Newgate attempted to avoid involvement in the French and Indian War.  But on August 19, 1761 the war came to the town.  Colonel Jean Baptiste Corell led 300 French troops and 50 Mohawks into the region to destroy all towns and farms which resisted him.  Those who knew about Newgate fled to the town for protection. 

With only an hour to decide on action, the mayor gathered his advisors in the town hall conference room. 

“Gentlemen, within the hour, a force of French soldiers and Mohawks will be here.  We can confront them and defeat them.  But we only have, counting ourselves, 40 men who are able to engage them in combat.  We are seriously outnumbered.  Do any of you have a suggestion on how to defend Newgate effectively?”

“We should tag them and transport them to another dimension,” suggested one man. 

“That will of course be done.  But those we don’t tag immediately could inflict damage upon some buildings and torch the forest around us.  The force fields that protect most of the buildings can not prevent damage from happening to those that aren’t protected.  Also, the natural insulation the trees provide from the winter winds will be gone if we allow the men to raze them,” said the mayor. 

“Since we are outnumbered, we should turn the table and outnumber them with the introduction of soldiers from other dimensions,” suggested another adviser. 

“You may have come upon the sollution to our problem.  Which dimensions do you suggest we contact for our defense?”

“There is one that employs projection spheres that can be programmed to be anything.  For as little as a pound of silver coins we can use as mercenaries 1000 spheres for upwards to three days.”

“And what if we were to decide to purchase them for permanent use?”

“Ten pounds of gold coins.”

The mayor sighed and said, “Let us employ them as mercenaries then.  Hopefully we won’t need them much in the future.” 

The treasurer walked over to a cabinet and opened a drawer full of silver coins.  He placed a handful of them on the platform of a digital scale and found they weighed a few ounces more than a pound.  He removed the excess until the monitor said there was a pound of coins.  The treasurer closed the drawer and carried the coins to the conference table the men were sitting around.  He handed them to the man who had made the suggestion.