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I've been working on creating a longer story and I've come up with "The Accidental Toddler". The story is has the familiar plot of being stuck in an automated daycare / nursery set in a near future setting. As always, feedback is welcomed. Chapter 1: The Mistake In the not-too-distant future, automation had become a way of life. Everything from driving cars to making coffee was handled by computer systems. One such system was the Potty Training and Developmental Education program. It was designed to help young children learn basic hygiene, social skills, and even some early education. The program was championed as a pre-school / head start program that advanced children’s development. The program was highly efficient, and it had helped countless families over the years. With its automated systems, parents could focus on their work without having to worry about taking care of their children's basic needs. Jack is a tall and lanky man with sharp features and a prominent nose. He has short, curly hair that's a deep shade of brown and is usually styled in a messy, tousled manner. His eyes are a piercing blue and seem to gleam with intelligence and wit. He carries himself with an air of confidence and has a quick, easy smile that can charm almost anyone. Despite his somewhat aloof demeanor, he is fiercely loyal to those he cares about and will go to great lengths to protect them. Jack had recently graduated from college and was struggling to find work in his field as more and more jobs were rapidly moving to automation. As he was scrolling through job listings on his tablet, he came across an ad for a job at the early development center. Without reading the details carefully, he assumed it was a regular daycare type of role and applied by uploading his details. Unfortunately, Jack had made an embarrassing rookie mistake when filling out the application. Instead of applying for a job at the development center, he mistakenly signed up for the potty training and early development program. The computer system was supposed to verify the applicant's age before successfully registering them, but due to a simple coding error within the systems’ source code, it failed to do so. As a result, the uploaded data to the system registered Jack as a toddler. It would only be 10 minutes later that Jack would receive the confirmation email informing him of his mistake. At first, Jack was confused and he attempted to contact the program to explain the mistake, but he couldn't get through to anyone as the system routed his call through a series of automated menus. These automated menus always ended him back to the original menu indicating a problem that would need a human to fix. He decided the best course of action was to walk to the program's office in person, hoping to clear things up. As he entered the office, he was greeted by an automated receptionist. He explained the situation, but the receptionist didn't understand. The system had already registered him, and there was no way to reverse it. The only option was to start the training program or face legal consequences for breaking the law. Jack was shocked to learn that the program was not just a voluntary service but mandatory by law for all children under the age of three. The system had been implemented as a way to ensure that all children received the same level of early education and care, regardless of their family's financial status. He was left with no choice but to accept the situation and start the training program. However, there was a catch. Since the system had registered him as a toddler, it was causing major coding faults to happen within the system. Code that hadn’t been reviewed and revised over decades begin to fault back to a non-production fail-safe subroutines that had not been updated since the completion of the system. Jack unhappily signed in and validating his identity using the biometrics scanner at the registration desk, a second robot came out and directed Jack to the intake room. In the room Jack was striped of his clothes before he was taken to the showers. A warm shower with a complete scrub down from head to toe was preformed by the robot. Once done with the shower, Jack was dried off and led over to a changing table. Before Jack arrived, the wall behind the changing table rotated and the once child sized table was swapped for one now in his size. “Great, just when I thought things couldn’t get worst” Jack said under his breath as his only hope that the center wouldn’t be able to accommodate his size begin to diminish. Jack hopped up on the table shivering a little bit from the cold plastic as he laid down. It was useless to fight the system as one way or another he was going to have to at least get into the main room in hopes of contacting someone. The machine quickly scanned Jack and a series of sounds happened beneath the changing table as the automated system searched for a diaper in his size. After a few minutes the system had found it’s answer as Jack, wide eyed watched as a generic scaled up version of a Huggies diaper is slid underneath him before pulling up between his crotch. With the closing of the second tape on his diaper the reality of his situation set in. Jack's mind raced with questions. How was he going to function like this? Would he be forced to go outside where people could see him? What if someone he knew saw him like this? The embarrassment alone was enough to make him want to crawl into a hole and never come out. As Jack was led out of the intake room, he realized that he was now dressed in a full toddler outfit. He was wearing a green short-sleeved onesie with snaps at the crotch, and a pair of bright yellow shorts with a cartoon character on the front. A pair of white socks and light up Velcro-strapped shoes completed the ensemble. Jack felt humiliated as he waddled along in his new outfit, feeling the bulky diaper between his legs. He was directed into a brightly lit room filled with toys, play mats, and small tables and chairs. Surprisingly, Jack was the only one in the playroom which Jack felt out of place as his town although small it definitely had growing families. Suddenly, a voice startled Jack as it boomed out over the room's speaker system, "Hello there little one, my name is Emily and I'll be your guide here at the center. How are you feeling?" Chapter 2: Acceptance Jack sat in the playroom, surrounded by toys and colorful objects that were meant for toddlers. He felt angry at himself for his mistake and how he could be so careless. He had never felt so helpless in his life. He couldn't believe that he was stuck in this situation, forced to go through potty training and education programs meant for young children. As he sat there, feeling sorry for himself, the door to the playroom opened, and a young woman walked in. She was in her mid-twenties, with blonde hair and blue eyes. She introduced herself as Emily, a teacher at the center. "Hi, I'm Emily. I'm sorry to meet you under these circumstances," she said, looking at Jack with sympathy. Jack didn't know how to respond. He was embarrassed and could easily feel his face turning 3 shades of red. He just nodded his head, hoping that she had a solution to his problem. Emily sat down next to him, sensing his unease. "I know this must be terrible for you, but I'm here to help you.” “We’re going to try and get you out of the system but to be honest it isn’t looking good." Jack couldn't believe what he was hearing. He sat in shock that the reality of being treated like a toddler was only getting more and more certain every minute. "Thank you," he said, surprised by her kindness. “There has to be a way out of this! I mean, I'm not a child. I shouldn't be here!" Emily looked at him with empathy. "I know, this isn’t right, but unfortunately, there's nothing we can do. The system is secure, and we’re trying everything we can to override it. “We’re attempting to reach out to anyone from the company that helped build the system but we’re running into walls”. “For now, you'll have to follow the potty-training program." Jack sighed, feeling hopeless." “But, how am I supposed to go through this?’ “I’m already potty trained and I’m not a toddler!" Emily understood his frustration. "I know it's terrible, but you’re going to have to try. The system is highly advanced and is designed to recognize patterns and behaviors, and if you don't act like toddler, it may mark your behavior as abnormal.” “If that happens it will only make getting you out of here even harder as it will assign you to a different class that we don't have access to.” “You have to go through the program like any other child while we work to get you out of here." Jack realized he had no choice. He would have to participate in the program, but he didn't know how he would manage to act like a toddler. He had never had little brother or even really been around small children to know how to act. Emily saw the look of despair on his face and decided to offer some comfort. "Look, I know this is not easy, but I promise to help you as much as I can. I'll be your teacher, and I'll make sure you're comfortable and happy.” “We'll work through this together." Jack felt a glimmer of hope. Maybe, with Emily's help, he could get through this. He smiled, feeling grateful for her kindness. "Thank you," he said. "I appreciate your offer of help" Emily smiled back but begin to look concern when Jack’s sighed. "I just don't even know how a toddler behaves so how am I’m going act like one? “I've never had a little brother or been around small children." Emily nodded in understanding. "No worries Jack. I'll help you as I’m pretty experienced in that category. In general, toddlers tend to be curious and playful, and they love to explore their environment. They also have short attention spans, so we'll keep things fun and interesting for you. We'll have to jump from play games, to reading stories, and other activities to try and meet that expectation." Jack smiled at the idea of playing games and actually having the time to read. "That sounds like it could be relaxing." Emily chuckled. "It will be. As for the potty training program.” “It’s divided into three sections: assessment, training, and qualification. The system will start with an assessment of your current skills to develop a plan that is tailored to you, and then move on to the training phase. “Once you've completed one level, you'll be able to move on to the next level." Jack felt a little relieved at the idea of the program being divided into sections. "Okay, that doesn't sound too bad." “Hopefully you guys can get me out of her before we even enter training phase and I just get to relax reading” Jack said as he relaxed his posture and leaned back in his playpen. Emily placed a reassuring hand on his shoulder. "Well…” “The problem with the assessment phase is the system is looking for a specific behavior to ensure that the child is ready for potty training.” “Which means you’re going to have to act out those behaviors or the system will mark you as Not Ready”. “Not ready assessment is not what you want as that means you’re not going to be progressing and you’re stuck here.” Emily continued, "But this is a good thing, being qualified as “Not Ready” can be a fail-safe for us in the event you might be close to getting sent to a different class.” “Not Ready status ensures the child kept in the same class to avoid any further setbacks due to changing environments.” “We need go over the behaviors soon as the system begins the assessment phase the moment the child is dropped off.” “Know starting back at 0 is not ideal, but it's better than being sent to a different classroom." “I know I probably don’t want to know the answer but what would cause me to fall back to “Not Ready” status?” Jack asked with a bit of fear. Emily sensing the uneasiness from Jack answered “You’re not ready for that answer and we will cross that bridge if we have too”. Jack nodded, feeling a little more confident worried knowing that there was a way to prevent him from being stuck in this toddler program forever. "Okay, I understand." Emily smiled again. "Good. Now, let's get started on the assessment phase.

I need it since it looks like it can hold a lot