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
Comment on this story in the Aphelion Forum
Return to Aphelion's Index page.
|