I was never really a decent person. I had a degree in computer science, but that hardly made a difference to who I was. They said I was a one of the best computer geeks there ever was. It never mattered to me, I used my skills in to do one most notorious computer crimes ever, hacking. I would take jobs from the highest bidder, I actually made a really good living, and my family thought I was a programmer, but I kept them away from what I did from all of my work. Or what was left of my family was possible that they were all dead by now, tracked down by them, the people I didn't even have a name for. The last time I'd talked to my mom was at least 4 years from now.

I was currently hacking through the Pentagon, the person who had hired me had paid me handsomely, it was greed that bought me into the job, that was my motive. I barely broke a sweat breaking through the firewalls of the so called best protected building in the world. I hoped it was really just me being a genius as if not, then America had really really weak security.

I managed to get to the file I needed to extract, it was heavily encrypted, it actually took real work for me to take down, around an hour, which by my standards was way too long. I didn't beat myself down though, I just was in it for the cash. After breaking through the file I looked over what was inside for such a heavy encryption.

It was insane, a weapon of mass destruction, a bomb that may as well have been able to level mountains. I sat there, stunned. My mouse was hovering over the upload button. Greed hung in the air like a thick blanket, making the room feeling hotter then it actually was, but that was metaphorical. I survey the room I was in, as if to distract me from what I was about to do. It was barren, grey concrete walls, the same story went for the ceiling and floor, my desk was barren of any items, besides my wallet and the ring I had been given by my family.

That's when I decided to screw everything, by clicking the mouse button I was giving the document over to some guy that probably had some nefarious purpose, this was worse then any of the jobs I had taken before, and I regretted it almost as soon as I started uploading, but I didn't stop it. Halfway through the upload something popped up, it was a small text box.

Security breach detected, engage Purge protocol 13574

I attempted to override the command but it was thrice the strength of the encryption protecting the file in the first place. I started getting a overwhelming headache for no explainable reason too. I clutched my head in agony as the pain increased, when I looked at the screen it was completely white, before I could do anything else I inexplicably blacked out. The last thing I saw was my family ring which was pulsing with a soft blue light before I passed out.

"What the hell?" I woke up in a completely different place. I was in a small alley that was moderately dark. I got up with absolutely no idea where I was. I checked my phone in my pocket. The date was listed as June 21st, 2184. I immediately tried to call one of my friends, but my phone didn't have a signal for some reason and I lacked the ability to call without it. Stuffing the stupid thing into my back pocket I walked out of the alleyway to see if I really had traveled into the future.

And I almost had a panic attack in the middle of a normal day for other people as I surveyed the flying cars, futuristic buildings and fancy futuristic clothing that everyone was wearing, which seemed oddly familiar. Then something caught my eye, a bright orange hologram had popped up on someone's wrist, and then it dawned on me.

This was the Mass effect universe, there was no other feasible explanation other then that someone had drugged me, or that I was dreaming. I almost never dreamed and I was never addicted to any kind of drugs, plus the fact that no one would've checked in on me after I was unconscious since I never had many close friends after I had fled my home country and my family had never contacted me afterwards, so I doubted anyone had found me, much less drugged me either.

If this was the Mass effect universe then I had to stop the Reapers, and if this was 2184 then that meant that the Collectors had already killed Shepard and that he was currently being rebuilt, I had maybe 8 months to change everything, and I had to make that count, not just for myself, but for everyone else that deserved to live. If this was some Government experiment then...Well at that point I was so screwed anyway that I might as well play along.

...

It was purely luck that I managed to run into a pawn shop somewhat close to the alleyway where I found myself in, it looked very well off too, which was good since the stuff I was about to give up was probably worth a whole lot of credits, something I sorely needed in this world. I'd have to get an account first, but that would be suspicious, but money would do the talking, I get some money, then set up an account, and if anyone gave me an odd look then bribery would pull me through.

...

Putting all that money on a check was a great idea, especially since it was easy to hide, and I was likely to not get robbed if I concealed it in my leather jacket which I could definitely sell for more credits later, for now the 500,000 credits I had gotten for the ten 100 dollar bills I had in my wallet was sufficient. I didn't think they'd have that much dough, but I guess I was wrong. Now I'd need to cash this in and get a bank card, or whatever passed for that now anyway. I was glad the guy running the shop was too distracted by what I was offering either, as I would've been easy to track down if he wasn't distracted by the treasure that I was offering.

...

Setting up a bank account was easier then I thought, forward banking really pulled through for me this time, and the fact that it was all automated really saved my bacon. I cashed in my check almost instantly after I made it. The machine gave me a small card, and it actually hadn't changed much since the 2000s. It had my name, Tom Fisher, and a number in a fine print on the small chip. This was pretty similar to bank cards in my time, besides the fact that it was mostly just on a hologram, and the physical card was a tiny chip that could be inserted into an Omni-tool.

...

The next thing I proceeded to do was get an Omni-tool myself, which was easy, although the fact that the clerk gave me an odd look upon entering was definitely not good, but I still walked out with a top of the line Omni-tool with all the bells and whistles. It cost me around 700 credits, which normally would've been something to consider, but since my savings were ridiculous it didn't matter. I didn't even know half the stuff the clerk babbled on about, but it didn't matter, I'd adapt to all the new technology, I had time.

Upon exiting the store I was faced with a dilemma. It was getting dark out and I had no where to stay. Where the hell was I going to be able to stay the night?