Pandora had worked for two days, taking up both Saturday and Sunday as she worked with the assorted power tools to make her new creation. It took some doing, especially since she was only five years old. But she managed to create her robot nanny.
The reason for this? Her mother, the famous rabbit police officer, Judy Hopps had given birth to a litter of half-fox, half-rabbit kittens. That weekend, Nick and Judy's maternity leave was almost over. And Pandora, being an introverted young girl, did not trust anyone to look after her, or her newborn siblings.
Not that she didn't trust any of her parent's friends or family to take care of them, she just didn't want to inconvenience anyone, especially not her Uncle Davies. Knowing full well that not only did he have a bit of a fear of small children, and his autism limited what he could do without being overwhelmed. But that in his condition, bound to a wheelchair. He'd be overwhelmed by fourteen hybrids, plus Pandora herself. To say nothing of Finnic... of whom she was glad whenever he left.
So, over the last weekend when her parents would be home, Pandora busied herself with creating a robot that would take care of her, and her newborn siblings. It had roughly six arms, a head that looked like a salvaged video camera was covered in bright paint splatters, and it moved about with some manner of hover device.
Pandora turned the robot on. "Ah! I-... who are you?" The robot asked as it took notice of its creator. It was a small mammal, with long fox-like ears, a short-to-medium muzzle, red fur, her left eye was purple while the right was green, and she was wearing a dress that was covered in industrial debris.
"I'm Pandora, I made you. Now state your directive." Pandora said curtly.
"Yes, I am Nanny-Bot. I am programmed for childcare; in addition, I can entertain and protect children." Nanny-Bot said.
"And I was worried that your programming would be corrupted or something," Pandora said, then Nick and Judy entered the tool shed she was working out of.
"Pandora, what are you doing- what is that?" Judy asked as she and Nick looked at the Robo-Nanny in bewilderment.
"Mom, dad! This is... this is something I made. Something that can help with taking care of my brothers and sisters..." Pandora explained anxiously.
"Okay... did you make this in JUST the tool shed?" Nick asked, looking over the Robo-Nanny.
"Well, yeah I've spent the last two days-"
"You made this, in the tool shed... in JUST two days?!" Nick said in surprise.
"Pandora, sweaty, mommy and daddy don't... dislike this robot. It's more that we're just... surprised that you made this at all." Judy said, going down on one knee to look Pandora in the eye. "I mean, do you even know how to create an A.I.?"
"Oh no mom, I found the AI in a flash drive," Pandora said.
"What?" Judy said in surprise.
"It was in your room, and it had a little drawing of a sheep lady on it," Pandora said.
"Oh... what's the robots name?" Judy asked looking concerned.
"Nanny-bot," Pandora said, unaware of her mother's anxiety.
"Well, you're only five. Nanny-bot, can you access your memories prior to activation please?" Judy said.
"Accessing memories: Error, memories are blocked by a firewall. Cannot access them at this time." Nanny-bot said.
"Well that's weird, why would there even be a firewall?" Pandora said.
"Oh thank goodness... Pan, next time you make a robot like this. Could you PLEASE run it by us? It's not that we don't trust you... it's just that the flash drive you used is VERY dangerous. And your daddy and I would never forgive ourselves if you got yourself hurt." Judy said.
"Where did you even get all these parts? And- IS THIS A HOVER SKIRT?!" Nick said, still bewildered by what he was looking at.
"Well, all the parts I got were right here in the shed," Pandora said.
"Wait... you mean to tell me. That you somehow made a robot, with a HOVER SKIRT? With only scraps, in the tool shed?!... we need to talk to Selene." Nick said.
"In the morning Nick, for now. You need to get some sleep young lady. And maybe get your new robot inside." Judy said they went inside the house.
"Goodnight Pandora," Judy said as she tucked in Pandora.
"And Nanny-bot? It's rude to just turn her off." Pandora said.
"Uh... right. Goodnight, Nanny-bot." Judy said awkwardly.
"Goodnight, Judy." The Nanny-bot said, Judy then pressed Nanny-bots off button.
"I know you can't hear me... but I can tell that mommy and daddy don't like you. But don't worry; they'll learn to like you." Pandora said to the deactivated Nanny-bot.
"I knew we should have hidden that flash-drive better," Judy said under her breath.
"Well, you heard it Carrots. She doesn't know that she's Bellwether. I think you're ignoring the detail that our little Pancake made that thing out of SCRAPS, in a tool shed!" Nick pointed out.
"I'm very much aware and surprised by that. But what happens if that Nanny-bot somehow overcomes the firewall that Selene put on the brain-mapping card? The last thing we need is Bellweather with six arms." Judy said in concern.
"How about this, we get Selene to look her over? See if she's actually as safe as Pan, think's she is. It doesn't get turned into scrap... again." Nick said.
"When we get to work tomorrow, maternity leave is almost over... and I want it to end on a high note. And not worry about our daughter potentially bringing a mad-mammal back to life." Judy said.
"Game night with Davies?" Nick asked.
"Can I count on you, to take care of the kits?" Judy asked Nick's eyes began to well up with tears.
"Y-Y...you don't trust me to take care of our children?" Nick sobbed.
"Shut up you dumb fox," Judy said playfully.
The following Saturday. Selene had arrived in the Wilde-Hopps's backyard, as the okapi was far too big to fit into the Wilde-Hopps home. "Nice design you got here. And you're telling me that she built all this from some scrap in your tool shed?" Selene asked as she knelt down to get a better look at the Nanny-bot.
"Yes... of which I may never stop being baffled by. I mean... HOW does that happen?" Nick said.
"Well, my sister and I told you she'd be intelligent... just wouldn't have figured that she'd be this smart so soon," Selene said as she looked over the flash drive that was the main cause of Judy's concerns. She plugged it into her laptop computer, after putting it into a number of adaptors to account for its relatively small size. "Ah good, the firewall protocol is in effect and is keeping Bellwether from directly controlling that bot... does not explain how it was working at all. Unless... there's a hole in the firewall. It's small, just big enough for Bellwether's consciousness to act on the programming that Pandora put in place, but not much else." Selene said.
"Is there a chance that hole could get bigger?" Judy asked with concern.
"Yes, a very big one in fact. Unless the firewall is regularly reinforced, Bellwether's full consciousness will take control of this robot." Selene said.
"Why did you even make a digital copy of Bellwether in the first place?!" Nick said.
"It seemed like a good idea at the time... I don't remember WHY I thought it was a good idea. At any rate, has this thing done any harm to any of your kits?" Selene asked.
"No... But it does scare them. Believe me, I can tell that there unnerved by it." Judy said.
"Hmm... you know, I could maybe give Pan some pointers on how to make more... aesthetically pleasing robots." Selene said.
"That will depend entirely on Pandora," Judy said, though unbeknownst to any of them. Pandora had been eavesdropping on the entire exchange. She then snuck her way back into the house.
"Mommy, daddy what are- WHOA! You are tall!" Pandora said in surprise as she saw Selene for the very first time.
"You never have seen an okapi before?" Selene asked as she stood up, casting a long shadow over the young hybrid.
"N-No... but. Look, what are you doing with the Nanny-bot?" Pandora said, playing ignorant.
"Just... admiring your robot, of course, I've made better at a much smaller scale. But still, the fact that you even made a working robot out of junk is rather impressive for someone so young." Selene said lying through her teeth.
"Yeah... I just put her together from what I found in the toolshed." Pandora said.
"Fair enough, now... I would like to offer you the chance to learn more about creating robots. Refine your obvious talents... maybe even work in coding an AI." Selene said.
"...I'm five, and I don't even know your name lady," Pandora said curtly.
"Pandora," Judy said sternly.
"My name is Selene. I work with your parents down at Precinct 1." Selene said.
"The ZPD has... whatever you said you were as officers?" Pandora said.
"A few, but I'm not one of them. I mainly help with computers and technology. So what do you say?" Selene said.
"Don't see why not, might even give the Nanny-bot a new body. I'm in." Pandora said.
"Splendid! We can start next week. I just came over to look at your Nanny-bot. Goodbye Pandora. I hope to see you then." Selene said as she left the premises.
"Well... that was neat," Pandora said flatly.
"And you must want the Nanny-bot back, right Pancake?" Nick said.
"Yes, also, please. PLEASE stop calling me 'Pancake'?" Pandora said as she turned on the Nanny-bot.
"It's just your father trying to be funny... and fails miserably every time," Judy said.
Later that day, Pandora was on the computer. Looking up information on Bellwether... and didn't find anything substantial, as she didn't know the first name. Of the sheep that incited the Night Howler Crisis a little over five years ago. So instead she looked up information on the Night Howler Crisis itself and found much better results.
"So... the lady who started that Night Howler Crisis was a Prey Supremacist, is now the main CPU of the Nanny-bot?... well, that's a bit of a step down for her. Just gotta figure out how to keep her flash drives firewall from completely breaking... and the best way to that. Would learn from Selene... I hate it when I answer my own questions like this." Pandora said to herself.