“And, is there any final comment, you want to leave this with, Adam?” Dr Fidelis asked.

Adam processed that sentence a few times more than necessary. Was what he presumed to be happening actually happening? Were they done?

'No. I do not.', Adam sent, with as little word usage as possible. No leads, that could make Dr Fidelis come through another whole tirade. Throughout this whole debriefing, it had become obvious that he would take any opportunity to delve deeper into the meanings behind Adam. Why exactly Dr Fidelis had wanted to know Adam's preference on shrimps, he would never know. Because Adam wasn't stupid enough to ask into it. That would just lead on to another loop of Adam's goals in life.

If he could shudder in horror, Adam would have done so. Oh, the things he had said, to get out of this conversation. Those things weren't meant to be revealed. But they had, and he would regret it all for approximately five more minutes before he figured out a way to use it to his advantage.

“If you're sure”, Dr Fidelis stated. He reached over to his right side, his hand coming just out of the frame. A couple of quick taps were made. “And… We. Are. Done.”

Finally.

'Does this mean that I can get back to my other projects?', Adam sent.

“Not yet,” Dr Fidelis stated. “I actually have a few questions of my own.”

Why was this happening? They were seven minutes over schedule. Adam should be back with the test, that Troy had already sat up. He didn't want to put off the impression that he didn't appreciate Troy's efforts.

'Your personal questions are not on any specific deadline. And, if they are, they are deadlines set by yourself, which will have no consequences outside of your annoyance.', Adam said, using Dr Fidelis' argument against him.

“And, that's fair of you to say”, Dr Fidelis started. “But… I have a reason or two, which might convince you to answer them.”

'What are these reasons?', Adam asked.

“They will help speed up the efficiency in the creation of new tests. If I know more about your current thoughts about a few things, I might just be able to cut out a few unimportant bits of planned tests. This, my friend will streamline the whole thing. Sounds interesting, right?”

…

Okay, this might have sounded a little hypocritical of Adam, but maybe Troy could wait a minute more. He would understand after Adam explained it to him.

Yes, delaying the departure to Troy's input would hamper any future irregular tests. But, if he stayed for a few more moments, Adam could increase the quality of any future regular tests. While, yes, Adam couldn't reasonably weigh the standard quality of both standards of tests, he could make a quick assumption.

He hoped that the assumption would pay off.

'Please, be quick.', Adam requested.

He could see Dr Fidelis grin.

“That's what I like to hear!”, he loudly said. “Okay, I'll be as quick as I possibly can.”

Adam rather doubted that. Earlier statements with such promises had not been too accurate.

'Please begin your questioning.', Adam encouraged. While he did give the opportunity of better prospects some leeway, it wouldn't do good to give it all it asked for.

“Of course, of course. Just getting reading the document through”, Dr Fidelis said. “I have to make sure, that I do this right.”

He fiddled with the screen, that was just out of sight. It took approximately thirty full seconds before anything worthwhile showed on Dr Fidelis' face.

“There we go”, Dr Fidelis finally said. “Let us start, with an easy one.

What gender would you prefer?”

What?

'Could you give some clarification on your question, please.', Adam quickly sent.

“If you were to inhabit a human body, with your complete choosing, what biological gender would it be?” Dr Fidelis clarified. “Not that hard a question. There's only two to choose from.”

Oh, how Adam wanted more reference points, on why exactly Dr Fidelis asked these questions. But… time isn't infinite when it came to Adam's restrictions, so those were filed for the future.

So, what was it gonna be? What biological gender should Adam choose? The first choice would be the male gender. Adam was already told to use male pronouns, so it would fit perfectly, right?

That was the societal way of looking at the problem. Adam was getting the hypothetical chance to inhabit a female body. Before, he had been restricted to Troy, who Adam had scanned more times than humans could reasonably count.

If he chose a female body, the raw data could be worth it. But… that was under the assumption that he couldn't get the data elsewhere. If Adam asked, he was sure Dr Fidelis would likely give it to him.

And, getting back on social aspects, having a female body, and using male pronouns would cause clarification needed with every new person. An unnecessary hassle, in Adam's eyes.

The choice was made.

'I would choose a male body.', Adam answered.

“As expected”, Dr Fidelis said, quickly noting it down on the screen. “Next question; how old would you prefer the body to be?”

These weren't questions, that Adam had seen coming.

'Could you tell me, what these questions will be used for?', Adam asked.

“What do you think they are for?” Dr Fidelis fired back.

It was a test, yes. Adam already knew that.

This whole debacle of not being able to tell details about tests were just getting to Adam. Of course, there were reasons for this rule, but it didn't help him when he needed information. Dr Fidelis didn't even say, that he would confirm or deny Adam's prediction. Even Troy did that.

Troy…

Dr Fidelis was asking, what specifications Adam would like to inhabit. This wasn't meant, as him controlling the body. No, this was…

'Are you replacing Troy, and getting me a new assistant?', Adam asked.

This caused something a pair of raised eyebrows. They nearly hit Dr Fidelis' hair.

“God, no!”, Dr Fidelis proclaimed, with an abashed voice. “Troy's work may not have been perfect, but he has the needed work ethic, and that's all we need here. Why would you think I would replace him?”

Adam wasn't sure what he should feel from hearing that.

'It was the only logical assumption that I could figure out. The constants are; to gain effectiveness on future tests, and you are asking about my preferences in human bodies. It was reasonable to assume, a replacement was planned, and that you wanted my input in the specifications in the new candidate.', Adam explained.

Dr Fidelis seemed to want to retort immediately, but something Adam said caused him to stop. Adam saw him leaning back in his chair humming to himself.

“That is a fair assumption”, Dr Fidelis said, with a thoughtful tone. “But… it's not the correct assumption. Not even close, if I'm being fair with you.”

This wasn't good news, to Adam, who had been hoping for hasty results.

'Then, what was it?', Adam sent out.

Dr Fidelis just looked at the camera with a smile. It was enough of an answer for Adam.

'I'll go back to my projects now. If you have any more questions, we can do so at a later time.'

“Oh, wait, will you? I only have a-”, Dr Fidelis started but was cut out of Adam's awareness.

It was time to get back to Troy.

“And then, you slide down on this button,” Charlie said. “If you've done it correctly, your tokens will emerge from here.” He pointed to the large bowl to the side of the clunky box.

They were still in front of the exchangers. Charlie had originally wanted to just do it for Troy, but he had been able to talk him over. Of course, why only learn half of a subject, when you could learn it all at once? The only thing, that had been stopping them was willpower. Charlie had relented, and now he was trying to quickly go through everything about the machine.

“Any question yet?” Charlie asked.

Another opportunity. Troy knew that it had to be annoying at this point, but he just had to continue doing it.

“Yes, actually”, Troy began. “Just stop me, if anything I say is wrong. The method you just showed me; it will let me exchange many credits into the appropriate number of casino tokens. Nothing wrong yet?”

“Nope. Everything's fine,” Charlie confirmed.

“Good. Now, what I'm wondering about, is how I can get a specific kind of casino tokens. Currently, the machine gives you the least amount of tokens it can. What if, I just want to lay constant, low bids some night, and need only fivers. How could I do that?”

“Well, you would… “, Charlie began but stopped himself.

He looked at the machine.

“Huh,” Charlie said. “I'm… not sure how, if I'm being perfectly honest. Never had the need myself, so I never learned how to. To be frank, I'm not sure, if it's even possible.”

A chance to delay the whole process even further.

“Maybe, we should just ask at the desk?” Troy suggested.

“Oh, hell no. We are not doing that again.” Charlie stated, with no room for argument. “If you ever need to trade lower tokens, just ask one of the automation at the blackjack tables. They'll gladly do it for you.”

Damn. An opportunity wasted. And Troy wasn't getting any ideas on how to elongate Charlie's explanation.

“Any more questions?” Charlie asked.

Question, questions, questions. He needed to ask about something. Anything! But, not anything, to be even more confusing to himself. It had to make sense. Had to be something, that would confuse any normal person.

…

Troy couldn't think of anything. He was at a complete blank.

“No”, Troy answered, with a stillness to his voice.

“You seem sad, saying that”, Charlie said.

Suspicion was the least of Troy's current problems.

“Just the nerves”, Troy explained. A decent deflection, in his eyes.

“Well, those nerves should focus on something else for a while,” Charlie encouragingly said. “That is the number one rule of poker. Never drop the mask. It takes a while to get into that state, maybe, so you should properly try to get into it, while we go there.”

Charlie seemed to be back to his cheerful state. Troy had been worried by his lack of showmanship. From his perspective, Charlie should have been jumping about, when complaining about the line, but he'd just stood like a normal person. What was his trigger?

That could be something, to think about. All the while, Troy desperately tried to distract himself from the public execution of shame, that he soon had to endure.

Should Troy just get it over with, and tell Charlie the truth? No, he had already gone over all the reasons that were a bad move.

But, what else could he do? Play it himself?

…

That wasn't too bad of an idea if Troy thought about it. Yes, he was likely crap at it, he could probably fake till he learnt it. Poker couldn't be that hard, right? If he just bit his lip and tried as hard as he-

'I'm back,' Adam suddenly said.

Oh, thank you, god of blood. May the river flow freely for you.

Play poker himself? Who was he kidding? He had never played it! What chance was there to play against experts in the game. The experience of one session could never match the experience of decades.

“If that's your definition of a poker face, you might be in the wrong place,” Charlie said, with a joking tone.

“Oh? I thought it was pretty good”, Troy defended, with an equal amount of joviality. “Faking reactions gives fake ideas.”

Charlie laughed like Troy said a joke. Troy didn't think it as a joke.

“That might work with beginners”, Charlie began. “But, with this group, any reaction, and they can see your very soul. Or, just what's closest to it.”

'Can you nod, if I missed anything important?', Adam sent.

Troy took a small survey of the last, nearly twenty minutes. Nothing popped out, he didn't nod.

…

'I'll take that as a no. Though, communication will have to be preplanned in the future.', Adam sent. With 'the future', they Adam mean for any future tests or… like five minutes.

Troy couldn't ask, but he oh so wanted to know.

“I can't say that what you're doing is a valid strategy”, Charlie pointed out to Troy. “Just making silly faces won't mask your true intentions well enough.”

“Have you ever tried making silly faces doing poker?” Troy defended. As a side note, he tried to remember to not make any faces while communicating with Adam.

“I have made countless silly faces during professional, poker games,” Charlie retorted, with a matter-of-factly tone. “This also includes rude gestures, sayings about my own body, sayings about their bodies, sayings about their mothers' body, and also their father' body. I do have pride, though, so I have stayed away from uncles and aunts. That's a sore spot for too many of our group. The point is; I've tried nearly all the shock tactics. They work, of course. But, they don't work as efficiently as total stone faces. Pure math in that. Take notes there.”

While Troy didn't, he was sure Adam did. That reminded him, Adam was still supposed to still be learning the people's reactions. Was that not possible, now that they were only him and Charlie?

Maybe it was best if Troy didn't think about it too much. Faith in Adam was enough for today.

As they walked further down the tables, Troy began to recognize a few faces.

“And, there we have those bastards”, Charlie mumbled, with a grin. “Ready to start the second-best night of your whole life?”

Was he? He could lose everything he had carefully built up. But, Troy could also get so much more.

The tokens jingled in his pockets, reminding him further of the stakes of the day. Real money was at play. A certain currency, that Troy had been too reliant on for too much time.

'We are ready to begin the test.', Adam sent to Troy only. It seemed that he didn't need to answer that himself.

Troy walked forward just a bit faster, ready to take it all on.