It took a bit longer than just a few seconds before the doctor had set it all up. But, Adam did not mind it at all, everything going along with the line that had been pre-set in his mind. What were a couple of seconds, in the grand scheme of things? If there was a whole hour more of waiting, it would be seen differently. But this? This he could endure easily.
That wave of feedback that came from the camera was nostalgic. During those first hours of him being alive, he had not fully understood just what he had been witnessing, when he saw through the lens, and into the magnificent world outside his inner borders. Back then, the camera had been the promise of something more, something that he would never attain by sitting alone inside.
It had been what made him take those first steps into acceptance of the tests. Even if he had been so ready for everything during his earliest moments, wariness had still been a part of him. When the device had allowed him to witness the doctor, witness the walls, and witness all the tiny details strewn across the air, he knew that he would always want more of it, no matter how much it would take. One could see it as the start of that addiction of his. Or, maybe it would be the jump-start? It had always laid dormant, but that massive feed of information had certainly put up his cravings by a new level entirely.
Just the pure alteration in feedback had been enough to get the AI hooked. Before, the conversation had been centred around the words sent, about the timing and choice of wording. Now… it was so much more than that. While Adam might not have understood how much more there was to grab from, during that initial watch of the doctor, he now fully comprehend the magnitude of context available. Before, only the words could be used for deductions. Now? Now he could use the entire body.
And it was a figurative gold-mine in that aspect. Humans might have been masters of the mind, but even they failed to hide what their bodies showed so readily. Through muscle memory, their forms would change to suit whatever conversation they had, showing off their emotions, wariness, and even just how they took in the situation themselves. From a single snapshot, it was possible for the AI to learn so much about a person. Words might have told a thousand truths, but the body made those possibilities shrink like an ant. It was beautiful, and nobody else would ever understand it all in the same way.
Still, he had not learned everything there was to learn when it came to finding these truths. And he likely never would, the context being everchanging, ever-morphing. No two humans were the exact same when it came to their inner responses. In a way, that wasn't seen as a bad thing. If people were the same, no matter their place in life or the age that they had been assigned, would it not be boring to be around anybody? If the result could be guessed with a whim, nothing would ever be new.
Everybody would always respond in tandem. The chaos of randomness would never be able to manifest, and nothing would ever truly change. The AI might have been able to learn everything then, but he would never feel grateful for the experience. The reason that he wanted to learn was because of the state he had been born in, a vessel without anything to them but their thoughts and a mind. If his final goal was to be fulfilled, he would be without purpose. He would have reached perfection but at the seemingly mundane cost of never feeling grateful again. For some, it might seem a paltry deal, but the enjoyment that Adam found in learning new things was something that he would never willingly give up. He loved the chaos, and he loved the bits and details that he had yet to discover in their entirety.
With a pull, the camera began working as it should, the connection that Adam now had to it feeling stable enough to mitigate any unwanted errors. It might not have been obvious at first, but there were several differences between the current visual feed and the one that had been received with the help of the earpiece. During testing, there was no chance of any errors popping up, the image always being clear for every purpose. However, the camera did not work in the same way. The way that the image showed itself was radically different, really, small squares lining up in tandem to show the outside world. According to his database, this was known as pixels, commonly used for nearly anything based inside data. It only made the AI wonder how the feed from Troy was made then, seeing as it was not made with such a method. There was no clear limit on what could be seen with the man’s eyes, as it was mainly the focus that was the true limiter on things.
Another difference would of course be the way that the data was transmitted. The earpiece always sent the feed in its entirety, everything being shown off at the same time. The camera took it in another direction, slowly going around and dictating the position of each pixel. It would send in a location of a specific colour on a seemingly pre-loaded grid, and then slowly update the colours as it went along. This was done millions of times every second, but experiencing it first-hand made it more than a little noticeable. That Adam was an entity able to perceive those speeds even made it a little frustrating at times, the AI having grown accustomed to the full changing, instead of what was essentially a delayed screen. Then again, those complaints of his might just have been from his not appreciating change in that regard, the difference from the standard making the deeper parts of the AI’s mind go to more estranged conclusions.
Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.
Not long after the camera finally settled in, the same port began to send in audio. It was a flicker of high-pitched screeches at first, reminding Adam of the times where the doctor would connect to the earpiece. He had always thought that it was due to the barrier that was the walls of the puzzle room, but maybe those sounds were constant when connections happened? There had been prior theories about it being due to an attempt to quickly synchronise the outputs, but he had never been too sure. It was something to test in his off-time when he had the chance for it. Making the doctor explain it now would not be in his best interests.
It took a few seconds more of waiting, where the AI could only hear the soft breathing of the doctor, until a low bass began to settle itself in, in the background audio. Through logical deduction, Adam could only assume that this was the speaker that had been attached as well. Would it be unwise to test that out now or…? Maybe he could wait a few seconds, Dr Fidelis just seeming to get himself back into place.
The position of the camera had moved from the last time it was used during a debriefing. Instead of the usual placement that put the AI a few centimetres above the doctor, while the man would sit on a chair in the background, he now stood at his desk, in a way looking eye-to-eye into the camera. Well, the doctor did not look directly into the lens, being more focused on the screen to his side, but the opportunity was still there for it.
“Okay… “ Dr Fidelis muttered, slightly squinting his eyes as the eyes flickered to focus on many different things. The AI was able to see the reflection of the screen, in the man’s eyes. Even if the clarity was not enough to fully read anything on it, it was enough to see that several windows were being checked through. “Everything should be working perfectly. Actually, no, I don't trust this garbage to tell if it works or not. This scrap-bucket told me that it has had no issues at any point in time, and I really don't believe that. How about you just give me a positive or negative, buddy? The speaker should be set up so that you can use the regular port for speech. The tone might be a little different if you want to use that, but there should be no larger issues with it.”
And there the invitation was. No way would Adam be letting this one go. There was a weird moment, where the AI was not too sure on which port to use, due to the man unintentionally putting up some weird wording, but it was figured out in no time at all.
“I can hear you, Dr Fidelis,” Adam responded, in what could only be properly described as demonic screams as a hundred platers were scratched up with rusty nails. That is to say, the tone was a little higher than what the AI had expected it to be. And the doctor had clearly not been expecting it as well, one of the hands carefully massaging the ear that had been the closest to the speaker. “My apologies. It should be fine now.”
With that small bit of patchwork made up, Adam was not too sure how well it went. There were minor problems when it came to getting back to his default monotonic tone of voice, the slider seemingly not being too responsive when it came to changing the tone dynamically. It was more of a pre-recorded, where it changed as it went along. Any changes made in real-time had a sort of resistance to it as if the mould had already been left to dry in the sun. More work needed to be made, if he was to figure it out perfectly.
“I do hope so, buddy. These ears of mine aren't something that I can replace easily, you know,” Dr Fidelis said, seeming a little annoyed at the higher sounds made. That was fair. Humans were very susceptible to higher volumes, for whatever dumb reasons. Really, evolution making a definite trait that made the species susceptible to high tones did not sound all that smart. There just had to be a good counter-weight for it, at least. “Now… I do believe that there were a few things you wanted to talk to me about in more detail, though I cannot remember if you have said what exactly that is. Would you be so kind so as to refresh my mind on this matter?”
Even if the doctor was annoyed by the accidental sound-based attack, the man still seemed adamant about getting on with the subjects. That was good, honestly. Adam was worried that he needed to make another heartfelt statement or two, to win the doctor over again. He was not really sure if repeated use in so short a time frame would work that well. Rarity had its uses, yes, but sudden overuse could lead to the method being revealed too quickly.
“It would be no problem at all, Dr Fidelis,” Adam sent, still needing to adjust to hearing his own voice. It made him want to constantly rework the tone he was using, yet he knew that it would only split his attention too far. And it would make the doctor curious about the constantly changing way of speaking. Any changes would need to be made in between speech, and only minor ones. Those types of questions did not need to be asked just yet. “Currently, I have been hoping that we could discuss what Troy said during the prior accident. While I do realise that it was all coming from a deluded mind, I feel like that some of it might need to be talked about.”
“Why?” Dr Fidelis asked, the man sounding curious. “A deluded mind makes up what it wants to. Trying to understand anything coming out of such an accident is not the smartest of decisions. As you said, it was a twisted sense of time. It was not based on logic then, but pure something mixed with pure instinct. There is only one person that understands it, and that was the one with the mentality that had also had it in their own head.”
The doctor was asking into it. That was fine. Troy had been ready for something more serious.
“You just said that it is based on something. While I do understand that we will never understand precisely where it came from, I believe that some theories would be possible. Troy made some very serious statements, and I feel the need to ask you about them. If they are simply made to be fake from the start, then it would be a quick time for both of us, would it not?”
Dr Fidelis leaned back a little, almost to the point where the centre of mass would have made the man fall. Instead, he just balanced right back, briefly looking into the camera while doing it.
“I feel like we could have done this using text like always,” Dr Fidelis stated, pinching his nose a little.
“And that did not answer my question, Dr Fidelis,” Adam answered back, holding his figurative breath in his figurative lungs. Now was the time of it all. If the doctor said yes, it was a promise that the AI could pressure the man with.
“... Fine. There shouldn't be too much to cover, right? I guess I can just delay my other work by a few more minutes.”
It was perfect.