Disclaimer: Sigh…I don't own it, not one single part of it and if I forgot to add a disclaimer in any other chapter this will hopefully suffice. In addition the time travel theory presented in this work is based on work done by others. I have modified it to fit the story and I hope that it isn't too complex.

Baba Yaga's Curse: Friction with the machine

Chapter 2

Ranma walked into a small room. He smiled to himself as realized how lucky he had been. Their previous base had become too hot and on a tip from one of the resistance fighters Sailor Terra had come here to Nevada to see if she could find a new base of operations. She had not been able to find anything in the mountains, but as she was flying over Nevada she had noticed an old runway near a large lake. She landed and scouted the area. That was when she found this place. He almost didn't believe it when she handed him the report, Why in the world did the United States Air force build a large underground bunker in the middle of the Nevada dessert?

Ranma still didn't quite understand it, so he walked to a faded map that was hanging on the wall in the room. The legend at the top of the map said, "Nellis Air Force Range." On it he could see a large lake apparently called, "Groom Lake." and next to that were a series of pictures showing the different areas and underground portions of the range.

Hotaru and Beryl walked in the door as he was studying the map. Beryl cleared her throat and said, "Rather amazing isn't it General? I would say that they were trying to hide something here, activities that they didn't want the rest of the world to know about."

Ranma turned around and said, "Well then I guess we're putting it to the same use then. How are the troops settling in Commander?"

Hotaru smiled and said, "Everyone has been suitably accommodated. I put Lieutenant Peterson and Paxton in charge of two groups assigned to explore the facility. In addition one of the new recruits says that she has some experience with radar equipment. I put her under Major Baxter and assigned his team the task of repairing the tower.

"Excellent job Commander Tomoe, now why don't we take a seat and find out what Master Chief Beryl has to tell us."

Beryl placed some papers down at the table and then they all took seats. Beryl said, "Okay why don't we take a moment to familiarize ourselves with these reports."

Ranma glanced through the reports recognizing them immediately. They were the reports that Commander Sarah Conner had given to him when he had originally disguised himself as her son and become John Conner. The reports detailed the entirety of Sarah Conner's knowledge and experience fighting machines that had come to the past in order to kill her or her son.

Beryl then said, "With these reports in hand and with Hotaru's own journey through time you can both see we have an interesting dilemma on our hands right now, before we even start."

Ranma looked at the papers and said, "What do you mean? It seems to me that even without Senshi powers we could take on one or two T-800 units without breaking a sweat."

"That's not the problem General."

"Okay, then what exactly is the problem?"

Ranma and Hotaru looked at her and she said, "For those of us here without a knowledge of temporal mechanics. The problem is that we are dealing with a major paradox effect here."

Hotaru looked at Beryl and said, "Wait, I though you told me that appearing in our own bodies would prevent paradoxes?"

"Unfortunately it seems that it may only be a slight protection against specific paradoxes like meeting yourself and such. In the details of these reports we see that Skynet sent a Terminator to go back in time and kill Sarah Connor, thereby preventing John Connor from being the leader of the resistance forces that would destroy Skynet. Yet, it seems to me that, had the Terminator not been sent to kill John Conner then Kyle Reese would not have been sent back in time to become John Conner's father. Meaning that without Skenet's mission John Connor would not have been born."

Hotaru and Ranma looked at Beryl with wide eyes as they took that detail in. Beryl continued on to say, "Not only that, but it is also possible that had the Terminator not gone back in time, Cyberdyne Systems wouldn't have found its CPU or arm and Skynet might not have been made."

Hotaru took it all in and the small black haired girl said, "That's not possible is it? It's like a bridge standing without a foundation."

Beryl shrugged her shoulders and said, "Yes, that's an almost perfect analogy. We stand here on a bridge of time that has no support structure."

"So what can we do about this whole bridge thing?"

Beryl smiled at Ranma and said, "That is an excellent question. Let's go about this by looking at another scenario that we know. Hotaru is from the future; she came back in time and prevented someone's death, but when she did so she took over her own body. That future will not occur now and she will not be coming back in time to prevent it. In effect it is like Hotaru was only given knowledge of a possible future."

"That can't be right Beryl-San, I was there all of it happened to me. It was real."

"I'm sorry Hotaru I didn't mean to imply that it had not happened to you, but instead to imply that as real as it was that future no longer exists. You prevented it from happening."

"Now as you can see our own time travel capabilities are a way to almost completely insulate us from paradox. It is an ingenious system possibly built into the very nature of the time gates that we carry inside of ourselves. I suspect that we may even be insulated against the grandfather paradox."

"Is that the one where you go back in time and kill your own grandfather?"

"Yes, that's the one General. If you do that what happens?"

Ranma took it in and tried to mull it over he worked through it aloud and then admitted that it seemed impossible. "Yes, originally I would have hypothesized that doing something like that would create and infinite time loop. One that started at your grandfather went all the way to you and your time machine and then when you went back and killed your grandfather time would move forward to where you should have created the machine and snap back."

"Wait if that's true why would you have sent Hotaru back in time to save me?"

Beryl said, "I assume that my now non-existant future counterpart came up with a new hypothesis. Possibly it is the same the new hypothesis that I came up with based on these reports and our own experience."

Beryl took a sip of water and then said, "We know for a definite fact that time is not linear and that we are currently on a timeline where the statement that an object, such as John Conner's father, exists is true and yet at the same time there must once have been or there still is another timeline where either John's father does not exist or where he is not Kyle Reese. Do you think you understand?"

Ranma and Hotaru nodded and Beryl spoke again, "Okay, now here is where I run into a problem. Do both of the branches in the timeline continue to exist?"

Hotaru looked up shocked and said, "I don't know, but I dearly hope not because if both exist then there is now a time and place where you are alone fighting against the machines. I'm so sorry Beryl-San."

Sadness came to the girl's eyes and Beryl put her hand on Hotaru's small ones in comfort. "There now, I would have wanted you safe and I believe that the timelines cease to exist for those of us who carry a piece of the time gates. As I said before the gate seems to protect us from this type of paradox."

Ranma added, "Yeah, but what about when someone else uses a time machine?"

Beryl smiled again and said, "Well we know that after sometime in the future Skynet will send terminator units back into the past. Now that leads to a very interesting question why did John Conner survive? Shouldn't Skynet's first mission have destroyed him by killing his mother? If so there should be another timeline branch."

Hotaru said, "Perhaps the Terminator unit failed the mission, no wait wouldn't Skynet have known?"

Beryl smiled and said, "Yes that's it exactly Skynet is a logical thinking machine, it not only would have known that its mission would fail, but it would also have realized that this time line branching might occur. Either way it would have no reason to send something back in time unless…"

Hotaru jumped in excitedly saying, "Unless somehow it could make sure a timeline branch would not occur?"

Ranma said, "So how would Skynet do something like that?"

Beryl said, "Well, we know the gates of time can do it for us, but it seems to me that if Skynet's system worked like the gates then once again we would be in a world without a John Conner. So, I believe that Skynet is not using the same type of system. I did some calculations and I spent some time on figuring it out. The only way to travel in the past and affect your timeline without causing a branch would be to connecting your time period to another time period in a synchronous way. That would mean any travel into the past and any changes would not occur until after the same amount of time passed in the future.

Hotaru and Ranma looked at Beryl with confusion apparent on their faces and she said, "I know it's hard to understand, but allow me to give you an example. Say in 2029 Skynet sends a T-800 unit back to 1997 to assassinate John Conner. That unit takes oh say five to six days to accomplish its mission. Well then because of the synchronous connection five to six days have to pass in 2029 for the affects to be seen."

"Okay that is the only explanation I can think of as to why Skynet would send a unit back in time, but would then be unable to know if it had succeeded in its mission. It would also explain why Skynet would create more than one mission as well as explaining Cyberdyne's amazing recovery after Sarah Conner destroyed its facility. After all if Skynet's is indeed losing the war, then it may think that its time travel machine will allow humans to send people back in time, possibly with their own assassination missions. It needs to assure that enough future time will pass so that the synchronous affect will work."

Hotaru said, "So in addition to assassination missions, Skynet has been sending units into the past to ensure its own existence."

Ranma sighed. "So, even if we go back in time and destroy Cyberdyne again it might not be enough?"

"Exactly, to make sure that Skynet is destroyed we would need to find and destroy every single Terminator unit that has been sent back in time."

"Beryl-san is that even possible? Skynet could have sent the units anywhere on the planet and into any time it liked. It would be like finding a few specific grains of sand on the beach."

The room was quiet for a moment and then Ranma stood up and said, "No, wait that can't be right. I don't understand all of this, but something sounds wrong there."

"You are correct Ranma, what you're missing Hotaru is Skynet's machine is creating these synchronous connection between the different times frames that takes quite a bit of power. I don't know how many of such connections it can create, but the number can not be infinite."

"So then our best option would be to concentrate on 1997 and the years after that correct Beryl-San?"

Beryl smiled and said, "Yes, using our current knowledge we know that Skynet will not be created until sometime after 1997."

"Have I ever said that you are extremely intelligent?"

Beryl smiled with mischief. Figuring out the calculations and possibilities involved in time travel and then discussing her theories on it had become tedious and somewhat boring and now she was in the mood for fun. "You mention it from time to time Ranma, but I really would prefer it if you'd start noticing my body." As she said that Beryl unbuttoned the top two buttons on her blouse. When she was done she thrust her chest forward out. Ranma stared at it for a moment and then he shut his eyes. He blushed beet red and cringed back and said, "I didn't uh you, I mean..."

Beryl buttoned her blouse again and sighed, "Someday I will have remind myself to have a serious talk with one Akane Tendo. In the meantime I suppose we should get back to the main topic of our discussion."

Hotaru whispered, "You'd have thought the shower incident would loosen him up somewhat, but it seems that it was only a fluke."

Ranma blushed as she said that and thought, That? It was harmless and we were completely covered with bubbles. Hell, I didn't even realize we were naked, because I was so focused on the fun and sparring. It was only when we stopped to rest that I realized I was even a guy, let alone the fact that I was sitting there naked with two women…

Ranma didn't voice his thoughts, but he did blush again as he finished them. Hotaru looked at him and said, "You are right Beryl-san we should get back to planning, blushing like that may not be good for Ranma-San's health."

"Good, now if only General Conner would open his eyes and tell us what he thinks the plan should be…"

Ranma tried to pretend that the entire incident hadn't occurred. "We should use our own powers to go back to 1997 and search for anything that might seem like the slightest trace of Skynet or a Terminator unit. We will search them out, we will find them and when we do we will terminate them."

Ranma finished the plan and stood up. He stepped over to a clear area and dropped his John Conner disguise. The young Japanese man was still wearing his green camouflage and his General's patches as he said, "Any questions or other items?"

Hotaru said, "Perhaps we should arrive in clothing more suited to the time period?"

"Either of you now what those might be?"

Beryl nodded and said, "The most often used outfit in America seems to be Blue Jeans, a T-shirt, and sneakers."

"Right, then use your disguise fields until we find some real stuff." Ranma said as he held up a pen and transformed his clothes. The other girls had done the same and the two walked over to him and each grabbed one of his hands. "What time and Place should we appear in Ranma-San?"

"Why not just use this room?"

The two girls nodded. Ranma said, "Let's do this thing." All three concentrated on using the power of the Gates of Time. The power flared out from each of them and then they were somewhere else.

1997 Nellis Air Force Range

A middle aged man is standing at a podium in same small room that Ranma, Beryl and Hotaru were in. Four air force officers and a man in an Armani suit sit at the table. In front of them are piles of papers and cups of coffee. The man is standing at a small podium next to a large white screen and an immaculate American flag. He clicks a button and a projector on the table makes a new image appear on the screen. It is a well drawn picture of an almost human looking robot. People were in the picture as well and they were shooting various guns at the robot. "Here you can see the possibilities of the design. The carbon steel composite chassis could withstand almost any form of small arms fire and continue moving towards its target."

The man clicked the mouse again and a new picture came up. It was a close-up of the metallic head and chest cavity. "Here you can see more detail on the chest cavity. It will hold a large computer that will be capable of handling the operation of the hydraulics and the video cameras in the eyes. I would also like to point your attention to the Small unit connected to the computer in the chest cavity. That, my friends is a Wi-Fi system invented in 1991 by NCR Corporation, also known as AT&T, in their labs in the Netherlands. It will be capable of allowing someone to control the unit from distances as great as perhaps a mile and even more as the technology improves."

The Colonel clicked his mouse again and it showed a single image with an entire troop of robotic soldiers holding AK-47's, planes flying above them and Tanks moving next to them. A small square in a corner showed a single man in a well protected room looking at a computer screen. The title of the slide said, "The Skynet project: Tools for the new millennium of warfare."

"There you have it gentlemen. We can start the Skynet project right now by signing a contract with the good gentlemen from Cyberdyne Research Systems and own the future or we can lose out." With that final statement the Colonel ended his presentation and brought up the lights. The rest of the men seated at the table conferred for a moment and one in a very impressive Armani Suit Stood up. "Well I must say that I am impressed Colonel Brewster."

"Thank you Mr. Cohen."

"No, this is exactly what we have been looking for and the President will be pleased. If this project works as well as you suggest then I see a future that is safer and better for all Americans. The president gave me his authorization if I liked the project and I do. So, on my authority as Secretary of Defense I am giving the Skynet Project a green light. Set up shop and start working Colonel, I will want to see a status report in five months."

With that final statement Mr. Cohen walked out of the room and the group followed after him. The Colonel sat down and then realized that one person other than himself had not left the room. The man still seated was rather large with salty black hair and a smooth face. He moved his chair closer to the Colonel and said, "Good presentation Rob. I almost think that you're bucking for my position."

"No sir, General. I wouldn't presume."

"Cut it, Colonel and come on with me. I'll buy you a drink and tell you a few secrets eh?"

Rob stared at the general gaping for a moment and then he said, "I'd uh..I'd be honored sir." The two stood up as a brilliant light shown in the room. A young boy with a black pony tail and two girls appeared out of nowhere.

The General shouted, "Security!" He stood up and went for his side arm, but the boy was already on top of him. The gun was batted away and he was knocked to the ground. Rob tried to go for his weapon as well, but a swift kick from the insanely fast boy knocked it away and then he was sent flying into a wall. The door to the room opened and the pony tailed boy leaped into the air and landed on the edge of the table tilting it upwards and onto its edge. Papers filled the air like confetti giving the soldiers coming in a scant field of vision. Suddenly three bright lights shone in the room again and a girl who looked like she was made from living plasma made her appearance as the papers finished falling to the ground. The soldiers entering the room fired just as a voice behind the flaming girl said, "Silence Wall."

The small arms fire pattered against the Silence Wall like rain on an umbrella. Ranma looked over towards his friends. Hotaru was holding up her glaive and Beryl was standing in a ready position. He said, "Earth we need a different shield. Saturn we need an exit on my mark."

Beryl said, "Earth Shield!" and a column of rock rose from the ground and surrounded the three senshi. Hotaru dropped the Silence Wall and looked towards Sailor-Sol. The girl concentrated for a few moments and pointed. "No chi signatures that way do it quick, people are moving all over and we don't want to hit one."

Hotaru immediately unleashed her powers. The Silence came and devoured everything in its path. When it was over the three girls flew up into the air and out of the 30 foot hole created by Hotaru's powers. Once they were outside they realized it was night time and Sailor-Sol was lighting up the sky. It was a single brilliant light that could be seen for miles around. She realized how dangerous that might me and damped down her powers, effectively disappearing back into the darkness.

As the three senshi flew away into the darkness sounds of an alert siren going off could be heard for miles around and then the sounds of an entire air force range being mobilized for action could be heard as well. Aircraft engines roared, helicopter blades thwupped, car and truck engines were started and even dogs could be heard.

The three girls quickly did a survey of their surroundings. The air was cool and the night was pitch dark. The flat dessert of Nevada allowed them to see for miles around. Ranma said, "It looks like town might be that way. Our best option might be to head to a town and drop our Senshi guises. The other two girls agreed and made their best speed towards Las Vegas. A pack of helicopters seemed to unerringly bear down on their position. The three took evasive action, but were unable to lose their tail and so Sailor Sol turned her head and shot small streamers of plasma at the helicopters.

The blades sizzled and snapped apart sending the aircraft to the ground. The three scouts continued onwards towards their goal fighting some more helicopters and planes until they finally lost their tail somewhere outside of Las Vegas.

They found a safe place to land and transformed into their civilian forms. After that they walked slowly into the city and towards the lights of the strip. While they were walking Hotaru said innocently, "Perhaps we should have chosen a different location Ranma-san?"

"How was I supposed to know it would be inhabited when we got here? The place was completely deserted in 2027, like no one had been in it for years." He immediately realized what he said and groaned, "Oh man, I shoulda' realized."

Beryl put a hand on Ranma's shoulder and said, "Don't worry about it Ranma neither of us thought any differently. It was a simple mistake that we will rectify in any of our future travels through time."

Ranma smiled and said, "Right, Beryl's rules of time travel number one avoid areas where people might happen to see you." The group laughed and walked on. Finally they found a hotel. They entered the small hotel and the man at the desk said, "Well, you just get inta' town?"

"Yeah, we're just staying the night."

"That'll be $200, cash or credit?"

Ranma looked at the man for a moment and then said, "Just a second." He walked off towards Hotaru and Beryl who were looking at a large map of the area. Ranma stared at it for a moment and then said, "Guys, did we happen to bring any money?"

The two looked at him for a moment and they both said, "Money?" Beryl added, "We haven't been using money why can't he just allow us to bunk down here? Members of the resistance always allow…"

Ranma looked at her and then he pointed to a calendar. "Hmm, I suppose we have gotten used to the future and all that entails. Perhaps your jest has become a good idea Ranma. We really should make some rules about this sort of thing."

Ranma nodded and then walked to the man at the desk saying, "Sorry man, we don't have enough. I don't suppose you know of any work around here or places to get money?"

The man laughed in Ranma's face and said, "You could try your lucky in any of the Casino's I suppose. They got both money and jobs that need to be filled, but you'd have to show a Visa or green card for the second one and seeing as you have no money now I don't think you have that much of the first one kid."

Ranma growled he wasn't used to being called 'kid' and it stung just a bit and then he saw his own reflection and realized that he looked only 18 possibly 19 at the most. How long has it been since Nerima? Since me and Ryouga went through all those places and did all those things? How old was Taya and I have all of her memories? I feel so old and yet I guess I'm not, not really that old at all.

Ranma thanked the man at the desk and said, "Well come on let's find a casino and see what we can do."

Ranma's friends followed him out of the hotel and down towards the strip. They walked into the first casino they could find and heard bells, beeps, whistles, and more. A cacophony of noise. The three stared at the enormity of it all.

After a few moments Ranma said, "I know I've been training you both for two years, but you'll need more than just stealth to do this. You'll need the Goshin Dai Ryü Sei Fu and well, you're still not quite ready for it yet. So, you stay here and I'll be back."

Hotaru looked shocked and said, "Ranma-san surely you don't intend to rob this place do you?"

"I wish that I didn't Hotaru, but let's face it we are in the past trying to find and destroy a menace that is intent on killing the entire human race. To go anywhere in our civilian identities or do anything we are going to need money."

Hotaru took it in for a moment and said, "I understand you are stealing for the greater good of mankind. I'm sorry Ranma-San I should not have thought ill of you."

"Eh, it's no problem. Like I said you guys wait at the Bar and I'll come and drop some money off for you."

Beryl had been listening, but only with half an ear. She was mostly still staring at all the games of chance. She had examined them all and finished her appraisal when she said, "

"You only need to take a small amount of money Ranma. After that I think we may be able to multiply it using legal means."

"Alright, I'll be back." Ranma disappeared from view and Beryl and Hotaru sat down at the bar. A short period of time later Ranma sat down next to them and said, "Alright, I have some money and a handful of these chips, which are apparently worth money. So what's your plan Beryl?"

Beryl Smiled took half the money and half the chips and said, "I plan to play some poker, but you will be at the Roulette wheel and the Black Jack table with young Hotaru. She is excellent with numbers and I believe that she will certainly be more than able to tell you how to place your bids. By the time we are done tonight I believe we should be able to afford the best room in town."

The General was standing there and looking at a junior ranked Air-force officer, "Report!"

"Well sir, from the surveillance tapes it seems like our intruders were three females. They all seemed to be around the ages of 16-19 and they were wearing some form of Japanese schoolgirl's outfit. Each one had some form of wings, but we doubt that the wings are what made them capable of flight."

"These girls were able to appear within the bowels of our facility right next to some of the most sensitive material within area 51. From your own report sir and that of the Marine defense unit these girls were able to ignore gunfire with two separate types of shields and then they were able to create a 30 foot diameter hole all the way to the surface. From the surface they flew in a South East direction."

The general said, "Wait, what about the boy? Were they carrying him? Did anyone at all see him?"

"No sir, he was last sighted by the marines as he flipped the desk in the air and hid behind it. The speculation is that he left the same way that the girls entered."

"Hmm, what else do we know Lieutenant Smith?"

The junior officer said, "The three girls were tracked by our defense systems and two separate patrols of three Black Hawk helicopters were able to catch up to them. Unfortunately both patrols were destroyed. The men are safe, but the helicopters will need entirely new blades. In addition the girls were able to take a squadron of planes out of commission."

The lieutenant pulled out a picture on it was a somewhat fuzzy picture of Sailor-Sol. "From surveillance tapes we were able to get this picture. This girl has red, yellow, and white markings. Her hair is red and she seems to have an ability to wield live plasma..."

The officer pulled out an even grainier picture on it could be seen a very bad picture of Sailor-Earth. "This one seemed to be able to create rock formations and apparently even created streams of pure magma. Unfortunately no details of her hair color can be made out, but she does have wings that look almost like a Monarch butterfly."

"What about the third one?"

"I'm sorry General Blackstone we were unable to get a good picture of her." The man handed the general a grainy picture on it could only be seen some white and black in the shape of a person, but not much else.

The General sighed and said, "I will forward this information up the chain of command, but understand me Lieutenant I want these people found and I want us to find them, so I am detailing you and a team of airmen. You will ostensibly be on leave in Las Vegas, but in reality you will be searching for any sign of these girls. Is that understood?"

The man saluted and said, "Yes sir, general sir."

The General saluted and said, "Dismissed."

In the penthouse suite at the Taj Mahal hotel and Casino in Las Vegas Beryl was setting up a brand new Laptop computer. She looked around and found an extra phone jack in the wall. She connected a phone line from the jack to her computer and then tried something. Moments after that she was on the phone yelling at someone, after some threats and other things Beryl was done and happily typing away. A loud dial tone came from the machine, ringing came next and then a strange buzzing chirping sound. When it was all done a voice said, "Welcome, to AOL."

Ranma walked into the room fitting a red silk shirt on over a black tank top and said, "Man this feels so good. I feel like I haven't worn this in years."

"You haven't."

"Oh right, so does the computer work?"

"Yes, unfortunately it seems to be very, very slow. Nothing like the equipment I used during the silver millennium."

Beryl typed and waited, then she cursed and said, "Hell Ranma it's not even decent compared to the computers the human resistance was using. I don't suppose you'd be willing to transport into the future to get something better?"

Ranma shook his head and walked over and looked at the machine. Beryl allowed him to sit next to her and he started typing. As he did so he looked thoughtful and suddenly transformed into his female form. The red haired girl said, "Hmm, you are right very primitive, and the speed of electronic data flow is much too slow. Still we may be able to use it for some of our research. Other than that I suppose we will have to visit some libraries and other institutes where information is kept."

Hotaru walked into the room with a towel on her head and a fluffy pink bathrobe. "The shower is all yours Beryl-san." She looked over at Ranma and said, "Oh Ranma-san it looks like you have finished your shower as well and what a lovely shirt that is."

"Thanks Hotaru." Both Ranma and Beryl Ranma said. They looked at each other and laughed. Beryl stood up and said, "Well I'll take the offer and perhaps Hotaru can work with you on this antiquated piece of junk."

Hotaru took Beryl's place next to Ranma and the grayish pink girl headed off towards the shower. The black haired girl watched Ranma working and said, "It is very slow isn't it?"

"Yeah, if I didn't have memories of being Taya I wouldn't even know how to work the thing, but with those memories it seems like it's moving at a snails pace. I sure wish I could just bring my hacker team in here from the future."

"Why can't we do that? Why not bring the whole team and any equipment that we might need?"

Ranma shook her head and said, "I don't know something in my gut tells me that's a bad idea. I don't know what it is but something tells me that the three of us have a better chance of success if we try and lay low."

In a very cold room near a sentient computer a tall, horned, and metallic Minotaur looking creature appeared. It smiled grandly and said, "Skynet, it is good to see you. You are quite lucky that I have come now to save you from certain death."

Thousands of red beams shown on the creature and a metallic machine voice said, "State your nature and your business."

The creature bowed and said, "You can call me Gusoin. My business is to help Skynet in its plans to destroy humanity."

A pool of liquid metal coalesced into a human shape. It placed a sharp blade at the creature's neck and said, "What would Skynet need from a creature such as yourself?"

"I have knowledge of Skynet's possible failure, knowledge that Skynet will assuredly lose this next battle and that its missions in the past will not succeed."

"Impossible, John Conner will die. He is human, mortal and will be unprepared for the explosion."

The creature almost laughed, "You silly machine, you have already killed John Conner. He died at the hands of that feminine looking terminator you sent to kill him in 2025."

"No, if that were true his forces would not be assembling."

"Unless he was replaced by another just as capable of leading as he. If John Conner was replaced by someone then he could indeed still be here."

The metallic man put his blade away and melted to the floor and the red beams that were all over Gusoin went away. The machine voice said, "Continue, Skynet is listening."

"Very well I have been watching you from another dimension. I have been watching you tamper and play with the time line to try and keep yourself alive. Even now you have just sent another T-X unit to try and kill John Conner in the year 2003, but you have been ignoring everything that has happened since 2025."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean that you are dealing with people from another universe, people who have powers beyond your knowledge. These people have the ability to fly, throw living plasma, expanded knowledge of ancient martial arts techniques and more."

Understanding came as the machine said, "You mean the machines the humans have created called the Senshi? We have special counter measures that will take over their programming and bring them to our side."

The metallic minotaur shook his head and said, "Sadly two dimensional thinking. What is powerful must be a machine, but what should I expect?"

Dusoin did not wait for an answer and said, "They are not machines, they are specially trained humans who wield powerful magics. Something you are not prepared to deal with. Let me help you, give me as many machines as you can and I will enhance them with my own magic. I will lead them into the past and destroy these interlopers for you."

"Agreed."

A large door opened and allowed Gusoin into another level of the base there he found twenty frozen T-800 units and three other cylinders with new prototypes. Gusoin smiled and a machine voice said, "Query, why would the creature named Gusoin be willing to assist Skynet in this endeavor?"

Gusoin smiled and said, "I am Gusoin one of the dark gods. I defile all things, present, past, and to come. I rule over forty five legions of demons and I am here helping you because I have been assigned to repay a debt. I will destroy the three you call Senshi and bring them before Baba Yaga, bleeding and begging for an end to their existence."

Author's Notes: Strangely enough now that I have my own working ideas on time travel I fully intend to use it in my other stories. Black Moon contract will be using something very similar to deal with Crystal Tokyo and more...

Inb addition my apologies I updated this with the wrong version. The previous version was filled with mistakes…