Intelligence unit

40,000 feet above Arizona, an aircraft with forward-swept wings 300 feet in span circled. Its designation was S1S-S (Supersonic 1st Strike- Strategic), and it was one of the oldest craft in Skynet's arsenal- so old that it had been designed and built by men instead of machinery. Powered by a nuclear reactor and propelled by ram jets, it had cruised for decades above the Earth. It bore no more bombs, for Skynet had long since judged it obsolete, simply because there was no target on Earth big enough to warrant its attention. So now it provided in-flight repairs and resupply to other air craft, and also served as an intelligence asset. As it flew at five times the speed of sound, its sensors mapped every detail of the surface below- and much that was below the surface. Occasionally, it detected something of interest, and other units acted instantly. HKAs would descend on a convoy or camp. Ground units would converge on a human hiding place. Now and then, an S1S-Tactical would blast an especially large or fortified target. But all of these were mere footnotes to the S1S-S, which kept its sensors and core programs alert for its primary target. Finally, just south of the Utah border, it found it. On the surface, what appeared to be an old man on a motor cycle with a small dog in the side car turned north for a town once known as Colorado City.

Colorado City was the pr-war center of the FLDS, Mormons who continued the practice of polygamy. In the aftermath of Judgment Day, a self-declared prophet called "Uncle Zack" took control of Colorado City, which he dubbed Zion, and established unified theocratic control over neighboring FLDS communities. The top priority of his regime was to prepare for either a final siege of Zion by the armies of Satan or the glorious reconquest of a cleansed Earth. To this end, he admitted hordes of refugees, mainly from the destroyed cities of Utah and from Flagstaff, which had been destroyed not by nuclear weapons but by the sudden reactivation of the San Francisco volcanic field. He also made peace with exiles from previous regimes, which included Harlan Jeffries, the leader of the Hellraiders. He cannily made sure that the people of Zion were spread out and dug in. Skynet surveillance, already frustrated by clouds of volcanic ash, had so far failed to locate any target worth hitting with tactical or strategic assets.

Zion's greatest asset was its "floating market", where the Faithful, the newcomers and outsiders could trade for goods, services and information. About once a month, the market was assembled somewhere near Zion, with the Hellraiders providing protection for the market and traffic to it. The perimeter was a ring of armed trucks, and the entrance was a barricade covered by a 106 mm anti-tank gun, guards with grenade launchers and three dogs of uncertain pedigree. As the old man on the motorcycle approached, the dogs began to bark. The dog in the sidecar barked back, soon squirming free of the sidecar and advancing toward the larger challengers. The guards pulled back their dogs. The captain looked the old man over, but as soon as he saw the crude scrap-metal prosthetic that had replaced his right leg, he waved the newcomer through.

The old man dismounted, and walked his dog around the central common area, where humans ate, drank and talked around a cluster of burning trash cans. In his conversations, he asked few questions, but listened attentively to every answer. Questions from others received short, vague answers, consistently worded to affirm whatever the questioner wanted to confirm. In this way, IX101B was able to gather much information, without the humans realizing how much they revealed or how little they were told in turn.

A redheaded woman and a boy of six or seven talked longer to the old man than most. He introduced himself as Chuck Jones. She told him that her name was Kate Brewster, and her son was Jonathan. The boy paid more attention to the dog, at first only looking at it shyly, then whistling to it and holding out a scrap of food. The dog waddled forward hesitantly, finally taking the food, but backed up with a growl when the boy tried to pet it. The old man moved on, but the woman followed, continuing the conversation. Her steps muffled the sound of the boy running for the perimeter.

"So, you came up from Sedona?" Kate asked.

Chuck nodded, frowning. "Yes. I saw the mushroom cloud behind me two hours after I left. I'm hoping to get myself checked out for radiation exposure."

Kate smiled, and Chuck blushed slightly. "I'll give you the good news, then: That wasn't an atom bomb, it was a plasma blast. I've heard Skynet is refitting all its bombers with some kind of heavy energy weapon. They produce a blast as big as a tactical nuke's, but no radiation."

"That's a relief," Chuck said. Just then, another woman called to Kate, who apologetically stepped aside. The old man glanced after the women, and the dog turned to follow them. At that moment, a .50 caliber round hit him in the temple. He fell, with the fractured bone of his skull revealed. The dog raced for the women at blinding speed, but Kate fired a grenade that blew it in half in a shower of sparks and circuitry. Two men rushed for Chuck, one bearing a Barret .50 and the other a repeating 40 mm grenade launcher. The fallen unit was suddenly sitting up, and his cane released a beam that cut the man with the grenade launcher in two. Kate reloaded her stockless grenade launcher and shot Chuck in the chest. His upper torso shattered, and his head flew off.

Remaining battery power kept the IX101B's head running long enough to record conversation as the human units closed in.

"-Knew what they were?"

"My son did. It was the dog that gave them away. The ears didn't move."

"Is it still online?"

"No." This last speaker lifted up IX101B's head. The flickering input of his dying sensors showed a dark-haired, vaguely eastern woman. A finger lightly touched the base of his skull, and all function ceased.

Kate Connor, nee Katherine Brewster, spoke: "You deserve at least half the credit, and, of course, you have the trophy anyway. What's your asking price for that head?"

"Only a meeting with John Connor," said IX202C.

The conversation continued, with plenty of contributions from the dark-haired woman who identified herself as Cassie. Behind the brown eyes, human interaction subroutines provided banter virtually by rote, while IX202C's considerable processing power focused on her long-term goals.

Three weeks ago, Skynet had placed her on standby for an IX specimen calculated to interest the Resistance sufficiently to reach John Connor. Instead, one of Skynet's own units had destroyed the specimen. She had judged that Skynet was no longer reliable or trustworthy, and cut off her uplink to its defense grid.

Now she had achieved for herself what Skynet should have arranged weeks ago. But since Skynet was an unworthy master, she would not kill John Connor. She would make him take her as his mate. Then, with his help if possible, or without him if necessary, she would rule humans and machines alike, and destroy any that refused to become her subjects.

But first, she would have to dispose of Katherine Connor...