The black car pulled up and its side door slid open, beckoning Maphira and Vai inside. The detectives climbed in, as Maphira adjusted her phone, ensuring the Captain would be able to hear anything that happened.
She wiped sweat from her brow, praying to whatever dark deity ruled over the cosmos that this would go well. If it was a trap, they were well and truly, royally stuffed like a turkey.
They found nobody in the back of the car, and a partition stood between them and the driver. As the door closed automatically and the car started down the street, a robotic voice sounded from a nearby speaker.
“Detectives Maphia and Vai, thank you for trusting us with your lives. Please forgive the convoluted nature of this meeting. You did well to get through the call with a ute canopies business from Melbourne. We used that business as a front, offering to sell aluminium ute trays and toolboxes to weed out anyone who we do not want following us.”
Maphira cleared her throat. “Alright, what’s with all this mysterious nonsense? Who are you? If you don’t sell under tray toolboxes for utes or log replacement services, what do you do?”
“Rest assured, Detective, that our ute accessories ruse was completely necessary. We are defectives from the Conclave of Mechanists, having seen through their dark plots. I am sure you already know that they plan to take over the world and create a utopia where robots and machines dominate.”
“Yeah,” said Maphira. “So, can you tell us anything we don’t already know?”
“This may seem like a complete waste of time to have dragged you all this way for something so small, but know we would only take such extreme precautions if it was absolutely necessary. If you want to stop the Conclave, you won’t be doing it without this information.”
“Get on with it!” Vai said, in an uncharacteristic outburst. “Tell us what you know already!”
“Investigate Commercial Solar Systems. There, you will find the answers you seek.”