“Do you recognize him, Troy?” Dr Fidelis asked, looking back at the young man. It might have been due to a certain somebody muttering a few questions to themself. Why was Charlie here? How did he know where they were? Was there really trackers in his shoe? Did he know what he was doing right now?

“Yes, I do,” Troy confirmed. There had been deliberation about lying, stating that he had no clue who that person was. That would have been found out as a lie the instant Dr Hale decided to go into the conversation. “It is Charlie… I still can't remember his last name.”

That last name was perhaps not the most important detail in the world, but that slight bit of humour was one of the only grounding foundations for the young man. Here they were, seeing a good friend of his bang onto a hidden entrance with his fists, putting enough power behind it that he could easily cause bones to be broken. How did it make sense?

“It's Freeman. I had to look it up to remember it yesterday, but it is fortunately stuck in my head now. Never thought it would be usable, but here we are,” Dr Fidelis stated, sounding as calm as ever. Troy could not relate, seeing Charlie pull on his long hair in frustration. The muscular man looked unwell. The shake of his head let him see drops of liquid come away from the face. It was never seen, but he could guess what just might have been on it.

“I will try to remember that,” the young man answered, not sure what else to say. Just looking at the feed from the camera was doing nothing well, yet all three of them seemed to be so enamoured with it as if looking away from a second would bring the world doom.

Dr Hale was inexpressive as always, but the unblinking eyes showed a person practising utmost intensity. Troy knew she cared for the muscular man, even if it was shown in a unique way. It was clear that she was not one to show emotion often or willingly, and certainly not in front of the doctor, but that she did not look away for a second allowed the young man to know that she was making sure nothing bad happened to Charlie.

Dr Fidelis was perhaps different in those regards. The man showed interest in what went on outside the confines of the testing room, yet he did not stare as hard as the one beside him. He even dared to look over at Troy when talking to him, a feat that was not expected to be done by Dr Hale any time soon. Really, the man looked at the situation with a kind fascination that could not be understood. It was less enjoyment of the frustration shown off and more just the doctor looking oh so intrigued by it. Troy found it sickening, but could he really say anything while also staring at the screen himself? He might have glanced at the two in front of him, but there was not a single time he dared to look away. He was just as entranced as both of the others. A failure when it came to mental fortitude.

“Do what you will when it comes to remembering his last name. What I want to know is if you have any idea why he is here?” Dr Fidelis said. The doctor did not sound angry, but it wasn't akin to being calm either. Somewhere in between, one step before passive-aggressive. Hidden discomfort? Good enough.

“I have to be honest when I say that I have no idea,” Troy said, trying to remember anything that would make Charlie show up at a hidden entrance. It needed to include him or Dr Hale saying where they worked to start with, so there was not much in there that it could be. “I have not even told him about where we are located. Is there any way he could have found that out on his own?”

“Dr Hale?” Dr Fidelis stated, throwing over the question to somebody smarter than the two on that subject.

“No, he should not have been able to. While our location is stated on official documents, I do not believe that the man has the required clearance for it,” Dr Hale answered, not looking away when answering the doctor. It might have been a sign of disrespect, but neither seemed to pay that any mind when the woman finished speaking.

The room seemed to drop a few degrees, as the words set themselves comfortably inside all of their minds. Here was a man banging on a secret entrance into a room that the president would have a hard time getting to know about. Inside was a secret meant to foster growth for the country in unimaginable levels.

To repeat, a man with a low clearance knew the precise location of a national top-secret, without three of those working with the project remembering ever having told the man about it. This presented the group with the chance of an unintended leak. Charlie still knew the location, even if nobody had told him. Where exactly did he learn it then?

“Any guesses on how much he knows?” Dr Fidelis put out in the air, inviting anybody to answer him. It was a valid question, the subject highly important. If Charlie knew their location, it was reasonable to say that he knew a little more than that.

“I'm blank,” Troy said.

“I would have worded it differently, but I am blank as well sir,” Dr Hale answered, showing signs of a clenched jaw for a moment or two. Hyper-active minds were impacting more than one person in the room, the woman looking to be going through her entire life-story in search of a moment where she might have unintentionally slipped up, revealing some obscure location. “If I might make a suggestion, I believe it would be best if we questioned the man in question about what he is knowledgeable about. It would prevent having to… have too much paperwork on our hands.”

She did not want him to be reported to start with. Troy knew the reason why. While the actual clearance that Charlie had was unknown, it was safe to say that he was one or two under Troy. And since the young man was barely in the clear to know about Adam, it was easy to conclude that there was no way in hell Charlie was allowed to know about anything related to the AI.

But, nothing directly said he knew about that entity. He might have known where they worked, but who said anything about knowing what was inside? Or, would the inside even be that important? Looking around, most of the room was empty space, the only notable artefacts being the screen that the doctors used, the curtain where Troy changed clothes, and the entrance to the puzzle room. All looked fully mundane until one got the first-hand experience with them. That could be used.

“... That might not be the worst idea said today,” Dr Fidelis muttered, looking considerate for a few seconds. “You know what? I really do not want to deal with the shouting from the higher-ups. If he doesn't know anything, there should be no trouble. And I would like to know just why he is messing up our schedule.”

With swift movements, the doctor changed the screen away from showing the camera feed, moving over to what looked like an intricate set of controls. There were no names on anything, everything just being sliders, buttons, or switches. Troy could not find sense in any of it, but Dr Fidelis did not seem to have any problem like that, pushing a few things with a practised hand.

As the doctor removed himself from the screen, the recognizable hissing began to emerge as the entrance opened itself. Accompanied by this was a deep-toned yelp as if somebody had just been utterly surprised. That was close to reality since Troy was able to see a flustered-looking Charlie sitting on the floor in the hallway, seeming to have just fallen on his ass.

“Hello, Charlie,” Troy said in greetings, walking out of the entrance to help his friend up. The muscular man might have been able to do it by himself by the time he had gotten there, yet the man looked too shocked to do anything of the sort.

“Troy?” was all Charlie had to say, nearly causing the man to fall on the floor as well when the outreached hand was used as a placeholder for a cane. That weight-difference was not helping either of them. “Is that you?”

“Don't act like you are going blind now, please. Yes, yes, it's me alright,” Troy answered, pulling on the now standing man. “Now come inside so that both of us get to keep our jobs.”

The young man had been the only one to walk out, both doctors staying behind to watch from a distance. Dr Fidelis, Troy could understand, the man not knowing Charlie and being polite about it. Dr Hale, however… she had seemed so stricken with anxiety about the muscular man, yet she now seemed as close to impassive as one could be. This was her friend of over a decade! How was Troy the only one helping him up?

As he pulled Charlie inside so that the entrance could hide yet again, the young man did a clue as to why. He was able to witness both of the older friends, having a short-lived staring contest. The last time the two had met face-to-face, there had been some shouting, some leaving, and some acknowledgements of bodily harm.

There was a chance that the last one had been forgiven to some level. The muscular man had been led to think that it was for him and her other co-workers that she was doing it all. While Charlie had stated to not wanting to do anything like it himself, he could understand the reasoning. Dr Hale… had not been informed of this change in attitude. Troy could only blame himself for the lack of informing her. He had the chance during lunch, but-

… Oh shit. Like a light-bulb inside his mind, Troy began to recollect just what was happening. It might have sounded a little far-fetched, the young man had an idea of just why Charlie was acting like he was.

During breakfast, when the cafeteria had been empty safe for them, the young man had told so many lies to cover their tracks, to the point where a massive amount of guilt had been felt. He had told Charlie that he was anticipating his own death. He had told him that it would happen within a week at the most.

And then he had failed to show up at lunch, after explicitly promising to be there. It had been swept out of his mind the moment the promise had left his lips, that stupid brain of his too occupied with the consequences of what he had just said back then. Damn it, he was an idiot.

The two got inside without any problem, Dr Hale and Dr Fidelis standing on their own side with Charlie and Troy opposite them. It was cinematic in a way, two sides of different people, all four having their own agendas. If only the young man was allowed to not be a part of it, there might have been some enjoyment in it all.

“Charlie Freeman I assume?” Dr Fidelis asked calmly as if he had not just been reminded of the name two minutes ago.

“Ah, yes, that is indeed me,” Charlie said, slowly getting himself back to normal. The man withdrew his arm from Troy’s shoulder, standing tall without any assistance. He almost looked imposing, if not for the sight seen mere seconds before.

“Could I ask why you are barging in on an area that is above your security clearance?” Dr Fidelis asked, crossing his arms in the process. “Your presence is actively impeding testing, so I do hope you have a good one.”

“Do not worry, sir, I have a very good reason for intruding…” Charlie answered, looking to be trying to come up with a reasonable excuse. It was a hard task, and that could be seen in just how it took to answer. “I was… wondering where my eating partner was since he failed to show up for lunch. Since your department is so good with your scheduling, I could do nothing but assume that he had somehow injured himself in some stupid fashion. So, I decided to just go over and help him myself.”

Troy was not sure if Dr Fidelis was buying it, the doctor looking more confused than anything. If that was due to stupid reasoning or something else, the young man was not entirely sure about that.

“Dr Hale, do the three of you not eat lunch regularly together? I do distinctly remembering hearing something like that a few days ago,” Dr Fidelis asked the doctor beside him, the confused face still standing.

“We do indeed eat our meals together, sir,” Dr Hale confirmed without further comment.

“Good to know that I am not misremembering it,” Dr Fidelis stated. “Now, Charlie here has just said that the two of you were missing for lunch. From what I know, you two just came back from lunch. If you weren't at the cafeteria, where exactly were you?”