16104/Pinky Swear He's Safe

Pinky Swear He's Safe
Date of Scene:	04 March 2024
Location:	Apple Park - Salem Center
Synopsis:	John is locked away safe and sound. Sarah has a new bodyguard though...
Cast of Characters:	Cameron, Sarah Connor

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Cameron has posed:
A few weeks ago...

As always, the burner phones were used and the proper testing done to confirm that there wasn't a terminator impersonating one of them. But once that was done, Cameron and Sarah had arranged to meet. Today, it apparently was going to be at a park. Thus, Cameron was sitting there on a bench.

To see her, no one would ever be able to tell what she was. She looked absolutely human. In fact she was enjoying a hot dog from the nearby vendor and watching the skaters in the skatepark nearby. She took a sip from her coke then continued to enjoy her meal as though she hadn't a care in the world.

Behind those dark eyes was a machine, calculating at all times, the HUD display showing the calculations as she considered the build of each person in the area in comparison to various models of terminator machines. None seemed to fit, though there were machines that didn't fit specific shapes so this wasn't foolproof. Thus,she was always on watch and never let down her guard, no matter how calm she appeared.

The thing that Sarah would probably notice first was that John was not with his bodyguard terminator machine.

Sarah Connor has posed:
Sarah was late. Or to the point, right on time - which they had planned for her to be late. Lots of time for Cameron to scope out the park.

"Sorry." She wasn't. "Work." Always a good choice for an excuse.

She was frowning though. "No John? I would have thought he would be with you." And if Cameron was here, with Sarah.. then who was with John? Protecting him? Lowering her voice, she inquired, "What happened?"

She sat on the bench beside her.

Cameron has posed:
"He's safe."

It was an immediate response because even Cameron could anticipate that would be Sarah's first concern.

"There is something going on and we got word through the network." Since the resistance to Skynet was active, even in this part of time, before they were technically born. Welcome to the headache that is time travel! "They took him to a bunker for safe keeping. We anticipate that the most likely target after him will be you, in the hopes of finding his location. Therefore, per John's orders, I am to watch over you until the situation is resolved. If it is not in the next eight weeks, we will reconsider and he likely will be returning to the house with us."

She continued to eat her hot dog then, waiting for a response. From her calculations, there were two options. There was an 86% chance it would be a negative one and she was fully prepared for that. But orders from John were orders from John too for the machine so there wasn't much she could do about it.

Sarah Connor has posed:
Already one panic was replaced with another. Let's face it, Sarah had spent over half her life protecting John. To get him ready just that exact same thing: to fight the AI's that would take over the world. Skynet.

How could he be ready to take on this new job in his life?

While Sarah had no doubt that he has everything that he needs, she wasn't quite ready for it.

Cameron was right though: To get to John the terminators would go through Sarah. As much as she was his protector? He was his mother's son. The obvious course of action, then, was to protect Sarah herself. By that logic John would be protected as well.

"For how long?" Leave it to Sarah to cut to the chase.

Cameron has posed:
"According to them, the threat has been able to track to the tri-state area but no further than that. Thus they are working on leaving a false trail, making it seem as though he has left you behind to protect you." Cameron shrugged, an all too human gesture. "I do not believe they will be fooled by the false duplicate but it was worth the effort perhaps."

She finished off the hot dog then rose to her feet in a fluid movement, walking to a nearby trash can to throw in the wrapper and empty cup. Then she glanced to Sarah, moving back over to be within conversational distance again. "If we have not heard from him in seven weeks, four days, three hours and twenty-two minutes, I will go recover him from the bunker. If the threat is eliminated before that, he will notify us and we will go escort him back home. He will not be without someone watching over him. Pinky swear."

Which were two words she had never used before. She even raised her right hand and extended her pinky toward Sarah as though she actually expected the woman to follow suit.

Sarah Connor has posed:
Okay. Sarah had a time limit. She was not convinced the terminators would be convinced for that long a time. It did, however, bring up the point that maybe they had been living in the Tri state area for too long. And with John's schooling done with, should she look to moving again?

The trouble was, the older John was, the more attempts on him would be occurring. Skynet *did not* want to face him as a mature adult with all the resistance at his back. Their plans of action had shifted from covert to overt.

And frankly, Sarah, herself, was getting tired. Tired of sneaking around, packing up or just leaving.. With Skynet ramping up their attacks, wouldn't it be better to plant her feet down with a 'base' and fight from there? Rather than picking, again, and try to make a new home. To keep her eyes out for the terminators that she always knew were coming..?

Isn't this the way she could help? To take their eyes off of looking for the Resistance, and focusing on her?

She nodded. "We're staying here.." A pause, then.. "Where did you get 'pinky swear' from?"

Cameron has posed:
"Lydia. She is one of the resistance members that was sent back. She stated that this was how promises were made in this time and that I should start using it to blend in properly."

And therein was the reality. Cameron was only as good as her programming. And since she had no idea if a pinky swear was or was not something that actually was happening in this time as it wasn't really database material, she was somewhat gullible.

And Sarah just left her hanging!

She lowered her hand back to her side, frowning a tiny bit. "I am guessing by your reaction that I was misinformed?"

Sarah Connor has posed:
Too late Sarah realized what Cameron was holding up her hand for.

"No, and yes. Usually it is something you do with your own peer group. I'm not sure when you get too old for pinky swears?"

Then suddenly she holds out her own hand with the pinky aloft. "Pinky swear. I wouldn't send you up the wrong tree." Her face grows solemn. "We moved into the race for the end. Are you ready?"

Cameron has posed:
Seeing the offered pinky, Cameron brought hers forth again and hooked Sarah's own in the lifelong promise between friends. Not that they were actually friends. Cameron was tolerated by Sarah as a necessary evil. And because John had convinced his mother not to destroy the unusual machine that was Cameron. "Pinky swear. And since we have no peers outside your family in truth, it seems appropriate."

At the question, Cameron gave a single nod of her head. "I was made for this." And then she looked a little confused. "Interesting. That is a phrase I have heard used but in this situation, it is oddly appropriate."

Sarah Connor has posed:
"It means everything you have done up to now, has prepared you for being ready. Some people use it very casually. But in this case, even though your life is.. shorter? It is true. You were made for this thing, and this thing only."

Sarah completes the pinky swear, and lets her hand relax again at her side.

Cameron was right though. Cameron, Sarah, and John were, for better or worse, a family unit. But with the rise of the resistance? Maybe it was time to include some new people to fight against Skynet.

Maybe..

Vive la Resistance!