The Arms Dealer — Day 3

Genre:  Science Fiction / Thriller

Logline 1:  Quantum Leap meets Lord of War

Premise: The story of a time-traveling arms dealer, who rather than selling weapons, sells tactics and strategies from the future to famous clients in the past. As a result, it turns out that much of the military "innovation" and history that we know has flowed backwards in time, with the future inspiring the past. For instance, Genghis Khan's Mongols (in 1219 AD) developed their "swarm" tactics by learning about Nazi Blitzkrieg in France (in 1940), and George Washington's daring retreat and escape by a fleet of rowboats across the East River during the Battle of Brooklyn (1776) was actually inspired by the British "all-hands" naval evacuation of Dunkirk (1940), not the other way around.

Background / plot line:  In addition to the satisfying reversal of history, one thrill of the narrative is in watching HOW the arms dealer establishes his credentials with his famous, would-be clients. Since he can not bring any futuristic gadgets with him through time to prove who he is and where he comes from, he must find innovative ways to convince his clients that he has something valuable to sell.

So in the case of George Washington, the arms dealer appears to Washington throughout his early life at key moments. He is the first to tell an adolescent George Washington that he should seek a martial career and join the Virginia Militia. And when 21-year old Washington goes on one of his first military missions, (on the Western frontier during the French and Indian War in 1754), it is only foreknowledge from the arms dealer that prevents the green Major from being ambushed in the wilderness and killed. It is that timely intervention that finally cements the arms dealer's place in young Washington's mind as a trusted, mythical advisor. (Once that bond is forged, the arms dealer doesn't appear to Washington again until many years later, during the Revolutionary War. Departing for so long has a powerful, weakening effect on Washington's confidence, just as finally reappearing to Washington again in a dire hour creates a very impactful return.) Finally, the fact that the arms dealer never seems to age, from Washington's perspective, also underscores the near supernatural value of the advice he has to sell.

Central Question: The ultimate mystery for the audience is in discovering just what the arms-dealer is after—and why—since it becomes clear early on that he is on a desperate hunt for something, and it isn't money or power or martial glory.