Chapter Five

What Is She?

Sun read the book again. They had read through each story and lullaby thrice already. The words had not changed. Although it was nice being able to learn and repeat something quickly, it would be nice to have something more challenging to do.

Sun disliked the boredom that dogged him.

"When do you think John's coming back?"

"Soon?"

They heard footsteps outside.

Sun closed and set down the book. He sat up straight and stared at the door.

The door opened.

Beside John, matching him stride for stride, was a red-haired lady in a dark uniform. She smelled of perfume. She was pale, while John shared Sun's color.

John smiled a nervous, less-than-confident smile and greeted, "Hello! This is Briana. She and I will be testing you." He tipped his head to Briana. She said and did nothing.

Sun looked between them, his own cheer draining.

"I do not trust her," Moon stated firmly. Sun could feel the waver in his voice. Sun's own fear only deepened.

Briana asked, "What's that?" She gestured vaguely to Bonnie. Her soft, almost sweet voice boosted every warning flag Sun both could and could not imagine.

Sun picked up the rabbit and held it up.

Briana blinked, her icy blue eyes not leaving Sun. "Answer me. What's that?"

John started, "Su–"

Briana held up a hand. "John, don't make me tell you again. The bot answers on its own. It's a bot. If it can't follow simple instructions, it's not worth our time and money. Do you think the bot is not worth our time and money?"

"Of course. Yes, they are."

Briana nodded and turned back to Sun. "Speak."

Sun pulled the rabbit closer to himself. "His name is Bonnie. It is a plush toy of Bonnie. He's in the band."

"He certainly is," Briana agreed, both hands behind her back again. "Why do you have him?"

"Practice," Sun answered. "I read him stories and Moon sings lullabies and reads bedtime stories."

Briana shot a look at John. His smile faltered but didn't leave him.

She looked back to Sun again. "Hmm. Practice. Okay. John?"

"Oh, yes. Well! I'm really glad you're practicing," John said. "You certainly act like you are. You're making great progress!"

Sun's tight grip on the rabbit loosened a little and he concentrated fully on John.

"You watched all those DVDs, right?"

"Yes. Um, the battery is dead on the TV."

John sent a glance at the TV. "Oh. Okay, we'll recharge it. Uh, in the case of a fire, what is the first thing that you do?"

"Alert the staff of a fire," Sun stated simply.

"Good, yes, always alert staff. What then?"

"Bring the children to an evacuation point," Sun said. "Carry the smallest and slowest and try to keep calm among them. Though, children are hard to keep calm in an emergency situation."

"Correct! What happens if a child is lost?"

"Give any children I am currently holding to the staff evacuating the children and then retrieve the child."

"Good job! Yes, always be sure the play area is clear of children first. Now, what about in the case of a blackout?"

Sun said, "Gather the children in one place and try to find light for them. There is no need to evacuate unless told otherwise. Try to keep them calm and entertain them. Moon is really nice. He could do that pretty easily!"

Briana shot another look at John.

John said, "Good job! Yes, always keep calm and try to keep the children calm as well. I'm sure Moon will be very good in a situation like that."

John quizzed Sun over fire safety, an earthquake, tornado, building collapse, and terror alert.

Sun asked, "Why would someone try to harm children?"

"There are some not nice people in the world," John said. "You just need to concentrate on keeping the little ones safe, okay?"

"I don't want to hurt anyone."

"Me, neither," John said. "Sun, trust me: you won't be hurting anyone. We can't let that happen. If something happens, you let out an alert immediately. Let everyone in the vicinity know something is wrong."

Sun could feel Moon's apprehension.

"What about Moon?"

"Moon needs to protect the children," John stated. "Alert the staff, but the little ones are the priority. Not as many people are going to be around to help when it's dark, after all."

"Oh. Yeah. Well, I'll still be there. We'll protect them!"

"Yes. I know you will, Sun." John took a quick breath. "Okay. Now, let's go over first aid and basic anatomy." He picked a booklet out of his pocket.

Sun answered these without hesitation. Unfortunately, the DVDs only taught them about simple and basic solutions and physical anatomy. John presented scenarios that were not talked about on the DVD as the said scenarios were incredibly specific.

"Markus just fell off a fence roughly four feet high. He is seven years old and was roughhousing at the time. He's mildly bruised from a previous adventure he had prior to entering the daycare. He's crying and refuses to move. What do you do?"

"Run an initial scan to detect skin breaches and blood," Sun answered.

"Are you sure?"

"Yes. I should be able to complete the scan much more quickly than it would take to prompt him. But I should prompt him, anyway, so that he knows I'm there and that I will help him," Sun answered.

John nodded. "Okay. Your initial scan is able to pick up a skin breach. Markus has scraped his hands. His left hand is bleeding, but his right one is not. It's close to bleeding. Markus tells you his hands hurt and so does his leg. What is next?"

"I need to retrieve a first aid kit and calm Markus down," Sun stated.

"The first aid kit comes first?"

"Well, technically no. The scan and prompting him does. Oh! Do you mean the other children? Yes, I should ask them to move so that no one accidentally hurts him or themselves."

"Okay. There's one child remaining on the wall: a four-year-old boy who was following Markus named Timmy."

"I should bring Timmy down," Sun said. "I am much taller than a four-foot fence, and he is not big enough to pose any sort of problem. But I need to get to Markus very quickly."

"Okay. Timmy is off the fence. Now what?"

"I need to wash off Markus's hands and clean them with antiseptic and then bandage them," Sun said. "His knee hurts, so I should check that."

"His knee is bruised. Nothing is broken or sprained."

"He's just hurting," Sun said. "Okay. So, I have already bandaged his hands and his leg is not seriously injured. He's hurting. I will file a report. Then we can have a lollipop and cheer him up."

John nodded. "Very good. It's best to be quick and careful. Children can get scared very easily by injuries."

Briana cleared her throat.

John glanced at her. "…oh. Right. Sun, what did I say happened to Markus?"

"He scraped his hands and bruised his knee. His left hand was bleeding."

"What should you do about blood?"

"Clean the area with blood very thoroughly with cleaning wipes and file a report," Sun stated.

"Very good! Yes, blood is potentially hazardous. Now, one more scenario. Two children are fighting over a toy. One of them, a six-year-old girl named Rachel, pushes the other, a four-year-old girl named Amanda. Amanda trips over a stool and lands fairly hard. She starts crying. What do you do?"

"First, conduct an initial scan," Sun stated.

"Amanda bumped her elbow but isn't injured."

"Okay. I have to calm her down and find out why the fight started in the first place."

"Amanda is having a hard time calming down. Rachel doesn't want to talk. But she has the doll."

Sun said, "Well, I still need to try to calm her down. She's probably still hurting after her fall. And I have to try to get Rachel to tell me what happened. If I can't, maybe one of the other kids knows what happened? I can get Amanda's side of the story."

John thought for a moment. "Amanda is able to calm down eventually, but she's still upset. She says Rachel took the toy away from her. Rachel said the toy was hers and Amanda tried to take it. The other children don't want to say anything."

"Okay. Well, I'll need to put Rachel in Time-Out. I don't know if the toy really belonged to her or not, so I can't give it to Amanda. But Rachel hurt Amanda and that's not okay."

"Okay. How long will Rachel stay in Time-Out?"

"A few minutes, only long enough for her to calm down and think about what she's done," Sun stated. "After that, I can ask her again. It's okay if she doesn't want to tell me. But she should still stay in Time-Out until she calms down and is ready to apologize to Amanda. She should apologize to Amanda because it's important to get along and make up for being mean."

"Rachel doesn't want to apologize."

"Then she will stay put until she does," Sun stated firmly. "It's wrong to hurt other people."

"Good. Yes, it's very wrong to hurt other people and you should try to get the children to get along as well as you can. You can't let children run around and hurt each other. Some children will be little brats, especially if their parents are brats. Pay close attention to that." He looked back at the camera. "Cut the lights."

The light turned off.

Sun changed into Moon.

John turned back to Moon. "Moon. A boy, five years old, is very upset and can't fall asleep. The other children have already been put to bed, but he does not want to go to sleep. What do you do?"

Moon thought about his answer. "I will need to understand why he is upset. You said first that he could not fall asleep, but then said he did not want to."

"I did, didn't I? Sorry about that. Jeremy doesn't want to go to sleep."

"Why?" Moon asked. "I would need to ask him."

"Jeremy says that he isn't tired."

"What was he doing before this? Was he playing or eating snacks?"

"…hmm. Jeremy has been playing for a while. He ate some crackers and apple juice an hour ago. Sun will not normally be giving children snacks and drinks straight before nap time. He will also make sure the kids are active and so should be tired."

"I can offer a bedtime story or a lullaby," Moon said.

"Jeremy does not want either."

"Jeremy will need to stay still and quiet, then," Moon stated simply. "He should take a nap, but if he does not want to, he still should not disturb the other children. Eventually, he should fall asleep."

"Jeremy doesn't like that and wants to cause a fuss because of it."

"Then I will need to put Jeremy in Time-Out until he calms down. I will have already told him it was time to sleep, I will have read a bedtime story to the other children before bed, and I will have offered another to him. If Jeremy wishes to be obstinate, he can be so in a place where he will not disturb the other children. Eventually, he will tire himself out and we can try again."

"Oh, but that sounds kind of harsh. Maybe he's just upset about something."

"Sometimes you need to be firm, Sun. Not everything can be solved by compromise, especially if that teaches the child that he can get his way if he tries hard enough."

"That's true," John said. "Eventually, Jeremy does calm down. What would you do, then?"

"Then I can bring him back to bed and try again."

"Very good. Now, nap time is almost over and it's time to wake up and for children to put their shoes back on. Two children start fighting, a six-year-old girl named Rachel and a four-year-old girl named Amanda. Rachel pushed Amanda and she fell to the ground. She did not hit any furniture."

"I will need to check on Amanda, first. An initial scan and then prompting her on how she feels."

"She isn't injured. Mostly she was upset about the fight."

"Okay. Then I will need to put Rachel in Time-Out. I will file a report about her behavior and make a note to inform her parent or guardian when they come to pick her up."

"Oh?" John raised an eyebrow. Briana shot a look at John. Moon couldn't guess what she was thinking.

"Rachel fought with Amanda during playtime. If she apologized but hurt Amanda again, she is not being sincere and has not learned her lesson."

John slowly nodded. "Interesting. Okay. Rachel gets over herself fairly quickly and says what she did."

"Good. She still stays in Time-Out for the amount of time I decided, which would most likely be five minutes. I will also need to speak with Amanda. She and Rachel fought twice, first over a toy. They should be kept apart from now on. But I will need to keep an eye on Amanda."

"Really? You think Amanda might have picked those fights?"

"No. A four-year-old girl is unlikely to pick fights with older children. It's not impossible, though. Even if she was a completely innocent party, keeping her separated from Rachel and watching her could prevent another fight from occurring, which could potentially lead to a real injury."

"Interesting. Good job, Moon. That sounds appropriate. I don't think Amanda picked those fights, but she was still part of them. So, keeping her and Rachel separated–a decision that Sun will need to enforce–is smart enough. In this situation, would Sun enforce that decision?"

"Well… I mean… yes. I don't want them to get hurt again."

"Yes," Moon stated. "He does not want them to get hurt again."

"That's good to hear! Moon, Sun, you will both be working together. You need to be able to agree on how to handle certain children and situations. If you disagree and can't find a way to agree, the children's well-being can suffer. The children are the most important in these situations, okay?"

"Yes. I understand."

"Okay."

"Sun does as well."

"Good!" He looked to Briana. "See? Sun and Moon are smart and have their own ways of dealing with situations."

"Right. Well, they certainly know how to answer questions. Lights on." She called the command without looking back.

The light turned on.

The blue animatronic became yellow.

Sun kept his focus on her.

Briana asked, "Read the story 'Jack and the Beanstalk'. Do not look at your book."

Sun tried to recite the story but found he couldn't move much less talk.

"Sun? Are you responsive?"

He couldn't respond coherently. He wanted to respond and to move and to recite the story. He knew the story. Something stopped him.

John said, "Sun–"

Briana held up a hand. "I asked it. It's my turn. Sun: read the story 'Jack and the Beanstalk'. Do not look at your book."

Sun didn't respond.

"Sun? I know you can hear me. Do not be afraid."

Was that what was happening? Briana was scary, so it made sense.

"Did it freeze?" Briana asked, throwing a sharp look at John.

John shook his head. "No, no. He's… anxious. Try not to be impatient. Sun responds easily to calm words."

"It's a bot. It will respond to any command regardless of tone, as long as it understands the command. Does it not understand how to read? How to speak? Can it not remember a short child's story?"

"He can," John responded. "Sun is a very smart animatronic. They both are. It's just hard for him to respond to heavy negativity."

"It's a machine. Machines don't have anxiety." She turned back to Sun. "I will repeat this command one more time. If you are unable to respond to a voice outside of John's, you're not useful to us."

"Bri–"

"Not you!" Briana snipped. She turned back to Sun. "Read the story 'Jack and the Beanstalk'. Do not look at your book."

"Sun, read the story to me. I am interested in this story as well."

Sun managed to choke out a few mechanical noises. After a quick second to gather himself, he said, "Jack in the Beanstalk. Once upon a time, there lived a poor widow and her son, Jack…"

Briana showed no change in emotion throughout the entire story.

Moon listened with rapt attention.

Sun tripped over the giant's wife's voice and mixed up the hen with a goose. Then, he fumbled the giant's signature call and stumbled over his words as he raced to finish the story as quickly as possible so he wouldn't mess anything else up.

"You told her the story. That is what she asked for you to do."

Briana stated, "I didn't memorize the story, but I'm pretty sure the giant had a chicken and not a goose. And that voice was awful. Is the other one like this?"

"He's just nervous…"

"Cut the lights."

The light turned off. Stars glowed from the walls and ceiling. A flashlight fell on Moon.

Moon stared back at her, unflinching.

"Sing the lullaby 'Brother John'. Do not look at the book."

Moon did as commanded.

Briana stared back. "…so, you're more responsive than the yellow one. Sing the lullaby 'Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star'."

Moon complied.

Briana didn't look away. "Why did you give this one glowing eyes? Isn't it supposed to be friendly and not nightmare-inducing?"

"He's friendly," John countered. "He can turn the lights in his eyes on and off. But it's easier to see him in the dark with the lights. But he's nice. The children will love him."

"It's creepy is what it is. It looks dangerous."

"He's not dangerous. He would never harm a child."

"And you would know this?"

John gritted his teeth but kept his voice calm. "I'm the head engineer. I built them. Of course I know that he would know that. I built them and I trained them. They are not a danger and will only benefit the company."

"You baby them is what you do," she stated and turned her gaze on John. "Sun can't respond to a simple command unless repeatedly asked. Moon did. Take whatever you put in Moon and give it to Sun."

"I can't. They were coded differently. Moon is supposed to put children to sleep. He's supposed to be quiet and calm. Sun plays with children. He's supposed to be energetic and loud."

"So, the yellow one is supposed to be an idiot?" she asked.

He could feel Sun's hurt.

Moon bristled. "That is unkind, Briana. Sun is very smart."

"I didn't talk to you. Don't speak to me!" she hissed.

"You are being unkind, Briana," Moon repeated coldly.

Briana shot a look at John.

John pointed out, "You were being mean. He's correcting bad behavior. Moon is doing his job."

Briana hummed and looked down at the blue animatronic. She straightened herself out. "Interesting. Turn on the lights."

Moon twitched. His eyes stopped glowing.

He felt strange.

He was supposed to give over control to Sun and their body would shift into Sun's. Even when the light went on or off unpredictably, they transitioned easily. This time, something pulled at him hard. He tried to give himself up, but the struggle against him was fierce. He shuddered and his fingers twitched. Fear that once leaked from Sun now coiled inside of Moon. What was happening? Was Moon broken?

Briana's eyebrows furrowed. "Is it supposed to do that?"

John immediately stepped forward and knelt in front of them. "Hey, hey, Sun, Moon, calm down. Sun, the light is on. You are supposed to be out, okay? You're not broken. But you will hurt yourself if you keep trying to resist your programming."

Blue and white turned to gold and red. Even to the end, Sun resisted so though the nightcap went away, the spokes around his head were slow to pop back out.

John stood up. "Stay still, Sun." He walked behind the animatronic.

Sun kept perfectly still.

"Why did you resist?"

…

"I do not understand. She cannot hurt you. John would not allow that."

…

"She is mean, nothing more."

John messed with something in the back of Sun's head and checked his phone or a device that looked like a phone hooked up to Sun. Eventually, he turned off the device and unplugged him. "No damage done. Just don't do that in the future, okay? You could seriously hurt yourself." He walked around in front of Sun and picked up his hand, which at the moment tangled with the other as he played with his fingers.

Sun looked up at him.

"Understand? Did you hear me, Sun?"

"Yes."

"Good." John let go. "When the light changes, you do, too. It's part of what you are."

Briana's terse voice chipped in, "John. Come with me."

John bit back a sigh. "I'll see you later." He turned around and followed Briana out.

…

"Moon?" Sun asked, his voice quiet.

"Yes, Sun?"

"I… I don't like this."

"Neither do I."

"But, John's coming back, right?"

"John claimed he would see us again. Did you not hear him?

"Well, yes. But… I'm-I'm–Moony. What was she talking about? Talking to John about me not working?"

"She cannot hurt us."

"But John was scared of her…"

"She won't hurt you. I will not allow it."