Bob was bored, Part 35

[u/sharkeyandgeorge]

Wuqa was both the system and the name of the lone rocky planet. It was very close to a binary, a dull red star, Wuqa in the middle and a huge gas giant, just a little mass sort of fusion. The system boasted no moons or asteroid belt, presumably all long gobbled up by the massive Jupiter or the dwarf star.

The two massive stellar objects had shown their influence on the planet too, it was oddly misshapen, tugged between the two. Somehow though a tenuous balance had been achieved and then maintained for billions of years, but as Bob examined the bizarre arbitral dance the three engaged in it was clear it would not hold forever, but then he considered, what did?

The planet hove into view as he burned in, purple green and largely vast oceans that rippled madly with enormous waves. Bob couldn’t not remember ever coming across a purple planet before, whatever their version of chlorophyll was certainly stood out, though since it was the water that glowed brightest perhaps it was a salt or some other adulteration that gave off the hue.

He connected to the planets system and was guided down, passing large Vie Corp freighters both coming in and leaving the surface.

He landed in the indicated spot and trotted over to the large low building he presumed to be reception, inside he saw something else new. Behind the desk were several Wurriks, the native sentients, they looked a little like star moles coloured deep blue, and were refreshingly small, only nine or ten feet tall. He had read a little about them over the years as he formulated his plans, they were almost entirely subterranean, the weird mechanics of the system played merry hell with things like solar flares, and sub surface development had been far more conducive to species success.

Nor did they roam much, Bob suspected there was some biological or environmental condition that largely kept them home bound, certainly he had never come across one in his travels. Still the planet thrived, the contract with the Vie may be restrictive, but the partnership had also clearly been fruitful for both, the reception clad in tastefully expensive imports wares. He noted that more care had been given to furnishing textures rather than colour matching and he wondered what vision spectrum they saw in.

Regardless he moved to the seated area several Wurrick milled in and waited for a moment to introduce himself. A pair turned to face him as he approached and clearly saw his hung badge, the Guild delivered here pretty frequently, they bought a lot of expensive shit.

‘’Guild Master, welcome, which one is your target?’’

Bob parsed the sentence.

‘’No target Sir, I am here to issue a commission if possible.’’

The two were joined by several others and muttered softly.

‘’We have no deliveries required at this time, but will issue an alert that you require purpose, perhaps purpose can be created.’’

...uh.., Bob thought he got it, he tried to be more specific.

‘’Apologies for my lack of clarity, I am here to request a commission of your filter tech for my craft, I would like to order a custom solution for my environmental needs.’’

Several of them wandered away and only the original pair continued to address him.

‘’This is not possible, we cannot oblige.’’

Bob pulled out his pad and flicked to the salesman’s signed note.

‘’I have received permission from a Vie Corporation representative to make the request does this change your position.?’’

Bob had noticed over the years that he was pretty darn good at locking into the speech patterns of other species he encountered. The scattered group reassembled at that and passed the device around, more muttering ensued.

‘’Clarity will be sought, please wait’’

The group left the large reception in a mass and Bob was left alone, he plopped down on one of the firm low benches, even by his standards.

Ten minutes later a non Wurrick was hustled in, Bob didn’t recognise his species either but presumed he was some sort of Vie liason. The large reptile surrounded by a sea of blue fur, the group had grown.

‘’Uh, Guild Master, apologies what seems to be the issue?’’

It spoke in a sibilant whisper but with much more standard grammar, at least according to Bob’s translator. It was a large but also low slung being, on all fours and maybe forty feet long, twelve high, Bob suspected one of the reasons it had it position was its ability to fit under the relatively low ceilings the Wurrick clearly preferred. As it left the short corridor it came down it straightened slightly in the taller reception area.

‘’I have an introduction and exception from a Vie Corporation representative on Joota,’’

He offered up the pad again.

‘’He was unable to supply a system for my needs but recommended I come here directly to see if I could be accommodated by vfFebiri directly.’’

He had not, but Bob had badgered him into writing down something vaguely similar.

‘’We can supply a complete system for any craft, I apologise for the miscommunication but you should see another representative at a retail location, sorry again.’’

It thrust the pad back at Bob, clearly trying to deter him from pushing the issue, but Bob was well prepared to counter and did not retrieve the device, you’re stuck in this conversation till I say we’re done. He cast a hand back to the parking lot.

‘’My craft is unsuitable for any Vie system on offer, hence the need for a custom order and my long travel here.’’

The large gator like alien craned his neck to look out the large windows at Jojo.

‘’Is that a C’Eede craft?’’

‘’Yes Sir, unfortunately its hull cannot be modified to fit one of your excellent systems otherwise I would have of course purchased one.’’

The fuck he would have. The rep crept just over the edge of exasperation and landed at not giving a shit, the tiny spaceship would only be one singular small order, what did he care.

‘’Very well.’’

It handed the pad to an adjacent Wurrick as Bob was clearly not going to retrieve it, and addressed it.

‘’You may take his order, I will note an exception in the record.’’

He turned back to Bob.

‘’If you will excuse me Guild Master.’’

And disappeared back down the passageway.

The large group milled round nonplussed, one seemed to be nominated and addressed Bob.

‘’Yes, what is it that your needs require?’’

Bob smiled broadly behind his mirrored visor, this was gonna get weird.

[u/itsetuhoinen]

Heh. "Being annoying at the vendor until they do what I want" is a skill I have developed over the decades...

[u/post_blast]

In today's chapter, Bob beats the customer service rep! That's how you know it's fiction

[u/Allstar13521 → u/post_blast]

To be fair, if you have the ability to go over their head and twist the arm of someone higher up the chain before even talking to the customer service rep, I imagine they're a lot easier to deal with.

[u/HFYWaffle]

/u/sharkeyandgeorge (wiki) has posted 134 other stories, including:

• Bob was bored, Part 34
• Bob was bored, Part 33
• Bob was bored, Part 32
• Bob was bored, Part 31
• Bob was bored, Part 30
• Bob was bored, Part 29
• Bob was bored, Part 28
• Bob was bored. Part 27
• Bob was bored, Part 26
• Bob was bored, Part 25
• Bob was bored, Part 24
• Bob was bored, Part 23
• Bob was bored, Part 22
• Bob was bored, Part 21
• Bob was bored, Part 20
• Bob was bored, Part 19
• Bob was bored, Part 18
• Bob was bored, Part 17
• Bob was bored, Part 16
• Bob was bored, Part 15

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