This soon-to-be-famous indie developer Ted McQuarrie is just the kind of unassuming man who will prove vital to the success of the Systemless Squad’s rebellion against the U.S. hegemony.

Nobody will ever see it coming, which is why it’s the greatest piece of my plan.

Ted McQuarrie will be famous in the future, and I will take great advantage of that fact.

I step inside his humble abode and see his messy computer desk, covered in sketches and scattered design documents and four monitors each displaying different coding applications.

I’m not nearly intelligent enough to deal with something like this. So I simply take it all in stride.

“So, sir,” McQuarrie begins, “who told you about Dungeon Core Saga?”

I smirk. “No one did. Or rather, my friend did, but it was already a very famous work by the time he did. Now, in this moment, it is simply a secret, is it not?”

“Wh...”

“I’m from the future, Ted McQuarrie,” I say to put any future confusion to rest. “I’ve come here to ensure that your game becomes the biggest video game franchise on the planet.”

“...Even bigger than Jak & Daxter?”

“Even bigger than whatever that is.”

He’s speechless.

“Yes?”

“I’m just... really excited about this,” he says.

“I’m glad you believe me. I was prepared to list various facts about Geralt Swashbattle in order to prove myself to you, but it seems I no longer have to.”

“Ah, Geralt Swashbattle.” McQuarrie flips one computer monitor over to a view of the famous rival character. “He sure isn’t working for me right now. His character arc just isn’t working in the story. But you’re saying he’s really protagonist material?”

I shake my head. “Ah, no. In eventuality, he becomes an important side character. Instead, the protagonist will be--” Before I reveal Blaze Blitzer, modeled directly after my image, I realize that it would be a temporally unethical thing to do and stop myself. “I apologize. I was about to make an error in the timeline?”

“What do you mean?”

“Well, I can’t tell you. Because then I will have been the one who created your protagonist, not you. It’s not fair to your own credit that I would be the one to design them. So I will allow the events to take place as they will.”

“Uh, okay.”

“Just know that inspiration will strike, and you will make an extremely famous game with the Dungeon Core Saga Series. It will wane in popularity for a while, until a popular video game streamer helps bring it back and a glorious revival occurs.”

“Streamer? What’s that?

“It doesn’t matter. What matters is... I didn’t come here simply for a fun time travel showcase. I came here to ask a major favor of you.”

McQuarrie. swivels around in his office chair. He looks a little disgruntled. “Hm, is it about money?”

“No, of course not. I’ve gotten more than enough income from selling gold. No, my favor is much larger than money. It’s a request for a special code put into your game.”

“Like, a nude mod?”

“No, a virus. A dormant piece of programming buried so deep in the software that no one could possibly uncover it. One that, when activated, will emit an electric energy field that knocks out the electronics of anything nearby.”

“Like, an EMP? Hidden in a video game?”

“Sure.” I don’t know if that is the correct terminology, but it sounds right.

“May I ask why?”

“No, you may not.”

McQuarrie snaps. “Dang, it sounds exciting. Well... I can think of something. You’re magic, right? Can you help me come up with some magical spell that’ll hide the virus and bypass any kernel restrictions?”

“Hmm... I can think of something, but--”

“Wait, nevermind,” he says. “I can just program the game in Perl. Nobody will even bother looking at the code.”

“Fair enough! Then, I need you to hide this code in every single iteration of the Dungeon Core Saga Series. Every game and application and official plugin. And most especially Dungeon Core Saga Tactics II! That will become the biggest smartphone game of all-time!”

“...What’s a smartphone?”

“Don’t worry about it.” Geez, is this what I was like when I first transported to Earth all that time ago? “Anyway, create the virus, embed it in all games in the series, and set it to activate on a certain date in 2024. When it goes off, it will help save the world.”

“Whoa.”

“Whoa indeed.”

I don’t tell him too many details, for fear of sapping his autonomy as a person. But Ted McQuarrie goes along with all my requests, and builds out the EMP system that will eventually disable much of the U.S. military’s equipment on Earth. It will also disable much of the electronics base of the entire world, but those are consequences I am willing to deal with.

It’s a bad idea. A horrible idea. From an objective standpoint, from a a practical viewpoint, from a coolness standpoint, it is all bad. But it’s the only plan I am capable of thinking about to solve this conundrum. For I remember in my battle to take back Santa Barbara that the U.S. was mysteriously crippled. It is one of the very final pieces of this oh-too-complex puzzle, and I am solving it with brute force. We captured California with shocking ease, and now I have created the reason.

The ultimate plan, then, is complete. Now all that’s left is to execute the end step.