The Daycare Attendant

Screws and bolts

"Sun?"
I turn my head.
"Oh hi Miss Vanessa!"
"The daycare is closing soon, did all kids leave?"
"All kids safely got to their parents!" I smile.
"Good. Time to get you ready for bed too then." Vanessa walks me over to the security desk. Every day we have a checkup and cleanup moment there before I recharge. Miss Vanessa always asks me the same questions.
"Alright big man, crouch for me please."
I sit down on my knees so I'm at eyehight for her. I let her pick the stickers off my arms. Kids love to put them all over me.
"Anything happened that I gotta know of?"
I sigh.
"Yeah."
"Oh?"
"When it was naptime, and Moon was out, Moon was receiving some sort of electric shocks. Luckily he was able to get himself out of harm's way and he switched to me."
"Really?" Miss Vanessa wipes crayon marks off my pants.
"Yes. Moon felt like he was being corrupted."
Miss Vanessa looks at me.
"He felt like if it went on any longer, he might have harmed the children." I frown.
"Oh dear, do you want me to let you get a mechanical checkup done?"
"That might be best right now. I do not want there to be something in this body that might harm the children."
Miss Vanessa writes it down on her hand with a pen. She looks at me.
"Anything else I gotta know of?"
"I don't think so. Hey Miss Vanessa, can I ask you something?"
"Always!"
"When can I see Freddy and the others again? I miss talking to them."
She thinks.
"I don't know. I guess you guys deserve a day off as well. I'll see when I can arrange something, but you should first get fixed up. I'll pick you up later tonight, before 12, for your checkup. Until then, amuse yourself and stay here, okay?"
I nod and smile. I watch as she leaves my daycare and I make my way to my room. I refuse to charge myself. It will be better if my battery is low when they do the checkup, so I can't get more corrupted and lash out at the workers. I sigh and look around for something to do.

"Sun? It's time bud!"
I look out from my stage. Has it already gotten so late?
"I'm on my way down!" I take a dive into the ballpit and make my way to the entrance, where Miss Vanessa is waiting for me. She takes me by the hand.
"Alright, you'll be down for about an hour as we try to figure out what is wrong with you."
There definitely is something wrong with me.
"That's fine with me!"
I haven't had repairs done in a while, mainly because most children are respectful towards me. Montgomery and Roxanne come here most often, because of the nature of their areas. I look around. It's a bit odd that there is a Recharge Station for only Freddy here. I don't think too much of it
As we arrive at parts and service, I greet the workers. I norice that there's a new one among them. I look at them. They wear an olive green hijab and have wonderful dark eyes.
"Hello there! I believe we haven't met before?"
They awkwardly smile. "My name is Solara, nice to meet you."
"Solara is a wonderful name!" I crouch down to get to eyehight with them.
"Solara means Sun, right? We have the same name then!" I smile.
"Really?" They light up a bit.
"Yeah! Isn't that magical?" I smile. I see they're wearing a pin beneath their nametag. It says 'she/they'. I immediately note that in my system. I hand them a sundrop as a small gift.
"Well, I wish all of you the best of luck, please fix me up. I don't want there to be a possibility of me or Moon inflicting harm on anyone. My battery is low so I shouldn't be able to lash out." The door opens and I get into the cylinder, I place myself on the chair.
"Please help me."
"We will do our best."
I then enter sleep mode.

In sleep mode, I'm alone with my thoughts and thoughts only. I can't see anything but the backsides of my metal eyelids. I can lightly feel them playing with the wires in my backlatch. Every now and then, I get a small spasm in my hands, but that's the most I can do.
My thoughts are color coded. Moon's thoughts are a navy blue, mine are gold. This way I can talk to Moon and Moon can talk to me, without it getting confusing.
"What are they doing to us Sun?"
"They're trying to find where the corruption is coming from."
"Ah. I'm glad. It was very scary when it happened, I don't want it to happen again."
"I know, neither do I."
I feel the cogs in my back whirring and occasionally stopping. Some screws are being removed. Someone is soldering something.
I wonder if they found anything.
"Sun, will they fix us?"
"They are doing their best."
"If they can't fix us, I refuse to be around the children. I do not want to harm them."
"I know Moon. I'll do anything to protect them. Worst case scenario we'll have to scrap Naptime."
"I'm okay with that if it means I won't harm anyone."
More whirring. Screws are being put back in. I'll be back up in less than a minute.

"Alright, all done. Testing done as well. We couldn't find anything, Sun."
I sigh and sit up.
"It's alright, you've all done your best."
Solara looks disappointed in herself. I look at her.
"Hey, no worries", I take her hand, "you did great! Let's just hope it was a temporary problem. I bet if it was visible, you would've found it and removed it."
I can see she's still upset with herself, but she smiles regardless. I get up from the chair, crouch down and give her a hug. She sighs.
"I'm just sad that I couldn't help you."
"That's okay, not all problems are solveable and that's not your fault sunshine. I bet you can help others and fix them up in no time!"
They smile. I leave the cylinder and Miss Vanessa transports me back to the daycare.
"Were you really unable to find anything?"
"Sadly there didn't seem to be any issues according to the mechanics."
"Hm. Oh well. I'll think of what to do together with Moon, maybe it's better if Naptime gets taken off the schedule."
"I agree. I'm sorry Sun." She looks up at me. I smile back. I wish this wasn't happening. She takes me to my stage using an elevator and opens the latch in my back. She takes out my charging cord and plugs it into the socket in the wall.
"Miss Vanessa?"
"Yes?"
I sigh. "Could you give me a hug?"
Miss Vanessa looks at me. At first I sense some surprise, but a smile appears on her face. She quickly puts her arms around my neck. I retract some of my sunrays and she puts her head on my shoulder. She sighs.
This is what we both needed in this moment.