Auto¹ held out one of his tentacle² handles toward the Captain. "Now the plant."

 

"No!" the Captain shouted, refusing to give the plant to his autopilot. "This doesn't change anything, Auto! We have to go back!"

 

Auto had never expected this captain to defy him. But the Captain had finally come to the conclusion that if the little plant had grown and survived on Earth, so could the people on the Axiom.

 

"Sir," Auto answered, "orders are: Do not return to Earth."

 

"Because he thought nothing could survive there anymore," the Captain argued. "But that was hundreds of years ago! Now look at the plant—green and growing! It's living proof!"

 

"Irrelevant³, Captain." Auto was sticking to his directive.

 

"What?" the Captain said, raising his voice. "No! It's completely relevant! Out there is our home. Home, Auto! And it's in trouble. I can't just sit out here and do nothing. That's all anyone's ever done on this blasted ship—nothing!"

 

"On the Axiom, you will survive," Auto answered mechanically.

 

The Captain's voice became stronger. "I don't want to survive! I want to live!"

 

Auto replied: "Must follow my directive."

 

The Captain turned away in frustration⁴. Auto had slowly been taking over the Captain's rightful duties as leader of the Axiom, and it was for all the wrong reasons. The Captain turned back and stared at Auto. Then he looked down at the little plant in his lap.

 

"I'm the captain of the Axiom," he stated, filled with determination. "We are going home today!"

 

Auto gave off a series of electronic beeps, and Gopher instantly emerged onto the bridge. Gopher turned toward the Captain. A blue suspension beam suddenly lifted the plant from the Captain's hands.

 

"Hey, that's my plant!" the Captain yelled at Gopher. "This is mutiny!"

 

"Probe One," the Captain said to EVE, "arrest Auto!"

 

And then everything happened very fast. Gopher tossed the plant straight into the trash chute. The Captain gasped⁵. This could not be happening! The plant was gone ...

 

... until WALL · E appeared. Still climbing up the trash chute, he had caught the plant. He emerged from the chute, looking right at EVE, knowing she would be delighted.

 

Zzzzap! Auto electrocuted WALL · E. Just like that, the little bot fell to the floor, his circuitry fried. EVE—caught in one of Gopher's suspension beams—watched in horror as WALL · E was dumped down the trash chute.

 

Still in shock, EVE was barely aware as Gopher disabled her. The Captain gasped as Gopher's beam lifted EVE and unceremoniously threw her down the trash chute!

 

Turning to the Captain, Auto stated flatly, "You, sir, are confined to quarters."

 

The out-of-shape Captain was no match for Auto. Despite his attempts to resist, the Captain was pushed down into his quarters. The lights went out. He was now imprisoned⁶ without power or access to the outside.

 

Far below the Captain's quarters, WALL · E and then EVE crashed into the Axiom's garbage bay. Tons of trash filled the room. The only light came from the faint orange glow of industrial lamps. Two giant compactor robots made a rumbling⁷ sound as they worked. WALL · A was emblazoned on their enormous square chests. They were Waste Allocation Load Lifters, Axiom class.

 

The giants each grabbed a ton of trash, cubed it, and rotated. They stacked their massive trash cubes on a platform, and the cubes slid on rails into an air lock. The huge air-lock doors started to close with a hiss⁸. Then the exterior⁹ hatch flew open, the vacuum of space instantly pulling out the cubed trash.

 

When EVE awoke, she realized that she and WALL · E were squashed tightly inside two of the giant trash cubes.

 

Quickly becoming alert, EVE understood the danger that she and WALL · E were in. If they did not get out soon, they would be lost forever in space. She struggled to break free from her trash cube, but she was too tightly wedged inside it. And then—KA-BLAM!—EVE used her blaster arm to blow up her trash cube and free herself. But WALL · E was still stuck in his cube.

 

To make matters worse, all the gigantic trash cubes were now inside the garbage bay's air lock. The outward pull was growing stronger and stronger. They were being sucked out into space!

 

Finally, EVE managed to pull WALL · E free. But the doors to the air lock were almost closed! M-O, the little cleaner-bot, was still obsessively¹⁰ following his directive, cleaning WALL · E's tracks all the way to the garbage bay. And as the doors were closing, M-O wedged himself between them, keeping them slightly ajar.

 

The giant WALL · As realized what was happening and moved over to open the doors. M-O was able to get back into the safety of the garbage bay. And EVE, pulling the injured WALL · E, barely made it out of the air lock and through the doors herself. The WALL · As and M-O had helped save WALL · E and EVE.

 

But WALL · E was badly hurt.

 

傲特将一只触须式的手柄伸向了船长：“现在给我那株植物。”

 

“不给！”船长吼道，拒绝把那株植物递给他的自动驾驶仪。“这不会改变任何东西，傲特。我们必须回去！”

 

傲特从来没有料到这任船长会反抗他。但是船长已经有了最终论断，他认为既然这株小植物已经在地球上存活生长，“功理”号上的人们也可以。

 

“长官，”傲特回应道，“命令是：不要返回地球。”

 

“因为他以为什么生物都不能在那里存活，”船长争辩道，“但那是几百年之前！现在看看这株植物——绿色的，在生长的！这是活生生的证据。”

 

“无关紧要，船长。”傲特坚持执行他的指令。

 

“什么？”船长拔高声音说道，“错！这有重大意义！那儿是我们的家园。‘家园’，傲特！现在它陷入了困境。我不能就在这里呆坐着什么都不做。这就是这艘该死的飞船上所有人唯一做过的一件事——什么都不做！”

 

“在‘功理’号上你们会存活下去。”傲特机械地回答。

 

船长的嗓门更大了：“我不想要存活！我想要生活！”

 

傲特回答：“必须执行我的指令。”

 

船长沮丧地转过身。傲特已经逐渐接管本该由船长履行的职责，成为“功理”号的领导人，却是为了不正当的理由。船长又转过身瞪着傲特。然后，他低头看向了他腿上的那株小植物。

 

“我才是‘功理’号的船长。”他无比坚决地陈述道，“我们今天就回家！”

 

傲特发出一系列“嘟嘟嘟”的电子信号，戈法立刻出现在了舰桥上。戈法转身朝船长走去，一束蓝色悬浮光束突然从船长的手中将那株植物举起。

 

“喂，那是我的植物！”船长冲着戈法喊道。“你们这是叛乱！”

 

“探测器一号，”船长对伊芙说道，“逮捕傲特！”

 

然后，所有的事情都发生得非常快。戈法将那株植物径直抛入垃圾滑槽。船长倒吸了一口冷气。这不可能！那株植物没 有了……

 

……然后瓦力出现了。仍然在沿着垃圾滑槽往上爬的他接住了那株植物。他从滑槽里爬了出来，直看着伊芙，知道她会开心。

 

“嘶——”傲特电击了瓦力。就这样，这个小机器人摔倒在地，他的电路被电击坏了。伊芙被戈法用悬浮光束捆住，惊恐万分地看着瓦力被扔下了垃圾滑槽。

 

伊芙大为震惊，以至于她都没有意识到戈法让她失去了反抗能力。看着戈法的光束举起伊芙，粗暴地将她扔下垃圾滑槽，船长倒吸了一口气。

 

傲特转过身对船长冷冷地说道：“你，长官，在舱房里关 禁闭。”

 

船长身材早已走样，根本不是傲特的对手。尽管他试图抵抗，但还是被推了下去到了他的舱房里。灯光灭了。现在他被监禁了起来，没有权力，也无法和外界接触。

 

在船长舱房下方的飞船深处，瓦力和伊芙先后跌入了“功理”号的垃圾站。房间里装满了垃圾，足有好几吨。这里唯一的光源是工业用灯昏暗的橙色灯光。两名巨型压缩机器人工作时发出隆隆声。他们巨大的方形胸部有着显眼的“瓦拉”字样的标识。他们是“功理”号垃圾分装装置。

 

这两个巨型机器人各自抓拢一大堆垃圾，压成方块，旋转。他们将巨大的垃圾块堆在一个平台上，这些垃圾块顺着钢轨滑进一个气闸室。巨大的气闸室的门“嘶嘶”地关上。紧接着，外舱门打了开来，太空的真空立即将垃圾块吸了出去。

 

当伊芙醒来时，她意识到她和瓦力都被紧紧挤压在两个巨型垃圾块内。

 

伊芙立刻警觉起来，明白她和瓦力所面临的危险。他们如果不能马上挣脱出去，将永远迷失在太空中。她挣扎着从垃圾块内脱身，但是她被卡得太紧了。就在这时，只听到“咔砰”一声，伊芙用她的爆破枪手臂打爆了她的垃圾块，挣脱了出来。但是瓦力仍然被卡在垃圾块里。

 

更糟糕的是，目前所有的巨型垃圾块都已经被运到垃圾站的气闸室里了。外面的拉力越来越大。他们正被吸向太空！

 

最终，伊芙设法将瓦力从垃圾块里拉了出来。但是气闸室的门几乎快合拢了！那个小清洁机器人莫仍然在执着地执行着他的指令，一路跟着瓦力清洁他留下的印迹，一直跟到了垃圾站。眼看门快要合拢，莫这一行为使自己卡在了门中间，使门微开着。

 

巨大的“功理”号垃圾分装装置意识到出了问题，走过来打开了气闸室的门。莫得以重新回到安全的垃圾站。伊芙拖着受伤的瓦力强撑着走出了气闸室的门。“功理”号垃圾分装装置和莫帮忙救了瓦力和伊芙。

 

但是瓦力受了重伤。

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