The other environments were not any faster. Nor, though, were they any longer. They were precisely the same time as before. And, Troy could remember all of it, in more than just fine detail. His brain almost tried to fry itself, out of sheer unwillingness to continue. While his body may have been in better shape, due to the proper fitting of the suit, his mind was still tired. What were the current modifiers? Lack of sleep was obvious. Then, there was emotional toil, which he had acquired only a few hours before. After that, it was bodily exhaustion, with how much effort had been required lately. While he had only been forced to sprint once, light jogging had not been expended as well. Adam had not been patient.
As expected, the other areas had not followed the same set-up as the forest environment. Troy had initially been scared of the potential new areas, which could be chosen. No matter how fun it may have been, he would not have appreciated having to swim in the ocean. In the last tests, it had been completely fine, with him having the privilege of being behind a solid barrier. Even soaring across the skies had been more than entertaining. Seein the natural world, from such an abstract perspective, had honestly given him a new outlook on life.
This, however, became a whole different matter, once the interaction options came into play. His fear of heights, depths, and general danger was not something, which made any of the potential environments any easier. When he had the requirement of coming in contact with the area, his mind had its own requirement of being firmly planted on the ground. No flying for him, outside of planes, and no diving either.
The second environment had luckily not been close, to certifying his fears. During the creation process, the ground had twisted itself into a wave-like pattern, going up and down, the longer ahead one looked. The grass had disappeared entirely, along with the trees, removing any semblance of creative colouring. Brown had been replaced with a sandy yellow. Such a change made sense since, well, Troy had gotten himself put into a desert.
The hills, which he had only just been able to see, in the distance, had made their presence know much more prominently. Growing hundreds of meters taller, Troy had felt no uncertainty in calling those mounds of rock mountains. Adam had not challenged his word-use during the environment either.
Of the required task, during the desert environment, no was too hard. It was mainly centred around finding the various flora, which prevailed at the edges of the large rock-piles. With their contrasting, green colouring scheme, none had been hard to find. The only real difficulty, which had stayed, was the optional tasks. During the second environment, Adam had been forced to call the search for those off.
They had been centred around, finding various ancient sculptures. It sounded easy in concept until one realized that they were hidden under the sand. According to the AI, and Troy had been cautious on those words since the first time he heard them, it should have been theoretically possible to find, by searching the patterns, that he sand had created. Some places would stand out, showing where uneven material was hidden.
This was never proven in practice, though. Much to his annoyance, the terrible doctor, behind the environment, had decided to make the temperature realistic. After not too long, inside the desert, Troy had begun to get sweaty. The simulated sun had beamed the light into the light, into his forehead, and generally everywhere on his body. It was a miracle that the skinsuit allowed him to get most of his body away from the unruly temperature. If not, he would have likely fallen over from being heated up way above his body’s limits.
With such a physically draining environment, the safety of their operations had come into play. Adam wanted to do the optional tasks, and also do the tasks in the next environment. But, if they had continued, Troy would have most likely been unable to operate at the needed level, making the chances of doing the next area as well practically impossible. And, this didn't even make it certain, that they completed the second environments optional tasks.
So, it had all been called off, in favour of getting more raw data. Or, at least, that had been the AI’s reasoning. Troy himself hadn't paid too much attention to it all, having a larger focus on keeping himself upright, at the time.
The third, and final environment hadn't been too straining. Troy hadn't been too sure, what the area was supposed to have looked like when it first had started to change. It would not have been wrong to state that the sand seemed to have grown arms, rising from the deep. The moment, they had stepped into the starting point, after finishing the second environment, it all went downwards. As in, even with the sand rising by itself, the entire area seemed to have grown a horizontal, jagged mouth, which simply swallowed them up. For a near thirty seconds, all they had been able to see was black.
Adam had even asked if he was reading the output wrongly, and Troy was simply holding his eyes closed. It had been one of the first times that he had heard the AI questioning the information gained, much less asking his opinion about it.
After denying his guess, Adam had gone back to his silent thinking, leaving Troy to do the same. The darkness had remained for nearly a full minute, temporarily leaving him to think that something had malfunctioned.
As the light began to return, he had been sure of it. They were not on the ground. They were inside it. The first step outwards had been cautioned, as it had been his first time inside a massive cave system. Much less, was it his first time, seeing a self-lighting cave system. The moss on the sides had been the emitters of light, have given the area a warm, blue colouring. It had not been too strong a light, making a few areas have over swum in darkness.
The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.
Suffice to say, that the AI had been ecstatic. Not one second after stepping out, their new adventure had begun. Instead of being focused on the flora, which Troy would have guessed towards, with the outright glowing moss surrounding, it was their job to find the various creatures inside.
When it had come with a forewarning, that one shouldn't be afraid of the animals, he had been worried. After having seen the creatures, though, Troy understood fully, why they had been warned of it.
Most humans wouldn't have recognized them as living things. The colourings were all wrong, on nearly every single creature they saw, in their journey down under. Grey, translucent skin, matching the texture of the rock they held onto, made for a less appetizing sight. His stomach had even tried to present his last meal, the first time he had seen the creatures.
If that had been due to sheer fright, or sheer disgust, Troy wasn't sure. When one had come face to face, with such a unique creature, by looking upwards, at the low ceiling, one learned a thing or two, about the heart skipping a beat. As in, it was a possible thing to happen.
Nevertheless, even with the more special varieties of species, completing the required tasks was a piece of cake. While they did take time, due to Adam needing more reference points, to the animals clearly apart, it was certainly faster than the last two environments.
Three of the four optional tasks had even been completed. While still holding on to the creature-finding theme, it had certainly required more complex logic leaps to fulfil. The creates, which needed to be found, to complete the tasks, all resided in the darker part of the caves. Their bodies did not have the ability to withstand direct exposure, to nearly all light sources. Evolution had still not taken their eyes, leaving them to be overwhelmed by sensation, if direct contact was ever made.
Instead, these animals had relied on their extraordinary ears, to guide them in their day-to-day lives. This of course included their survival instincts, going under sensing the movements of other creatures. Troy was a human that couldn't see in the dark. Therefore, he was forced to move around, to get a better idea of where the hell he was.
This scared the living night out of these lightless animals, causing them to flee. And, just his luck, he needed to physically touch them, for the optional tasks to be completed. It had taken more than just a few minutes, for the creatures to stumble upon his unmoving body. Adam had commanded him to sit down on the uncomfortable rocks and make an as little movement as possible. An easy thing, for a limbless entity to say. Staying still, while sharps objects jabbed at one’s back, was not an easy thing to do.
The technique had worked for most of the creatures, a few momentarily walking over the presume boulder. One, however, had seemingly refused to get close to him. Or, it simply did not hide in the same manner as the other optional creatures. Who knew? Certainly not those two, as they were forced to give up. According to Adam’s internal watch, they had been at the test for nearly four hours, making it prime time, to leave.
And, so, that was where Troy had gotten to. After having entered the starting-point, for what was likely his last time, the environment slowly faded away, revealing the normal white void. As he stepped away from it, the platform imitated the earlier area, liquidating, before being sucked into the ground, no evidence of it ever existing.
'Hurry out, now. You will need to consume a larger amount of calories before the next test will be able to be commenced.`, Adam sent to him, as he had stood still, simply watching it all wash away.
“That might have been the best idea, you've had this last hour,” Troy remarked, letting his body relax, in a way it never had before. His back stood just a bit straighter, as the muscles were invigorated, in ways it hadn't gotten to be in so long. If he hadn't been holding on, Troy would have thought somebody had drugged him. With the way, his mind was running, his lack of sleep was barely noticeable. Right now, he wouldn't have minded doing another environment, his mind up and ready for it.
A groaning of his throat and stomach showed how much his body thought it, clearly having differing perspectives. Sure, he hadn't drunk anything more than a few gulps in the morning, and glass to lunch, his throat shouldn't have been that dry. And, he had gone with less food, for much longer. Had his body adjusted to such luxuries, that they required it, at all costs?
'When complimenting my ideas, it is a usual practice, to then try fulfilling these ideas. In this situation, it would be a great choice of action, to attend to your bodily desires. With how much you have moved around, in the past hours, your caloric needs have likely skyrocketed.`, Adam sent again, taking him out of his short trance.
“Of course”, Troy answered, immediately beginning to move. He didn't trust himself, to move after a few thoughts on the matter. His mind might not have been up to the needed standards, as he kept forgetting the important matters.
The entrance had shown itself, not long after he had begun walking. Which, was surprising, in the least. It appeared in the previous place that he was walking towards. If he wasn't too wrong, the placement of it wasn't actually changeable. It was constant, as it was a part of the outer structure as well. Normally, the location of it was simply obscured, to provide more realism.
So… how was it there, in the path that he was walking? Had he been lucky, when choosing which way to walk? The chance was small, but Troy could not process any better way, that it could have been done. And, not wanting his brain to be fired, so close to the finish line, he simply walked through the confusing entrance.
As he stepped out onto the metal walkway, the two familiar faces were there to welcome him out. As in, they could have done so, if they wanted to. Instead, Dr Fidelis was figuratively neck deep into his screen, incoherently muttering to himself, as the screen wildly flickered about. If such methods were the usual way, of getting quick results, Troy did not want to see him, when the man was stressed.
Even with one distracted by his own workings, however, Dr Hale was still there to greet him, in her own special way.
“Get out of the skin-suit,” Dr Hale commanded gruffly, sounding more tired, than anything else. “We have food to get before you need to get back in.”
If one looked at it, in the definitely wrong ways, it showed how much she really cared about him. As a test subject, of course. Troy fully believed her statements, about being his mental torture. A vile job, for a terrible person. As they say, if it fits the glove.
“Roger”, Troy said, not taking a single pass in his walk. If it went towards giving him food faster, he would hold up against any kind of attitude. “Be there in a minute.”
“Make it thirty seconds.”
He could do that as well. No reason to be careful, when taking off the skinsuit. Wasn't like it was likely the most overly-prized clothing article that he had ever worn. Families could be fed for years, with the money this thing was worth if Troy’s guesses about it were correct.
“Of course.”