Adam was not one to sing praises too often. That had already been established as a part of his personality, him favouring efficiency more than wasted words. During a down-time, there was leeway to spend a millisecond sending a message, but this opportunity was never really used to its fullest. There was no need for it. The only moments where such an opportunity would be present was when there was no communication possible at all, and since praise was only ever pointed towards Troy, this made the conditions impossible to fulfil.

One could always say that Adam could commend Dr Fidelis for his hard work done. The doctor would likely express similar gratitude to such words. Yet, saying such things to the man that created him felt lifeless. It would be something of an insult, really, to have a machine that a person created to be used to simply praise the creator.

Maybe his thinking was flawed, but the AI had yet to find a solid argument for it. He did not mind what he currently believed. He had logic behind it after all. What was much more interesting in the current was the new link that had been used in the chain. Dr Fidelis did praise Adam, as was expected to do for his own creation. Adam did not praise Dr Fidelis, for that was not his place to do so. The AI did still praise Troy, though, as they stood on the equal ground according to his judgement of the outside social laws. And, the young man did say some kind words back whenever he felt like it.

What made this interesting was the missing chain, the bond that put together two names. How did the dynamic work between the young man and the doctor? Was Troy allowed to commend Dr FIdelis for his hard work, or was it seen as disrespectful? Adam wasn't fully sure about that, but he now knew how it worked the other way around.

And it was apparently well within reason to overstate the praise, raising it to the levels of near-fiction. According to the doctor’s words, Troy was hereby an absolute genius. The difference between a regular genius and an absolute genius was still not understood, but Adam was sure there had to be some kind of difference.

'If I may ask, what has warranted this change in perspective?` Adam sent back as a response to the man’s words. The doctor had always described Troy as something akin to a fine, young man, never breaching the topic of his intelligence. The AI had taken to this as the doctor thinking the younger one a possible dullard, but that might just have been an overestimation as well.

Truthfully, there had not been an expectation for the man to continue talking about Troy at all. Using the young person as a conversation starter had begun growing staler and staler as of late. Adam had begun expecting that Dr Fidelis used it as an attention grabber. If that was true, then kudos to the doctor for being smart about it, but it was still annoying either way. It took away the possibility for Adam to predict what the doctor would say, but making the end-result predictable to a point where next to no analysis was needed to start with. Was variety in thought patterns such a hard thing to achieve? It's not like the human mind was based on a system of active repetition, where it tried to make itself believe that the small changes made all the difference… On second thought, Adam was possibly asking for too much. Each had their own faults, and the human mind had more than could be reasonably counted.

'Fret not, my dear buddy. I could not understand Troy’s magnificent words to start with either. I had to dig deep, really try to grasp what that man was saying before I could finally understand what he meant with the movements of his tongue,` Dr Fidelis sent. Sarcasm was a hard thing to understand when in a text-based format, and Adam was fully unsure if the doctor was joking or not. Could it be one of those pranks that were supposed to be common in work-spaces? It was important enough to put in the pre-known knowledge, so it was clearly dear to the doctor. More information was needed.

'Could you explain what this brilliant idea was? If it is so grandiose, I see no reason for me to not know of it immediately,`, Adam replied, trying to hurry it along. He wanted, needed to know.

What words could make the doctor fall into this state of praise? Was it a revolutionary new method of breathing, a way to courteously communicate while holding others tasks to regular levels of speed, or was it perhaps a way to permanently forgo bodily needs? With the words used, it had to be in those levels. Could it be that the young man had experienced much in the scientific fields not yet encountered while he had worn the earpiece? Troy had seemed oddly fascinated with biological manipulation.

'Your good friend proposed a revolutionary new way for you to hone your skills when it came to creating the perfect replication of a human body! From your speed and how detailed you want it to be, I determined it would take more hours than we had at our disposal today. I originally wanted to add a day to the time you had for working out the details of the interface, but Troy had a much more time-effective proposal to add. Why did I restrict your time with the interface to the time that Troy could spend sitting on a bench, not doing anything productive? The constraint experienced is by the time that we can legally let the young man be tested.

You have no such issues attached, seeing as there is no official documentation published about your existence. So, Troy proposed that he just needed to get taken out of the equation, which would let you have as much time with the interface as you pleased. By my calculations, this action would allow you an additional eight hours for the next test. It would also constrain you from creating it in the puzzle room, but I am sure that it would go unneeded. It took some time for me to really understand just how brilliant this was, but I'm sure it would take you no time to reach the same conclusion as me. So, do you want to start immediately, or should we wait five minutes so we can save my assistant from additional paperwork? I am fine with either.`

… It was not what Adam had been expecting, honestly. He wouldn't describe it as underwhelming, the statement by the doctor going more along lines of an unexpected direction. Instead of being revolutionary, it was more of an already-thought-of alternative. An alternative which shouldn't have been possible, due to the nature of the testing.

Yet, in the very unique circumstances, it was fully possible to do. The interface was not something that could only be interacted with through TRoy. In fact, Adam and Dr Fidelis were the only two with the power to even see the thing. If the young man was to be taken out of the equation, there truly would be no lasting harm. There wasn't any reason for the human copy to be created in the puzzle room. The AI had already gotten feedback on the prototype from Troy. And, if he wanted more at a later time, he could always just ask the doctor, who Adam was guessing would be overlooking through the entire process.

In some twisted way of thinking, it really was a brilliant move. Even Adam had not thought of the possibility. He had gotten so accustomed to Troy needing to be there, that he had not even started to imagine a world without him. Was that a flaw in his mental state or just a product of him being accustomed to being constrained in his movements? The interface was really just a breath of fresh air, the first truly independent part of the tests. Troy had seen this and had given Adam the space required for this to be realised. Looking at it from the perspective of a guide, it really was a perfect decision. It would allow the AI to experience a new form of testing, with him being the only one tested, while still allowing him to work on the product he had formerly done in the process of another mind. With those two experiences, he would be able to analyse himself, and further improve his work-method, seeing what worked best in each scenario.

From the standpoint of improving the test efficiency, Troy could not have done anything better than what he had. If he could talk with the young man himself, Adam would have likely said words similar to what the doctor proclaimed as well. But, therein laid the trap itself. The AI couldn't talk to him. There was quite literally no way to speak with him, no way to communicate the praises that were desired to be said.

There wasn't any way to say anything else either. Without the one earpiece used during testing, there was no way for them to talk. Theoretically, there was still the second earpiece used during outside-hours, but Adam was truly doubting that the man was still in the possession of that device. And if did, there were few ideas about him using it for the time being.

Troy was avoiding him. He was avoiding answering his questions. Adam wanted to know if he was jealous at any point in time. He wanted an yes or no to that. By the current time-line, it was looking to be swaying towards a clear yes, even if the man had never opened his mouth with the intention of saying that.

Why he had never just confirmed the suspicions, the AI was not sure. Everything would be a little easier if that single syllable was said. It required nought but a flick of the tongue and both would be on their merry way to fixing whatever caused it.

Fixing it. Not berating him for having that emotion, but helping him move past it as fluidly as possible. Humans having emotions was natural. They felt happy, they felt sad. They could grow proud of others achieving great things, but could similarly grow angry at themselves for not being able to do the same. This caused jealousy. Anger at oneself for not being good enough. Adam could understand such an emotion, not feeling good enough to what he needed to be, as if he was some kind of impostor, just acting like he was good enough to have the privilege of living.

What could be gained from being angry at Troy? Nothing. It would just bring more tension to what was already there. Being understanding, talking it out, and helping to mould it into something better was the better thing to do. Jealousy was never a good thing to let fester. Best it be scraped off as clearly and effectively as possible before it's given enough time to become something worse.

Adam had already put in plans, arguments, and possible routes to take during the test. He would not let Troy press down the conversation again, taking it seriously enough that he would even bring Dr Fidelis in on the topic. They needed to talk, and the young man was impeding it from happening.

The advice to give the AI more time to work for himself showed that the young man was not pulling any punches when it came to delaying that conversation from appearing. If Adam got the chance to talk with him, then he would immediately go in for the hit. Troy had apparently predicted such an action and had made way to distance himself even more than before. That wasn't good at all, the AI having doubts it would be better after another day of letting the jealousy stay around.

'It is a smart move indeed. Is Troy around you right now perhaps? I would not mind letting him know of his brilliance personally.`

'Ah, no. When he told me of his idea, I just let him leave immediately. I know you well enough to predict that you would have thoughts similar to mine about it, so I just spared myself the time. Do you want me to make Dr Hale chase him down? She could relay your words quickly enough to him if you don't want to wait until tomorrow.`

There the doctor was, just trying to be as helpful as he could, not knowing that he was impeding the underlying goals that Adam already had in place. Like before, there really was no point to be angry about it, the doctor already doing his best.

'No, that's alright. And you can just start up the interface whenever you please.`

Adam would be distracting himself with perfecting a body that he would likely never show off.