Chapter 1

Early in the morning, sunlight poured down on the rainforest in patches, looking like glowing spots in the trees. Iris fluffed her feathers and yawned. Today was the Treasure Hunt! Iris loved the Treasure Hunt. It marked the first day of summer, and all the participants flew out into the rainforest in search of the golden apples that the mayor, Whitetail, had hidden. It was sort of like a race! Iris competed every year, and almost always won. And even if she didn't, there was also a potluck held at the end of the hunt, so everyone was happy.

Iris grabbed her bag, hopped out of her nest and climbed up the tree she lived in with her sharp talons. Other parrots that had their nests in this tree were stirring too. They were having breakfast, or trying to wake up sleepy chicks, or preparing for the Treasure Hunt. At the top of the tree, delicious nuts grew. Iris ate a few, then gazed at the view. Iris had been up here before, but she was still awed every time she saw how beautiful the rainforest was from this height. She could see just above the canopy of the rainforest, and the early morning sky was shades of orange. Pink, fluffy clouds lazily floated past.

Iris stood there for a moment, taking in the view, before she suddenly soared down below the canopy.

She began to fly towards the Clearing, the place in the rainforest where there were large, fancy shops, and where all the big events were held. Iris admired the beautiful plants that grew in the rainforest, little bursts of color that stood out amongst the green of the vines and shrubs. She had heard of places where there were almost no plants, hot as the sun or cold as ice. Iris couldn't imagine living in such a place.

Soon, Iris heard parrots chatting and smelled food cooking. She flew ahead straight into the Clearing, where she saw a crowd of parrots around the center rock. Most of the crowd were spectators, there to see who won, or to eat the delicious food. But about a fifth were wearing golden ribbons on their tails, meaning they were Hunters. Iris gently glided down to a stall with a cockatoo in it.

“Hello!” he cheerfully said. “Are you part of this year's Treasure Hunt?”

“Yes, I am.” Iris replied as she handed a ticket to the parrot.

“Ok! Good luck!” he squawked. He then reached into a small box and pulled out a golden ribbon.

“Thank you! Happy Treasure Hunt!” Iris said, tying the ribbon to her tail. She then went to join the crowd.

“Hey, over here!” she heard a familiar voice exclaim. She followed the voice, and found her best friend, Fern.

“Hey Fern! How are you doing?” she happily peeped. Fern also competed every year. However, unlike Iris, he was born with a tail defect, causing him to be unable to fly. Even so, he was still as fast as most parrots and hopped from branch to branch instead of flying.

“I’m pretty good.” Fern replied, warming up by walking in place. “Olivia said that she might be able to fix my tail!”

“Really?!” Iris exclaimed in disbelief. Iris wondered, Olivia is smart, but is she that smart? Fern opened his beak to reply, but suddenly, mayor Whitetail swooped onto the center rock. A hush fell over the crowd. Whitetail was the biggest parrot here, an albino macaw.

“Hello, and welcome, to this year’s Treasure Hunt!” his voice boomed. The crowd of parrots cheered. “This year’s Hunt is going to be the best one yet, with a lineup of talented contestants, and some wonderful dishes. Hunters, please step forward.” Iris, Fern, and several other parrots stepped out of the crowd, with excited yet nervous looks on their faces. One of the contestants, a small lovebird, looked like he had just grown his flight feathers, the minimum age requirement for the Treasure hunt. He was bouncing on his talons with a thrilled look on his face.

“Here are the rules. Only one apple per Hunter. Stay in the marked area. No re-hiding apples. No tackling or pecking other Hunters. Be a good sport. And finally, remember to have fun!”

More cheers from the crowd came. Iris fluffed her bright red feathers and took a deep breath.

“Ready...”

Iris stood there, waiting for the signal with the other Hunters.

“Set...”

She was ready for this.

“GO!” Whitetail announced. Every parrot that was at the starting point had darted off, flying into the trees. Iris saw Fern out of the corner of her eye, running and hopping along as fast as some of the flying Hunters. Iris swooped to the right, easily avoiding the dense shrubbery. She scanned the ground, looking for anything that glistened.

Suddenly, a twinkle caught Iris’s attention. She quickly landed and searched the area. She spun around and spotted a cave. Inside, there was a small, shiny object. She hopped closer, wondering why the mayor would think to hide an apple here. But as she got closer, she realized it was not an apple. Not even close.

It was roughly the size and shape of a baby chick, but it was not fluffy, had strange markings, and was exceptionally shiny. It had a strange, smooth, silver body, and scattered around it, were little metal wheels. Iris sat there in confusion for a moment, trying to think of where this could have come from.

Wait! Olivia does stuff like this, doesn’t she? Iris thought. Maybe if she brought this... thing...to her, she would be able to explain what it was. Iris carefully picked up the metallic object and placed it in her bag, along with the wheels. As she tried to take off outside of the cave, she realized just how heavy the object was. She flew from branch to branch, still searching for the apple.

After a while, with very tired wings, Iris came back to the starting point. She had found her apple hidden in a flower and was glad to smell the potluck food as she came back to The Clearing. As she landed, she realized that two other parrots had landed before her. One was a young African grey celebrating with his mother, and the other one was...

“Fern?!” Iris called out in surprise. He had a silver-speckled leaf tied around his neck, showing he had won second place. “Congratulations!”

“You too!” Fern replied with joy. Out of the crowd, the same cockatoo that had given Iris her ribbon earlier bounced over with a bronze-speckled leaf tucked on his wing.

“Third place!” he announced with pride as he tied the leaf around Iris’s neck. The award leaves weren’t worth anything, but they were rare and beautiful.

“Oh, and I also need your apple back” he said. Iris carefully reached into her bag, trying hard to conceal the object. She didn’t want anyone to know about it until she knew what it was.

“Thank you!” the cockatoo said, clearly oblivious to the fact that something else was in the bag. But as he hopped off, Fern had noticed that something was going on. He bumped Iris on the shoulder.

“Psst” he whispered. “What’s in that bag?”

“Nothing” Iris lied.

“Come on, show me!” he said, curious to know what she was hiding.

Iris waited for a moment, thinking about it.

“Come to Olivia’s nest with me” she finally replied. “I’ll show you there”.

The two friends went to a large tree, with several large nests inside. To live here was to be incredibly lucky. They climbed up the trunk until reaching an untidy, cluttered nest, filled with strange objects that Olivia claimed to come from ‘humans’, large hairless apes that were incredibly smart. Olivia built amazing machines from these parts, such as a system to automatically wake you in the morning by smashing coconuts together to make a loud noise. They walked through piles of clutter and junk, until they found Olivia, a cockatiel, fiddling with an object. Olivia peeked up from her machine.

“Oh my goodness, hi!” she yelled with excitement, waving her wing in the air. “You guys want to see this cool thing I made!?”

“Wow, that's... cool” Iris commented, not understanding a single thing about it. “But we have something we need to show you”.

“Wait, like human stuff?!” Olivia jumped up and ran over to Iris. “Oh my goodness do you have human junk in your bag?!” Olivia started getting excited.

“Yeah, maybe” Iris replied. She slowly walked over to Olivia’s workspace and dumped her bag out. Both Olivia and Fern stared in awe.

“What am I looking at?” Fern asked. He had a puzzled look on his face.

“A human thing!” Olivia squawked. “I see stuff like this all the time in my junk!” She ran over to one of her junk piles and pulled out some examples. They were strange objects, remarkably like the one Iris had found, with wheels and strings and all sorts of things that looked like a maze. “These are some things I found near the river. I believe that the humans must have accidentally thrown them in, and then the river carried them to the rainforest”. Olivia started to inspect the inside of the machine. She then started to pick up the wheels with her beak and place them in like puzzle pieces. She was the quietest she had been since Iris and Fern had shown up, intensely focusing on the machine. They stood there, watching Olivia remove and insert parts.

“Are you sure that this is supposed to do something?” Iris questioned. It didn’t look any more useful than when she had found it in the cave.

“I’m certain” Olivia said. “All the gears are clicking together. I can’t wait to see what this does!” Iris didn’t know what a ‘gear’ was, but she trusted her friend. After a bit, Olivia stood up with a puzzled expression.

“Something’s missing...” she said quietly. She gestured to an empty spot in the machine, surrounded by little colored strings. “But what could it be?”

“Why are you asking us?” Fern squawked. “You’re the expert here”. Olivia sat there for a while, wracking her brain. Iris thought she might get a headache. Suddenly, she popped up and frantically started searching her junk piles.

“What are you looking for?” Iris asked.

“A part I found a long time ago” she replied. “I couldn’t find out what it did back then, but I think I know now!” Olivia continued to dig through her piles of stuff, with a determined look on her face. At last, she pulled out a small, black cylinder. It was the exact same size as the empty hole in the machine. Olivia excitedly jumped over and inserted the cylinder in with a little click. It fit perfectly. She then shut the cavity and stood the fixed machine up.

“Alright, moment of truth...” Olivia looked at the object for a second, then pushed a button on its tail. Nothing happened. Everyone waited.

Then, its face lit up, two little eyes appearing.

Chapter 2

*BEOP*

“WHAT IS THAT!?” Fern shouted. He jumped up and ran to the edge of the nest in fear. Iris took a step back, wary of the thing. Meanwhile, Olivia stepped forward out of curiosity.

“Factory reset complete” the machine beeped. It spoke in a strange yet comforting voice.

“Is it alive?” Iris asked.

“I’m not sure” Olivia replied in awe. “If machines could come alive, that would be awesome! Imagine what that would mean! We would be able to make anything!”

“I still think it’s a little creepy” Fern commented from behind a junk pile.

“Hello, I am WING, your robotic assistant. Please state your names”.

“Olivia!”

“Iris”

“I’m not here!”

“Names remembered. Is there anything you would like me to do right now, Olivia, Iris, and I'm Not Here?”

Olivia started giggling, clearly comfortable around the strange machine. Fern shot her an unamused look.

“Can you tell us where you came from?” Iris asked.

“I came from BLUEBERRY, a company that also makes smartphones, laptops, televisions, and more. I highly recommend”

Iris felt more confused than before she asked the question.

“Are humans real?” Olivia questioned.

“Of course, silly. Have you never seen a person before?”

“See?! I told you so!” Olivia pointed at Fern and Iris with a wide smile on her face.

“What’s the best place to hide from a creepy machine?” Fern shuddered. The machine turned its head to look around the nest.

“Scanning the room, the best place to hide would be inside that bag, under that old DVD player. It is in an inconspicuous spot and would cover all your body, while still allowing you to breathe”.

Fern waddled out of his hiding spot. “Maybe this thing isn’t that dangerous” he said.

“Well, of course. I am coded to never hurt a living being” the robot announced.

“Do you know everything?” Olivia asked.

“Not exactly, but if you have a question, I can search the web” it said.

“Alright then” Fern said, “How many legs does a centipede have?”

“Centipedes can have between 15 and 177 pairs of legs depending on the species, average 35 pairs, and millipedes can have up to 200 pairs. The main differences are that centipedes have one pair of legs on each segment of their bodies-millipedes have two”. The robot sat there as if this was common knowledge. Fern looked surprised.

“This is awesome!” Olivia exclaimed. “We have to show this to the mayor.”

Iris wasn’t sure how to feel about this. “Are you sure?” she asked. “We still don’t know everything it can do yet”.

“Hey, it said that it can’t hurt anyone”. Olivia gestured to the robot. It had an innocent expression permanently on its metal face. It tilted its head as if to say, ‘I’m not dangerous’.

“Alright, but we’ll keep an eye on it” Iris responded.

Soon, the three friends had arrived at the Clearing. The potluck was not over yet, and they spotted mayor Whitetail celebrating with a nutshell filled with fruit juice. Iris landed, carrying the robot in her bag, which was now heavier than ever. They pushed through the crowd, arriving at the juice bar.

“Hey, congrats on third place!” Whitetail exclaimed, noticing her leaf. “Guava juice?”

“No thanks” Iris responded, still trying to catch her breath. “Hey, can we show you something?”

“Sure” he said, stepping away from the crowd so there was room for Iris to empty her bag. She placed the robot carefully on the ground, and Olivia turned it on.

“Hello, I am WING, your robotic assistant. Please state your name”.

“Um... Mayor Whitetail.” he hesitated. “What is this?”

“I can help you with many things. I can answer questions, order packages, turn off your lights, call your friends, and more!”

“I don’t know what most of those things are. Can you.... sing?” Whitetail questioned.

“Playing music” WING announced. A strange song started to play; one they had never heard before. It almost sounded like it was sung by a human.

“Wow, this thing is cool!” Whitetail approved. “I bet it can do almost anything!”

“How do you think we should use it?” Fern asked.

“We should show this to everyone!” the mayor insisted. “It would be a great help to the community”.

Iris opened her beak to object, but hesitated, as she didn’t want to argue with the mayor.

“That would be a great idea!” Olivia chirped. You could show it to everyone at the potluck, right now!

As the song ended, Whitetail picked up the robot and carried it under his wing, as if it was made of feathers. He carried it up to the center rock and squawked to get everyone's attention.

“Hello, everyone! I’m terribly sorry to interrupt this year's potluck, but I have an amazing new thing to show you all! WING, please explain what you are, and what you do.”

“Hello, everyone. I am WING. Among other things, I can play your favorite song, read the latest headlines, dim the lights in your living room, and more.”

“What’s that mean?” a young chick in the crowd asked. WING sat there, seeming to finally realize it was in a rainforest full of parrots.

“Well, I can read stories, answer questions, sing songs....” It continued to list as many things as it could so that birds would understand. But as the crowd listened in awe, Iris couldn’t help but feel that this was a bad idea. Fern bumped her shoulder.

“Hey, you want to get some potluck food before it’s all gone?”

Iris smiled a little. “You know what, sure” she replied.

Chapter 3

The next morning, when Iris woke up in her nest, something felt wrong. As she climbed the trunk of the tree to get breakfast, she noticed that almost no one was still in their nests. Had she slept in? Iris quickly ate, then flew above the trees. The sky was beautiful shades of yellow and orange. But that meant it was still morning. She felt off. Iris swooped down into the foliage, toward the Clearing. As she passed the other nesting trees, she noticed that almost everyone had left. What had made them get up so early? But as she entered the Clearing, she knew what had happened.

A crowd was gathered around the robot she had found yesterday, which was telling a story to a little chick. The mother seemed happy, and the chick happily clapped when the robot had finished. Some parrots were asking questions, like it was a book of answers.

“Do humans live in flocks?”

“Does my wing look healthy?”

“Where do the best berries grow?”

“Can you fly?”

“How long until the next potluck?”

The robot answered them all, but they kept coming. Do robots have feelings? Iris wondered. She was quite sure it was programmed to always listen to people and always act happy, but Iris would get overwhelmed if she was bombarded with questions like that. Iris spotted Olivia in the crowd. She hopped over to talk to her.

“Hey, Iris! Look at what WING can do! We're helping SO MANY parrots already!” Olivia squawked with excitement. She clearly thought this was a great idea.

“Doesn’t it seem a bit... easy?” Iris asked. “I mean- look at this. Just ask a question and you get an answer. No more work involved. Are you sure it’s good?”

“It’s fine” Olivia reassured. “It will make our lives easier”.

“But what if we become dependent on it?” Iris worried.

“Relax, we won’t” Olivia said. “I made a machine to wake you up, and you still always get up before it” she chirped with a smirk on her face.

“Ok, I guess this is pretty helpful” she said. She smiled, but she still felt slightly worried. She tried to tuck that feeling to the back of her mind, however, as she didn’t see anything bad that was happening right now. They’re all just excited about a new thing, she thought.

They would all be curious and eager for a few days, then they would all go back to their normal lives.

However, as days passed, the excitement did not die down. Everyone used WING to solve their problems or answer their questions. Iris watched from a shop as parrots lined up to speak to the robot assistant. The shops in the Clearing were constructed like nests, but instead of living in them, parrots traded goods. The shop Iris was in had delicious bananas.

“Are you going to ask the machine something?” the shopkeeper asked.

“No, I have already” Iris replied. “Can I have one of the red bananas?”

“Sure” he said. “What have you got?”

Iris reached into her bag. “I have some flowers to trade.”

“Ooh, I’ll take some orchids, Lily would love those”. The shopkeeper took some pink flowers and handed over the banana.

“Thank you!” Iris said, flying off with the strange colored banana in her talon. She landed on a tree branch and ate while watching the crowd ask questions. Out of nowhere, she suddenly thought to go join the crowd, having an idea. She spread her red and yellow wings and flew down to the main area.

The mayor had placed WING at the bottom of the center rock, where everyone could see it. Iris landed softly on the ground and joined the line. As the line progressed and she got closer to WING, she noticed that a lot of the questions were things that parrots usually learned themselves, such as nest building or foraging tips.

Can’t they figure out these kinds of things easily by themselves? Iris thought. I had to learn this by myself, but now everyone can just ask this robot. Iris felt the worried feeling she had felt a few days ago. However, as WING answered the question of the parrot in front of her, Iris’s turn finally came.

“Hello, Iris” WING kindly beeped. “How can I help you today?”

“WING, do you think parrots are becoming a bit too....” Iris tried to word it so that she wouldn’t sound rude, even if the robot had no emotions. “Dependent... on your answers?”

“I don’t think so” WING answered. “If parrots need answers, they should get them. Everyone deserves help sometimes, even birds.”.

“Well, it’s just that--”

Iris was cut off by an older macaw. “HEY! You got your answer, MOVE IT!” she angrily shouted. Iris hopped off and started flying back home. She didn't think this was good, being able to immediately get an answer to anything. Everyone was becoming reliant on WING already. She decided she would go visit Fern, as he was the only bird she knew who would understand what she meant.

A bit later, Iris arrived at Fern’s nest. It was small and tidy, with few decorations. Fern was fiddling with some twigs in the side, trying to make it neat. He turned around to grab another stick and noticed Iris as she landed.

“Oh, hey Iris!” he chirped. “Having a good day?”

“Yeah, sort of...” she replied. “What do you think of that new robot thing?”

“Well, yeah, it’s useful, I guess...” he said, “But it seems a bit too easy, you know?”

“Exactly!” Iris squawked. “Did you see the lines this morning? Everyone’s just relying on it for answers! How do we even know if it’s right?”

“Yeah, I’m not so sure about it either” Fern agreed. “Why can’t they learn this stuff themselves?”

“Because everyone always wants to go the simple way” Iris sighed. “We probably couldn’t convince them to stop using it anyways, even if we proved that they should.”

Fern thought for a moment. Then, he got an idea, and his face lit up almost like the robot.

“Do you think that Olivia could perhaps change the way that WING works?”

Iris thought about his idea. “Maybe. But she loves the idea of WING helping everyone, how would we get her on board?”

“We’d need proof” Fern said. “Let’s think about it for a bit. I’m sure we can fix this together”.

Chapter 4

By now, it had been about three weeks since WING had been introduced to the community. Everyone used it, from the youngest chicks to the wisest elders. Only a small few didn’t use WING on a regular basis, including Iris and Fern. They had been planning for a while now, trying to think of proof that WING was not good to rely on.

Iris watched from a tree, listening to the questions that were being asked. She looked around at the area surrounding the Clearing. It seemed everyone just had the answers at their fingertips, instead of learning. One of the strangest things she noticed was that many of the parrots were asking questions they had already asked.

“Where is the best place to find papayas?” A conure asked the robot.

“The best place to find papayas, in this rainforest, would be an area with lot of sunlight, near a water source”.

“Thanks!” The conure peeped as he flew off.

But didn’t he just ask that last week? Iris thought, feeling puzzled. Once I learned how to harvest rum berries, I never forgot. Was the simpleness of the instant answers affecting their memory and thinking?

Iris decided to fly down to listen closer. Many of the questions were not only the same, but simple ones too! She felt stumped that parrots even needed to ask these questions.

“How do I crack this nut?”

“Where does rain come from?”

“Why am I molting when I get hot?”

All these questions could easily be figured out. Iris knew the answer to all three, as she had learned the answer when she was younger. Iris thought of what would happen if WING stopped working. Would everyone forget how to do stuff?

No, she thought, they would learn to do it themselves, like they used to.

Iris decided that she had all the evidence she needed to convince Olivia. She spread her colorful wings and flew off into the rainforest.

A bit later, Iris arrived at Olivias nest. This time, she was working on something that looked a bit like a hand fan.

“Iris, you’ve got to see this!” Olivia squawked. “I think I’ve found a way to fix Ferns tail!”

Iris looked down at the prosthetic tail. She began to wonder about it, but remembered why she was there.

“Olivia, if you wanted to change the way that WING works, would you be able to do it?”

“Well, maybe, to an extent” Olivia replied. “There’s still so much about WING that we don’t know yet. I wouldn’t be able to rework it entirely, but maybe I could change some things”.

Iris thought about this for a moment. “I’ve been noticing that a lot of parrots keep asking the same questions over and over. I think that the easy answers might be affecting their memory”.

Olivia looked confused. “But that makes no sense. Wouldn’t they have an easier time remembering?”

“I thought so too, at first. But if they can just ask WING again, then why remember?” Iris explained.

“That is a problem…” Olivia admitted. “But what if we have a big problem that we can’t solve? We can’t get rid of WING!”

“Exactly. But that’s why I need your help. If parrots only used it for the big issues, then we could keep WING, without relying completely on it.”

Olivia thought for a moment. “Are you telling me that I should change WING to only answer certain questions?” She looked like she couldn’t decide if she should or not.

“Please, Olivia.” Iris begged. “How would you feel if you forgot how to invent things, just asking someone else how to do it all day?”

Olivia thought for a second, then an upset look appeared on her face. “You’re right, Iris. I’ll try to fix this, but I’m not sure if I can.”

“Thank you!” Iris exclaimed. “You should go down to the Clearing and see what’s happening for yourself. It’s really bad”.

Iris and Olivia flew over to the Clearing. There was still a long line in front of WING, still asking similar questions. They landed on the same branch that Iris had sat on earlier and listened in. After a few minutes, Olivia looked shocked.

“Wow, is this really the questions people have been asking?” She asked.

“Yep” Iris said. “And these are the smart ones”.

“I never knew” Olivia said with shame. “I’m so sorry”.

“Don’t feel bad, Olivia” Iris chirped. “You were right about it being able to help people, but they relied on it too much. You couldn’t have known. None of us did.”

“Yeah, I guess” Olivia agreed. “We just need to fix the problem”.

Chapter 1

Early in the morning, sunlight poured down on the rainforest in patches, looking like glowing spots in the trees. Iris fluffed her feathers and yawned. Today was the Treasure Hunt! Iris loved the Treasure Hunt. It marked the first day of summer, and all the participants flew out into the rainforest in search of the golden apples that the mayor, Whitetail, had hidden. It was sort of like a race! Iris competed every year, and almost always won. And even if she didn't, there was also a potluck held at the end of the hunt, so everyone was happy.

Iris grabbed her bag, hopped out of her nest and climbed up the tree she lived in with her sharp talons. Other parrots that had their nests in this tree were stirring too. They were having breakfast, or trying to wake up sleepy chicks, or preparing for the Treasure Hunt. At the top of the tree, delicious nuts grew. Iris ate a few, then gazed at the view. Iris had been up here before, but she was still awed every time she saw how beautiful the rainforest was from this height. She could see just above the canopy of the rainforest, and the early morning sky was shades of orange. Pink, fluffy clouds lazily floated past.

Iris stood there for a moment, taking in the view, before she suddenly soared down below the canopy.

She began to fly towards the Clearing, the place in the rainforest where there were large, fancy shops, and where all the big events were held. Iris admired the beautiful plants that grew in the rainforest, little bursts of color that stood out amongst the green of the vines and shrubs. She had heard of places where there were almost no plants, hot as the sun or cold as ice. Iris couldn't imagine living in such a place.

Soon, Iris heard parrots chatting and smelled food cooking. She flew ahead straight into the Clearing, where she saw a crowd of parrots around the center rock. Most of the crowd were spectators, there to see who won, or to eat the delicious food. But about a fifth were wearing golden ribbons on their tails, meaning they were Hunters. Iris gently glided down to a stall with a cockatoo in it.

“Hello!” he cheerfully said. “Are you part of this year's Treasure Hunt?”

“Yes, I am.” Iris replied as she handed a ticket to the parrot.

“Ok! Good luck!” he squawked. He then reached into a small box and pulled out a golden ribbon.

“Thank you! Happy Treasure Hunt!” Iris said, tying the ribbon to her tail. She then went to join the crowd.

“Hey, over here!” she heard a familiar voice exclaim. She followed the voice, and found her best friend, Fern.

“Hey Fern! How are you doing?” she happily peeped. Fern also competed every year. However, unlike Iris, he was born with a tail defect, causing him to be unable to fly. Even so, he was still as fast as most parrots and hopped from branch to branch instead of flying.

“I’m pretty good.” Fern replied, warming up by walking in place. “Olivia said that she might be able to fix my tail!”

“Really?!” Iris exclaimed in disbelief. Iris wondered, Olivia is smart, but is she that smart? Fern opened his beak to reply, but suddenly, mayor Whitetail swooped onto the center rock. A hush fell over the crowd. Whitetail was the biggest parrot here, an albino macaw.

“Hello, and welcome, to this year’s Treasure Hunt!” his voice boomed. The crowd of parrots cheered. “This year’s Hunt is going to be the best one yet, with a lineup of talented contestants, and some wonderful dishes. Hunters, please step forward.” Iris, Fern, and several other parrots stepped out of the crowd, with excited yet nervous looks on their faces. One of the contestants, a small lovebird, looked like he had just grown his flight feathers, the minimum age requirement for the Treasure hunt. He was bouncing on his talons with a thrilled look on his face.

“Here are the rules. Only one apple per Hunter. Stay in the marked area. No re-hiding apples. No tackling or pecking other Hunters. Be a good sport. And finally, remember to have fun!”

More cheers from the crowd came. Iris fluffed her bright red feathers and took a deep breath.

“Ready...”

Iris stood there, waiting for the signal with the other Hunters.

“Set...”

She was ready for this.

“GO!” Whitetail announced. Every parrot that was at the starting point had darted off, flying into the trees. Iris saw Fern out of the corner of her eye, running and hopping along as fast as some of the flying Hunters. Iris swooped to the right, easily avoiding the dense shrubbery. She scanned the ground, looking for anything that glistened.

Suddenly, a twinkle caught Iris’s attention. She quickly landed and searched the area. She spun around and spotted a cave. Inside, there was a small, shiny object. She hopped closer, wondering why the mayor would think to hide an apple here. But as she got closer, she realized it was not an apple. Not even close.

It was roughly the size and shape of a baby chick, but it was not fluffy, had strange markings, and was exceptionally shiny. It had a strange, smooth, silver body, and scattered around it, were little metal wheels. Iris sat there in confusion for a moment, trying to think of where this could have come from.

Wait! Olivia does stuff like this, doesn’t she? Iris thought. Maybe if she brought this... thing...to her, she would be able to explain what it was. Iris carefully picked up the metallic object and placed it in her bag, along with the wheels. As she tried to take off outside of the cave, she realized just how heavy the object was. She flew from branch to branch, still searching for the apple.

After a while, with very tired wings, Iris came back to the starting point. She had found her apple hidden in a flower and was glad to smell the potluck food as she came back to The Clearing. As she landed, she realized that two other parrots had landed before her. One was a young African grey celebrating with his mother, and the other one was...

“Fern?!” Iris called out in surprise. He had a silver-speckled leaf tied around his neck, showing he had won second place. “Congratulations!”

“You too!” Fern replied with joy. Out of the crowd, the same cockatoo that had given Iris her ribbon earlier bounced over with a bronze-speckled leaf tucked on his wing.

“Third place!” he announced with pride as he tied the leaf around Iris’s neck. The award leaves weren’t worth anything, but they were rare and beautiful.

“Oh, and I also need your apple back” he said. Iris carefully reached into her bag, trying hard to conceal the object. She didn’t want anyone to know about it until she knew what it was.

“Thank you!” the cockatoo said, clearly oblivious to the fact that something else was in the bag. But as he hopped off, Fern had noticed that something was going on. He bumped Iris on the shoulder.

“Psst” he whispered. “What’s in that bag?”

“Nothing” Iris lied.

“Come on, show me!” he said, curious to know what she was hiding.

Iris waited for a moment, thinking about it.

“Come to Olivia’s nest with me” she finally replied. “I’ll show you there”.

The two friends went to a large tree, with several large nests inside. To live here was to be incredibly lucky. They climbed up the trunk until reaching an untidy, cluttered nest, filled with strange objects that Olivia claimed to come from ‘humans’, large hairless apes that were incredibly smart. Olivia built amazing machines from these parts, such as a system to automatically wake you in the morning by smashing coconuts together to make a loud noise. They walked through piles of clutter and junk, until they found Olivia, a cockatiel, fiddling with an object. Olivia peeked up from her machine.

“Oh my goodness, hi!” she yelled with excitement, waving her wing in the air. “You guys want to see this cool thing I made!?”

“Wow, that's... cool” Iris commented, not understanding a single thing about it. “But we have something we need to show you”.

“Wait, like human stuff?!” Olivia jumped up and ran over to Iris. “Oh my goodness do you have human junk in your bag?!” Olivia started getting excited.

“Yeah, maybe” Iris replied. She slowly walked over to Olivia’s workspace and dumped her bag out. Both Olivia and Fern stared in awe.

“What am I looking at?” Fern asked. He had a puzzled look on his face.

“A human thing!” Olivia squawked. “I see stuff like this all the time in my junk!” She ran over to one of her junk piles and pulled out some examples. They were strange objects, remarkably like the one Iris had found, with wheels and strings and all sorts of things that looked like a maze. “These are some things I found near the river. I believe that the humans must have accidentally thrown them in, and then the river carried them to the rainforest”. Olivia started to inspect the inside of the machine. She then started to pick up the wheels with her beak and place them in like puzzle pieces. She was the quietest she had been since Iris and Fern had shown up, intensely focusing on the machine. They stood there, watching Olivia remove and insert parts.

“Are you sure that this is supposed to do something?” Iris questioned. It didn’t look any more useful than when she had found it in the cave.

“I’m certain” Olivia said. “All the gears are clicking together. I can’t wait to see what this does!” Iris didn’t know what a ‘gear’ was, but she trusted her friend. After a bit, Olivia stood up with a puzzled expression.

“Something’s missing...” she said quietly. She gestured to an empty spot in the machine, surrounded by little colored strings. “But what could it be?”

“Why are you asking us?” Fern squawked. “You’re the expert here”. Olivia sat there for a while, wracking her brain. Iris thought she might get a headache. Suddenly, she popped up and frantically started searching her junk piles.

“What are you looking for?” Iris asked.

“A part I found a long time ago” she replied. “I couldn’t find out what it did back then, but I think I know now!” Olivia continued to dig through her piles of stuff, with a determined look on her face. At last, she pulled out a small, black cylinder. It was the exact same size as the empty hole in the machine. Olivia excitedly jumped over and inserted the cylinder in with a little click. It fit perfectly. She then shut the cavity and stood the fixed machine up.

“Alright, moment of truth...” Olivia looked at the object for a second, then pushed a button on its tail. Nothing happened. Everyone waited.

Then, its face lit up, two little eyes appearing.

Chapter 2

*BEOP*

“WHAT IS THAT!?” Fern shouted. He jumped up and ran to the edge of the nest in fear. Iris took a step back, wary of the thing. Meanwhile, Olivia stepped forward out of curiosity.

“Factory reset complete” the machine beeped. It spoke in a strange yet comforting voice.

“Is it alive?” Iris asked.

“I’m not sure” Olivia replied in awe. “If machines could come alive, that would be awesome! Imagine what that would mean! We would be able to make anything!”

“I still think it’s a little creepy” Fern commented from behind a junk pile.

“Hello, I am WING, your robotic assistant. Please state your names”.

“Olivia!”

“Iris”

“I’m not here!”

“Names remembered. Is there anything you would like me to do right now, Olivia, Iris, and I'm Not Here?”

Olivia started giggling, clearly comfortable around the strange machine. Fern shot her an unamused look.

“Can you tell us where you came from?” Iris asked.

“I came from BLUEBERRY, a company that also makes smartphones, laptops, televisions, and more. I highly recommend”

Iris felt more confused than before she asked the question.

“Are humans real?” Olivia questioned.

“Of course, silly. Have you never seen a person before?”

“See?! I told you so!” Olivia pointed at Fern and Iris with a wide smile on her face.

“What’s the best place to hide from a creepy machine?” Fern shuddered. The machine turned its head to look around the nest.

“Scanning the room, the best place to hide would be inside that bag, under that old DVD player. It is in an inconspicuous spot and would cover all your body, while still allowing you to breathe”.

Fern waddled out of his hiding spot. “Maybe this thing isn’t that dangerous” he said.

“Well, of course. I am coded to never hurt a living being” the robot announced.

“Do you know everything?” Olivia asked.

“Not exactly, but if you have a question, I can search the web” it said.

“Alright then” Fern said, “How many legs does a centipede have?”

“Centipedes can have between 15 and 177 pairs of legs depending on the species, average 35 pairs, and millipedes can have up to 200 pairs. The main differences are that centipedes have one pair of legs on each segment of their bodies-millipedes have two”. The robot sat there as if this was common knowledge. Fern looked surprised.

“This is awesome!” Olivia exclaimed. “We have to show this to the mayor.”

Iris wasn’t sure how to feel about this. “Are you sure?” she asked. “We still don’t know everything it can do yet”.

“Hey, it said that it can’t hurt anyone”. Olivia gestured to the robot. It had an innocent expression permanently on its metal face. It tilted its head as if to say, ‘I’m not dangerous’.

“Alright, but we’ll keep an eye on it” Iris responded.

Soon, the three friends had arrived at the Clearing. The potluck was not over yet, and they spotted mayor Whitetail celebrating with a nutshell filled with fruit juice. Iris landed, carrying the robot in her bag, which was now heavier than ever. They pushed through the crowd, arriving at the juice bar.

“Hey, congrats on third place!” Whitetail exclaimed, noticing her leaf. “Guava juice?”

“No thanks” Iris responded, still trying to catch her breath. “Hey, can we show you something?”

“Sure” he said, stepping away from the crowd so there was room for Iris to empty her bag. She placed the robot carefully on the ground, and Olivia turned it on.

“Hello, I am WING, your robotic assistant. Please state your name”.

“Um... Mayor Whitetail.” he hesitated. “What is this?”

“I can help you with many things. I can answer questions, order packages, turn off your lights, call your friends, and more!”

“I don’t know what most of those things are. Can you.... sing?” Whitetail questioned.

“Playing music” WING announced. A strange song started to play; one they had never heard before. It almost sounded like it was sung by a human.

“Wow, this thing is cool!” Whitetail approved. “I bet it can do almost anything!”

“How do you think we should use it?” Fern asked.

“We should show this to everyone!” the mayor insisted. “It would be a great help to the community”.

Iris opened her beak to object, but hesitated, as she didn’t want to argue with the mayor.

“That would be a great idea!” Olivia chirped. You could show it to everyone at the potluck, right now!

As the song ended, Whitetail picked up the robot and carried it under his wing, as if it was made of feathers. He carried it up to the center rock and squawked to get everyone's attention.

“Hello, everyone! I’m terribly sorry to interrupt this year's potluck, but I have an amazing new thing to show you all! WING, please explain what you are, and what you do.”

“Hello, everyone. I am WING. Among other things, I can play your favorite song, read the latest headlines, dim the lights in your living room, and more.”

“What’s that mean?” a young chick in the crowd asked. WING sat there, seeming to finally realize it was in a rainforest full of parrots.

“Well, I can read stories, answer questions, sing songs....” It continued to list as many things as it could so that birds would understand. But as the crowd listened in awe, Iris couldn’t help but feel that this was a bad idea. Fern bumped her shoulder.

“Hey, you want to get some potluck food before it’s all gone?”

Iris smiled a little. “You know what, sure” she replied.

Chapter 3

The next morning, when Iris woke up in her nest, something felt wrong. As she climbed the trunk of the tree to get breakfast, she noticed that almost no one was still in their nests. Had she slept in? Iris quickly ate, then flew above the trees. The sky was beautiful shades of yellow and orange. But that meant it was still morning. She felt off. Iris swooped down into the foliage, toward the Clearing. As she passed the other nesting trees, she noticed that almost everyone had left. What had made them get up so early? But as she entered the Clearing, she knew what had happened.

A crowd was gathered around the robot she had found yesterday, which was telling a story to a little chick. The mother seemed happy, and the chick happily clapped when the robot had finished. Some parrots were asking questions, like it was a book of answers.

“Do humans live in flocks?”

“Does my wing look healthy?”

“Where do the best berries grow?”

“Can you fly?”

“How long until the next potluck?”

The robot answered them all, but they kept coming. Do robots have feelings? Iris wondered. She was quite sure it was programmed to always listen to people and always act happy, but Iris would get overwhelmed if she was bombarded with questions like that. Iris spotted Olivia in the crowd. She hopped over to talk to her.

“Hey, Iris! Look at what WING can do! We're helping SO MANY parrots already!” Olivia squawked with excitement. She clearly thought this was a great idea.

“Doesn’t it seem a bit... easy?” Iris asked. “I mean- look at this. Just ask a question and you get an answer. No more work involved. Are you sure it’s good?”

“It’s fine” Olivia reassured. “It will make our lives easier”.

“But what if we become dependent on it?” Iris worried.

“Relax, we won’t” Olivia said. “I made a machine to wake you up, and you still always get up before it” she chirped with a smirk on her face.

“Ok, I guess this is pretty helpful” she said. She smiled, but she still felt slightly worried. She tried to tuck that feeling to the back of her mind, however, as she didn’t see anything bad that was happening right now. They’re all just excited about a new thing, she thought.

They would all be curious and eager for a few days, then they would all go back to their normal lives.

However, as days passed, the excitement did not die down. Everyone used WING to solve their problems or answer their questions. Iris watched from a shop as parrots lined up to speak to the robot assistant. The shops in the Clearing were constructed like nests, but instead of living in them, parrots traded goods. The shop Iris was in had delicious bananas.

“Are you going to ask the machine something?” the shopkeeper asked.

“No, I have already” Iris replied. “Can I have one of the red bananas?”

“Sure” he said. “What have you got?”

Iris reached into her bag. “I have some flowers to trade.”

“Ooh, I’ll take some orchids, Lily would love those”. The shopkeeper took some pink flowers and handed over the banana.

“Thank you!” Iris said, flying off with the strange colored banana in her talon. She landed on a tree branch and ate while watching the crowd ask questions. Out of nowhere, she suddenly thought to go join the crowd, having an idea. She spread her red and yellow wings and flew down to the main area.

The mayor had placed WING at the bottom of the center rock, where everyone could see it. Iris landed softly on the ground and joined the line. As the line progressed and she got closer to WING, she noticed that a lot of the questions were things that parrots usually learned themselves, such as nest building or foraging tips.

Can’t they figure out these kinds of things easily by themselves? Iris thought. I had to learn this by myself, but now everyone can just ask this robot. Iris felt the worried feeling she had felt a few days ago. However, as WING answered the question of the parrot in front of her, Iris’s turn finally came.

“Hello, Iris” WING kindly beeped. “How can I help you today?”

“WING, do you think parrots are becoming a bit too....” Iris tried to word it so that she wouldn’t sound rude, even if the robot had no emotions. “Dependent... on your answers?”

“I don’t think so” WING answered. “If parrots need answers, they should get them. Everyone deserves help sometimes, even birds.”.

“Well, it’s just that--”

Iris was cut off by an older macaw. “HEY! You got your answer, MOVE IT!” she angrily shouted. Iris hopped off and started flying back home. She didn't think this was good, being able to immediately get an answer to anything. Everyone was becoming reliant on WING already. She decided she would go visit Fern, as he was the only bird she knew who would understand what she meant.

A bit later, Iris arrived at Fern’s nest. It was small and tidy, with few decorations. Fern was fiddling with some twigs in the side, trying to make it neat. He turned around to grab another stick and noticed Iris as she landed.

“Oh, hey Iris!” he chirped. “Having a good day?”

“Yeah, sort of...” she replied. “What do you think of that new robot thing?”

“Well, yeah, it’s useful, I guess...” he said, “But it seems a bit too easy, you know?”

“Exactly!” Iris squawked. “Did you see the lines this morning? Everyone’s just relying on it for answers! How do we even know if it’s right?”

“Yeah, I’m not so sure about it either” Fern agreed. “Why can’t they learn this stuff themselves?”

“Because everyone always wants to go the simple way” Iris sighed. “We probably couldn’t convince them to stop using it anyways, even if we proved that they should.”

Fern thought for a moment. Then, he got an idea, and his face lit up almost like the robot.

“Do you think that Olivia could perhaps change the way that WING works?”

Iris thought about his idea. “Maybe. But she loves the idea of WING helping everyone, how would we get her on board?”

“We’d need proof” Fern said. “Let’s think about it for a bit. I’m sure we can fix this together”.

Chapter 4

By now, it had been about three weeks since WING had been introduced to the community. Everyone used it, from the youngest chicks to the wisest elders. Only a small few didn’t use WING on a regular basis, including Iris and Fern. They had been planning for a while now, trying to think of proof that WING was not good to rely on.

Iris watched from a tree, listening to the questions that were being asked. She looked around at the area surrounding the Clearing. It seemed everyone just had the answers at their fingertips, instead of learning. One of the strangest things she noticed was that many of the parrots were asking questions they had already asked.

“Where is the best place to find papayas?” A conure asked the robot.

“The best place to find papayas, in this rainforest, would be an area with lot of sunlight, near a water source”.

“Thanks!” The conure peeped as he flew off.

But didn’t he just ask that last week? Iris thought, feeling puzzled. Once I learned how to harvest rum berries, I never forgot. Was the simpleness of the instant answers affecting their memory and thinking?

Iris decided to fly down to listen closer. Many of the questions were not only the same, but simple ones too! She felt stumped that parrots even needed to ask these questions.

“How do I crack this nut?”

“Where does rain come from?”

“Why am I molting when I get hot?”

All these questions could easily be figured out. Iris knew the answer to all three, as she had learned the answer when she was younger. Iris thought of what would happen if WING stopped working. Would everyone forget how to do stuff?

No, she thought, they would learn to do it themselves, like they used to.

Iris decided that she had all the evidence she needed to convince Olivia. She spread her colorful wings and flew off into the rainforest.

A bit later, Iris arrived at Olivias nest. This time, she was working on something that looked a bit like a hand fan.

“Iris, you’ve got to see this!” Olivia squawked. “I think I’ve found a way to fix Ferns tail!”

Iris looked down at the prosthetic tail. She began to wonder about it, but remembered why she was there.

“Olivia, if you wanted to change the way that WING works, would you be able to do it?”

“Well, maybe, to an extent” Olivia replied. “There’s still so much about WING that we don’t know yet. I wouldn’t be able to rework it entirely, but maybe I could change some things”.

Iris thought about this for a moment. “I’ve been noticing that a lot of parrots keep asking the same questions over and over. I think that the easy answers might be affecting their memory”.

Olivia looked confused. “But that makes no sense. Wouldn’t they have an easier time remembering?”

“I thought so too, at first. But if they can just ask WING again, then why remember?” Iris explained.

“That is a problem…” Olivia admitted. “But what if we have a big problem that we can’t solve? We can’t get rid of WING!”

“Exactly. But that’s why I need your help. If parrots only used it for the big issues, then we could keep WING, without relying completely on it.”

Olivia thought for a moment. “Are you telling me that I should change WING to only answer certain questions?” She looked like she couldn’t decide if she should or not.

“Please, Olivia.” Iris begged. “How would you feel if you forgot how to invent things, just asking someone else how to do it all day?”

Olivia thought for a second, then an upset look appeared on her face. “You’re right, Iris. I’ll try to fix this, but I’m not sure if I can.”

“Thank you!” Iris exclaimed. “You should go down to the Clearing and see what’s happening for yourself. It’s really bad”.

Iris and Olivia flew over to the Clearing. There was still a long line in front of WING, still asking similar questions. They landed on the same branch that Iris had sat on earlier and listened in. After a few minutes, Olivia looked shocked.

“Wow, is this really the questions people have been asking?” She asked.

“Yep” Iris said. “And these are the smart ones”.

“I never knew” Olivia said with shame. “I’m so sorry”.

“Don’t feel bad, Olivia” Iris chirped. “You were right about it being able to help people, but they relied on it too much. You couldn’t have known. None of us did.”

“Yeah, I guess” Olivia agreed. “We just need to fix the problem”.

“One issue though…” Iris realized. She gestured with her wing to the giant line in front of the robot. “How will we work on it with all those parrots asking questions?”

“We’ll have to do it at night” Olivia decided. “Fern can come too, if he wants”.

Iris nodded, then flew off to tell Fern. If this worked, maybe everything would go back to normal.

That night, Iris quietly hopped out of her nest, careful not to wake anyone in her tree. She tried to fly as silently as possible, worried someone would wake up and find out her plan. As she landed in the Clearing, she looked at the small robot, off for the night. It seemed so peaceful at night, with the stars above her. No more giant lines and excited parrots. A moment later, as she was gazing at the sky, her two friends quietly arrived.

Olivia landed softly beside WING. “I think I have the right parts” she whispered. She pointed to her bag, which was filled with odd materials.

“Great” Iris responded. “We’re here if you need help”

Olivia carefully turned over the robot and opened the panel on the bottom. She began to fiddle with the circuits and wires inside.

What if we break it? Iris suddenly thought. What would happen? Would everyone start freaking out? Would they know it was us? She started to worry.

“Fern, can you pass me the stranded wire?” Olivia asked with her talon outstretched.

Fern looked in the bag of junk with confusion. “That’s the wheel thingy, right?”

Olivia sighed. “The green string”.

“Oh, yeah!” Fern whispered. He placed it in her claw.

About an hour passed. After a while, Olivia looked up from the robot with an upset look on her face. Iris felt worried again.

“I can't figure this thing out!” she said with frustration. She put everything back and sat down in disappointment.

Iris felt sad. “Does it still work?”

“I hope so” Olivia muttered.

Suddenly, Fern looked like he had another idea. He hopped over to the robot and pushed the button to turn it on.

*BEOP*

“Fern, what are you doing?!” Iris whispered. “You’re going to wake someone up!”

“Just trust me” he reassured.

“Hello. Is there something you would like me to do?” the robot beeped.

“How do we change how you act?” Fern asked.

“You can change how I act by changing the childlock settings, which you can do right now. What would you like to change?”

Olivias jaw dropped. “Are you saying that all that work was for NOTHING?!”

“Affirmative”.

Olivia huffed and mumbled something under her breath.

Fern took a deep breath and looked at WING. “Alright, we need to--”

“Don’t let Iris, Olivia, or Fern use you without my permission” a voice from behind them boomed.

“Settings changed” the robot chirped.

“WHAT?!” Olivia squawked. They all spun around to see who was there.

Iris gasped. She didn’t think this would happen.

“Whitetail?!” she exclaimed.

Chapter 5

“What in the world are you trying to do?” Whitetail asked as he landed.

“Um... we’re um...” Iris faltered. She looked at the bag of parts, and the robot. She couldn’t think of a good excuse.

“Looks to me like you’re trying to mess with WING,” the mayor said. “Why?”

“WING is making everyone's lives too easy” Fern replied. “It’s not good for them”.

“Nonsense!” Whitetail countered. “That makes no sense!”

“It’s true, sir” Olivia said. She stood up and hopped over to him. "I've seen it myself. They can’t just rely on a robot for everything!”

“Olivia, I thought you liked WING!” His red eyes were filled with anger.

“I do, very much” she admitted. “But we only need it for the big questions, not every single one!”

Whitetail looked at her with frustration. “All of you, back to your nests. If you try anything like this ever again, you will not be allowed to use WING”.

Olivia packed up her stuff. The three friends sadly left, wondering if everyone was going to rely on WING forever. As Iris flew, she looked back at the Clearing and imagined the lines in the morning.

We’ll find a way to fix this, she thought. I hope.

The next day, Iris woke up like normal. As she climbed up her tree to get breakfast, she noticed a familiar face waiting near her nest.

“Fern! What are you doing here?” she asked.

“Come to Olivias nest with me,” he said. “We need to figure out a plan”.

Iris and Fern arrived at Olivias nest, Fern hopping down from the branches. She was sitting at the edge of the nest, waiting for them to arrive.

“What kind of plan do you have?” Iris asked as she landed.

“None. It’s back to square one” Olivia said glumly.

“We need to think of everything we know about WING” Iris said. “Maybe we can find a loophole in the childlock system or something”.

“We didn’t even know about the childlocks until last night,” Olivia said. “How would we know anything about them?”

Olivia waddled to the edge of the nest and sat down. She looked as sad as she could be. Iris knew this was bad, as she had almost never seen her loud, excited friend sad before.

“Maybe we can disguise ourselves?” Iris chirped. “Change our names?”

“The robot is smarter than that” Olivia muttered. “It will recognize our faces”.

Iris sat down with Olivia, trying to make her feel better. Meanwhile, at the other side of the nest, Fern remembered something.

“I’ve got it!” he exclaimed with joy.

“What is it?” Iris asked.

“So, you remember when Olivia first fixed WING, right?”

Iris nodded. Olivia looked up at Fern.

“What was one of the first things it said?”

Iris thought back to that moment. “Uh... Please state your names”.

“And what did it remember my name as?”

“I’m Not Here!” Olivia said, remembering the moment. A small smile found its way onto her face.

“But the mayor told WING to not let Fern use it,” Fern said with a smile.

Iris realized what he meant. “That’s genius!” she chirped.

“But would it work?” Olivia wondered. “It might have heard your name in a conversation, or the whole thing might have been a joke”.

“It's worth a try,” Iris said. “Because if this doesn’t work, we don’t have any other way”.

Olivia nodded. She looked around, as if searching for something. She then popped up and ran over to her work area. She came back with the prosthetic tail she had made the day before.

“By the way, I made this!” she chirped to Fern, showing him the object. He looked at it with curiosity, before realizing what it was.

“Is that my tail?” he asked.

“Yeah! I finished it last night. I can attach it right now if you want”.

Fern thought for a moment. “We’ll try my plan first. Right after though, I want to try it on!”

Olivia smiled and placed it on the edge of the nest. “You won’t be able to fly right away though, we’ll have to teach you”.

“Aw, come on! It looks so easy!” he squawked.

Iris smiled, glad that everyone was happy again. “Come on guys, let’s go” she said.

The three friends went off towards the Clearing, ready to test their final plan. Iris felt the same dreadful feeling she had been feeling, but she pushed that away and thought of the plan succeeding. She didn’t have time for that right now. As they arrived at the Clearing, she quickly scanned the area for Whitetail. Even if the robot couldn’t tell if Fern was in the line, he would. Thankfully, she didn’t see him anywhere. Fern joined the long line in front of WING, while Iris and Olivia landed in the surrounding trees, keeping an eye out for Whitetail.

As the line moved, Iris felt stranger and stranger. She felt increasingly worried that something would go wrong, but also excited, as each time the line moved, they were one step closer to having their plan work.

Suddenly, out of the trees, the thing--or parrot--they were dreading, happened. Whitetail flew into the Clearing. Iris wanted to tell Fern, but if she did, the mayor might hear and notice that he was in the line.

Please don’t come over here, she silently begged. Please, please, please stay over there.

Whitetail looked around for a moment, then went into a shop. Iris sighed in relief. As she looked down at the line, she noticed that only ten parrots were in front of Fern. Just a bit longer and hopefully, their plan would work.

But about a minute later, the mayor came out of the shop again. He then started to head towards the line.

No! Iris thought. Go the other way! Please! We're so close!

Whitetail didn’t stop. Iris’s heart sank.

Suddenly, Olivia swooped down from her branch and landed in front of Whitetail. He tried to go around her, but she insisted on talking to him.

“What are you doing?” he asked.

“Mayor Whitetail, I’m so sorry for what happened last night,” she said. “I don’t know what came over me. Do you want to see this thing I made for you, to apologize?” she pulled out a complicated looking machine from her bag.

“Apology accepted, but I must be going now,” he replied, trying to walk past Olivia.

“Please?” She begged. “I made it just for you, and I spent all night on it!”

“Oh, okay” Whitetail said. Olivia then went ahead to explain every bit of the machine, effectively distracting him.

Thank you! Iris thought. She looked back down at the line and gasped.

Only one parrot in front of Fern.

Iris felt super excited. She listened in on the question.

“How do you talk without feathers?” a young chick asked.

“I have a speaker to produce sound” WING beeped.

The young chick walked away in confusion. Fern stepped up in front of WING. Iris held her breath. This was the moment of truth.

“Hello, I’m Not Here” it said. Iris couldn’t help but smile as wide as she could.

“Can I change the childlock settings?” he nervously asked.

“What would you like to change?”

Fern smiled a little bit. “Can I change it, so you only answer important questions?”

WING tilted its head. "What would you classify as important?”

“Questions that you couldn’t figure out on your own,” Fern said, “or questions that most parrots wouldn't know. Or questions that need to be answered quickly”.

WING did nothing for a second, as if it was thinking.

“Settings changed” it said.

Fern smiled and looked up at Iris with a wide grin. Iris flew down with a smile and hugged him. Olivia noticed that the plan had worked and ran over.

“You did it!” Olivia squawked, filled with pure joy.

“Hey, you helped too,” Fern chirped. “That was a pretty good distraction”.

Olivia smiled. “Well, I guess I did a pretty good job”.

Iris felt the happiest she had been in weeks. But of course, the parrots in line had noticed something wrong.

A small parakeet waddled over to mayor Whitetail, who was just a few meters away.

“Hey, I think that WING might be broken” he complained.

Whitetail walked over to the robot with the parakeet. Iris, Fern, and Olivia fell silent as they watched him walk by.

“WING,” he asked, “How do I build a good nest?”

“I cannot answer that question, due to it being unimportant. You can ask a community member or figure it out on your own”.

Whitetail looked shocked, then looked directly at Iris and her friends.

“What did you do...?” he asked. He acted calmly, but his face was filled with frustration.

“Mayor, we needed to do this,” Fern announced. “This will be good for the community”.

“Really?!” the mayor squawked. “Urgent questions are going to be left unanswered!”

Olivia scoffed. “And please tell me, what are these urgent questions?”

“I need to find out how to make coconut water!” the parakeet complained.

Whitetail looked down at the small parrot with confusion. “That’s not that urgent” he said.

The parakeet shot the mayor a nasty look and flew away. The mayor went ahead to ask parrots that were in the line.

“Why are leaves green?”

“When can I start flying lessons?”

“Am I fat?”

Whitetail looked at the friends with an upset look on his face.

“I’m truly sorry,” he apologized. “You were all right. I should have believed you. It’s fine if you’re mad at me.”

Iris didn’t feel angry in the slightest. “It’s okay. The problem is fixed now.”

Fern and Olivia looked like they might have said something different, but they nodded their heads. Fern then remembered something.

“Hey, now that we’re done here, can I try out that tail?”

“Oh, of course!” Olivia chirped. They went off into the jungle with smiles on their faces.

About a week later, things were sort of back to normal. Iris munched on some nuts in a restaurant in the Clearing. WING had been moved to the mayors nest, so that he could make sure it was used appropriately. Some of the parrots still had a tough time adjusting, but most of the community had gone back to normal. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Olivia fly into the Clearing. Following behind her was Fern, who clumsily flopped on the ground. He had his prosthetic tail attached. He flapped as hard as he could and managed to get about two feet in the air before crashing again. Iris flew out of the restaurant to meet them.

“Hey Iris, look at this!” Fern said, showing her the tail. It fit perfectly. “I’m still learning how to use it, but I’m starting to fly!” He tried to take off again, with obvious joy on his face.

“That’s great!” Iris exclaimed. Olivia landed on the ground beside her. “This is a really cool thing you made” Iris commented.

“Thanks! I tried to make it work like a real parrot tail, so he can steer and whatnot”.

Iris noticed that the sky was getting dark. “You guys want to look for more junk near the river before the sun goes down?”

Olivia jumped up. “Do I?” She hopped around and started flying toward the river.

“Hey, maybe we’ll find another robot,” Fern said. He started flying up, then landed on a branch to rest. “You coming with us?”

“Of course!” Iris chirped. She took off into the trees, laughing as she flew.

                                                                      THE END