Editing Engine Heart (section)

====Cash or Credit?====

<<'''PROGRAMMER'S CHOICE:'''>>

As far as the human infrastructure is concerned, it might not be totally degraded. After all, key to the setting is that a lot of menial tasks are performed by robots. So the power grid is still up, because there's this small army of tiny TrukCo bots that drive about, dropping off their swarm of repair drones in damaged areas. They've even bridged giant gaps caused by the earthquake 100 years ago.

Intelligent trains still run the tracks, accompanied by a 'swarm' of powerloaders, which occasionally have to repair a stretch of track or clear away debris. There isn't as much cargo as there used to be, but because there are factories that are still getting raw materials from certain robot-run mines and the Recyclo-Domes, every other Monday a case of 15 assorted RepliPets gets unloaded at the warehouse in town, and is promptly placed by Forkbot772, and delivered to Toys-4-U the following Wednesday by the last TransPod operating in the city.

The Toys-4-U Forkbot is getting worried. The Stokkbugs have filled all the shelves with Replipets, including most of the Clothing Department (which has been steadily shrinking as the rot sets in, at least the clothes made from natural fibers).

Forkbot-T4U has even suggested 'damaging out' the older Merchandise, anything made before 00, perhaps. The Regi-Sirs wouldn't have it because Sales Have Been Down, but have replaced 99% of the signage with the special Discount signs. They even woke up The Office Mainframe, who consulted the Supply/Demand protocols in the T-4-U office. Since then the Stokkbuggs spend all their free time replacing price tags with '100 for 1¢' stickers.

There's even a few packs of Display Model Replipets on the loose inside the store. Despite the readily available wattage from the store grid, they seem to prefer to hunt down the Stokkbuggs and drain THEIR power instead...

One Wednesday, the shipment never comes. Forkbot calls over the Regi-Sirs, and the Head Stokkbugg. They get Broombroom to open the Human Staff Area for the first time in years. Together, they awaken the Mainframe to communicate with The Office. The Office insists that everything is fine (mostly because the heuristics are so bad that it's in Damage Control Don't Make Anyone Panic mode), the problem must be with Transit. The store then selects a Stokkbug, the backup Forkbot (who has been on Standby for centuries and keeps asking questions the rest of them stopped asking over a hundred years ago), and one of the Regi-Sirs since they've got nothing better to do anyway. They're to find out why the Transpod never showed up.


The Regi-Sirs are now REALLY anxious about sales. They decide to start dropping certain protocols, and go into the mainframe themselves and activate the Googlefind. They manage to locate an operating Credicube, located at the top floor of the Glaxco-Hilton-Express-Staysuites. It could purchase the entire inventory... who to send to retrieve it?

Or, maybe they've decided that signs inside the store don't make sense. Time to venture outside and advertise to the giant masses of consumers who are probably shopping somewhere else. Right? I mean... they've gotta be somewhere. ..right?

And more. All to help the store's robots to fulfill their directives (move inventory, mostly).


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