The corrupt defense system SkyNet again finds itself overrun by the human Resistance, and again manages to send a robot into the past to preserve its future existence. Sent to 1984, this time it is the monstrous "Meta-Node;" a machine explicitly designed for infiltration and construction. Four years after landing, this Meta-Node has managed to completely capture Cyberdyne's Cheyenne Mountain complex and uses the armored bunker to start building a fledgling SkyNet, and legions of Terminator robots to protect it.