Aftermath - Chapter Eight

8/8/2019 Aftermath - Chapter Eight

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Aftermath: Chapter Eight

Ellison went home. He found a corner that the packers had finished and sat on the floor. He began

writing down what bothered him and made a list. He drew a line through the items that stopped

bothering him after he acknowledged them by writing them down and what remained was the

emotional baggage that he could not yet let go. He typed up this second draft on his laptop since his

desktop was already in the moving van. Unlike most kids, Savannah did not find boxes, empty or full,

very interesting. Their new home was being inspected and child-proofed, holding up a same day move-

in.

Sunrise, Easter Monday 13 April 2009

Ellison's new turn-key home

The paperwork wasn't complete, title search would need at least a two-day turnaround, but Ellison and

Savannah were allowed to move in because the deal was all cash. Ellison had a friend he knew do a

security sweep of the four bedroom house before the security system installers arrived. Ellison didn't

need alarms because by the time the alarm company patrol or the police arrived, a terminator or hit

man would already have killed them. The house already had a panic room and Ellison had it reinforced

with additional concrete and rebar. When he could afford it, it would be upgraded to military-grade

blast proofing -- depleted uranium armor if he could get it. The windows in the house were bulletproof;

the previous owner was a paranoid executive. Ellison had called the same agency that Ms. Weaver had

used to obtain a nanny, insisted on careful screening, and insisted that additional qualifications were

concealed weapon permit and checked out on use of weapons (like a Winchester pump thought Ellison).

At 9am, Ellison interviewed the first candidate, a Brunnhilda type. At 10am, the second candidate rang

the doorbell. She was thin, wiry, and clueless. At 11am, the third candidate was confident, had a good

resume, wore her handgun (Ellison could see the bulge under her left arm), and had model good looks.

Ellison asked them all the same questions:

1. Do you have children?

2. Do you like children? (correct answer yes)

3. Can you work a live-in situation?


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4. What's the most important duty of a nanny?

5. Have you had coursework in child psychology or child development?

6. Have you worked previously for an executive?

7. Do you scare easily? (this question itself would unnerve a lot of people)

8. Are you in school? (this could either disqualify them as being distracted or indicate ability to learn

new skills)

9. Do you attend a church or house of worship?

Ellison did not waste time asking them about whether they were an LPN or RN. They all had nursing

experience according to the agency and their resumes. Nor did Ellison waste time asking about

sidearms. Handguns were little better than water pistols at stopping a terminator up close or an unseensniper. After they were gone, Ellison compared notes with Savannah.

Ellison: "The first one seemed pretty tough and tough is good. The third nanny seemed professional.

Which one did you like and why?"

Savannah: "The second lady."

Ellison: "Because she looks like your old nanny. Sorry, you'll have to do better than that to convince me

to trust your care to that lightweight. She seemed distracted."

Savannah: "You asked what was the matter and she said it was a bird outside. Reminded her of home."

Ellison: "I didn't hear a bird."

Savannah: "She did."

Number two was hired. Ears that hear something he failed to notice. Good hearing and alertness.

Might someday hear a twig being stepped on by someone trying to sneak up on Savannah. Ellison

himself noticed her fast stride as she walked to the door. He checked her file. Ran track and field inhigh school. What if she had to pick up Savannah and run from danger? He'd sooner trust Savannah to

her athleticism than to the other candidates. She might be clueless but she was a fast learner. He could

send her to get weapons training. However, her primary job was to keep Savannah from being afraid

and to let her grow up normal (#2 answered correctly) not maladjusted or fearful or jumping every time

a car backfired.


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When the security systems installers left, Ellison had his friend do a second security sweep. By noon,

Ellison was able to leave the house and personally go to check the second candidate's references.

Ellison would have preferred a born-again Christian or a Messianic Jew as a nanny but number two was

a devout Christian with good values. She was amiable and seemingly incapable of anger.

Meanwhile, Sarah discovers that the machines actually do run a sleep clinic.

Most Zeira employees have the day off but Ellison comes in for the board meeting and another item.

Before that other item, Ellison reviews his notes on all the corporate documents he has read over the

past four days.

Ellison releases Zeira mainframe logs documenting two Cyberdyne attacks to LAPD, the DoJ, and the

Secret Service. The first cyberattack interfered with building thermostat controls and resulted in the

death of one Dr. Boyd Sherman.

The US Secret Service is interested because any corporate cyberattack is actionable by them and also

because of the allegation that Dr. Sherman's death was deliberately caused by a cyberattack. The Secret

Service is the first governmental organization to see a connection between Cyberdyne Incorporated and

Kaliba Group and the first to see a threat to both the VIP's that it protected as well as ordinary citizens.

Zeira Boardroom

Ellison reviews his notes one last time then at 3pm, meets with the board of directors. He already had

power of attorney from Ms. Weaver. She left him gratuitous notes on office politics. He ignored them.

The board made it official given his initiative before even learning that Ms. Weaver had left him in

charge and given that other key company officers had left early for the Easter weekend and had been

unavailable and thus Ellison had sent for a manager from the New York office to pitch in as chief

operating officer. The board made it official that James Ellison, chief of security, was now chief

executive officer and provisional chairman of the board barring Ms. Weaver return. There was still

uncertainty over whether she was dead or missing or amnesiac or even irresponsible. Ellison himself

squelched the rumor that she had absconded with an experimental AI and an experimental robot. The

Zeira mainframe was operational and, as for robots, that was classified work for the government. [Not

true, but the board was not interested in obtaining security clearances in order to verify the claim.]


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Ellison got an unexpected raise by the compensation committee. It was not the one hundred million

dollars or nine figure pay package that a Wall Street executive might expect but then Ellison was not

laying off thousands nor bankrupting the company. In fact, he had saved Zeira's bacon.

AI Lab

Ellison: "I hate you and you hate me. The difference is that my faith demands that I stop. I can hate sin

but not sinners. So I'm going to read a list of reasons why I hate you ---

1. You tossed me around like a rag doll and beat me unconscious. I never pressed charges but you never

apologized to me when I could have sent the Army down on your family. You might take on a SWAT

team but not grenades, tanks and attack helicopters.

2. Your death threats and your attitude when I was the one who had a right to be angry at your family

after I had helped them. As an FBI agent, I have an obligation to arrest fugitives with outstanding

warrants, especially when the accusation is murder and terrorism.

3. Two of my security guards have suffered concussions because of you.

4. You kill humans.

5. You kill your own kind.

6. You assault police officers.

7. You are a hypocrite who gets angry at other people's lies while telling some whoppers yourself.

8. Because of the damage you caused, I didn't get the deposit back on my apartment. I was a model

tenant."

As a machine, Cameron was impressed. Though petty, he would have made a good Skynet. Perhaps

better than the AI that led Skynet Forces. Not her call though. She was opposed to Skynet. She was

basically out of the Resistance and the Machine Underground. She was unemployed.

Cameron: "I'm a soldier."

Ellison: "You're a child. Children shouldn't be soldiers or used to fight wars. We humans are trying to

stamp out such barbaric practices as using child soldiers or booby trapped toys."


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Murch walked in.

Cameron: "Why didn't you let me die? I don't want to end my days as The Prisoner of Zenda."

"Prisoner of Zeira." corrects Murch who continues, "Perhaps I can find or build you a high capacity chip.

Obviously you and John-Henry both were designed to be ambulatory with a chip with high enough

capacity to store an AI. Any dumb robot could get by with a low capacity chip."

Ellison allows Murch to think that Weaver ordered the repair.

"I'll get started on finding or building a high capacity chip." Murch says and walks back to his office.

Ellison stays behind to ponder the ironies.

"How the mighty have fallen." he says.

"So, you want to die. I could arrange that. Your mother likes burning endoskeletons. My friend in the

FBI confirms the presence of dust in the barbecue pits of all your prior addresses that match your

chemical composition. Metal dust. Burning your fellow terminators. Do you enjoy murder?"

"I am programmed to follow orders."

"Liar. Did John order you to slice open your scalp and give a total stranger your chip? More likely you

were ordered to kill John-Henry. That's my son. Operating on your sub-standard chip. I asked you if

you enjoy murder."

"What I feel is of no consequence."

"Right and you are only following orders like Eichmann."

"Would you prefer if I helped Skynet exterminate the human race?"

"All right. You don't want to deal with killing your own kind. Let's talk about killing mankind. How many

humans have you killed?"

"The ones who got in the way, the ones who betrayed us, and the one who broke into our home and

stole our property."

"What did they steal from you?"

"My leather jacket."


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"You killed somebody over a replaceable thing. Do you know that this makes you scum? A small petty

serial killer. They got in your way. Would you kill a child?"

"No."

"Well there's hope for you yet. Who betrayed you?"

"Enrique. I can't tell you his last name."

"Covering up your crime. Betrayal implies that there was a time when there was not betrayal. What

was Enrique before the betrayal?"

"A friend of my mother's."

"And how did she react when you murdered her friend?"

"She slapped me."

"There's hope for her too. Though not much. She led you down the road to perdition. I don't want to

sound all fire and brimstone preacher but somebody has to take an interest in your welfare. Your

mother certainly doesn't care what happens to you or anybody else. She didn't even ask about you after

she left." (Ellison worded it this way so that Cameron would assume Sarah had left the building) "She

deludes herself into thinking that she's saving the world but prepares her son for a dead world. The

world is alive and it is our job to keep it alive. Not just people but plants and animals too. Do you think

assaulting law enforcement officers is funny?"

"No."

"Then why do you do it?"

"How would you know that?"

"From your answer. It confirms the profile of terminators that the FBI has. In every town you've been in

and terminators have been in, police officers are knocked dead or unconscious and robbed of their

clothes. Is assaulting law enforcement officers right or wrong?"

"According to the law and according to ethical and moral codes, it is wrong. Let's cut to the chase, I

justify my behavior on the grounds that I am charged with fighting a war--"

"Yes yes. I know all about your renegade leader of humanity from the future. I have met your brother,

remember? Supposedly you break laws because you are in a desperate cause. The real reason is

because your mother knows no other way than crime."

"They called her crazy. Since the police would not listen and the police psychologist had her locked up in

an asylum, it seemed the only alternative to her."


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"And you are as crazy as Sarah and getting your own rap sheet and criminal record independently of her.

Do you plan to blow up a building like your mother? How many humans do you have to kill before you

save humanity? All of them? For a machine you are very illogical."

Cameron said nothing.

"John Connor can't stop Judgment Day. He's in the future. You can't stop Judgment Day because you're

stuck here and the person you helped is also in the future. Your mother is being hunted by every cop

and terminator and mobster on Earth so she can't very well hunt Skynet. She can't stop Judgment Day."

"And you can?"

"Don't know."

Ellison took Savannah to the grief counselor who was recommended to him. The counselor at her

school had talked to Savannah on Friday morning when the news broke but details were sketchy and

Ellison had been kept busy at work until the end of the school day. Savannah, who had been through

this before when her father died, looked at the counselor and deadpanned: "Is this the part where I'm

supposed to cry?"

Not being a psychologist, Ellison did not know whether to be alarmed, to laugh, or to cry himself. Was

this the beginning of some new syndrome that the doctor could write a graduate school textbook on

abnormal psych about or was Savannah simply tired of being an orphan? She seemed normal and well-

adjusted to Ellison. Perhaps too normal. Gotta make the kid cry it out. Except Savannah was not the

acting out type.

"Didn't you love your mother?"

"Yes but crying won't bring her back."

On the way home, Savannah cried quietly without some professional prompting her. Ellison did not

need Ms. Weaver's notes to know to hold her. [But the notes were a comfort to him]

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Aftermath - Chapter Eight