A dog walks five kilometres of the most closely modelled ground on earth and nobody puts anything down for her. Past the checkpoint, a fruit seller drops half a spoiled guava beside her cart wheel without looking.

Dev Sharma wakes at 4:50, eleven minutes before his house expects him. For nine months the rear gate’s latch has been fully closed. This morning the dog does not go to her bowl.

Samar approved Harish Oberoi’s file before the chime finished sounding. Sixty-two, a moustache going white on one side first, confidence 97.1. Years later he asks the Archive what happened to the man.