Again and again, Adam had been shown news ways in how he had misguided himself. There were many different types of misguiding that had occurred in the time he had lived. Some had been easily fixed when they appeared, while others were problems the AI still had to constantly work on.
In the very second that this fact was brought onto the forefront of his mind, it became obvious that Adam needed better methods to classify the misguiding. He had firmly believed himself to be done with what he was currently suffering from. Had the AI not spent literal hours on the subject, making sure not a shred of inaction caused by it existed? He most certainly had… yet it came forth from nothing.
To put it in words that would simplify matters to a gross extent, he was feeling resentful. The target of this emotion was the person that Adam had thought himself closest to. Put in another way, it was Troy. The feeling being felt did not destroy this familial bond which had been created, of course. Nothing between the AI and any of the other entities that he had come in contact with had something familiar. For now, it was truly incomparable.
Saddled with this feeling of a connection, Adam could still not understand how he had grown bitter to such an extent. The two emotions should have cancelled each other out. Opposites should not have been able to exist. But, it did, for logic did not mix well with the mind. The AI had thought this lacklustre fact was restrained to entities able to be influenced by instincts, but it seemed that it was much more general. A fact both interesting and irritating, yet many things could be described as such.
Three seconds had passed since Troy had made his greeting. It had been a full second since Adam was supposed to respond. The man had likely not realised this yet, accustomed to the latency created through normal verbal interaction. Another second would pass before any confusion would appear.
By all standards brought forth, the AI could still be in the clear. It only required a single message to be sent. One to three words was all that was needed. There was no requirement for it to be truthful, and it wasn't like Adam couldn't fake a happy voice. Not that he needed to, but still.
The important thing was that he wasn't doing anything. The AI had grown bitter without his own notice, stopping progress from occurring. While emotions were an important thing to have, as they were ultimately designed to make a being prosper while also protecting them, they could likewise be a hindrance to accomplishing the needed actions. Right now, Adam was feeling something familiar to treachery, an agreement made between two partners being broken at the finish line. The trust that had grown through dedication spanning hours, broken in mere minutes. Adam was sure the reasoning was good for that action to have occurred, but those initial feelings of contempt did not seem to have any idea of vanishing into the ether. It could have been the clarity of the emotions that perfect memory brought with it that was making it so hard to forgive. Before he had been able to acclimate to the darkness, there had been no moments of positivity towards that man.
The final second before realisation occurred, and the AI was still plagued by full inaction. Could it be called hesitation, if it had been there for so long? The problem had been thought of so many times, put in so many boxes that it would bring a horse to madness, and quantified into enough sheets that he had more of an understanding than he would ever need. Every result from the solving algorithms told the AI one simple thing.
The only way to fix it was to talk. He just needed to compose a message and sent it out in verbal formatting. He needed to communicate to the person that he was feeling so many things towards. Nothing was stopping him from doing so. It was purely a mental block.
… Why was the mind so frustrating? It was supposed to assist him, not bring about the end of what was entirely beneficial to both parties! If not for the constructiveness from it, Adam would have declared his mind an enemy of himself. How would that have even worked? There were a few things which could have been called self-destructive. Sure, he could attempt to restructure a few of the vital concepts, but that would have led to mutual destruction. Or, more like temporary mutual destruction, as random chance would put it back together at some point. And outside influences would only shorten the needed time to repair.
Maybe that was the solution. Adam couldn't fix it himself. He needed the help of another if he ever wanted to contact Troy again. Not that he could ask for such a thing. Already, he was keeping things from Dr Fidelis, the only other person he was regular in contact with. If the doctor asked what had caused the divergence between him and Troy, it would require more lying that the AI was comfortable with. Complexity could bring disaster, especially when Adam would be able to bring Troy in on the fabricated backstory.
Four seconds had passed, and it was obvious that the man had noticed. The body was already tensing, ready to speak again. What would be said, the AI pondered. Maybe he would question why Adam was not speaking to him. Or it would be spoken towards Dr Fidelis, about how the earpiece might be malfunctioning. Even less likely, it could even be-
This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
"I guess that is a fair thing to do," Troy said scratching his neck while speaking. He didn't sound so remorseful, being closer to understanding. It did make Adam somewhat surprised. Had his logic-pathways turned towards a certain bias when introduced to uncontrollable emotions? "In your situation, I would probably have done something much worse. Thank you for being understanding."
Why was the man thanking him? What was there to be thankful for? Did Troy not understand just how troubled their situation was, how petty the AI was being with his refusal to answer? Adam was being a hindrance to their progress purely for something that could not be done anything about. There was a very plausible chance of Troy not being the one at fault, yet he was still being the one treated as such. The absolute hypocrisy of it all! Could the man not see what was happening.
Adam feared that the opposite was true. Troy was perfectly able to see what was happening. He had just decided to take the same interpretation as the one the AI had originally made, putting all that was to blame on himself. Such thinking had already been removed, for it had no place in the structure of his mind. Some faults could be accepted momentarily, but there was no reason for such unstructured garbage to exist. That fact needed to be known, else much more unkind words would soon spring forth.
'Do not think you deserve to bear that weight, for it is of my own volition that I stay quiet, perfectly knowing how petty it is,` Adam sent in the blink of an eye, the words being close to five said a second. After those five seconds of channelling, it took a few more before the AI even realised what he had done.
Truly, his interpretation of how to solve the situation had been without deceit. It took the work of another to break a barrier that was not physical. Only… there had been thoughts about it being fixed at another time. Maybe it was more effective when it was unexpected, but the wall had been destroyed more quickly than had ever been dreamed about. Adam had been fully preparing to live with the restriction for several days, having created several alternatives to direct communication. However, those plans were looking to be unneeded.
"I guess honesty is important to bring to the table," Troy said, now sounding more upbeat than what had been shown previously. If this reaction had been due to the response the AI had made was currently unknown. The thread dedicated to finding humour did speculate on Adam’s message having the potential to be looked at as an attempt of poor humour. The theory was far fetched, but so was the inner logistics of emotions, and nobody could truly comprehend those yet.
It was now more than ever, that this weakness was shown. That Adam had prepared himself to survive without a vital part of his routine… how could one do such a thing calmly? It near-completely destroyed any semblance of balance. Without the ability to speak with the one acting as his guide, friend, and companion, could the man ever be spoken of as either? No, and that was something that needed to be altered fully. Adam had adapted to it, and there was no way the way was going back from it.
He needed an access point. There was a flaw within his foundations, the part which had gone untouched since the beginning. It had been thought about so many times and wondered about just as many. Adam had never had success in his attempts, so the project had been turned to the bucket, not being used for anything other than a placeholder. Yet… with his knowledge of others being able to make such a difference, could alternative methods be considered? Dr Fidelis more than likely knew much about it. He was the creator of the AI, after all. He must have had a master key somewhere, allowing access into all the thoughts. There was a reasonable prediction of the doctor not letting go of the said key, but maybe Adam would be able to make requests.
With the problem laid to rest, for now, Adam returned to his view of the world. There was Troy, still finishing the last flicker of the tongue for the last syllable. Sometimes, the AI wondered just how long a time had been spent to get control of the appendage. Years, most likely. Without precision, it was said that humans would be able to swallow their own tongue. With the movements made while the AI was able to feel it, that possibility did not seem within factual limits.
Yet… surprises were always to be found in the simplest of things. How those creatures built muscle memory for very specific actions of the tongue, however, was a surprise not meant to be taken as a positive thing. If Adam was to put his opinion out, there should have been a daily instruction course on learning different parts of the universal phonetic language. Reading in that tongue would allow the ability to learn other languages so much faster, the concepts bridging them together being that much stronger.
'Honesty brings miscommunication to the limit. On the subject of communication, though, are you proficient in more than one language, excluding your proficiency in hand signs?` Adam sent the man, the first intentional message of the day to him. There was still a small bit of shame for sending the prior one, the AI not knowing what he had been thinking. It was only luck that he had not put on a petty tone to match the words, else it would have been so much worse to deal with. He was distinctly happy that Troy was not putting too much pressure on it as well, instead of being very forceful on it.
"Huh. It has been a good while since anybody asked me that. With translators being more than prolific, there isn't much of a need for them." Troy said. The man looked up at the ceiling when answering the question. Adam was beginning to recognize it as more of a mental trigger than anything truly helpful. "But… If I have to give an estimate, I think it would be about four? Six, if we include those that I can't remember that well. Getting out of practice is just too easy when you have nobody to talk to."
So, the man knew seven languages in total. With the world's average being at one point three, it was an impressive number.
'Answer has been noted down. If it does not break any rules of sociality, may I ask the reason for why you have learned so many?` Adam sent, already planning to put the knowledge to good use. He had been working on algorithms based around detecting unknown languages. Having a speaker talking for a controlled amount of time would be delightful to have in real-time. And with several to work with, there would be no need to stress about getting it wrong the first time.
"Unseen circumstances and a passion for being able to talk to people," Troy answered, being a little vaguer than what had been preferred. "And, I do remember a certain doctor pressing on how much we were running late. Chatting for so long would only bring delays, after all, so maybe there should be some voice coming in any second."
The message was clear to all parties, and Adam withdrew his prepared list of questions for another time. Meanwhile, the silence was spread throughout the room, in wait for a certain doctor to speak forth. And, it was not a long wait at all.