At last, the two factors had met, one much bigger than anticipated. Still, things were not as they were supposed to be.

The purpose of this task had already been explained. In any minute now, Adam was supposed to give Troy a description of the influence of the animals around him. A concrete requirement to complete the test, to the fullest expectancy. It was not a hard thing to get one's mind around. And, it was designed to be so. For, without a clear goal in mind, how could one expect clear results? It had to make sense.

Yet, this wasn't what had been bothering Adam so much. The reason behind his irritation was the reason behind the task.

Why was this task, what was it? What purpose would the results give Dr Fidelis? The test had been greenlighted, by his superiors, with a clear goal in mind. There just had to be one, and Adam was beginning to doubt his own guesses.

When trying to find the reason behind things such as this, Adam's personal experiences could not be trusted. They were filled with bias, due to his main participation of tests, and nearly nothing else.

No, to understand the reasons fully, an outside perspective was needed. This was something, which he would have a hard time doing, for the prior stated reasons, constricting Adam to only looking at the base facts of the operation.

The first step in this endeavour was to find these base facts. In Adam's personal case, this would be achieved, by looking at the two latest tasks, and the meanings behind their words.

The main characteristic of the two had been their focus on describing. First the environment, and then the animals, which resided in it.

The next step would be, what is gained through these tasks? This question can be further enhanced. 'What would Dr Fidelis gain from this?`

Taking it from another's perspective, Adam was the first of his kind. An intelligible being, which was not a human. The current task had a clear reason when one put that into the equation.

Even from his own experiences, Adam was different from the humans. Not just in the physical aspect, but also the mental one. His mind had not been made with a human source. If that signified him being created, at a pure random computational generation, his mind being an offchance… he didn't want to think about it.

Getting back on track. If Adam had been in Dr Fidelis' well-used soles, he would have done the same. It would be illogical to expect the same output when strung through two different mechanisation. Where one would make a pretty bowtie, the other could begin selling off-brand toys to the elderly.

Adam was being asked to describe the environment, to make sure, that he saw the world, in the same ways like them. Not identically, of course. But, if Adam suddenly began talking about the colours by their Quantum Wave Streaming, a difference would be seen through, after a while.

The inclusion of animals made even more sense, in one thought about it enough. It would allow, for Adam's opinion about the creatures around him, to be put into question. This could be glanced at, through looking at, how he described the different animals in his descriptions of the environments.

Would he call them a hindrance, just a smart tool used for distribution and conservation? Or, would it be the opposite, with the plants being the simple stepping tool for the thriving lives of the living creatures?

It made so much sense.

But, there was one detail about the whole endeavour, which had been nagging at him, since the very start. The last test had not had the same problem, so it could have been ignored then. The need hadn't been as large, as it was now.

Troy was not writing down his own descriptions of the environment, and the animals within it, like he was doing, during the last chapter. This was not due to him slacking off, of course. There was simply no opportunity to do so, both because of Dr Fidelis' lack of making him do so, and the lacking screen, that would even allow it.

This made the detail even more pronounced.

What, exactly, were they cross-referencing Adam's answers off too? With the test before the current one, it had been Troy's answers, which Dr Fidelis had specified as creating a groundwork of comparison.

Yet, here, there was no such thing. Which, to his best reasoning abilities, just didn't make sense. It had already been stated that the test would be the same as before, with only minor tweaks. So, why was there such a large difference, in the way they looked at the results of it?

There had to be something, which they were contrasting it all with. But, then, where was it? It would have had to be recorded during the same test, with the same environment, if they wanted any kind of worthwhile post-result-analysis.

But, again, the only one putting in any kind of text, for this test, was Adam himself.

This meant something very important. This environment, and the other which would be shown during the test, were not unique. They were not generated, for this exact test, never to be used again. No, this was something, which the public could have access to.

It could be said that the descriptions had been outsourced, if one preferred to think out of it, with such a framework. People likely saw such things as this a lot, if Adam was correct. In fact, if his earlier analysis of Troy's entertainment consumption was to be believed, footage of nature was a popular option, when it came to entertainment.

This story has been unlawfully obtained without the author's consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.

And, if these things were put together, it meant one single thing.

All of this was realistic. While the whole thing was likely simulated, so they could get better quality, it was all based on reality, with a large emphasis on nothing being unrealistic.

For others, this may have been an easy leap of logic. Yet, for Adam, such a thing have nearly never been thought of. His views on the world had been white walls in white hallways, with there only being gradients of grey in any place Troy had looked.

The only thing resembling being colourful had been the simulated puzzle room, and the things are shown inside. With it being contained to a single place, Adam had never put much thought into it also being outside the puzzle room. It was obvious now, of course, but, before, all of this was just his to observe.

Now, to get back to the whole start of this thought process. Adam had been irritated about something, which was contained to this very test. Something, which was done incorrectly.

It had been threaded about so much, but it was the realism of the rain, which he had such a problem about.

Yes, you heard right. Adam didn't like the way that the rain was shown. That's what the last long tirade had been about.

Don't get him wrong. If one looked at the general aspects, the rain, like nearly other things in this environment, was as realistic as Adam could observe. But, also like nearly all other things in the environment, it reacted oddly when it came in contact with the bubble, which Troy resided in.

As a good standard, nothing in the bubble went out, and nothing outside the bubble came out. Simple.

Now, what would happen, when the rain hit the top of this bubble? If it followed the preset physical laws, as it was generally supposed to do, the water would splash on impact, before gently falling down the sides. This, to Adam's frustrations, did not occur. Instead, the water would simply teleport, if one could even call it that, through the bubble, emerging on the underside.

The whole test had been designed with a realistic point of view. The fact that the creators had gone such a terrible way of avoiding getting water on the bubble, was horrendous and made Troy feel withheld from the true experience, which it could have offered.

Another form could have been used, instead of a bubble. It could have created a funnel, which would have stopped the rain from impeding any of their viewing pleasure, while also holding up to the higher standard which Adam had already set forth.

…

Was he focusing on a wildly abstract subject, which had no real relation to his current tasks? One way to check.

'Troy. Are you thinking about the bubble shape encompassing us?`, Adam sent to Troy.

He looked around for a quick moment.

"It's round?" Troy asked rhetorically. "I thought it was square. Anyways, I thought you would be done as of now. The birds have already begun moving, so shouldn't you have enough data, for the first description? We have a lot of environments to cover, you know, so the preparation should be done by know."

Yes. Adam had been focusing too much.

As Troy took another glance down at the grass, Adam saw that the birds had finally moved. This was, what he got, for complaining so much. He needed to learn, how to focus on multiple things, at the same time. One part could do all the daily routines, while the other could continually complain about an obscure fact or statement. A dream to be had. But, not now, for there was analysation to be had.

As said before, the bird had finally made their first move, after having grouped up in a single tree. From the few scarce glances, which Adam had focused on, they had all together dived at the ground, before scattering around the field and beginning to peck furiously at the ground.

What exactly the birds were trying to find, down on the ground, remained a mystery to Adam. Getting their general body information out of the pre-known library was hard enough. Trying to find their eating habits would be much harder a feat to do.

Even if they were a group together, it seemed like fights would still break out, for the best spots to peck at. This seemed… contradictory, to what Adam initially thought, about their current behaviour.

If these birds really were ravens or crows, the first seen bird should have been the scouting patrol. These patrols had the job of finding optimal feeding locations, where the larger group would be able to replenish their reserves, and letting them move on as soon as possible.

It all made sense. But, then, why were they fighting for, whatever it was, that they were eating down there when there should have been plenty to go around?

The untrusty source had to be asked, once again.

'What are they doing, down in the grass?`, Adam sent.

"Looks like they're catching worms", Troy noted, bending his knees slightly, so his head was closer to the ground. It had to have been a placebo level of help, but he seemed to have accepted it. "It's a normal thing to do when there's a level of rain like this. The worms go up from under the earth, both because the water makes it near impossible to breathe, and that it lets the migrate from place to place much easier. The birds, being the smart bastard that they are, have observed this action countless times, and know to look for worms, when it begins raining down heavily."

So, it was a feeding frenzy, as Adam had originally thought. It was good to know that that part was still true. He wouldn't have known what else to categorize their behaviour as.

But, why were they still fighting for the food? Taking a broad look, it was only in the middle, where the birds were not nice to each other. To the sides, the bird each kept their distance. If this was out of respect, or to maximise the number of available worms, Adam wasn't too sure.

Now that the possibility was thought about, the chance of the birds simply being territorial, when looking for food, out of pure instinct, was not too far from reality.

As time went on, the bird simply continued to peg the ground furiously, never really stopping for more than a few seconds. The pauses were likely due to the consumption of the found prey, so they couldn't really be called such.

Adam had half a mind, to wait out the storm, and see what the behaviour would be after the storm had finished. Would the birds continue their consumption, or would they fly away at the first sign of dryness? The worms would likely continue their travels, with the dirt first being dry in a few hours. Yet, would the birds take heed to this, or would the search for the worms be near instinct from the rain?

How great it would be, but, Adam wasn't even sure, if the thunderstorm ending was sat into the simulation, at all. There was a great chance that it would be continued, till the moment, where the next environment would be loaded up.

So, with this mindset sat in place, it was likely the best time to begin the description of the current environment.

'Get your hands ready. The description will be relayed to you in a second.`, Adam sent. The pause was more for the sake of Troy, who wouldn't be ready as quickly as was preferred. Adam himself had already created the text, which would be read out to him.

"Fucking finally", Troy stated, sounding more stressed, than Adam would have guessed him to be. The signs had already been there, of course, but he hadn't been too sure, about the true meaning behind them. Troy got back over to the writing screen and got his hands in a writing pose. "Just start yourself up, when you're ready."

'The corvids are extraordinary, in their hunting methods. These are varied, and their ways are not of one mind. Instead of constricting themselves to one type of environment, they adapt to whichever they reside in.

Take the current one, as an example. Corvids have a diet, which can consist of whatever type is needed. In this, they consume worms, in greater amounts. It will not be a sustainable diet, but therein comes their abilities to quickly move to other environments, with their power of flight. This can allow them to cross vast distances, no matter the terrain. Only the weather, and their need for food, can influence their ability to do so. It is amicable.

Another great fortitude of theirs is their communication methods. With their sharper tones, which may bring displeasure to some humans, allows them to inform, warn, or otherwise talk with other like-minded corvids. This allows them to learn with each other, and becoming smart as a group, through shared experiences.

That was it. Do you need a reaction?'

The first description of the day was rather short. But, the focus had not been on the quality of his words, and more along the way of letting Adam learn more about the animals.

"For the only time today, no, actually," Troy said, typing in the last word rapidly. He had, with no small feat, afforded to write the whole thing down continually. He was improving, much to Adam's surprise.

Was that a bad thing to think? Most likely. If, of course, he ever let such a thing out vocally.