Chapter Three

John slammed on the brakes and the dune buggy skidded to a halt outside the depot's reinforced steel doors. He got out of the driver's seat, held his aching back and gazed at Cromartie's body lying lifelessly in the back.
I might still need you if I'm wrong…

He picked his way between the piles of rubble scattered outside the depot which had once been part of a warehouse. This had been the place where he had actually thought he was never going to see her again. Sixty years ago. When he had got himself locked inside with the coltan-keeper terminator.
The doors hadn't changed a bit, even the writing – faded as is was – was still visible. The only thing he needed now was the key.
Damn! How am I gonna get in?…

A rectangular metal box mounted on the wall to the left of the doors caught his eye. It hadn't been there last time. As John approached it he found it to be a ten digit keypad. The letter 'Z' embossed on the panel made him grin.
Thanks Catherine. You always were ahead of your time…

John stood in front of the panel and squinted at the keypad.
"I wonder—" he thought aloud, lifting his right hand and letting his index finger hover over the keys.
"Yeah, it just must be. It always is. Because no one else would have known it here. Apart from her – and me."

Something he had long ago said to his mother while standing in front of a built in safe surfaced from the depths of his mind as he entered the sequence.

It's a date.
Judgement Day…

A green LED lighting up and a deafening grinding noise told him he had been right. The enormous metal doors slowly began to slide open, the half a century old machinery screaming in protest. The crack gradually grew wide enough for John to be able to peek inside.
Cold, stagnant air wafted over his face as the cavernous interior was dimly lit up by the diffuse light shining in through the opening.
With a final ear-splitting squeal of metal against metal, the doors shuddered to a halt and a deadly silence engulfed the scene.

Breathing heavily, John winced and clutched his side.
I'm getting too old for this…
Slowly, he headed back to the dune buggy. He intended to drive into the depot as far as he could to have the vehicle ready for a quick getaway. Constant vigilance was something akin to a habit of his. He supposed being hunted by killer robots for over seventy years had made him a little preoccupied with security.

John carefully manoeuvred the buggy around the piles of debris and through the opening. In the vehicle's headlights, he could see a glass door set into the far wall in the distance.
Positioning the buggy so that its lights illuminated the glass door, John switched off the engine and got out.
Suddenly feeling terribly tired and worn out, he approached the door. Another keypad was located on the wall next to it. Scratching his head, John wearily considered the digits.
It can't be. Not again, surely…

Then an envelope propped up against the wall under the keypad's panel caught his eye. His old bones creaking in protest, John bent down and picked it up off the ground. Sighing, he held on to the panel to steady himself. Bending down somehow always seemed to make him dizzy these days. Once his head had stopped spinning, he glanced at the envelope in his hands.
He nearly dropped it with a start as he noticed his mother's handwriting.

To John Connor

Hesitantly, his hand shaking, the old man reached into the envelope and pulled out a folded sheet of paper. He opened it up and stared at the words his mother had scribbled down.

Happy Birthday

It made no sense whatsoever. He had somehow expected something cryptic like this, but 'Happy Birthday'! For the life of him, he couldn't figure out why she should have left him this particular note. His birthday hadn't been due for another few months after he had left. And Sarah surely couldn't have intended to remind him of his last birthday they had never really got round to celebrate.
When she had gone bad. The most terrible day in his life apart from…

He turned round to look at the dune buggy. On a sudden impulse, he ambled up to it and opened the vehicle's rear hatch. With a tremendous effort, he managed to tug the machine out of the car and prop it up against its side. John Henry stared vacantly at the glass door, his creepy smile still in place.

"You're going to watch" John hissed, as his fist collided with the jaw of the machine that had taken everything from a love never meant to be.
Sure that he had broken a few of his knuckles and pressing his right hand firmly under his left armpit, John staggered over to the keypad, his breath coming out in short rasps. He keyed in the sequence he somehow knew was the only one it could be. The green light on the keypad and the quiet hiss of the door gliding open as the interior of the room beyond was lit up by numerous neon lights told him he had guessed correctly.
My Birthday. Thanks, Mom…

…

It was as if he had entered an ancient pharaoh's sealed tomb, a place hidden away for millennia. He took a deep breath of what he knew was the air his mother had once breathed. Air which had been kept locked away, a remnant of another place in another time.

The bed-sized box was attached to a self contained computer array. Powered by some sophisticated uninterruptible supply, it had remained functional for sixty years. Zeira Corp's regeneration unit was still operational, its numerous lamps blinking ever so often together with a quiet humming sound in the background.
Reminds me of that movie with Luke Warmwater's carbonite chamber…

Forcing the silly notion aside, John cautiously approached the coffin-like apparatus. Hesitantly, he gripped the double sets of handles mounted in the middle of one side.
He just had to know.

With a click and a brief hiss, the lid opened and both sections slid back silently. White, steam-like mist leaked out, spilling over the box's rim before it gradually dispersed and allowed the interior to become visible.

We were both young when I first saw you…
General John Connor sank to his knees and clung to the side of the box, a sharp pain in his chest taking his breath away.

She was lying there as if she were sleeping. Her dark eyes were closed forever and her brown hair flowed around her shoulders. She had been perfectly preserved, all the injuries she had sustained had healed and her skin had completely regenerated itself.
He closed his eyes and the flashbacks started. He could almost see that schoolgirl's smile from so long ago, feel the touch of her hand on his shoulder, feel her hair glide through his fingers.
She is still the same. She still has silky hair. She will be forever young and I will love her forever…

The pain in his chest causing him to gasp, John pulled himself up on the side of the box and unsteadily reached into his pocket. His hands shaking more than ever, he eventually managed to locate the frayed plastic bag into which he had placed her chip.
Standing there as if he were watching her sleeping made him think of the morning of the last day they had spent.
It still feels like the first night together. I remember the touch of your skin. I remember everything…

The old man's tears dropped onto the cyborg's lifeless body. He wiped them off his cheeks vigorously with the sleeve of his jacket and was just about to try and brush them off her trousers and jacket when he noticed something lying beside her inside the regeneration unit.
Reaching in with utmost care, John took out a screwdriver, a Stanley knife and two letters, again addressed in his mother's handwriting.

One read

John

and the other

Cameron

…

John,

I persuaded Mr Murch to hook her up to this regeneration station. Ellison opened up to me about how they repaired Cromartie in here. He's still in hospital but I suppose he'll be back on the job again soon enough.
I don't know how long it will take for her body to repair itself, but I hope she'll be in one piece again when you see her. If you're reading this letter in the future then the depot must have survived Judgement Day. I pray you found her chip and I hope you'll both come home soon.
I promised you I'd stop it. One way or another.

Love,
Mum

PS: The key is just in case

General Connor let the sixty year old letter drop to the floor. He leant heavily on the sides of Cameron's resting place, his grief so pronounced it caused his knees to give way.
Home…
I love you, Mom. I'm sorry…

He knew his mother would have gone on. She would have continued to fight Skynet in their past until she drew her last breath. His thoughts drifted over to James Ellison, forcing the lump in his throat away and subconsciously bringing a smile to his face.
I bet Mom didn't turn him over on his stomach when she'd finished with him…

John reached for the envelope he had placed on top of the above instrument panel. Turning it upside down, a key on a long thin chain slid out onto his palm.
It was the key to the depot. The one that let you out. The one Cameron had proudly given him so many years before.

Just in case…

Revelation suddenly set in.
"She knew I wouldn't come back…"

He placed the key in his pocket and pulled out the antistatic bag. Carefully, he extracted the chip from the plastic bag and laid it down gently together with his mother's envelope on top of the panel. He then picked up the Stanley knife and stepped up to the top end of the regeneration unit.
With grim determination, he pushed the razor-sharp blade into her scalp where he knew her chip port was. Pushing down hard until he felt her endoskeleton, he cut a semicircle just like she had instructed him so many years before.
Fifty years worth of experience in extracting chips from heads also helps a bit, he supposed. Once he had cut far enough he put the knife down and flapped back her scalp, revealing her glistening port cover. John inserted the screwdriver's tip into the cover's slot and turned. With a pop, the cover opened and he carefully pushed it aside, letting it stick to the underside of her scalp.

Taking utmost care not to exert too much pressure, he picked up the chip and delicately gripped its end with the needle-nosed pliers. Wishing his hand would stop shaking so much, he slowly inserted the chip into its socket and gave it a half turn clockwise.

…

The old man's breath came out in short, rasping gasps as he gently pressed the loose bit of scalp back against her endoskeleton. Sinking to his knees once more, he slowly brushed her hair out of her face and tenderly stroked her forehead. She looked so peaceful lying there, it tore at his heart.
Trouble was her only friend…

Cameron's head jerked.

An excruciating pain coursed through the old man's body, causing him to double up with a groan. Unable to keep upright, unable to maintain any coherent thought, he sank to the ground, his breathing shallow and irregular.

"I'm sorry, John."

Her voice sounded from within the regeneration unit even before she had sat up.
But John didn't hear her. The terrible pain he had experienced had given way to a blissful feeling of relaxation. Of enlightenment. Sounds and sights never before beholden filled his mind, offering him a glimpse of eternity where all times that ever have been and ever shall be are all as one.

"John?"

Something was pulling him back. Something familiar, a voice so pure it sounded across the aeons. Slowly, he opened his eyes.

She was kneeling beside him, her face a blank mask, her hand on his chest.

"I'll join all the lost souls" he wheezed in a mere whisper. "Take care of yours."

With a smile, the old man placed his hand over hers and gave it a light squeeze. His hand jerked once and relaxed.

Tears leaked out of her eyes and ran down her cheeks as she sat watching him breathing for the last time. She reached out and lovingly ran her hand over the lined face, its features blending with her memory of the boy's it had once been.

"I'll always find you."

Cameron abruptly rose to her feet and walked over to the compartment she had risen from. She made adjustments to the regeneration unit's controls and set them to indefinite operation. Just as she was about to climb in and lay down ready to enter standby forever, she noticed an envelope lying inside near the foot end.
Her name was written on the envelope in Sarah Connor's handwriting. Curious, she opened it and pulled out a letter.

Dear Cameron,

just for once let me call you this. If you are reading this letter then John must have managed to bring you back. I placed you into the regeneration station hoping you'd be able to help him in the future. If he comes back with your chip then you should be fixed by the time he does. If not, then all I'm asking of you is to take care of my son. Please.
I hope you'll both be home soon. I've made pancakes.

Sarah

PS: Just in case

The ancient writing blurred as the cyborg's tears spilled onto the letter. She folded the piece of paper and turned the envelope upside down.
A silver pocket watch slipped out onto her outstretched palm.

Cameron at once recognized the present she had given her John so long ago. Tilting her head, she opened the pocket watch and stared at the three coloured buttons fastened to the inside. After what seemed like hours, she tore her gaze off the silver timepiece and glanced at the regeneration unit. It had bought her sixty years of borrowed time.

…

A deactivated terminator stood sentinel at the depot's entrance as an explosion echoed through the empty halls.
The lone figure an eternal custodian of a love that conquered all.

The end

Author's note & quotes:

This concludes my excursion into realms I actually never wanted to behold. I'm sure I shall receive no kind words for this blasphemy but I thought I'd give the story a chance.

The 'introduction' is taken from the story The Clown in the 2000 AD yearbook 1994 comic and belongs to Igor Goldkind and/or Fleetway.

The phrase Nothing lasts forever and we all know hearts can change is taken and adapted from the song November Rain by Guns 'N Roses.

The phrase We'll always have Red Valley. We didn't have. We lost it. But we got it back today is taken and adapted from the 1942 motion picture Casablanca.

The term carbonite chamber belongs to Lucasfilm.

The phrase We were both young when I first saw you is taken from the song Love Story by Taylor Swift.

The phrase It still feels like the first night together. I remember the touch of your skin. I remember everything is taken and adapted from the song Please Forgive Me by Brian Adams.

The phrase Trouble was her only friend is taken and adapted from the song Carry You Home by James Blunt.

The Kaoss Pad belongs to Korg UK ltd.