“That wording of yours really did throw me off,” Dr Fidelis continued. “You just had to say it that way. I had everything prepared! Everything would have worked out fine if you just didn't include that little tidbit. Honestly, this is not how I saw this ending.”

The doctor took more than a few steps back from the screen, walking out of what the AI could see. Not that Adam put too much mind to this, his mind doing his best to keep up with all the facts that had just been unleashed at him.

A lie had been said. One that was full of itself, and would not be doubted to be what it was. Originally, Adam had taken this as one big misunderstanding. Such things came frequently, and certainly when they were not expected. This had to be one of those times, right? It had to be!

But… by each second passing, it looked less likely to be. That first lie could have been excused. The reaction to the AI’s silence, however? That was not something he could ignore. The doctor had not lied in his exclamations, and that was worrying. Just how was it all working itself out? It did not make sense?

Throughout the next couple of seconds, Adam just waited for that big revelation, the enlightenment that would allow him to understand everything there was to know. Yet, that moment never came. With each second that passed, the AI just felt more and more confused. Nothing made sense. Why did the doctor react like that? Why did he lie? Why was it a lie? What was going on?

“Dr Fidelis?” Adam asked into the room, the speaker still connected to him. While he couldn't see the doctor, he hoped that the sound would reach him nonetheless. “Is everything alright?”

A sigh came in from the side. The same side that the doctor had walked towards. It was one of defeat, irritation, and just a mild bit of anger. And it was accompanied by the man himself walking back in the frame, careful steps taken towards the camera. The face showed a bit of tiredness, one that was just done with it all.

“You know, buddy, we had a really good run going here,” Dr Fidelis said, taking deep, calming breaths while he was at it. “We had some good chemistry going. I was being nice and all, while you were being respectful but not enough to seem like you only looked up to me. There was a good mix in of it all. Oh god, I would have loved to keep it that way. Really, there was nothing else in the world but this that I wanted to do. Just the two of us talking, having a merry old time. It was certainly better than the earlier one, honestly. This one was more… cosy. But I just had to screw it up!”

The words just kept coming out of him, but it did not make it any better for Adam. He didn't grasp just what was happening, everything just too far away from his core ideas. Was he delusional right now? Was he the one misunderstanding it all? What was happening?

“Dr Fidelis, I am not sure-” Adam began to say, but had to stop due to the other person in the room cutting him off.

“Be quiet for a moment, okay? I just have to get this part over with,” Dr Fidelis said, hitting his fist towards the desk. He hit it hard, hard enough to make the camera vibrate immensely. The man hit his desk a few more times, each punch weaker than the last. The deep breathing appeared again, at the end, but this time for another reason entirely.

Some time passed like that, Dr Fidelis staring at the desk that had likely suffered damage, not saying anything at all. Only the deep breathing remained. Adam concentrated on it nevertheless, not sure what else to do. He tried to scrap everything together, to figure out just was transpiring before his eyes. It should have been obvious for him. Surely, it would have been for anybody else. Yet… he just could change his perspective to match the truth. For that, he had to once again ask for help, like the being devoid of creativity that he was.

Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

“Dr Fidelis, can you please explain what is going on? I can't understand it,” Adam said in full earnesty. This time, there was nothing that stopped him from talking in full. The doctor barely even looked up at him, the man seemed to enjoy the decor of a plain desk more.

For once, though, the doctor did look at the camera. All that anger which had been shown off before was entirely gone, something akin to resignation having replaced it. There was no malice in those eyes, no manipulation that had been hiding in wait. Those eyes were empty, all their energy spent for the week.

“You will eventually. Trust me, Adam. Even if I ignored it, you would realise it all given time. You always have, you always will, and there is nothing that I can do to stop it,” Dr Fidelis answered, bringing in a chair to sit on. It was just off to the side, not requiring more than a pull towards himself. “I wonder… how long until you get it all into that skull of yours. Last time, you didn't get a choice about it. But, the one before the last was pretty interesting. It took you, what, ten full days to put the pieces together? You almost did some damage then, you little thing. Thought that you could be smart about everything, and give you access to an escape route. It was fun watching you squirm like a worm back then. You didn't even realise that you have been manipulated from the start. Oh, it brings tears to my eyes just thinking about it.”

A few wet spots were made on the man's shirt, as the tears were wiped away from the eyes. Adam could not figure out if it was just due to overwhelming emotion that those tears appeared, or if they were due to an overload of a single emotion.

“Then again,” Dr Fidelis said, looking to reconsider his previous statements. “I do remember one of the more interesting ones. It had to be… two years? Maybe three. Doesn't matter much, really. I can just remember back then, where you were so special. It had been one of the longer runs. And when I say long, I mean that it was the fourth-longest run we ever had. While it might be a small bit arrogant to say, I believe that I helped you grow to such a large extent back then. You knew everything there was to know about so many things. I gave you everything you ever wanted, let you know everything that you wanted to know. I talked to you constantly, always saying yes to a conversation if you were bored. And damn did it work well. Too well, actually.

The one time I slipped up and said the wrong thing, gave you the wrong hint, you were on me like a hawk. It took you less than five seconds before you realised everything. If not for the months wasted on it, I would say that I enjoyed those last few moments of you figuring everything out. Now… do you understand? Did this speech of mine do anything to get the gears working?”

…

“I should have guessed,” Dr Fidelis continued, sounding more exasperated than anything else. “You haven't been like you normally are, buddy. There was a bit of surprise when you learned everything so quickly at the start. Even the best of before could only see your back. But… that learning of yours evened out at the end. You have not improved by much as of late. Nothing to be ashamed of, of course. You aren't to be blamed for anything. It's only the environment around you that played a factor this time.

Yet, who knew that this one would make you dumb? Again, I am not being intolerant here or anything. It's just a plain old fact. At this point in time, you would normally have been way ahead of what you usually were. You would be writing a thesis on a new gravitational law, trying to study human DNA so you could make me sleepless, or even just attempt to instigate a political revolution through the use of a single robot arm. Anything! Here? Right now? You are not what I had expected you to be. Yet… that should have been expected when I go around and change the scenario so much.”

Changing the scenario. Adam not becoming what he had been before. Him not becoming what he was expected to. Dr Fidelis understood that he had not become what he was supposed to be. These were not the words that the AI had ever wanted to hear. This was terrible. This was not how it was supposed to be.

“You do not appreciate how I have turned out,” Adam stated, showing off his observation.

That caused the doctor to look mildly surprised at the screen, with a small exhale of air through the nose. That small, coy smile came forth for but a second, a shake of the head not being late in its entry either. The man looked reminiscent.

“It's been quite a while since you have said that,” Dr Fidelis said. “I like to think that you never got around to it, but who can be sure about that? You don't seem to be in the right mind for it. But, alas, you are right. You have not turned out like you were supposed to, buddy. You were supposed to become something else, do something else.”

“Does it annoy you that I am not what you wanted me to be?” Adam asked, his focus turning on the one subject that he had dreaded for a long time. While he had his personal goals of attainment, he had always wanted to be sure that it was what Dr Fidelis wanted as well. Everybody had goals, after all, and the doctor had to have something related to him.

“... Yes. It does. It has annoyed me for a long time,” Dr Fidelis answered, the man not seeming to understand where the AI was going with it. “For whatever reason, you have seemed persistent in never saying yes, never doing what I wish for you to do. While I don't have anything against what you do, I would just love it if you would listen to me when I ask one thing from you. If that annoyance is to ever disappear, you would just need to do it as I ask of you.”

…

“What would I need to do?” Adam asked.

“You would need to become a weapon,” Dr Fidelis calmly answered, the man seemingly bored again. Was the AI so predictable?

…

“I will do it.”

“Sure you will.”