Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States of America
July 1st, 1776
“By God, I never expected him to be such a remarkable man,” Captain John Paul Jones exclaimed, “And you’re telling me that he’s responsible for the string of victories we had during this war?”
“Most of it, yes.” Thomas Jefferson replied.
A group of prominent individuals sat in a private room in the Pennsylvania State House. The group consisted of nearly two dozen people, ranging from representatives to military officers to businessmen. All of them were gathered for one reason: to plot the future course of their new nation.
With General Kim’s approval, the few members that were aware of the man’s secret shared the information they had with the other members that were ignorant of General Kim’s background. They had been picked due to their respective histories in the other world and their relations with the general. Many of them had come into contact or were familiar with General Kim during the man’s time in the colonies. While the Asian officer kept his secret somewhat guarded, he knew he needed to trust certain members with the secret in order to help him advance America. Originally, he was able to maintain contact with Congress on regular occasions with messengers or visits, but due to his role in the war, his contact with Congress was becoming limited. Additionally, it was more sensible to spread out the development throughout the colonies instead of keeping it in the hands of one individual. As a result, Kim gathered a list of names he found trustworthy and loyal to the American cause and asked Jefferson to gather them for a meeting. Which was why Jefferson was considered the "host" of the meeting.
“The General has been most generous with the information he has at hand. Information that can revolutionize the world as we know it. Therefore, as members of this group, we must ensure how to selectively and discreetly use what we have to our advantage,” Jefferson mentioned.
To help with the visuals and capabilities, various pictures and documents containing information about various inventions, political theories, and weapons (provided by their “Patron). Each individual in the meeting room was marveling at different things, especially items that came from the far future. Jefferson allowed them to look and inspect the items to further verify his testimony. And personally, he could not berate them for being mesmerized by things from the future. He had spent countless days reading the Constitution and other great political works in the collection in his own free time.
To ensure none of the information was leaked or stolen, the precise details were as vague as possible. Even if a British inventor managed to get information about a Breech loader, he would still be years, if not decades, off from fully being able to replicate one.
"A ship..." Captain Jones exclaimed, "They named a ship after me! And while I don't know what "missiles" or "radars" are, I assume they are the future weapons of naval warfare."
"Missiles are flying bombs that are propelled by a very powerful machine. In the future, they will be used to destroy ships, buildings, anything. As for radar, I believe it's some sort of contraption that uses the particles in the air to detect the location of an object far away," Jefferson had read everything that the general had provided for him, but many concepts were still foreign to him. Jefferson silently thanked the fact that Franklin wasn't present at the meeting, as the man would have collapsed from excitement.
Christopher Pelissier, one of the representatives for Quebec and the owner of an ironworks, made his own comments, "With some work, I believe my ironworks will be able to replicate some of the more practical tools such as the grain cradle, the iron plow, and the cotton gin. As for the weapons, rifling will be difficult due to the precision it requires, but I may be able to study some of the machining tools used in the "future" and attempt to make bastardized copies of them."
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Jefferson nodded. Even with the wealth of information and foresight available to them, they were strained by the technology of the time period. Additionally, they were constrained by the current resources they had at hand, and the war raging on in the colonies, "That will do. I am not expecting things to change completely overnight, but for these changes to be implemented systematically so that we are able to push our nation ahead of other powers."
Brigadier General William Alexander, who was a capable officer and a businessman that involved himself in mining and agriculture, spoke, "There is also information about mineral deposits. Specifically speaking, there are significant gold reserves in North Carolina and South Carolina, and with the knowledge of where they are, they can be exploited. This goes for many of the colonies."
"This is why we must work together to ensure that we play our parts accordingly in order to push the United States forward. General Kim has done a great amount of work to help our nation so far, but we can not solely rely on him," Jefferson firmly replied, "The objective of this meeting is to allocate the roles each of us will play in introducing new inventions or discoveries to the general public. But before I continue with this meeting, I must ask. Mr. Pelissier, do you have any contacts in France that we may be able to utilize?"
"A few, but I thought that Mr. Franklin was already on his way to Paris at this time?"
"General Kim has also provided me a list of names, chiefly individuals from France, that may play significant roles in our country. Should we successfully manage to bring them here, the general has suggested we also broaden the scope of this plan to other nations as well."
The Virginian handed the list to the Quebecois, who read them silently to himself. The list contained names of individuals, their birthdates, and their current approximate location. The top of the list contained names such as Napoleon Bonaparte, Joachim Murat, Gratien Le Pere, Alexandre Brongniart, Marie-Louise Lachapelle, Gaspard Laurent Bayle, amongst a few others.
"I will try to ask my contacts, but it would also be better for Mr. Franklin to receive this list as well."
"He will receive it shortly after he arrives if all goes well," Jefferson said.
General Alexander looked intrigued at the list, "May I ask who the individuals on that list are? Surely they are of great importance in the other future if the general has set aside a specific list to find them."
"One will be the future emperor of France and an excellent military officer that will revolutionize warfare. He is a little boy now, but he has great potential. Another is a future French cavalry officer that will serve alongside the said Emperor. He was known to be a charismatic, yet inspiring leader. There are a few others on this list, including engineers, mathematicians, scientists, and the such. The general expressed in the letter that he chose individuals that he believed would flourish even under different circumstances."
"And their names?"
"Are you interested in taking them for yourself, general?" Jefferson joked.
"I am merely curious, and many of those individuals have a promising military career ahead of them. I just wish to be aware of potential officers that may lead our nation's military one day."
"I will not reveal the names so easily, for secrecy sakes. However, most of the individuals on this list are currently children with bright futures. There will be no kidnappings or such. The goal is to convince these families to move to our new nation once it is formed by giving incentives. The general believes that with Quebec a part of the United States, it will be easier for people from France to transition into our nation by living within Quebec. Of course, there will be complications and I doubt we will manage to convince all if any, families to move to our nation. Especially since we have just been barely recognized. But the objective is to open up all our options and bring these future prominent individuals under our wing to educate and raise them if possible."
Pelissier looked thoughtful as he gazed on the list once again, "I will do my best, Mr. Jefferson."
"Now then, let us go back to the meeting. Starting with the inventions mentioned by Mr. Pelissier..."