The skin-suit nearly fell off him, before he had the chance to pull the curtain to obscure his changing place. Whoever had the switch, for the suit, clearly wasn't waiting for him to dilly-dally… Why he still used such childish words, he wasn't sure. Dilly dally. The earpiece was taken off just as swiftly, deposited in his pocket, without any such mannerisms showing themselves again.

…

Heh.

“I can't hear fabrics being taken off”, Dr Hale noted cooly, from outside the curtain. Why, she was paying attention to the sounds, coming from him, was not something, Troy wanted to think about. But, then again, with all those enhancements, which Charlie had put on her, there was a chance, that she couldn't be blamed for it.“Make that happen.”

What she could be blamed for, though, was that attitude of hers. He, of course, did not have anything near enough courage to call her out on it, but, she did have it badly currently. Whatever had happened, during the newest test likely hadn't been too pretty. Troy knew, that the two doctors hadn't been on the same foot when it came to some aspect of the tests, but the would surely be going to nuclear weaponry soon. With those staring-contests of theirs, testing the will-power of each other, he was just waiting for the first strike to be taken. If they walked the same path, as recent history, the conflict would be over soon after that.

Troy let the suit fall to the ground, not having the time to be decent about it. Time was beginning to slip by, and he didn't dare doubt Dr Hale bargaining in, telling him to hurry up. Few things were more disturbing than the thought of her coming close to him. Especially, when his stomach was rolling, trying to get him to eat something.

As he all but forced his shirt on, Troy still wasn't sure, why his body was being so pushy with him, as of late. In the past, he had been able to unwillingly fast, without anything but a mild struggling. Now, he felt his insides tearing itself apart, trying to find any scrap worthy of being digested. With how he felt the pulse, coming to trough his stomach, it couldn't belong, before his body thought it wise, to eat itself. It was a valid survival strategy, in an emergency. Self-cannibalization, without any wastes by indirect means. If only it could be restricted to actual emergencies, and not the times, where he just hadn't eaten in five hours.

The trousers had been buttoned perfectly, the shoes mashed through them simultaneously, and Troy was finally ready to go. The curtain was pushed trough, no time wasted in being gentle with it. The thing couldn't be expensive enough, for him to push Dr Hale’s patience. If anything, his hurrying about should have lessened the eventual mental pulldown.

As he got himself another view of the room, he could see that Dr Fidelis was continuing his owl-stared look at the screen. No inclinations had been made hinting at any other focus. Troy couldn't even see the man breath, his clothes obscuring nearly all the smaller motions. If not for the movements of the fingers, he would have thought the doctor replaced by a statue.

Dr Hale gestured at the door, hinting at them needing to leave the same moment. Troy obliged, not wanting any words to disturb the doctor’s work. That was, of course, slightly hypocritical of him, seeing how loudly they had been not a minute ago. Yet, it was the thought that counted… right?

Probably.

In a few strides, Troy had gotten himself out of the hidden door, standing ready for it to close behind the two of them. Normally, the two underlings would have simply walked, without a care to the closing of the entrance. However Dr Hale seemed adamantly steadfast, in standing around the slowly closing door. It sealed with a mild hiss. Just enough that he could hear while standing close to it. The door wouldn't have been so secret, if it relayed its location to any person within fifty meters, of course.

After a few seconds of waiting, Troy had thought them ready to move on. From the balanced form of Dr Hale, though, such a thing wasn't likely to happen.

“Dr Fidelis is currently forced to hard-code another test. The next test, to be exact. The one, which had been delegated, for the next testing-phase was deemed unsafe by me. Due to a few disagreements, we have received a longer than average break. This does not mean, we get to spend it on our times, unfortunately. During the extra few minutes granted, I have been ordered to give you a summary of the test, the results in it, and a few points of improvement, on your behaviour during it. Did you catch that, or do I need to repeat myself? And, if you say yes, I may give a much shorter summary, so it would be best to say no,” Dr Hale stated, going into a near-professional speech.

This did give Troy more background information, on the near-comatose state of Dr Fidelis. Having to create a new test, for less than an hour, did not seem like the most peaceful activity. Much less was it so, if one took in the factor of getting it approved by the higher-ups.

Or, would he have to do so? While not commonly used nowadays, retroactive deals were all the craze, when the time was of the essence. The actions were done, long before the contract work had been established. It did get put in disuse, when people began using it, for the exploitation potential it held within. Still, it was entirely legal, if both parties agreed on it. Which, he honestly wasn't too sure, that the higher-ups would do. Maybe, they would be swayed, if the results were too good to pass up, but gambling one's job on such a line wasn't the smartest thing to do.

Not that the bearded doctor would get fired for such an intentional mishap. Maybe a wage cut, but, from earlier statements, about paying for it privately, Dr FIdelis likely didn't care about such things. If the test had the result it deserved, then everything was likely fine, in that crazed man’s eyes.

And, going away from such a controversial topic, Troy would be getting commentary, on his actions during the test. If he didn't know any better, one could easily have mistaken it for a… impromptu debriefing.

Upon thinking such a thing, his brain had released more than the usual amount of dopamine. It wasn't every day that he got preaching in the rankings. These people were beginning to classify him as deserving of correcting. Not just critique about actions now and then, but, instead, it was systematic controlling. It sounded bad, sure, but, to Troy, he couldn't have been happier about it all.

“No, it all sounds easy enough to understand”, Troy nearly sputtered out, wanting her to start talking immediately. “Go on, please!”

It was exciting. Knowing that he was about to get an analysis of his own actions, which wasn't coming from the subjectively objective entity known as Adam, was more than just great. What would be said? Could he give feedback on the commentary, creating an endless loop of improvement, culminating in both reaching places never reached before? Troy couldn't wait to find out.

Dr Hale clearly hadn't expected his wildly energetic mood. She almost put the left side of her mouth upwards, before it fell even deeper than before. If Troy had put any focus on her eyes, he might even have catched a bit of remorse in them.

“Your fast-tracking of the conversation and moving this whole spiel along is appreciated. Now, to satisfy the good doctor’s standards of a summary, I will start talking, and, when my lungs start to hurt, I will stop. Physical pain is, of course, the only good excuse, to stop being more informative.

First off, your performance, if only pure test scores are taken into the algorithm, was better than the estimated average. While not being close to following all tasks, the points gained from the optional tasks did help to skew the threshold. If completing the optional requirements of the third task has not been extremely lucky in execution, I might even have been proud. Your performance in the second task, however, was not to the estimated levels. While it certainly wasn't due to a fault of your own, there were never any successful turnouts, in your attempts to find the hidden statues. While it might have been a harder task, for the AI, than it should have been, the pure probability should have allowed you to find one of the more easy ancients.

If your gaze had been more focused, you might even have realized the statue right under the starting point. Its design location had been purely done, to give the two you extra points, if the need called for it. And, while it certainly did, you never did put time through searching the immediate areas. This could be, due to the- And… my throat hurts. Any questions you have for me before I continue? Right here, I don't have any obligation to repeat myself, so inquiring questions only,” Dr Hale began it off with.

Altogether, Troy took it as a solid start. Nothing truly groundbreaking information had been told, yet. But, that was to be expected. This was only the preliminary. Expecting a whole exhibition wasn't anywhere close to realistic. If he simply waited for a bit more, minding his own cards, the results would surely show themselves, in due time. Waiting was easy. Incredibly easy. Not like he expected immediate praising and nothing else. Of course not! His goals, in the conversation, were constructive, and not just some circling of praises, without anything negative pulled in. It wasn't like such a gaol was possible anymore, with the mention of the AI forgetting to look at the obvious hiding places, of the statues.

“Nothing much, that I can ask about it. But, you're only using the points gotten, to base the performance off of. Those points were only supposed to be gotten, by the actions which Adam mandated. My own actions, during the test, can not put a better perspective of my actions, in general terms. Would it be possible, for you, to not base my grading on the actions, which were not dictated by myself?” Troy inquired into.

While it wasn't the worst thing in the world, to get a performance review, based on another's work, it would be much better, if it was his own actions getting praised. Adam had debriefings, where he got kind words himself. This wasn't the AI’s time to be praised. It was Troy’s.

“I was going to get to that part,” Dr Hale numbly reassured him, not sounding like she had any personal need to do so. “I thought it would be best if I came out with the good parts first. Stops most from crying halfway. Not for a lack of trying, trust me on that. More like, they aren't physically capable of understanding the words said, until long after they are uttered.

You, Troy Maxwell, have not been doing your work to the needed standards. While you do try to uphold some standards, shortages have been found, as of late. This was readily available when the first environment was rolled out. I am guessing that you can guess the event in question?”

It was more than obvious. He could still remember it vividly. His mind had been working harder, than it had in years, during those ten minutes of work.

“Yes”, Troy confirmed no more happiness added, during his recent thought-paths.

“Mind elaborating on this even, then? Selv explanations are proven to be much more showing when it comes to events like these.”

Not putting too much into, what scenarios were akin to the aforementioned one, Troy went right down to explaining it. Even if they had cut into the thick of it, early on, it could still turn into something positive… right?

“During the first test, one of the optional tasks were to physically touch a wild goat. While I did have reservations, about the safety of such a thing, I did attempt to fulfil it. This could be seen in my more than slight precautions, in stopping myself, from alerting the nearby creatures. However, any ideas of being silent did not remain, as the two of us found the wild goat’s corpse. While this was not initially shocking to look at, the implications of it did cause me mild worry. When Adam informed me of the nearby predator, this worry grew into more than slight fear. While I do realise that it all was entirely fabricated, instincts still had control over, what I believed, in those moments. I held on when the predator came nearer, but my self-control did not remain when it pounced on me. This caused a direct disobeying of Adam’s orders. While it was not mentioned, I do believe he was annoyed by it. No comments about it, though. It might come up in his debriefing, but that's up to Dr Fidelis,” Troy ended it off with.

Dr Hale looked at him for a moment, before sighing.

“That was not what I was talking about, but, I guess that's good enough,” she said, before finally beginning her walk.

Wait.

“Dr Hale. If that wasn't, what you wanted to talk about, then… what was it?”

No answer.

“Dr Hale? Please?”

“We do not have time for more details. Dinner is served, and we are not present.”

Troy wanted to delve further, but something had seemingly switched inside her head. Welp, there was nothing to do about such things.

At least, his stomach would soon stop hurting.