Aris looked at Limey. The bot turned its good eye toward him, let out a soft beep, and resumed spraying.
"Command to Aris. You haven't filed the termination order for unit 734." ph bot uzatma
The notification blinked on Aris’s HUD for the third time that shift. Aris looked at Limey
Limey wasn't pretty. Its casing was pitted, one optical sensor flickered like a lazy eye, and it hummed an off-key G sharp. But it worked. And in a deep-space agro-station where corrosive slime could eat through a bulkhead in six hours, a working bot was worth more than a silent officer. You haven't filed the termination order for unit 734
A pause. "Regs say all pH maintenance bots are decommissioned after 10,000 operational hours. Yours is at 11,402."
Aris smiled, pocketed the note, and patted Limey’s dented casing.