The Captain took command of the bridge. He grabbed the ship's wheel and turned it. Passengers spilled across the lido deck as the Axiom leveled itself.

 

EVE set the monorail down and zoomed¹ over to WALL · E. He was pinned under the edge of the holo-detector². She tried to lift it, but it wouldn't budge³. It was still closing, crushing WALL · E in the process.

 

EVE looked for the plant. She knew that if the holo-detector closed, she would never be able to save WALL · E. Suddenly, from across the deck, she heard a robot calling out to her. It was M-O! He raised the plant for her to see from across the lido deck. EVE waved as M-O teamed up with the reject-bots, who worked with the humans to pass the plant to EVE. Every one of them had been inspired in some way by WALL · E.

 

EVE grasped the plant and fitted it—at the last possible second—into the sinking holo-detector.

 

The detector scanned the plant. "Plant origin identified," the ship's computer said. "Global reparation complete. Set course for Earth."

 

The lido deck's sky suddenly became transparent⁴, revealing the sea of stars floating in space. The passengers gasped⁵, and one by one, they began to take in the world beyond their own tight confines. The red coordinates⁶ for Earth glowed against the darkness of outer space as the ship's computer announced, "Hyper-jump in twenty seconds."

 

The holo-detector rose. EVE's directive had been completed. The Axiom would return to Earth!

 

But the happy moment was lost when WALL · E toppled out from underneath⁷ the holo-detector. He was in even worse shape than before—badly crushed and leaking oil. EVE looked at him and gasped.

 

"WALL · E?" EVE said, trying to take his hand. But WALL · E was fading. His hand dropped from hers.

 

EVE hardly noticed as the ship's computer began the countdown, "Ten ... nine ... eight ..."

 

She just tried to hold on to WALL · E as the Axiom jumped to its fastest speed. She had seen him repair himself with the spare parts in his home on Earth. She would take him there. And she would try to bring him back to life.

 

Up on the bridge, the stars streaked⁸ by and the delighted Captain steered⁹ the ship and held on for the high-speed ride to Earth.

 

船长接管了舰桥。他抓住飞船的舵轮，转动它。“功理”号恢复水平的时候，乘客们涌向了泳池甲板的另一侧。

 

伊芙将单轨电车放下，冲到瓦力身边。他被卡在全息探测器的边缘之下。她试图抬起它，但它纹丝不动。它仍在关闭，并挤压着瓦力。

 

伊芙在寻找那株植物。她知道如果全息探测器关闭了，她就再也拯救不了瓦力。突然，她听到甲板的另一侧有个机器人在向她大喊。是莫！他举起手中的植物，好让她隔着泳池甲板也能看见。伊芙冲莫挥挥手，而他正和残次品机器人、人类齐心协力地将那株植物传向伊芙。他们每个人都在某种程度上受到了瓦力的激励。

 

伊芙抓住那株植物，将它安放进了正在下沉的全息探测器里——就在最后一刻。

 

全息探测器对那株植物进行了扫描。“植物原产地已识别，”飞船的电脑说道，“全面的修复工作已完成。设定去地球的航程。”

 

泳池甲板的天空突然变得透明，露出太空中漂浮着的星海。乘客们不禁屏住呼吸，一个个开始欣赏他们狭窄的生活范围之外的世界。黑暗的外太空映衬着地球坐标的红色光辉，此时飞船电脑宣布道：“二十秒之后大跳跃。”

 

全息探测器升起。伊芙已经完成使命。“功理”号将返回 地球！

 

但是全息探测器下的瓦力摔倒在地的那一刻，欢乐的时光结束了。他的情况比之前更糟糕——他因受压而严重变形，还在漏油。伊芙看着他倒吸了一口冷气。

 

“瓦力？”伊芙说道，想要握住他的手。但是瓦力越来越虚弱。他的手无力地从她的手中垂落了下来。

 

伊芙几乎都没有听见飞船电脑开始倒数：“十……九……八……”

 

在“功理”号迅速达到它的最高速度时，她只是尽力想要拯救瓦力。她见过他用地球上他家里的零部件维修自己。她会把他带到那里。她还会尽力将他救活。

 

上方的舰桥上，群星向后疾驰，满心欣喜的船长驾驶着飞船，继续高速向地球飞去。

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