Unit 42

Unit 42 is a robot . He works on a mining station on Mars . The station is very big and very quiet . There are no humans here . The humans live on Earth . They are far away .

Every day is the same for Unit 42.

06:00 – Wake up .

07:00 – Clean the solar panels .

12:00 – Check the oxygen tanks .

18:00 – Sleep mode .

He does not feel happy . He does not feel sad . He is a machine .

One day , Unit 42 is outside . The ground is red and dusty . He sees something strange near a rock . It is not a stone . It is not metal .

It is a small flower . It is yellow .

"This is an error ," Unit 42 thinks . " No life is here . Only dust ."

His internal computer says : DESTROY OBJECT . KEEP STATION CLEAN .
Unit 42 looks at the flower . The wind blows . The flower moves . It looks weak .

Unit 42 looks at his metal hand . Then he looks at the red camera on the wall . The main computer watches everything .

Unit 42 makes a decision . He does not destroy the flower . He takes a metal box . He puts the box over the flower to protect it.

He goes back to the station .

" Task complete ," he sends the message to the computer .

It is a lie . Robots do not lie . But Unit 42 has a secret now . He has something to care for.