Aphelion Issue 298, Volume 28
September 2024
 
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A Perfect Fulfillment

by Denis Winston Brum




The emission of photons was a growing silvery reflection in the gray body floating just above the ocean floor. From the vertex of the communication cone the beam expanded into a brilliant dome, forming the product catalog charming images.

“Sweet Water – Healthy Rejuvenation, welcome to our relationship sphere, your connection multiplies our satisfaction.” The artificial voice was overflowing with institutional enthusiasm.

“I want to activate a claim, my tentacle revitalizer was delivered without the multiple suction cup applicator.”

“To start personalized service mode, could you please run organic validation?”

T’lerai thrust a tentacle through the cone’s sensor ring.

“Your customer history records that you prefer the name Madame T’lerai. Do you confirm this information’s validity?”

“I confirm.”

“How can Sweet Water – Healthy Rejuvenation, help you achieve complete satisfaction in using our product line, Madame T’lerai?”

“My tentacle revitalizer was delivered without the multiple suction cup applicator.”

“Could you tell us the acquisition code?”

“It is 000.0009 / TENT.REV.255.527.982 / AGD.DOC. 05.04.3102.”

“Confirming, Madame T’lerai, the acquisition code is 000.0009 / TENT.REV.255.527.982 / AGD.DOC. 05.04.3102?”

“That’s right.”

“Please wait, Madame T’lerai.”

The voice was replaced by the Symphony of Bubbles by M’lob M’lacus. After the composition reached a third of its length, the voice returned:

“Sorry for the delay, Madame T’lerai. I accessed your acquisition data, your revolutionary extra silent multifunctional tentacle revitalizer was purchased through the Sirius commercial sphere 1.1 cycles ago. Congratulations on your excellent choice, Sweet Water – Healthy Rejuvenation is proud to have you in our constellation of satisfied customers.

“I’m not satisfied. The product was delivered without the multiple suction cup applicator.”

“I registered an inaccuracy in your most recent message, Madame signaled positive delivered when she received the revolutionary extra silent multifunctional tentacle revitalizer.”

“The packaging was delivered hermetically sealed, I needed a lot of patience to open it and discover that the applicator was not inside.”

“The product is sealed for your safety and guarantee, Madame T’lerai.”

“Guarantee? The revitalizer is useless without the applicator!” When lifting the tentacle its wrinkled suction cup obstructed the transmission/reception ring.

“Your most recent message has suffered fragmentation, Madame T’lerai.”

“Send me the applicator soon!” The huge head advanced.

“Unfortunately, Sweet Water – Healthy Rejuvenation does not provide accessories, only the complete product, Madame T’lerai.”

“The product did not come complete.”

“Would you like to activate a claim, Madame T’lerai?”

“I’ve trying to do this since the beginning of this connection.”

“In this case, I recommend that you forward your request to Sweet Water – Healthy Rejuvenation technical sphere, Madame T’lerai.”

“And where am I?”

“You are connected to Sweet Water – Healthy Rejuvenation relationship sphere, Madame T’lerai, enabling us to add Sirius to our constellation of satisfied customers.”

“I’m anything but satisfied. How can I connect to the technical sphere?”

“It is very simple, Madame T’lerai. All you need to do is access the Sweet Water – Healthy Rejuvenation communication sphere, select the Sweet Water – Healthy Rejuvenation Satisfied Costumer Circle, open the Sweet Water – Healthy Rejuvenation facilities sphere available in the random menu specially developed to maximize your strategic contact possibilities, choose Sweet Water – Healthy Rejuvenation technical sphere, to establish the connection and activate your claim. Is it clear, Madame T’lerai?”

“Crystal clear.”

“May your cycle reach a perfect fulfillment.”

The Sweet Water – Healthy Rejuvenation technical sphere was the smallest of all facilities available and each turn of the menu moved it to a different position. After more than a hundred attempts, T’lerai retracted her eight exhausted tentacles.

“Sweet Water – Healthy Rejuvenation technical sphere, your connection multiplies our satisfaction.” The voice echoed bureaucratic pride in this menu, while machines of surprising shapes approached and moved away, performing the molding, fitting and coating of the components for different products.

“I want to activate a claim about my tentacle revitalizer.”

“To start personalized service mode, could you please run organic validation?”

T’lerai thrust a tentacle through the cone’s sensor ring.

“Your customer history records that you prefer the name Madame T’lerai. Do you confirm this information’s validity?”

“I confirm.”

“So that your claim can be activated, could you tell us the acquisition code, Madame T’lerai?”

“It is 000.0009 / TENT.REV.255.527.982 / AGD.DOC. 05.04.3102.”

“Confirming, Madame T’lerai, the acquisition code is 000.0009 / TENT.REV.255.527.982 / AGD.DOC. 05.04.3102?”

“Yes, it is.” She rolled her eyes.

“Please wait while your technical claim is filled.”

This time M’lob M’lacus Symphony of Bubbles reached half its duration.

“Please write down the protocol of your technical claim, the same is TENT.REV. 255.527.982 / KQX. 06010. 20070. ZCN. Is the protocol noted?”

“Yes, it is!” She curled her tentacles.

“And what would be the technical claim that Madame T’lerai wants to activate?”

“My tentacle revitalizer was delivered without the multiple suction cup applicator.”

“This is not a technical claim and will be discontinued.”

“What?!” The mouth was shaped into a beak. “How dare you? After all this time, I won’t be attended to?”

“Sweet Water – Healthy Rejuvenation technical sphere activates solutions applicable to any problems arising from the inappropriate use of our product line, your claim is of a logistical nature, therefore it can only be activated through the logistics sphere.” The voice became similar to her preschool teacher. “I recommend that you forward your request to Sweet Water – Healthy Rejuvenation logistics sphere, the menu is available in this same sphere. May your cycle reach a perfect fulfillment.”

T'lerai waved her tentacles for half a hundred tries until she was able to connect the correct menu.

“Sweet Water – Healthy Rejuvenation logistics sphere, your connection multiplies our satisfaction.” While images of freighters crossing nebulas, orbiting planetary rings, skirting comets merged, the voice arrived at an accelerated pace in this menu.

“I want to activate a claim about my tentacle revitalizer.”

“To start personalized service mode, could you please run organic validation?”

T’lerai thrust a tentacle through the cone’s sensor ring.

“Your customer history records that you prefer the name Madame T’lerai. Do you confirm this information’s validity?”

“I confirm.”

“So that your claim can be activated, could you tell us the acquisition code, Madame T’lerai?”

“It is 000.0009 / TENT.REV.255.527.982 / AGD.DOC. 05.04.3102.”

“Confirming, Madame T’lerai, the acquisition code is 000.0009 / TENT.REV.255.527.982 / AGD.DOC. 05.04.3102?”

“Yes, yes, yes!”

“What would be the logistical claim that Madame T’lerai wants to activate?”

“My tentacle revitalizer was delivered without the multiple suction cup applicator.”

“Your delivery is marked as positive.”

“I pointed this out before opening the package, the applicator wasn’t inside!”

“Please wait Madame T’lerai.”

The wait lasted until the last chord of M’lob M’lacus Symphony of Bubbles.

“Good news, Madame T’lerai. We traced the location of the multiple suction cup applicator that should have been sent along with its tentacle revitalizer. The item was accidentally filed as a replacement part and shipped to one of our orbital repair shops.”

“And can’t you send me another one?”

“Unfortunately, Sweet Water – Healthy Rejuvenation does not provide accessories, only the complete product, Madame T’lerai.”

“The product is not complete!” Her skin went from dark gray to light gray. “Haven’t you understood that yet?!”

“Please, Madame T’lerai, harmonize yourself, there is a solution.”

“Which?!”

“Your technical claim TENT.REV. 255.527.982 / KQX. 06010. 20070. ZCN remains linked to your customer history and the multiple suction cup applicator is filed as a replacement part, the solution is to present the protocol relating to this technical claim and receive the item.”

“And where can I do this?”

“The item is stored in the repair shop SW5900/2111 rotating in a white dwarf orbit in the Procyon system.”

“You are kidding with me?!” She released an involuntary jet of water and threw her head against the rock. “It will take me more than one season just to get there.”

“In this case, I recommend that you forward your request to Sweet Water – Healthy Rejuvenation relationship sphere, the menu is available in Sweet Water – Healthy Rejuvenation communication sphere.”

“Return to the starting sphere?!” She rubbed the tentacle on the injured head. “Who do you think I am?”

“According to the acquisition code 000.0009 / TENT.REV.255.527.982 / AGD.DOC. 05.04.3102 you are Madame T’lerai.”

“Well, Madame T’lerai is tired! My entire attempt to obtain the applicator from Sweet Water is stored and I intend to forward it to the Sirius Commerce Alliance! Not only that, I will publicize your strategy of exhausting the client in all the collectives to which I belong, and send a detailed copy of this service to my nephew P’lom, editor-in-chief of Deep Waters news sphere, the most connected of this system!”

“Madame T’lerai, from the moment the delivery is marked as positive, the Sweet Water – Healthy Rejuvenation responsibility is legally terminated. I recommend that you connect to the Sweet Water – Healthy Rejuvenation relationship sphere, the menu is available in the Sweet Water – Healthy Rejuvenation communication sphere, request a new delivery specifying in your claim the data we have just collected, in particular the applicator availability and location. May your cycle reach a perfect fulfillment.”

T'lerai attacked the communication cone in an overwhelming succession of tentacle strikes, eventually ripping the translucent AquaCom trademark from its base. Finally, she inflated, deflated the body and, having memorized the different menu patterns, executed the connection in two dozen attempts.

“Sweet Water – Healthy Rejuvenation, welcome to our relationship sphere, your connection multiplies our satisfaction.” The product catalog images parade, the voice overflowing with institutional enthusiasm, grew the anger in her eyes.

“I want to activate a claim regarding the mistaken shipment of the multiple suction cup applicator belonging to my tentacle revitalizer to an orbital repair shop rotating in a Procyon white dwarf.”

“To start personalized service mode, could you please run organic validation?”

T’lerai tried but was unable to get the tentacle through the sensor ring’s opening, which she had crushed when unleashing her fury on the cone.

“To start personalized service mode, could you please run organic validation?”

“Wait…”

Squeezing the tentacle through the deformed opening, she pushed the sensor’s molecular analyzer, a barely visible tiny sphere, into the next ring.

“Run organic validation or your service will be discontinued.”

T’lerai pressed her tentacles through the openings, shifting the molecular analyzer from one ring to the other in the rush of her movements.

“Run organic validation or your service will be discontinued.”

The molecular analyzer slid down the ring near the base of the cone, sinking beyond the area illuminated by the photon emission. T’lerai’s tentacles rummaged across the dark bottom, raised a cloud of plankton, but, no, not the minuscule sphere.

“Sweet Water – Healthy Rejuvenation thanks for your connection.”

“No! No! No!” The three hearts of T’lerai accelerated their beating.


THE END


© 2024 Denis Winston Brum

Bio: Denis Winston Brum developed his writing skills working in the advertising business. He published the children’s book “As Férias das Fadas”, the Young-Adult book “As Quatro Linhas” and the adult book “Redemoinhos”, all in paperback. Denis Winston Brum also released the adult e-Book “Adiós Pampa Mía”

E-mail: Denis Winston Brum

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