'Are you ready for the description?', Adam sent to Troy.
"I'm as ready, as can be", Troy immediately answered, his fingers tensing to fly across the screen. "Just speed through it, and I'll try to keep up.
Speed up? That didn't sound like too bad of an idea. Troy was most likely only going to be able to write down, half before not being able to remember it accurately. If Adam sped up his talking speed with twenty per cent, they would be able to finish in about ninety per cent of the regular time. If, of course, Troy was keeping up his current activity levels.
With nothing more to add, Adam shot the description out.
'At first, one might be confused about the sight. A flock of birds jovially eating in the grasp of a larger reptile. Or, the jaw, to be more accurate. The amount of trust, that the reptile won't close its jaws, killing the birds in the process, is something unusual in nature. Yet, it is not completely unheard of. Another name for this rare phenomena can be described as a mutually beneficial relationship.
And, there is good reason, for this rarity. In human society, mutually beneficial relationships are all around. They are in plenty of numbers, used in nearly all aspects of society. The reason for this, is, as the name implies, due to how beneficial such a thing is. Yet, if it is so beneficial, why is it only prominent in such small numbers of species? And, even further, why is it most common in the same species.
This brings the issue of it all over to communication problems. I can not personally figure out a way for the reptile to have communicated its leech infestation to the birds. Most likely, their relationship is likely the product of pure chance, something surviving in their DNA for no other reason, then pure probability.
But, now, it is used as a part of both creatures lives, benefiting them in great ways. First, the bird gets its daily fill, leaving it without the need to scavenge for food in an otherwise barren environment. With the current state of the area, this relationship between the two species might be even more important, for their continued survival.
While the benefits, which the reptile gets, is not as large, like the birds, it is still nothing to scoff at. The pain felt is relieved, letting it finally relax, without the constant mouthful of distractions.
Such a thing is something to look up at. It proves something about nature. Humans haven't walked a new path when they all began to cooperate. They were simply following in the footsteps of the ancients before them.`, Adam sent. He would have preferred it to be longer, with more mentions of the environment. Yet, it was designated as unimportant, and making it more concrete in format was divided to be more vital, to get a better grade.
Troy had been doing his best to keep up, writing with a frenzy matching Dr Fidelis' writing speed. His fingers flew across the screen, with the buttons pressed for but a moment before the next would follow. Several grammatical errors were made in this process, but Adam felt up to the task of correcting them. That is if Troy asked for his assistance. Offering it as a standard, would not be helping him further his own goals of making each gear as independent as possible, while still having interaction.
Contrary to Adam's own expectations, Troy wrote out more than half of the description. At least, it was closer to fifty per cent written than sixty per cent. And, there were more than a few more errors, in the words, than what he would let slide by. If there wasn't a direct inquiry about proof-reading, Adam would make him ask for it. Such mistakes could not be accepted.
"Mind repeating yourself?" Troy asked, cracking his knuckles. Did he see this as an extraneous exercise? "Because, I don't think I should be trusted, with this more than satisfactory memory of mine."
While his memory had its fate sealed, his self-awareness was more than average. Adam was even a little proud of his focus on self-improvement. Or, the continuous exercise of writing down his descriptions, had forced his brain to adapt to the more focused needs of his short-term memory.
…
Adam helped himself, by thinking it was Troy's personal decision.
The description was finished, in being written down, not much long after. There was luckily a request for correcting the numerous mistakes in it, before it was sent away. After having sent forth the longer text, it was time for the changes in the environment, where the whole process would begin anew. Adam hoped for something more original.
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The two of them had been through seven environments, with the first hour of testing has passed with it. Being quicker, in writing descriptions had been a small success, for now. The time taken was shorter than the total average, but not by much. Troy was seemingly satisfied with it, after being told the statistics. Something about holding promises had been uttered.
Adam's wishes, for the area to vary more in aesthetics had been answered. The most unique had been on the bottom of the ocean, where only the creatures emitted any form of light, in the air, where fierce battles of dominance were had over scavenged food, on the desert ground, where the only thing holding one back form dehydration is the scarce shadows, and, as common as it sounded, the earthly areas, where life was plenty, but the fight for survival was just as fierce.
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It was great, to have such a varied perspective. Yet, there was always more to be had. Always more to be seen. Whoever controlled which environments to be shown, just had to decide on the right options. Which, of course, meant, whatever Adam wanted to see in that particular moment.
His particular wishes had varied strongly, throughout the testing. Nearly all the areas left questions unanswered. Why things were the way they were, why the animals didn't choose the easier, more productive, evolutionary traits, and, for the love of all that is logical, why were some creatures restricted in, where they were located?
Many things, which Adam saw in the different environments, simply didn't make sense to him. If put in another environment, some species could absolutely dominate the local wildlife. They were either large enough or simply smart enough, to not be threatened by any but their own species.
Yet, they were themselves present, in an area, where all their capabilities only just allowed them to survive. It was brutal, seeing such creatures not live up to their full potential. Adam was certainly frustrated, by their restricted positions.
If they were moved to, where they belonged, they could be so much more. They could grow as creatures so much more. With time, the only real enemy would be their own species, challenging them to evolve to take on their own. It would be an arms race. Only the strongest, the smartest, and the quickest could survive. Perfection would be strived for. Success was not certain, but they could become better, than what they were currently, and that was what mattered.
Even if it took millions upon millions of years, these animals could grow to challenge the capabilities of humans. With Adam's understanding of humanity, though, such a thing would be impossible. Not due to the restrictions of the environment, but of the other creatures living in it.
From the few mentions of history, which were showcased in his pre-known information, humans did not like competition. Greater wars had been started, with the fall of one figure. At that point, it is not about the figure, but the one's which could follow. It is within human nature to be paranoid about threats. Dealing with such threats, before they deal with you, is perfectly natural.
Thinking like that does not scale well, when people, with the capabilities of world destruction on a moment's notice, share them. The stakes are not even. One small push could eradicate the entire population.
And, humanity had done a similar thing, with another species before, in the past few centuries. The Emu War, it had been called. The only reason, for the war's startup, had been due to the larger numbers of emus. Humans saw them as a threat to their lives. The emu's however seemed to have no intention to attack first, instead of having a disposition to… play with them.
The emu's had the means to kill, yet they did not do so. Their actions did not matter, to humans. It was the possibility of it. Now, Adam found no mentions of the outcome, of this war. From natural deductions, though, he presumed near-total eradication.
The description of Emu's did not mention them as extinct, leading to the possibility of them still existing in controlled environments. It was not a perfect way to live, sure, but their historical value needed to be preserved in some form, other than simple data.
"This better not be another desert", Troy said, as their latest environment began floating away.
It had been a foggy, rock-area, which, to Adam's mostly-reliable sources, was at a higher altitude. In that environment, the goal had been to study the movements of goats, and how the different hybrids would fight, using the possibility of falling to their advantage. It had been intriguing to look at, mostly since these creatures were wholely incompetent in this battle. Their hit per cent had been under five per cent, which, with the distance between the two combatants, was a statistical miracle. Troy, however, notified Adam, that this was common. He had it hard in believing it to be so, but he had been completely wrong before.
'No grains of sand has been produced, so you might not be in the wrong.', Adam notified Troy. Before the desert had been created, the notable creation process had been for sand to fall like rain-water. Why this was so, he wasn't too sure. The pure processing power, to calculate the trajectory of each, individual grain of sand would be massive. He was still of the mindset, that blinking the earlier environment out of existence, and then immediately replacing it with the new one, without any fancy transition, was better, and let the test move on quicker. Dr Fidelis was not of the same mind, apparently.
Shifting over to the new area was just as long and arduous as actually doing the task. It was not hard to process, of course. It was just… Adam wasn't too sure, that the information gained would be of any use in the future. The transitions were just… to unrealistic.
As a great example, currently, all the fog around the was being sucked into small spheres, vainly appearing to be translucent balloons. They floated up into the sky, the other materials of the environment joining them in their own, little balloons. It did not matter the amount of material. The size of the spheres remained constant, floating upwards, no matter how little they should.
With little time, all that was left were these little spheres, all else being pure, white space. As the last ballon hit the invisible ceiling, though, they began conglomerating, quickly turning into an amalgamation of colours. The insides of the now-massive balloon-shaped sphere began spinning, picking up speed.
Slowly, the nuances of material inside began mixing together, turning into one, distinct colour. A lighter green, to be exact.
"Oh, do not even dare think about it", Troy shouted at the large sphere, as if his opinion would make any difference. Nevertheless, Adam was of the same mindset. That particular genre of environment had been getting stale, now.
As if it was pricked with a needle at the bottom, the now green contents of the massive sphere, sprung out, falling down onto the ground. It at a single point, creating a colossal wave around it. It would have coated Troy circle in colour, if not for it simply phasing trough. Still too unrealistic, making no sense. Yet, it was probably for the best, that they weren't inhibited in sightly abilities, simply due to unforeseen coating.
In the area, where the tall wave of colour had passed, not all fell to the floor harmlessly. Some stood still, being in very familiar patterns. At the top, the still-standing cylinders of the green split, with a good half going to all sides, and forming recognizable branches. As its form settled, the material hardened, changing texture and colour, where it was needed.
It was official. In the next debriefing, Adam needed to have a serious discussion with Dr Fidelis on, where familiarity isn't an excuse for unoriginality. While there weren't too many trees here, they were still in larger numbers, than what there should have been.
"Can we just not get this again?" Troy outright asked, to no one in particular. At least, Adam hoped he would ask anyone in particular because it wasn't directed at him. And, if he had been able to hide a secondary communication device from him, it would be a clear inconsistency.
'Let's just get through it. With how much we've seen of this type of environment, we should be through this one quicker than the others.', Adam sent, noticing the irritation crawling forth from Troy once again. While it did give Troy clear goals in conversations, he wasn't too sure that it gave the best kind of boost in work productivity.
As the rest of the area formed, it became even more clear, how not-at-all unique this environment was. Bushes and small bundles of grass were prevalent, across an otherwise barren ground. Enough cover to hide smaller animals, but nothing larger than one and a half meters could be hiding here. Which meant that, for this area, they would be most likely overlooking smaller animals. If they were lucky, it would be the size of a rabbit, and nothing small.
Adam personally hoped it was a rabbit. He hadn't seen one before, and it would help in solving a few conundrums of his.
From Troy's left, the rustling of grass was heard. At least, this one started quickly.