Adam did not like curtains. This might have been due to a personal distaste for them, or maybe it was due to the symbolism behind them. The AI was not truly sure. And that was annoying. If there was one thing he still had it hard with, it would be all those pesky emotions floating around inside him.
One would think that repeated exposure helped to adjust, to control, or even allow one to manipulate one’s emotions for something useful. Adam certainly thought the concept possible in practice. Yet… that had still not happened. Instead, he had been granted the privilege of his mind running in the wrong patterns, purely due to his emotions not corresponding to his needed mental state.
Those curtains were a large part of the problem. It made him irritational in a way. There were no spouts of anger oozing out of him, or anything. His reaction to that coloured fabric wasn't anything that. Again, it was hard to describe the emotion. That was about them, emotions never coming through in pure form. One did not feel angry without also feeling sad, a little shocked, and maybe a bit of happiness filled in.
But, if he had to simplify the emotions felt in such a way that it would not be a full picture of his situation, the AI would call what he felt… constant discomfort. It was not an emotion that would come around the same second he looked at the curtains. At that point, they would just be hanging pieces of fabric. There was nothing worrying about that, nothing that could make him feel like he did.
It was only when he began thinking about the implications of the curtain, that those effects began to show themselves. Right now, Troy was behind a curtain, hiding everything else in the room from view. Adam could crudely guess what was on the other side, of course, even if he could not see it directly. Yet, could he really be sure that it was all like he remembered?
That desk the screen sat on was not permanently fixed to the floor. It could have been moved. It could have been removed. Maybe it had been painted even. Adam could not know, not being able to look upon it himself. With a curtain, there was no way to look past it. The fabric would only show itself and nothing else.
It was when the AI began those thoughts that he felt his discomfort. Was it the information, so close yet so far away from him, that made the emotions spur on as they did? Was it the curtain itself? Was Adam not able to feel comfortable by the simple fact that it hid something from him? He could make all those theories, set up all those graphs, but he could not find out.
He felt uncomfortable when he looked at a curtain, and that was that. It was a symptom with multiple potential causes. He could not include any of the possibilities without being irrational, yet the act of not knowing exactly what was happening was making the AI feel uncertain. Adam’s foundation was built on fact, yet uncertainties such as these were in plenty. It made him feel… angry. Angry that he couldn't hold himself up to the values he had set for himself since the start. They were supposed to be his drive forever, yet here he was, already breaking them within a week. He had made them help him for centuries, but he had failed them before even getting a chance to prove his worth. Did that make him a failure? Maybe. He was not sure.
“... are you sure that a little bit of talking wouldn't be okay?” Dr Fidelis asked what Adam could only presume to be Dr Hale, the doctor being outside of what the AI could see. From the sound, the AI guessed the man to still be located at the desk, doing whatever work he had been doing previously. “I mean, a few minutes of delaying the paperwork would not hurt anybody. It's not like either of us can expect to sleep more than four hours already! Having a little small-talk to set the mood would-”
“Sir, we both know that I have no power over what you do. I can only give my personal and professional advice, and nothing more can be done. It is all in your hands,” Dr Hale said, cutting into the doctors well-formulated argumentation. Adam was certainly following along perfectly and had been wondering what other forms of reasons would have been made. He was certain it would have been grand indeed, yet the other doctor had decided to cut it short. This was not appreciated, but it was again not something that the AI had any meaningful power over. “While I might say that any talking done here and now will take significantly more time than you can predict, you can choose to ignore my warnings and not take heed for the lesser amount of time we will get to rest. Again, while you might have been accustomed to not sleeping for days at a time, I personally am of the mind to at least get five hours daily.”
Adam did still wonder how Dr Fidelis was able to do that. Not sleeping for several days at a time, that is. While he might not have been able to observe the inner workings of bodies being awake for prolonged periods of time, the AI had been able to see the accumulated damages that can come from just walking around in a single day. Sleep was meant to be a time where the body could fix itself, without having to worry about any ongoing movement while it was happening. The exhaustion put on the brain, the body, and the mind was extreme. Adam could clearly feel the difference between a body that had been awake for one hour and one that had been awake for twelve.
What exactly happened to the doctor after the first twenty-four? Did he even feel tired? The AI had not ever been able to find the doctor expressing that particular emotion. The man had always seemed cheerful, even if he had been shouting a little at Troy. It just didn't match the erratic mood-swings which were supposed to be occurring after several hours over the regular sleeping time. Adapting for a smaller amount of continuous sleep was certainly possible, but that couldn't possibly work on such a minimal length, right? Only once had Adam ever gotten a hint of the doctor being asleep. Skipping the cycle for such a long time should have left a clear imprint, yet that man looked as energetic as always. Did he take any biological enhancers as well? Caffeine was supposed to grant some amount of extra time spent awake, yet that did have some more considerable effects as well. Shaking, headaches, even stronger mood swings, and a few more minor muscle twitches. Again, this was not hinted at in any way. While it might have been a simple question at first, it was becoming clear that Adam would have to ask about this. A lot of those questions were forming as of late. Was he becoming more curious or was he becoming less analytical? Something to wonder about during some other time. Right now, something much more interesting was occurring.
“That sounds like a yes to me,” Dr Fidelis surmised, weirdly ignoring those last warnings about Dr Hale wanting to look for her own physical health. Had the doctor not heard that? It could have been that the man just ignored that last part, the confirmation of his question being more than enough for his mind. Adam sometimes did that, only processing the information a few minutes after the fact. Though, he was not sure how exactly that worked with human minds. Did they get to remember it all even if they didn't process it instantly? From the lack of the doctor acknowledging it even after several seconds, the AI was forced to think that to be the case. Truly a saddening existence. Multi-tasking was just too hard for some entities.
This narrative has been purloined without the author's approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.
“Troy! Are you almost done in there? You are taking a remarkable amount of time changing clothes. Did I forget to release the skin suit again?” Dr Fidelis shouted.
“I'm alright, thanks,” Troy shouted back. Adam could not understand why they were even shouting. There were less than five meters between them. Speaking plainly would be easy enough. Was it just a weird instinct put on pressure due to them both being out of each other’s eyes? With the other faults in those minds of theirs, the AI would not doubt it. “Just making sure there is no damage to the suit when I take it off. This suit is expensive after all!”
“It's not expensive enough for you to take so much time,” Dr Fidelis shouted back, lowering his voice a little by the end. The doctor might just have noticed his own loudness. Good for him, overcoming his species’ faults. “And the suit will not be damaged, no matter what you do. Trust me on that. I paid double to make sure you could cut it no matter what you did. A knife weighing a literal tone wouldn't be able to cut through it. Honestly, you fell down a row of stairs in it. If it didn't get damaged then, don't expect it to when you're just taking it off. Now, hurry, please. I don't like talking to a curtain instead of a face, you know.”
“... yes, sir. I understand,” Troy answered before falling silent. The young man sounded sheepish about it all, yet Adam knew that he was faking all of it. Why exactly was he doing that? Well, the suit had actually gotten off within the first ten seconds of Troy getting behind the curtain. In all the time after that, the man had been studying his shoulder.
On it was a very striking bandage. From what Adam could see, it was in pristine condition, not a smudge of wear on it. There were no bloodstains and nothing like it. Some small bruising was halfway down to the elbow, though. That was likely just from an earlier fall, however, so the AI decided to ignore that.
Troy, not being as logical as Adam, did not ignore this bruising, however. If anything, it made the man more than a little anxiety-driven. The arm itself was scanned meticulously by the man's eyes again and again. By the second look-through, Adam could confidently say that nothing was wrong at all. The man did not seem confident about this however and just had to look through another seven times, somehow taking longer with each repetition. Honestly, if the body parts close to the arms were next, the AI would be worried about the man getting out before the day would break.
Mutterings could be heard coming out of the man’s mouth, yet even Adam could not decipher what they meant. And he had access to the tongue movements themselves, including a whole library containing every single tongue movement that had ever been observed plus detailed analysis of what each of them meant. Pure nonsense had been coming out.
“Honestly, did you fall or something in there? It's nothing to be ashamed about, Troy. You just have to say if you need me to get Dr Hale over there to get your pants on correctly,” Dr Fidelis said again, pushing the young man to hurry up.
“If that action was needed, I believe you would be the best candidate for it, sir. The younger generation is very picky about physical touch,” Dr Hale said.
“Ah, right of course,” Dr Fidelis answered back as if that made any sense at all. What did the generation born have to do with anything? “If you have fallen and you can't get up, I guess I can go over and help you put your pants on.”
Those comments seemingly made Troy hurry up his hanging, hurriedly putting on his shirt and pants. Perhaps the two doctors were on to something, the man seeming weirdly focused on not seeming not fully clothed. The skin was a weirdly sensitive topic with humans. Everybody had it, yet letting other people know they had it as well was looked at as a great sin. That was how it was described in the database, at least. Adam had just put it under one of the facts of reality that he couldn't figure out but would heed nonetheless.
“I'm done!” Troy nearly shouted, as the man hurriedly removed the curtain, fully clothed and all. Though, the suit worn before had been thrown haphazardly in the corner. The AI hoped that wasn't a regular procedure. It might have been able to survive the abuse, but it was still meant to be looked on with care. “You wanted to talk?”
“You put on your shirt backwards, buddy,” Dr Fidelis stated, pointing a finger at the young man's chest. This did cause Troy to look down and say a… unwarranted swear-word.
“I can just go back quickly and-” Troy began to say, but was cut off by the doctor.
“No need for that,” Dr Fidelis stated, waving away any worries with his hand. “I have seen worse fashion designs, and yours isn't in my top twenty.”
“Good to know,” Troy answered. The young man seemed more relaxed. “If Dr Hale is to be believed, this is supposed to be quick. What did you want to talk about again?”
“Oh, don't put so much pressure on her wording. She can be overly serious at times,” Dr Fidelis said back, laughing at his own sense of humour. Troy politely laughed along with it, while warily glancing over to the aforementioned doctor. She only stared back, not betraying how annoyed she was. Adam did notice, however. The hands were a clear sign of frustration. “We can take as long as we want! Not that we should, since I do have work to do, but don't feel pressured to answer concisely. Any details are good details”
Troy just nodded, not answering verbally. Meanwhile, Adam was growing curious about what they were going to be talking about. The doctor was still not looking over at them. It was beginning to seem impolite, with how much the man just continued his work… or whatever those shapes were supposed to mean. An alternative way of seeing his motions was that of a more linear way of writing reports, but that was still not proven as a valid concept. The different movements to distinguish which words to write were not fully figured out, but he was sure more observation time would allow him to figure it out. And that was what he was getting now, those two sounding like they would be having a long conversation. That impoliteness might actually benefit Adam. How strange a way to think.
“During the testing, were you always focused on the goal, Troy?” Dr Fidelis asked.
“What do you mean?”
“Like… did you constantly make sure that the actions you were doing were that of a guide? Were you thinking about it as a way to mentor Adam into making the best possible decisions? It's okay if you weren't. I'm just curious about it.”
This… was this something the AI should be hearing? This was sounding like a debriefing of sorts, camouflaged as regular small-talk. Those were supposed to be personal, only for the doctor and the one being debriefed. Wasn't Adam being unlawful by listening in? It certainly seemed so. Yet, curiosity overpowered any other emotion out there. He continued to listen.
“I guess I did, then. I didn't expect Adam to actually say yes to me wanting to see the buildings falling down, honestly. It didn't really sound like something to spend an entire test doing.”
“I can understand,” Dr Fidelis answered, wobbling his head to the sides a little. “Though, that sounds like you don't really have that great of an idea what he is thinking. Do you… think that I'm right about that?”
“I-I guess? I haven't really been able to figure out what Adam has been thinking as of late. Is that bad?”
“Depends on how you look at it. But, I think I have figured out the reason for your lacking performance. Again, not a bad thing. We can't expect you to know everything there is to know about another being. It's just that… have you and Adam been-”
The feed cut out. Adam knew exactly why that was. The hurried footsteps in the background had been obvious. And the tip of a fingernail had briefly touched the ear. Dr Hale had pulled out the earpiece, the one line that allowed the AI to listen in.
Just what had Dr Fidelis been about to say?