"I get hungry because I require food."

"Why? I didn't think machines needed to eat."

"You always refer to me as a machine. I'm a cyborg. Living tissue over a metal endoskeleton."

"Yes, I'm aware of what a cyborg is. They've been hunting my son and I for 17 years. What does this have to do with your new found appetite? The other cyborgs didn't eat."

"That's because they were T800s/T101s. They couldn't eat. They employed living skin and tissue like I do, but it was flawed. The power sources that run our CPUs and mechanical parts have control over the living tissues but do not provide the nutrients needed to sustain tissue life. The skin had a limited life span because it requires constant nourishment. Without it, the organic tissues starve and die. The only ones that had skin were those with specific missions that were only meant to last a short time. The skin would eventually begin to die and decompose, producing an odor not unlike that of a rotting human corpse. So the resistance learned to detect them based on their odor. The other problem was their injuries. If their skin covering was damaged, it remained damaged. It couldn't heal itself because it had no source of nutrients to allow cell growth. Obviously this was a problem that took the T800 from a reliable and sturdy combat chassis, and turned it into a maintenance nightmare. It wasn't a pressing matter, but it was just another limitation of their abilities."

This was perhaps the longest she had ever heard Cameron speak in the months since she had first entered their lives. So Sarah figured she should do what she always does in these situations. Act unimpressed.
"So you've just now decided to let me know about this?"

"Our drinks are here and we need to order our food" Cameron replied.

She then looked at the waitress and said "I'll have the Lasagna" and then to Sarah "what about you mom?"

Sarah hadn't bothered to look at the menu but immediately settled for the lasagna and told the waitress "make it two" and handed the waitress her menu.

Then as if someone flipped a switch in Cameron's head she blurted out "are you sure you want to eat that much mom? You've put on two pounds this past week. You didn't bring your toothbrush to gag on in the bathroom either."

The waitress could barely contain herself at that point. A girl like that is definitely the poster child for abstinence. I really feel sorry for her mother. She thought.

Sarah was ready for it this time and responded in kind. "Don't you worry sweetie, 2 pounds won't stop your boyfriends from hitting on me, maybe they'd pay more attention to you if you would smile more often. Or maybe you should ask your father to get you a gift card for the plastic surgeon so you can get your boob job."

Cameron looked confused, and the waitress eased herself from what she perceived to be a rather delicate situation. Sarah felt gratified that she won this small victory against "them" ... the machines. She asked Cameron to continue her explanation about the food.

Cameron, still pondering Sarah's prior comment about boyfriends became alert and proceeded to answer her question as if they had never been interrupted to order.
"I never said anything because you have never asked. You simply assumed. Most of the opinions you and John have formulated with regard to me are based on your very brief encounters you two had with older models years ago. We have advanced quite a bit since then. Funny how you two have not."

It had been less then a minute since they ordered their and Cameron started started her scathing commentary on the stunted development of the Connors. Sarah had already finished most of her drink which is unusual since she wasn't much on consuming alcohol. Cameron suggested she order it since she knew alcohol had a calming effect on humans which was one of its many traits. Sarah was surprisingly calm considering she wasn't sure if the robot had just insulted her or not. She decided to go so far as to maintain their dialogue since it would look less suspicious as opposed to them just silently staring at one another. So she said "anything else you'd like to tell me?"

Cameron sat motionless for one or two seconds and then replied "yes, there's more I want to tell you, but I'm not sure of what you'd like to know. Perhaps it would work better if you ask questions and I answer them."

Sarah thought she only had one question that she wanted answered. Little did she realize that after she received an answer to that question, there would be countless more. She downed the rest of her drink and asked Cameron "why didn't you kill John after he reinserted your chip?"

"I rebooted, he handed me the pistol, I was going to empty it in his skull, and then I just changed my mind and decided not to."