The Unknowing War (Optimum Project sequel)

Chapter 28

So I'm a time traveler

I started with a rather simple question, "What year is it?"

The judge and shrink had left, the enforcer girl taking me to an empty sitting room where she could fill me in while some people more... qualified to handle my appearance here arrived.

The enforcer answered, "It's the year 2297, after the original residents in the base realized they weren't being rescued, they established societal rules but decided to keep the alliance time system and infrastructure the same."

I closed my eyes, I was nearly 140 years into the future, 140 years too late to save all those scientists who now had hundreds of ancestors living apart from a time and dimension they might never know.

I also immediately realized something, I looked up, "You said alliance infrastructure was the same?"

She nodded, and I automatically had Tom hunt for an alliance connection node. I looked up at the girl in front of me, "What is your name?"

She frowned, "Tessa, why?"

I shrugged, "just wondering, if I'm stuck here I have a feeling we'll be working together." I lied, really I was buying time.
Tom was now connected to the node and began working his way through the city's network, gathering and relaying all the pertinent information to me.

----------------------------------Tom's information summary--------------------------------

City name: Vespos

Current political leader: Adrian Wepreya

Law enforcement faction: Enforcers

Commanding Enforcer: Jonathan "bonbon" Black

Enforcer Tessa Dextrose

Parents: Greg and Winnie Dextrose
Graduated top of her class
High aptitude in engineering, critical thinking.
Advanced skill in piloting, hand to hand combat, HALO jumps.

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I also got tons of information on all the tech, medical, and mechanical developments, such as the fact that the entire core of the asteroid had been turned into a nanite induction generator based on the ones I designed. The generator acted like a giant gyroscope, keeping the asteroid in the correct position while allowing it to be reoriented at will.

I turned to Tessa, "You know I built the original asteroid base?"

Tessa looked at me, "By yourself?" She asked incredulously.

I nodded, "It was really just establishing a base core, powering it, though? Well, solar panels don't exactly work out here do they?"

Her eyes widened, "You designed the generators."

I nodded, "Yup, though making one double as a gyroscope? Now that was smart."

She seemed astonished I knew that. I nodded at her, "I'm smarter than I look."

The door opened and in came two well-dressed men. I stood, shaking the hand of the one on the left, "Adrian Wepreya, nice to meet you." I then turned to the other man and shook his hand, "and you're Jonathan Black, a pleasure to meet you both."

Clearly, both men were surprised I knew them by name and face, so I acted oblivious as I continued taking control of the situation. "I assume you are aware of my... shall we say temporal disposition, and considering I cannot in good conscience go to what I would consider the present in this dimension to save the original scientists to establish this colony, I need to arrange a treaty and some other diplomatic paperwork with you to establish a good relationship between you, the nation of Vespos, and us," I gestured at Adrian and Jonathan at the word 'you' and myself at the word 'us', "the Alliance. Shall we get started?"

All three of them, Tessa, Adrian, and Jonathan looked taken somewhat aback at what I had just said.

Adrain stepped forward, "Do I understand correctly that you classified Vespos as a sovereign nation?"

I nodded, "Yes, is there any particular problem with that?"

Adrian swiftly shook his head, "n-no of course not!" He said somewhat nervously, of course he was fine with it, it meant that he could maintain his position of power as the chancellor of Vespos.

I nodded, "Very well, now then, as Vespos is being considered a sovereign nation and not a colony of the Alliance, we need to be clear about a few things." I stared both Jonathan and Adrian in the eyes, which was actually trickier than it might seem. "As a sovereign nation, you are permitted to maintain a military force, and of course your force of enforcers for law... Well, law enforcement."

Jonathan seemed happy with that, "But," I continued, "any application of that force must remain in your sovereign territory, being this dimension, any violation of this will be noted and swiftly dealt with."

Adrain seemed taken aback, "And why can we not enter your dimension?"

I paused for a moment, "We don't know how the time shift works when traveling through the vortex, it's clear that at least for me personally, it's safe to travel through the vortex from my time to yours. The real question is whether or not it's safe to travel back to my time. Not to mention the fact that I'm acting with unilateral authority at the moment, considering I'm the only qualified member of the Alliance here to make diplomatic contracts with you, the sovereign nation. If when I report to the alliance that they deem my measures to strict, then the terms will change and we will share the dimensional gate technology so that trade can occur regularly and benefit both of our economies."

Adrian and Jonathan nodded, while Tessa seemed intent on focusing on me.

I turned to Adrian, "If you could please get an assistant of yours down here so that I may transfer a copy of the treatise and treaty?"

Adrian nodded and turned to leave, so I looked to Jonathan, "and if I may get up to date counts of your current military and enforcement ranks?"

He nodded and left as well.

Tessa waited a moment before finally saying something, "You Noah Price, are the most fascinating person to be near... I'm not quite sure if that is a good thing or a bad thing."

I nodded, "well, stay close and maybe you can find out."