Twenty dollars was twenty dollars.

 

That was the excuse Troy kept telling himself, as he stepped into the puzzle room. It wasn't the most accurate of excuses for his current getup. He was almost a hundred per cent sure, that he was getting more than twenty dollars out of this deal. But, really, it wasn't the amount of money that mattered. It was the simple fact that he was getting paid for this. Something which Troy had been rather desperate for, these last few months.

 

Now, when he thought about it, though, Troy did not need to worry too much about money, for the next short while. Even if he had lost most of what he had won against Francis in poker, he still had a sizable amount left in his pockets. They were in credits, though, so the currency couldn't be used for anything outside of the shopping street. It wasn't too much of an issue really, seeing as that street was the only place in this facility, where he could even spend any kind of money.

 

As Troy lifted his knees a little higher than, what one usually needed to, while walking deeper into the white space, he felt something at the backside of his body. Something shifting slightly deeper into him. How unpleasant it was. 

 

Yet, that was partly his fault. He had been warned about the skin suit being designed for full skin contact. He should have listened to Dr Fidelis´ rather unique idea of stripping off completely. But, no, the way he was raised just needed to let itself get in the way of that. Troy was, for some reason, not comfortable with stripping down to his birthday suit in front of his co-workers. Down to the boxers was fine, though. With those still on he yet had some imaginary barrier against being completely looked at.

 

But… Now, that Troy had gotten the whole thing on, he honestly regretted not taking that last layer of, his mental barriers be damned.

 

When he had first gotten his grubby hands on the suit, it had seemed overly large. As in, Troy could probably fit into the thing, without any part of his body touching the edges. A design feature to accommodate those not knowing how to properly put on clothes, Dr Hale had called it. Troy had called it being looked down upon.

 

Though, if he had to be honest about it, the stretch out really did help him in getting the suit on.

 

It was the stretch in, which Troy would forever dread. It had worked perfectly on the upper body, with him being able to move around without the skin suit even feeling like it was there. Yet, it also allowed no air to come in contact with his scan, letting him stay at a cosy temperature, while simultaneously not being too hot. It was a master craft.

 

And, then came the bottom part. His boxers were too big, they said. He would absolutely feel it when it reverted to an operational state, they said. Why didn't Troy listen? The utter horror of feeling your upper legs being restricted, by a fabric which you never thought would betray you, was a horrible feeling.

 

When testing ended for the day, Troy would be having a word with Dr Fidelis about installing a curtain somewhere in the testing room. One which he could slide out when he needed to change.

 

“God, what have I done?” Troy spoke out loud, not sure if he regretted his decision.

 

´I would like to be referred to as Adam. And, I am not sure, what exactly, you might have done. Could you explain your actions to me, and if they are the reasons for today's delay in testing times?´, Adam said, a second or two after Troy's self-doubting.

 

The humour in the words did not fly by his head, and Troy chuckled a bit to himself.

 

“It is not anything, you need to worry about”, Troy assured Adam. “But, if you must know, the costume department has decided that the fashion choices needed a radical makeover.”

 

He flashed his colourful hands across his eyes, to illustrate his point. To Adam, they must have looked more than a small bit different from the last test´s, where they had been a pure black. Now… Troy wasn't even sure, which colours were on the gloves. All of them, couldn't have been too far from the truth.

 

At least they were comfortable.

 

´Are these costume-changes the reason for your lateness?´, Adam asked, carried on in his questioning.

 

“Yes”, Troy answered, with a slight grimness to his features. “While the discussion about these changes was short, they were also a small bit heated.”

 

´That is understandable. Making difficult choices, with the best possible outcome, may take time for people, such as you.´, Adam sent.

 

Was all of this planned? Had they all coordinated to diss the heck out of Troy today? Because all these unkind words seemed oddly regular.

 

*Enough yabbering around about fashion choices, now! We have some testing to complete*, Dr Fidelis sent through the earpiece, stopping Troy from asking about any conspiracy theories. *Are both of you ready to receive today´s instructions?*

 

“I´ve been ready for some time now”, Troy stated, trying to get himself into a comfortable standing position. Somewhere in his mind, he just knew that he would be standing still for most of this test.

 

*Noting down, that you're good to start a few seconds earlier. And, Adam´s ready as well. Why don't I just get started with this whole debacle, then?* Dr Fidelis said, sounding weird like he was … in motion? 

 

Like, the microphone on his end was picking up much more wind, than Troy had thought possible from a still position in an environment with no natural airflows. Was Dr Fidelis moving around?

 

*You two might not realize how exciting this is for me.*, Dr Fidelis continued, making Troy shut up his thought and focus. *For the last year, I´ve had the technology to do this. But, I have never gotten permission to put it all to the test. Yes, it has all been certified for human use, of course. Otherwise, this would all get called a pure fire hazard. The amount of light inside that room you're standing in, Troy, is enough to set a group of people ablaze.

 

Oh, the power, that has just been laying around. And, the capabilities that have come with it. For so long, I simply was not able to figure out a good reason, for why I needed a guinea pig- I mean, valued assistant. Yet, now that Adam is up and kicking, I don't need to make up some lame excuse about ethics, when a worthwhile reason came up all on its own.

 

Now, after so long with this puzzle room on the low setting, I can finally put it on experimental mode. Don't worry about the safety risks, by the name. It is totally safe. 

 

… 

 

You might want to hold your hands over your eyes, though. Just, you know, to be extra safe.*

 

For some reason, Troy didn't feel safe. As he held his hand over his eyes tightly, he debated with himself, if he really should be putting this much trust into his government. The simple fact that they gave a crazed man so many resources told him too much about their priorities. 

 

Dr Fidelis better be getting the Nobel prize after completing all of these tests, or Troy would be quitting out of frustration.

 

Very briefly, Troy was able to see the veins on his hands, with light filtering through them, and a red filter added onto the waves. There had to be laws against this level of endangerment, right?

 

´Could you take your hands away? I would like to see the process of the modes being shifted.´, Adam sent to him.

 

Troy did not even think about removing those hands of his.

 

“Sorry, buddy”, Troy said, unconsciously mimicking Dr Fidelis speech pattern. “But, I am not risking my already damaged eyesight, just so you can see a fancy light show. If you really need to see such dangerous things, I'll pull up a few videos on the web for you.”

 

´Your risk assessment is slightly unbalanced. Any light, which would damage your eyes, would not be stopped by your hands, and the gloves on them. Stopping yourself from seeing your surroundings is not having any effect, other than me unable to fully complete my data collection.´, Adam sent right back, with no hesitation. How he was able to fully explain his point, with no delay, was an ability, which Troy felt more than slightly jealous of.

 

“I'm sorry to say, that I do not care, whatever your assessment of the situation might be,” Troy said, ignoring any evidence, which Adam presented. “My lacking understanding of wavelengths is keeping me safe, for all I know. And, I would like to keep it that way. Therefore, I will only be removing these premium hands, at the moment, when Dr Fidelis gives me the okay.”

 

*Oh, you have been able to do that for, like, the last twenty seconds.*, Dr Fidelis said, through the earpiece, after hearing Troy finish his statement. *Honestly, I didn't even realise that you were still holding your hands to your head. This omnidirectional camera steering is seriously messing with my two-dimensional screen.*

 

Hearing Dr Fidelis not take the light show any more heed, Troy took it as an okay, to pull down his hands from his face. Yes, he would likely have done that much earlier, without suffering any consequences for it. But, he didn't want to see the light, that made him able to see through his hand slightly, firsthand.

 

Taking a quick glance around him, Troy saw nothing different. It was still just the endless void of complete white. The sound was also as dull as ever, with the only thing he could hear being his own, slow breathing.

 

“So, the puzzle room is now in advanced difficulty?” Troy asked, not having listened too well on Dr Fidelis´ explanations. When he realized that the talk about what they would be doing today was delayed, his focus had been snapped away slightly, the aerodynamics of a cow seeming more interesting to think about.

 

*Not any more difficult for you, per se, but much more difficult for me. Not that I'm complaining about that, for the record, I am absolutely loving the details, which I have control over now.* Dr Fidelis continued to rant, after having already answered Troy's simple question in the first sentence. *Oh, the things I can do now. Are you getting tired of the white nothingness around you, Troy? 

 

Because I can fix that, with but a click. Boom. Now it's grey. Boom. Now it's black. Boom. Now, its- wait, no, nevermind, I'm getting warnings about changing the colours. I can still do it, of course, but I probably shouldn't, if I want to keep the insurance on this thing. I'm changing it back to white, though. Can't say, that I find any enjoyment with you being in complete darkness. There isn't any purpose for that in a test, yet.

 

Speaking of tests, I should probably start explaining the detail of this one, shouldn't I?

 

As I was bragging about just earlier, with these newly granted functions, I can change your surrounds drastically now. Forget just making a small puzzle appear. I can make everything detailed. I could make you stand on an infinite plain of grass and hills, feel the slight wind on your face, while the grass gives its trademark smell.

 

I can easily do all that, with but a few clicks, and a single swipe. And, I will be doing so momentarily.

 

You see, this test will be something, which could be best described as… well, describing. 

 

During this test, variations of the earth's natural environment will be shown around you. It will be Adam´s job to best relay his description of these environments to Troy, who will, word for word this time, write it down on a given writing screen. And, as a helper, you, Troy, will be writing down your own description beside his.

 

Do both of you understand?*

 

A flashback to an earlier moment, when going to lunch, Troy remembered Dr Fidelis going through various landscape pictures. Originally, he had bashed him mentally, for saying how hardworking he was while lazing the day away procrastinating during work-hours. But, it seemed like Dr Fidelis had had an actual reason for his actions.

 

Who could have guessed that? When Troy had done something like it, he had just gotten himself yelled at?

 

There still was one thing, which he was wondering about.

 

“Almost. Got one question for you”, Troy stated. “These landscapes. Will they be, like, folded two-dimensional projections?”

 

*Thinking about it that way is wrong, but the meaning behind it still has some truth to it.*, Dr Fidelis quickly answered. *In technicality, everything you see in there, for the most part, is actually just two dimensional. When there's only one person in there, it makes it possible to just beam the lights directly into your eyes, instead of painstakingly making the models line up with the more physical projections. 

 

Before you even got chosen as the assistant, we had actually planned to hire someone with one eye, just to make it easier on ourselves. But, that wouldn't have worked out in the long-term, now, if we wanted to shift our ways to test even further if you know what I mean.*

 

“I really don't”, Troy said. These things, with Dr FIdelis giving away too much information, was beginning to grind his nerves a slight bit.

 

He could hear him laugh, through the earpiece, not making his sense of him any better.

 

*Yeah, well, you know, that's just, like, your opinion man.*, Dr Fidelis said.

 

“That does not help me in understanding anything, that you said,” Troy pointed out. “Mind explaining it a bit better again?”

 

*That's too bad*, Dr Fidelis said, sounding like he was enjoying it too much. *Cause I'm not answering any more questions. In fact, how about we just start this whole thing up.*

 

God, Troy wanted to slap something lightly.