Prologue
The Distant Present
We all know the old saying about when life gives you lemons. This proved true in the early decades of the 21st century when The Great Dimensional Merge occurred. After the mass panic and confusion gripped our lives, we were left with new opportunities. Opportunities which allowed us access to new technology and an understanding of science not known to humanity until then.
We were able to view timelines and dimensions as they are. Not as a line, but a big ball of wibbly, wobbly, timey-wimey stuff.
This is where I come into the story. I work for the government as a Time Sweeper. I can view the past and present of each dimension and different versions thereof. My job is to establish a historical timeline and make recommendations to my superiors about contact protocol. I suppose you could think of it best as me staring at computer screens most of my day and notating video. Only this has implications.
My current fascination is with an alternate early 21st century in the Commonwealth of Virginia, United States of America. The location is a self-sustaining, quasi-socialist city state known as CWCville. Please ignore the ludicrous spelling. It's meant to be pronounced "Quick-Ville" by its creator. If this perplexes you, be assured it is only the first of many, many things which will be difficult to comprehend at first.
You see, CWCville, in this timeline, is undergoing a massive change. After years of dictatorial rule by a self-proclaimed "Mayor" who ruled with an iron fist and brought many heartaches and tragedies to his people, the small town has a new leadership. The right-hand woman to the former dictator - Allison Amber - is now the mayor and is working with a roundtable of advisors from the Sonichu and Rosechu community to draft new policies and give their citizens a fresh start.
I'm sorry, there I go again. Sonichu and Rosechu are the other sentient species of inhabitants after humans. They are so-called Electric Hedgehog Pokemon. A biologist or physician could better explain, but in layman's terms they are bipedal anthropomorphic beings with average intelligence and cognitive abilities. They were created by the former dictator as extensions of his imagination and willed into existence.
The "chus", as I refer to them in my notes, are also known as problematic denizens of CWCville. They occupy menial positions such as law enforcement, infrastructure workers, and care providers. Most have inherited negative traits from their creator - notable laziness, greed, selfishness, and vanity and pride to an uncomfortable degree. Pure speculation from observation is this is why they maintain the societal positions they hold. And it is a bold move from Mayor Amber to attempt to bring them into her government. Maybe she is attempting to uplift them?
Also of note, in my personal time I have continued to observe alternate CWCville realities. One of these was a time where a dimension-hopping human known only by the initials BMP attacked their city, brutally slaughtering adult chu and their children alike. I am aware of the horror the previous statement can arouse, and the only comfort I can provide is that in BMP's reality, the chus were much worse and were, in fact, bolstered by the former dictator in their lifestyle.
However, I must confess I am still human myself and my personal hobby has become a fascination. One that has spurred me to attempt a similar action. Maybe this is self-serving revisionism on my part, but hopefully my actions will spur the Amber Era of CWCville into making better decisions than their predecessors. Remember earlier when I mentioned contact protocols? Our understanding of The Great Dimensional Merge allowed us to travel.
End notation.
With the personal data journal now closed, I stood from my bed and knelt, taking out a lockbox stored beneath. Inside was everything I would need: A trans-dimensional traveler, a black hooded sweatshirt similar to my forebearer, and two weapons: a thick leather blunt weapon known colloquially as a "blackjack" or "slapjack", and a 10-inch hunting knife in its sheath. I quickly dressed into the hoodie, applied the traveler to my left forearm, and placed both the blackjack and knife in holsters, one on each leg.
It was time.