It was Bhaskar's one hundred and twenty-third day on the Asteroid Base Kubera. The reason Bhaskar knew this is because he was reminded of it the moment he entered the workshop.

"Hi Bhaskar," said Uma, the AI that ran the base. "Today is your one hundred twenty-third day on Kubera."

Bhaskar groaned internally. But it turned out to have been not so internal. Uma picked up on it and said, "You seem upset."

"I'm alright, really," he lied, knowing full well that Uma would know and hoping that she wouldn't make a fuss about it. It had been less than a decade since her kind had gained the right to be considered the equivalent of a human person. But public opinion was a difficult beast and that is why he had to be here to supervise her functioning.

Uma, as it turned out, didn't make a fuss and trilled away. Bhaskar knew that to be an illusion of course. She was never really away, never not watching. In a way, she was the base itself. Bhaskar was, quite literally, living inside Uma.

He was wondering if Uma understood the reason behind his mood and was about to start wondering if she cared when he noticed the empty slots.

"Uma," he said aloud. "Why are there two empty slots in the droid bay?"

"I only needed six of them in the workshop today. So I put the remaining two to work outside."

Bhaskar nodded and noted it down in his pad. He considered asking her what work they had been put to, but decided against it. He didn't want more on his plate than was absolutely necessary. But when he was hit by the sinking feeling that came with the realisation that his day was going to be as empty as the previous one hundred twenty-two, he put his pad down, had the food processor pour him a cup of tea, and stepped out into the purple landscape created by the light filtering in through the atmospheric force field.

The droids were nowhere to be seen, and as Bhaskar walked around he began to notice other irregularities. One of the rovers was gone. So was a large chunk of equipment from one of the mining shafts. Bhaskar sipped his tea and tried to remember if there had been correspondence from Earth about additional quotas that needed to be met. It wouldn't be the first time Uma had just forgotten to mention such a thing.

Bhaskar checked his notes and sipped his tea. He cleared his throat and said, "Have there been more requests from Aasif? About additional quotas or something?"

Uma trilled in and was in processing mode for a good few seconds before she replied. "There might have been some."

Bhaskar made a face. Might have been was not the kind of response he was used to getting from an AI. But he decided to not make this about her.

"Uma can you place a call to Aasif?"

"Sure."

Bhaskar waited for a trill, or the sound of Aasif's garish ringtone, or a busy signal notification. But nothing happened.

"Uma. How about that call?"

"Which call?"

"The call to Aasif I just requested."

"You requested no such call."