It was official. Troy was lost. Not of mind, but of, where the hell he was supposed to be.

Not in that funny way, where he's actually just around the corner of where he wants to be. No, he was lost in the position, where he could go straight out in any direction, and not get to anywhere that he recognized.

In essence, people would call his current situation; 'totally fucked.'

Not a good state to be in, in Troy's own opinion. But, he was also the culprit of this whole thing happening, so his words couldn't really be trusted, at this point.

It was already late, and getting ever later by the minute. He was slightly buzzed, but not enough to feel it in the morning. What he would feel, though, was his back, if he fell asleep on the floor.

He just wanted his bed. It was comfy and did not cause his back to hating him too much.

“Are you sure that you don't know where we are?” Troy asked Adam, as he took yet another unspecified turn. “Because, if you do, and this is some personal calibration time, where you don't pay attention to me enough, please get out of that state, and show me the way.”

Three was the number of times, in which Troy had asked Adam that particular question. After the first, he always knew what the answer would be. Yet, Troy just kept asking.

'No. I do not know where we reside spatially compared to our usual placement. If I figure this out, I will inform you about it. And, no, I am not analyzing myself to perfection. That is first scheduled to happen in two hours. Now, that we are on that subject, please speed up your walking. I do not want to delay my daily calibration further.', Adam sent out.

Why was Troy so terrible at this? He had been here for days now. Finding his way around shouldn't be this hard!

But, finding the reason why that was, was not on his current agenda. Frankly, he couldn't care less. Finding his room was much more important.

Adam had even found a solution, to this problem of there's, albeit a luck-based solution. While he hadn't recognized any of their surroundings, he might be able to do so in the future. Therefore, if Troy just kept randomly walking, at some point, they should be somewhere they had been before, making it possible for them to find Troy's room.

In that little, ideal plan of his, Adam had certainly not thought about the astounding size of this place. It hadn't been too long since Troy had decided to walk back to, where the shopping street was supposed to be. The problem with that was… he couldn't remember which way he had walked.

And, Adam didn't know either. Due to Troy's genius idea of keeping the earpiece in his pocket for the rest of the night, Adam's perception had been effectively zero. He didn't even know, that they had finished their small gathering.

Honestly, if they didn't find anything soon, Troy would begin knocking on the walls as well. He had personally seen two different, secret entrances. There had to be others. Sure, they had secret codes to open, but they couldn't be too hard to guess. From what Troy had seen, the people here had something of a terrible-

“What are you doing out here?” a voice said from his side. An awfully familiar voice.

Turning his head, Troy saw somebody he hadn't expected to see out and about.

“Good afternoon, Dr Hale”, Troy politely said, slowing down his steps, to not just walk past her. She was walking awfully slowly, now that he was thinking about it. “I could ask you the same thing.”

“I'm getting back from data analysis. Something you get to be out of, due to some big letters spelling national security,” Dr Hale answered, as evenly as always. She didn't even look tired, not a difference from her usual look to be seen. “And, good afternoon? Has this facility skewed your perception so much? It's two in the morning.”

Two in the morning… explained why he was so tired, at least.

“I am… not too good with my spatial awareness. It usually takes me a while to get used to finding my way around places like these”, Troy finally answered Dr Hale's original question, with no small amount of diffidence.

“It's troubling that you've been in places like this”, Dr Hale observed, not attempting to masking her criticism.

A pause was felt before she sighed.

“It should be at this point, where you ask me for assistance,” Dr Hale stated. “Unless… is it a personal pastime of yours, being unable to find your way? If so, it might be wise for you to choose a new hobby.”

If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it.

'Ask her for assistance.', Adam sent, as to agree with her.

He didn't need to request it. Troy had gotten the point the first time.

“Could you be so kind, as to-”, Troy began but was stopped by another voice overshadowing it.

“Don't waste time using long words,” Dr Hale said. “Just, be quick with your questions, and follow me, while you're at it.”

Then, off she went, walking with quicker strides than Troy had ever seen on her. He had to nearly run if he wanted to keep up with her.

This speed of theirs left no breath for Troy to initiate any kind of conversation. Not that he felt any need to do so, but it was the principle of the whole thing.

Taking a small glance over at Dr Hale, Troy saw her walking with the same impassive face, that she usually had. She wasn't even breathing deeply.

How could Dr Hale find this speed reasonable? Troy was a good ten centimetres higher than her, yet she was just so quick on her feet. Her steps were not rapid, but her strides were long, without looking overstretched. Altogether, it was combined into a walking speed faster than anything which could be called comfortable.

Yet, it still seemed that somebody saw the whole thing as perfectly fine.

“So, how has your time with Charlie's group of misfits been?” Dr Hale asked her tone as impassive as ever. But… there was a small amount of curiosity blended in with it all.

When had Dr Hale ever been curious? Wasn't that Dr Fidelis' thing. He would strengthen the research as a whole, while Dr Hale would keep a leash on it all.

“In the beginning, I would have said it was fine and all, but, after hanging around them for such a long time, I really just think that-”, Troy began, trying to get into his best narration headspace.

“Keep it to quick sentences. The walk isn't long enough for your life story,” Dr Hale cut in, intentionally ruining that little mindset, which Troy had been attempting.

“... Fine. It was fine,” Troy just said. Did she want quick answers? She was gonna get quick answers.

“And, did you stay careful, as I asked you to?” Dr Hale answered, bringing Troy back to earlier in the day. She had asked that of him, now that he was thinking about it.

“Yes,” Troy answered after some deliberation. Technically, he hadn't been careful enough, in the least, but there wasn't any reason to mention that part.

“I find that hard to believe,” Dr Hale said, instead of asking a question.

Nonetheless, Troy stayed firm in his quick statements.

“Why?” he asked, with something of a confused tone.

Dr Hale just looked at him for a second, a slight contemplation on her face and her eyes narrowed, before turning her head back forward again.

“The fact that you even had to ask that, is a problem in and of itself”, Dr Hale said, after just looking forward in the last little while. “Keeping an eye on yourself and your surroundings is something you will need, in a place like this.”

No more conversation came forth. Troy kept quiet, still wanting to stick to his one-word sentences. And, starting a whole conversation would be hard using those. Yet, it wasn't like Dr Hale would be starting anything soon. From a few more glances, which he had done so many times, that Adam himself had to ask him to stop, he saw Dr Hale deep in thought.

How Troy just wanted to know what she was thinking about. To be more precise, he wanted to know if she was thinking about him. Deep thought about a person, hinted at criticism at the minimum.

But, just wanting to know, didn't change anything in the end. After some more walking, Adam notified, that he could find the way to their personal room from where they currently were.

Troy notified Dr Hale of such.

“I can recognize this place, so finding my way back shouldn't be too hard now,” Troy said. “Thanks for the help.”

“I was just distracting myself from my duties”, Dr Hale said, clearly deflecting his gratitude. “And, it would be best, if you began memory exercises shortly. Not remembering the way is fine for the few days, but forgetting for more will equal unneeded paperwork for me. Something you will do your best to avoid.”

A hint to stay in line, if Troy ever heard one.

“Message clear”, Troy confirmed, with a small nod of his head. “Well, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to fall into my bed in my room.”

And, off he walked, ready to take on the task of sleeping like a rock. Maybe a shower first, though. Even he would feel shame if he-

“Before you do that, I'm sure it would be best if you left the earpiece by the bed. Can't have it getting broken,” Dr Hale quietly muttered, as she walked away.

“What?” Troy asked, having clearly heard, what she said.

“Good night, Troy”, Dr Hale said, her back turned already.

He just watched her go, quietly stewing the words inside his mind. The earpiece… the god damn earpiece.

'Leaving on the earpiece was a miscalculation, on your side. My own observations are not too crucial, as long as you can relay the conversation to me at a later date.', Adam sent, as Troy became unable to hear Dr Hale's footsteps.

“Why would you think, I left the earpiece on, just so you could hear?” Troy asked absentmindedly, still caught on in his head.

Yet again, he had screwed up. It was great Adam knew, where the room was, or Troy would be scared about running into Dr Fidelis while they were at it.

Oh, that just brought back the hell of it all. Dr Hale knew. The second person, who, under no circumstances, is supposed to know of Troy's actions now knew exactly what he had done. Well, not exactly what he had done, but she had likely deduced all the important parts of it.

'What other reason would you have kept the earpiece visible? While the chance of discovery would be temporarily increased, during the removal process into the pocket, the overall chance would be decreased through the average.', Adam explained.

What a logical portrayal of a reasoned mind. Troy hadn't even considered it.

“I… kinda forgot the earpiece,” Troy stated, a bit ashamed of him even saying it.

Adam did not respond instantly. Troy thought of it, as Adam checked to see if Troy was joking or not.

'You do realize that the visibility of the earpiece was how we originally nearly got caught?', Adam asked, his stoic voice seeming extra cutting to Troy.

“I do realize so, yes,” Troy said, his back deflating bit by bit, as he walked ahead too.

He needed to be more aware of himself.

…

Maybe, Troy would follow Dr Hale's tip, and do a few of those memory exercises every once in a while. A lot, if it would seem as if it worked.

'Do you believe Dr Hale will tell Dr Fidelis about your unregulated testing?', Adam sent to Troy.

Was that really what he was worried about? Guess Troy couldn't be too angry about it. To Adam, that would seem like all that was at stake.

“Only the blood god will know,” Troy muttered, half as an answer to Adam, and a half to himself.

'He prefers to be called Dr Fidelis.'