The monorail glided¹ across the lido deck, finally stopping at the entrance to the ship's bridge. Gopher drove the transport into the bridge's enormous lobby, where it stopped and beeped at the desk of a lonely typing-bot. A gate was lowered and the transport whooshed² through.

 

WALL · E emerged onto the bridge and hid in the shadows of a huge circular room. The bridge was where the Captain and Auto³, the Axiom's autopilot and steering⁴ wheel, controlled the ship.

 

Auto seemed to dominate the room. With a large eye in the center of his wheel, he could view both the lido deck and deep space just outside the window. He had a long mechanical tentacle⁵ that he used as a hand to help him push buttons or lift things, and even lift objects periodically.

 

Gopher saluted⁶ Auto and presented EVE for inspection⁷. WALL · E watched as Auto scanned EVE and began computing⁸ rapidly until a code blinked on his screen. Auto and Gopher exchanged several beeps and nodded.

 

WALL · E felt the floor beneath him move. Stifling⁹ a shriek¹⁰, he realized—too late—that he was standing¹¹ on a trapdoor. It opened to the Captain's quarters one floor below ... which was exactly where WALL · E landed when he fell.

 

Auto, not noticing WALL · E, reached down through the hole right after him and activated¹² the Captain's alarm clock. WALL · E boxed up in the dark room and hid.

 

"Captain," Auto said to a snoring body in a bed, "you are needed on the bridge." Auto then retreated to the bridge.

 

With no one else there but the sleeping Captain, WALL · E glanced around the dimly lit room. The walls were covered with portraits of former captains, their years of service listed beneath their names. The date under the first portrait was 2105. That was seven centuries ago, when the Axiom had been launched from Earth for its five-year cruise. It was now 695 years behind schedule for its return.

 

The captains had changed over time, growing larger and flabbier. Like the humans on the ship, the captains had declined, each one visibly less spirited than his or her predecessors¹³.

 

The current captain reached out to quiet his alarm and accidentally pushed a button on WALL · E's chest instead. WALL · E cringed. The music of Hello, Dolly! blasted from his speaker.

 

The Captain flopped¹⁴ around in his bed, flustered¹⁵. "All hands on deck!" he muttered. "What? Who? Who's there?" he asked, only half awake.

 

Luckily for WALL · E, a group of prep-bots filed into the room ... and he found the Off button for the music. A beautician-bot, a massage-bot, and a wardrobe-bot surrounded the Captain's bed, which converted into a chair as the robots obediently brushed, massaged¹⁶, and dressed the groggy¹⁷ human.

 

WALL · E tried to blend in by rubbing the Captain's feet. He accidentally tickled¹⁸ the Captain, making him giggle¹⁹. Fortunately, WALL · E remained unnoticed, and he decided²⁰ it was best to simply hide under the Captain's chair.

 

"Oh, you look gorgeous!" the beautician-bot said. The Captain nodded as his hover²¹ chair glided up toward the bridge. WALL · E clung to the under-side of the Captain's chair. The hover chair would take him back to the bridge—and EVE.

 

单轨电车滑行穿越泳池甲板，最后停在飞船舰桥的入口处。戈法将运输器驶入舰桥巨大的门厅里，那里只有一个孤单的打字机器人。运输器停了下来，对着机器人的写字台“嘟”了一声，一扇大门降了下来，运输机“咻”的一声飞快冲了进去。

 

瓦力来到舰桥上，躲在一个巨大的圆形房间的阴影里。“功理”号船长和它的自动驾驶仪兼舵轮傲特在舰桥上控制飞船。

 

傲特看上去似乎控制着这个房间。他的舵轮中央有只大眼睛，能同时看到泳池甲板和窗外的深邃太空。他有一个长长的机械触手，他用它当手来帮他按按钮或拿东西，甚至时不时地还用它举起物品。

 

戈法向傲特敬礼，并把伊芙交给他检查。瓦力看着傲特扫描了伊芙，然后开始快速计算，直到他的屏幕上闪烁着一个代码。傲特和戈法“嘟嘟嘟”地交流了几句，然后点了点头。

 

瓦力感到他脚下的地板在移动。他强忍住尖叫的冲动，然后意识到他正站在一扇活动天窗上，但是已经太迟了。活动天窗通向下一层的船长舱房，而瓦力正摔落在那里。

 

傲特没有发现瓦力，他跟在他后面从活动天窗飞了下来，并打开了船长的闹钟。瓦力在昏暗的房间里缩成盒状，躲了起来。

 

“船长，”傲特对着床上一个正在打呼的人说道，“我们需要你到舰桥上来一下。”然后傲特回到了舰桥上。

 

房间里这时候除了睡着了的船长没有其他人，瓦力环顾了一下灯光昏暗的房间。墙上挂满了前任船长们的画像，在他们的名字下方列明了他们任职的年份。第一幅画像下注明的日期是2105年。那是七个世纪之前，当时“功理”号刚从地球出发开始五年的航程。现在它的返程时间已经比原计划晚了695年。

 

随着时间的流逝，船长们也都有变化，他们块头越来越大，肌肉越来越松弛。和飞船上的其他人类一样，船长们也衰退了，每一任和他的前任相比都明显地更没精神。

 

现任船长伸出手要去按掉闹钟，却无意中按了一下瓦力胸前的一个按钮。瓦力往后退了一下，他的扬声器突然大声播放起《你好，多莉！》的音乐。

 

船长被吓得在床上猛地翻了个身。“全体船员各就各位！”他嘟囔道。“什么？是谁？谁在那里？”他迷迷糊糊地问道。

 

瓦力很走运，一群做准备工作的机器人排成一列进入房间……他也找到了关闭音乐的按钮。一个美容机器人、一个按摩机器人和一个服饰机器人围绕在船长的床边。床变形成为一把椅子，机器人们顺从地给这个软弱无力的人类梳头、按摩和穿衣服。

 

瓦力去擦船长的脚，试图借此混进机器人中。他不小心挠了挠船长，使他咯咯笑了起来。幸运的是，还是没有人注意到瓦力，他觉得最好直接躲在船长的椅子下。

 

“哦，您看起来真帅！”美容机器人说道。船长点了点头，而此时他的悬浮椅正朝着舰桥向上滑翔。瓦力紧抓着船长椅子的底部。悬浮椅会把他带回到舰桥上——回到伊芙身边。

点击收听单词发音