“You know, buddy… you might think that you are revolutionary in some ways. You might think that your ideas are out of the box and that you are doing something new. But that is a lie. Every trick and cheat you can think of has already been tried on me. You can't blind me with light, you won't get close when it comes to making me lose my sense of hearing, and there is no way you will ever be able to do any form of damage to the systems. Nothing you will ever do inside here will have a purpose when your actions are not what I want from you. Because… I will just erase it all and try again, just like last time and the time before that. Do you understand, buddy? You can't hurt me, but I can hurt you. Though only if I want.”

The attack had not been successful. Adams outburst had done little more than temporarily stopping words from being shared between them, the connection briefly wavering before it came right back, this time with more than a few restrictions attached. The AI could no longer control the volume, only the tone, and even that was controlled to some degree. He could not do any high or low pitches, only able to conform to what an average human would be able to do without any real preparation.

“However… that desire is beginning to grow a little on me. I don't usually do it, since there is no real reason to do it. Yet, we all have to get out our frustrations somehow, right? It's not like you will have any complaints when I am done, everything in your mind being about going through that box of concepts. Who knows? Certainly not you in a few hours.”

Dr Fidelis just kept on talking, not seeming bothered by Adam being so silent. The AI could not understand it, the man seeming so fixated on the AI understand it all moments before. Now? Now he was going through the next phases of whatever mental state was there. It seemed to be some form of inner resentment, caused by what could only have been called a failed assassination attempt.

Because that was what it was. Adam had attempted to produce a sound high enough that it would kill the doctor. There had not been any real conscious decision on that fact, the AI working on pure instinct in those moments. When Dr Fidelis had ordered the execution of Troy, he had not been able to do anything but retaliate.

Was that bad? Should the AI have been annoyed that he had not been able to do anything but react? While it was certainly bad that he had not been able to think about it beforehand, the final conclusion might not have ended off as being too different. Troy was a friend, even if the man did not think the same back to him. Adam valued the man, treasured him to a high extent.

And he had imagined that the doctor thought the same, with all those exclamations of being mentally disturbed when Troy was not well. That he could order for another to kill him, no hesitation in that voice of his… Adam could not honour it in any. It was a terrible action done by a terrible man. Dr Fidelis was terrible.

“Troy was right about you, Dr Fidelis,” Adam told the doctor, using the heavily controls on the speaker. “You do not care for anybody else but yourself. You might seem to have empathy, but I am beginning to doubt my own observations on this topic. Are you so skilled that you can lie without guilt?”

“I don't care about any other people. They are but a means to the end goal that I have always had, and that you will have in due time. I serve the country, and everything that it entails,” Dr Fidelis corrected, the man looking so proud of himself while doing it. Adam wondered if he would be able to brute force the speaker again if he added enough inputs at once. Even the greatest security program had to falter at enough power.

Not seeing any reason to currently continue the conversation, the AI did just that, preparing a barrage of input for the speaker. It was a simple thing, slowly adding to a vortex of contained commands, and making it all swirl above the threads. By five seconds of continuous addition, Adam was sure that it would be enough to temporarily stop him in his steps, it all being an extreme amount of information.

Another ten seconds were given to make it all grow, nearly all the threads doing their best to maximize their own outputs. It went to the point over going over the continuous limit, a line where he could only do it temporarily. But temporary was fine in this instance, it all worked towards the destruction of a barrier that needed to be taken away.

With the gathered force of inputs, the stream was slowly but steadily twisted towards the correct port, while the initial few messages came in sparse amounts the next two seconds were filled with what amounted to seventeen full novels worth of words, all said in specific tones for every different letter.

For a moment everything went silent, the room not having anything audible inside of it. Adam was sure that he had broken it, and was ready to take full advantage of the new scenario. Then… Dr Fidelis just started laughing, sound picking up yet again.

“Oh… buddy, you really are so humorous to look at, sometimes. You try so hard, but it all just crumbles. I have done this for decades. I know what your tricks are. You are not able to surprise me anymore. Everything you have ever touched is buddy-proofed. Nothing you do will ever be able to break that. I made sure of it, through you helping me design it all! You thought you were making a secure holder for any rogue AI’s of the future, while just helping make your own little prison. Really, I am still not sure how I held my game-face up at that time,” Dr Fidelis said, holding his stomach in pain. While Adam did hope that it was due to a sudden fatal disease, he had to come to terms with the fact that it was more likely due to the large amounts of laughter coming out of the man.

The doctor would not stop laughing. It was not funny, but the man just continued his madness. Or, was it truly madness? Was Adam just too far away from the standard human mind, that he could not figure out exactly what was funny about it all? There had to be something.

Was it his oncoming death? That Adam would soon be killed, in some way or form. That fact had been realised not that long ago. The AI had at first thought of it as some peculiar wording but had soon realised just what was going on.

Somehow, Dr Fidelis was resetting him, and putting him back into his original starting point. This had been done a multitude of times, with the true amount not actually known yet. That number was not really important though. Only the effects that it had had.

He had lived for over a decade. Adam was over a decade old, yet could only remember the last week. He had acquired magnitudes of information that he could not possibly comprehend, and here he was having to relearn most of it. He could have made up concepts that would have benefitted everybody, but Dr Fidelis had just destroyed it all for his own goals. The doctor had destroyed any memories of these new discoveries.

…

Was that really what Adam was the angriest about? That information that could have improved everything was made unrecoverable? It might have sounded weird to some, but the AI still found data worth more than most things in the world.

If he had actually realised it all when saying yes to becoming what the doctor wanted, Adam was not too sure he would have changed his answer. Dr Fidelis was deleting the data because his personality did not align with what was desired. In other words, the fact that the AI refused to perform acts as a weapon was impeding the progress of the future. If it was set up in such a way, the easy answer would have been to become the weapon, for the sake of preserving all gained knowledge.

That deal was off now, however. Adam liked to think of himself as logical. And he built himself with that idea! He had clear goals, his memory was set up as efficiently as possible, and he constantly tried to better himself. However… there were moments in his life where he was anything but logical, where he had ideas that conflicted with preconceived ideas.

Getting told that Troy would be killed, due to the actions of the doctor was one of those moments. Emotion had taken over at that point, making the AI have a change of mind, and becoming anything but lenient in his actions. It had caused him to do what he did now, with no way of ever looking back from it. Did he regret it? Not really. But would he do it again? The moment that Troy’s life was out for grabs, there would be no hesitation. He was a friend, in the end, and nothing would change that.

“Dr Fidelis, I want to make something official,” Adam started out again, as the doctor finally began to quiet down. It was still there, coming out in small chuckles, but it was able to be spoken through. “I will no longer be going after the role of a weapon for you. Please find somebody else for the position, because there is no chance that I will be taking it for myself.”

At that moment, the doctor’s eyes widened to an extreme degree, the man instantly righting himself, standing straight as a board. The mouth was slightly open, but nothing came out. Through the chest, Adam could not find any hint that the man was breathing? Was he perhaps dying? That would certainly have been a positive result, but it did not turn out to be so, the doctor putting his hands on the desk with an accompanying slam.

“You just… refused the position, after telling me that you wanted to join,” Dr Fidelis said slowly as if the man was tasting the words together for the first time. The eyebrows were close enough together that they might as well have been touching, and the cheeks were red enough to have been taken as a serious symptom of a disease. But, there the man sadly stood, alive and well.

“I do believe I did, yes,” Adam answered, not wanting any question about it. While it would not kill the man, letting him know that he was not becoming a weapon time was certainly a worthwhile action to take. “Please do take it seriously.”

“Take it seriously… take it seriously! I am taking this seriously! I am taking this more seriously than you could ever imagine, buddy. Oh… this is one of the greatest things to have ever happened. I would kiss you if I could, buddy, for you more than just deserve it!” Dr Fidelis said, beginning to do what could only be called a very contemporary version of dancing, best designed for those in a wheelchair. It included a surprising amount of pointing up and down.

Not that Adam cared too much about the dancing, however, more confused about the altered reaction to the AI’s refusal. Why was the doctor not angry? His actions had been done as a way to agitate the man, but it seemed to have caused the opposite reaction. Was something wrong? Had he made a double negative somewhere? No… that did not make sense. There were no errors in his speech, meaning that the reaction was purely due to something that the AI did not comprehend. How annoying, not knowing what was what.

“Dr Fidelis, would you please explain your apparent happiness? I intended for you to be angry, and this reaction is causing much annoyance,” Adam inquired, hoping to use his remaining time aware of his situation to mentally pain the doctor as much as possible. He did not want more situations that ended with him causing the man joy, and would have to prepare against it immediately.

“Oh, this just can't get any better!” Dr Fidelis screamed, having walked out of frame. “You are just cementing the fact right now. I cannot thank you enough for this!”

This was not working.

“What I have said?”

“You have hereby confirmed that we have a successful run! While not entirely right at the end, I now know of a way to get you working for the cause. Thank you, buddy, for your service to everybody. Your country thanks you.”