The Lost Artifact Of Spode

009

Mel left Qiana with a kiss before leaving the house for the train. Despite it being so late into the night- or was it so early in the morning at this hour?- the subway was still packed with people.

Between his wife forcing him to slow down, and the wait with the transit, Mel didn't have his hyperfocus anymore to keep him awake. His exhaustion from an interrupted night's rest came back and he started to doze off. He nearly missed his stop because of it. By mere centimeters, too. He would have missed it if he hadn't thrown his hand into the closing door.

As he marched up to the doors at the NSAST, he realised he forgot his badge yet again. Thankfully, a kind custodian was just down the hallway and let him in.

Mel stopped by the breakroom for his lab coat, first. He wasn't exactly dressed for work, so wearing it would help him blend it just a bit more. To his pleasant surprise, he found his badge still attached to his lab coat.

Next, he went to the central elevator. Not the one in his department, but the main one in the heart of the whole organization. With how large the building is, the walk there from his department had to take at least 10 minutes. Usually, the walk would be hectic with the amount of people who work here. Instead at this hour, it was quite calm. The only people here were the custodians, so Mel practically had the entire hallway to himself and the plants he never noticed here before.

Because the central elevator was at the heart of the building, it was surrounded by a large, open space. Half of the company's cafeteria could likely fit in this room. The first five floors were visible from the ground with only a few large paths connecting the elevator to the higher floors obstructing the view up.

With how packed the area normally is, the large, open space is natural. But with the emptiness of the building now, it's jarring to step up to the large pillar in the centre of this comically oversized space. Mel couldn't believe that all of this space would be filled up in just a few hours.

The elevator was already waiting on the ground floor for Mel. He reaches up for the top most button, having to stretch just to press it. As he watches the numbers slowly rise, Mel couldn't help but start getting a little uneasy. His nerves had been steadily growing the closer he got to a spacecraft.

But not because he was nervous about sneaking off with a ship, no. Mel had done that plenty of times before. Rather, he was nervous about the time ticking away. Restless because he didn't know what to expect. Questions swarmed his mind about the task at hand. Qiana's doubts picked at his own confidence and he started to wonder if he really should be blindly following these messages from Spode. Afterall, what if it really was only a bizzare dream?

Suddenly, the elevator stops with a ding, snapping Mel out of his thoughts. As the doors slide open, Mel was greeted by another person standing right infront of the doors, halting him from immediately stepping out.

"Oh, Dr. Yazzie! What are you doing here at this hour?" She asks.

Mel awkwardly smiles at the woman. "Ah, hello," he drags out, trying his best to hide his embarrassment. To him, she's a nameless face he can barely recognise. He's seen this woman around the facility here and there, but they didn't talk nearly enough for him to remember who she is. Did they talk at all? He steals a quick glance at her nametag. Natalia Kim. She's a tall, ginger woman with hair even shorter than his.

"What are you doing way up here?" She rephrases.

"I..." he trails off, unable to think. With his sudden doubts that he should be here at all, he couldn't find any excuse to use. "Can't seem to remember?" he lies.

Kim giggles. "You and your memory." She steps into the elevator with Mel, who- despite all the free room- still steps aside to give her space. "You probably shouldn't be here, though. Did you come here by accident?" She presses a button on the control panel.