As it approached the star liner, WALL · E’s small probe ship was swallowed inside the Axiom’s docking bay, where it was locked safely into place.
Still clinging to the outside of the ship, WALL · E saw the loading dock come to life. From every corner, gleaming service robots of all sizes and descriptions appeared. Their names shining on their front panels, they paused until lines appeared in front of them on the floor. Apparently, the bots carried out their directives by following these preprogrammed lines around the ship.
The probe ship’s cargo doors smoothly slid open, and WALL · E saw EVE. She was still shut down; only the green light on her chest was flashing.
“Eee-vah?” WALL · E whispered as a chrome-trimmed crane-bot lifted her out of the hold and lowered her onto the huge deck below. WALL · E was careful to speak softly and remain hidden.
Immediately, a squad of robots surrounded EVE. To them, she was Probe One. A tiny mint-blue robot with a bristle-brush head was beeping orders to the rest of the robots. His name was M-O. He was a microbe obliterator with one simple directive: clean.
M-O scanned EVE. Disgusted, he computed that she was fifteen percent contaminated with dirt. He signaled his crew, who hurried along bright red lines on the floor to begin the cleanup. A vacuum-bot, a sprayer-bot, and a buffer-bot zipped along their lines to do their jobs.
WALL · E watched as the crane-bot lifted one of the bots from the probe ship and lowered it onto the deck. WALL · E suddenly had an idea. He wedged himself into another probe-bot’s place, and the crane-bot picked him up next.
As M-O continued to scan the probe-bots on deck, he suddenly came across WALL · E, who was boxed up and nervously trying to blend in. M-O turned to the boxed robot and scanned him: 100% FOREIGN CONTAMINANT! A red light popped out atop M-O’s head and a siren began to wail.
Poor WALL · E, having spent centuries cubing trash, was very dirty indeed. M-O instantly charged at WALL · E in a cleaning frenzy. Frightened, WALL · E pushed him away with his front panel.
M-O tried again. WALL · E rolled backward, leaving a dirty trail on M-O’s immaculate floor. M-O lunged forward and scrubbed at the track marks. Amused by his power over the cleaning-obsessed M-O, WALL · E had another idea. Just to see what might happen, he decided to stick out his tread and make another spot on the floor. M-O leaned over and scrubbed at it compulsively.
Teasing him now, WALL · E wiped one of his treads on M-O’s head. M-O went crazy, trying to rid himself of the yucky stuff.
Suddenly, two steward-bots—the policing bots of the Axiom—emerged from a wall. Nearby, a small robot shot out of a pneumatic tube and into the docking bay. It was Gopher, the Captain’s personal assistant. He quickly gave orders to the steward-bots. Then he headed toward the probe-bots. A blaring siren sounded, prompting the cleaning crew to snap to attention.
Gopher began to scan each probe-bot. He checked WALL · E and then moved on to the next robot. Realizing that something wasn’t quite right, he stopped for a moment. He turned to look WALL · E over again, but the little robot was gone. Gopher continued until he finally came to EVE.
Gopher scanned EVE, and instantly, every alarm on deck began to sound. Green lights flashed everywhere. A hover transport glided up to Gopher. He beeped and ordered the crane-bot to lift EVE into the vehicle. Gopher climbed into the driver’s seat and navigated the transport into an open elevator.
“Eee-vah!” WALL · E called, hurrying after the transport. He managed to hop inside the elevator just before its doors closed.
Behind him, the other bots began to file out of the loading dock. Each robot moved strictly along its designated line. M-O discovered WALL · E’s latest filthy trail. But the dirt veered away from M-O’s designated line, and bots were never supposed to go off their designated lines. Not ever.
M-O looked at his departing crew, then back at the dirt that irresistibly called to him. He closed his eyes and did something no service robot aboard the Axiom had ever done: He jumped off his designated line. Somehow, WALL · E had had a strong effect on the industrious cleaner-bot.
Cringing, M-O slowly opened his eyes. He looked around cautiously. No alarms. No whistles. Nothing had happened! That wasn’t so hard, he decided, and cheerily began following WALL · E’s tracks, scrubbing as he went. He was determined to find and clean this bot.
瓦力乘坐的小探測飛船駛近“功理”號,進(jìn)入了它的停靠站,被可靠地固定到了適當(dāng)?shù)奈恢谩?
瓦力仍然緊貼著探測飛船的外壁。他看見裝卸月臺忙碌了起來。大大小小、形態(tài)不一、閃閃發(fā)光的服務(wù)機(jī)器人從各個(gè)角落走出來。他們的名字在他們的胸前面板上閃閃發(fā)光。他們等到面前的地板上出現(xiàn)線條之后才開始行動。顯然,這些機(jī)器人沿著飛船四周預(yù)先設(shè)定的這些線路來執(zhí)行他們的指令。
探測飛船的貨艙門流暢地滑開,瓦力看見了伊芙。她的電源仍然關(guān)閉著,只有胸前的綠燈在閃爍。
一個(gè)鍍鉻邊的起重機(jī)器人將伊芙從貨艙里取出,然后把她放在下面巨大的船艙地板上?!耙痢??”瓦力低聲說道。瓦力很小心,說得很輕,沒有被人發(fā)覺他的存在。
一隊(duì)機(jī)器人立刻圍繞在伊芙四周。對他們而言,她是探測機(jī)器人一號。一個(gè)腦袋是一把鬃刷的薄荷藍(lán)色微型機(jī)器人正在“嘟嘟嘟”地向其他機(jī)器人下達(dá)命令。他的名字是莫。他是一個(gè)微生物終結(jié)者,他只執(zhí)行一個(gè)簡單的指令:清潔。
莫掃描了伊芙。他計(jì)算出她身上百分之十五的地方被灰塵污染了,這讓他十分反感。他向他的隊(duì)員們發(fā)了信號,他們便沿著地板上明亮的紅線快速移動開始清潔。一個(gè)吸塵機(jī)器人、一個(gè)噴霧機(jī)器人和一個(gè)緩沖機(jī)器人沿著他們的線路快速移動以完成他們的工作。
瓦力看著起重機(jī)器人從探測飛船中舉起其中的一個(gè)機(jī)器人并將它放在船艙地板上。瓦力突然有了一個(gè)主意。他擠進(jìn)另一個(gè)探測機(jī)器人的位置,起重機(jī)器人下一個(gè)就舉起了他。
莫繼續(xù)掃描著船艙地板上的探測機(jī)器人時(shí)突然遇到了正團(tuán)成盒狀、緊張地試圖混在其他機(jī)器人中的瓦力。莫轉(zhuǎn)向這個(gè)收縮成盒狀的機(jī)器人,并掃描了他:“百分之百外來致污物!”莫頭頂上冒出盞紅燈,警報(bào)聲響了起來。
可憐的瓦力幾個(gè)世紀(jì)來都在將垃圾壓成方塊,他確實(shí)極其骯臟。莫立刻向瓦力沖去,瘋狂地想要將他清潔干凈。瓦力被嚇壞了,他用前胸面板將莫推開。
莫又試了一次。瓦力向后退去,在莫纖塵不染的地板上留下一道骯臟的軌跡。莫猛地?fù)涞降厣?,用力擦洗那道軌跡。瓦力發(fā)現(xiàn)自己能影響對清潔過于癡迷的莫,被逗樂了,他又想出了一個(gè)主意。他決定伸出他的履帶,在地板上再留下一道污跡,來看看會發(fā)生什么。莫趴在污跡上方,難以自已地擦洗它。
瓦力想要戲弄他,用一條履帶去擦拭莫的腦袋。莫抓狂了,盡力將這令人討厭的東西擦掉。
突然,兩個(gè)乘務(wù)員機(jī)器人——“功理”號上的機(jī)器人警察——從一堵墻里冒出來。一個(gè)小機(jī)器人從附近的一個(gè)氣流輸送管里沖出來,沖進(jìn)??空尽K懈攴?,是船長的私人助理。他快速地向乘務(wù)員機(jī)器人下達(dá)命令,然后他向探測機(jī)器人走去。刺耳的警鈴響起,提示清潔團(tuán)隊(duì)立正。
戈法開始一個(gè)一個(gè)地掃描探測機(jī)器人。他檢查了瓦力,然后走向下一個(gè)機(jī)器人。意識到有什么地方不對勁時(shí),他停頓了一會兒。他轉(zhuǎn)身想再次檢查瓦力,但這個(gè)小機(jī)器人已經(jīng)不見了。戈法繼續(xù)檢查機(jī)器人,最后他來到了伊芙的前面。
戈法掃描了伊芙,一瞬間,船艙地板上的所有警報(bào)器都響了起來。各處都有綠燈在閃爍。一架懸停運(yùn)輸器滑翔到戈法面前。他“嘟嘟嘟”地命令起重機(jī)器人把伊芙舉起放入運(yùn)輸器內(nèi)。戈法爬上駕駛座,駕駛著運(yùn)輸器進(jìn)入一架開著門的電梯。
“伊——娃!”瓦力叫道。他緊追在運(yùn)輸器后面,在電梯門合上前成功地跳進(jìn)了電梯。
在他身后,其他的機(jī)器人開始排隊(duì)走出裝卸月臺。每個(gè)機(jī)器人都嚴(yán)格順著他的指定線路行進(jìn)。莫發(fā)現(xiàn)了瓦力最后留下來的骯臟蹤跡,但是這些塵土偏離了莫的指定線路,而機(jī)器人不該偏離他們的指定線路,在任何時(shí)候都不應(yīng)該偏離。
莫看了眼他正在離開的隊(duì)員,然后又看了看塵土,他難以抗拒它發(fā)出的召喚。他閉上眼睛,做了“功理”號上的餐飲服務(wù)機(jī)器人從未做過的事情:他離開了指定線路。不知怎的,瓦力對這個(gè)勤勞的清潔機(jī)器人產(chǎn)生了巨大影響。
莫忐忑不安地慢慢睜開眼睛。他小心地四處張望。沒有警報(bào)。沒有汽笛聲。什么都沒有發(fā)生!他認(rèn)為這事沒那么難,接著他開始開心地一路跟隨瓦力留下的痕跡進(jìn)行擦拭。他打定主意要找到這名機(jī)器人,把他清理干凈。
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