“Spread out and search for clues!”

“Don't you mean hiding spots?” Troy asked exasperatedly. Was Charlie feeling extra nostalgic today? He might not have known him for too long, but nobody should make so many innuendos. Especially when they didn't fit the situation. Troy would have been fine with it if he forced it into a scenario where he could say it because that would have implied some manner of pre-planning.

Yet by just stating it out of nowhere, it made the whole thing seem kinda dumb. Charlie could have at least looked bashful at his lesser amount of work. But instead, the man just continued further in, trying to wave the worries away with a look of comical ignorance. It did not work in any meaningful manner.

Troy did a small shake of his head, before taking a good look around the place. From the moment they had walked inside through the glass door, the scenery itself had changed. Gone were the blue-striped white walls, replaced with depictions of various landscapes done in a large variety of art styles. Nothing abstract though. Everything resembled a natural environment somewhat if Troy put his mind into trying to understand them. Adam had even asked for a closer inspection of some of them. He had tried his best to do so, but Charlie had hurried him through the simple entrance hall. Nothing interesting was there to hold them back it seemed.

It would have not been too wrong to state that the glassdoor had simply hidden yet another hallway to traverse. Identical modern doors lined up the left wall, while most of the details were kept on the right. The hallway itself continued nearly fifty meters down, before taking a sharp right turn. If it continued even further beyond that, Troy wasn't able to see it.

And he certainly would not have been able to walk over and check it. Charlie had quickly grabbed a hold of his left arm, not looking ready to wait for him to finish gawking at the surroundings. Which was understandable. Troy had acclimated to using way too long a time on it, nearing a time of several minutes before a turn of the head was even necessary. Could this be considered a mental work injury, Troy wondered. Even more serious, could he get his insurance to pay out on it? Fully hypothetical of course. He did not have the slightest clue on how to get in touch with those people. All conversations were fully initiated by the other side. Hospital bills had been automatically sent to them, so they had always done their usual attempt to wriggle free of their established contracts. Troy saw up to those people, trying to ruin normal people’s lives, just so wouldn't have to use an extremely minor bit of their gathered savings. The ideal capitalists' world. He could only wonder how the socialists would have looked, and if it would have been any better than the current pit.

With a firm grip on his arm, Charlie had dragged the poor sod himself down the small hall of doors, clearly looking for a very specific name. From the annoyed mutterings, it was apparently a very frequent thing for them to change work-places. Troy was not too confused about that, once he heard it. Different projects require different things. It was stupid if one expected to have something for their own personal use. Some things simply were too expensive and were used far too little, to necessitate buying several of them. Or the parts of them at least. Troy was not sure, how much of the stuff was created from the… creation rooms, was it? He knew he had been told about the things during his tour around a part of the facility, but there had been nearly no reason to think about it since. Wondering about where things came from, in such a shallow sense, was simply too not-even-close-to complex to spend too much time on. Hard ideas were much better to focus on.

After finding the intended name, they had entered yet another door, leading into what Troy could only describe as a stereotypical laboratory. Used, weirdly shaped glasses littered the sinks, the metal tables, and even a few places on the floor. The latter had looked to have fallen down on accident though, seeing as they were mostly glass shards. The sight made Troy happy that he wore shoes. Those things may have been new, as the older had been partly destroyed during testing, but they were some of the comfiest things he had ever had the pleasure of using. What the hell was inside those things? Advanced memory-foam? When he walked in them, it was like the soles adapted to the pressure, making sure nothing could be put too much pressure on. It worked perfectly doing testing when he was forced to stand for a longer amount of time. Helped make it slightly more bearable at least. Only boredom remained as the last major foe. And there was not much to do on that front.

Charlie had let go at that point, more interested in rummaging through the things in the room. Glasses were examined, even the ones with a slight layer of mould, and general comments were made about the place.

“I really can't believe that he has let himself fall this low,” Charlie said sulkily. Or as sulkily as one could, when a shit-eating grin accompanied it. “Oh, how hopeless he is without me! Would it really be so terrible, if I took the surprise away… Yes, it certainly would. But! But, but, but! That butt. It would also be funny… better to leave it as is. Comedy only grows better with time passing. With how long it is gonna take him to realise it this time, I have to consider a potential death by laughter. Copying old Monty there, but nobody will accuse me of that, surely.”

Troy was unsure if he needed to tread in on the other man’s mutterings. No earpieces were present on Charlie’s head. That man was purely speaking to himself, no other person receiving his words. Understanding of his image grew three-fold that day. And a mental note not to speak too much doing day hours. People were already wary of Charlie. Troy had no need to join that list.

“Aren't we trying to find hiding places for those bugs of yours?” Troy asked. While breaking in on people falling down a certain rabbit hole was commonly looked badly at, he had no desire to wait for Charlie to finish himself. He had done the same not much earlier. One could talk for a long time if there were nobody around to disagree. It really did make the points come across when the only receiver already understood it all.

Charlie looked over at Troy, with a face of mild surprise.

“Have to be honest with you here. I completely forgot you existed for a quick second. I hope I didn't say anything too weird,” Charlie said, making Troy think of all the weird things that had been said not twenty seconds prior. What did that man do in his free time?

“It was bearable,” Troy acknowledged. Inside, he was extraordinarily happy of not having to hear too much of Charlie’s personal thoughts spoken out loud. Details best kept hidden needed no placement inside Troy’s mind. Nor Adams of course. “What was that about a surprise though? Anything too private for me to know? It has to be something big at least if Darlow needs any chance of becoming awestruck by it.”

“Who said it was for Darlow?”

At that, Troy gave the man his absolute full attention. Those words had innuendos that were best left unexplored. But like the stupidly curious idiot that he was, there was an immediate need to know just a bit more of whatever Charlie was spouting about.

“If that surprise is not for Darlow, who exactly is it for?” Troy inquired suspiciously. But also with a small premonition on who the receiver would be. “And even more importantly, what is this so-called surprise composed out of? I am genuinely curious about that part.”

Charlie looked at Troy like an adult would look at an over-eager, energetic five-year-old. Or in more truthful words, the older of the two looked at the other like he was being a bit stupid, but also really didn't want to point it out. 'Who was the surprise intended to?` Who was silly enough to ask that?

“Like many parts of this place, it would be best if we left it uncovered,” Charlie stated, taking his eyes away from the still-curious Troy. “We have to get this whole place decked out in bugs. And it has to be some conveniently placed bugs at that. There has to be under a meter distance between the things. It would also be best if they went unnoticed for a very long while. We are speaking about… one day? Maybe two if we are talking on the extreme end of possibilities. By the twenty-six dimensions, this place really does get looked through too often. It's almost like he thinks that I regularly put trackers all over him and his things.

Anyways… Troy, it would be best if you just begin placing the bugs in the corners of the lower shelves. A man that tall shouldn't have any reasonable excuse for looking down their right? Here you go, you can just take the whole bag. I have plenty of others on me.”

He handed Troy a bag of small, round stickers. Or, Troy was at least decently sure of their sticking ability once they were removed from the long piece of paper that they were attached to. The small devices looked nothing like what had been used in his shoes. Much more discreet than those new ones. With such flatness, it would nearly be impossible to tell them apart from a wall without optimal lighting around it. Had Charlie perhaps made the things more advanced, when it came to different people? Maybe he just made the bugs progressively harder to find. It would fit the style of him that Troy had in his mind.

Taking one of the bugs off the paper, he experimentally tried touching the newly-exposed surface. Upon a brief touch the slightest bit of skin on his fingertip, it was stuck right on it with no hesitation to hit. There was some serious super glue type of stuff attached to the bugs. Even with some hasty hand-waving, it sat in the same place with no wriggling around at all.

That was certainly worrying. Troy did not have any real idea on how to get the bugs off his finger, without hurting it. A few ideas about using on of the knives sitting on the table was lightly debated, a voice, fortunately, came from within.

'If you attempt to pull it off, you will only stick it to another part of your body as well. And, if you use a knife or another sharp implement, it will also stick to it with no problem. Even if you got it off your skin at that point, the location of the knife would be too conspicuous, and would likely ruin Charlie’s idea much earlier than intended,` Adam said to him, the voice as monotone as ever. Though, it could have been confused with one of calmness, with how Troy had been looking at those knives. Without context, it could not have looked too good. Fascination with sharp things was not something he would be able to pull off well.

Troy was not feeling like he was being helped. “Well, the thing is still stuck to my bloody finger. Got any other words of wisdom?” This was said in a low muttering, careful for Charlie not to hear him. There was also no mind put to the fact that they were in a completely silent room, and that Charlie also had cochlear implants installed.

'Please refrain yourself from not using sign language to communicate with me. I learned it for a reason after all. To answer your question, I do in fact have words which, when intersected with one another, may contribute to the successful removal of the advanced listening device, while also helping you complete your current assigned task.`

Adam then proceeded to guide Troy into finding an acceptably positioned shelf, putting his impaired hand up in just the right way, and successfully making the last sticky part of the bug stick to the ceiling of the shelf. Pulling away with the hand, the only thing lost in the process was a few bits of skin. Nothing too deep, no matter how much Troy winced at the surprising removal. He was even forced to play it off when Charlie inquired about the vocalised pain, saying he had simply slipped his hand into something sharp. After being told to look more around where he was touching, he and Adam worked in tandem to place the bugs as perfectly as possible. It somehow allowed the AI to gather data on how minor appliances were built, so it was taken as an opportunity to research. Troy himself could not really think in what scenario knowing what the exact dimensions of an office shelf were. But, if Adam deemed it important, it had to come up somewhere right?

It took about ten minutes before they were done. Having nearly crawled throughout the entirety of the floor, Troy was dismayed to find his trousers dirtied. Usually, any acquired dust would have simply disappeared, only being a figment of an intricately detailed simulation. Now, laying on the actual ground, he was forced to remind himself of his current reality. He was communicating with an entity only though of in science fiction while placing listening devices on one of his friend’s work-spaces. It sounded ludicrous, but Troy could logically state why it was so. And that was weird.

“Well, that should do it!” Charlie proclaimed. While Troy had taken the lower parts of the room, Charlie had been in charge of the upper ones. Standing on tables, chairs, and whatever else he could find, the topside of nearly all the shelves had been littered with spying equipment. Even a few things which Troy had no idea about. A speaker perhaps even.

“Ready to meet the man of the hour?”

Troy could only manage a grin, as he stood up.

“Not even close to it.”

“That's the spirit! Let's go!”