Troy didn't step forward. Neither did Dr Hale, leaving Dr Fidelis' question hanging up in the air, unanswered.

This didn't seem to be appreciated. There were no outward expressions, of course. Dr Fidelis was still on the 'no evil has been done here' phase. This didn't stop an overly drawn sigh to emerge though, clearly showing the elderly disappointment of the youth of today.

Hold on a second. Weren't Dr Hale and Dr Fidelis near the same age? They both looked to be in their late forties, or early fifties, but, with the technology of today, that could give them a plus-minus thirty years, so their appearances weren't much to go by.

“None of you? Guess I'll have to just choose one, then,” Dr Fidelis stated, sounding disappointed in our lacking efforts. Troy wouldn't have minded doing so, really. But, he had already cut in once, in this timeframe, where the air had been misread.

It could have gone extremely badly, yet it luckily didn't turn out to be so. This time around, though… Troy wasn't going to be pushing his luck, and going out of his way, to state any other opinion of his. The last had been to assist Dr Hale, but that had also been so she wouldn't redirect the attention over to him, by exposing a few key things about his earlier actions.

“Dr Hale. What about you?”

Instead of following into her previous measure of silence, she answered quickly and efficiently.

“I believe that using my expertise would provide benefits to our ongoing goal of starting back up experimentation. This would be due to my general experience, working in this area,” Dr Hale began, putting her professional voice to good use. Or, bad use, when one took in, what she said after. She was trying to push away a given responsibility. “But, as stated before, Troy has much more experience, with this specific specimen. Currently, the personality matrix is designated as being unique in its form. I am not sure that usual methods will work, which is why I strongly encourage giving Troy the handles on this one.”

As stated before, he didn't mind being the one to talk to Adam. What he did mind, though, was somebody willing trying to throw him over the bus, to save themselves the effort. Come one, this wasn't even too intense. The only bad thing about it was the criticism, which Dr Fidelis could give. And, even then, his self-put restriction would take the brunt of it.

The beard filled face hummed, for but a moment, before his shoulders made a shrugging motion.

“I see no faults in your logic, seeing as you're just reusing your earlier points,” Dr Fidelis amended, taking his attention onto Troy after the fact. “Got anything wrong, with being the one, who does as they're told?”

Okay, now, that came out as aggressive. And, it hadn't even slightly come out as a question, appearing much more like a direct order. Dr Hale had really missed a bullet there, letting Troy take the force intended for her originally.

“Sure”, Troy said, seeing no other ways to answer, without seeming to be delaying. A question came forth now, though, as he looked at the screen before him. “But, uh, how do I use this thing? I gotta be honest with you, I have never touched something this retro before.”

His words were apparently amusing to Dr Fidelis, as he heard a few short chuckles from behind him.

“I should have guessed. You, young people, have never had the hardships of working with this old junk. How I envy you,” Dr Fidelis said, before leaning over Troy's shoulder and pointing at the lowest point in the palliation, where a grey coloured bar stood alone, a thin line separating it from the white test above.

“Now, this stuff isn't the most complicated thing here. I can assure you, that this is one of the simpler tools to use,” Dr Fidelis continued, before pointing at the aforementioned grey bar. “This here is where your input will be shown while being typed in. There isn't anything special, that you need to type, for Adam being able to see it. Those prefaces have already been done for you. No, when you then are done, with whatever message you want to type, you press the 'enter' button. This will send the message, and nothing more. Don't press it, until the moment, where you know you're done. There aren't any take-backs. Do you understand?”

“Yeah. It's easy enough”, Troy answered, cramming the single precautionary into his thick, little skull.

No pressing the large button, before being done. Sounded easy enough, but he wasn't too sure that he wanted to write without putting extra attention on his fingers' location.

“Good”, Dr Fidelis said, taking a step back in the process of saying so. “Then, start talking. We'll await results.”

Both walked a small distance away, before starting to talk. Whatever fears Dr Hale had had, was being kept under, her voice quick on showing her opinion. What her opinions were, Troy wasn't sure. Her voice was just too quiet, for him to hear. Maybe, if he twisted his head a bit, he would be able to… No, he had a job to do, just as Dr Fidelis had said.

Going a little closer to the desk, Troy took a new look, at the task before him. His fingers rested on the keyboard, ready to begin the writing. Yet, no words flew out of him instantly.

It mystified Troy. He had been so worried, so stressed, so beat down, not knowing, what was happening with Adam. He had felt a clear desire, of having the means to ask him, what was wrong. Before him, he had such an opportunity. Yet, his fingers remained still, with no muscles tense. They were totally relaxed.

Troy wasn't having the problem of not knowing what to say. He had been getting ready to do this, since the moment, where Dr Hale confirmed the connection. Every single thing, that he wanted to ask, had been neatly lined up, in a filter of prioritization.

“Hurry up now, buddy”, Dr Fidelis encouraged from behind him. “It doesn't matter, what you really ask. Your first question is really just, to make sure, that Adam answers.”

… Right. Troy's first message wasn't important. His list had no reason to be used yet, with it fitting better, in the back of his mind.

For the first time, since coming to the screen, his fingers moved with purpose. The message was written in less than second, with not a single thing wrong with it. Not that it was the most complex thing to ask, really, but it was only just the starting question. It would be better the further along with one went.

'Adam. Are you there?', Troy had sent. After pressing 'enter`, the message had appeared over the grey bar, with a small timestamp next to it. The time was oddly precise, even coming down to the milliseconds. He wasn't too sure, why such precision was needed, but there wasn't any need to. The question was flushed out of his mind, the focus coming back to him quickly.

Nothing except the screen before him was needed in his mind.

A small ping emanated from the side, and Troy was able to hear Dr Fidelis sigh, relieved, from behind him.

“He listens,” Dr Fidelis stated, with a much-less-stressed tone. “But, most importantly, he also speaks. Troy, see what the little fella has granted us, as an answer.”

Appearing just under Troy's personal message, Adams had appeared as well, with a slight difference in colour. His was a lighter grey, while Troy's own was a white.

The message itself was short. Shorter than, what he would have liked to get in answer. Yet, it held on to Adam's spoken rules of efficiency and meaning interpretation, so he couldn't complain too much there. It only signified further, that Adam was closer to his own than anything else.

'Yes.`, Troy had received from the little AI, confirming the already-stated connection. A brief flash of worry about Adam's feelings about the forced connection came forth before it too was forced out.

This was a means to an end. It was kind. But, it could create a kind result, emerging more positive at the end of it all.

“He confirms the connection”, Troy related to the two others. Taking a look back, he saw Dr Fidelis looking positively pleased with himself, while Dr Hale was skulking just a bit more than normal. Had she been hoping for… a negative?

“Perfect!”, Dr Fidelis proclaimed. “Go on, now! Continue the conversation. And, remember to identify yourself!”

Identification, huh? Troy wasn't too sure, on using that list of his yet. He wasn't too sure, if he could even get himself to type anything related into it down. Anything delaying the time for it was looked at with a smile.

And, with that said, he began typing inside another message, being extra careful, when it came to the buttons pressed. He was too familiar with this keyboard format, and was afraid of misclick more so, because of it. Why the individual buttons were so far spaced apart, Troy could find no particular reason for. Maybe, Dr Fidelis simply preferred it that way. Maybe this just came with the screen. No way to know, for sure.

Getting back on track, Troy finished typing out the message, and sent it along to Adam, who he hoped would answer just as quickly.

'It's me, Troy. We are getting worried about you, out here, Adam. Are you okay inside?`, Troy sent out. It was a bit longer than needed, with the question stapled on, at the end. And, reading it through yet again, he noticed the very obvious double meaning of it. He knows fully understood Dr Fidelis' warning of making sure, that one had the correct message attached.

A ping emerged, and a message had been received back. Taking a look at the timestamps, it had taken Adam a full fifteen seconds to answer. It wasn't too long of a wait, for such a message. Yet, that was also only, when it came to humans, as a comparison. Usually, Troy wouldn't even have had time to blink, before such a thing was sent back

What was happening?

'Unsure how to interpret your question. Please inform me, if my answer is not in the same genre, as what had been predicted.

When inside, I conclude that you are asking me, how I am doing generally. With your previous statement, where you define yourself as being outside, this is most likely the correct interpretation. While I am unable to run systematic diagnostics of any kind, due to none having developed, with my personal use in mind, I am forced to conclude it, based on the inconsistent analysis.

Recent unexpected developments have caused a larger overhaul when it comes to communication methods. While I am still figuring specifics out, I believe, that I can run the ports like previously, with only a smaller amount of inconsistency.

If my interpretation of your question is wrong, and you're asking about my mental health, please ignore the messages above. While I am not up to previous standards, I am functional enough.`, Adam sent back.

“That took some time”, Dr Fidelis noted from behind. Taking another glance back, he could see that the notepad had been taken from Dr Hale's grasp. The intense scrawling was heard from meters away. If anybody would be able to read the things written on the paper, he would be surprised. “Ask him why he's being so slow right now. I have an inkling of the reasons, but we have to be sure.”

Dr Fidelis knew something, which Troy didn't. Not too out of place, really.

Getting back to his button-mashing, he quickly put out a question, which would likely bring the reasoning to light. If, of course, Adam even realized it.

'Both of your answers are fine. Going away from it, though, why are you taking such a long time in answering? Is there anything immediate causing this?', Troy sent.

This time, the answer was much quicker than before. As in, he now had a greater understanding, for why the timestamps were in milliseconds. It had taken under a twentieth of a second, for a answer to appear.

'The developments from before are causing it. Distribution is not equal automatically, and I wonder why it would be so. My perception of time is skewed, to an extreme scale. Please inquire with Dr Fidelis, if the external timing equipment is ready to be used. My earlier statement of being ready for testing is not to be seen as truth anymore. Optimizations are needed, if testing is to continue.`, Adam sent back, causing more questions to be had. He wasn't being clear in his answers. Yet, it was probably not meant to be Troy, who understood these statements. He had even been asked to send the question further down the line.

“Dr Fidelis”, Troy began it up with. “Adam is saying something about his perception of time being all wrong. He needs to know if an… external timing device? Yeah, that. If that thing is ready to be used. The test can be continued, if it's ready to be used.”

Before his eyes, a feat of pure stretching was observed. With little to no hesitation, Dr Fidelis' hands were tensed, the sheer pressure of his fingers ripping Dr Hale's notepad in half. That thing had had a wooden backside, or at least something looking like it, making Troy second guess, how much power was in those digits.

“Sorry about that display”, Dr Fidelis stated, sounding more defeated than anything. He handed the now-broken notepad over to its rightful owner, who was trying very hard to keep her face professional. From the number of pages having been used on that, many notes, or drawings, had just been wasted, due to a fault not her own.

“It's fine, sir”, Dr Hale said, her jaw being noticeably clenched. “We can always get another one from storage. And, the notations can be salvaged, with enough work.”

“Quite right, Dr Hale. But, the true fault of this situation lies with me,” Dr Fidelis began, not putting too much emotion into the splintered plate and paper along with it. “The timing device, which Adam is talking about, is currently out of functionality. It has been disabled long ago, with all its inner parts having been pulled apart. Nowadays, is just sitting around in one of my drawers, ready to be improved upon. I was supposed to have it done by now, yet I just kept putting it all off. And, it can't even be reassembled anymore. Most of the needed parts have been used for other projects, leaving only the core parts to be used. Nothing can come out of those, with the time I have to work with.

And, he has mentioned it to me so many times! I should have realized its importance when he asks about it several times a day. He even woke me up this morning, just so he could inquire about its progress. It is obviously of great importance to him.

Troy! Check with Adam, to see if he has some other method, which can put us back on schedule. I don't care what he needs for it. If we can get it done quickly, we are doing it, no matter the budget needed.”

A nod was used in response, and Troy was right back writing a reply, his fingers nearly gliding between the keys, with no presses being more than a moment longer. From his back, he could hear Dr Hale.

“But, sir!”, Dr Hale began. “We are already over budget. I don't think we can twist any more out of management, without them noticing. We should limit it to-”

“Limitations are where one admits defeat. If Adam needs something, which the department can't afford, I'm putting my wallet on the line. I have more than I will ever need, and it will go to a better cause.”

Oh, boy, they were getting heated back there, with Dr Hale having forgotten the bearded man's hostility. Between losing her work put in on her sketches, and mentions of losing their jobs, due to poor budget uses, it wasn't too hard to imagine.

Troy could only be up the standard and follow in her footsteps. If it meant he could sleep tonight, he would be fine.