File ID: KAC-712
Designation: "The Time Keeper's Watch"
Threat Level: Category 3
Status: Contained (Conditionally)
Discovering Officer: Chief Investigator Helena Marr
World of Origin: Unknown
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[DESCRIPTION]
(NOTE: KAC-712 is not considered dangerous solely because of its temporal capabilities, but because of the degree of precision with which it allows a user to violate sequence, causality, and Time. The object is therefore treated as an anomalous artifact. Access is prohibited without Clearance Level 5 or higher. Current field-use exception has been granted exclusively to Detective Ina Watson.)
KAC-712 is a silver pocket watch of unknown age and manufacture, approximately 6.1 cm in diameter, and constructed from a metal that has not been successfully identified through spectrographic, alchemical, or anomalous-material analysis. The surface remains unworn regardless of exposure conditions, and the glass face does not scratch, crack, or accumulate residue. The watch bears no maker's mark, no known serial designation, and no internal mechanism consistent with ordinary horological engineering.
The front cover of KAC-0712 is engraved with a branching clockwork motif resembling both gears and roots. The interior face displays a twelve standard hour markings, though under active anomalous states additional markings become visible, including impossible fractional intervals, reversed numerals, and moving symbols interpreted by KAC Specialists as non-linear temporal notations.
Despite possessing no observable power source, KAC-712 remains active at all times. It ticks inconsistently when unattended, yet when held by a compatible user, its rhythm synchronizes with the individual's pulse. Most users report immediate disorientation, nausea, memory splitting, or involuntary age-regression hallucinations upon first contact. Long-term use by non-compatible personnel has resulted in paradoxical fixation, identity desynchronization, and in two cases permanent chronological dislocation which is the displacement of an individual's time.
KAC-0712 demonstrates three primary functions:
Retrograde Traversal:
The watch allows a user to move backward along a localized or extended temporal axis. In practical terms, this permits travel into the past, albeit only temporary. The effective range of travel is variable and appears dependent on the user's mental stability, physical endurance, and ability to preserve continuity of self while undergoing reversal. Travel may be limited to seconds, minutes, hours, or in rare cases, years. Deep retrograde use carries substantial causality risk and is prohibited except under Overseer authorization.
Prospective Traversal:
The watch allows forward temporal displacement into one of many possible or fixed futures. This abiluty relocates the user into a later point in history or time. However, futures accessed via KAC-0712 are not always singular. KAC researchers believe the artifact navigates toward the most causally stable future available at the moment of activation. As such, users may witness futures that are probable rather than guaranteed.
Flow State:
KAC-0712 permits entry into a specialized condition informally termed as "The Flow State." In this condition, the user accelerates their personal time to such a degree that outside observers perceive them as moving instantaneously or "teleporting." In reality, the user is not spatially blinking between locations, but advancing through time at an impossible speed relative to surrounding systems. During the Flow State, the user will also experience the world as slowed or nearly frozen, while their own body, cognition, and reaction speed are enhanced to extraordinary levels. This makes the user capable of traversing rooms, evading attacks, analyzing environments, and engaging hostile entities before conventional observers can register motion.
(Note: It is important to mention that the anomalous object also freezes the user's physical appearance and age in some way, granting eternal youth.)
However, the consensus is that KAC-712 grants selective dominion over the user's placement within temporal sequence.
Current approved wielder is Detective Ina Watson, whose innate ability to synchronize with objects such as KAC-712, exceeds all other tested personnel by a statistically impossible margin. Under Watson's use, the watch has demonstrated substantially greater accuracy, reduced paradoxical contamination, and unusually refined control. KAC Chain of Command currently believes the artifact and Watson are either behaviorally synchronized or mutually adaptive.
But one thing is for certain:
Neither can be separated from eachother.
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[BEHAVIOUR]
KAC-712 is inactive in the conventional emotional sense, but repeated studies and analysis suggests it exhibits a form of selective preference. The watch does not respond equally to all handlers. Many can wind it. Few can activate it. Fewer still survive extended use without measurable temporal degradation.
The watch appears to favor users possessing:
- high analytical discipline
- strong continuity of self
- resistance to panic under uncertainty
This has led several KAC archivists to argue that KAC-712 does not merely require a user, but a certain kind of mind. When wielded by Ina Watson, the artifact demonstrates unusually stable and precise behavior. Watson has used KAC-712 to:
- reconstruct anomalous crimes through repeated temporal entry
- evade fatal attacks by moving beyond their moment of execution
- resolve hostile engagements before opponents register a draw
- enter Flow State for close-range combat, evidence recovery, and rapid deduction
- step into near futures to confirm branching consequences during active investigations
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[CONTAINMENT ATTEMPT]
KAC-0712 is currently considered "contained by restricted custody and operator exclusivity." Detective Ina Watson retains authorization under direct review. This authorization may be revoked immediately upon evidence of paradox instability, obsessive timeline correction behavior, or psychological decline beyond acceptable thresholds.
Because of the watch's strategic importance, loss of KAC-712 constitutes an extinction-level emergency.
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[FINAL NEUTRALIZATION]
Not Authorized.
(Note: KAC Analysts currently believe KAC-712 cannot be neutralized through ordinary destruction because it is not fully located in a single moment.)
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[NOTES BY Chief Investigator Helena Marr]
"It is tempting to think of this artifact as a machine for undoing mistakes. That interpretation is what gets people broken. Most people imagine time travel as freedom. It is not. It is repetition with consequences. As for Detective Watson: yes, she is the safest handler we have. And after reading up on her file, its no wonder she posseses such an anomaly. No, that does not mean she is safe. It means she is disciplined enough to know what the watch can cost her.
One of the junior analysts asked why the watch chose a detective. I told him the answer was simple: because detectives can't afford to let unfinished time remain unfinished."
- Chief Investigator Helena Marr
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[FILE END]