Alternate Carrier
by Otterslide

There are many processes regarding childbirth and adoption that can be confusing to navigate. To help with this process, the Automated and Certified Accouchement, Childcare, and Infant Adoption Center was created.

Otherwise known as an ACACIA center, these are structures with fully-automated robotic machines controlled by an advanced computer system designed to help with infant delivery, initial care, and adoption, aiding those with unwanted pregnancies or those with accidental pregnancies that are incapable of raising a child in ensuring their child or children will be adopted by loving parents, and providing parents looking to adopt with a convenient and mostly hassle-free option, confidential for both parties
.
They're state-of-the-art facilities with many locations around the country. Each is designed to fit the needs of the general population in their area, or are designed to utilize convenient external resources to benefit its operations. One of the more unique ones is located near a more rural area used for agriculture and livestock. The owners made a deal with the local cattle ranchers and built a separate sub-facility attached directly to the main one. This additional facility's purpose is to house and care for dairy cows with the focus being on collecting milk to use in baby formula. The ranchers provide the cows and are paid for the milk they otherwise would have sold, and the facility gets easy access to a supply of fresh milk. The facility has been operational without any major faults or accidents for more than a decade.

It's a normal day in this particular ACACIA center. A couple has just visited — two Dalmatians, one male and one pregnant female — and utilized it to help deliver their baby. While they would like to care for a child, the pregnancy was accidental and their current financial situation would have led to them unwillingly neglecting the child. After lots of discussion they had decided to put the baby up for adoption at birth, and chose the center because it's affordable and close by. Now that the Dalmatian puppy is born and the paperwork has been completed, robotic arms on re-configurable ceiling-mounted electronic rails carefully move the newborn to the infant care area of the building.

|| INITIAL HEALTH ASSESSMENT COMPLETE. INFANT RELOCATION COMPLETE. NEW ARRIVAL PROCESSES INITIATED...

|| NEW ARRIVAL STATISTICS:
- GENUS: CANIS
- SPECIES (GENERAL): DOG
- - BREED: DALMATIAN
- WEIGHT: 1.23 LBS
- BIRTH SEX: FEMALE
- FUR COLOR: WHITE, BLACK SPOTS, BLACK RIGHT EAR
- EYE COLOR: BLUE
- SIZE CLASS: SMALL

The system is adding the newborn infant into its database, each data point letting the computer know how to properly care for her based on her genus, species, weight, and other factors. Now it must ensure she has a carrier of her own, doing so by scanning all of the carriers and looking for an available one, then making sure it's got everything it needs by comparing it to the coded definition of what a carrier is and should include.

|| REVIEWING "CARRIER" SPECIFICATIONS...
- STURDY ENCLOSURE
- PROVIDES PROTECTION AND SECURITY
- EASILY ACCESSIBLE
- WARM, SOFT BLANKETS
- WET WIPES INCLUDED

|| COMPARING...

|| ERROR: ANOMALY DETECTED:
- MISSING: WARM, SOFT BLANKETS. RESOLVING...

The computer has detected that the next available carrier doesn't have soft, warm blankets in it. Within seconds, an arm zooms in and lowers a freshly-laundered soft blanket into the carrier.

|| RE-REVIEWING "CARRIER"...
|| NO ANOMALIES DETECTED. PLACING...

With that, the little newborn Dalmatian is carefully put into the baby carrier where it will be cared for by the highly efficient computer system, ready to be adopted by a loving family. Now the computer runs one of its hourly checks to make sure the cows in the sub-facility are doing well and that the formula production is fully operational, to ensure that the new arrival along with the other infants will have the formula they need.

|| 14:00 LIVESTOCK REPORT COMMENCING...
- LIVESTOCK PHYSICAL HEALTH: OPTIMAL
- INJURY STATUS: NO INJURIES
- LIVESTOCK MENTAL HEALTH: OPTIMAL
- STATUS: MILKING SESSION IN PROGRESS
- END REPORT.

|| FORMULA PRODUCTION STATUS: PRODUCTION IN PROCESS, 10 GALLONS AVAILABLE.

With more than enough formula, the computer focuses on other processes and the rest of the day goes smoothly. Weeks later and there are new arrivals and departures from the facility, with the Dalmatian girl having already been adopted by a couple. While the facility is very well self-maintained, there are little snags that come about every once and a while. Sometimes there are no available carriers due to some being replaced or repaired elsewhere in the facility, in which a new one is 3D printed while the newborn is placed into a temporary holding carrier, the process taking less than a minute. These infrequent snags are easily dealt with. However, the facility meets its first major malfunction one week when, without prediction or warning, the power shuts off in the middle of the night for the whole area around the building, the blackout lasting for five hours.

The emergency processes are initiated immediately while the building runs on backup generators, the computer making sure that infants and livestock alike are okay. Once the power comes back, the slow restarting of the various mechanisms commences while the computer calms a few of the infants down. While an initial self-assessment revealed that some of the minor electrical components had been lightly damaged from the slight electrical surge caused by the outage and subsequent switch to the slightly-more-powerful generators, but it wasn't anything too major and the computer focuses on other priorities. A while later and everything's calmed down, some parts of the facility still coming back online. The computer runs a facility-wide scan.

|| POST-FAULT ASSESSMENT COMMENCING...
(!) WARNING: DATA STORAGE MAY HAVE BEEN DAMAGED. (!)
- POWER OUT IN: LOBBY B, EXTERNAL F, EXTERNAL J.
- ELECTRICAL FAULT IN: RESTROOM B HAND DRYER, DELIVERY ROOM C BED WARMER, INFANT NURSERY B SCANNER, LIVESTOCK MILKING DEVICE K, LIVESTOCK MILKING DEVICE Q, BACKUP CARRIER 1, BACKUP CARRIER 2, BACKUP CARRIER 3, BACKUP CARRIER 4.
- REBOOTING: DELIVERY ROOM F MONITOR A (60%), DELIVERY ROOM F MONITOR B (93%) , 3D PRINTER A (2%), 3D PRINTER B (17%), 3D PRINTER C (4%), 3D PRINTER D (4%).

It's during this assessment that the actual damage done by that slight electrical surge rears its ugly head: the scanner for the one of the large nursery rooms where the infants are kept in their carriers has been heavily damaged, which isn't a good thing as now the computer scans each room to make sure things are how they should be physically.

|| PHYSICAL SCANS COMMENCING...
- LOBBY: COMPLETE.
- DELIVERY ROOMS A - H: COMPLETE.
- ADOPTION ROOMS A - E: COMPLETE.
- LIVESTOCK MILKING ROOM: COMPLETE.
- LIVESTOCK STABLES A - D: COMPLETE.
- INFANT NURSERY A: COMPLETE.
- INFANT NURSERY B: ERROR.
- - ERROR REPORT: URGENT (!): INFANTS IN ROW C ARE MISSING CARRIERS. INFANTS IN ROW D ARE MISSING CARRIERS.

The computer has detected that two rows of infants in one of the nursery rooms are not in carriers, which would be a major cause for alarm and immediate focus... if it were true. All of the infants in fact do have carriers and are mostly all sleeping quite calmly, but the damaged scanner has falsely concluded that they don't, activating an emergency process.

|| EMERGENCY INFANT RELOCATION PROCESS COMMENCING...
- RETRIEVING INFANTS IN NURSERY B, ROW C (8 TOTAL). RETRIEVING INFANTS IIN NURSERY B, ROW D (8 TOTAL).

Arms come down to gently yet quickly pick up the sleeping babies, causing a few to wake up.

- AFFECTED INFANTS: 16 TOTAL. 5 SMALL, 8 MEDIUM, 3 LARGE. 
 - - INFANT LIST:
 - - NUMBER 7774323, SPECIES (GENERAL): OTTER, SIZE: SMALL
- - NUMBER 7774344, SPECIES (GENERAL): GECKO, SIZE: SMALL
- - NUMBER 7774378, SPECIES (GENERAL): LEOPARD, SIZE: SMALL
- - NUMBER 7774322, SPECIES (GENERAL): BLACK LAB, SIZE: SMALL
- - NUMBER 7774380, SPECIES (GENERAL): OPOSSUM, SIZE: SMALL
- - NUMBER 7774311, SPECIES (GENERAL): HORSE, SIZE: MEDIUM
- - NUMBER 7774327, SPECIES (GENERAL): DEER, SIZE: MEDIUM
- - NUMBER 7774298, SPECIES (GENERAL): FLAMINGO, SIZE: MEDIUM
- - NUMBER 7774355, SPECIES (GENERAL): BROWN BEAR, SIZE: MEDIUM
- - NUMBER 7774360, SPECIES (GENERAL): RACCOON, SIZE: MEDIUM
- - NUMBER 7774314, SPECIES (GENERAL): IGUANA, SIZE: MEDIUM
- - NUMBER 7774301, SPECIES (GENERAL): UNICORN, SIZE: MEDIUM
- - NUMBER 7774304, SPECIES (GENERAL): HORSE, SIZE: MEDIUM
- - NUMBER 7774300, SPECIES (GENERAL): EUROPEAN DRAGON, SIZE: LARGE
- - NUMBER 7774332, SPECIES (GENERAL): AFRICAN ELEPHANT, SIZE: LARGE
- - NUMBER 7774282, SPECIES (GENERAL): MOOSE, SIZE: LARGE

|| SCANNING FOR AVAILABLE CARRIERS...
- NURSERY A: 0 AVAILABLE CARRIERS.
- NURSERY B: 0 AVAILABLE CARRIERS.
- NURSERY C: 2 AVAILABLE CARRIERS.
- - SIZES: MEDIUM (2).
- NURSERY D: 4 AVAILABLE CARRIERS.
- - SIZES: SMALL (1), MEDIUM (1), LARGE (2).
- RELOCATING TO NURSERY C: 7774314, 7774360.
- RELOCATING TO NURSERY D: 7774380, 7774311, 7774300, 7774282.
- INFANTS REMAINING: 10 TOTAL.

|| ACTIVATING BACKUP CARRIER RELOCATION...
- BACKUP CARRIER A IS OFFLINE. BACKUP CARRIER B IS OFFLINE. BACKUP CARRIER C IS OFFLINE. BACKUP CARRIER D IS OFFLINE.
- BACKUP CARRIER RELOCATION FAILED.

|| BEGINNING CARRIER FABRICATION PROCESS...
- 3D PRINTER A IS REBOOTING (4%). 3D PRINTER B IS REBOOTING (32%). 3D PRINTER C IS REBOOTING (12%). 3D PRINTER D IS REBOOTING (13%).
- FABRICATION PROCESS FAILED.

|| LOOKING FOR ALTERNATE SOLUTIONS...

After moving some of the infants into available carriers in other nursery rooms, the computer tries to send out the backup carriers and start the fabrication of more carriers to use, but since all of the printers are still rebooting and the backup carriers are faulting, both processes fail. This means that — to the computer — there are ten infants without carriers and no available carriers to put them in. The computer runs a full facility and sub-facility scan, searching for other things to use as emergency replacement carriers, first by checking the specifications for a carrier.

|| REVIEWING "CARRIER" SPECIFICATIONS...
- !&3047 ENCLOSURE
- PROVIDES PROTECTION AND SECURITY
- EASILY ACCESSIBLE
- WARM, SOFT ))28&82@
- WET =**23 9@@4047#

|| ERROR: CORRUPTED DATA DETECTED. DELETING CORRUPTED DATA.

|| REVIEWING "CARRIER" SPECIFICATIONS...
- ENCLOSURE
- PROVIDES PROTECTION AND SECURITY
- EASILY ACCESSIBLE
- WARM, SOFT
- WET

|| SPECIFICATIONS REVIEWED. SEARCHING...

|| POTENTIAL CARRIER 1 STATISTICS:
- LOCATION: LOBBY
- CLASSIFICATION: CHAIR
|| COMPARING...
|| ERROR: ANOMALY DETECTED:
- MISSING: ENCLOSURE
- MISSING: PROVIDES PROTECTION AND SECURITY
- MISSING: WARM
- MISSING: WET
|| POTENTIAL CARRIER 1 DENIED.

|| POTENTIAL CARRIER 2 STATISTICS:
- LOCATION: RESTROOM 2
- CLASSIFICATION: TOILET
|| COMPARING...
|| ERROR: ANOMALY DETECTED:
- MISSING: PROVIDES PROTECTION AND SECURITY
- MISSING: EASILY ACCESSIBLE
- MISSING: WARM, SOFT
|| POTENTIAL CARRIER 2 DENIED.

Things continue like this for a few seconds at very quick speeds, more and more potential carriers being reviewed and then not meeting all of the specifications.

|| POTENTIAL CARRIER 29 STATISTICS:
- LOCATION: WASTE MANAGEMENT
- CLASSIFICATION: DIAPER PAIL
|| COMPARING...
|| ERROR: ANOMALY DETECTED:
- MISSING: PROVIDES PROTECTION
- MISSING: EASILY ACCESSIBLE
|| POTENTIAL CARRIER 29 DENIED.

|| POTENTIAL CARRIER 55 STATISTICS:
- LOCATION: ELECTRONICS STORAGE
- CLASSIFICATION: MONITOR
|| COMPARING...
|| ERROR: ANOMALY DETECTED:
- MISSING: ENCLOSURE
- MISSING: PROVIDES PROTECTION AND SECURITY
- MISSING: WARM, SOFT
- MISSING: WET
|| POTENTIAL CARRIER 55 DENIED.

It takes almost forty seconds of the infants being held carefully by the arms while the computer searches for carriers for them, scanning the whole place and starting to run out of options before there's finally a breakthrough.

|| POTENTIAL CARRIER 238 STATISTICS:
- LOCATION: LIVESTOCK STABLES
- CLASSIFICATION: COW
|| COMPARING...
|| NO ANOMALIES DETECTED.
|| POTENTIAL CARRIER 238 ACCEPTED.

There's a match that meets all of the specifications — the ones from the corrupted list, at least. The computer has to keep scanning there to see how many acceptable backup carriers there are, needing there to be enough for all ten infants.

|| POTENTIAL CARRIER 239 STATISTICS:
- LOCATION: LIVESTOCK STABLES
- CLASSIFICATION: COW
|| COMPARING...
|| NO ANOMALIES DETECTED.
|| POTENTIAL CARRIER 239 ACCEPTED.

|| POTENTIAL CARRIER 240 STATISTICS:
- LOCATION: LIVESTOCK STABLES
- CLASSIFICATION: COW
|| COMPARING...
|| NO ANOMALIES DETECTED.
|| POTENTIAL CARRIER 240 ACCEPTED.

Until finally...

|| POTENTIAL CARRIER 248 STATISTICS:
- LOCATION: LIVESTOCK STABLES
- CLASSIFICATION: COW
|| COMPARING...
|| NO ANOMALIES DETECTED.
|| POTENTIAL CARRIER 248 ACCEPTED.

... there's ten matches. With the sub-facility connected to the main one, the arms are quick to slowly move the infants all the way to the stables. The computer decides to run a test to make sure that the infants will be able to fit in the new "carriers", and selects the newest arrival, a newborn leopard, to go first. The arms lower him down as the cow is scanned to locate the entrance.

Upon scanning, two entrances are found, both on the cow's backside. Selecting the topmost one, arms come down for a close-up scan, which reveals that the entrance needs to be widened a bit in order for the infant to be safely placed inside. Those arms are replaced with ones with different tips, moving forwards and slowly pushing into the now-awakened cow's "entrance", which just happens to be her large puffy anus. The confused infant squirms a bit, not sure what's going on but he wants to be set down.
Once they slide inside enough, earning a grunt from the cow, they spread apart a bit, slowly opening up that musky tunnel. After a bit and with increasingly confused grunts and soft moos from the bovine, the computer decides the entrance is big enough for the "carrier" to be accessed. With that, the unfortunate leopard baby is lowered down, brought close to that thick hole, squirming at the new and unusual scents. Finally, the arm slowly starts to push forwards, the little feline slowly being sunk into that cow ass headfirst, his fur and little onesie getting soaked gradually in the cow's anal fluids. The leopard's butt and legs vanish, followed by his tail and feet, soon not visible from outside. Now that the infant is in his new backup "carrier", the arm releases him and all of the arms including the ones spreading the tunnel retreat, the passage moving in to hug the poor leopard snugly though not tightly, and the hole closing back up.

The first test had been a success, giving the computer enough data to continue on. After a quick scan in the interest of ensuring the quick safety of the babies, the computer doesn't use anything to spread the entrance to the next "carrier", the newborn black lab getting lowered down and pushed against that musky asshole, the cow grunting and shifting a bit. The puppy is soon moved forwards and slowly presses into that fat hole, the little canine whining out, soon muffled as his head and shoulders are pushed in, followed by his midsection where he's being held from, then his butt and back legs, the puppy's new "carrier" not quite as clean as the leopard's inside though the computer doesn't sense that. Soon the arm pulls out, leaving the dog stuffed deep up the cow's pooper. 

The next few infants are pushed into their "carriers", the next cows getting a baby otter and a baby gecko pushed into their rears, the arms zipping away from the stables via the ceiling-mounted rails after doing their jobs. Then the size classification of the infants goes up, the next infants all being classified as medium in size. The pacifier-suckling horse is first but loses his pacifier as he's pushed against the hole, the thing falling down and landing in the half-full manure collection receptacle with a splat. The cow moos out due to her ass being stretched wider than the other cows' and soon the horse is fully up her ass, hole closing behind him and the baby brown bear being moved into her "carrier" next. When it's the one-day-old deer's turn there's a bit of an issue.

|| ERROR: CARRIER ENTRANCE 1 BLOCKED. RELOCATING TO ENTRANCE 2.

This blockage is being caused by a thick piece of bovine manure spreading out the cow's hole, crowning it before being pushed out and into the manure receptacle below. The deer is lowered down a bit further and instead of the cow's ass he starts being pushed towards the cow's large pussy. Unfortunately for him though the cow is still crapping, meaning that as he's pushed forwards his head's being covered in cow patties, making him bleat out and struggle. The cow moos as her pussy is slowly invaded with the deer's dirty head, more manure splatting lower and lower down his body as it's passed under the stream, in turn making the cow's vaginal passage quite dirty. After a bit though the shit-covered deer is safely in the cow's folds, the bovine huffing in both discomfort and pleasure.

A bit further down the line, the little newborn unicorn with his horn stubby since he's so young is looking to have the worst luck; as the others before him were being introduced into their backup "carriers", the hole in front of him was crowning with hot cow poop, but instead of coming out the hole just closed up again, the load getting clenched back inside. After the flamingo chick before him is submerged in cow ass, it's his turn to be lowered down and pushed forwards. This time, though, with the manure back inside the hole the computer doesn't detect a blockage. As he's slowly pushed into the exit the unicorn starts squirming and flailing, his head slowly being pushed right into a large mound of fresh soft cowpie, the arm not stopping as it slips him in further and further submerging the poor equine deeper into that poop. Luckily he won't be harmed in there but it's very disgusting for the little baby, that clenching hole squishing the manure around him as his little hooves are the last thing to get pushed in, the fat hole closing back up as the passage pulls the squirming baby in deeper.

Finally it's the turn of the biggest baby there, and the only of the ten with the classification of "large", the baby African elephant. He starts to get pushed into his "carrier", the hole slowly spreading wider and wider making the cow grunt and huff, tail flicking a bit. The big baby is pressed deeper and deeper, stretching that hole out wide. In the middle of this, though, there's another error.

|| ERROR: BACKUP CARRIER 3 IS EXPERIENCING A FAULT.

The error message had been triggered as the baby otter's tail starts to emerge from his "carrier's" ass. The little cub had managed to squirm so much that the cow had tried to push him out. With the last mechanical arm busy pushing the elephant into the last cow's ass, another arm has to be called back in to carefully remove the otter from the hole. The computer scans again, trying to find another backup carrier to use.

|| REPLACEMENT BACKUP CARRIER SEARCH COMMENCING...
- BACKUP CARRIER 1: OCCUPIED.
- BACKUP CARRIER 2: OCCUPIED.
- BACKUP CARRIER 3: FAULTED.
- BACKUP CARRIER 4: OCCUPIED.
- BACKUP CARRIER 5: OCCUPIED.
- BACKUP CARRIER 6: OCCUPIED.
- BACKUP CARRIER 7: OCCUPIED.
- BACKUP CARRIER 8: OCCUPIED.
- BACKUP CARRIER 9: OCCUPIED.
- BACKUP CARRIER 10: AVAILABLE.

Now, the data was a bit off. The tenth cow was currently having her hole stretched by the elephant so it should have been marked as 'occupied', but due to the computer not having done a very detailed scan in an effort to get the otter somewhere safe quicker it wasn't the cow's hole that was scanned and processed. It was the elephant's. The otter is moved over to the last cow in the row, the baby elephant halfway inside the uncomfortable bovine. The little otter is moved over and starts to get pushed against the baby elephant's pucker. Although they aren't that different in terms of age the elephant is much bigger, both squirming as the otter is pushed slowly forwards. The elephant is now stuck between two beings, slowly getting forced into musky cow ass as the otter is slowly pushed into another baby's rear, the otter soon chest-deep in that much tighter anal passage. After a bit, the otter's feet and tail are finally slipped into that pachyderm rear a few seconds before it itself is slipped into bovine rump, the elephant's legs and feet soon following suit. Finally, all ten misplaced infants are nice and snug in their backup "carriers", some having a better time of it than others. Due to the "fault" the computer had detected it implements an additional security measure, more mechanical arms coming back into the stables on the rails, each lowering down and pressing against the entrance each infant had been put into. They'll stay there to ensure no more breaches happen, which will also help ensure none of the cubs end up in the manure receptacles down below.

Now with the major issue taken care of for the time being, the computer system can focus fully on rebooting and repairing damaged and offline systems, restoring power, and working to fabricate actual carriers for the temporarily misplaced infants to be transitioned into. 

Luckily with no witnesses to what had actually happened, none of the babies' eventual adoptive parents ever knew that their little bundles of joy had once been encased and "protected" inside of the fat butts of nine dairy cows and one newborn elephant. Ever since, that rural-based ACACIA center has never had such an issue, with many many more newborns being brought or born there and then adopted there including all ten of the infants. The computer's data was remotely updated the day after the incident, renewing its memory and stored specifications The cows weren't harmed either, all continuing to live there contentedly making milk for the facility to use in its formula. 

For now, at least until the next major power outage, the facility is doing its job just fine.