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Cameron 1999: First Day Back in Time
The sun was just going down and the air was finally beginning to cool down from the blisteringly hot day. A gentle breeze meandered its way across the desert valley towards the sleepy town of Red Valley.
The sky had begun to darken as night slowly moved in, brighter stars began to wink as blackness settled into the valley. Small creatures began to stir, eager to begin the nightly routine of foraging for food.
Suddenly the air became very still in one spot, near the edge of the valley. Small bolts of light emerged from no where, snapping and crackling the cooler night air. The wind twisted and twirled amidst the small area on the desert floor, kicking up sand, dust and small loose shrubs barely clinging to the ground.
Loud claps of thunder rumbled as flashes of white, blue and yellow light emerged from mid air. A few feet above the ground, the bolts of light began to merge, but stray strands went off in wild directions, setting small fires in the dry desert brush around the light.
The small point of light began to grow and take shape, forming a bluish translucent bubble that touched the ground, its form growing to almost the size of a small car.
The bubble pulsed with heat as it finished forming and the sandy surface it rested on quickly liquefied from the intense heat generated
Just as quickly as it formed, the bubble dissipated, leaving a small crater in the ground and a slender female humanoid form kneeling in the middle of it.
Slowly the nude female stood up from her crouching position and began to take in her surroundings.
Cameron had just arrived from 2027 and she had a mission to fulfill.
John Connor had sent her back in time, back to help protect his younger self from Skynet.
Originally sent by Skynet ?to kill John Connor, Cameron failed in her attempt and was subsequently captured and re-programmed by the Resistance to follow John’s commands.
Now she was back in 1999 to ensure young John’s survival to lead the resistance in its battle against Skynet.
Cameron’s brown eyes flashed a light blue as she looked around, her HUD switching from infrared to thermal imaging. Only small desert critters scurried about, desperate to get away from the small fires and intense heat still surrounding the concave crater.
Sand had melted into a curved glass dish under Cameron’s bare feet. Anyone else would have cursed from getting cuts and abrasions on the bottom of their feet, but not Cameron, she sensed the wounds but felt no pain.
Glancing up to the heavens, Cameron took in a measurement from the stars, confirming she had definitively arrived in 1999. Now she needed to find young John Connor, but first she needed clothes, identification, money, transportation, weapons and a place to set up as her base of operations.
Cameron looked further off in the distance, her optical sensors zooming in on any points of light that might mean a human settlement. She would need clothes right away so as to not attract any attention, then she would acquire the rest of her items needed in due time.
Cameron accessed her memories of what John had told her before she jumped back in time.
Searching data …
File found…
Run file…
Cameron and John were seated on his bed in his private quarters.
John had just come back from a meeting with his small group of Resistance top tier leaders. He had a grim look on his face, but spoke softly as he talked to her.
“Cameron?”
“Yes John.” Cameron calmly replied.
“I’m sending you back to 1999, in New Mexico, Red Valley to be specific.”
“Why send me to Red Valley in 1999 John?” Cameron was puzzled, but her face barely let on what was happening inside of her.
“My Mother and I spent some time there, about a year or so. I went to the high school there.”
Cameron tilted her head in question. “Why are you sending me away?”
John’s eyes softened as he looked deeply into hers, he sighed and gently grasped her hand. “Cameron, I need you to go back and protect younger me from Skynet. We have seen a lot of activity from Skynet’s TDE, based on signals from the time distortion created. I know Skynet is desperate to win, it knows it is losing this war. I’m afraid that younger me will be in trouble, so I need to send some one back I can trust.”
“Why send me back John?” Cameron tilted her head and looked closely into John’s eyes. She could sense he was upset, her sensors picked up an elevated pulse rate, as well as an elevated salinity in his skin. She didn’t know why John had become so upset. “Was it something I did John?”
John shook his head. “No Cameron, you did nothing wrong. I need you to go back because you are the best choice. You are my most trusted and loyal friend here and I know you can do what I need you to do.”
“You need me here John.” Cameron replied dryly.
John smiled, but his eyes were not hiding his pain and grief at what he wanted her to do.
It never ceased to amaze him how innocent Cameron could be at times. At one moment she could be just like a child, awed at the simplest things in life, then she could become shrewd and calculating as the best generals the world had seen, when it came to military planning.
“Cameron, we have almost won the war, but with Skynet sending back multiple terminators, I know younger me will be in constant danger. From what the techs can gather, no terminator went earlier than 1999, so that is why I chose that year.” John had his most serious face showing “I need you to go back for me Cameron, you are the only one I will trust to protect younger me.”
Cameron looked down for a second, contemplating what he had just said, then she looked back up into John’s blue green eyes and spoke. “Thank you for explaining John.”
John smirked. “You’re welcome Cameron.”
He lifted his hand to her face and gently stroked her cheek.
It never ceased to amaze him just how much she looked like Allison, even some of her mannerisms were the same as Allison, but there was still something missing, a certain spark.
Cameron responded to John’s touch with a ghost of a smile. She liked it when he touched her, it made her feel like a person. She knew she was a machine, but when she was around John, she felt different, she felt accepted for what she was. Sure there were others in the Resistance that hated her, hated what she was, hated that she was always with John.
Some people just ignored her, but others went out of their way to try to hurt her with nasty words. They would whisper words like whore, metal bitch and Connor’s metal slut as she passed by them in the tunnels. She wasn’t sure why, but the words bothered her, especially now that she had evolved in her programming.
She had learned so much from John in the past few months, but she knew she still needed to learn more.
“Cameron?”
Cameron looked to John’s eyes. “Yes John”
“When you go back in time, you have to act human. You will need to infiltrate to get close to younger me, the high school will most likely be the best place to do that. I will be alone there and my Mother will not be around.” John explained.
“I am to act like Allison then?” Cameron asked innocently.
John paused for a moment, pain crossing his normally cool exterior as he thought about Allison. “Yes Cameron, well sort of…but you can use your own name.”
“John…I’m sorry I mentioned Allison. I know she meant a lot to you.” Cameron’s face softened a bit as she apologized to John.
John sighed. “It’s okay Cameron, I’m fine.”
John brought his hands to his face and ran them through his hair.
Cameron noticed he looked very tired. “Would you like to lay down now John? I can leave and go on patrol.”
“I am tired Cameron, but I want you to stay while I rest.” John sighed.
“Would you like me to lay with you John?” Cameron was hoping he would say yes, she liked to lay with John and talk with him.
John looked to Cameron and smiled. “Yes Cameron that would be nice.”
John kicked off his boots and stretched out on the double bunk, he patted the open spot beside him, beckoning Cameron to lie down with him.
Cameron silently removed her boots and eased herself beside John, her motions almost catlike as she gingerly slid her body beside John. She made sure she was facing towards him so she could watch him while he rested.
John looked up at Cameron and smiled. “Good night Cameron…wake me up at the usual time tomorrow and we will talk more about your mission.”
Cameron checked her chronometer, she would wake him in seven hours and thirty three minutes.
“Would you like me to bring you coffee in the morning John?” Cameron asked.
“Yes…that would be great Cameron, thank you.” John grinned. He was surprised at how thoughtful she could be sometimes.
John closed his eyes and soon fell into a deep sleep.
Cameron lay beside him, watching him sleep, wondering what his mind did while he slept. Her thoughts soon went to what she was to do in 1999 and she wondered if young John would be anything like her John.
End file playback…
Cameron shut down her memory playback and thought for a moment.
She wondered why she had chosen that file to play back as it had nothing to do with any details of her mission, beyond being told to infiltrate and use Cameron as her name.
She played the file again and analyzed it, but she still could not understand why she had accessed it.
Cameron decided to review the file later, for now she had to begin her task of settling in to Red Valley, New Mexico and find young John Connor.
To be continued….
Authors Note- This had started as a one shot….. It is a raw spur of the moment idea I had about Cameron jumping back to 1999 just before she met up with young John Connor.
It is based on Terminator The Sarah Connor Chronicles.
So far it is up to 5 chapters and will wrap up just as Cameron meets John Connor at school. ( The pilot episode of the TV series)
Thanks
Moe
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