When the feed came in, Adam could not hope but go for the shoulder. The doctor might have warned him about not taking it too seriously, yet the AI felt the need to form an opinion on his own. As found before, Dr Fidelis was worried about the stability of the project as a whole. What did the AI worry about? The person had apparently fallen down a flight of stairs and was lying on the ground groaning.
The first impression gotten was Troy’s position in the building. Lying on his side, the head was lined so as to let Adam get a full view of some very dangerous stairs. On them, there were no signs of them having been used in such an unusual way. It was not the same for the young man’s body, however.
From the very second that Adam was allowed access to the sensations, the hard pulsing of blood could be felt. Adrenaline made the body have a rapid heartbeat. It was an automatic defence against any predators, the flesh ready to be used for fleeing from anything and everything.
This was very counterproductive when the predator was a flight of stairs. The high blood pressure was not doing anything good from the shoulder. As Dr Fidelis had predicted, blood was leaking inside the body. It was nothing truly serious alone, but it would cause quite the blue spot to appear in a day or two.
Only, in conjunction with the other wound on that particular shoulder, the sight was not as pleasant as before. The AI was still rather unsure of where the cut had come from. He only knew that it had been there since morning. It had been noticed the same instant that Troy had put on the earpiece.
Yet Adam had not commented on it in any way, not wanting to cause conflict already. He did not dare try to coax another brilliant idea that would leave the AI alone in testing. They needed time to grow anew, and that could not happen when they were separated.
Ignoring that wound was not doing anything good now, though. Troy had apparently rolled over quickly to the other side when having first landed. The brunt area that had taken the fall was the shoulder itself. While nothing could be seen through the suit, the AI could only try to imagine what damage had been made. The pain receptors were not working properly for some reason, not letting him get a distinct idea of the consequences.
It was clear that nothing was broken and only bruised, but he could not help but feel as if some blood was still getting out somehow. Again, it was not anything serious. It would be hard to even have categorized it as a trickle, mere drops coming out by the minute. When put together with the healing factor being witnessed, the AI was sure it would resolve itself before anything else happened.
'Are you feeling alright?` Adam asked the young man, the groaning seeming to have lessened over time, as Troy put his hand down again after putting on the earpiece. It had unfortunately been on the side of the hurting shoulder, forcing movement in some form.
Though, the AI was unsure if the groaning heard was purely out of pain. While not having happened often, Adam felt he had a general idea of what pained outbursts sounded like. If anything, what was being heard now sounded more like Troy was frustrated.
"I should be able to stand up in a few seconds. I just have to hate myself for a few more seconds," Troy answered, letting his head fall back down on the concrete. This did send painful sensations directly into the man’s head, making the AI wonder why the man did it in the first place.
Were there any signs of a concussion? It would allow for the muddled decision making and would explain the longer time needed to get up. The brain was not one to play nice when it got any damage to itself. Sensations would be turned on their head, a literal turn of the head being enough to cause violent unpleasantness.
'Hating yourself will not do us any good, you know. Positive thinking will help the brain-` Adam tried to send, but stopped the encouraging message when the young man decided to rudely cut in. Not that he needed to stop it while the man actually talked in on him, the tensing muscles being more than enough warning to stop it well before anything actually came out of his mouth.
"It's a way of speech. I just have to process what I did wrong to make myself mess up to this level," Troy clarified trying to wave one of his hands to back himself up. That had to be stopped immediately, the pain-causing the man to nearly bite a part of his tongue off from wincing.
'Then it is not a good way of speech. Please stop using it to describe yourself,` Adam requested. While he did not usually mind the man’s self-deprecating humour, there was a time and place for it.
This was not the time for it in any way. It might have proved a valid method of distracting himself from the pain, but there were more workable techniques close to him. The AI would certainly not mind having a healthy amount of conversation while the two scaled the building together.
This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.
"Yes, sir," Troy said, giving a salute while still lying down. This time, the man remembered to use his other hand, so as to not cause himself pain again for no other reason than being stupid.
'Don't call me sir. That is Dr Fidelis’ designation. Going away from that, however, have you laid down on the ground for long enough? The wound seems to have receded adequately by now for some more lax movement,` Adam sent back.
Instead of answering with words, Troy carefully sat himself up, using the off-hand again to push himself the last distance. The injured arm was balanced on the legs, the young man making sure not to flex the muscles in any way, as that would cause unnecessary tension on the skin. From the more concrete sensation, Adam was able to tell that the wound was resewing itself, causing a scab to appear. It would take time before it had settled in good enough. Until then, caution needed to be taken.
"Everything is alright, by my estimation. Not feeling any need to vomit anymore, so that is a plus, I guess," Troy answered, taking a few testing steps around. The man did not immediately begin the trek up the stairs, likely waiting for Adam’s command in that regard.
The comment about the nausea was not positive, as the AI again noted down a minor concussion as a possibility. While moving around gently did not cause disorientation, care would be needed to be taken still. If the man became confused when moving up or down, it had the possibility of making the man fall down the stairs yet again, this time not able to protect his head at all. All would be able to see such a catastrophic event. While Dr Fidelis had stated the environment as being able to protect Troy from anything too serious, there were only so many things that could be done at that point.
'While any side-effects might not have shown themselves, it is possible for them to be delayed at some level. To make sure that nothing causes imbalance, please go up the stairs slowly, for the next ten minutes. Please do not take any chances akin to skipping steps. Talking while walking is permitted, however,` Adam said, the last detail more therapeutic-oriented than anything else. Their conversation was still meant as a distraction, after all. A quiet distraction was not a good distraction.
Troy just shrugged one of the shoulders, before carefully getting up the staircase he had fallen down minutes ago. The first step was a stress-inducing one, the AI not sure if the sudden measure would be felt from the rising elevation. The mind could become hyper-sensitive at the worst of times, after all, and now was a perfect time for it to appear annoyingly.
Luckily, nothing occurred, and the young man was well on his way to gather and rhythm in his movements. There were no skipping stairs, no speedy first step, and certainly no change in speed. The head was balanced at all times, even if the body bent to the side. It reminded Adam of a perfect counter-force, one rotation equaling an opposite rotation making it all even out. A simplification of Newton’s third law of reactions.
This did allow the AI to worry less about the physical health of the young man. If understatements were allowed, there had been predictions on what consequences could have transpired without Adam’s knowledge. Most had been planned for, but some scenarios were akin to doomsday. Falling down a flight of stairs was not a light thing to happen. With the body mass Troy had, there were very high chances of serious injury. The man had gotten off easy with his hit to the shoulder. If the stairs had been any longer, it would have been the neck that landed first. While that might not have killed him, it would have required some form of care to fix and would have delayed testing for several days.
Adam did not want to think about what would happen then. But he had already done that in great detail, so there was no reason to reject it now. When there were no products being produced, Troy would likely have been put on leave for a week or two to regain strength, another being put in to take the man’s place. That was not acceptable, but it would have likely been the result of one step more.
The worst thing about it all was the lack of fault on the man. He had been distracted, trying to make Adam gain the feed as quickly as possible. The act of giving the AI something could not be discouraged, meaning that he could not blame the young man for trying to be kind. Truly, the AI had expected Dr Fidelis to put the point where they would be put in at a point a few meters away from the stairs. That would have been the wisest of decisions. Yet the doctor seemed to have taken their demands literally. Again, could he be blamed? The two had been quite adamant about getting their wishes granted.
In the end, the only one able to be angry at anyone would be Adam. Unconcentrated anger was an effect he did not appreciate in any way, as it stopped him from easily ridding himself of it. It could not be appeased easily, as there was nothing to really appease. The consequences had already appeared, and it was not like they would just disappear. The AI was honestly not even sure if that would fix it, him being angrier that it happened in the first place.
'Troy. Are you feeling able to talk?` Adam sent. The man had been quiet for the two minutes spent walking upstairs. The AI had put it up as him adjusting himself to walking again, but he similarly felt that enough time had been allocated for it. The distraction needed to be done once again. Though, that might have been more for the effect it would give Adam than the young man.
"I am ready whenever you are, to be honest. Not sure I want to walk in silence for another four hours today. My legs are already twitching from the pain to be," Troy said, doing more of that grim humour of his. This one was more directed at a pained body, though, so the AI decided to just let it slide. The man was not yet making jabs at personal opinions, so there was no reason to correct anything said yet.
'About that, could you explain how exactly you managed to stop the pain from the previous climbing? I do remember a certain person unable to walk, being forced to crawl over to the exit instead. Did you have a very effective massage or something like it?` Adam inquired, finding it to be a perfectly amicable conversation starter, while also fueling his personal curiosity.
The healing witness from the wound was not one which anybody could call natural. While the younger was able to heal damage faster than the older generation, there was a definite limit. A wound able to bleed should not have been able to close itself in two minutes time. Not one of this size.
"Yeah… funny story about that. It was a painful endeavour indeed, but the doctor we all know and love helped me with the pain in the only way the man deemed easy. He stabbed me until the pain went away," Troy answered, in a way that made it all sound so violent. That smile made Adam easily able to see that it was meant as a lighthearted joke about the torture of coworkers.
'He injected you with a concoction able to heal your wounds then,` Adam concluded, mismatching a few of the words and taking the most plausible guess he could find. The other was primitive adrenal therapy including knife-dancing, and the AI doubted that either of the doctors was flexible enough for that.
"Precisely," Troy answered. "Though, you could call it more of a sedative than anything. It certainly made all the pain disappear quickly."
'Oh? Do tell.`