3 Chapter 3 - Functions of the watch

Sylzone woke up with sweat on his back.

"What's wrong?" Carmen asked, startled, moving onto the bed behind Sylzone, supporting his neck and back as he got up suddenly.

"The last memory.. was the son of the scientist himself.." Sylzone replied with shock in his voice.

Carmens' eyes widened a little. In a more serious voice, she gave her own comments on this revelation.

"So the very first memory happened to be in the far off future, and each subsequent memory chronologically appears to edge closer to the date of the original incident. Furthermore, each death seemed to be earlier and earlier, almost like the perpetrator was catching on to something. What happened afterwards, did you see?" Carmen asked.

Sylzone had to breathe in and out several times to stabilize himself before he responded.

"Now that you mention it, he did say 'You don't belong here,' and 'I don't know how you keep coming back.' " Sylzone replied.

Carmens' expression turned very grim.

After thinking a little more, she shook her head.

"It's impossible for him to know about the system. We are outside time and space, we are not affected by it. We are neutral. We do not interfere to help or impede anything. We just correct the timeline. He.. has to be talking about something else!" Carmen nodded.

"You guys don't interfere or impede?" Sylzone repeated in contemplation.

One of his other thoughts after hearing Carmen was that he could've used technology to force a similar force to give him abilities like Carmen, but after he remembered how the watch was beyond Carmens' knowledge, he shook that off as implausible.

"Wait.. if you guys are outside time and space, aren't you also omnipotent and omniscient?" Sylzone asked to clarify something.

Carmen stared at him for a few seconds.

"I know what you're thinking. If we have the power to pull you into the future, why don't I recognize that watch? It's more complicated than that. I.. am just a self defense mechanism created to assist you in figuring out what happened in this timeline. I have superiors.. They didn't tell me anything or didn't think it was useful for me to know. However, I think that conjecture is false as well. When I tried telling my superiors about the watch, somehow my mind blanked out, almost like it didn't want me to reveal its existence. In fact, I think I only see it because you see it, and you trust me, therefore I see it because you allowed me to see it?" Carmen explained.

That was a lot of complex variables and mechanics that took a while for Sylzone to digest. Then, he took that information and sifted through his last memory. If the watch can elude detection, this supports Carmens' claim that it's highly likely that mysterious man didn't know about the 'host' inside the boy. The only logical explanation then is that, he found out about something he wasn't supposed to find, and in the process, he got caught and ended up on that table. However, the boy clearly didn't die mysteriously so something must have happened. Did he get brainwashed, cloned, or something else? That mysterious man is also related to the scientist as well. And all of this happened after that period of isolation where he became obsessed with martial arts. It was all tied in some way and that's what Sylzone needed to find out.

"I think, that the man is involved in some sort of secret organization. He wasn't present in any of the other memories but the one with the boy. He stays in the shadows and acts upon opportunities. The discovery of the gravaton wasn't enough to peak his interest. It was only after the scientists' emergence after an isolated period where he was obsessed with martial arts that such strange things happened" Sylzone thought out loud.

Carmen perked her eyes up.

"What do you think is the connection?"

"I think that possibly.. He wanted to integrate the products that Gravaton Industries had made.. Maybe for self defense? Why stay in the shadows until then though? It's not like you can suddenly rule the word just because you're wearing a suit of metal" Sylzone explained.

"Well, I can always ask them if they notice any particular abnormalities" Carmen replied. "Martial arts involves the manipulation of certain bodily energies right? If they can detect anything weird, that could possibly give us a lead on this man."

Sylzone nodded in response.

"Since the other half of the memory is missing, there's nothing we can do. We just have to carry out a normal day until something pops up" Sylzone said.

"Right! Until I get more information, that's the best choice!" Carmen nodded enthusiastically. "By the way.. Are you confident in handling the classes your body chose? He was a genius after all."

Sylzone turned towards the desk by his bed. Next to the alarm clock was a piece of paper with some names and times listed on it. That was his schedule. He reached over and picked it up. He had appeared in this body a few days before the start of the semester. As a freshman, most of the classes seemed familiar to him. This was understandable. He was a university senior in his past life studying at a famous university, almost the same as this body. The only difference was that there was a beautiful girl following him around this time.

His classes were scheduled for the morning with one class at night on Friday. This was a popular class so it was the only oddball. He had already finished his GED in a special high school program.

The actual classes he had to take this semester were things related to biology, mechanical engineering, energy systems, and something he had never seen before, bio-mechanical programming.

"What is bio-mechanical programming?" Sylzone asked.

"Hmm? Oh, that is.. Related to implementing chips into your body and controlling them via special devices. It can enhance your physical and mental abilities, depending on the route you want to take" Carmen replied.

"I see.. That could potentially be useful. If that man is involved in martial arts or has practiced it to a certain degree, he could certainly be very formidable. These chips seem like they could give me some reassurance. Can you tell me more about them?" Sylzone asked.

"Of course!" Carmen replied with a smile on her face.

She wrapped her arms around his chest then rested her chin on his shoulder.

"These bio-mechanical chips are microscopic chips implanted in your body, usually the eye, chest, arms, or legs. They enhance your natural abilities" Carmen explained.

"Judging by the name, I assume they run off the same energy your cells do?" Sylzone asked.

Carmen only smiled in response, except her smile carried a stronger sensation of joy at this mo ment.

Sylzone nodded in response.

"Alright.. That sounds very interesting" Sylzone said.

"Yeah! Who know.. You might even create something beyond my understanding! Also.. that watch.. Maybe you could create something even more ridiculous? We know it reacted when you were in danger, and it somehow reacted to your desire to discover the contents of the lost memory. It seems to react as long as you will it.." Carmen suggested.

"The watch?" Sylzone asked with wariness, although he didn't seem as nervous now.

He looked at his wrist. Right now it was completely silent and unresponsive.

"Say.. is there a way to make this look like a normal watch? Otherwise, while it may be powerful, it won't be very useful" Sylzone asked.

"Well.. I'm not sure actually. I can only speculate on the watch based on what it's done in the past. The only thing I can say for sure is that it seems to be connected to you by fate, based on the circumstances." Carmen replied.

"Connected to me by fate?" Roger murmured?

Sylzone focused his sights on the face of the watch and began to reminisce on the past. He longed for his old friends, memories, and experiences from another life.

Almost as though it could feel his emotions, it started changing to the smart watch he was familiar with. Instinctively, he reached out to touch it, repeating the same actions he always did. He tapped on the watch and immediately, another panel in the shape of a rectangle popped up.

Sylzones eyes teared up at this sight.

"The portability of a watch with the convenience of a smartphone" he muttered.

"Oh? This thing is pretty cool!" Carmen replied cheerfully as she heard Sylzone. She started to pay attention to the new watch.

He simply wished for it to change and it did.

Sylzone wanted to test the functions of the watch/phone hybrid but he didn't really know anyone, at least not the current him. Out of curiosity, he thought about his contacts list and miraculously, a bunch of names popped up. Confused, he looked at the names and realized that they were all names he recognized. They were his body's original friends and families.

"So it's pulling the information from my head?" Sylzone muttered.

"Ohhhh! This watch is super awesome. You don't even need to program it or anything. You just need to think it!" Carmen exclaimed.

Sylzone nodded.

He then noticed a mysterious question mark notification. He wondered whether he should open it. In his past life, such things were full of surprises and you didn't know if it was good or bad. He had once caught a nasty surprise that took him a while to fix. It turned out to be a prank from some friends that had accidentally been corrupted on the way over.

Knowing it was useless to ask the next question, he instead put all his attention on this question mark and though, good or evil? Safe or bad? To open or to not open?

Upon the end of his thoughts, there was activity on the screen. Instead of a question mark, there was now a smiley face putting out a thumbs up gesture, then another panel was projected.

Analysis:

Content of the message is deemed to be safe. Content is an invitation from Jaff, your childhood friend. It was encrypted as a puzzle since Jaff understands you like to solve things. Would you like the encryption to be removed and the contents of the message revealed?

End of analysis

Sylzone and Carmen were silent for a few seconds.

"Wooow! That was super fast. Encryption in this era is super tough to crack and even the simplest ones might take a full hour by a machine. This watch is really a miracle!" Carmen replied with some shock in her voice.

Sylzone nodded. He had no plans on decrypting it. While the previous body might've had such an interest, he was a different person. Although he liked mysteries, the feeling of knowing something but not being able to touch it annoyed him. This was why he hated things like jigsaw puzzles and conundrums. He already knows the solution, why should he bother proving anything? In his previous life, everything he had, he worked for. He didn't need to beg his parents or friends to give him anything. Of course, this also annoyed his friends who were teasing him. He was so serious and it seemed like he didn't know how to have fun. This was nowhere close to the truth though. Once he solved something, he didn't see any more reason to dwell on it.

'Decrypt message and show contents' Sylzone thought in his head.

The panel disappeared and a message appeared.

Hey Sylzone, Jaff here. Classes start soon. I found an awesome little toy I think you would be very interested in seeing! Meet me in the break room of the dormitory when you're free?

Jaff,

After seeing this message, especially the last time, a thought rose up in Sylzone's head. It would look very suspicious if his watch seemed to have a life of its own. He could communicate with the watch through his mind when he was alone, but in public, he would have to speak and interact with it.

Sylzone then focused on the watch again with specific intentions. There were no physical changes this time, but he felt a certain connection had been established. Confirming his thoughts, two new prompts appeared on the screen.

Accept Decline

Sylzone tapped accept and the message showed another panel acknowledging the message was sent.

Sylzone signaled for Carmen to get up and she did. He then changed into a set of leisure wear and tidied up his bed before he walked to the door. After opening the door and seeing a few people walking around, he turned to Carmen.

"Since I'm the only one who can see you, you should probably not do anything that I would react to.. otherwise people will think I'm a crazy person" Sylzone stated seriously.

Carmen had a dejected look upon her face.

"Ok.." she replied meekly as her shoulders went into a slump.