Adam killed some more time around the Vault before finally returning to the medbay to speak with Dr. Tott, hoping enough time had passed for him to get some answers.
"Ah, Adam, welcome back." Dr. Tott said as Adam entered as he stood over the crow, out of its cage, standing around casually, with a strange metal hatch opened up on its back. "I have some answers for you." He said with a note of intrigue.
"I suppose it's a robot then?" Adam said as he walked over.
"Actually, no. It's some sort of synthetic creation. I lack the means to classify it but this was created, not born." He said with some assuredness. "I would need a lot longer to study it, however I learned a few things." He said as he pet the crow on the head for a moment before reaching down and grabbing his clipboard.
"First of all, as you can tell, the bird is well trained. I do not think it would be a nuisance to people so long as it is well cared for. Secondly, your question about its wing? I would need many more tests to say with any confidence beyond surface level but yes, I do believe the skin and feathers will regrow given time and proper care and medical attention." He said with a glance up at Adam from his clipboard to gauge Adam's expression before looking down again. "Furthermore the material that its injured wing is made of is the same material as its entire endoskeleton. Once more I would need weeks more study to give you any more details than that, but suffice it to say it is a durable bird. Third, the blood tests I ran showed that the RNA was incredibly highly structured. What this means I do not know, but that is where I can say, with some moderate faith, that this was not a naturally occurring bird born in the wild." He then paused and added: "As if the wings's endoskeleton was not enough of a giveaway." He cleared his throat. "Finally, when I ran its X-rays I found that there were some interesting protrusions inside the bird, such as this hatch which I could lift. I believe this is an access port of some kind." He said as he gestured to the hatch that was now open.
Adam looked in and yes, it was indeed an access port. Though to access what? More questions are being raised by the second. However there was a small red blinking light in the access port that was the most interesting thing.
"What is that?" Adam asked, curiously.
"I believe that is a transponder." Dr. Tott said with some skepticism.
"One so small?" Adam asked back, in mild disbelief.
"Yes, surprisingly so. However, this goes above my technical expertise so I was wondering, perhaps, if you wouldn't mind taking a look at it."
"I don't mind, if he will let me work on him." Adam said with a soft gesture to the bird.
"Its a girl, by the way. Females of the corvus genus usually have slimmer builds compared to their male counterparts. Also she does not have a Y chromosone." He said with a clinical dispassion. "But as I said she is well trained. So long as you do not give her cause to feel threatened she will likely comply." He said as he gestured to a chair to sit on while Adam looked into the transponder in the back of the crow.
Adam took his suggestion and sat down, pulled out a few tools and got to work right there in the medbay.
There were limits to what Adam could do without actively harming the crow's autonomy. If the bird was dead he could take it apart and understand it more clearly but as is he was limited to what he could see without tearing into her. Ultimately he did not find out much, though what he did confirm is that the doctor was right. It did have some sort of transponder inside it. It was set up to send some sort of messages to somewhere Adam did not know. Ultimately Adam couldn't do much with the information he gleaned other than turn off the transponder. Though he was reasonably certain it was broken long before he began to poke at it. Whoever made this bird was far more skilled than he was, he suspected this might be the most advanced robot he had ever seen. He'd love to meet the guy who made it.
However, with the theory that the transponder was broken, it is a safe assumption that the bird may have gone rogue without being able to send or receive messages. Perhaps it simply went native, living like a bird does? Whether the broken transponder was tied to the damaged wing or not he could not say for certain, however he was certain that if this bird was sending and receiving messages, it had not done so since he had bought it.
He had more questions than answers but the fact that the bird would heal, given time, meant that he would just treat her like a pet bird. Who knows, she is so well trained, maybe she could help when he was out scaving? Questions for later, healing came first.
Doctor Tott agreed to keep the bird under observation for the next few weeks and nurse its wing back to health as best he could. Satisfied that the bird seemed to be on the path of recovery he decided one last thing before he left. He would name the bird. After a long time to consider he settled on a name he felt would be perfect. Morrigan. The Irish goddess of crows. Or something like that anyway. He read it in a book once. Besides, it was a good name.
With that settled Adam decided to spend the rest of the day relaxing. So he did the most self-indulgent thing he could think of. Make use of his new movie theater. What started as a small event for himself and maybe a few of his friends turned into a community event very quickly as people quickly filled the newly built movie theater to watch a movie. It seemed that Adam had not taken the time to explain to anyone how to make use of the film reels, so despite being set up for a bit, no one had made use of the space. Movies were rather a luxury in the world now so it was no wonder the people were excited.
Of course most had already experienced movies on their TVs. But they were few in number and this was an event with the whole community. The excitement in the room was high as Adam set up the projector and screen, turned on the movie, and then sat down in his chair as the movie started up, excited himself for a slice of the old world he built himself down here, in his home.