Chapter Text
Chapter 1638
Any Better
The two Grays continued down the stairway. Most of the complex was severely damaged including the area they currently searched in. One of them was a little more concerned about their safety than the other one was. One of them felt they needed to do a job and complete it. The other one felt they needed to be alive to report anything they found.
The first man shined the flashlight ahead of them.
"There's a lot of loose debris on the steps." The first man said.
The second man was sure one of them would trip and fall. The lack of caution by the other man was incredibly irritating.
"Try not to break the light when you slip." The second man said.
First man was a little fed up with the second man's mouth.
"We still have our cell phones." The first man said.
The second man was sure every step they went down was one step closer step to eternity.
"What makes you think they won't be broken as well?" The second man asked. "If we fall, what's to prevent one of us from breaking a bone, or multiple bones? What are we going to do then? Breaking an arm is one thing. Breaking a leg is another. If we lose the light, we're going to die down here. You know it's true even if you don't want to admit it."
The first man didn't bother to comment. The other guy was a complainer. They went down several flights of stairs. It appeared as if there was a doorway on the next flight down.
"There might be another passageway ahead." The first man said. "It must lead deeper into the complex. Since it's on a lower level it might be a better condition than what we've seen so far."
When they reached the next landing, the first man tried the door. It wasn't locked.
The second man wanted to see what was below them. It seemed before they went off on another tangent, they should see what was where they were headed. It seemed to him anything of high value was probably at the bottom of the stairway. He doubted it was off to the side.
"Let's check below us before we go into a new area." The second man said. "I don't think it would hurt to check upward either."
The first man was irritated by all the drama. They were going to need to check everything.
"It is what it is." The first man said.
The second man still wanted to use caution.
"We're the outsiders here." The second man said. "We don't know where anything's at or what we'll run into."
The first man shined the light down. They could see there were several more flights of stairs going down. He shined the light upward too. There didn't appear to be anything different than what they already passed.
"Are you satisfied?" The first man asked.
The second man was satisfied there was nothing moving above them or below them. He figured they should at least take a look inside the new doorway so there wasn't something behind them. He didn't think there was anyone still in the complex. There was something which could have been left behind to guard a high value asset.
"You know there's a good chance there could be a Terminator in standby." The second man said. "If there's anything worth protecting down here, it's doubtful. We don't know what anyone took with them, what was left, or what was destroyed. We're basically risking our lives for nothing, with no known payoff for our efforts."
They could hear what sounded like a 'crack' sound from time to time. More than likely the remaining passageways in the complex were under extreme stress from the collapse earlier.
The first man already considered the prospects.
"There's only one way we're going to find out." The first man said.
The first man opened the door slowly as he shined his light inside.
The second man was sure the only thing they were going to find was death. It would probably be the death of both of them. He still thought they should leave now while they could still get out and make their report.
CamNet's Terminator continued back to the computer room and looked inside. He was sure he heard something earlier. His first scan didn't detect anything different. He hadn't noticed anything different in the other rooms either.
'Crack'
He quickly glanced in the direction the sound came from. He could see dust drifting down from the ceiling of the passageway. Maybe it's what he heard earlier. The destroyed complex was extremely unstable.
With the discovery of the stairway, he was unsure where he would end up. He made a decision to go ahead and remove the hard drives which were there now. He would take them with him. He didn't know if it would trigger some type of alarm or warning somewhere else within the damage complex. He was ready to deal with any threat which arose.
He decided to cut the power cable first, rather than disconnect it. Based on the condition of the surrounding passageway, it would make more sense if something collapsed or broke and severed the power cable. There wouldn't be any indication the hard drive was being disconnected.
'Crack'
He didn't think he was too far off the mark about what may or may not collapse with the latest sound. He made his way back to the passageway and listened for a moment. There was only silence. He went back to where the hard drives were and carefully severed the power cable. He wanted the connectors which were attached to the hard drives. He could always rewire them later on if it became necessary. He strongly doubted he would return the way he entered.
CamNet's Terminator quickly removed the hard drives and stowed them in his pack. He made his way back to the doorway and listened.
Allison, Cam-Holly, and Claire were on their way to the Command Center.
CamNet contacted Cam-Holly and told her Summer was busy in the Command Center right now. She didn't want Claire to go there. She didn't think it'd be a problem if Allison did.
Cam-Holly asked Claire to show her a few riffs on the keyboard there.
Allison wasn't quite sure what was going on. She was sure something was. She decided she was going to go to the Command Center anyway.
Cam-Holly didn't want any issues. She decided to delay Allison as well.
"You can stay here and watch me." Cam-Holly said. "You can see if I do any better in this chassis than in my own."
Allison preferred Holly in her own chassis.
"I can think of a few things you do better in your own chassis." Allison said.
The three of them all giggled.
Cam-Holly knew the neural network in her own chassis was superior to the one in her current borrowed chassis. She was created as a Restorator by Mrs. Weaver and never as a Skynet Terminator who was captured and reprogrammed. It would be one of the things she would need to deal with if she wanted to look like her lover, Allison.
Allison, Cam-Holly, and Claire were all going to be busy in the rec room for a while.
Vanna picked up Precious and handed her to Jesse.
"I really think I should get some work done." Vanna said.
Jesse didn't think it was a priority.
"You can stay here with Precious and me." Jesse said. "Riley went to the Command Center. She should come back with an ETA on Derek and Kyle."
Jesse would have preferred to have been where Derek and Kyle were at. She really despised future Scavengers.
Vanna could tell Jesse didn't want to be alone.
"I can stay here for now." Vanna said. "I'm sure Allison will track me down soon enough anyway."
Jesse held Precious as Vanna watched.
Vanna could see Jesse was as touched with Precious as she was. Taking care of an infant wasn't something either one of them ever thought they would do in the past, the future.
Samantha exited the room and headed for the Command Center. She was instructed by CamNet she may need to run some additional interference in the recreation room. So far it didn't seem necessary. Cam-Holly currently dealt with the situation.
She passed by the commissary and paused outside the door of the Command Center.
Samantha would wait a moment before she entered the Command Center, in case she was redirected to the recreation room.
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Temporal Mission:
Past Timeline:
November 26 1963
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Cameron and Young Allison followed the Corvette and Deuce Coupe. They talked about some other vehicles to pass the time.
Young Allison was aware Cameron and John drove a Ford GT.
"How fast did you go when you drove one?" Young Allison asked.
Cameron didn't want to overdo it when she drove one. She knew it wasn't about how fast she could go. It was also about how fast she could stop based upon the conditions.
"I only went about two hundred miles an hour." Cameron said.
She calculated the actual speed was 202.7 miles an hour with the wheel slip factored in.
Young Allison was impressed. She knew it was still a hundred miles an hour slower than another Ford GT did on the runway in Florida.
"Wow!" Young Allison said. "You were really moving."
Cameron raced a Hellcat just to shut him down.
"Sometimes the competition needs a little reminder." Cameron said. "Those who purchase inferior equipment need to know ignorance has consequences."
It never hurt to remind someone what the acronym FORD stood for. It was First On Race Day.
In just a few minutes, they were away from the city streets. A few minutes later it was mostly agricultural land around them. They only went just over a mile. Bakersfield was behind them. In another half century everything around them would be built up with houses and other structures. There would still be plenty of farmland in the Central Valley. Unfortunately millions of acres of farmland would revert back into its native condition, as billions of gallons of fresh water was run into the ocean instead of used for irrigation. People needed to eat. The fish didn't need more water. It almost seemed as if the government officials making such idiotic decisions were probably acting under the orders of some version of Skynet and didn't know it.
Young Allison looked behind them.
"I see we've picked up about a half a dozen cars." Young Allison said.
Cameron monitored the cars as they began to follow them one by one. She made sure none of them were a Patrol Car. She didn't want to have a run in with the authorities.
"It looks like the local fan club of the Deuce Coupe." Cameron said. "I listened as he revved up his engine when we passed each of them earlier. It must be the signal for them about what was going to occur."
Young Allison needed to remind herself it was before the days of mobile phones. Everything needed to travel by word of mouth between people on the street. Someone might be able to get word to one of the local radio stations. It could be monitored by the authorities, or someone could notify the authorities if it happened. It seemed word of mouth was the best way for them to communicate and remain off of the radar.
"It looks like they're going to pull over up ahead." Young Allison said. "We still don't know what kind of mill the Deuce Coupe is running. There's no sure way to know how the match will play out."
Cameron possessed some basic facts in her database.
"The 62 Corvette is approximately a couple of hundred pounds lighter than the 63 Stingray we raced earlier. It should be slightly faster assuming all variables are the same." Cameron said. "It's still about six hundred pounds more than the Deuce Coupe weighs. The standard differential is always horsepower to weight. The ability of the person operating the equipment is also a major factor."
Cameron believed it was the driver which made the difference in identical cars, or aircraft. The skill and experience level would always be different.
Horsepower to weight was the key factor. The R code engine in their Galaxie was the same engine used in racing applications. It was a time period when 'stock' was a little more realistic in 'stock car racing', as well as 'super stock drag racing'. The Thunderbolt would dominate the super stock series next year when it made its debut. It would run the identical power plant to theirs. The Mark III Cobra, and the GT40, equipped with the same engine, would dominate their circuits of racing as well. They were both still a few years away.
For whatever reasons, even though the R code 427 was available, the racing teams would still play around with smaller engines until they finally figured it out. The winning engine was already available in 1963. The Mark III Cobra would come out in two more years and use it. It took until 1966 for them to use it in the GT40.
Cameron was glad she burned off some fuel after they tanked up in Mojave. Most liquids weighed approximately eight pounds per gallon. The fuel load on an aircraft was often calculated in pounds, rather than in gallons. The weight is what would determine the real performance of the aircraft. It was also one of the reasons why drop tanks were jettisoned as soon as combat neared. It got rid of any extra weight and cleaned up the aerodynamic drag.
Young Allison watched as Cameron let the other cars following them go past her. She pulled up behind them on the right side of the road.
"I want to remain an observer for now." Cameron said. "I don't want anyone to pay attention to us."
Young Allison thought it was a good move when it was time to take on the best.
"Your outfit might attract some attention, especially if anyone was at Buddy's earlier." Young Allison said.
Cameron already planned to take care of it.
"I'm going to switch back to my original outfit." Cameron said. "The one I currently have on will be a distraction."
In an instant Cameron was in the rear seat area.
Young Allison looked around to see if anyone paid any attention. It seemed all their attention was focused on the two contenders. When she turned around to check on Cameron she was already on her way back over the seat.
"That was really fast." Young Allison said.
Cameron readjusted her hair a little bit. She wanted to blend in a little better.
"It was exactly thirty three seconds." Cameron said. "Let's go up and take a look. Let your hair cover your face a little. We want to look like a couple of local girls. It's probably better if we don't say too much on our own but respond when appropriate."
Cameron knew most of the 'appropriate responses' were valid for the current time period. If nothing else they would get the message across.
Young Allison smiled at the thought.
"Later on we can show them how we do it in the big city." Young Allison said.
They went up to join the others as they looked over the two cars.
Cameron noticed something right away on the 32 Ford. She could see the exhaust ports were evenly spaced on the side of the head of the engine where the headers came down. She moved close to Young Allison and spoke softly.
"The Deuce Coupe doesn't have a small block Chevy." Cameron said. "He has a small block Ford."
Cameron looked over the setup on the engine. She could see right away it was going to be a challenge. She didn't believe the Corvette was going to stand a chance. The 55 Chevy certainly wouldn't have been a problem either.
"This is a heavily modified engine. I believe it's superior to the stock HiPo 289." Cameron said. "This is one of the original K code type engines. In the stock setup, it's capable of just over 300 horsepower. With dual quads it is even more. If it's been stroked and bored, it may be able to near the output of the fuel injected 327. With mechanical lifters, this engine should be able to turn at least 6000 RPM. It sounds as if it has an acceleration cam in it as well."
Young Allison heard the engine identified as a 260 by one of the onlookers. Another one of them said it was better than a 221.
Cameron and her exchanged a quick glance. Engines in the same 'family' were hard to distinguish externally from each other. Most of the changes occurred internally.
"Like you said before, our block is marked as a 352." Young Allison said. "It's easy for people to make a false assumption."
Cameron smiled. She indicated her sheath and chassis.
"Not everything on the inside is as it looks on the outside." Cameron said. "Even if it looks identical to something else, it can be something completely different."
Young Allison understood the comparison of Cameron as a cyborg to her as a human. If anyone looked at them, they looked like twins.
"Looks can be deceiving." Young Allison said.
Cameron glanced back at the Galaxie.
"Sometimes, it's the whole point." Cameron said. "One of us is a hard as nails killing machine. The other one is an even deadlier cyborg Terminator."
The drivers of the Deuce Coupe and the Corvette went over what the rules were. They were told what marked the quarter mile line, as well as what marked the half mile line. The race ended at the half mile marker. There would be observers at both locations. They would verify the outcome if there was a question.
There were three other females there. They all rode with other males in the other vehicles.
Cameron elected to drive up to where the half mile marker was at. She would be able to calculate the exact speed of both vehicles as they crossed the finish line.
They were instructed to park in the flat spot off of the road. Four of the other vehicles would be there as well. One of the other vehicles would remain at the start line to initiate the race, the other one would be at the quarter mile marker.
It was Showtime.
Any Better
It doesn't take too much
To make one's feelings scatter
It's a solemn reminder
About the things that matter
It's not always easy to tell
When another's motives are sinister
Maybe it all comes down
To what's in their character
Few would want to be a slave
If they could be the master
Either path seems to be
A road headed for disaster
One can be the creditor
Or they can be the debtor
Given the choice to be hunted
All would rather be the hunter
Filter out the nonsense
Avoid the useless chatter
With a new cast of players
Is anything ever really better
Nobody