Neville nodded, moved the basket to his other arm. The little black snake moved slightly under the jacket. He held his breath, but the robot showed no sign of noticing anything amiss. He was really nervous because he didn’t know any policies against pets in the office aside from the dormitory ones.

Lisa appeared within minutes, her professional blazer at odds with the nutrient solution she was sipping. Even from this distance, he could smell that strong, bitter flavor of it.

Her eyes instantly lit up when they landed on him. She immediately threw the nutrient solution into the garbage can and winked.

She suddenly frowned but quickly forced a smile. "What brings you here? Aren’t you supposed to be at home?"

Neville quickly followed by slumping his shoulders dramatically. "I was, but you know..."

Then her smile faltered, and then everything immediately became something more theatrical.

"Oh no!" She grabbed his arm, her voice pitched loud enough for the curious heads around to hear. "You look so pale! Why did you come? You could have just sent a message!"

Several of their coworkers stretched their necks trying to get a better view of whatever drama was unfolding. Neville felt heat rise in his cheeks as curious eyes focused on him. This was exactly the kind of attention he didn’t want but needed.

But Lisa was already dragging him, "Come on, let’s get you seated before you fall over. Honestly, Neville, you work too hard. Everyone says so."

Neville let Lisa drag him into the private consultation room, playing up a slight stumble for effect. The door sealed behind them with a soft hiss, soundproofing engaged.

"You can drop the act now," Lisa said, her voice returning to its normal register. "Though I appreciate the cooperation and commitment to the performance. Very convincing."

She glanced at the basket, and Neville pulled back the cloth. The snake raised its head, tongue flicking out to taste the fresh air.

"Your cub?" Lisa asked casually. "So young!"

Neville’s brain short-circuited.

Cub? Did she mean pet, or was this some interstellar terminology he missed? But given that beastmen existed in this world, maybe she literally thought this was his child?

"Ah..." He managed an awkward smile. "Yeah. Very young. Still needs a lot of care."

Lisa’s expression softened further as she looked at the little black snake, which was tilting its head at the stranger.

He couldn’t help but say more, "It’s... complicated," which wasn’t technically a lie.

Lisa’s knowing smile suggested she would fill in the blanks even if he didn’t explain anything. "It always is. Now, how many days do you need?"

Neville pulled himself together while the snake curled up in the basket, closing its eyes to take another nap.

"I need four more days," he suggested. "Or maybe five? I just want to make sure everything’s properly settled before I come back to work."

"Got it." Lisa’s fingers danced over her holographic interface. "You’ve accumulated enough work time to take a full month if you wanted. Four or five is nothing."

She leaned closer and lowered her voice, "Besides, since Mr. Maxwell is on leave too. Bryan’s pulling out his hair, ready to submit his resignation just to escape Director Cox’s demands."

"That bad?" Neville tilted his head in wonder.

The snake in the basket moved slightly, and Neville had to pat it a little to calm it down.

"Uh-huh." Lisa gave him a knowing look as she nodded.

"Let’s just say three secretaries from the temp pool have already cried, and it’s not even the end of the day yet." Lisa continued as her fingers flew through the holographic display.

"Sounds like usual, though?" Neville commented.

But Lisa pursed her lips in annoyance, "But they were just delivering urgent documents."

Neville opened his mouth to argue further, then closed it. He was utterly speechless. Without Grayson, it seemed like all hell broke loose.

Lisa finished processing the forms. "There. All approved. You’re free. I’ll see you on Thursday."

"Thank you, you’re a lifesaver." Neville pulled out a small package from his jacket—homemade cookies. "Here. Made too many of these this morning."

Lisa’s face lit up as she accepted the bundle.

"Ooh, are these the ones I saw in the cafeteria? This looked better, though?" She peeked inside, grinning mischievously, inhaling the cookies deeply. "I’ll save you as many times as you want in the future. Just don’t forget these."

"Gotcha."

Just as he was heading out of the building, he heard someone call him.

"Hope?" A familiar voice called from behind. It was Sarah.

"HOPE! How are you?! Why did you come back?! Are you going back to work now?!" Sarah began running her mouth nonstop. He couldn’t even understand the other anymore.

After hearing Sarah’s loud voice from afar, Iris hurriedly dragged Sarah away. "I’ll take this one. You can go now."

Neville nodded and turned around, walking away in a hurry.

He could still hear Sarah screaming, "MY FOOD!"

I apologize, Sarah. I didn’t bring anything else; I just brought Lisa’s share.

It seemed that the people around weren’t the only ones disturbed. The little black snake in his basket also propped his head a little to look at the commotion. 𝓯𝙧𝓮𝓮𝒘𝓮𝙗𝙣𝒐𝒗𝒆𝓵.𝓬𝓸𝒎

Neville quickly patted it and whispered, "Shh, good boy. It’s okay."

...

When Neville reached his dorm, he hurriedly came inside, and the door shut behind him. He sagged against the door in relief. He set the basket on his small table and pulled back the jacket. The little black snake had curled into a perfect spiral, but its head lifted immediately as if to welcome him.

Both the human or mermaid and snake stared at each other.

Then Neville took a deep breath and said, "Well then, let’s figure out how to keep you while your owner’s still missing in action."

Neville pulled up StarNet to look for snake pet care. He was then faced with endless information about pet care rather than snake pet care.

Was the interstellar search engine broken?

But looking at the information it gave, either it was too general or too focused on specific species.

Why is it like this?