WALL · E moved forward ... and wandered across one of the lines on the floor. This broke the rules. He accidentally bumped into one of the passengers. Then WALL · E bumped into John, knocking him off his chair.

 

"Help!" John screamed, panicking. He didn't know what to do without his hover¹ chair! He couldn't move! (Well, he could wiggle and scream, but he couldn't do much more than that.) The reclining passengers continued to glide² by, not even noticing him. WALL · E lifted the helpless, overweight man into his chair. John stared at the strange bot. He settled into the cocoon³ of his artificial environment, but he would not forget the little robot who had just rescued him.

 

WALL · E saw Gopher driving the transport that held EVE onto a monorail packed with passengers. WALL · E maneuvered⁴ across the crowded floor, barely catching⁵ the monorail's last car.

 

WALL · E had to make his way forward through the cars to get to EVE. The monorail kept moving forward, too. As it zipped past dozens of themed restaurants in the food court, the smells of tacos and teriyaki wafted⁶ through the air. Service-bots shoved samples at the passengers.

 

"Mmmm, time for lunch!" the ship's announcer said. Instantly, large quantities of each specialty⁷ were served on every armrest.

 

The monorail passed a beauty salon⁸ where passengers were being polished and pampered⁹. WALL · E heard the ship's announcer croon, "Feel beautiful!"

 

When the monorail rolled through the fashion district, everyone's screen suddenly flashed "Attention, Axiom shoppers! Try blue. It's the new trend!" Within moments, the passengers' jumpsuits turned from red to bright blue. WALL · E looked at his own rusted¹⁰ exterior¹¹. It stayed its usual dirty brown.

 

WALL · E held on to the back of a seat as the monorail sped through a long tunnel. He was slowly making his way toward EVE.

 

But a human passenger named Mary blocked the way. She was chattering¹² at her screen.

 

"Date? Don't get me started!" she said, annoyed. "Every holo-date I've been on has been a virtual disaster! If I could just meet someone who wasn't so superficial ..."

 

WALL · E twisted and turned, trying to get around Mary, but she didn't seem to notice him.

 

"Him?" she said, completely unaware¹³ of WALL · E. "If he was any more into himself, you wouldn't be able to see his head."

 

Desperate to get to EVE, WALL · E pulled himself up onto Mary's headrest and speakers. They broke off. Blink! Mary's holo-graphic screen shorted out.

 

Mary was stunned¹⁴. Her tiny but complex electronic system was wiped out. She looked from side to side, forced to take in the world around her. Astounded¹⁵, she looked down and saw her own feet! Wiggling her toes, she adjusted her seat to an upright position to get a better view.

 

When Mary moved, WALL · E zoomed¹⁶ past her. But he didn't realize what he had done for her. From now on, she would experience life instead of having it served to her.

 

The monorail doors slid open and a voice announced their arrival on the lido deck.

 

A first-class tropical paradise, the lido deck was surrounded by dazzling white high-rise apartments and a plaza¹⁷ filled with sparkling pools.

 

Passengers reclining in their hover chairs followed the red lines onto the luxurious¹⁸ deck as Mary, the only passenger who was actually seeing it, rose to her little feet, stumbled forward, and exclaimed, "I didn't know we had a pool!"

 

瓦力朝前驶去……漫不经心地跨过了地板上的一条指定线路。这打破了规则。他无意中撞上了其中的一名乘客。接着瓦力又撞上了约翰，使他从椅子上跌落了下来。

 

“救命！”约翰惊慌地尖叫道。没有了悬浮椅，他不知道该怎么办！他无法移动！（呃，他可以扭动身躯和尖叫，但是除此以外他什么都做不了。）斜倚在椅子里的乘客们不停在他身边滑行而过，甚至都没有看见他。瓦力将这个超重的无助的人举起放到他的椅子上。约翰盯着这个奇怪的机器人看了看，又缩回了他的人造环境中，但是他不会忘记这个刚刚救了他的小机器人。

 

瓦力看见戈法将载着伊芙的运输器驶进了一辆挤满了乘客的单轨电车。瓦力穿越拥挤的地板冲了过去，刚刚赶上冲进单轨电车的最后一节车厢。

 

瓦力不得不穿过一节一节车厢向前行去找伊芙。单轨电车也一直朝前开。当它飞速驶过美食广场几十家各具特色的餐厅时，墨西哥玉米薄卷饼和红烧菜肴的香味在空气中飘荡。餐饮服务机器人把试吃食品塞给了乘客们。

 

“嗯——午餐时刻！”飞船播音员说道。大量的各种特色食品立刻被端上了每一位乘客的扶手。

 

单轨电车开过一家美容院，每位乘客都受到细心照顾，仪容得到精心打理。瓦力听到飞船的播音员低声说道：“享受美丽！”

 

当单轨电车驶过时尚区域时，每个人的屏幕上突然闪现出这样的文字：“‘功理’号顾客们，注意！试试蓝色服饰。这是最新潮流！”不一会儿，乘客们的连衫裤都从红色变成了明亮的蓝色。瓦力看了看他自己锈迹斑斑的外壳。它仍旧是原来脏兮兮的棕色。

 

单轨电车加速通过一条长隧道的时候，瓦力紧紧地抓住了椅背。他在慢慢地向着伊芙前进。

 

但是一个名叫玛丽的人类乘客挡住了他的路。她正对着屏幕喋喋不休。

 

“约会？算了吧！”她恼怒地说道，“每一次我参加全息约会，总是会变成一场活生生的灾难！我要是能碰上一个没有那么肤浅的人就好了……”

 

瓦力扭了扭身子，调转方向，试图绕过玛丽，但她似乎没有注意到他。

 

“他？”她一点儿都没有注意到瓦力，继续说道，“他要是自我感觉再好一点，都能飘上天了。”

 

瓦力急于找到伊芙，他站起身来，撞到了玛丽的头枕和扬声器，它们都摔坏了。“叮咚”一声，玛丽的全息影像屏幕短路了。

 

玛丽震惊了！她微小却复杂的电子世界突然被摧毁了。她不得不左右张望，观察她身边的世界。她低下头，看见自己的双脚，惊诧不已。她一边扭动脚趾一边调整座椅，坐直了好看得更清楚。

 

瓦力在玛丽移动的时候从她身边疾驰而过。但是他并没有意识到自己对玛丽产生的影响。从这一刻起，她将开始亲身体验生活而不是等着别人将它呈现在她面前。

 

单轨电车的车门滑开了，有人宣布他们到达了泳池甲板。

 

泳池甲板是头等舱的热带天堂，四周是耀眼的白色高层套间，广场上到处是波光粼粼的游泳池。

 

乘客们斜倚在他们的悬浮椅里，沿着地上的红线来到豪华舱层，就像玛丽一样。而她才是唯一真真切切看见它的人，她用她小小的双脚站了起来，一边蹒跚向前，一边叫道：“我还不知道我们有个游泳池呢！”

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