Marutech Stores

The Marutech Stores are autonomous, free floating shopping malls that have been in operation for centuries, where they may remain untouched for decades.

Description
A Marutech Store appears as a large, cubical warehouse atop what appears to be a sharp asteroid. Aside from the door and the Marutech logo, their exterior is featureless. In the color page of Chapter 8, the warehouse is orange and the asteroid green.

Inside, they have hundreds of rooms connected by winding tunnels, with products ranging from furniture and game consoles, to ancient toys, weapons and food courts.

History
The Marutech Stores were set into operation centuries ago as autonomous shopping malls. Shortly after beginning operation they became accosted by pirates, who swiftly discovered that at the slightest provocation, all Marutech Stores are set to self-destruct. This explosion is strong enough to take out an entire fleet of pirates. This happened a few more times before everyone learned that it is pointless to try to steal from Marutech, and the stores are never attacked anymore.

The Marutech Corporation may have (or have had) connections to the Photosfere, since their Fleshbots use Photosfere technology.

Operation
To shop at a Marutech Store, one need only present any ID at the door and enter, whereupon they are greeted by an AI declaring they may remain in the store for 12 hours, after which it will self-destruct if they haven't left.

To navigate the store and carry products, a client may use a Marutech Shopping Cart, a flat, insect-like vehicle, which will make navigating the tunnels much easier. The stores are also “staffed” by Fleshbots, which Shimada mentions aren't robots at all, instead they are lobotomized criminals with the top of their heads removed and a control device installed into their exposed brain, which gives them orders and keeps them subservient through drugs. Their heads are covered by a transparent bag, presumably to slow rotting. Moja mentions that a Fleshbot remains functional for around 50 years, after which their control device is removed and they’re thrown into the basement, where they slowly rot and die.

Products
The Marutech Stores stock thousands of items, kept in good condition even centuries later, some shown products include the following:


 * Sleepygell
 * “Alternate Dimension Death RUN” Action Figures
 * Torture Devices
 * Tables, chairs and beds
 * Bathroom furniture
 * Computers
 * Game consoles and games
 * Fast Food