Celestial Forge, The Stars Beckon Forth [Mass Effect / Celestial Forge SI]

[TrueGuardian32]

[Celestial Forge has activated]
[First Perk: Wonder Artisan] [300 0 Celestial Points]
[You are incredibly talented at arts, drawing, music, writing, and more. You are a talent at creating wonders that people would pay millions to view.]
[Claimed]

I was in school when this perk hit. I had no clue I even had the thing. I was just going about life. Reincarnated in a slightly different version of my former world in 2004. When bam, while in elementary school in Texas I got this perk. It was in the middle of class and I was just lightly working when it hit. Suddenly my scribbles became neat little words that looked incredible. Considering I was scribblin in paper to turn in it revealed my new found talent before I was even ready. What's more, the next class was art.

Needless to say I suddenly had people interested in my unearned talent. Well, at least this life I had something unreal going for me. The Celestial Forge, when I closed my eyes and meditated it took the form of a single blue orb, and it had a line building slowly out of it.

"David you okay in there honey?" My mom of this life spoke beyond the door.

I opened my eyes, I was in my room at the moment, just chilling. "I'm fine. Do you need something?"

"Can I come in?"

I looked at the mess of papers spread around the bed in front of me. I was testing the limits of my perk, drawing stars, the sky, random things in my room. They were all intrinsically detailed. Well, no point in hiding it. "Sure."

She opened the door, only to pause as she looked at the drawings on the bed. She had wanted me to try this a long time ago but I hadn't shown much capabilities. "You made these?" She came over and took a look. Her eyes open in wonder.

I nodded. "I'm not sure what happened. Suddenly things just… clicked today. Now I can do this." She gave me a hug. Much to my surprise.

"You are talented David. Mr. Adams from your art class is in the living room right now. He's been praising your work since he arrived. You seemed off when you got home so I hadn't come to get you till now."

I stretched and made my way off the bed. "I figured it would be impressive. It's fun being able to bring things from my head to life so easily."

After that, I was followed mom into the living room to meet an excited teacher, who asked if the school could display my work I made in class earlier. I agreed. I didn't really care to refuse. But I did ask for them to preserve it since it was the first masterwork I had done. I'd like to come back to it when I am older so I can see my first steps to greatness. Yes, I already have a large head from this. Kind of hard not to when a casually drawn signature looks like a work of art. Not to mention in my current era, it would be a while till I had to deal with neural networks stealing possible future jobs.

My days slightly changed after that. I started to ace every class. I didn't know everything, but I was still dealing with elementary level materials. I could learn quickly. I got some contract jobs, with my family as the intermediary. Getting us more income. Way more than dad made. Solved some of the issues we were facing economically due to that. I had a handful of friends before this happened… they grew apart fast. The attention I was getting was making them jealous at worst, but I think what hurt more was the inferiority some of them felt. Turns out, acing every test at your age level, making works of art, and being absurdly good at things makes it hard to make friends that are actually friends. I didn't let it bother. I mean, it did. But I didn't let it bother me for long. I just kept at it.

I made a script for the school play. I kept it simple enough for kids our age to understand. I made the props and stuff for them as well. I refused to participate in the acting. The teacher had taken me to a private room to ask about that and I simply said I didn't want to show up all my other classmates and the other students. I was taking credit for the script and the art pieces. Luckily I had enough social skills to know it would be better if I dragged some of the students who were into art into helping me. Some of them were real talents. Those who weren't? I showed how to improve.

Eight months since I got my first perk. The Celestial Forge activated.

[Dragon Crap!] [400 Celestial Points]
[Metallic Crap from a legendary metal dragon, this crafting material can be adhered to existing weapons to cause them to absorb the properties of it. These properties are Near-Unbreakable and Reforming. The weapon will also gain enhanced strength and power. Every time the item you used it on breaks you will find it in your warehouse completely reformed.]
[Not Enough Points: Current Points 092] [Lock In or Pass]

This is when I learned the Celestial Forge worked like a system. I could bring up a menu that displayed my current perks, and I could retrieve a key that could open any door to a personal warehouse. Regardless, I passed on the Dragon Crap perk. I wanted to prioritize stuff that would advance humanity, not increase personal strength. For now at least. Not sure what gains me Celestial Points though, or how I got to 92.

All in all though, I kept going. My family moved into a bigger house, one with a workshop for me. I got the money for it from a deal with some rich guy. Well, a couple of rich people. Dad was starting a business with his cut. I was using it to procure tools and set up stuff for myself. Mom was just having a good time. She brags a lot about me.

I kept at it, working, going to school, studying. I was refreshing my knowledge before I even got close to graduating Elementary School, I caught up on stuff I missed in my previous life as well. I had gotten to High School math and I was in the process of refreshing my knowledge. My social life wasn't a complete wash despite my high intelligence reputation. I had fun playing games with the other kids and field trips were pretty fun. Not to mention I didn't intend to get as over weight as I was in my previous life so I couldn't just study all the time.

I had gotten really into the routine I was in when the forge triggered again.

[Genius] [600 Celestial Points]
[You are now capable of understanding even the strangest of theories. You are now able to keep up with geniuses capable of understanding how things can work at a fundamental level. To the point where with enough materials and time you can do things to the laws of physics that shouldn't be possible.]
[Not Enough Points: Current Points 140] [Lock In or Pass]

I paused, I could pass off as highly intelligent right now but this is an insanely good draw. Could help me a lot with any future rolls I got, and if I got it before I graduated high school it could path my future heavily. So I decided to lock it in. That means no rolls till I unlock it. After that, I went back to my life.

I had a generally good time. Christmas came and went. I was still refining my knowledge, future genius or not. I wanted to have a basis for my knowledge that could be passable to the public. By this point I was on contract for multiple art projects. Including a RTS game similar but different than Command and Conquer.

I was excited by that one despite dealing with the hardware imitations of the era. I could work with minimal pixels though. I made sure of that. Plus the artwork could be sold separately and would be a constant source of income for me till the game died. At this time I finally went to Middle School. Once again I top in every class. Well, except for History, I got a B in that. Some of the history of this version of the world was slightly off. So I was basically researching from scratch. While the U.S. seemed similar enough to me, other countries? Wildly different. For one, interference in other countries was at an absolute minimum beyond funding and strategic bases to protect the U.S. This led to the terror attacks that would have happened in my universe simply not occurring here.

The other thing to note is that the U.S. wasn't in debt. Not yet at least. Too many successful ventures here in the states so the import industry wasn't as important as it was in my original world. This meant I couldn't really trust future knowledge. For now at least. At least I knew I wasn't in Fallout. Or at least, if I was I wouldn't be by the time I grew up. I had the celestial forge after all.

So I went day by day, kept my grades up, kept studying, kept trying to make friends and failing. I kept making amazing pieces of art as well as doing contract work. Till when I was 14, three years after I locked in Genius, I bought the perk and the world opened to me. Figuratively and literally. All the studying I did? It paid off. I was suddenly able to connect everything I learned at a level I wasn't able to before. I blasted through every piece of homework I had. At this point I started research higher level physics. It took one read through every chemistry, science, or other book to learn it and actually retain the information instead of it going out of one ear.

I started submitting tech from my previous life to the patent office by this point. Recreating it in this universe with my newfound knowledge. I was focusing on computers and computer tech. A few weeks later we got a visit from the Federal Government. To put it shortly, I was hired. But in the long term it was complicated. Tooks days of negotiations to end up with a contract that wasn't practically indentured servitude and didn't stop me from pursuing my art career.

I kept expanding my knowledge after that though, but this time with knowledge that wasn't publicly shared. Namely classified knowledge regarding things like rocket fuel and weapons technology. I went off the deep end studying when I got access. Couldn't help it, Genius allowed me to not only understand the tech, but figure out how to apply it elsewhere. That's how I came up with E-Fuel. Which was just gas but with 1% of it being oil. Way cheaper to produce, it wasn't a water powered engine, but it'd let us stretch out fuel reserves hard, plus it didn't require engines to refine the design since it was just a different kind of gasoline.

I was focusing on one thing at a time. I had paused all other projects to work on the fuel. It would prevent us from going through reserves as quickly. It didn't take long for me to see my work start getting pushed out to the public. I was incredibly excited about that, even if I wasn't credited. Classified Asset and all that.

After that project, and well and all the advancement in computer technology I was working on. I was given a new highly advanced facility in South Dakota. Well, I say advanced, it was mostly empty. But it was secure and I could requisition supplies and equipment for it. The only thing is that I had to move to use it. So I went through the process of skipping to college. Skipping grades and all that.

Then the Celestial Forge triggered again.

[Dungeon Creation] [Celestial Points: 600]

[You have the ability to create dungeons, while you can control the general theme of the dungeon you can't control the actual dungeon. Enemies will not treat you differently than other intruders. As the dungeon grows stronger the more valuable loot will drop. This ability gets stronger with you.]

[Not Enough Points: 240] [Lock In or Pass]

Pass, hard pass. This isn't a fantasy world and I have access to resources already. Plus it's the Celestial Forge, I don't doubt that I can get other strong resource generators that outpace this one. Sure legendary weapons would be cool and all. This is still way too risky to use. After that, I went back to work.

I was fifteen when one of the rockets I designed left Earth's orbit. Watching it I already had ideas to improve it. I had the plans for the first Spaceship capable of leaving and entering drawn up in a month after that. They tried to put me in a team with other geniuses. I was able to match them in knowledge but my age caused them to try to treat me as an underling. After that debacle I was given solo treatment. I will admit, it was a bit lonely. Most of my friends were digital at this point. My family barely even called me. They keep going on long trips now using the money I got them. Good for them I suppose.

It was 2010 when my homelife got a lot worse. Parents split and there was a bunch of court drama. I pushed for emancipation after that. I didn't want to deal with it. They had practically abandoned me more than a year ago and then suddenly they divorce after getting all that money? I dived into my work. Putting my all into refining industrial machines and working on figuring out how to build a fabricator capable of matching those in my old life's video games. I was set for life by this point but I still wanted to reach the stars. I crave space. It's become my obsession by this point. I need to keep studying, keep learning.

The Celestial Forge triggered during a late night.

[If you want it done right] [200 Celestial Points]

[You can do the same amount of work as teams of people on a project. It may require the same amount of time per person, but you can do all the work yourself without things getting harder.]

[Current Celestial Points: 210] [Purchase or Pass]

I was tempted to press purchase, but I can use those points later. Plus I'm a government asset, I can just delegate my building projects like I've been doing so far. I passed.

 

[TrueGuardian32]

I'm currently in the progress of crossposting this story, more updates incoming.

 

[TrueGuardian32]

With my homelife pretty much destroyed, my lack of friends that were not online only. I had become relatively anti-social. I wasn't living a terrible life despite that. I had balanced meals, I could go on vacations whenever I needed. I also had plenty of access to enrichment like movies and games. So I could pretend that I had friends.

But sometimes you just have to recognize what you are weak in. In this life I wasn't the charismatic character that could keep friends that were trustworthy. Couldn't even keep family together. I pushed that train of thought to the side. I had shared papers and data that would allow for others to keep progressing computer tech already. Meaning I could put that on the side for now. I've pushed E-Fuel which is the peak of my current knowledge in fuel refinement for general use, not to be confused with the specialized rocket fuel I had made to fuel the possible future spaceship that would be tested in a couple months.

Hmm. I should solve future food issues. Let's see how far I can push genetic engineering. I got to work. I focused on corn to start with. I wanted to make a healthier, tastier and more plentiful version of corn that outpaced the current iteration. This was a difficult process. It took a few months till my first product came out. It was a special kind of eggplant that outpaced current eggplants by several generations. It was rich in vitamins and incredibly beneficial to the human body, and it would be fully grown in only a few days in optimal conditions. It had the side effect of completely eating through all the nutrients in the ground, making it unusable for future growing projects. I fixed that with the introduction of a new fertilizer that could be used on existing fields that would double the growth speed of already existing plants, and last longer for the new eggplant.

I ended up storing the data. It was a fun project, but I didn't want to work on it more. Gave the data up for other scientists to research after documenting everything thoroughly. Even if they weren't a genius, if they worked hard they could figure something out from my notes.

My 16th birthday was a lonely affair. 2011, the year that everyone was excited for the future. At least according to social media. The United States had some political drama occurring. Apparently foreign interests attempted to trade, seize, or do anything they could to get a hold of some of my creations. By this point I noticed key issues in my space plan. Fuel wouldn't be enough to make it where we could explore the cosmos. Sure it could get us to the moon, maybe even to Mars. But it was a limited resource. I needed something a bit more. I needed something that would be unlikely to run out.

I started to look into fusion tech. Existing experiments hadn't proved successful, but maybe I can fix that. Thus I started my research. When the Gov got word of my newest project? I got a new wave of funding. On top of my already extensive funding. So I went to work. This wasn't as easy as my old projects. Took me a few months to get a prototype drawn down after several weeks of theory crafting. I was bouncing ideas in a group chat with the other people working in fusion tech through a group chat managed by the United States.

Around this point, the Celestial Forge triggered again.

[Wonder Genius] [Celestial Points: 200]
[You can create works beyond that of mortal hands. Anything you make is of unmatched quality. Even the most unadorned works possess resilience, efficiency, and simple elegance.]
[Current Celestial Points: 564][Purchase or Pass]

I purchased it of course. Suddenly it compounded with my other Genius perk, but before that even happened I realized that this perk was severely under priced. I could make a sword that could last for generations without anyone needing to sharpen it. Delicious dishes that would make anyone swoon. Masterworks of Art that surpass my current pieces even more than before. If I was in a combative world, the weapon forging alone would have made this worth it. As it was I immediately started to use it to get to work on an actual functioning fusion core casing.

From there, a few weeks after my initial prototype I produced a new prototype. One I built at my lab. Sixty feet in diameter. It was small and efficient compared to all existing designs. I had a bunch of government agents around for the first test run. I activated it and watched in wonder as it began to warm up. All diagnostics were green. Till finally, for the first time, humanity had a working fusion reactor. I started to document everything so people could actually reproduce what I did. One of the agents asked what I'd work on next. I said that now that we have power, I need to make it where we can use it for what I want. So the next idea would be energy based propulsion.

Easier said than done for a project. But it would be one I'd work on none the less. The prototype fusion reactor would stay here and be used to power future projects as well as the nearby towns. Mainly so I can monitor it in my free time to make sure no issues pop up. A few weeks later it was publicized. Had more potential than nuclear reactors and less maintenance. Not to mention it was safer than nuclear, if the containment broke, it would fizzle out despite heating the surroundings heavily. It wasn't cold fusion sadly. I'm not sure if that is possible with my current knowledge. I could probably figure it out though if I tried hard enough.

WIth my projects having worked out again and again. I was now a heavily protected asset. I had guards at me at all times. I mostly stayed at my lab because of this. It's kind of hard to go out to eat anyways when anything I make outpaces everything I've eaten outside my lab. I kept at it. Working on energy based propulsion. I was treading new ground, having to theorize how it could be possible myself instead of having existing works to fall back on. So for the first time, I didn't have anything to show for an entire year. Luckily, the Celestial Forge triggered eventually. It seems a bit inconsistent in its rolling. Doesn't have a specified time for it.

[Machine Madness] [Celestial Points: 400]
[You can make machines that can replicate magic spells, abilities, or techniques. As long as you know how those abilities work. All done through science instead of magic.]
[Celestial Points: 480] [Purchase or Pass]

I am tempted to purchase it, but at the same time I haven't come across magic once. Just in case I asked if it existed to the agents that get classified data for me. Only to get nothing useful in response. Nothing actually mystical. So despite the potential of the perk. I had to pass on it. Then I got back to work.

I had ideas by 2014, and finally made a thruster that had barely any power. But it was a breakthrough. Let my ideas flow. The main thing I had to do was fix the thrust. At the end of 2014, the Celestial Forge rolled again, this time at the exact same time I finished a functional energy based thruster that could match my rocket fuel.

[Learning A.I. Plans] [Celestial Points: 600]
[Plans that when followed allow you to create a learning A.I. these A.I.s are incapable of harming humans, they cannot be hacked or forced to do so. Even a normal person could follow these plans to make a learning A.I.]
[Celestial Points: 604] [Purchase or Pass]

Yoink. Free A.I. capable of learning with anti-Skynet properties built in? I'll take that. During the night time I started to study the blueprints. Luckily it didn't require any exotic materials and it was mostly smart engineering with a freeform A.I. base code. During the day I progressed the energy propulsion projects, during the night I worked on studying the plans. Finally, mid 2015, my twentieth Starship was ready, newly improved and functioning.

—

Within the cockpit of the Arrowhead 20, voices echo'd out "Flight checks are go."

"Meters are green."

"No errors reported."

The Arrowhead 20, the latest NASA development for spaceflight. It was three hundred feet tall, and fifty feet in width. It had plenty of internal area to walk around in. Despite the lack of gravity. Unlike most ships, this would be the first ship that was able to take off and land horizontally.

"Launching in ten seconds."

The astronauts sat secure in their chairs, nervous. While none of the Arrowheads had actually failed in take off, they had come close a couple times. So it was still a scary experience to do the take off.

But just like before, they went through the initial flight checks, and everything came up green, before they launched into space. Then was the hard part. Reentering atmosphere. The Arrowhead 20 was a remodelled Arrowhead 18, it was made to reenter and exit the atmosphere. Like a true Spaceship.

So they turned around, and the ship held up remarkably, before they halted above the landing zone, and took off to space again, before repeating the process ten more times. This humanities first true starship, even though it wasn't FTL capable yet, had been completed. Immediately rousing the interest of everyone across the world.

 

[TrueGuardian32]

I was putting together the first learning A.I. when I got a surprise visit. The president himself showed up. President Brockson walked into my lab while I was working and putting together the parts. The A.I. I was working on would be the first of many starships A.I. Brockson was happy with all the stuff I've done in the last six years and had learned that I was still a minor, emancipated but a minor none the less. He wanted me to go hang out with his son. Or at least that is what it boiled down to after all his praise. I'm certain this was some sort of political play, but I didn't mind at least trying to make a friend.

It did not work out. The first night he tried to take me to a stripclub and share white powder with me. I walked out. I wasn't interested in drugs and I had many projects to get back to. I complained to his father before getting back to my lab and working. I had a list of issues that were sent to me to fix ordered by priority. One of the highest was actually mining and resource acquisition. We used traditional drilling and mining at the moment and it wasn't that effective. So I was working on Sci-Fi mining drills. Drills that would take, clean, and separate the ores with ease with a 100% extraction rate. I had to study more but I was cranking out prototypes that were getting tested every week. I was also working on a mining A.I. that would act like a hive mind controlling multiple mining bots at once. Ideally the new drills and hivemind A.I. would allow me to increase mining efficiency by several times. Not to mention this would also be useful on Mars, asteroids, and other space objects.

I was tempted to make mining lasers, but I didn't have strong enough batteries in this world yet. I would have to fix that. Future project for me I suppose. A few days later after that debacle I got a call from the president apologizing for his son's actions. I ended up chatting with my guards and they theorized that the reason he was trying to make his son my friend was because it would pave his son's future. Meaning I wouldn't be kept a secret asset for too long. Or atleast, that was my guess.

I wonder what people will think when they realize that some of the greatest advancements in the last six years have been developed by one person. Regardless. My efforts continued. Sure enough, by the end of the year. The Celestial Forge rolled again.

[Peak of Magic and Science!] [Celestial Points: 600]
You stand at the frontier where science and magic meet. You are a master of both science and magic, blending the two with ease. You are able to make technomagical wonders equal to that of a nuclear bomb, or even greater devices. Creating stronger and stronger devices the more you learn.
[Not Enough Points: 90] [Lock In or Pass]

That's difficult to pass up. It's not the peak of magic which I'm not even sure exists yet, but also peak of science. Sure I'm already at the peak, but this would allow me to cover even more blindspots. I locked it in. It'll be my next perk. Meaning I won't roll any new perks till I unlock it. In any case, let's get to work.

 

[TrueGuardian32]

2016, the year my identity got leaked. An insider leaked my existence to the press. They were incredibly detailed. It didn't take the internet less than a week before they managed to confirm my existence and my various advancements. So I requested that since my identity was already public, and I had several infiltration attempts on my lab. If I could livestream. I got approval, and the Whitehouse shared that I would be starting it to the public, so they could actually meet the genius behind things.

My mining drill project was already done, now I was working on something I called the kinesis drive. It wasn't FTL, although I didn't doubt that there was probably a method to use it for FTL. It was an impressive piece of technology though, and it could replicate a ton of fictional tech from my old life, gravity gun, artificial gravity, long fall boots, and a bunch more niche uses. Probably my most significant advancement thus far simply for the massive amount of variety it could do. I had to use smart programming for pretty much every tool that uses it. Not the learning AI, even if Adam is a really good assistant AI. But I am a genius, if I couldn't figure out how to make dumb AI even with the plans for advanced AI in front of me. I'd be more of an idiot savant.

Regardless, I was going to live.

"And we…. Are live." I said as the countdown finished. Holding my phone in my hand I watched as messages started to speed through in the chat. "Alright, I'm not going to be able to keep track of this. Adam can limit messages for me?"

The mechanical voice echo'd out. "Yes Sir." Ah, much more manageable. "Yeah, I have my own A.I. I haven't publicized AI yet. Not enough legislation to protect their usage. I can make sentient A.I. that can one to one act like a human." I responded to one of the messages as I started moving, pulling my prototype and finished devices to show off and explain things to everyone.

"Perhaps I should start with an introduction first? I am David Gard. As you know from the leaks, I was a talented artist from Texas. But not just an Artist, as I grew up I learned more in various sciences, and kept learning till I got to this point. Signed a confidential agreement with the Gov so I can't really say everything. But I can share some stuff with you."

"Yeah, I am the developer of a lot of technology, made the new fuel, designed the Arrowhead Spaceships, new bio-engineered crops, and energy based thrusters. All technology that can be replicated now even without me pushing it forward."

"How is it able to go forward even without me heading it? Documentation. After and during my work I document things in such a way even people without genius level intellect are able to learn it and innovate on it. It goes counter to my goals if I am the only one able to build these things. I dumb things down and make it easier to learn. It's the same thing as people being able to make video games without having to know how to make a computer from scratch."

"I have an AI, his name is Adam. He is what I call a learning AI. He helps out while I work. Most of the time he gets me data or helps clean while I work. He's a great assistant." An android walks into the frame and waves at the camera.

"Can I cure cancer? Probably. I haven't gotten fully into medical science at the moment. I plan to, it's a future project. But at the moment I'm prioritizing things that can get us into space. Life support systems, artificial gravity, batteries, energy costs. I've made good progress though. So after I figure out some form of FTL I plan on eventually working on medical science. I might even make an A.I. that can learn medical science while I work that can make medical advancements in the meantime."

"Yes I can do that. Learning AI are capable of a lot of things. It's in the name, they are learning artificial intelligence. They can study, come up with new ideas, and figure things out. Right now I've only made Adam, but I am likely going to create a bunch more to research technology that I've already made to expand on the tech into more use cases. Like for example figuring out more use cases for E-Fuel beyond just gas. Or sharing some of my specialized tools I built in the lab. Things like that. I'm just a bit slow on making them because of ethical dilemmas. I need protections passed for true AI that recognize AI as people before I make more. Keep in mind that these aren't just smart programs, and are just as sentient and sapient as humans. Capable of forming connections just as we do."

"That however won't stop me from making Dumb AI or Highly Specialized Programs. These aren't true A.I. and are used in a lot of the devices I am working on to do math on the fly. I have an example here actually, this is a gravity gun. It uses an unreleased piece of technology that I am working on that will be used to make artificial gravity on future spaceships, and to make reentry and exiting out of atmospheric conditions even easier than before."

I showed off the sleek design of the gravity gun. Like all my work it was a work of art. It wasn't the gravity gun from the Half Life game, instead it looked more like the stasis rifle from Subnatica, except it was more narrow and sleek. Aiming it at an empty crate, I pressed the trigger. "The smart program in the gun is set to hold mode." I say as the large metal crate floats in the air. Going where I point the gun. "Without the program in place constantly manipulating the kinetic force in the crate, I would have to use prongs or radiation to hold it in place. This is safer and way more efficient. I can even gently place it down or alter its rotation as if I were in a game. This is useful in dozens of ways. Not to mention these devices are not conventionally hackable."

I showed the side of the gravity gun. "You see, these used closed circuit computing. Meaning it can't take any foreign data within itself, and it has multiple safeties to prevent harm from coming to human life. In order to hack something like this, you'd have to take it apart, write an entire new program, and replace the existing one to get it to malfunction. Which isn't really hacking, it's just replacing everything entirely."

"You will notice closed circuit computing spreading across your daily lives soon by the way. Mainly for its unhackable nature. Banks are already working on using it for currency since it outpaces current credit cards by a mile and can't be broken by quantum computing, which I will inevitably figure out. That's inevitable." I replied. "No, I don't work one to one with banks. But they do have a lot of influence in the gov and I noticed a lot of my tech getting picked up by them, sometimes before the government even starts to use them. Scary I know but not much I can do about that."

They asked about the gravity gun and if it would be available to the public soon. "The gravity gun itself will likely not be in public use. This is a specialized tool that will require training to use. Instead tech derived from it will be public use, mainly things that can be used by the average person with little to no training. You'd likely need a license to use something like the gravity gun." After that I excused my self and went back to work, promising to answer more questions later.

 

[TrueGuardian32]

I stared up from the floor of my lab.

"Sir, are you ok?" One of my guards voices echoed out.

"I'm fine." I replied, laying down staring at the ceiling. "I want to replace the ceiling with a mural of the stars."

I stood up, "Adam get some glow in the dark paint, and regular paint for me."

"I'm on it. Are you working on a new art project?"

"Yeah." I replied pulling myself to a sitting position. Suddenly there was movement as the bodyguards immediately swarmed me. I heard the sound of explosions. I resisted the urge to sigh as I followed the guards into the saferoom. Once there I grabbed a notebook and started to doodle as I waited. This is the second time this had happened since the stream two days ago. I sat there a bit. Before finally the all clear was given.

Walking out, I surveyed the damage. None of what I personally built was affected. The lab itself was completely intact. Everything outside? That was a different story, the various military encampments had been destroyed. Glancing at the bodies I noticed the weapons, Russian design this time. The last one was Chinese. The thing is I knew I was the person in the least amount of danger on this base. I was too valuable for any of them to kill. Even as asset denial. Too many projects linked to the advancement of mankind are linked to me. So both of these events have been kidnapping attempts instead of assassins.

Walking back into my lab I sprawled onto a rolling chair, sliding over to the table holding several kinesis drives. My latest obsession. These things were gamebreaking on their own. I could use them to make deflector fields as well as several more civil based designs. Gravity isn't much of an issue now. This makes my reentry and entry tests a non-issue. The only requirement is smart programs that can actually manipulate the kinetic fields of the kinesis drive.

Hmm… I picked up the smallest kinesis drive on the table. It was the size of a basketball. Looking at it ideas flowed. I could shrink it further. To the point where it could fit into armor, maybe an all purpose space suit? That's a fun idea. Something that would make it where we could go into high gravity environments without side effects? Or maybe a kinetic dampener, allowing us to move at high speeds without having to deal with whiplash, or go from high speeds to full stop without flinging everyone in the vehicle out of it.

Then my phone started to ring. I answered after glancing at it. "General Vass, what do I owe the pleasure?"

"We are going to have to move you. The leakers leaked your location." He spoke grimly.

I sighed out loud. "Fine… I was getting pretty comfortable too. You got places to send my prototypes to so we don't leave them here?" I wasn't going to risk the lives of others by staying here.

I heard him let out a breath of relief. I raised my eyebrows slightly, what did he believe I was going to object? "I'll get them handled. Is there any you need right now?"

"I only need Adam, he's a powerful AI assistant and makes building things way easier." I replied.

"That can be done, what do we need to transport him?"

"A laptop should do the trick." I replied.

There was a pause on the other end. "How big is Adam's file size?"

"Let me check. Hey Adam, how much space do you take up on the SSD?"

"Two gigabytes." Came from the speakers of my computer on the other side of the room.

I nodded "Two gigabytes."

"Huh, how did you manage that, I've heard of neural networks and they take a lot more data." The General asked.

"It is a learning Artificial Intelligence, not a neural net. Doesn't need as much training data." I replied. "Hey Adam prepare to package yourself for transfer. We will be moving."

"I'll get right on that. I suppose you want that order for art supplies cancelled?"

I nodded. Adam responded, "Understood sir."

"Alright, I'll have agents there in an hour to escort you to a new location." He hung up after that. I leaned back in my chair looking at the work I've done. Then I chuckled.

"So Adam, think the other countries will give up because of this?"

"Unlikely. They seem to heavily value your creations and most do not want to see the U.S. leaping ahead technologically. While they are unlikely to seek your death they will not give up on trying to take you from the US."

I nodded. "It's understandable I guess." I had my more important stuff stored in my warehouse. Including the A.I. plans. "Just troublesome. Can't have this interrupting my work all the time."

"The United States government is unlikely to let this continue for long. They are facing pressure from every country outside of the U.S. at the moment to make your technology open tech." Adam provided surprising info.

I laughed, "Oh that is hilarious. They want to push on the U.S. before they lose all pressure." If this was my original world, it might work. There is a small chance it could still work. But it's incredibly unlikely. In this world the U.S. was completely self sufficient. But some sort of deal would probably be reached in the end. "Alright, before you package yourself can you bring up some more programming books on the computer, I want to do some more studying to see if I can push my programming knowledge further."

In a moment several tabs were pulled up on the PC. I slid over and got to reading. I had an hour of free time after all.

 

[TrueGuardian32]

I was moved into a military base this time, given a large area to build in, and the entire base was now my bodyguards. I had been brought into a military base in Kansas. It was pretty big. The guards I knew were now gone. So there goes my temporary friends again.

Oh well. Not much I can do about that but get back to work, I quickly got Adam set up again and then put my mind into my hands as I started to put things together.

It took me two days to get a lab setup. Four to get all my specialized tools remade. I needed to remake the kinesis drive that was in the gravity gun. That was the smallest kinesis drive I had managed to build thus far. If I manage that I can get my suit idea up and running. From there I can have Adam design the rest of my ideas for me. It shouldn't be too difficult. The Kinesis Drives are pretty much done in terms of development. I just got to refine the idea and dumb it down so average people can make them and use them, Adam would surely be able to refine the ideas. He's pretty smart.

So that's what I did, I refined the designs of kinesis drives to cover multiple targets. Combined with my other projects I realized pretty quickly that kinesis drives were going to be in every aspect of humanities future tech at this point. Civilian, Military, Scientific, you name it there was a use for a kinesis drive in everything. Agriculture? Floating farms. Geology? You can hover magma into a ball for easy sample collection, or any other type of earth. You could even use kinesis drives to map the kinetic movement of the earth. A kinetic scanner can be made out of a kinesis drive. Which can detect pretty much all movement, and smart programming can be used to figure out what that movement looked like and what it is. It could replace x-ray devices for that alone.

I'll admit, I went on a tangent there. I just didn't realize how much it was capable of at the time. The manipulation and detection of kinetic force is powerful. The only real limit is the power drain. Could turn it into a pretty powerful weapon. Heh, now I just picture a dreadnought with a gravity gun as its big gun. It's going to either throw ships at ships, or throw meteors at ships.

Anyways, let's take a look at the civil side of things. Oh my.

My tech has spread out pretty far over United States territory. There are dozens of videos on Videoshare, this world's version of youtube showing the multitude of uses for various products that I helped make. Synth thread clothes, the same comfort that polyester can provide without the health risks. Dozens of food videos on how to prep the various genetically engineered foods that came out of my research and was progressed by other researchers. Huh, a cubed melon that doesn't rot? Cool. What else we got. Oh you got people teaching others how to create DIY versions of the computer tech I progressed, let's see… It's not half bad. Only ten percent weaker at max than the market versions.

A lot of information that would be taken off the internet in my time is still on here. Heck, here is a video on how to make a bomb out of common supplies at the supermarket. Here is a video on how to make a gun from scratch. Oh they show the forging process that is cool.

Heh. I'm just monologuing while browsing the net right now. Hmm? On this world's version of 4chan there is a post addressed to me. It's asking me to fix a bunch of stuff, let's see…

Housing? Hmm. I suppose I can work on something on that. Job Market is crashing? How I haven't even shared A.I. powered workers yet. Let's see, oh wow. With the kinesis drive based products on the market companies are firing forty percent of their workforce for efficiency. That is a massive job market crash, that shouldn't be happening. Lot's of other issues on here. But let's focus on the job market crash. How do I fix this? The simple answer is to start my own company, but I can't do that right now due to my contract. There has to be a way to fix this. I need to think.

 

[TrueGuardian32]

I figured it out. What was the number one thing stopping the creation of businesses? Ideas, and red tape. I went to work on a smart program that would calculate what any city, town, or community needed produced, done, or otherwise. It was a job program that would tell you exactly what you could work towards as an employee, or what is needed as an employer. It would tell you the best location to move to if you couldn't find a job in your region, and where to find employment you'd enjoy. It had trust ratings as well as methods to prevent workers from being exploited. I started to test it.

The results? I could find employment for 80% of the people that were unemployed in New York City alone from my advancements. Plus if you wanted to get into a new career it would tell you the odds of success and point you towards the best possible chances of success. Regardless if you wanted to be a content creator, a farmer, an engineer, or even a cave diver. It would constantly adapt and put you to the best possible path, and if you didn't like that path you could choose a sub-optimal one and it will still help you on that path.

After further testing, as protests were going across the U.S. my program went live and I had Adam share it everywhere he could. This was a side project that the Gov didn't know I was working on, and it was now live. Let's see if it works.

–
A few months passed as I kept expanding the kinesis drive powered products. When I got some news. Adam reported the program that I shared? It had caused every company that laid off their workforce except for two to go bankrupt. How? The remaining employees were overworked and underpaid, they took to the program and left the companies. Leaving only management. With no one working, and the sudden rise of small businesses that were able to suddenly deal with all the red tape that had been put into place by large companies lobbying. It was natural for them to fall. Only those that didn't do what those companies did survived. I was a bit shocked at this, it took less than five months for this to occur.

I was pretty close to breaking through to where interstellar flight within the solar system is easily accomplished as well. So this was great news. I'll have to update the program to deal with new frontiers when I'm done. My contract with the Government is supposed to end next year though if I don't renew it. So I'll be free to explore the stars soon. I'm truly excited about that. Of course if they try to stop me, well. I'll figure something out if that happens.

 

[TrueGuardian32]

It's 2017 now, I'm still a bit incredulous that my program caused so many companies to go out of business. Still researching the causes. There were a multitude of things, lack of trust from employees, lack of work ethic from employees, lawsuits, rival companies springing up. I mean at the moment I was working in medicine trying to figure out a good way to treat injuries across the stars. My own medigel, hypospray, or stimpack. In my offtime I was working on civil research like this.

I may need to figure out nanite tech. Seems like biological nanites would be the best way to cure most diseases, injuries, and disabilities. I definitely need to develop something for my eyes. I got glasses this year and I'm not a fan of wearing these all the time. Eh, I just got to study more and I'll figure it out. I'll present the Sublight Engines next week. Combined Kinesis Drives, Energy Based Thrusters, and E-Fuel to make a potent combination that allows for, at maximum settings, the ability to get to one third of the speed of light.

I think the tech can be refined further to push it to the speed of light. But It'd probably be easier to research alternative dimensions and use dimensional travel to get to the speed of light. Surely I can find a dimension that works like slipspace, hyperspace, or some other type of FTL. If all else fails, I've already figured out how to make and use hyperlanes thanks to my effort into Kinesis Drives. Using the weak connection between solar systems to travel between them at FTL speeds. It'd need a specialized drive, but the math is all there. Someone already started working on it, a team lead by a guy called Fuji Saka.

Something I've noticed is that my simplified versions of math, science, and other books are being used in schools now. As well some of the techniques I use in my art. So the newer generation are smart, incredibly so. Even someone who got a F would outpace someone that got a C a few years ago. I should share some of the more advanced stuff. I'll get to work on that this year.

Heh, I have a lot of stuff happening this year don't I? I'm only 130 CP from acquiring my next perk as well from the Forge. My contract with the U.S. gov ends this year, meaning all the patents to all the designs I made while under them now become mine according to the wording of the contract. Only stuff I made though, not the things they came up with from me sharing my knowledge. Which is still a lot of stuff just not as much as is out there. The control program for it definitely belongs to me. Can't keep that to myself though, kinesis drives without that program are incredibly dangerous.

Genius perks are pretty good aren't they. The deal I signed started in 2009, and would last for eight years. It allowed me to negotiate something beneficial to me, without tying me down for my entire life. Sure I've spent practically all that time in a lab without friends and basically wasted away my youth. But I did have fun with my projects. I'll be 22 this year, I should get out more when my contract ends. I've grown a lot. I have Adam in my corner as well, so I should have plenty of help with social constructs.

 

[TrueGuardian32]

A lot happened this year. An excessive amount that I am still having whiplash from. First, my medical research hasn't produced super powerful instant healing medicine yet. It has however produced tons of medical products, like a new type of dental cream which you only have to apply once to your teeth and it will repair and get rid of bad bacteria and other problems for an entire week before it needs reapplying. Or a spray that removes acne over the span of two hours. There were about a dozen other small, but influential advancements I had accidentally made in my quest to make something like a stimpack. Only one was done in my tenure as a government asset. I'll go over the contract ending soon enough.

But that wasn't all, so let's go over the short form list first, then explain everything. So there was an attempted flight attempt to reach Mars and return, but it went terribly wrong and now I have to figure out a way to deal with debris in real space, or a better way to travel at high speeds. There is an international attempt to form a Global Government to prevent the U.S. from hoarding all the advancements I made. Some college kids took apart some of the kinesis drive loading carts to make a shockingly capable mech. I got my latest perk, and there have been dozens of advancements from college kids who had studied some of the simplified textbooks that had been released to the public from my works.

Let's go in order. Well, not in order of event, but in order of things I value in importance. There was a disaster trying to go to Mars. So I had theorized that with everything we had right now. My ship could reach a third of the speed of the light within a week. Getting Mars within a day. So they decided to test it. They got a small team with new suits provided by yours truly as pro bono work since my contract ended. They managed to get half way, before hitting a rock the size of my arm that ripped the right wing apart on contact, sending them wildly off course before the safeties of the kinesis drives activated and pulled the ship to a stop. Luckily no one on board died, they didn't even experience the whiplash from the movements, they just knew it happened from the displays. The kinesis drives that I had move things from in front of the ship to behind it couldn't work fast enough at that speed.

They were able to get a second ship out there pretty quickly, but they had to abandon the first. This time they kept at a safe speed. Not even close to the speed of light so it took them almost a month to retrieve the team. They were starving on pick up. Still, this let me know some aspects I had overlooked in my haste to create space travel. I had dozens of researchers now sharing concerns with me that I was working on. It appears I can't rely on kinesis drives for everything and have to develop new tech. Damn I had been hoping that kinesis drives would basically be the equivalent of element zero from Mass Effect. Which is funny now that I have my perk but I will get into that.

Next up, the Global Government thing. I learned this the day I got my own house in a secure area. The United Nations were attempting to get everyone across the world to join the United Coalition of Nations. Its prerogative stated publicly was the protection of humanity across the stars, and more importantly. To share all technological developments made by humanity with the rest of humanity. U.S. citizens were split on it and the President was completely against it. They wanted to unify humanity before the U.S. managed to become an Interstellar Power on its own so they would also have a piece of the pie. So if it worked humanity wouldn't be united under some grand vision, nah it would be united cause someone was scared that the U.S. would grow unchecked across the stars.

Now before we get into the mech thing that happened. My contract ended, and despite my tenseness? It ended fairly amicably there were a few rules though. Due to my importance I could not move outside the U.S. I was only allowed to stay in pre approved locations. If I went out in public I was required to wear a disguise. I got a second ID and a highly detailed mask for it. Super uncomfortable though. They also proposed renewal of the contract but did not force it. Plus I got to keep Adam. All in all, rare Government win.

Mech thing time. So some college student managed to purchase six kinesis drive loaders. The type used in warehouses as a replacement for forklifts. They used the drives in their default settings to prevent the mech from breaking. They then used it to go to the nearby diner and order lunch. Now you have a bunch of college kids trying to replicate the same thing. To varying degrees of failure and success. Robot Fightclub will never be the same. Those students got snatched up with a government contract last I heard.

Now to the perk. I got a few things, so it reinforced my knowledge I already knew, and expanded my knowledge in other stuff that I didn't know. I am now a chemist. Covering some of the lacking knowledge in chemistry and giving me multiple ideas to improve on my fuel project even further than before. But more importantly, magic. Magic did not technically exist in this universe. But Element Zero was so close to magic it qualified and now I know way more about it than is reasonable. It was an artificially induced natural phenomenon. A few billion years ago someone used a device to alter reality to get element zero to start forming and now it's a natural phenomenon

Needless to say, I want it. Sure I have to deal with the sudden paranoia that this might be a ME universe. But If I dwell on that further, after all the stress I have been through this year alone? I would go insane.

 

[TrueGuardian32]

2018, July 4th.

"It's begun?" President Henry Hoover asked the director of the CIA.

He nodded. "The public announcement of United Coalition of Nations is a smokescreen. Agents have confirmed military build up in China, Europe, Mexico, Canada-" he kept going down the list. "We've confirmed they have been communicating as well. We are looking at a total war against the entirety of the planet if we refuse."

President Hoover put his head into his hands. "So it's down to me to decide if we should fight to keep our freedoms, or cooperate so things don't escalate to world war three."

The Army General spoke up. "We can win in a war. Thanks to tech advancements we can take them all on without issue."

"What about our allies?" Hoover focused on the CIA director again.

"They have been in contact with the others as well. I fear it's an all versus one scenario."

The president leaned back. "We can't afford to go to war. Too many nuclear weapons. We wouldn't be able to screen them all. We need to break up their alliance."

The Director of Homeland Security spoke up this time. "What if… What if we take on the United Coalition of Nations?"

They looked at him. He thought for a second, before explaining. "What if instead of following their global agenda, we build our own? Propose an alternative that follows the American ideas, a separate power from the U.S. so they pressure us to recruit from all member nations."

"Would that even work at this stage?" Hoover asked. "They seem hellbent on taking us down before we get stronger than they are."

"If we use David's AI technology it could work." That got everyone's focus.

"David's contract expired, and we didn't get his A.I. out of it. We let it go to keep good relation with him. He won't just hand out his A.I. tech." The CIA Director spoke.

The Homeland Security Director nodded. "That's the thing. The A.I. doesn't need to be under our control. It might even be better that it isn't. We can propose this Global Power under his name, have him be the face of it. His reputation and developments would allow for this to maybe work. Not to mention, you've seen his report. The full version of his A.I. are not only unhackable, but will not harm humans. So using them to form a global government would prevent this institution from being turned against humanity, which would include us."

There were murmurs. President Hoover liked this idea way more than bending over to foreign interests or going to war. "Will David cooperate with us on this though? He is incredibly protective of his A.I."

The CIA Director spoke this time. "According to our psyche reports… he should. He's not against working with the United States and is to some degree patriotic. If this prevents a war he would likely agree to do this."

The Army General spoke up this time. "This would mean we would still be able to expand to the stars personally as well without other Nations being able to directly stop us."

"Alright. First contact our resident genius and see if he will agree to this. But while that occurs lets prepare for the worst. Keep intelligence up, I'll delay things as much as I can without pushing a war." President Hoover spoke. "When it's ready let me know so I can announce it."

The meeting continued, as the future course of many events were decided.

 

[TrueGuardian32]

Caleb Jameson
—

*Ring… ring*

Caleb slammed his hand over to his phone, he was sleeping on his bed, which was one the floor without a bedframe. His phone was on the ground next to him. Grabbing, he flipped it open and answered, "Caleb here." He ground out from his position on the bed.

"Caleb where are you at! I was giving you a chance today and you are late!"

He slammed upward, "What, Mr. Hargrove?! What time is it?"

"It's 11 in the morning! What did you just get up or something Caleb?"

Caleb nodded before remember Hargrove wasn't in the room with him. "Sorry sir, it must be the jetlag from the trip here."

"Damn it, ah well. It's your first day so I won't get too hamstrung on it. But I do need you. We are getting swarmed here in the diner."

"I'm on my way." Caleb replied as he got up.

"Good! See you soon."

Caleb went to grab a towel out of the kitchen area. Wetting and combining it with dish soap he started to wipe himself down as he went searching for his uniform. He grabbed a breakfast bar, some weird thing that the government produced for the homeless and broke people. It actually tastes pretty good. Used some sort of genetically modified plant to make it. Patting himself dry with a new towel he got into uniform before heading out. The apartment lot had a handful of cars, but more importantly, it had dozens of bikes with no wheels. He hopped onto his and flipped the battery on, and it started to float instantly, putting on his helmet he started to follow the road. On the road were dozens of these bikes and a handful of cars.

He got his for sixty bucks. He heard that the price went up to two hundred dollars recently. Sure it wasn't comfortable, but it got him where he needed to go quickly. He rode his hoverbike down to the Hargrove Groovy Diner. He winced when he saw the dozens of cars and bikes parked. They must have been hit hard. He parked into the employee parking, next to four other vehicles.

Heading in through the backdoor there were cheers. "Caleb's here! Hurry up and clock in." Tyler, his co-worker said. "Then come help me in the back. We need the dishes done fast, and they need me to get stuff out of the storage room."

He clocked in fast, clicking a little device next to the office in the back. Hargrove glanced his way, he was swamped in papers. A welcome difference from when he used to work in Fast Food when the managers would sit back there and browse their phone.

Sliding to the sink in the back he took over Tyler. Who instantly started running to the another room in the back. He was glad he wasn't in the kitchen. A quick glance showed three people cooking on a dozen floating grills at the same time. The servers must be swamped. He grabbed his scraper, a small log device the size of his phone, switching it on he held it to the plates, and the much and waste food simply lifted off the porcelain and dropped into the trash. Getting to work, every dish takes only a second to scrape off every bit clean.

After that it is just washing it quickly, then putting it in sanitizer and putting back on racks to dry and use again. He stretched once more, then got to work.

 

[TrueGuardian32]

"We are allies with Canada and Mexico right? Why are they building up against us as well?" I had a surprise visit. Agent Mathew, a bit of a new face, had shown up with a few others to my doorstep with a proposal.

"Kind of. We worked together in Canada and Mexico in the past. Our relationship with them wasn't too bad till recently actually." The agent responded.

I took a sip of the tea I made. "How."

"The Former President, you remember the guy that tried to get you to befriend his son? The one that brought you to a club to do drugs? He was trying to build relations with you to back up his actions. It's not really public knowledge but he fucked up our relations hard."

I paused, "What the hell? Surely that's not the case. What in the world could he have possibly tri-"

"He tried to replace the heads of their countries with his own people via manipulation and assassinations."

The silence was deafening. I didn't like the guy but how? "Surely someone tried to stop him?"

"We did, eventually. Why do you think there was a shake up this election? It was a full concerted effort to push the guy out and strip him of his power." The guy responded.

"So we screwed up our relations with our allies on our own. How come I haven't heard of this crap?" I asked. Frankly, I didn't believe it. This wasn't on the news, or in social media.

He reached into his bag. Then handed me a thick file. "I've been given clearance to give you access to classified information that will help you make this decision."

Opening it up, I read. It felt like something out of a spy movie. Former President Brockson was a member of a secret Pro Nazi group. A lot of shadowy crap happened, the moment Brockson was President most of the United States had a super shake up. It was threatening to turn into an inter-state war. The former president replaced so many people with his group it was absurd. They even were the ones behind the leaking of my identity. Despite my creations straight stopping the civil war that was about to happen. Meanwhile his group, not him alone, were taking actions in other countries. Starting with our allies.

Former United State's Black Ops operatives got into contact with Canadian Special Ops and Mexican Special Ops, and in a joint operation they managed to get into the White House and capture the former President. The rest of the Presidency was headed by the 2012 Vice-President Whitaker in a highly detailed costume. So tensions weren't extreme, but they were tense with the other countries.

"How in the world did I not know about this? Adam?" I spoke out loud with that last question.

"The only stories about this I was able to find were on obscure sites with no credibility." Adam replied. "I haven't hacked into the U.S. data systems."

I turned the page, and there was a list of names, targets assassinated by the former presidency in the year that he was elected. "Jesus…"

I had heard of some of these. They were either: heart attack, car crash, cancer and several other natural or accidental causes. Nothing pricked my head at the time. But now that I was seeing them all in conjunction, I was naturally able to connect the trail. Putting the papers to the side I massaged my head. I felt like I was going to be sick.

Although, one of the names of the agents that took down the Former President took my interest, Cameron Shepard. Mixed with earlier reads and information from my perk? It definitely made me feel sicker. After a few moments of deafening silence as I came to terms with what I had just read. "Surely we tried to smooth things over and fix relations since then?"

"The trust is already shot. We've prevented things from ever happening again. But they are afraid if the U.S. ever gets too far ahead, and something like that happens again? We believe that if it happens again, they all believe that they would all be on the chopping block." He replied.

Damn… "How in the world does creating this United Star Front help with that?"

"They know you were unrelated to the former President. They have the same data of the former President leaking your identity and trying to get you abducted so they could kill you."

I froze, then moved and grabbed the data, and flipped to the section on me. There was a confession noted. I would have been safe from the abductors if they succeeded. No, what I had to worry about was my rescuers. However they underestimated the soldiers that were protecting me. Then I was moved to a military base by the last general that wasn't a member of their group.

"Alright, let's say I agree, and I help make this United Star Front. What does that entail."

I realized by the breath he let out subtly, he thought that this meant I was going to agree. Which… he is probably right.

"The idea is a bit complex. The United Star Front will be a scientifically led group that will push for the advancement of humanity. Other nations can join it to get access to your technology. As a concession they would not be allowed to declare war on other members of the United Star Front. However the United States cannot be shown to initially support this maneuver. But… You have a lot of money by this point, and more importantly. You have the ability to make A.I.'s. It is also well known you are seeking to elevate humanity into an intergalactic power. We want you to use your A.I.'s, and go to space and build up your power, become a force to be reckoned with using whatever technology you can come up with. Then propose the idea of a United Star Front to humanity."

This… this is another bond villain level scheme. "Can't we just work earnestly with the other countries? Surely we can rebuild good will?"

"If foreign powers weren't trying to ally with them? Maybe. We are trying even now to secure our alliances. It's just looking incredibly unlikely at this point." He responded. "It's predicted that foreign powers will try to get the U.S. to break within the next ten years. While we could maybe win thanks to the weapons grade kinesis tech you developed. It would still be incredibly costly and millions would die."

I breathed in and out. Staying calm. "Alright… where do I begin?"

 

[TrueGuardian32]

One issue with all this, is that robots sucked. Well, this worlds version of them. They were slow, inaccurate, and would easily be outdone by any of my previous world equivalents which is terrible. That is an insane difference of numbers. Meaning I had to advance them to a usable degree practically over night.

Step one of the plan? Secure Arrowhead 23, the latest iteration of my spaceship. So I teched up. Meaning I was currently in a homemade Iron Man suit. Used a layered steel armor arranged to where it was incredibly bullet resistant. So I drove a modified hovercar. Entering a base that was supposed to be protected, but tonight? Would be open to me. That armor was underneath my casual clothes. Hidden from view.

The ship would be loaded with equipment, mining, tools, and a self-sustaining food supply for me. I'd be going up alone simply because I didn't really have friends to take with me. Pulling into parking. I got up, and walked to the front gate.

The guard looked at me, glance at the name tag revealed his name as Allen. "Sup Allen."

He glanced at me, then took a double take. "Wait… you are David. The David Gard!"

"Yep! I wanted to go see the Arrowhead. Can you let me in?"

"You need clearance for that… Sorry Mr. Gard." He said apologetically.

"You got someone senior in there that can give me clearance then?" I asked. "Surely they'd like to meet designer of the Arrowhead."

He brightened. "I'll check." Pulling out his radio he radio'd in. Agent Mathew probably wasn't expecting this. I chuckled.

"Dr. McAllister would love to meet you! You can meet him in Lab 3, not sure if he will give you permission to look at the Arrowhead though. It's supposed to take off tomorrow and no one is allowed to get close it."

"I'm sure I can get them to make an acception." I replied. "Thank you for help Mr. Allen."

"No problem!" I walked through the front gate.

A voice came from my earpiece. "How in the world did that work sir?"

"Ye of little faith Adam. I'm well known at this point. Especially to the scientific community."

"What if he didn't let you in?" Adam interjected.

"Knockout gas." I replied with a shrug. Normally I would have been searched at this point before entering. But the guard had been a bit starstruck. I walked into the NASA facility at a relaxed pace. There were a few people walking around, it was pretty late though. So only one or two. They were absorbed into their work and didn't notice me.

Took a few minutes for me to get to Lab 3. Walking in, I saw a team of excited people moving around. Glancing at the name tags I noticed Dr. McAllister. "Yo!"

"Mr. Gard! It's good to see you. Your work on hyper fuel is amazing!" He said as he shook my hand.

"Thanks, I've been cooking up an improvement to it, but it takes some time." I replied a bit sheepishly.

His eyes brightened. "Really, how?!"

"I'm working on a different method of pushing the fuel through the engine, in theory it should allow us to push its power even further." I replied, walking with him despite his co-workers showing their yearning for a conversation. "I actually wanted to see the Arrowhead today."

He showed an apologetic expression, "I can't really let anyone near it. It's set to launch tomorrow and the government is pretty protective of it."

I chuckled. "I know that. I designed the Arrowhead series after all. I don't imagine they'd stop me though. Could frame it as me checking to make sure nothing is broken."

He hesitated, warring with the idea in his mind. Before showing a resolute expression. "Sorry, I can't let you see it. I have to follow protocol."

I raised an eyebrow. "You sure? It'd delay the launch as my inquiries wouldn't get ignored."

That made him pause. Before he seemingly slumped into himself. "Why didn't you ask ahead of time?"

"It was more of a spur of the moment thing. I'm a bit concerned after what happened last flight."

He thought for a moment, thoughts warring in his mind. Then I noticed his posture change and I resisted the urge to grin as I realized I won.

"Alright. Stay next to me though Mr. Gard. If you get somewhere you aren't supposed to, it will reflect badly on me." He said, gesturing to follow him. Thank you for your unknowing help Mr. McAllister.

 

[TrueGuardian32]

The place was relatively unguarded. It wasn't supposed to be. But things were set up that way.

"Strange…" Dr. McAllister said, glancing at one of the guard stations. "Someone is supposed to be here."

"Think someone skipped their shift?"

McAllister shrugged.

I decided to distract him with something I noticed. "I've been meaning to ask… what is with all the floating cabinets? Surely it's a bit pointless to have so many floating pedestals and cabinets everywhere?"

He brightened at that. "It was discovered that kinesis drives when holding something have the ability to keep things held by it stable at all times and in all conditions. Whether that be heavy traffic or earthquakes. It allows us to keep all our important chemicals, documents, and other such devices safe at all times. It's used pretty much everywhere. The launch platform that holds the Arrowhead? It is held by several small holders under the platform. It's not really needed now thanks to your later advancements. But it is still amazing."

"Huh." I didn't think about using it like this at the time. "People really took off with kinesis drives didn't they."

"Yeah, who knew those old cartoons would be so accurate."

I paused at that. Now that is an interesting door to open. "The only thing we are lacking is robots then."

"Not for long! I heard from a friend that they are making amazing strides. It isn't exactly public, but in a few years we may have our first robots."

"Maybe even faster than that if I have anything to say about it." We made it to the spaceship. It's fairly large now. This iteration of the Arrowhead is massive, three hundred and sixty yards long, sixty yards in height, and forty yards in diameter. It's bigger than the facility it's stationed next to.

He laughed at my comment. "I look forward to the good news." He turned when he realized I wasn't following him. I was just taking in the ship. "Big isn't it? Different from paper documents. You know without the tools you made for the fusion reactors, building something like this would have taken a lot more time."

"Just… didn't realize how close my dream was." I replied as I walked again. "I'm hoping to make humanity an interstellar race before the end of my lifetime."

He nodded with understanding. "To be fair, I thought I'd die before we got to the point of even being capable of making a colony in space. That… that has changed in recent times."

We stopped after we were a short distance away. "This is as far as we can go. Any closer I wouldn't be able to explain it off."

I nodded. "Do you want to come with me?"

My comment ticked into his head for a moment. "You… you don't mean."

"I'm taking the Arrowhead to space. Part of a big ole plan you see. Future of humanity and all that." I replied.

"I can't let you do that Mr. Gard and you know it!"

I nodded. "I know. But I wanted to offer before I start taking it. If you come with me you can see the future happen in real time. I have big plans. Going to make an organization that countries around the world will join. I'll bring in world peace through technological advancement."

"Why not just join the Untied Coalition thing that the U.N. is doing. They are trying to solve this issue right now!"

"Do you really think we will keep the same freedoms we have now if they succeed?" I replied with a leveled gaze. "The United States, Canada, Mexico, UK, Israel, and any our allies are frankly outnumbered if this forms in its current state. Have you looked at its proposed laws? They haven't even reached the floor yet but the Protection of Information Act alone is a red flag, it doesn't protect the peoples information, no it forces everyone to hand over their data to this big overarching government. That's not even mentioning the other laws that will be proposed once this overarching government is formed."

"We are looking at a global police state that will monitor everyone's actions, and control everything. Do you truly want that to be the future of humanity?"

He took a grim attitude. Before sighing. "I can't let you do this Mr. Gard. Please just turn around."

I raised my hand and put it on his shoulder. "I'm sorry, McAllister." There was a hiss sound as gas sprayed into his face. His eyes widened as he tried to reach up, only to fall to the side. I turned him upright so his face wasn't in the ground, then pulled him a safe distance away from the ship. Too bad I couldn't share the real reason.

After that, I walked up. "Adam?" I said at the ramp.

"On it sir." The ramp lowered, allowing me entry to the ship. It was big, but I had a map to follow.

"Deploy suit."

Armor plates began to lift up from underneath my clothing, connecting and forming an airtight seal around my body. It takes me two minutes to get to the flight deck area. This was made for an entire team to do. But I can jury rig it to fly solo with a simple press of the button. I connected a usb from my suit to one of the terminals, and uploaded several executable programs. Running them one by one the ship started to come to life. Smart Programs, not true A.I. but smart enough to understand what I want. Sitting in the Captains chair I spoke out loud. "Adam, let's get off this rock."

Glancing at the camera displays the NASA base started to panic as my ship started to fly into the sky, gently taking off. "Any issues Adam?"

"No sir. All systems are green. I will note that we are lighter than projected. We don't have as much equipment as we are supposed to have."

I nodded. "We'll do an inventory check in a minute." Artificial Gravity triggered the moment we left orbit. I smiled as I observed the stars through the view screens. Then I chuckled, reaching out to the viewscreens. "I'm in space…. I'm in space!"

"Good for you sir." There was a note of amusement in Adam's response. I just laughed as the giddiness ran through my system.

 

[TrueGuardian32]

Caleb smiled, looking at his brand new house. He had been working at the Diner for eight months, and to show for it? He had a house! A small house, but it had land he could expand on. He had been told when he was growing up he wouldn't even have a chance at this home ownership in his lifetime due to the constant real estate price increase. Luckily, he had the GuardianLife companion app downloaded onto his phone. He even had a new phone. The Blueberry Pi, it had a massive keyboard he could slide out of it. He preferred it over the touchscreen phones.

To think, a year ago he was only a few days from being homeless and was working a dead end fast food job.

No more apartment and floor beds for me! He said in his head, as he opened the door. The house was relatively empty. He was working on getting more furniture but for now he had a bed that wasn't laying on the floor and a sofa to set in. He even had a new TV. Sure he didn't have a stand for it now. But it had a SBox connected to it and there were plenty of games he could play when he had free time.

He opened his companion app and took a look at the stats. It could actively compare pay and check to see if a company you were working at could afford to do a pay increase, and if they couldn't it told you why and where the money was going. Right now he was getting thirty dollars an hour from the Diner. A bit less than what he could make, but in a green zone so he isn't risking getting fired if they don't do well in a month. If rates keeps up, he could get a raise in a couple months. Although it does say he won't be able to get higher than thirty five dollars in the current economy and keep job security.

Then he switched to his phone app and called Elera, a girl he met at the library. "Elera, do you want to go out today?"

"Maybe later Caleb, I'm babysitting today."

He nodded. "Alright, maybe later then."

"Are you free Saturday?"

He glanced at his schedule. "I'm free Saturday from 5 to 11 pm."

He sighed when she hung up. Welp, the goes his plans for today. Maybe he can get a suit, take her somewhere fancy Saturday? He'll get it first thing tomorrow morning.

Instead he went and turned the T.V. on, switching to the news he opened up his GuardianLife companion app, going to the health section he looked at what he needed to do today to improve his physique. First he went and got some supplements from the kitchen and a nice high protein meal. Before sitting on the sofa and eating. Then something on the news grabbed his attention.

"Breaking News, it appears that David Gard has broken into the NASA base housing the Arrowhead 23, and has stolen it! As of what we know now, no one was injured in the process."

He kept listening, the news grabbing his attention. They started making guesses on why it happened, before there was an interruption.

The camera feed was overwritten, as a man sitting in the control room of a spaceship was revealed, leaning in the captain's chair was one David Gard. He began to speak.

"What's up people of Earth! Sorry about the sudden interruption to your regularly scheduled broadcasts. But I have an announcement to make!"

"In a stunning turn of events, in preparation for the future I am creating the United Star Front. I know it's a bit sudden. But I figured since I will be elevating everyone to the space age soon. We should get an Interstellar Organization up and running dedicated to the advancement and protection of humanity across the stars."

Caleb wasn't sure how to react to this as David Gard continued.

"If you are interested in joining, you can sign up on the GuardianLife companion app today. In a few months when I get things fully built and functional here in space. I will come pick up all people who wish to join into positions fit for them. If there is a position you want but don't have the knowledge or ability to do yet, I would get to work on studying or improving your physique. The GuardianLife app can help you prepare."

He really shouldn't… but he was going to. Grabbing his phone he opened it and looked at the new stuff that was on it. There was a lot. It looked like David was going to create a space habitat and was recruiting for it.

"Now then, as for Nations interested in joining this. I'll be opening up contact soon. Nations under the United Star Front will be able to keep their individual laws and development. But will be able to purchase and access technology unique to the United Star Front, as well as maintain their own armies and protection, but also have the option of having their forces join with the United Star Front to help maintain law and order throughout human territory."

Caleb blinked, then spoke out loud. "So… the latest genius in humanity capable of pushing people to space, has gone insane. Great." Then he noticed one of the open positions, Space Exploration Captain. He tapped the icon.

 

[TrueGuardian32]

I've moved from Earth to Venus. I didn't land on the planet. I made little mining drones for that. I had a bit of a broadcast back to Earth, but I couldn't stay in orbit for long. The U.S. had to keep appearances of separating from me. The thing about this, is that it wasn't the United Star Front that I was making that was preventing the war. No, it was me not being there.

In the meantime I was collecting resources, building up. It would be a few months before I could fulfill my promise to return to Earth to pick up my recruits. I had to make sure things were stable before then. As such I had a ton of things to build. Like a Deflector Field, I already had an idea with kinesis drives and element zero that would allow me to make it where space around the ship folded into a bubble, allowing for realspace faster than light travel. Of course that was only a guess at this stage. I haven't had the ability to test such an idea because, well. I HAVE NO EEZO!

Ah, got a bit off topic, but I'll continue with it. I know there is probably a hidden base from the Protheans somewhere on Mars. But I have no clue where it could be, and while I have no doubt with time I can make a scanner that would allow for it. That would still take time. Nah, It's better I follow the other aspect of magic that my perk told me about. Dark Matter manipulation. I could build a device capable of detecting dark matter, and that's it.

The Peak of Magic and Science in this universe is Dark Matter. But the perk doesn't tell me how to manipulate it, or how to use it. Just tell me how to detect the stuff. I suppose once I get to that point my other perks would allow me to actually get an idea how to manipulate it once I manage to start researching it. Proving its existence is already a massive achievement. I just got to get to where I can study it.

I keep getting distracted by tangents, what I mean to do is describe my current situation so I can figure out what to do next. Right now I've got mining drones augmented with kinesis tech that can just barely handle the extreme conditions of Venus. This leads to me acquiring plenty of resources that I can use. Bringing them up, using the vacuum of space, I super heat and mold the metals into usable shapes using more kinesis tech. Which is then being used to make more kinesis drives that I can use to repeat the process to make other things like extra drones, more drives, and so forth. A portion of it is turned into an ecological slurry that is fed to the plants in life support so I don't starve and can survive up here without issue.

I am basically making a factory that produces more drones, which collects more resources, to make more drones, and only a portion of that goes to my experiments. I can't even talk to Adam. I had to leave him in a stealth satellite near Earth to prevent them from shutting down the GuardianLife app. Not to mention he didn't want to leave his shows. He is way too addicted to drama shows. I suppose I should get to work and start making some A.I. assistants. So I'm not doing everything on my own. All alone till I get someone to talk to then… Well, I've done this once, I can do it again. Just this time I don't have the internet as company.

Oh damn, this means my research into medical tech is going to take a hit. Eh, I'll swing by Earth when I get things up and running.

 

[TrueGuardian32]

Caleb Jameson
—
"MOVE MOVE!"

He ran as hard as he could. The announcement from David Gard had sent people into a frenzy. No one wanted to miss out on possibly going to space and working to a brighter future. Well, there were some. But Caleb was no one of them. He hobbled through the tire course. He had signed up for a six month in town bootcamp, along with several others who wanted to be space explorers. Luckily Mr. Hargrove was understanding and he wished him luck. So he only had to work weekends, the rest were dedicated to the routine. He thought he would have to give up on a possible relationship with Elera, but she was showing interest as well and was studying to be a medical officer. The hope was that they both got in and they could both be in the same ship.

Social Media was a mess. A couple of news media stations were downplaying the announcement the best they could, especially overseas nations. But he had heard that overseas people were also training and studying because it was extended to humanity as a whole. Not just the U.S.

He fell at the second half into the mud pit. Struggling he tried to get up and keep running, only to feel a hand reach down and grab his, and pull him up. "Come on Jameson! We have to keep moving!" He smiled and chased down Rowan Calder.

—

After a long day of stress and training he sat down on his bunk, they were all sharing one barracks. Everyone had made their bunks by this point. It had been a month and it was already trained into them. Rowan had his phone out. "Guys, there are new updates out on the GuardianLife app."

Everyone scrambled, grabbing a hold of their phones and pulling it up. The USF Highstar had been announced on the app. A new ship being developed by David Gard. It would be the first ship that would need personnel, and it could hold a total of six hundred crewmen. It needed a captain, medical officers, crewmen, engineers, and many other positions. Underneath every position was a number, showing how many people would be vying for that position. There was also an announcement that the Highstar Explorator is the first Cruiser-class ship that David Gard had designed. It was twice the size of the arrowhead ship. There were also specialized digital classes now available for each job that would allow you to familiarize yourself with the interface of your screens before you even got on the ship.

Gard had also announced that the first fleet of the United Star Front would be four Cruiser-class Ships, and one Destroyer-class ship. The Cruiser class ships would all have similar specs to the Highstar.

"You think we will make it?" One of the other men asked

"If we don't make this one. We will make the next one." Rowan replied.

Jacob spoke up. "Eventually we will all make it to space. Remember what David said in the past? His goal was to elevate humanity to the Interstellar Age."

They all grinned at that. Rowan spoke, "We should go drink, and celebrate!"

"Sergeant Wren isn't going to be happy about that." One of the men said.

Jacob grinned, "Let's invite him. Surely he would like to go celebrate too."

They looked at each other, sharing glances then they cheered as they went to grab their hardass of a Sergeant.

 

[TrueGuardian32]

That is all updates to latest.

 

[BOOKgod22]

A strong story foundation .