From inside the thin platform, Troy was able to see the ground fly by. Meant in the most literal sense, it was quite the sight to see. In the first few moments, of stepping inside it, only dirt and stone was seen. With the help of the platform, they had been able to go through the ground, without ever disturbing it. It was, as if, there was a barrier, which simply teleported the contents momentarily, while the platform was moving through. Troy had not observed such a thing happening in the prior tests. But that might have been due to a fault of his own, so his words weren't too valid, in such argumentation.

The outside view changed rapidly, throughout their short journey. Or, could it really be called such a thing? Technically, Troy had not moved an inch, since setting himself inside the platform. It was the environment around them, which was moving, and rapidly at that… Eh. It was fit fine enough. Only the strictest of grammar enthusiasts would have any reason to despair about such a technicality.

Throughout their journey deep inside the ground, their surrounds were constantly well lit. This was through no effort of Troy himself, who had prepared himself for balancing in the total darkness. It would have done good, now, if he lost a piece of skin, by accidentally sticking it outside the barrier. Yet, how this light came to be, there was no greater idea about. No shadows were created, making the source of the light remain a mystery, as it had begun with.

After mere seconds, of them moving rapidly forward, in the ground, the environment seemingly stopped in its movement. Troy had briefly thought it as an optical illusion, with the colour-changes simply being too fast, for him to notice. But, no. By looking at the smaller rocks, sitting in the same place, without ever showing any inclination to move, he was able to confirm that they had, in fact, stopped.

This had given Troy more than a smaller amount of panic. They had been very deep underground. With that statement, one was talking, at least, more than fifty meters. Not something, which the spindly man had any chance of digging trough. Or, just getting through, generally speaking. The barriers were maybe or maybe not sealed tight, with no chance of getting through them. It would explain how the outside materials had not been able to penetrate it. Yet, then came the question of, how Troy had been able to do such a thing, without ever feeling the slightest resistance.

Could it be that the barriers only had the capability of interacting with the materials created by the puzzle room and not any actual materials? There hadn't been any safer methods, for Troy to test out this theory of his. And, he, quite honestly, did not care too much about it. If nothing was going to give him chronic pain, it wasn't something he needed to worry about.

Any thoughts, about having to move through the literal tons were equally extinguished, though not for the same reasons. Doing anything, which had the opportunity of causing him physical harm was always something to worry about. Climbing through dirt was a part of such things.

But, luckily enough for Troy, this conundrum was fixed for him. The environments instant stopping from moving forward had not been some absurd mistake, he was to find out. Instead, it was done so, so they would be in a very specific position on the x and z-axis. The only thing needed to be fixed, for their position, had been to change the y-axis of the whole materialisation. To reiterate the earlier statements, instead of flying forwards at near-lightspeeds, they were now moving upwards at definitely-ludicrous speeds.

In but a second, they had arrived at, what was likely their last destination, on their hasty trip. With how fast it all had been, Troy was very happy, with his lack of momentum-induced nausea. Well, except for- No. He was getting ready to expose his eating choices, just by thinking about it.

Looking downwards, without sticking his head out of the transparent barrier, he looked downwards. About the latest tests, they weren't too far off the ground, a normal stair-step having more distance upwards. The only thing left, was to actually take the step down there.

…

Troy felt the need, to test things out even further, before doing such a thing. Call him paranoid, but there had to be something, which wasn't being as functional as it should be. As the kinda-caretaker, and guide, of Adam, it was in his work-lines to create the most optimal learning experience for the AI. If that meant, that he would be doing a bit of extra work, then nobody could blame him, right? Especially not Dr Fidelis, who was always so focused on good results. If this brought better ones, in the end, everybody won. Especially Troy.

Poking the barrier lightly, his fingers held no indication of him having interacted with it, in the slightest. If he wasn't directly looking at the position of the finger, he wouldn't even have realised it had gone through.

Without feeling any want to do so, Troy still attempt his earlier disclosed theory. If there was one thing, which he wasn't feeling up to, it was the chance of him falling through the ground before him.

Going down on his stomach, letting a good part of his legs hang out of the platform in the process, he reached one of his arms down to the ground, while the other firmly held on to the thin disk, which he laid upon. Not going too far down, he felt the familiar sensation of a single blade of grass. gliding the finger over it, nothing about it felt like anything other than the real deal. If he wasn't previously told that all of it was fake, this would have easily convinced him of the real environment before him.

No matter how much shock was felt, upon realising the sheer realism put into the area before him, his finger dug deeper downwards. Now, it wasn't simply the tallest blades, which touched his hands. They all buckled towards, their attempts to remain upwards making his hand slightly tingly. Yet, the root, from which these plant sprung form, was found. The dirt.

At first, Troy hesitated, upon one of the nails hitting its mild softness. A smaller piece of rock had been picked up in the process. While it was mostly rounded, from the constant shuffling, one of its sides was still sharp enough to cut. That is if he was dumb enough to actually press his finger down upon it.

…

“If I make myself bleed, with this rock, can I say that it was your…”, Troy began but was immediately cut off by Adam, who had likely been watching his actions, with extreme focus.

Which made sense, seeing as he had likely never had the sensation of grass in that little storage of his. Or, well, anything, which related to nature in any way. If his memory served him right, which was a hard thing to hope for, the first thing, that Adam asked for, during their first environmental test, was for him to touch the grass. When he wasn't able to feel such a thing, he had become more than a little agitated, portraying a fair share of criticism about… false advertising? Something along those lines. It hadn't been pretty to hear, Troy still criticizing at a few of the monotonic proclamations. Hindering the integrity of his will to learn, huh? That failure of will was not lacking here.

Stolen story; please report.

'Please. Do as you wish. While I won't force you to do so, I will not mind, if you attempt it.`, Adam professionally answered, not letting any of the guilt be blatantly put over to him. Still, it gave him the clear to do so. Which, as a matter of fact, he would be using to its fullest.

Positioning the small rock in the middle of his palm, Troy slowly forced his hand into a fist. The pressure was mild, at first, with it being added more and more over time. With the perceived dullness, it would take some time, before anything other than the pressure of it, would be felt.

And, with a gasp, Troy seemingly succeeded in his testing. Both, it was in more than one way, though. After nearly two minutes, having grown tired, of slowly increasing it incrementally, he had randomly decided to put all his pressure in, at once. The main part, of the previous test, and anything further, than his current project would only delay the future end of the tasks, as a whole.

But, he had not expected it to enter his hand, so incredibly fast. It could have been explained as zero to hundred scenario. One second, only mild pressure was the thing, which could be felt, and, in the next, Troy felt blood coming just before the fingers began. Yet, that wasn't the only surprising thing, which had happened. In the same moment, that the rock had begun to enter his palm, it had seemingly fizzled out, melting into a plethora of multi-coloured sparks, disappearing entirely. No sound had accompanied these colours, making Troy believe, that they had not been intentional, and were simply a byproduct of them removing a harmful object.

“Got anything useful out of that?” Troy asked, getting himself up in a sitting position. He had not yet removed himself from the platform, instead of using the current time, to see the newly created wounds on his hand. While the pain had been sudden, and a bit more felt than anticipated, the actual damage done was in the lower levels. After wiping it with his finger, he had trouble even seeing where it had cut him. The only, real painful thing, about it all, had been the sparks. They had not been as idiot-proof as the rock, giving damage in the form of extremely, small black marks. If they had been wipeable, Troy might just have classified them as dirt stains. Yet, upon putting pressure, they had obviously been created through heat. “Because I am definitely not putting my hands through that again.”

'And, I do not expect you to repeat this ordeal. The data gotten from this is more than enough. Though, there is a smaller chance, that the environmental safeguards have created a larger divergence, in the final results. If you ever feel the willingness, to repeat this experiment, outside of the puzzle room, be sure, to let me know. It will be greatly appreciated.`, Adam sent back quickly. If monotonic voices had such capabilities, Troy would almost have classified the AI as being distracted. Was the current sensation really that important for him?

And, on that subject, all was just great. He had hereby been told, that, if he ever felt the need to, Adam would like to watch him cut himself. It wasn't something, which he would be going to actively seek. Yet, somewhere, in the back of his mind, he just knew that it would happen, regardless of his willingness, for such a thing.

“I’ll remember that for later”, Troy falsely promised, trying his best to forget it. Murphy’s law had to be respected, in cases like these, or he just knew that it wouldn't end too well, in his favour. “Ready to begin this exploration of ours? If my ears don't betray me, there should be some animals in the distance.”

It was a far-fetched analysis of the current sounds being emitted by the environment. He could hear bird-calls, sure, but would there actually be such creatures? The most likely answer was, yes, there would be, but, knowing Dr Fidelis, there was likely some aspect of the environment, which had been done cheaply, to not cause cardiac arrest, in their budget. If that was an obvious shortage of smaller creatures, Troy just hoped Adam wouldn't notice it. He just couldn't bear it, if he was forced to hear another rant about the importance of accurate representations of reality in digital forms. How the AI even came so close, to priorly-discussed talking points, he wasn't too sure. What he was sure about, though, was that the points were noted the same, for each side. They could have been described as… slightly more radical. Horseshoe theory was definitely shown off accurate when it came to these quick rantings.

'The chance of new observation should not care about my current ideas about it, and neither should they be manipulated by yours. When putting yourself fully over to, what opportunities on has to exploit, the chances of success increase marginally. An idea to think about, while we leave this platform. And, yes, that was meant as a confirmation..`, Adam sent back. It was not too uncommon of him to give philosophical advice, but this time, it didn't correspond with the usual times for it. They were normally given during slower parts, where Adam didn't have anything to do, other than send Troy messages.

The man himself didn't mind those times too much, seeing as he got to have himself a simple conversation, with another entity than himself, but it could always go a little off track. The AI clearly did not have any want to stay on the same topic, throughout a conversation, switching it all up, when he felt like it. If Adam understood it, there was a clear expectation of Troy having the same clarity on it all. Not the most realistic goals, for a being whose whole premise was being logical in all outlooks, but he wasn't one to judge. Everyone had faults. And, some, had some blatant ones.

“Sounds good”, Troy said, confirming that he had understood Adam’s message. Still being in a sitting position, he simply swung his legs over the edge of the platform, and let them naturally fall to the simulated ground. He could hear the grass being slightly pressed down, under his feet. There still weren't any smells, which could be expected, for now, seeing as all of it was just fancy light and sound design. However, it didn't stop his brain, from bringing him back, to the last time, that he had interacted so much with those small straws, the smell as they were cut down. According to unreliable sources, this was actually some warning to the other grass stalks, about their impending doom, but Troy wasn't too sure, that he actually believed such things. Too many absurd things were said online, nowadays, for anything to truly be trusted.

It was at this moment, where Troy was supposed to use the momentum, of having set his feet firmly on the ground, to get himself up in a standing position. Yet, instead of doing such a thing, his behind remained in its position, pressing down on the platform with no small amount of force. Why? Good question. The chances of him slipping on the dry ground, and getting injured because of it, was extremely low. There was nothing, which could have been described as especially wet, and he wasn't clumsy enough, usually, to cause such hijinks. No, the true reason wasn't such a logical thing as that.

'I know what you're thinking, and it will not happen.`, Adam sent to him, making Troy take the idea of the AI having increased his skills yet again.

“How can you be so sure? You have experienced just as much as me when it comes to this stuff. It is obviously not as perfectly designed, as it is supposed to be,” Troy shot back, being hasty in the retorts. While he tried not to show it, the possibility of it happening was not helping him lessen his legs from shaking. It wasn't from stress, panic, or anything like it, that caused this shaking. The better reasons for it could be simply explained as a lack of proper fitness.

'Thirty seconds ago, you checked the stability of the floor yourself. You found no fault in it and proceeded to another project. If you were sure enough, about a subject, to further knowledge about another genre of knowledge after it, you don't have any doubts about it. From your perspective, this might look as if you're figuratively between a rock and a hard place. In reality, it is simply your own delusion, which is stopping you, from achieving this simple step in the test. If there had been such a glaring issue, with this environment, we would have been warned of it by Dr Fidelis. Precautions against it would already have been made.`, Adam continued, not taking Troy’s objection into any serious consideration.

The AI’s reasons were sound in reason and logic, and… Troy could, for the life of him, not put any consideration into them. The chance of him falling through, falling an unknown distance down, and getting injured from it, was not on the list for things to do. These thoughts might have been due to his simultaneous fear of dark places, and unknown heights, putting themselves into a super fear, but nobody could really know.

There really wasn't anything for him to do. Troy would just have to figure out some method, which would allow him to allow Adam to complete the tests, without moving from the platform. Maybe, if he could jump, they could-

'Think about the sleep, Troy. The sleep, which you will miss.`

Without missing a beat, Troy rolled down onto the grass, not caring about the amount of dirt in his clothes. Hopefully, it would disappear, once they got out of the place.

“That should not have worked on me”, Troy muttered, as he got himself up to his intended standing position. The missing chunk of his left shoe was putting a smaller amount of imbalance, but it would have to do.

'Yet, it did. Don't put too much thought into this failure of yours. Focus on the promise of a full night's sleep.`

Troy really just was enslaved to that concept. And, he was loving every single second of it.