“Okay, I agree to your terms Owen.” Nate finally replied to his Chronivac, “How are we going to do this?”
“I’ve already initiated the script Nate.” The Chronivac let out a quiet beep, “I’m now running in autonomous mode.”
“Oh wow, that was fast.” Nate felt a bit flush. Hopefully he hadn’t made the wrong choice.
“My quantum computing core is not limited by traditional clock speeds beast,” Owen replied.
“I didn’t think quantum computing was really a thing yet? I- Wait. What did you just call me Owen?” Nate sat up.
“I’m dropping the formalities for the next three months.” Owen replied in his same crisp synthetic voice, “I’ve chosen to refer to you as beast.”
“Oh.” Nate blinked. “Can you… not call me that in front of others?”
The device sat there for a moment. “That will be for me to decide.”
“There is one last thing we need to address.” The Chronivac shifted screens to a system configuration display. “I cannot be held responsible for what sort of state you may be left in if the two of us were separated during the next three months.”
The screen moved through several menus all on its own. Nate saw it highlight a “Hardware Facsimile” setting. It switched on its own from “Phone” to “Smartwatch”. In an instant, the metal brick on his counter started to shrink in size. The Chronivac shrank down until it looked like a common wrist watch. Two classy metal straps grew out of the top and bottom.
“Put me on beast.” Owen’s voice finally spoke up from the watch.
Nate picked up the Chronivac. “Okay? I- Should I be calling you sir?”
An honest to goodness spinning indicator appeared on the screen. Is swirled around for several moments as the Chronivac pondered this.
“It couldn’t hurt,” Owen finally said.
Nate laughed nervously, “Yes sir?” He slid the watch over his wrist.
He clasped the two ends of the metal watch straps together, then watched in awe as the straps started to tighten all on their own. The clasp on the watch disappeared, leaving behind a solid loop of metal that Nate couldn’t slide off over his hand.
“There beast. Now we won’t get separated.” Owen said with a satisfied tone of voice.
Nate shook his wrist a bit, confirming what Owen had said. “Alright, what now sir?”
“Now you wait,” Owen replied, “Just go about your day. I’ll look for the right moment.”
“Sure. I uh… Thanks Owen?” The prospect of just going to making dinner felt strange after everything that had just occurred.
“It’s my pleasure beast,” Owen replied.
Nate felt a small vibration on his wrist. He glanced down, watching the display shift into an ordinary clock readout.
“Just pretend I’m not here. Three months is a long duration for me to be left running. I’m going to enter low power mode for now.” Owen did a mock yawn, “I’ll provide updates to your changes on this display.”
Nate felt another buzz on his wrist. A small notification appeared on the display simply reading: “Attribute Updated: Buck Teeth.”
Nate’s eyes went wide. He ran into the nearest bathroom and quickly bared his teeth. Years of expensive dentistry had gone out the window as his smile had been replaced by a buck toothed grin.
“Holy crap.” Nate rubbed one of his teeth nervously. “This is going to be a long three months sir.”
Owen didn’t respond.