Starved Rewrite Part 2
Every week I have a check-up with The Doctor.
Not a literal check-up, I'm not getting my prostate examined, it's just that in spite of the stupidity of the name The Doctor loves calling them that. Every week I meet up with him at an undisclosed location, spend five minutes telling him any interesting tidbits of information I've heard that concern him or his plans, and promptly have to listen to him monologue for the next half-hour or so about his own grandeur. In spite of how much of my time he ends up wasting with this little shtick of his he still pays me less than my other clients, likely because he knows that if I stopped having these little "check-ups" with him no apple would be able stop him from going after me (don't worry I hate these metaphors as well).
This week played out the same as the others. He exits from his vehicle, I quickly get to the point telling him everything new that concerned him since our last meeting, he responds by going through this week's grandiose delusions. Having listened to speeches like this from him a million times already I had learned how to tune them out. This time however, something caught my ear. He mentioned how he made a recent breakthrough when analyzing the organic structure of the non-human species that inhabit this planet, particularly the way that their brains work. What was most notable about all of this, he mentioned, was the possibility of an increase in one's mental capacity if one were to harness this knowledge, and that's exactly what he was planning on doing.
In reality his speech wasn't as direct as I've said it here. While mindlessly walking around the area we met up at he was obligated to mention during his explanation how "he was the only one great enough to do this" and that "because he was already the world's greatest scientist this wouldn't change much,” very typical of him but unlike his other plans that inevitably failed he managed to do the impossible: being even more arrogant than usual. I personally think that was his real accomplishment that week but still he went on and on about how all of this would make ruling the world easy and that he'd finally be able to build that one place he always wanted to make. Mentioning how his initial reports all showed his development as being highly efficacious, he boasted about how in just a short matter of time he could grant himself an immense advantage.
The rest of the "check-up" went as usual after that. Breakthrough or not gloating about himself was to him as important as oxygen. Still, I'd be lying if I said that I wasn't a little bit curious about what exactly this breakthrough would look like, even if it were to eventually fail like the rest of his stupid schemes.
A week passed, we again met up at another undisclosed location to have our little "check-up." As I saw him arrive at the area I noticed a change in how he presented himself. No longer was he wearing the same getup he had always worn. He instead decided, as he took pleasure in repeatedly telling me, that in light of the astounding success of his breakthrough he would mark this a new chapter in his life. Now donning a black jacket with yellow stripes and coat-tails, his new ware to him marked the start of something truly substantial. So too did his vehicle change in light of his alleged success, having a much more sleek design while matching the same colors he now donned, he took pleasure in going over all the various improvements and new gizmos added to it since our last meeting.
His boasting too, though still as mind-numbing and egotistical as before, was different. He praised himself for now being able to create in a day what would've taken him months, how by next week he was "fairly confident that I'd be too stupid to understand what he was saying." Though his ego was unending and his newfound feats in light of this breakthrough listless I was still getting paid the same amount I always was.
He ended off our monologue repeating exactly what he said at the beginning, boasting about how the world as everyone knew it would forever be changed.
Next week came around and this our "check-up" was again different. He used the same location as last time, instead sending his main machine to record what I was going to say. Arriving at the same place as last time I noticed how he had left a note on his robot, saying that he was unable to visit because of "imporant isues." Whether this misspelling was a way for him to further cement his insult that I'd eventually be “too stupid to understand what he was saying” I didn't care about considering everything else that happened that day. With his robot taking away his opportunity to endlessly compliment himself the meeting lasted much shorter than usual while I still got paid the same.
For the “check-up” the week after, rather than talking straight to the robot I was back to being greeted by The Doctor himself. My part went the same as usual, as always just explained everything I learned pertaining to him and his stupid schemes. Had some good news this time as well. One of the guys I mentioned in the last session randomly disappeared a couple of days after. Based on the big grin he had on his face I'm gonna take a shot in the dark here and assume he liked hearing that.
The ego-induced showcase of all his new improvements since his breakthrough started differently as well. Turns out I was wrong, his robot was also with us the entire time, and similar to his vehicle, he had made some incredible improvements to it in the span of a week. The fact that I didn't even know the thing was behind me the entire time, let alone how close it was to me while I was listing off this week's occurrences, startled me when The Doctor had it reveal itself.
Besides the easily apparent stealth improvements it now had, he spent nearly our entire meet-up listing off point-by-point all the other upgrades and improvements he had made to it while praising himself. Of course as always his obsession with themes kicked in, giving it the same paint-job he and his vehicle now had with that yellow-black style, but other than that most if not all of the new features he listed about his robot flew right past me. The only thing I could do during his lecture was stare at the few moles he now had covering his face as he stood next to his vehicle. They weren't apparent at first sight, but jeez if you were in the same position as me where you had to spend a long period of time just staring at his face you'd eventually notice them. And when you do notice them, have fun trying to forget about how hideous they look.
Other than all of that however the meeting was still mostly typical. He cut it a little bit short this time, only talking to me for around twenty-five minutes instead of the usual thirty, already had my year's worth of being talked down to so it didn't bother me. Also didn't hurt that it started getting chilly near the end of our meet-up for some inexplicable reason so it was nice to leave that.
I thought those littles oddities I mentioned from this week’s visit would disappear in the next coming meet-up.
That wasn’t the case.
Starting the same as last-time with both himself and his robot arriving he instead decided to sit in his vehicle for the entire session. The moles mentioned earlier were now more apparent on his face, being scattered like little ink blots next to his slightly grayed moustache. If you looked at him from just the right angle you could avoid seeing them but otherwise they weren't escaping your vision. For my time to speak I did the same routine as always. Coincidentally another person I mentioned the week before also happened to disappear without a trace so I told him about that.
For his part of the check-up he expectedly used the time to praise himself, but the way which he did so was remarkably different from all his previous monologues. He now spoke with a raspy voice, his sentences now taking much more time than beforehand to finish as each one now contained longer pauses, an opportunity he used to catch his breath.
Curiosity got the better of me so I asked why he wasn't able to speak as much about himself as was typical. He remarked back, still maintaining the same speaking style as previously mentioned, that due to a "minor setback" he had to speak this way. Using his supreme intellect however, he quickly took this as an opportunity to also add that because he was "the greatest scientist in the world" he would easily be able to fix this little problem of his in no time.
The rest of the meeting continued with him talking about himself in the same slow, drawn-out manner he had at the start. It was cut extremely short as including my question, he only spent five minutes on himself. The weather like last time started getting cold near the end of the meeting, though it creeped in much earlier than I had expected and seemed to linger with me for a longer period of time once I had left.
I knew things were getting worse for him but a part of me considered the wide array of improvements he recently made to such objects as his vehicle and robot as proof that he would also be able to fix this "minor setback.”
Man was I wrong again.
For the last meeting I had with him he came in slouched over in that vehicle of his, staring dead into my eyes while maintaining his deep breaths. Those aforementioned moles now covered his entire face, his ribs being outlined through the top of his chest and sides of his body in spite of his still circular shape as his moustache had now become fully gray. He said nothing to me throughout the entirety of the meet-up, leaving with his robot as quick as he came once I was done speaking.
Every "check-up" afterwards was the same. The Doctor would have his robot meet with me instead of showing up, recording everything I said so that it would later be played to him. As soon as I was done speaking the next blink that came from me was used as an opportunity for his robot to instantaneously vanish.
Though a small part of me does miss hearing that egomaniac endlessly talk, considering how it seems that the weather's been freezing no matter where I’m at I'm glad these “check-ups” are as short as they are now.