Submission (#6721) Approved

The lab was in a usual state of disarray. Mio was sorting through yet another pile of instruments among the endless mountains of parts. As soon as there was a semblance of order in one area, chaos immediately formed in two more. Terrah sighed heavily. He had been rearranging equipment for two hours and was quite tired. Deciding to take a rest sitting on the nearest boxes, Mio reached for a stack of papers with the research results that Lydia had sent him. The stack lay on top of a shaky-looking structure of large gears and instrument housings. Terrah began to carefully climb onto it.

- So... Step... Another step... Almost... There...!!!

As soon as Mio reached for the sheets, the structure wobbled and began to crumble, burying Terrah under it with a r umble. It echoed throughout the empty lab.

At that moment, the terminal beeped.

- Hey, is anyone there? Hello? - Lydia's impatient voice was heard.

- Why is it so empty?

A hand appeared from under the pile of details.

- Mio? Is that you there?

Mio carefully crawled out from under the pile and shook himself off.

- Oh, hi, Lydia.

- Having a good time, I see. Why is it so empty? Where did everyone go? Did something weird happen again and everyone suddenly abandoned their research?

Mio looked around.

- Oh, so everyone's getting ready for the playfair.

- Fair? Doing silly things instead of carrying out serious experiments for the good of science? I can't understand them. - Lydia commented irritably. - Okay, nothing to do. I hope you'll at least continue assisting me?

Mio wanted to object, but he changed his mind when he caught Lydia's eloquent look.

- That's great. So, where we left off last time...

For the next few hours, Mio was busy, under Lydia's strict guidance, carefully connecting parts, connecting power to the experimental setups, watching the graphs on the monitors - basically, doing everything that a whole staff of scientists involved in creating the core usually did.

Mio was already barely moving his legs. It felt like he was running at least 10 km around the lab. Lydia, noticing the increasingly sluggish movements of their assistant, suddenly asked:

- What is this fair anyway?

- Huh?

Mio was already so tired that he had trouble understanding what was being said to him.

- A fair. What do they do there?

- Huh..
Mio gathered his thoughts.

- They put on performances... They eat delicious food... They play... They have fun with friends...

Lydia thought about it.

- Do many Terr go to fairs?

- Quite a lot. It's fun and interesting, a great way to relax and have a good time.

Lydia was silent for a long time. Mio plopped down tiredly on the boxes.

- Can you learn something new at the fair?

Mio shrugged.

- Yes, of course. There's always something new and interesting happening.

Lydia looked thoughtfully somewhere outside the screen. Then reluctantly said:

- Perhaps Junior, my sibling, should visit such a fair.

Mio perked up.

- It's worth it! It's definitely worth it!

Lydia silently made some decision for themselves.

- Can you take Junior to the playfair?

Mio nodded happily.

- Yes, of course!

Lydia waved off his enthusiasm.

- At least he won't bother me while I'm busy working on the astrohedron.

- The playfair then?

-...

Lydia made a decision with a sigh.

- Yes, the playfair then.

They discussed their upcoming plans, after which Lydia said goodbye and turned off the terminal. Mio stretched contentedly, wandered over to the couch he had dug up while rearranging the boxes, and instantly fell asleep on it.