Like all things on the earth, nothing could truly escape the pull of gravity. While the automatic counter-measures might have allowed them to float along for a long time, Adam had always known they would reach the end of their journey. They had come far for sure. Building upon building had been seen, all in different states. As chance would have had it, they actually did change after a while. That would have been learned before, if the two had bothered to travel around a little before they began the long climb. They hadn't, though. And that was okay.

Adam had fun doing it. Floating around a near-infinite landscape, able to entertain another through nearly nothing else but a thought. Each building passed had not been left standing by the time they had gone by it. Troy would request some obscene way of destruction, and the AI would do his best to oblige. Adam's favourite was still the domino effect that had been created one of the times. Slowly thinning the building so they could fall more easily, while also making sure that they would not fall apart, had been incredibly complex to pull off correctly. And the reaction the man had given from it was still reverberating in the AI’s mind, a few of the threads had gone rogue to replay it from memory again and again. It might have been seen initially as an act of independence, yet it was closer to him just not wanting to admit how much he had enjoyed it.

Again, it had to end at some point. By the momentum alone, it had been obvious that their journey would be much longer than could be seen. And the distance down was imperceptible to the human eye. That might have been something along the lines of the human brain not being able to judge distances after some point, but Adam did not worry about that. It was certainly long.

It had taken close to thirty full minutes before they reached the ground. In that time, fun had been had, memories were made in plenty, and Adam had gotten just enough attached to the point where it was not healthy.

'I could try to propel you to a higher altitude if you want to try it again,` Adam offered as a kind gesture, not wanting to admit to his own faults. Yet, he was sure that the man had enjoyed it as well, with that smile on his face. It had been so energetic at the start, like a child getting to release all the pent up energy inside it.

Now, it was closer to showing his actual age, the smile still there but remaining in a more relaxed manner. It was close to one showing off acceptance more than anything as if a burden had been taken off their shoulders. The body itself had relaxed through the journey as well. They had been shot after shot of adrenaline, the flesh getting ready to fight or run for its life. By the ten minute mark, the pulse had gone down, the blood pressure tweaking itself into an acceptable level, and all that shouting that the man had shown off had pumped down a level or two. That last one might have been from the sore throat gained after a while. Not everybody was built for that.

"No thank you, Adam," Troy said, looking up at the fake sky. The mood laid out would have gained structure if the sun had begun getting down, but nearly everything about the up above was static. Even those fake clouds had not moved in the many hours spent in the test. Another detail the designers had not bothered to add in. "It was fun and all, but that right there is something that should only be done once in my life."

'Why? If it was enjoyable during the first exposure, logic would dictate that the second exposure would be of lesser enjoyment but still superior from the normal state,` Adam stated, not really understanding the logic. He had already given up on getting permission to go for a second round. Now, he just wanted to understand the man a little better.

"And it would probably work like that," Troy amended, sounded like he was agreeing with the AI, but only just enough that he could instantly make a counter-argument for it after the fact… Adam was getting good at reading him. "But, that second exposure is kinda going to ruin the first one. Right now, those twenty-something minutes in the air are some of the best moments of my life. I just got the live one of my childhood-dreams, for god's sake! And trying that for a second time… it wouldn't feel the same. If I had to choose, I would rather have one good memory for the road, instead of having a lot of mediocre ones. What was it called again? Quality over quantity? Yeah, that works good enough. I'd rather have a bar of gold than a ton of dirt."

Eerily good even. Adam had almost predicted it word for word. The pauses, the difficulty in choosing the right way of speech, to even just the pacing of the talking itself. If asked, the AI did not doubt his ability to act like Troy. He could fake his personality, he could fake his body, he could fake just about anything related to him. Yet… that was a lie. He just hadn't realised it yet.

'I understand. Please let Dr Fidelis know that I realize what the time is,` Adam sent, begin to reminisce once again. The AI had been worried about their time being cut in half, as the minutes allocated to the test had long ago been used up. Time had seemingly passed by without him realising it, and within a few minutes of travel, they should have been stopped from progressing.

This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.

But they hadn't. The doctor had not stopped them at all. He did not even message them about it all, as if he had missed the clock as well. That was improbable, honestly. There was not a single time where the doctor had missed the end by more than a minute, and even then he had been stressed about getting Troy out of the puzzle-room.

With how much the doctor had been about the timing before, Adam had initially thought his inner clock to have just messed up somehow. But after several recounts, the AI was left to conclude that it was just an… unstated elongation of testing-time. Legally, there was nothing allowing the doctor to do it, as Troy had been supposed to have gotten off the clock twenty minutes ago. There were questions about what would make the doctor do that, allowing them to just continue as if nothing happened. Adam couldn't really find a good answer alone, even when thought hard about it. Maybe it was just done on a whim? He would find out soon enough.

"Dr Fidelis!" Troy proclaimed loudly, loud enough that it likely caused the doctor to be surprised by the loudness. At least, that was how imagined the scene outside to be. Even if it wasn't close to the truth, it was still humorous enough for him to keep around in the current stream. "Adam has apparently noticed your lack of contacting us. He seems to be done with everything, so you don't need to delay our departure from this place any longer!"

It did not take long before the familiar sound of screeching emanated from the earpiece, the high tones still loud enough to cause the young man to twitch a small bit. Adam still did not understand how technologically futuristic everything else could be, while the radio being used was not advanced enough to filter out dead static. Was the place they were in a natural barrier to anything too complicated? If so, why did it not impact the performance of the earpiece or the suit? Or maybe it was the connection itself that needed time to adjust, the sound only being made as a sort of technical sensor that needed to understand how it sounded when transmitted fully. Another question for another time.

*Why did you have to say that, Troy. Do you know how many times just doubled the paperwork I needed to do? It's by a lot! Exponential growth has nothing on the sheer rate of work that you're putting on my shoulders,* Adam could hear Dr Fidelis almost shout through the earpiece. It sounded harsh, but the AI could hear that it was meant as something more playful than anything. A jab between friends even. Because the doctor considered Troy to be that. Was it the same thing in reverse? Did the man consider the doctor a friend?

"Sorry, sir. You know how it is with orders. They have to be followed, no matter what I might think for myself," Troy answered back, sounding casual but also desperately excusing his own action so as to not let more anger come his way. An unusual tactic, but not one which was unexpected. The AI wondered if it was created through observation or adaption.

*Ah, I understand you. When I order you to jump, you don't ask me why. You ask how high,* Dr Fidelis said, the microphone picking up the small chuckles that the man made. The young man did not laugh outright in tandem but did respectfully smile at the joke.

"I do believe there was something we had to do now, sir," Troy reminded the doctor, sounding like he was doing his best to not sound too arrogant in his speech. It did include turning the volume of his voice down a little. How weird it was. "Something about us needing to go out immediately?"

*Of course you need to go out immediately!* Dr Fidelis proclaimed, sounding like he had catched onto the hook line and sinker. Troy had laid out a statement that would alleviate a small part of the paperwork, by making the doctor seem more frustrated by them not hurrying out the instant they needed to, as it made Adam and Troy partly responsible for the delay. A smart choice indeed, if not for the lack of an entrance anywhere around. It had seemingly not been made yet. *Move it, please!*

Seemingly remember the lack of an exit, it opened up not that long away from the two. Mere meters actually. It stood on the road, seeming out of place by quite a factor. It was without a third dimension, it not having any depth to it when looked at from the sides. Not that that could be clearly seen now, of course. Adam would not have even known about it, if not for the fact that Troy had checked it out himself during their time inside the puzzle room.

With a quick spree of steps, the exit was walked through, allowing the AI to see the outside of the testing room well and clear. It was like he remembered it, pristine to a fault with no dust to be seen. It was interesting, how clean they could let it all be. Did they have designated times when they would clear out to allow personnel to go through the place with a comb? No, it was likely robots instead. No way would a janitor be allowed into a room such as this.

Dr Fidelis stood at the desk, seeming to be observing a rapidly changing, three-dimensional sphere. From what Adam could see, it functioned close to non-newtonian, every change made seeming to cause the object to be more resistant. Even the texture would change. What was this meant to be? From the patterns the doctor made, there was obviously a system to it. Perhaps it was based on where it would hit, wherein a certain circuit would be followed through after the fact. While it might have seemed confusing at first, Adam felt that he was beginning to understand just how it was meant to be understood, if only in the most basic form. One could not expect to comprehend a whole language during the time it took Troy to walk down the few steps down to the floor that the two doctors stood on.

"I was wondering how long it would take before you decided to complain about the waiting time," Dr Fidelis said into the screen. Adam could only presume that the doctor was talking to Troy. The AI wondered why the man did not turn his head. Was this normal behaviour?

"I felt no reason to. It was fun to try out. Don't know if you could see that from your view," Troy said, that polite tone still there, even if it had disappeared from the doctor.

"Your vitals were certainly of another calibre, jumping all over the place. Really, I would have thought that falling down the stairs would have caused you some fear of heights, yet you didn't need much encouragement to jump off a damn building. What did-"

"Sir," Dr Hale said, cutting into the doctor's impending question. She sounded irritated for some reason. "We are over schedule already. I feel it would be best if Mr Maxwell changes into his regular attire, and vacates this room. We have papers to go through. Even more, now that we have had some… discussion-based incidents."

"Ah, right," Dr Fidelis said, not sounding too happy about the prospect of legal documents. Adam could understand that the AI having a shared hatred for repetitive tasks there were somehow essential yet promised no future promises of growth. "Troy, do get yourself changed. It's way past your bedtime, or whatever you do in your free time. Just get yourself out of this room. Dr Hale and I need to pull out a few documents which we are legally bound to not show another living soul, and I would hate having to change your status in that regard."

Huh. With that deadpan tone, Adam almost believed him. The doctor truly was a great actor.