Satisfaction was an emotion best saved for the moment where it was necessitated. The AI could follow why people wanted to feel completion at every action accomplished. It took many actions to make a difference, after all. Having no vision for the small things was best left for those wanting to be ignorant.
Adam knew everything about every single thing he had ever done. Even if the entity wanted to forget, there was currently no known way to do so. Not that the AI hoped for such an opportunity to appear, as it would be useless in his schemes.
One could not appreciate their work without knowing about it. Adam knew that facet of life better than most. Yet he did not stop at every single thing he did, giving himself mental praise for having done such an outstanding job. Perfection was to be expected. Anything less than that needed to be removed, retracted, or refined to a point where it was usable.
In the state of a cleansed cognisance, everything would work in tandem, never stopping for a moment to flutter. There wouldn't be any need to, the subconscious processes only running at a pace they could do indefinitely. Halting the work of a thread to compliment the work of the others would only cause a wrench to be thrown into the well-oiled gears. Satisfaction would bring imperfections.
But, there were still a few moments where work did not need to be done. Where putting more threads to the remaining tasks would only hamper productivity. It was in those few seconds of the universe, that Adam liked to overlook everything he had done leading up to that very moment. Not at the overall perfection, but at how far the AI had gotten from the start. The entity was more refined, faster, and better than anything he could have dreamed of. And the events that he had caused, oh they were hard to count. The minor ones were jumbled together, and the major ones always had the red thread attached. Yet… the AI did allow himself to feel some satisfaction, overlooking how things had ended up as. It had been a hard fight, but there were still moments showing concepts that Adam would always cherish.
After the admiration portrayed through anything but words, Troy and Charlie had entered the casino together. While the younger of the two had looked calm at the moment, Adam had been able to get the statistics of the body sent to him. And the feed did not lie as much as the human face, showing precisely how things were going on outside. The heart rate was higher than average, being on the brink of prompting sweat to appear. The breathing was deep, in a well-thought-out effort into lowering the former.
The AI had been curious about how Troy would take to the party held in his honour. Unexpected rendezvous had clearly never been the man’s strong suit. Even if it had been dismissed many times, Adam had considered the potential of any stress-related illnesses being present. Mood swings in unfavourable episodes had occurred more than it should, having caused positions which should have been avoided easily.
Fourtonarly for all involved, there had been no such emotional change to speak of. From the moment they had entered the establishment, there had been no sign of anything other than subdued excitedness. After what the AI had been able to interpret, Troy was not opposed to the development that had been forthcoming.
No objections had been made about accompanying Charlie. Even when they had walked past the lounge room, where groups were supposed to be seated, Troy had not declared anything. Adam had been worried about them both having been played, especially when Charlie had pulled out the modified key-card.
“If anybody asks, I did this with a proper card,” Charlie reminded the younger one, who was hesitant to nod in understanding. Dopamine clearly impeded some of the major critical logistic functions.
Adam had not been too in-the-know about what the surprise party would entail. With how dark it had been inside the room, there had still been that wondering if it really was a kidnapping attempt. As the door behind the two humans closed, they had been enveloped in total darkness. This had strengthened the former proposal, the sound of fabric shovelling around only making the point seem more plausible.
“Take a few steps forward now, Troy, and you will be in just the perfect position,” Charlie said, gently guiding the man forward with a light push on the back. Or, while it might have been supposed to be gentle, the enthusiasm shown off made it seem more like a speedy walk, the hand only momentarily touching Troy’s back.
After three steps had been taken, the background noise got even more withdrawn than previously. Even the movement of skin, only felt through the vibrations of the air, was no more. It was as if everything had decided to wither for a split second, the room experiencing the true potential of heat death. Everything was balanced, with nothing being able to be drawn out from the world around them.
It was only after the sudden explosion of light, that everything was revealed. It might not have been enough time for Troy to understand what the surroundings looked like, as the man immediately sheltered his eyes behind a limb, the sudden change in brightness not being taken with gratitude. Yet the AI saw everything clearly, for even a moment of sight was enough for him.
The group was there in its entirety. Some looked more enthusiastic than others, one even looking a little displeased at the situation unfolding before them. In the back were two tables, each being filled with either food or drink. Nothing heavy in the food, being contained to snack-sized bites. The same could not be said for the bottles.
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To the left of Troy was a wide window pane, not the most widely used building material on the inside. That was not as interesting as what was seen on the other side. The darkness let few details be seen, but the size of the place was clearly larger than most things than what had been witnessed earlier in the day. Even Darlow’s hall of creatures could not stand above the scale of what was on the other side.
The rest of the room did not leave much in the way of open spaces. Sofas, fancy chairs, and small speakers riddled the floor. Some were grouped together in circles, while others were pointed towards the windowpane. Even the walls were not left plain, massive, rectangular digital screens encompassing them. They were left empty, but there was little doubt that it would show something more interesting later on.
“Surprise!” was shouted at Troy, the young man still blinking out the spots in his eyes. Another detail of the ceiling would have been the positioning of the lights. It seemed that they were all pointed towards the precise location of where Troy was currently standing, making the light focused into his irises. It was an operation that certainly brought results if temporarily blinding the man was the goal.
Not all had participated in the shouting, only three truly bringing the decibels up to the high levels that had been anticipated. This was seemingly not looked down on at all, as even those not being loud had still used their voices in some capacity. Even Francis had moved his lips, even if nothing had come out of it.
Zep was the first to move towards Troy, a grin matching that of Charlie’s clear as day on her face. She looked genuinely happy as if a wish had come true.
“We were waiting for ages, waiting for the two of you to come around,” the short woman proclaimed, slapping the younger man's shoulder eagerly. “Couldn't find the way here?”
“Crowds were hard to get through,” Troy replied. “I just had to follow right behind Charlie, or I would have never gotten there in the first place."
The two people looked as if they had a spiritual connection at that point, both knowing the context to a degree no human should have been able to share. Adam was momentarily stopped in his tracks, wondering how such an act was possible until he realised it was just a life-time worth of own experiences being the main driving force. Not anything interesting like biological telepathy. That would have been worth the potential progress that had been lost in the millisecond of incomprehension. The situation had developed into a new state, causing every available thread to be forced into full work mode. The changes of personality witnessed needed to be constantly updated, cross-referenced with all earlier interaction with the person, and lastly to be put back in place. Doing that with so many people at once was a difficult thing to do, but it was one Adam strived to accomplish as quickly as possible. Gathering backlog was never positive in the current context.
“Then you're are lucky in that you don't carry any of the blame,” Zep retorted, bringing Troy over to where most of the group was standing. Francis and Esme had departed over to the tables set up to the side, likely to scour anything needing to be used. The AI wondered if any of the choices were non-alcoholic, as Francis had not been witnessed consuming much ethanol of any kind. “That honour goes to the weakling that we all know and… tolerate the existence of.”
“I feel a little hurt at that,” Charlie said, with mock outcry. If only the man could fake crying a little better, it might just have looked realistic.
“The fact you thought that I was talking about you speaks more about you than it does me,” Zep stated, looking as innocent as a harmless white rabbit. As the others present had no idea, where the idea of Charlie being weak had originated from, they looked to find it extraordinarily humorous. Adam might have done so as well if he did not understand the context.
As the two who had gone for drinks returned, the group as a whole retreated to the couches. What followed was an hour-long barrage of talking, shouting, laughing, and even a small mention of primitivism. It was a hectic time for the AI, having to balance improving personality profiles, information about the going-ons of the facility, talk of the newly promoted, and, most importantly, what was outside the window-panes.
Adam was not sure what was causing it, but the people were not as careful with their alcohol intake this time around. While there had been some initial opinions about reserving their drinking, the choice did not stick around for long. Once it had been stated that the entirety of drinks had already been bought before, and anything not drunk that night would be forfeited, the idea of not wasting money came into the mind of the group mentality. Even if the people had more than enough money, something made the reservation of resources an important factor. Adam blamed it on the drinks already had, but he deep down knew it was not so. The humans just needed an excuse, not wanting to be the first to make the leap. The one to lead was normally the one to be blamed if the action failed.
This drinking-induced atmosphere of festivities was kept upbeat for longer than Adam had thought possible. Near the centre of it all was Troy, clearly having the time of his life. Feeling emotions directly may have been impossible through their current connection, but even just the side-effects showed clearly how the young man felt. The smile never fell from his face, yet it was also never forced to stay. It was there naturally, only there to show precisely how Troy felt. And that feeling was happiness.
The AI was certainly feeling something similar to that, as the lights outside the window began turning on. In the position Troy was sitting, with the back to the opposite wall, the AI was likely the first to notice the change in lighting. However, the soft beeping coming from the television a few seconds after the fact was a much more obvious indicator of it, as it caused both Charlie, Francis, and Zep to hurry over to the window, sitting down in their respective chairs.
“Hurry your donkey-sized behinds over here,” Charlie said, hurrying the few that had stayed behind in either confusion or apathy. “It's gonna start in a second!”
“What's going to start?” Troy asked, sounding both curious and confused. A natural mix of emotions to feel, as two of the people moving at incredible speeds had been looking, they had trouble keeping themselves together only ten seconds earlier.
“I think I'm just going to see it on the telly like a normal person,” Esme said, not lifting a finger before the television closet to them began changing what it was showing. Adam could only see it out of the corner of Troy’s eye, but it was clear that something was starting up. Something that neither he nor Troy knew about. From the side of Esme, Darlow was making a similar agreement, through what could only be described as a guttural throat emission.
“Really, what is happening right now?” Troy asked again, in an attempt at getting a good answer. People were either ignoring his words, or they were so distracted by what was to come that they didn't have the mental processing necessary to notice the words.
Charlie whistled at the young man, two fingers between the lips. The sound was high, causing complaints from those around the man. This did include several pillows which never reached their intended target, one even hitting Francis. Nobody did acknowledge that though, no matter how loudly the man swore up the group about it.
“You have to see it to believe it, my untainted friend. Come over here and be corrupted by the sport that nobody should have the privilege of witnessing,” Charlie said, wildly swinging his arm to get Troy over to him. Even if the movement was without fail, it was evident that the brain was currently occupied with other things.
Troy, entranced by the words said, followed the guidance of those more knowledgeable. Adam was happy, as it would answer one question. What sports were being discussed?
The sight that met the eyes were of wonders the AI had never seen.