Jake sat with his arm around Alley chatting. Something was bothering Jake though, “So serious question, why me of all people? Why was I specifically chosen to come here?” Alley replied, “Well, mostly it was because you wouldn't be missed. Vicky, that's what I call the VI, searched for parameters of someone in history not too far back that we would know the exact location of. That someone would have to have died, and never been found. Also, the desired qualifications were that you had Special Operations experience and training, and you also needed to know your way around a nuclear reactor. There weren't too many people who fit that description.” “Wait so you're saying my body would never have been found?” “Yeah bears tore your camp apart, the only thing found was a shredded tent and a chewed-up four-wheeler.” Jake lamented, “I wish I had my quad back.” Alley perked up, “I can do better than that. I can teleport us just about anywhere we want to go.”
Jake was surprised, “How?” Alley responded, “With the system of course.” Jake said I thought you weren't in control of the system, Vicky was. You are locked out right?” Yes however remember how I appeared to you when we first met?” “You formed from the silver mist...” Alley beamed, “Yes my stash of Nantes I integrated them into my body. I have a unique class now. Teleportation was scrapped from the original plan for the system. At the time there was a concern that humans being able to teleport wherever they wanted to go would upset balance and undermine the whole purpose of the system. Fortunately, since it was scrapped, I still had access to the class as it wasn't a part of this system as it is now.”
Jake said, “So what do we do now? Do we destroy the system?” Alley shook her head, “No we need to fix my mistake destroying the system won't solve that.” Jake asked, “So what was your mistake exactly, The system seemed to have worked, we are still here, If it wasn't the system what was it, Also why doesn't anyone here seem to remember the time before the system?” “Well, firstly the reason why they don't remember is that I erased all of their memories with the Nantes and replaced them with an alternate version of history according to the fantasy setting I implemented at the start. The second answer is... in an attempt to protect humanity as a whole I sent them back, not forward. You've seen what it is like out there. In my attempt to save humankind, I left them vulnerable. This time it's an alien invasion but it could easily have been a giant meteor heading for Earth. We need to reverse the damage I have done and push humanity forward. It won't be easy, but what we need isn't a simple fix. Humanity has to be able to solve their problems. They need to be able to stand on their own feet.”
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Jake thought about this, “So where do we begin?” Alley replied, “Well we need to get you stronger. You need to have full use of the system. Then we have an authoritarian dictatorship to topple. Then we need to install our replacement dictator. Yes, I know it sounds bad but hear me out. We cannot change society by committee. We need to get control and quickly get everyone ready. Once we have stopped the invasion we can start democratic processes.”
Jake questioned, “So you want me to be a dictator?” Alley laughed, “No sweetie, that's my area of expertise. You need to be my right-hand man and enforcer.”
Jake asked, Okay so how are we going to accomplish all of that, there's just the two of us.” Alley said, Your right we will need help. I think the general tyranny of the kingdom will help us in this case. Where there's tyranny there's a lot of people unhappy with the status quo. We are going to need rabble rouses, assassins, propagandists, insurgents, guerrilla fighters, and terrorists. The first thing we are going to need though is a scientist. That I think will be our biggest obstacle with the reliance on magic.” Jake smiled, “I know a guy. Take us to the Knox Oasis.” Alley looked stunned, “The Oasis? Why?” “I gotta see a man about a horse.”