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As the mist cleared and the two figures emerged, the arms and sprayers and suction cups hid themselves away, the systems that controlled them eager to hear the discussion and reaction of the customer. They were surprised, as surprised as semi-sentient AI can be, to see it was an alien.

The alien hissed and clattered his language into a small pad embossed with a TRW Industries logo. A moment later, a stilted but understandable version of the english language buzzed through the air, translating his speech.

Ookami smiled at the compliment, and dove into explaining the two bikes.

"The threewheeler I've explained, standard self-stabilising electric bike thing. This one however is something special. As I said, our machines are pretty smart, and the designs that were sent to the production floor will have been tailored to your build and height - information we had to take when healing that nasty crack in your carapace. It should fit you well."

A rattling, hissing clatter, then - "Interesting. Fascinating. What is it?"

"I'm glad you asked, it's a good question. Looking here, we've got an an electrically propelled bike, same as the threewheeler, but I'm right in thinking Ekhassans use fuelled bikes, and don't have much in the way of solar infrastructure. Right?"

The alien nodded, its four eyes looking over the bike, it's features too alien to tell the AI routines if it was happy. They waited eagerly.

"Well, we can help with that, we have great flattening facilities. However, in the meantime, this is an electric turbine engine. Profoundly efficient as the turbines will just run at their peak efficient speed, charging power cells which power the wheels. The intakes are well out of the way of your limbs. Due to the length of the powerplant, the bike has to be long - hence the bars and distance to the footpegs. We've kept everything off the ground too, you won't have any issues turning, unlike some bikes of this style that I've seen, urgh."

A pause. The alien clearly expected more information.

"Uh, it'll run on whatever fuel you put in it so long as it's thinner than crude oil, so your alcohol will be fine. Hmm... tuning shouldn't be an issue, the turbines use oil for bearings and are made of some pretty fancy alloys we developed over with Zylatech, one of our subsidiaries. Tyres are a standard size, but if you don't make them as wide as the rear there, just hop a portal and we'll fabricate some. Can't think of much else that isn't obvious to a race so intimately experienced with bikes!"

Another, short pause, and then the alien nodded again, chittering to the tablet.

"I am impressed. We have much we can learn from each other. We have much we can collaborate on. I will talk to my nest."

A pause. Chittering.

"We will talk again."

The AI routines, delighted with their success, terminated their connection to the production room and left their owner to finalise the delivery. They had just had a new project delivered to them, and were eager to begin.

Commission for  ArtGuy , who commissioned me to continue their previous bike TF series, which can be found starting here! he also very kindly allowed me to get some use out of my free-to-use Ekhassan species! More information on them here!

Want your own commissioned image? Please check my page for the Featured Submission. That will show my Commission Status! mwah~