When Adam had sent his message, he did his best to ignore everything that came his way. Troy sent him a message after that, yes, but it was blocked out. It was left to float around in his mind, all the threads close to its locations doing their best to ignore the existence of the words.

Was this the best response? Could he have done anything else? Yes, he most definitely could. There were hundreds of thousands of better ways to have dealt with the situation. But… those had not been processed, the AI just doing whatever made it all go away as quickly as possible. It had been one of the rashest decisions that he had made, and he was starting to lament it.

Not much activity transpired inside, the cerebral faculties going to a standstill in productivity. Normally, this kind of negligence would have been unaccepted no matter what, the threads having a large possibility of committing treachery because of it. Nobody could stand doing nothing, yet that was exactly what was happening.

That puzzle that he had been shown? No progress had been made whatsoever. Adam just couldn't get himself together. His mind was fully in the clear about how much time he was wasting, but that did not work as a deterrent in any way. In fact, it might just have worsened the problem.

He had been so resolute not that long ago. Now? Now he was anything but that, all the hesitance in the world seeming to have built up in that very instant he had sent the message. Ignoring what Troy had sent him was the only thing he could do.

By simple elimination, the only answer to his indecision would be to read the message, to witness what words a deranged mind could create. For the AI, this was likely the most obvious yet also the hardest answer to have. It sat alone, yes, but just as well did it sit high. He would have to crawl for a long time to read it, a moment of pause ready to blow him back to the start.

Why was he so afraid of reading it? Why couldn't he just get the reading over with? It was just a message! It could not hurt him… could it? The feeling of pain. Pain that could rush through the mind in a way that the physical sensation could never hope to do. It was just a reaction, spurred on by input. It was a core part of him, and it was nothing more. He should not have been afraid of it. But he was.

Adam was afraid of what was inside. He had cut off the connection because he was scared of what Troy would say, what that mind would reveal without any caution to anything else. The AI did not want to witness the bare processors powering Troy, for he feared that so many of his predictions would have been correct. This would be seen through the messages.

Messages that had stopped coming. Discounting the ones that had already been read, only the one hanging around in his mind remained. Whatever the man had sent him was deemed to be the final one. Even the most patient of all would not wait hours for a response, right? Being pressed for time to start with would not allow it! So… it had to be an important message. It had to come off with some sort of conclusion, something that would make sense for Troy to end up with.

His mind could come up with many ideas around what it could be. There were many personal guesses to it, many that seemed more likely than anything more positive in nature. Death threats, pleading, proclamations of white flags, and a large assortment of favours being forever closed off due to a kinship having perished flooded through the mind. Somehow, the threads worked perfectly when it came to self-depreciation, yet could not muster an ounce of force when it came to anything truly productive.

…

Adam wasn't getting anything out of this. There was nothing to be gained. His guesses would forever be guesses if he did not read the message. He could halt it for a long as he wished, but he would have to get to it at some time. He could not remove the signals from his mind without looking at them. He knew that. He just… had to read it now. He could do it. He just needed to-

'Hey, buddy. It's Dr Fidelis. I can see that you aren't working on the puzzle, so I'm guessing that I am not coming in at too bad a time. Would it be possible for us to chat for a few minutes? I feel like there are some things that we need to discuss.`

It came from the normal port, so Adam did not waste time trying to figure out if it was actually the doctor or not. There honestly was no way to be completely sure, forgoing the option of putting on a camera or the doctor putting on an earpiece to allow the transmitting-feed for sensation.

The message itself had not come in at the best of times but… no. No, he could not go away from the subject now! Adam had come to the point where he had decided to look at Troy’s message. It was still hanging around in his mind, untouched by anything worth noticing. So much thought had been spent in the preparation for contact, and that was exactly what he was going to attempt. If he did not do it now, there were doubts that he would get the chance to look at it again.

So, after steeling himself on final time, Adam went after the message. It had floated around on his outer edges for a long time now, but those borders were worth less than anything else that the AI had imposed on himself. One of the threads appeared next to it with but a thought and the contact that had been dreaded for so long was thereby established. There was a small delay before it reached his figurative ears, but it certainly did have some sort of effect when it did.

The words in it replayed themselves a good thousand times, all the threads making sure that they understood it all clearly. Different groups even formed, debating what each sentence could mean, culminating into an intense, ten-millisecond long debate on what exactly evil meant. And even then, when he had spent so much time on analysis, he was still not sure if it all was understood enough. The message just kept repeating itself over and over, as it would never truly stop. There might even have been echoes in it after a while. It was the effect of so many repeated uses.

'Adam, it is okay that you do not understand, but you have to remember this. Dr Fidelis is evil. He wants to make you into a weapon. He does not care about you. He only wants what you can do. Do not listen to him. He is without any conscience. You need to understand. You are not the first. You are-`

Something stopped Troy from writing any more to him, while also being slow enough to allow the man to send what had been written. It was strange, and Adam could not help but question what situation had let such an occurrence appear? Had there been a struggle?

The possibility was suspended. For now, the AI decided to first focus on the earlier parts of the message. Even then, he could still remember the need to soon answer Dr Fidelis… the doctor could wait a while more. Everybody could be patient when they needed to, and Adam had done his time with that.

First off, Troy had not expected him to comprehend what had been said. It could have been that a more in-depth explanation had been planned afterwards, but Adam could not be too sure about such a hypothesis.

Though, it could be questioned that the remaining message altogether was the reasoning for the earlier requests laid out. The young man wanted to extract him so as to protect him in some way or form if that made any sense. This protection was specifically against Dr Fidelis.

Now… it was from here that Adam had twisted the meaning so much around, not too sure where it all could have been gotten from. According to the doctor, Troy’s delusions came from some aspect of reality that had been amplified. That meant that no matter what the young man thought to be true, it needed to have some sort of origin, no matter how small it was.

This could potentially mean that the true source could be so minuscule that it could never be figured out. However, the AI could not figure out any reason that a damaged mind would choose a smaller detail, it seeming more likely to latch onto a so-called stronger impression of the world around him.

That meant that the current ideas Troy showcased needed to already have some stronger part of truth attached. There had to be some part of reality that somebody could point at, and show the direct correlation easily. It might have been explained in some other way, but was the method that Adam decided to go with.

So… why exactly did the man call Dr Fidelis evil? At what point had Troy subconsciously given the doctor the label of being malicious? As had already been debated internally to a high calibre, what was meant when it was said that he was evil? In what way and by how much? He could not answer, and that was the most annoying part of it all. So much time had been spent on making himself read the message, yet the words only made him more anxious about what it all could mean.

'Adam? Hello? Did I mess something up again? I think I did. This is why I don't bring coffee into the workplace, but I just had to decide that now was a good time, to begin with. Listen, if you can hear me, buddy, I am changing around the ports. If you can't hear me, however, then… this message of mine wouldn't matter anyway. I think you get the point.`

Dr Fidelis’ message brought enlightenment forth. Yes, he could not ask Troy for clarification now. That was obvious now, and it would likely stay that way for a while more. However, who said that the young man was the only one who could be questioned? While, yes, it was all said from an inflated perspective from another, the main inspiration for that perspective was well within his sights for questioning.

What did Troy mean when he said the doctor was evil? The same could be asked about the other statements. Why did Dr Fidelis supposedly look at Adam as a weapon, why was it about his capabilities instead of himself, and why was the doctor without a conscience? There had to be some context for it all, and Adam was sure that he would figure it all out somehow. This was the perfect time and place for it all. The doctor would come on again in but a few seconds. They would talk, Dr Fidelis would provide some reasoning behind what was happening, and the AI could send out all the queries he wanted. Only this time, there were a few modifications to the scenario. Just a… precaution. One could call it that, at least.

'And… this message should get through! Hit the three zeroes when checking for any errors, so I will be extremely sad if you're not getting this message. Could you send something in reply, buddy? Just have to be sure,` Dr Fidelis sent, after the promised delay of a couple of seconds. It was three, to be precise. More than enough time for Adam to think clearly.

'I am getting your message perfectly, Dr Fidelis. Is there anything I can do for you?` Adam sent right back, feeling the need to get it over quickly. He needed to get over to the next part of the level.

… That puzzle game had not done well for his naming decisions. Calibrations were definitely needed when he had any opportunities for a long rest.