"I know it's unusual for me to say this sort of thing, but I'm glad to say that I'm pleased to see you here…"
"Azmuth..." said Ben uncomfortably.
The alien raised his head to look at the teenager's face. He hadn't expected to receive a warm smile from him, but neither had he imagined finding a face so wracked with pain and fatigue. His eyes were deep-set and dull, with dark circles under them. His cheeks were thinner and his skin was pale.
The image of the boy was like a punch to Azmuth's stomach. He knew it was his fault that he was in that state. Closed his eyes, bowed his head and said in a sorrowful voice:
"I'm sorry, Ben Tennyson."
Ben didn't reply. He continued to look down, where the alien was, but kept his gaze fixed on the ground.
"I know I can't undo the pain you've felt," Azmuth stared at Ben, "but I never imagined this kind of thing would happen…"
"Are you sure?" asked Ben with an accusing tone.
"I beg your pardon?"
"Are you sure you didn't know the damage the Omnitrix is doing to me?"
"Ben Tennyson, the Omnitrix was created following all safety protocols, what's happening is an eventuality and-"
"Eventuality!? I'm being destroyed from the inside out and you call it an eventuality?" A tear of anger ran down Ben's cheek.
"But it was an eventuality! You weren't supposed to know what was going on inside the device."
"And was hiding it from me really the best choice, great thinker Azmuth?"
"Hiding? What do you mean, hiding?"
"This damn watch of yours destroys and rebuilds me like a doll and makes me yearn for the next time like a masochistic madman!"
Azmuth didn't say anything, he tilted his head slightly to the left. Ben continued:
"I know about the Omnitranyl effect!"
"Omnitranyl effect?"
"Don't play dumb!" Ben grabbed Azmuth with one hand and brought him up to his face "Tell me by looking me in the eye if you don't know anything about the Omnitranyl Effect!"
"I know what Omnitranyl is…"
"I knew it!"
"But I don't understand how you know about it."
"Your beloved assistant explained it all to me!" Ben placed Azmuth on the arm of the pilot's chair. He turned his back to the alien and continued: "He told me about Omnitranyl and its creations, which have a nasty habit of blowing the heads off those who use it."
"What else did he tell you?"
"That you knew that sooner or later the effects of using the Omnitrix would start to affect me and, to try to delay this, you never allowed me to keep master control for too long."
"I understand…"
"What I can't understand is that if you knew all this, how could you let me remain tied to the clock?" Ben stared at Azmuth, his expression one of disappointment and disgust "Unless you saw me as a mere lab rat for your experiments…"
"Young Tennyson, I need to interrupt you. I understand that you've been through some very difficult situations over the last few days, but your accusations are crossing the line -"
"Screw you!" Ben exploded.
Azmuth was startled.
"If what I'm saying is a lie, then explain to me what's happening to me!" Ben placed the Omnitrix in front of the scientist. "If I'm not a lab rat, then get that damn watch off my arm now!"
"If you want me to take the watch off, then I will-"
"You know very well that I don't want to!"
"And why not?"
"Because... Because I…"
"Because deep down you know that Albedo is lying."
Ben lowered his arm. His breathing was labored and his heart was racing.
"What's happening to me?" he asked.
"Omnitranyl."
Ben looked confused and impatient.
Azmuth continued:
"Lack of Omnitranyl, to be precise."
"Please, I'm not up to any more charades. What the hell is that?"
"The Omnitrix transformation process consists of three stages" Azmuth held up the fingers of his right hand as he named each one "Temporal suspension, anesthesia and guided genetic evolution. Omnitranyl is the name of the anesthetic."
Ben felt his legs losing strength. He put his hand on the pilot's chair and slid down to sit on the floor of the command bridge.
"Anesthetic?"
"Yes. After a lot of study, I managed to develop an anaesthetic powerful enough to neutralize the effects of the transformation, with an immediate onset of action and incapable of causing addiction."
Ben rested his head on the back of the chair and stared at the ceiling.
"Does that mean that if you put the anesthetic back in, everything goes back to the way it was?"
"Yes. Albedo's claws pierced the tank that produces and stores it. The outside of the Omnitrix was closed to avoid exposing the inside of the device and aggravating the damage."
"What about the images I saw inside my head? Are they real?"
"What images?"
"I saw my body as a child and my current body deforming entirely in what seemed to be transformations…"
"Yes, they're real." said Azmuth.
"And how can I be alive after that?"
"The workings of the Omnitrix are extremely complex. Its construction was made possible by the culmination of ecophysiobiological knowledge combined with the most advanced technology."
"I think I understood this from the moment I turned on the Heatblast for the first time. Just explain to me how it happens." Ben turned his head and looked at Azmuth. "You said three stages."
Azmuth put his hands behind his back and began to explain:
"The first stage is Temporal Suspension. Using chronosapian particles, the Omnitrix user's body is suspended in a time field that is out of sync with current time. In there, a few hours or even days can pass and, to outside observers, it will be seen as a green glow lasting seconds."
"That explains a lot," said Ben. "But before I had this problem with the Omnitrix, I didn't remember being stuck in a transformation for so long."
"That's because of the second stage: anesthesia."
"And Omnitranyl is the name of this anesthetic."
"Yes, Omnitranyl is inserted into your bloodstream as soon as the transformation begins. It has an anesthetic and hypnotic effect, leaving you in a state similar to deep sleep."
Ben remained silent. He opened his mouth to say something, but shut it again.
"Any questions, Young Tennyson?"
"No, I was just remembering when I had surgery at twelve years old to remove my appendix. I don't remember anything after the doctor put the mask on my face and asked me to count from ten to zero."
"A primitive way of anesthetizing someone, but that's it."
With his arms resting on his knees, Ben stared at his hands, which were shaking slightly. He imagined for a moment what it would be like to be awake during his appendix surgery, but he didn't have to: the memories of his screams echoed in his mind.
"Should I continue?" Azmuth asked.
"Yes," Ben replied.
"The third and final stage is Guided Genetic Evolution. The Omnitrix stores the last state of all your cells like a photograph, then, using DNA vectors, it inserts the genetic material of another species into the nuclei."
"That's cool…" Ben whispered, truly impressed.
"Now, with a new DNA dictating what the new phenotypic expression of each of these cells should be, the body begins to modify itself to match this genetic code. How tall are you?"
"Five point three feet tall."
"For a Sonosorian with an average height of two point two feet tall, you have three feet of height incompatible with your new genetic code. Your bones and vertebrae compress to reach your new height."
"You have no idea how much that hurts."
"No, I don't... Maybe that's why, when I explained it in such a scientifically cold way to your grandfather, he got so nervous."
"Grandpa nervous?"
Azmuth closed his eyes and nodded slightly.
"Young Tennyson, I told you this when you were ten years old and I've repeated it many times: the Omnitrix is not a weapon but it's not a toy either. I think you've now understood the complexity of the device you have strapped to your arm."
Ben nodded positively.
"Tell me, Azmuth, why did you decide to create the Omnitrix?"
Azmuth brought his right arm in front of his body and stared at his palm, then said:
"Many people live their lives with one goal in mind. Some seek comfort, others wealth. Some want to change the world, others want to conquer the world. I was a person whose goal of changing the world seemed to me the noblest reason."
Ben looked at the watch on his wrist.
"I thought that through science I might be able to change many people's lives for the better. How naïve I was…"
"What do you mean?"
"My fame as a great inventor didn't start because I created good inventions. Each new creation brought with it a new fear of the unknown, a new mistrust." Azmuth noticed that Ben was wearing a confused expression "You must not be understanding me, do you?"
"Actually, I don't."
"Do you have one of those earthly portable communication devices?"
"A cell phone?"
"Try to imagine a human about a thousand Earth years ago coming into contact with a cell phone for the first time."
"They'd find it extremely impressive, wouldn't they?"
"Impressive? How about strange? Or perhaps potentially dangerous?"
"But it's not dangerous."
"No, it's not. But as I said, every new technology created brings with it a new fear. Ignorance is the basis of prejudice."
Ben realized how much he didn't know about the Omnitrix and how much this ignorance caused him unnecessary suffering.
"Every time I created something new, rumors spread throughout the universe. Galvan Prime, the planet on which I put most of my efforts as a model of science for the universe, gradually began to be feared by the other species."
"But this isn't your fault, it's theirs!"
"No, it's our fault too. The Galvanians began to use this fear as a bargaining chip and became more and more feared. Until war finally came."
"I never knew that…"
"The education at the Plumbers' Academy has been better," said Azmuth.
Ben thought about saying that he had never attended the Academy, but decided to keep quiet about it.
"And what happened?" Ben asked.
"As much as I wanted to help everyone in the universe to have a better life, now it was my species that was in danger of being exterminated." Azmuth raised both hands palm upwards "These hands were now being used to destroy."
Ben watched Azmuth's face carefully. He knew the Galvanian was old, but at that moment, his face looked much more aged than usual.
"With the help of those who suffered most from the war, we managed to stop the rampant killing, but the after-effects still lingered in the universe. Species such as the Arburian Pelarota or Vladat have practically vanished from the universe. I needed to find a way not to let their existence disappear."
"That's why you created the Omnitrix."
"Yes, guilt made me create the largest species database in the universe" Azmuth looked at the watch on Ben's arm.
"When I feel guilty I eat a lot of potato French fries with chili…"
Azmuth smiled.
"But then, Azmuth, why did you let me keep the watch?"
"For a change, as soon as I created it, opposing forces saw in it the opportunity to achieve the desired power to conquer the universe. That's why letting it fall to Earth was the best thing that could have happened."
"Really?"
"Of course! How many people could have become corrupted if they'd had something like the Omnitrix in their hands, and it came to be fixed on the boy who has within him the true meaning of what it is to be a hero!"
Ben remembered the girl on the balcony of the burning building, the old man under the ironwork. He felt a warmth inside his chest and his cheeks flushed. Then he remembered the mother and little girl in Central Park being rescued after their transformation crisis, the plumber soldier shot in the Eastern Power Sector. He felt the heat suddenly disappear.
"What happened?" Azmuth asked. His expression suddenly turned cold.
"I'm no sort of hero…"
"Ben Tennyson, if there's one thing I've learned in my life, it's that we'll make mistakes. We make choices that we often don't know the outcome of. We work more with chances than with certainties."
"But people have been hurt."
"Sometimes the only options we have are bad, but we are still forced to choose. Doctors, firemen, policemen, paramedics and Plumbers live this dilemma every day. "
Ben remained thoughtfully silent.
"Sorry to disturb your thoughts, but I made a promise to your grandfather. I promised him that I would remove the Omnitrix from your wrist."
"What?" Ben got up from the floor and clutched the watch to his chest.
"He believes that I was unethical in hiding the way the Omnitrix worked and leaving you exposed to a possible side effect like the one that occurred with the lack of Omnitranyl is unacceptable."
"I agree that if I'd known what we'd talked about now, I might have had a less tense week... "
"We're talking about omega-level technological information, if you had this information, someone could torture you to get it out of you. If I took the Omnitrix from you, it was only a matter of time before they came after it again. In other words, I had no good options…"
"And you still had to choose."
"Exactly…"
"But the choice can't be yours alone," said Ben. "The Omnitrix has been with me for a long time, my opinion is no use!?"
"I completely agree."
"I'll tell you what, I'll talk to Grandpa first. He can't decide on this alone. It's unfair!"
"But you won't be able to use the Omnitrix in its current state…"
"Can't you fix it?"
"Yes, I can, but not here. Not without my equipment."
Suddenly, a muffled noise accompanied by a slight tremor reached the ship.
"What was that?" Ben asked
"It's probably effect of the confrontation with Albedo."
Ben stared at the green glow of the clock.
"What happened, Tennyson?"
"Nothing. I can keep the watch off for a while longer." A smile broke out on Ben's face as he started walking towards the exit of the command bridge "You have no idea how much I needed to talk to you! Thank you very much, Azmu-"
"Where are you going?"
"I'm going to help my friends and Grandpa. They're the ones fighting Albedo, aren't they?"
"Don't be reckless, come back here!" Azmuth jumped off the arm of the chair and walked to the place where he had been carrying out his experiments earlier. "I can't fix the Omnitrix at the moment, but there is something I can do."
Ben stepped back from the door. Azmuth jumped over the table and picked up a syringe with a petrol-blue liquid inside.
"What's this?"
"Omnitranyl was created from my studies of a rather friable ore found on the planet Calcunète. I obtained a sample while we were on our way here and using materials from the medical room I was able to produce a solution that mimics the effects of anesthetic."
"So that solves the watch problem?"
"More or less. Unlike the Omnitrix, which continuously produces anesthetic to compensate for its consumption, I don't have an infinite sample of this drug. Once injected, each time you transform a part of the anesthetic will be consumed."
"So I can transform very few times?"
"Technically, yes," said Azmuth, "but I've thought of an alternative so that the effect lasts longer. Please show me your arm."
Ben raised his arm, with the core of the Omnitrix pointing downwards. Azmuth approached the bend of the teenager's elbow, palpated a vein and warned:
"I'm going to inject it now."
"Okay."
Azmuth inserted the needle into Ben's arm and injected the entire volume of the syringe. Then he said:
"Now show me the Omnitrix."
Ben rotated his arm.
Azmuth pressed a button on the side of the device and began to turn the core of the watch. Ben tried to memorize which movements he was making so that he could try to replicate them in the future, but after the eighteenth spin, he lost count and gave up. Finally, when the clock made a high-pitched, joyful sound, the scientist said:
"I'm done. Are you ready, Ben?"
"I don't know, you didn't tell me what you did! I thought we were past that stage…"
"The Omnitrix is now configured to be activated with a thought from you. Unlike the usual transformations, it will be able to restrict the formation of the construct to just a few parts of your body, so you'll be able to save the anesthetic."
"I don't know if it made much difference now that you explained to me. In the end I still didn't quite understand…"
"You learned to use the watch by wearing it, so" Azmuth pressed the core of the watch.
A green light enveloped Ben and, in a matter of moments, went out. His left wrist was now empty.
"Ben?" said a familiar female voice.
Ben, who had his back to the command bridge exit, turned his head over his left shoulder and saw Gwen and Kevin standing together in the doorway.
"W-what did you..." said Gwen.
Ben turned his body and, with his arms wide open and a huge smile on his face, said:
"Gwen, Kevin, how I've missed you!"
In the middle of his chest, the Omnitrix symbol glowed brightly.