The store's front door slid open with a little hiss. E-Git14 came online. His interface blinked green and blue, followed by a wash of orange as his facial matrix lit up. A soft, polite melody played. Ting ting tee. Ting ting dum.
A man stepped inside. A long torso, short legs, and a bright shirt with an embroidered palm tree over the heart. He hovered just past the threshold, eyes drifting along the walls. It was a narrow room lined with shelves stacked with circuit boards, spools of wire, and unlabeled housings. In the back, a replicator unit hummed steadily.
"Ahoy!" E-Git14 intoned cheerfully. His head was a smooth, matte-gray dome, fitted with a dot-matrix face: simple blinking eyes and a mouth that pulsed gently with each word. "Please enter. TKTKTKTKTK. Fresh FruitShape Water available! TKTKTKTKTK."
The man frowned. "This isn’t... a shirt place?"
"This is not a shirt place," E-Git14 said. "This is the Robotic Electronic Diagnostic and Integrated Component Repair and Remediation Center. But I am happy to talk about TKTKTKTKTK shirts."
"Uh... the what?"
"The Robotic Electronic Diagnostic and Integrated Component Repair and Remediation Center. Or the... TKTKTKTKTK... R-E-D-I-C-R-R-C if that’s easier."
"It’s a, uh… so it’s a place for broken stuff?"