“Why is this damn life goddess fucking shit not working?!” Phovos snarled as she tried to work out how the key she was holding worked. It wasn’t a standard key, rather some sort of holographic, hard light rubicks cube. Somehow, Phovos needed to manipulate the cube so its icons would match the icons of the door in front of her.
“It’s life goddess tech,” Tenuk frowned. “It’s literally magic.”
“It is also completely surrounding our objective…” Retvik sighed, taking the cube from Phovos’s hands. He inspected it a few times over, then sighed some more. “We could try that company Galyn recommended. Maybe they-”
Phovos snatched the cube back, clearly rather annoyed. “I should be able to do this shit but I can’t! I’m a fucking shit life goddess.”
“No, this particular cube is just problematic,” Retvik tried to calm Phovos down. “I think we should call that company. After all, they specialize in making and taking apart Life Goddess technologies.”
“I’ma call them now!” Elksi beamed. “Calling them!”
Elksi pulled out a small long-range communicator and tapped a number into it, then set the communicator to Loud Speaker, so the others could listen in. A gentle voice echoed from the communicator, giving a list of instructions. After a little waiting, the call was picked up by what they all assumed was a living being, not a bot.
“Hello and welcome to Antizonasta Tech Services, this is Agent #30 speaking, how can I help you?”
Retvik, Elksi, Phovos and Tenuk all glanced at each other, all of them feeling a little confused for a moment.
“Hello?” The voice repeated itself. “How can I help you?”
“Uh, hai!” Elksi eventually responded. “We got a cube here. Life Goddess tech. It’s making a big, spherical field. We have a cube key but can’t get it to work.”
The voice perked up. “Oh no problem, ser! Would you be able to give me the product number of this device?”
Phovos fumbled with the cube for a moment.
“Uh, how do we get the product number?”
“If you have a Life Goddess with you, you place the product on the floor and tap the top of it five times, it should reveal a code.”
The Raptor did as she was told, then looked rather surprised when it worked. “Alright… the product number is K987679E98986Y.”
“Wonderful!” the voice replied. “Give me a moment while I look up the product.”
The voice put the call on hold, and some unusual-sounding music began to play. However, it didn’t last long, and the voice quickly came back.
“Hello again, thank you for holding! I’ve looked up the product details. I have sent the instructions to your device, including how to deactivate the shield and reset its passwords. Do you require remote assistance?”
Elksi tapped on her device. A zipped folder had appeared, containing various guides on how to use the cube key.
“I think that is all we need!” Elksia beamed. “Can we call you back if we have any problems?”
“Of course! If you need further assistance, please call again and request Agent #30, and you’ll be put through. Is there anything else you need?”
The four beings all glanced at each other again.
“That’s everything,” Elksi smiled some more. “Thankies!”
“Alright! Thank you for calling Antizonasta Tech Services, have a nice day!”
The line closed, and Elksi rummaged through the virtual files she had been given. However, Retvik, Tenuk and Phovos all remained silent, taking a moment to reflect on what had just happened.
Elksi continued to be jolly and bouncy, having just found what she needed. She bashed on the top of the cube twice, rotated it three times then pressed a fresh button that had appeared. Immediately, the large shield flashed white, then completely vanished.
“Yay, it worked!” Elksi beamed, bouncing a little. “Wasn’t Arkay helpful?”
“That can’t have been Arkay!” Tenuk exclaimed. “Whoever they were, they were far too happy and helpful to have been Arkay! And surely Arkay would have recognized Elksi speaking!”
“No, that was definitely Arkay…” Retvik sighed. “This does complicate matters.”
“How so?” Elksi asked, now looking confused. “He just helped us, that was all. Did his job. And now we can do our job!”
Phovos grunted, then kicked down the formerly shielded door. “Whatever. Let’s just loot this place and get out of here. We can discuss that familiar voice later…”