Brad received a data package from Howard, containing the research he had commissioned several months earlier.
Howard said these were some of the research findings he had obtained after his final request to S.H.I.E.L.D. for access to the Tesseract.
He had also attached blueprints for a device he had previously conceived, one capable of detecting anomalous spatial fluctuations.
Though he called them conceptual blueprints, Howard had actually finished most of the work already.
With the additional Tesseract data, Brad produced a 3D model of the machine without much effort.
"Synchronize the satellites."
Brad now had seventeen satellites orbiting Earth, and some of them even carried machine tools capable of manufacturing components.
As well as 3D Printers.
According to Skynet's calculations, outfitting just ten satellites would allow Brad to detect anomalous spatial fluctuations across half the globe.
Of course, since they had not carried enough materials up in the first place, only three satellites could manufacture and install the equipment on their own.
That was enough.
Brad simply could not be bothered to wait for the spatial alignment that happened once every few decades. He had been eyeing the Reality Stone's location for a long time.
His calculations showed that acquiring the Reality Stone would yield the greatest benefits.
That was why Brad had asked Howard to research spatial detection equipment so early on.
Autonomous manufacturing and assembly aboard the satellites were less convenient than on the ground. To pass government inspections, he had not assigned any terminators to hide aboard them, either.
Still not enough money... Otherwise, how convenient would it be to build a space station and send it up?
It was not that Brad could not afford to build one. He could not afford to bribe everyone in the United States Government who needed greasing.
This was different