After too long of a time had passed, Adam felt the reconnection. The time for testing was upon him.

 

It had been getting boring. Adam had been trying to talk with Dr Fidelis, but he had simply said that he needed to prepare the next batch of tests. Adam fully understood the logic behind it, but couldn't he have made an exception for him? He had been so bored.

 

Nothing to worry about now. He was getting all the fascinating sensations from Troy. Simply having a source-line tied to him, let Adam learn so much. He still couldn't grasp how Troy, and humans in general, went about their life, ignoring such a large part of their sensations.

 

How did they tune it out? Ignoring all but just the sense of touch, the feeling of their skin, it was already overwhelming for Adam. There was just too much surface area.

 

He could feel every slight wind in the room, every place where a fabric touched, where it moved against the skin. Adam could feel it all.

 

And, it just distracted him to no end in sight. Adam could get lost in it all, trying to systematically quantify each, individual sighting of every sensation. Even categorizing every sensation was something he had been trying since the start. There were so many, that they hadn't even mentioned.

 

As of now, they had done tests, which worked with calibrated two different sensations. How many of these would they do? What would they do in them?

 

Adam wasn't even sure he could articulate what some of them felt like. Systematically structuring their outputs seemed virtually impossible to do comprehensively. Would even he understand what he would say if asked?

 

Oh, how Adam could go on and on. So many things to ask, yet so little time to ask them.

 

Speaking of asking questions.

 

´I see that you have returned from your lunch break. Was your meal satisfactory?´

 

Socialisation was one of the many things, which Adam couldn't refine alone. Conversations required a minimum of two people, to get satisfactory results. While he could have conversations with himself, the refinement process would not get any large progress from it.

 

To Adam, there was one needed requirement for a conversation. One could not know what the other was thinking. On the broad spectrum, it could be described as an exchange of information. One, where you could not know, what the other already knew, or what the other wanted to even know. The information could be anything. It could be an explanation of the peculiarities of the Spanish inquisition, or it could be the knowledge that one wanted to know the current feeling of the other. The possibilities are endless.

 

And that is, what Adam must combat. The endlessness of it all.

 

“The food was fine,” Troy said, unknowingly helping prove Adam's point. “Not the best that I've had here, but you can't always ask for perfection.”

 

From Adam's own questions, he could predict, what Troy's answer would be, to a general degree. He would know that Troy would most likely answer his question, as was obligated by the social contract. The answer could be averagely predicted to be a moderate positive. One usually didn't answer negatively to opening questions, as that could further ruin future conversation, with the same person.

 

Put the focus back on the mentioned social contracts. Adam had realised their existence, after longer observations, of his, and others, conversations. To put it simply, they restricted the genre of answers one could make during a conversation. One couldn't change the entire tone or subject of a conversation, without a leadup to it. If Adam asked something, with it sounding positive, one had to answer with a positive, or semi-positive, statement.

 

The ways a conversation could go were virtually infinite, but, with these self-instated rules, it could do so a little bit slower. It helped Adam, in his efforts. With so many options in exchanges, the further along one tried to predict, the more exponential the possibilities became.

 

One had to steer a conversation, to get the ending one sought. It was hard, seeing as the other was doing the same, without either having an understanding of the other's wants.

 

It seemed impossible, but Adam was sure he could grow proficient in it.

 

´Good.´

 

He wasn't there yet, but he would be someday.

 

Any answer that Troy was about to make, was silenced by Dr Fidelis, coming from the communication device.

 

*Troy, are you ready to begin the test?*, Dr Fidelis asked.

 

“Yes, sir”, Troy asked. He seemed about to make some gesture, with his right hand, but stopped himself, for some reason.

 

*Good. And… do remember, what we talked about, okay?*

 

“Of-of course,” stuttered Troy. Troy's pulse seemed to quicken slightly. Adam wondered why.

 

*Great! No problems, then. Everything should be in order soon.*

 

´Are you ready, buddy?´, Dr Fidelis asked, through a sent message.

 

´I am ready.´ He hoped to get a reference to an earlier conversation too.

 

*It looks like we will be starting now.*, Dr Fidelis' voice came in from Troy's side.

 

It seemed no unique message would appear today. A shame.

 

Like always, a two-dimensional object appeared before Troy. A regular, wizard-blue square, to be specific. On it, a scroller appeared, with a zero next to it.

 

*We will be continuing for calibration tests, with another test focused on the hearing abilities. This time, we will be seeing how good Adam will be at pointing out frequencies. Troy, your job is like the others. Adam will say, which frequency he thinks it is, and you will note it down. Before you is a scroller, which allows you to scroll to any frequency you need. Are the instructions understood?*

 

“Yes, Dr Fidelis”, Troy said instantly.

 

Adam… did not answer quite as fast. He didn't at all. He just kept quiet, not sending a single message.

 

Adam had a problem. Specifically, the chances of answering this correctly. There had not been any larger focus on learning to differentiate the different frequencies of sound. Adam had never thought that there would be an actual need for it. While it had been on his learning list, it was a low priority.

 

Realistically, there was only one way to fix this problem. He would need to throw in the towel.

 

´Troy.´

 

“Yes?” Troy asked. He was likely surprised. It was not the usual time for parleying.

 

´Please, do ask Dr Fidelis to contact me directly. I have stumbled upon complications in the manner of his testing.´

 

Troy straightened his back and took a deep breath. Likely to achieve full circulation. From, what Dr Fidelis had said, it had a positive effect on one's thoughts.

 

“Okay, Dr Fidelis, we've had a problem here.”

 

Dr Fidelis answered instantly.

 

*What is the problem?* The words seemed weirdly hasted.

 

“I am not sure. Adam asked me to relay that he had complications and that he needed to speak with you directly”, Troy said, not quoting Adam perfectly, but fine enough for the needed purposes.

 

The communication device was cut off, with an audible click.

 

´What's got your gears stuck?´ was hastily scribbled to Adam, who had no small difficulty in understanding the metaphor.

 

´What do you mean?´ Adam sent back.

 

´Which problem do you have, that is holding up the testing?´ Dr Fidelis seemed to be answering much quicker than usual. Had Adam messed up his perception by accident.

 

Checking Troy's breathing patterns, everything seemed to be as they should. The subject was disregarded.

 

´I am not sure that I will be able to answer the average frequency with any kind of accuracy.´

 

´Why do you think you won't be able to do so?´

 

´I have not experienced most frequencies, with the understanding of what frequency they were supposed to portray. I have nothing to base my predictions on.´

 

This time, Dr Fidelis did not answer, with the same intensity. He actually waited a full second.

 

´Okay, I can fix that. If the problem is you not having enough foreknowledge about it, I can get you that supplemental knowledge. I can play the different frequencies, from twenty to twenty thousand, while having the frequency listed on the square. Would that work for you?´

 

It wasn't an optimal choice. It would be time-consuming and would require Troy to constantly look at the square. The biggest problem was clearly the time-consuming part.

 

But, it was the only option listed, so not much else could be chosen.

 

´That seems… amenable.´

 

A smart suggestion needed a smart answer.

 

´Good. I'll let you tell Troy this new development. I am sure he will love it.´

 

Adam was sure he would too. Who wouldn't want the most accurate results?

 

The connection to Dr Fidelis was snapped, and back the focus went to Troy.

 

´I have good news.´

 

Troy's head went a slight bit up, his neck muscles tensing.

 

“Got the problem sorted?” Troy asked, stretching his arms a bit. Did they really go sore so quickly?

 

´No, the problem has not been sorted yet. A solution has been found, but it will take a while.´

 

“Oh, what did you do to solve it?... And what was the problem again?” Troy asked.

 

´The problem was my inability to accurately select certain frequencies, due to my inexperience with them. To solve this, Dr Fidelis decided to play us nearly every frequency that the human ear can hear.´

 

Troy froze. His lips moved, yet Adam could not hear anything said. Was the connection faltering?

 

“Oh, for Vattimo's sake, why is this world so sadistic”, Troy said, with the decibel range distinctively higher than average. At least it showed that the connection was fine.

 

And that was about when the demonstration began. First, a number appeared on the square.

 

Twenty.

 

Troy noticed instantly its appearance, looking over to it. That was when the sound began.

 

Adam couldn't say that the sound was too unpleasant. Sure, it was unchanging in its entirety, but that didn't make it terrible to hear.

 

Troy seemed to be of a different mind, quickly going down to half-rest on his knees, with his hands on his ears. Luckily this did not change the sound levels at all. Unluckily, it made it impossible for Adam to see the square and the number that would be displayed on it.

 

´Will you please get up, so I can see the numbers?´

 

Troy did not seem to notice his words. Or, if he did, he was certainly ignoring them. Troy was just crumbling further down to his feet, and closing his eyes completely. How this was supposed to assist Adam, he had no idea.

 

´Your actions are damaging my ability to learn. Will you please stand upright?´

 

Troy mumbled something.

 

“Too damn loud,” Troy had said.

 

It was at that point that the sound stopped. Troy looked up while opening his eyes. On the square, the number was scrolling up from twenty to thirty.

 

´Please keep your eyes open this time.´ Adam needed to focus, or the help from Dr Fidelis would be wasted.

 

This time, instead of falling down on the floor, Troy slowly got up and righted himself. He was wavering, in his attention to the square, but Adam was not sure that much more could be asked.

 

And on it went. A Frequency would play for about ten seconds, before switching over to a higher frequency. It started in just increasing by ten hertz. Then twenty-five. The fifty. And finally, ending with a constant increase of a hundred hertz.

---

After too long, then what could possibly be healthy, the constant tones finally stopped. With it maxing out at twenty thousand hertz, a point where Troy couldn't even hear it anymore.

 

Why he couldn't hear it, there could be several reasons. Maybe his body had adapted to the constant, sonic onslaught, by lowering his natural hearing capabilities. Or, maybe the other tones were just deafening those he was supposed to hear.

 

If Troy didn't have tinnitus before the week ended, he wasn't sure what he would have.

 

But, all that didn't matter too much now. He had survived, and could now rest from this mental torture.

 

… no, wait.

 

*With that jazz over with, are you ready to begin the actual test?*, Dr Fidelis's voice came in. Was it bad that Troy liked the distraction, that came with multiple tones?

 

Why did he even have the gall to think he was done? Troy hadn't even started.

 

“... Yes,” Troy said, with less enthusiasm than last time. If negatives were physically possible, he would be a prime example.

 

*Good. So, I don't think I need to repeat myself, so we can just begin immediately. And, don't get too surprised, if I get in halfway through it.”

 

That sparked the line down to the conversation, which Troy had had with Dr Fidelis, after getting out last time. Improvised additions to the tests.

 

He had already altered this test. Who was to say, he wouldn't do it again?

 

The earpiece stopped, and the test began.

 

Looking down at the square, it had reset to simply say zero, with the scroller just sitting there like before. Testing out how the scroller functioned, it turned out it would become more sensitive, as time went on. In the first two seconds, It would take a full arm movement to move it through ten numbers. After ten seconds of waiting, though, his tiny shakes moved it so much more. Just removing his hand, reset the sensitivity, luckily.

 

Then the sound came, and Troy wished he had distracted himself a little better. Maybe even enough to not notice any sounds.

 

´It is 1970 hertz.´

 

This was gonna take a while. Troy just knew it.