The Lost Artifact Of Spode

32

Nearly two hours late, Mel finally arrives to his work station. And to his surprise, no one had his head over it. Even back home, Mel couldn't get away from the trouble that would cause him, and they're much more lenient with him at the NSAAT than they are here.

Between skipping his sleep last night, and playing with Bead earlier, Mel was utterly exhausted, and his poor eating habits since arriving here wasn't helping his energy either. He could barely walk or stand straight as he finally made it to his desk.

He quickly turns on his newest space heater and rests his head on the desk right infront of it to warm himself up. With how freezing he was from the snow, he's surprised he didn't end up getting hypothermia.

For a moment, Mel did nothing but lie infront of his heater, warming up as he listened to it whirl. But the moment dragged out. Longer and longer. He couldn't bring himself to lift his head, too exhausted to want to bother.

He eventually realised there was no way he could work today. Even if he wanted to, his exhaustion was too much to bare. Should he just head back to him room?

But the distance... he wasn't sure if he could even walk all the way back. And what if someone tries to talk to him on the way?

Without a thought into it, Mel let's his legs give out benethe his weight, and slowly, he slid off the table. Just before he fell to the ground, he reaches out for his space heater and takes it with him.

The crash hurt. And his space heater, it's cord couldn't reach the floor. As he stared up at the heater above him, still barely warming him up from where it dangled, he briefly wondered why he did that. Surely, he still had the energy to set himself down gently. Right?

But it didn't matter. He bundles himself as small and tightly as he could in his coat, under his heater, and passed out right there on the floor.

While people who passed gave him stranged looks, no one bothered the sleeping scientist for a couple of hours. By the time someone finally did, it was none other than Bead on her daily visit.

At first, she couldn't see him at all. His small figure hid perfectly behind his desk, especially from, her view. Sh peered over the edge of his desk, hoping to see him somewhere deeper in the building instead, but without a sight of him, she disappointedly leans against the side instead. Paitently, she began to wait for him. Maybe he was gone for just a moment?

She stood there, then eventually slid down to the ground and sat there instead for awhile, trying her best to paitently wait. It wasn't until Mel quietly mumbled in his sleep that she finally realised she should look around for him. Cautiously, Bead peers around the corner of the desk, only for the sight of Mel's unconscionable body to startle her.

"You are here?"

He let out a small hum, as if he were replying to her in his sleep. Bead walks up behind Mel and grabs him by the arm, only to peer over at him.

The man was dead asleep, lightly snoring.

The little girl lighly shakes him in an attempt to wake him up. "Mel?" She asks, slightly struggling to use his name for the first time.

He quietly mumbles something, too quiet to make out any words. If he was even speaking in Universal was a mystery.

She shakes him a bit harder, determined to wake him up. He grumbles, still fully asleep.

"Cinco más minutos," he grumbles out.

Bead tilts her head at his words, never hearing a sound like them before. "What?" She asks. But when he didn't respond, she decided to just let him be. She sat down on the ground next to him, her back against his.