'let myself go' some."

Riley was aware she increased her food intake as her exercise decreased. For the last few months she didn't do any exercise at all. The increased food consumption continued at the same rate. It took its toll. More calories taken in than were burned through exercise meant there would be a buildup of fat.

Samantha thought it was best not to comment on Rally's revelation. Her programming indicated it was a sensitive issue among all humans, but especially more so for females. Age and appearance was another factor which seemed to cause a lot of issues with humans. Again, it was especially females who experienced the most issues with such things. She wasn't really sure she understood why. If something was factual, it was factual. What was wrong with it? It was illogical to think otherwise. She decided to move the conversation along.

"Jesse will be next door soon." Samantha said. "I'll go on patrol around the base. You're to call me immediately if there's any problem. Claire will join Jesse in another hour. ASK the girls for any help you need. They want to assist you. I will return every nineteen minutes to check on what's happening."

Riley felt depressed again. She felt a little better after her self 'finish' in the shower. The euphoria of the event had already worn off. It really didn't last long at all. For a few brief moments she was able to get away from it all. The only trouble was, everything was still waiting where she left it.

"I feel like I'm a burden to everyone." Riley said. "I'm sure they all wonder why they need to help me. Everyone has their own life to live. I really don't know what to do."

Samantha didn't believe her statement was correct. Her observation of everything which occurred around the Resistance base, and regarding Precious, was different from Riley's summation.

"Do your friends and 'family' act like it's a burden?" Samantha asked. "You'll do fine. I have confidence in you."

Riley did think things were a little more under control now. She felt a lot less stress once Samantha began to assist her. It was as if a switch was flipped inside of her. It was like the difference between night and day.

"Thanks." Riley said. "Things are a little easier now. Thank you for helping me."

Samantha understood she was newly created, but she possessed programming that was long standing from several Terminators.

"We all help each other." Samantha said. "We're a team."

When Jesse arrived and checked in with Riley and Precious, Samantha left.

Samantha checked in on Sarah and Jan, then on Summer, and Claire.

She followed up on Kyle and Derek, then with John and John Henry.

She then went to check on Vanna and Allison. They were going to watch Summer when Claire left.

Everything at the base seemed secure.

Samantha started her patrol. She would need to time it so she could repeat everything three times per hour. Every nineteen minutes she would return to the nursery and check on Precious and Riley. She would stay for one minute unless a longer time was necessary, and then resume her patrol again. She could always speed up her pace to make up for any additional time in Riley's quarters.

She asked to be filled in with all the details about what was happening on both operations as she conducted her patrol. It would alert her to any problems which might happen later on. She also reviewed the drone footage around the Resistance base on her phone.

Closing monologue by Cameron:

Easier Now

What has more value
Things that are given
Things that are taken
Or things that are stolen

Maybe the things
For which one has yearned
Are the most valuable
When they're earned

People like to cut corners
Because they're lazy
Maybe it's because
Everyone's a bit crazy

When it comes to love
Maybe it's the same
There's soon plenty of blame
Does it really matter the name

There are those who wow
Maybe even consider a vow
Does it matter anyhow
Are things harder or easier now

Nobody