Troy did not appreciate the looks sent his way, as he coolly walked out of the puzzle-room. Dr Fidelis did not seem to be working too seriously at all, his click speed being under five per second. Dr Hale did not have the decency to act like she was being productive, the woman not writing anything at all. Her notepad was not even in her hand, being in her breast-pocket instead.
Walking over to change with nothing to say seemed to be like the smartest option, so that was precisely what the young man did. The few steps down to the normal ground were eerily loud, the stare from the woman not making it any easier. What had been the reason behind the current mood? Had Troy done something wrong?
He wouldn't know, truly. The man didn't believe he had said something immoral as of late. Were some of his words revealing what he knew? As Dr Fidelis didn't look too happy, it could be that he had unknowingly submitted the wrong secret to mumble about. It would explain the death-stare Dr Hale was giving him. She was normally not so open about her opinions in front of the doctor.
The time spent thinking about it while changing his clothes proved to be a complete waste, as the man still had no idea of what those two were so tense about. Any guesses were not valid until proven right, and the only way to do that was to ask. And there was no way he would be asking about anything, those eyes discouraging any sudden movements.
Yet, what was he supposed to do, then? Just… walk towards the exit and hope that nothing would happen. Knowing how those two liked to play, the outcome would be him either being directly blocked from moving forward, or Dr Fidelis would call his name from the side, asking for a little chat of some kind.
From earlier events, the doctor seemed to get some kind of enjoyment out of it. Troy was still bowing towards it being some form of power-play, where both parties knew that it took one word before they would be forced to stop in their tracks, and move to the desired location. It was weird, disgusting, and thoroughly credible. It might even have explained the doings of some of his earlier bosses.
In the end, Troy decided to play it safe. Walking into the hand of the manipulator was a smart notion when one knew it would happen after all. That was totally how it worked, and the young man was not making a prominent blunder by having faulty logic attached to his wrong actions.
"Do come here for a moment, buddy," Dr Fidelis said, as Troy was about to pass the desk on his way to the secret entrance into the hallway. It had taken… what, ten seconds before the doctor did just as he had thought he would do. Was he becoming skilled in predictions or was the old man becoming predictable?
It could also be that the man was being predictable to lead him into a false sense of comfort, but there was no reason to go that hard into it.
"What can I do for, sir?" Troy inquired, moving over to the desk quickly enough. The doctor was not sparing him a single glance, staring fixedly at the screen. Taking a look at just what was on it, he could only see a barrage of miniaturized letters. He had to seriously squint his eyes, to realise that there were even letters on the screen, their size being so small. If Dr Fidelis was reading whatever text was present, the reading speed and his eyesight were up at the levels of demi-gods. Perhaps it was just another attempt to show off his superiority. Maybe it was just an example that the man was straight-up better than him. Could have been either.
"I just wanted to know a little more about a few things. Not about yesterday, of course. Dr Hale was kind enough to fill in all the remaining gaps that I could find. No, I wanted to know how it goes between you and Adam," Dr Fidelis said. Had they not already talked about this? Troy could surely remember just having that conversation a few hours ago.
"It will not be long, I trust. It would be bad if we fell behind the schedule," Troy remarked, sounding to press the need for making it short. He wanted to get out of there as quickly as humanly possible, and that man was stopping his dream from becoming a reality.
This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.
"Oh, it will not be long at all. It is only a single question that I needed to ask," Dr Fidelis answered, wavering any worries away. Or, a few of the worries away at least. The force that was put on how it was a singular question did cause a few stray reflections of just what it could be. "During this test, our good friend, Adam, spent most of his time perfecting a model that would imitate the characteristics of a human body. I watched the entire thing live by the way. He does have talent when it comes to the details, even if he is a little obsessive over it. From this, I had written notes down about how it was likely that another day was needed, where Adam would be able to fully create a human body to the standard he desired. Would have worked great for the higher-ups.
Even better would it have been, if I could truthfully write down that he had been so focused on this task, that he did not talk with you at any point in the test. The comments from you were expected, and it could have been written down as politeness that Adam answered you. However, when it came to a point where you stopped incentivising further conversation, I had predicted that Adam would have taken it as the point where he would do the same. This did not happen. Instead, he asked you something that you did not want to answer. Or maybe it was something that you did not want to do. Whatever it was, Adam desired this from you so much, that he did not focus on creating a human body as strongly as before. If you would be so kind, could you explain to me just what it was that he said to you?"
Troy could only guess why Dr Fidelis’ superior would have been happy with Adam’s focus on human anatomy. Why anybody would be happy seeing whatever the AI had cooked up was a question for the ages. The last one he had seen was something that should have only appeared in nightmares. The skin had looked so smooth, that it could have been sold off as plastic. Mixed in with the creepy face, the body’s weird sizes, and that the thing was a head higher than Troy himself, it was definitely something nobody should have the displeasure of seeing.
In the end, though, it could have just been used as an example of Adam being creative. The doctor likely just wanted another excuse to ram up the budget by another margin. 'If the AI could do this deed when presented with a body, just think what art it could do when presented with real artists!` Troy imagined the pitch as being something like that. It did not change matter too much, though, as he would have to answer in some way no matter what the desired end-result was.
"Adam was just trying to ask about my personal life," Troy said, trying to blow the whole thing off as him just being a little embarrassed. He didn't want to explicitly say what Adam had asked. It had the potential of just ending up as another way that a breaking-point would manifest. "I didn't think it was important to the test, so I put it off until a later time. He is supposed to be learning how to use the interface today, as you've said yourself. Wasting time answering things that could have been outside of the test would just be plain stupid."
"Huh. Well, if I said it, then it must have been true in some way. Not testing things when the literal task is to do exactly that would be some that one could be reprimanded for. You did the right thing then, Troy, making it stop before it got side-tracked. Though… I do think I could throw this around as you causing this delay in the first place, making Adam look good in the greatest of lights. You wouldn't mind looking back on paper, would you?" Dr Fidelis said, looking over to Troy with an innocent face filled with excitement. The doctor looked a decade younger than he likely was, as the man hyped himself up to work like crazy for the next forty minutes. The younger one could almost understand the enthusiasm created by being able to look at one’s work in a positive light. What he couldn't understand was that it was accompanied by the man forging documents to make it seem better than what it was. Was this whole conversation solely so the doctor could get Troy’s permission?
"As long as I don't lose my job because of it, then you are free to write down whatever you want on those documents," Troy answered, not being bothered too much about getting criticism about him as an official paper. If anybody was to look him name up online, they would find more material on him than any firm would ever need. It was partly the reason that he had been thinking of getting his name changed.
"Perfect!" Dr Fidelis exclaimed. The doctor moved away from the wall of text on the screen, hurriedly beginning to tap various places on it instead. There were no words being projected, making the young man wonder how Dr Fidelis was writing the document. It could possibly have been based on his brain-implant, where he was using his hands as a sort of guide, to make sure he was staying on track. "I have nothing else to stop you with. If you would be so kind as to follow Dr Hale, I expect both of you to be back at the normal time. And, just as a precaution, please let her control the departure time."
How nice it was, to know that the doctor trusted him enough that he had to remind Troy to not trust himself, and follow Dr Hale completely with the schedule. There were not criticisms about that reminder in any way. Certainly, none that showed on his face.
"Of course, sir. We will be back after dinner," Troy said, looking over at Dr Hale. The woman had already begun walking towards the exit, not a word of warning given. He did not mind that. The less talking inside the place, the better it was for their collective sanity.
Following her, the young man began to relax a small bit, knowing he was out of that mouse-trap. He now had time to recollect himself, before he would have to hold his breath once more.
"Oh!" Dr Fidelis suddenly exclaimed from behind the two, causing both to stop in their walk to freedom. "I forgot to ask one thing. Could you, word for word, say what Adam asked you? It would be perfect to have that."
Troy didn't know what to say, so he just uttered the first thing his mind could focus on. "'How did your father die?`"
Dr Fidelis didn't say anything after that. The door opened up, allowing them access to the hallway. The two simply walked out, beginning to head over to the cafeteria. The need for a break had increased immensely.