A towel cart—with EVE and WALL · E hiding behind it—slowly moved across the lido deck as the ship's announcer said, "Attention, passengers. The lido deck is now closing." Beach umbrellas suspended over hover¹ chairs snapped shut, and the last few passengers glided² out of the pool area. They were all dressed in blue except for the two wearing red in the pool.

 

"Hey now, stop that!" John said, laughing as Mary splashed at him.

 

"Make me," she answered playfully.

 

"Oh! Okay." John giggled³ and splashed her back. A lifeguard-bot moved down from his tower. "No splashing! No diving!"

 

"Ahh! Switch off!" John yelled back, splashing the annoying robot. The lifeguard-bot short-circuited and toppled over, knocking a passenger into the pool.

 

"Whoa!" the man yelled as he fell into the water.

 

"Hang on!" Mary shouted as she and John each grabbed one of the man's arms. "We've got you!" Together they managed to lift the man out of the pool and back into his chair.

 

The man didn't know what to say. He, too, was unused to being without his electronic devices. He was actually looking at other human beings face to face, not over some holo-screen.

 

"Uh ... thank ... you?" he tried.

 

"You're ... uh ... welcome," John said, smiling.

 

The towel cart rolled by with WALL · E and EVE silently and carefully pushing it forward as it hid them from view. They could look up and see the Captain's quarters and the bridge. They were close now.

 

WALL · E peeked⁴ out and saw a line of stewards⁵ filling the lobby that led to the bridge. He quickly reversed the towel cart into the shadows. EVE scanned the area, searching for another way up to the bridge.

 

The trash chute! EVE realized that the chute went straight up to the bridge! She raised her hand, motioning to WALL · E to stay. He shook his head in protest. But EVE looked at him and said, "Waaaleeee," just as she had done when they first met. WALL · E tilted⁶ his head and sighed. Before he knew it, he found himself watching EVE zoom⁷ past the guards at superfast speed—and right up the chute.

 

伊芙和瓦力藏身在一辆运毛巾的推车后面，慢慢地穿过泳池甲板。此时，飞船播音员正在说：“请注意，乘客们。泳池甲板即将关闭。”悬浮在椅子上方的沙滩遮阳伞都“啪”地合了起来，最后的几位乘客也滑翔离开了游泳池区域。他们都穿着蓝色衣服，只有在游泳池里的两个人穿着红色衣服。

 

玛丽拿水泼约翰，他大笑着说：“喂，住手！”

 

“休想。”她嬉笑着说道。

 

“哦！好吧。”约翰咯咯笑着也拿水泼她。一名救生员机器人从他的塔楼上走了下来，对他们说道：“禁止泼水！禁止跳水！”

 

“啊——闭嘴！”约翰大声喝道，并用水泼这个讨人厌的机器人。救生员机器人发生短路摔倒了，将一名乘客撞入了游泳池。

 

“哇哦！”那人大叫着摔落水中。

 

玛丽喊道：“坚持住！”她和约翰一人抓住了那人的一条胳膊。“我们拉住你了！”两人合力将那人从水中捞起放回了他的悬浮椅中。

 

那人不知道该说些什么。他也不习惯没有他的电子装置。他现在是面对面真正地看着其他人，而不是通过某块全息影像 屏幕。

 

“呃……谢谢……你？”他努力说道。

 

“不必……呃……谢。”约翰微笑着说。

 

运毛巾的推车从一旁经过，瓦力和伊芙藏身其后，小心地推着车悄悄向前不被人发现。他们抬头可以看见船长的舱房和舰桥。他们就快到了。

 

瓦力探头向外张望，看见一行乘务员机器人挤满了通往舰桥的门厅。他迅速将推车倒回了阴影中。伊芙扫描一下这个区域，向上寻找其他能进入舰桥的途径。

 

垃圾滑槽！伊芙意识到垃圾滑槽一路向上通往舰桥！她举手示意瓦力留下。他摇头抗议。但是伊芙看着他，就像他们第一次见面时她说的那样，说：“瓦——力——。”瓦力歪了歪脑袋，叹息一声。他还没有反应过来，就看见伊芙急速飞过那些护卫们，沿着垃圾滑槽一路向上。

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