7. Inside Out

Inside the Green Lake he was fine, despite not wearing anything. Garrick can move around freely which was weird as it showed viscosity and hardness when taking a sample. 

He swam around and received nothing but disappointment. There was nothing interesting so he swam back to the surface and that's where his disappointment started to fade. Instead of seeing the familiar Oregon landscape, he found himself in the same landscape but everything's all barren. 

No signs of trees, animals or any noises. He didn't have his watch as he left it behind just as a precautionary measure so he'll have to explore this world alone. Garrick was thrilled to see something like this, and used his time to look around, up down, left and right. 

"From the identical landforms I see here, this must be a parallel dimension but how? Does the Green Lake possess weird space-time altering properties? How fascinating." He noted 

Garrick didn't wanna risk again his life by swimming back into the Green Lake so he grabbed a small pin from his lab coat pocket and placed it on the ground, the pin then started to beep a small but a bit bright light. 

"I've bookmarked the Lake so I can come back later. Time to go exploring." He walked around and saw no signs of any life, as if this world died instantly. Garrick walked for hours and the sun didn't seem to move or change.

"Seems that space and time here work differently. Different dimensions have their space-time continuum altered, separating them from the mainstream universe." Garrick felt thrilled to take mental notes about his observations. 

He finally made it to a city but it was all quiet. The buildings aren't damaged, cars are left off and aren't scattered like with most apocalyptic situations and the very least no people in sight. Entering the city, it was like time stopped for everybody except Garrick. 

A standstill environment and as stale as this would almost drive anyone mad. The young boy on the other hand wanted to learn more. There was a notebook on the ground along with a half-cracked pencil and he grabbed it so he could take notes. 

Meanwhile back on the real Earth, Kasey woke up from her slumber and saw that he was gone. "Did he leave me here?" She asked herself before stumbling on his watch. 

The watch activated and showed a hologram of Garrick. "Hello, this is Garrick Valerie. It seems that my watch has been compromised and has detected a person nearby. If it's you Kasey, you must wear it." The hologram spoke. 

"How did it know it was me? Ohh wait, he's the smartest I almost forgot." She didn't hesitate and wore his watch. 

"Kasey, you are now the wearer of the Analyst Watch. It will send instructions to your brain on how to fully operate and use it." Then, she felt a small puncture wound underneath the watch as it penetrated her skin. Then she received a lot of information, particularly instructions in less than 2 seconds.

"As of right now, you are the only person he trusts you the most and as such you have to protect yourself and the watch from everybody else. As of what you will do to the watch, it's entirely up to you." The hologram Garrick disappeared and she looked around. 

Kasey was excited and at the same time nervous. "To think Gary would entrust his gadget to me? I am truly honored and I will protect it until you arrive." She said as she summoned a wormhole to her house. 

Garrick's dog greeted her as the slime still didn't progress to the ground floor. "Analyst Watch, can you analyze this slime?" She asked the watch's AI as it scanned the whole house. "Union Slime, a mysterious substance that contains space-time warping capabilities. Unfortunately, due to its capabilities, further analysis will take more time." The AI spoke. 

The canister was still there. She was a bit curious on what the Universal Cleaner is that Garrick was talking about. "Scan the canister. Tell me the content of the Universal Cleaner." She asked the AI. 

"The Universal Cleaner is just fire. More specifically, Split-Second Solar Plasma that can incinerate any dirt, without burning the whole house." The AI described. Kasey was a little disappointed by the description but was still amazed by how Garrick can create such precise cleaning techniques without collateral damage. 

She then received a call from a mystery number. She was careful to answer the call. "Who is this?" There was no immediate response until a voice called back. 

"This is the Reality Protection Investigative Unit. Are you involved with a young man named Garrick Valerie?" A female voice asked and Kasey was already nervous of what to answer back.

Inside the parallel dimension, Garrick was learning more and took notes. He finally arrived at his house by hot wiring a car he found that still works. He entered the house and was surprised to see everything duplicated. A perfect duplicate of the original universe. 

"Who goes there?!" A voice called out and surprised him. He had never heard any voices since he first entered this dimension. And what's more is that the voice is similar to his. 

"Me?!" He called out and a strange figure emerged from the darkness. It was him but more decrepit and older. "Ahh, The Prodigal Genius, myself is here." He said as he coughed. 

He couldn't believe it, a parallel version of himself but was concerned about his status and age. Nonetheless, he was excited to meet his older parallel self in this barren wasteland and was ready to give out some questions. "Ahh, that curiosity in your eyes. How I envy your life, younger me." He said. 

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