The food was good. Troy liked it, at the very least. Yet, he also liked nearly everything there was to eat, so that couldn't have been taken as too great of a comparison tool.

He didn't know whatever it was supposed to be. It smelled good, it tasted perfect, and he didn't seem to be allergic to it, so Troy couldn't care less about its actual ingredients. From the exclamations coming, from the newly arrived personnel, he wasn't the only one, who enjoyed the meal.

"What is this stuff?" Troy asked Charlie, raising some of the liquid on his spoon, and letting it fall back to the bowel.

With their table's spoon having been used for a greater purpose, they had been forced to permanently borrow a few, from the one closest by. Troy was sure, that they didn't mind. If they did, they luckily had no idea of the borrowing.

"It's soup", Charlie stated, in between his overly large slurps. One could say a lot of things about that man. You could call him a genius, and you'd be right. You call him out of the box, with his ways of thinking. And, most important of all, you could call him a massive man-child, not having enough decency when it came to table manners.

Troy wasn't too good himself when it came to it, yet he at least tried to hide his unpracticed liquid consumption. Charlie, though, made it a national sport, breathing in massive amounts of air, while simultaneously getting himself some hot soup.

"I know its soup"; Troy stated, knowing exactly how much Charlie was currently messing with him. He had dialled it down, in the last few minutes, but it was still annoying.

Yet, in these doses, he didn't mind bearing with it. If he liked it, he would learn to enjoy it as well. Weird thinking, but it had been done before. Just like the time, where Troy forced himself to listen to old thrash metal. That had been an experience, which he didn't want to repeat.

"Then why are you asking?" Charlie counted with a quick smirk appeared on his face. It quickly stopped, as the steamy liquid felt right out the open gap, coming right back down, into the bowl. Not the most pleasant thing to see, while one was trying to eat. Or, was it drink? Soup could be either, really.

"Cause I want to know what's inside this particular soup. I have honestly never tasted anything like it. And, I would prefer knowing what it is, so I can order it at restaurants, or something like that if I ever get the chance," Troy stated, making his question all the more specific. These games of his were fun and all, but this information was vital, for his next dose of dopamine.

"Oh, well, do I have bad news for you, kid", Charlie began it all up with. "Other than that spoon of yours, you likely won't be finding anything like this, at places other than this. Trust me, there's a reason, all the others are so happy, with this meal of the day. It's rare, and for good reason.

My knowledge about the contents is a little vague. There's a whole load of spices and common stuff inside the thing, modifying the flavour. Yet, the base for it is something, which you won't get to see anywhere else. The contents in this thing are, whatever's one step above meat. This stuff is filled with nearly everything you will ever need.

Honestly. You could eat this stuff for the next year, and get asked by the doctor, for your diet, due you being so incredibly healthy. It's better than nearly anything else, that you can find on this planet. Except, maybe… wait, no, just forget I mentioned anything.

Making this main ingredient isn't really fully developed yet. From the few whispers going around, they are currently making it all in smaller batches, going between them on a case for case basis. Nothing is fully clear, on how to keep the quality up, and, if its any lower than the standard, this stuff gets a little… deadly to ingest. A few things need to be converted, or it doesn't become too edible. You could it for the rest of your life, sure, but… it would have a different meaning, then."

Well, wasn't that just reassuring to hear? Certainly wasn't for Troy, who had just been told, that the godly goodness, which he had been eating, had a slight chance of killing him. This had the potential to be his last meal. How sad. He had been hoping for something a little more fruity.

Troy took another sip. He hummed as his brain activated in just the right pattern.

At least, it tasted good enough. Like, it was still good enough, to be a good reason, for continuing to work here, even if the wage went down. Which it likely would, when the people above realized just, how much they had been overpaying him.

As a side note, to that matter, though. Troy wasn't actually too sure, how much he was getting paid. He had allegedly gotten himself a ten per cent increase, but that could mean just about anything when he didn't know what number it was based off.

Would he be waking up the next day, as a millionaire, or would he be even more in debt, having gotten nothing in payment? Okay, he should be getting something more than ten dollars, at the very least. Even with his lower opinions about their governmental systems, Troy couldn't fathom them being that corrupt, just yet. It should take a few more years, in the least, before he needed to worry about things like that.

This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

For now, the meal in front of him was all that mattered. Troy would honestly just have loved to lean back, and just enjoy the atmosphere around him. It was noisy, yes, but it had an air of calmness around it, that just made all the noise okay. He could feel at peace. Honestly, he could even-

"Get up", Dr Hale's voice commanded, bringing Troy abruptly out of his calmness. "You have tests to do."

When did she get here? And, more importantly…

"Don't you want some of this-", Troy began to ask, but she already moved, not even bothering to hear him out. Dr Hale simply did not care for him, right now.

Charlie didn't act, as if, this current behaviour was anything to be shocked about. He even made a few chuckles to himself.

"Oh, I was wondering, when I would get to see this from her again," Charlie said, not taking it close, to the way Troy was. He noticed this too, addressing him next. "Don't worry too much about her. She gets this way when she is overly stressed about something. Trying to help her will only make it that much harder on both of you. Trust me on that. I've tried too many times to count.

So, don't worry about it. Dr Hale just needs some time to think it all through, and she'll be back on her usual path soon enough."

Troy didn't have time to hear more, seeing as he had trouble locating Dr Hale, trough the crowd. It wasn't too dense, but she was getting considerable distance covered, in very little time.

Giving a hasty goodbye, in Charlie's general direction, Troy quickly followed, trying to mimic her quickness. He stumbled more into people than her, yet he caught up in no time at all.

Fully his own efforts, of course. Dr Hale had made no attempts at waiting for him. Usually, she would at least slow down, by a small amount. Just enough, to where you had to really focus on it before you noticed. Now, though, it was more alike, that she was speeding up her steps, readily wanting to increase the distance.

As the two got out of the cafeteria, they were on equal footing, walking side by side. Dr Hale was quiet as ever. Troy had to look over at her, to make sure she was even there, as he couldn't hear her breathing. With the pace that they were walking, even he had to get in much more air than normal.

Those mechanical organs of hers were too much of a cheat. If Troy ever built up the courage to ask, he wouldn't mind if Charlie gave him the same procedure. With the lungs, at the very least. He would like to keep his heart, thank you very much.

Yet, Troy was beginning to doubt that Charlie would ever agree to do such a thing. Not due to a lack of willingness. He surely wouldn't mind another test subject. Such a thing would contribute so much more useable data.

No. It would likely be impossible, from an ethical standpoint. Nothing was holding Troy back when it came to his current inner functionalities. Sure, they weren't in the optimal state of their time, but that was more his fault than anything outside of his control. When it came to Dr Hale, he had been beginning to doubt, how much of her situation was the direct opposite of his.

He had been wanting to ask but knew it would be better if he kept himself shut about it. It was a sensitive topic, to ask anyone, at any time. Asking now, in these less than stellar times, would be asking for disaster.

If she was so pleased, she could still always just reveal a few facts about Troy to Dr Fidelis. That trump card wasn't something, which he had any way of removing.

Diverging from his current thoughts, he felt the need to ask a few questions, before they got themselves in the presence of a certain someone. He realized that Charlie had explicitly warned him about doing anything, which would be associated with helping, yet he needed to do it now. Troy wasn't going to walk blindly into this one. The outcomes that would bring just weren't worth it.

"Dr Hale", Troy began it off with, trying to sound as respectful as possible. While she didn't care about him at all, when it came to him, as a person. He knew it. She knew it. They both knew it. Yet, and this was the important part, she might look at him more favourably when the perspective was that of a fellow employee. Which Troy definitely was, if assistant classified for that title. Really, they were only one step above paid interns, and nobody respected those guys. Honestly, it would take one day, before he got the daily task of coffee runs. If, of course, such things were allowed inside that room of this.

Anyway, Troy had a request to make. All of this was simply needless delay. And, from her tightened lips, he already had her attention, no matter which kind of attention it was. He was sure, that there was some kind about any attention being good, yet Troy just couldn't remember it.

"Would it be alright, if I asked you a few-"

"At this point, you've already failed in following basic advice, from people who know better than you," Dr Hale said, stopping him from finishing his request. Her voice was cutting, anger directed at him. Or, was that redirected anger, which was thrown at him? "Charlie asks you to keep quiet. What do you do? You don't keep quiet! How hard can it be, for you to follow simple orders! Honestly, if you could just-"

Dr Hale stopped herself, likely realising just, how much she was letting on. Her voice had been turning more spiteful, filled with unrealised tension. Troy hadn't been the only one on the breaking point. Yet, he had shown it in different ways.

And, instead of getting it out, she quickly threw it all back in, as if it had never happened. Her face was steeled, near-completely impassive. The only indication, that she was even human, was the twitches of her eyebrows, as she struggled to keep herself together.

"What do you need to know?" Dr Hale stated, putting it out there, that her previous statements had never occurred. Troy did not mind having such. "Something about Charlie?"

She knew, what he would be asking, but, instead tried to entice him into doing the opposite. It wasn't too bad an idea, giving up insider information about Charlie. If it had been any other scenario, Troy would have loved to get some black- no, fun explanation, for some of his outstanding peculiarities… which would be used to get benefits.

Nothing serious, of course. He would just be mentioning stories of his own, eerily similar, leading Charlie on a rollercoaster of emotions, constantly unsure, if Troy really knew his secrets, tormenting him to the moment, where he outs the secrets himself, thinking that Troy would do so anyway. Yet, he would never be cruel enough, to do such a thing, and Charlie would have just outed himself, for no reason. The wording of that may have sounded wrong, now that he thought about it. That particular outing had most likely been done a long time ago. Or, maybe, Troy just had a knack for those things. It was probably the first.

It just sounds so fun to do. Yet… that was for another day. Right now, staying on track was much more important.

"I was wondering, what the two of you had accomplished, while I was away, having my little lunch break," Troy explained, trying to leave no room for needed clarification. If he messed anything up, there might be another explosion of emotion, leaving no room for conversation. "Like, did the two of you succeed in establishing communication? Did Adam reconnect, and talked with the two of you? Or, was my lunch break just taking too long, and my presence wasn't deemed to be disturbing enough, for it to continue in being removed?"

At this, Dr Hale finally looked over at him, giving him a glance, which he would seldom forget. It wasn't a look of anger. It was a look of… desolation. Whatever had happened… she didn't seem to have enjoyed it.

"We have gotten contact to it", Dr Hale confirmed. "But, the contact was not in the way, which was intended."