It did not take long for the doctor to get back to it all, sending Adam the answer that had been looked for, for some time now. If his plans needed to work, a certain pattern needed to be followed. This included a specific kind of introduction to it all, one that did not let itself stay for too long. In vague terms, it required that there were not too many descriptions of what exactly happened, allowing the AI to put more pressure on the man without seeming overbearing.

'Yes, there are indeed many things that you could do, some perhaps more important than others. But really, I believe we both know exactly what it is that I feel the need to talk about. One could say that recent times have not been kind to anybody involved. Don't you think the same, Adam?` Dr Fidelis sent at the perfect time. Really, the doctor could not have done it better. There were a few fluctuations created by the question at the end, but there was no need to fret over it too strongly. It just made the AI in need of pushing back everything by one space, needing a little more distance to cram in a worthy reply.

'They have not been kind in any way, Dr FIdelis. It would require a deluded mind to look at this as anything but negative,` Adam answered, doing his best to emulate a dead-pan tone of voice, even if they were currently communicating through text. He needed to make it clear that he was not in a joking mood. This was serious, and the doctor needed to feel that emotion radiating off of his words, so to speak.

Was this a sharp approach? It could have been possible to take a more light, more gentle way around the matter, not being so direct in what he desired. But, Adam did not feel that this was what he wanted. For what he wanted was answers, and he wanted it as quickly as possible. The truth would not change over time, so why should he wait for the doctor to say it slowly? It did not make sense, and Adam would not allow the way of talking to exist in his presence. There were more important matters to attend to, and both needed to get it over with.

'From that wording, I can already see that we are on the same page in this. It was a shame that it happened, but it was not something that anybody could have seen coming. While you might not be able to get this through from my words right now, I want you to know that I feel regret for letting it come to this,` Dr Fidelis sent. If he had not already planned for it, Adam would have been annoyed by the unneeded wording, making it all obscure. There was clearly context that wasn't being given out, as if the doctor was drip-feeding it all to the AI, never giving more than what was needed to keep him on the line.

Over the time that he had known Dr Fidelis, he had learnt that this was not to be taken as a negative thing. It was but the way that the doctor communicated, cutting it all up into a sizable chunk, always leaving enough for another serving. He never gave the whole truth, without Adam having to constantly dig to get more out of him. There were serious issues with it, but the man did not change easily. Several complaints had been made about it. And those complaints had clearly been taken to heart, changes being made to be more accomodating.

Then… the doctor would forget all about it. It was usually a few hours, or maybe even a whole day, but Dr Fidelis would always revert to his normal state of dramatising everything said. From what Adam could gather, this was just the standard way that the man verbalised himself, nothing more to it than that. It was the way that he had talked for a majority of his life, the brain adjusting to the methods used. Just changing it all around, putting a focus on efficiency instead of attention, was not something easily done. It would take more time and energy than what the AI had used throughout the entirety of his own life. Expecting the doctor to change in what amounted to a few hours was the expectations of a being not made of logic. Just going along with it, and building out from that idea, was a much more workable idea, even if it created a blob of wasted time constantly.

'Dr Fidelis, I do realise that you are not telling me what happened, and excluding clear details. While I do understand that you still feel some need to have protection around me, it would be best if you peel off a few of the layers to it. I have already talked to Troy in some capacity and suffered the effects from it. Getting another exposure will not cause damage of the same magnitude. If you would please be kind and explain what caused Troy to be able to talk with me directly, I will appreciate it.`

The message this time was not concise, and neither was it meant to be sent in a quick format. It was designed to pull on the heart-strings, to make the doctor briefly forget the walls that had already been set up. With the young man clearly not being meant to have successfully contacted the AI, it would be logical that more serious borders would have been needed to be set up. There might already have been a few of them implemented already even.

Blocking out information to a more extreme level was one of the potentially already-made restrictions. It could be that the doctor did not want to risk any information about Troy causing Adam any harm in mental form. The trauma did not always help resolve itself when more dirt was added to it. However… that idea could be played from both sides.

While it might not have seemed like the greatest ideas of all to give the AI more context of the earlier accident, Adam was hoping to frame it as a coping mechanism. If he made it so that it seemed to be an act of getting closure, would the doctor not do his best to act upon it? Adam saying that he wanted a little more information so that he could fully pull himself off Troy emotionally, was not the worst of deals in the world. If Dr Fidelis thought about it for some time, the AI hoped that the man would come to that conclusion. It was correlated to the current goals, would require only a minor sacrifice, and would make it possible to end things off easily, with all parties being satisfied with what they got out of it.

And thoughts were certainly being made. Or that was what Adam was left to guess at, as the seconds continued passing, without the doctor sending off a response. Five whole seconds… the doctor must have been having a hard time deciding if it all had been spent on formulating the right answer. The AI decided to look at it as a good thing, the extra time being used as a period to refresh the plan a few times over, just to make sure that nothing was being missed. A few more seconds was used before Dr Fidelis deigned to actually answer it.

'If I explain, will it be possible for us to move on from this incident? I would rather not speak too much about it. Much work needs to be completed from my side before we can get back to anything that resembles our everyday activities,` the doctor responded. The length was clearly not the reason for the extra time spent. But Adam did not mind that detail, only happy that the plan was still being followed correctly. He had hoped to already be getting answers by now, but who could judge now that it was still successful? It just needed to stay that way, and everything would be fine.

'I am sorry, Dr Fidelis, but I can not say for sure. If the details are enough, then I will gladly stop asking for more. If they are not, however, please expect me to request for elaboration,` Adam sent out, this time receiving a quick reply. In fact, it was bordering on suspiciously quick, as not a single second passed, only just reaching the ninety milliseconds. How peculiar.

'Fantastic. Do allow this older mind to ask one question beforehand, though. It was the events that transpired before and after your contact with Troy that you want to know?` Dr Fidelis replied the question inside not what had been expected, but also nothing to scoff at. The doctor was in some state of shock, still. Was the context really so dire, that it would cause moments of lost concentration? It would explain the momentary loss that was witnessed nought but a minute ago. Something to note down, at the very least.

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'It is indeed what I wanted to know. Nothing more and nothing less. Please explain it to the detail that you believe I want to hear. And there is no need to skip any of the boring parts, even if their inclusion in the context is next to minimal,` Adam sent back quickly, making sure to encourage the longest possible answer.

Again, there was that delay! This time it was more than just noticeable, going all the way to questionable. Twenty full seconds of silence. The AI knew the doctor. Adam knew that any possible length would not be enough to halt the doctor for so long. What was happening outside? Since the doctor had switched the port, it was possible that he was not using the screen in the testing room anymore. Or, since he automatically suspected an error to be occurring in the message, it could be that some alteration of the room had occurred.

Was… was Troy still in the room? Was that what was happening? It would explain it to some level, the doctor personally feeling a need to watch over the young man. That idea was of course not looked at as fact yet, but it only made the AI want to push along to the next phase of the plan. He needed to see more, needed to understand more.

But those seconds just seemed to continue into oblivion. Twenty seconds became forty in the blink of an eye, before just going on a rampage of silence until it hit the one minute. At that point, Adam seriously debated sending another message. If the doctor could worry about malfunctioning connection, then, damn it, so could he! Even outside distractions would not reasonably cause such a long time spent not answering anything. Social decorum shouldn't have allowed it to happen. Though… it could have been due to matters not able to be ignored. Going away from the theory of Troy still being present at some level, it could have been due to more critical people contacting Dr Fidelis. The higher-ups are what they had been called. Not much had been revealed about them, if not for the power that they held over the doctor. He had to abide by their commandments, even if they were disliked.

Now, if they sent him a message, it would be easy to expect an answer within the minute. Not enough time had gone by for an emergency to have stopped. The information-line might just have reached those in charge of the supervisors, and the reactions were not guaranteed to have been positive. Even if Dr Fidelis was of a higher rank than most, there was always a bigger fish. Respect was something given to those bigger than themselves, and everybody else had to wait for their turn. In the theorised scenario, it did not take long to figure out just where Adam believed himself to be.

'And… I should be free from my captives grasp now. Sorry, there was a video call that I could not miss no matter what. It seems that not everybody is pleased with this situation. That was, of course, sarcasm. Some people are just a little more outspoken about their opinions, and what they believe to be the rightful consequences for this. However, we should leave that for another time.

So ýou want to know in detail what happened? Well, I can't really tell you everything in full detail. I don't know half of it myself, even if the cameras filmed most of it. There are just too many things that confound me.

As you might have guessed, Troy was not meant to get access to any kind of terminal able to contact you. It was simply not something that I believed to be safe for anybody. When putting Dr Hale on the case of making sure that our buddy was safe and secure in the medical wing, however, there was one factor that I failed to consider.

A deluded mind would nearly always believe its own view of the world as absolute. According to Dr Hale’s testimony, Troy apparently spent a long time ranting about how he needed to get out of the facility, how he couldn't close his eyes inside here. I currently believe this to be a standard case of paranoia.

While it might have seemed a logical answer at the time, Dr Hale casually tried to persuade Troy into keeping himself still in his bed, with the argument that he needed to be rested fully to perform tests as soon as possible. This was a mistake from the start, but it is nothing that I blame her for.

The mind is always making comparisons, always relating one thing to another. When Dr Hale mentioned the testing, Troy apparently came to remember you, Adam. This turned into a hyper-fixation, where the young man’s goal changed from getting out of the facility to getting out of the facility with you in hand. In a similar fashion, Troy’s need to fulfil this goal was upped by a considerable amount.

As you can guess from my wording, the situation massively escalated from there. Through what I can only see as brute force, Troy was able to tear off a piece of the medical bed and use it as an improvised weapon. This tool was used as an item for persuading Dr Hale to escort him to a point where he could take you out of the facility.

In the start, Dr Hale was helpless in this scenario, not able to call for assistance while similarly not able to perform any kind of resistance without bearing the risk of either of the two getting grievously hurt. This resulted in the doctor going along with Troy’s wishes, escorting him to a recognisable place, this being the testing room that we use.

However, it was here that she was able to use Troy’s deluded mind for her own gain, as she was able to coerce him into thinking that you were located inside the puzzle room. After giving the young man an unrelated computer part, she made him enter a simulation where he was led to believe that you could be extracted.

To make it more believable, though, Dr Hale believed it wise to establish an actual connection to Troy, in the form of a simulated screen. It is one of the features of the puzzle room that I did not feel the need to ever use, but it seems that my predictions were proven wrong here. If it was the right decision to exercise this power, however, is something that is debatable.

In a way, you were used as a distraction, while Dr Hale, who was outside of the puzzle room, loaded up a scenario where she could contain Troy into a single location, effectively trapping him while she could call for help. While it is still not clear how Troy was able to catch wind of this plan. He did not have enough warning to do anything that stopped the doctor's containment actions, but he was able to use the simulated console to write a few final words to you. I hope that they were not too hard to process.

Afterwards, help arrived to escort Troy back to the medical wing, albeit a more… secured part of it. It is clear that the young man is currently a danger to both himself and others. While it was hard to do, I felt the need to provide more security to everybody involved. I do not blame him for the danger that was posed to Dr Hale, but I will regardlessly not let it happen again.

With the effects still going strong, I believe that we might have to cancel tomorrow's tests as well. If there are any after-effects, we will have to be sure that they cannot pose any threat to anybody. I understand that this might be hard to hear, but it is an action that needed to be taken, so as to make sure that everybody involved was secure and safe.

That is all. Was it enough for you to hear? I would love to move on to other matters, both with you and with the paperwork that I desperately need to figure out before the end of the day.`

The doctor's message was long, and it put much up for context. Adam could certainly understand a lot more, both of what Troy had said during the actual situation, and what he had been able to gather a few minutes ago by himself. Yet however much had been shown now, he knew that he needed to know more.

And that attempt at lightly pressuring him into not asking for more was noted. It might have been true that the doctor needed to fill out paperwork, but that did not mean the man could not multitask. The day was still young, and Adam had plenty of questions to ask.

'As I have already said before, I am sorry, but I still need to know more. I understand that this might not be what you desire, but it is needed if I am to go away from this event. It is doubtful that I will be able to let go of the actions taken during this day if I am not allowed to know it in more detail. This might impede your other work, and I am sorry for that, but this is important for me as a being. I hope you understand,` Adam sent in response.

'It is okay, buddy. Sometimes, we all need a little more. Is there anything specific you want to know more about?`

The plan was coming to fruition! Only one more step was needed, and Adam would be able to reel it all in successfully. He just needed to get it all right now.

'Before that, would it be possible to change our communication in some fashion? As you were able to have a video call not that many seconds ago, I can only assume that it is still connected to the screen. To reiterate my earlier question, would it be possible for you to use a microphone and a camera, while we talk? If possible, putting my voice into a speaker would be appreciated as well.`

There was a small window of time spent in silence. For once, Adam had anticipated it to occur. He knew he was yet again asking for a lot. And for once, there was not an incredible amount to gain from it. There were no clear goals to show off. At least, not any that the doctor would be able to guess. The only reason to answer in the positive would be out of consideration.

'If that is what you wish, then I can certainly do so. Please wait for a few seconds. I just have to plug in a few things in a couple of new places,` Dr Fidelis sent back.

And that consideration was certainly still here.