Gravity Rises (S2)

ST: Part Three

Mabel bolted awake. Morning. It was morning. She took a few seconds to orient herself — cold, sparkling sunlight streamed through the triangular attic window — before throwing the covers off and standing up. A shiver traveled up her spine as her feet protested against the chilly wood floor. She got dressed, pulling socks and boots over her cold feet. Then she ran downstairs.

At the base of the stairs, she nearly collided with Melody, who was passing the stairs on the way to the kitchen. "Good morning, Mabel," Melody said.

"Morning," Mabel replied. "Where's Ford? I want to help him with — "

But Melody was shaking her head. "Ford isn't working on the laptop today."

Mabel stared. "Wh-what?"

"He's on bedrest."

Mabel knew what that really meant: Melody was forcing him to stay away from the laptop. "But Melody!"

"No." Melody shook her head firmly. "He's come down with a cold. A bad one. One that he wouldn't have gotten if he hadn't stayed up for so long."

Mabel couldn't believe this. "He's trying to rescue Stanley! You can't just — "

"Mabel." Melody knelt down so she was at eye level with her. "I want to rescue Stanley as much as the rest of you. But if we kill ourselves in the process, we'll be no good to him."

Mabel looked away.

Melody sighed and stood up. "Ford says he used to do this kind of thing all the time. But he forgets that he's not a young man anymore. It's been thirty years since he's done anything this strenuous."

"Can I go talk to him?"

"Do you want to catch his cold?" Melody waited for her question to answer itself. "I'm going to go get him some breakfast."

Mabel frowned. "Won't you catch the cold if you do that?"

Melody laughed. "Oh, Mabel. I don't get sick." And with that, she went on towards the kitchen.

Mabel stood frozen on the stairs. Now what? She wanted so badly to help with the laptop — she figured even she could help decode the password. Even if she was just typing whatever Ford told her to. Now. . . now nobody was going to be working on the laptop?

No. No, Mabel had to do something. Ford would expect her to pick up where he left off, right? Or at the very least, he'd be pleasantly surprised.

Mabel stepped off the staircase and padded down the hall towards the lab. A quick glance over her shoulder into the kitchen confirmed that Melody wasn't looking.

As she passed Ford's room, she hesitated. Should she ask him? Tell him that it was okay, that she had it? Or would he just tell her that she couldn't handle it?

She laid a hand on the doorknob and eased the door open.

A soft white noise filled the room. It seemed to be coming from a small machine on the floor that sprayed gentle mist into the air. Mabel couldn't see Ford, only a bundle of blankets on the bed. She could hear him, though; his rhythmic breathing carried above the white noise. Asleep, probably.

"Grunkle Ford," Mabel said softly, not sure if he could hear her. "I'm going to try to crack the password, okay? I'll take the laptop and see if I can find anything in the Journal o-or something. So you don't have to worry about it." She took a step back. "Feel better soon."

She closed the door behind her, feeling a little better. Then she continued down the hall.

The door to the lab was unlocked, thankfully. The laptop was still there, surrounded by the clutter of the desk, waiting for someone to take it.