BRAND-E and SUPPLY-R
Chapter One: Meeting
Brandie fought against the raging waters. She had fallen into a flooded river on one of her walks. Now she was being swept off toward a waterfall! Brandie managed to grab onto a branch, not far from the waterfall. She clung on for her life. Then, the branch snapped. "Oh, no! NOOOOOOOO!"
Brandie fell down the waterfall, then everything went black. As she slowly came around, she heard a voice muttering, "I sure hope she's okay, after a fall like that,"
Brandie jerked her eyes open. Leaning over her was a young man, around his 20s, with dark brown hair and ocean blue eyes. "Oh, she's awake!" he said.
Brandie blinked for a few seconds, then asked, "Wh-where am I?"
She was surprised to find out that she was talking in Axiom Code. The man replied, "You're in the Axiom. I found you passed out not too long ago. It looked as though you fell off a waterfall,"
Brandie asked, "Who are you?"
"I'm SUPPLY-R. And you?"
"I'm Brandie," Brandie replied.
SUPPLY-R smiled. "I like that name. BRAND-E."
Brandie tried to sit up. Big mistake. She felt dizzy when she did. "I don't think you should be going anywhere just yet. You did take quite a nasty fall, after all," SUPPLY-R suggested.
Brandie took that suggestion to heart. She laid back down, and SUPPLY-R brushed a few locks of her hair out of her eyes. Brandie made herself comfortable and fell back asleep. SUPPLY-R's eyes softened quite a bit. "BRAND-E's quite lucky to have survived a fall like that. How she did, I have no idea. I guess it was just one of those miracles that happen," he said softly.
A teenage 'bot named BURN-E came up. "So, she's okay?" he asked.
SUPPLY-R nodded. "Yes. Her name's BRAND-E. But she's asleep right now, so let's leave her to it,"
The two left the room quietly. SUPPLY-R flicked the light switch off and softly closed the door.
Chapter Two: A Day At Home With BURN-E
Brandie woke up late that morning. Feeling a lot better, she walked over to the door, and found a note stuck to it. It read,
'BRAND-E,
I've gone off to work. BURN-E will be here, so don't worry. Dinner's in the fridge. If you need anything, just ask BURN-E.
~SUPPLY-R'
Brandie took notice of how he spelled her name. "Huh?"
She didn't remember having her name spelled like that before. She went into the bathroom and looked in the mirror. She had her normal short, straight, auburn hair, only it was a lighter auburn. A bit more red than she remembered. And instead of her purple sweater and pink skirt, she was wearing an auburn jumpsuit with a small GPS screen on it. The weirdest thing was she had an antenna!
"What?!" she exclaimed.
Brandie came over her surprise quickly, as BURN-E saw her looking at her reflection. "Oh, BRAND-E! You're up!"
Brandie walked over to BURN-E. "BURN-E?" she asked.
"Yes, I'm BURN-E!" he replied enthusiastically.
Brandie sighed. "Okay, BURN-E…when SUPPLY-R gets back, I've got something to tell you both," she said calmly.
BURN-E was, of course, curious about Brandie. But he managed to hold it in somehow. Brandie ate breakfast quite slowly, which was a bit unusual for her, since she normally stuffed her face. There was a question that she was dying to ask right away. So, when she and BURN-E were randomly flipping through the channels on TV, she asked it. "BURN-E, do you know about…WALL-E?"
BURN-E was slightly startled. "Do you know him?"
"No…But I have seen him…on TV," Brandie answered.
For some reason, BURN-E and SUPPLY-R seemed familiar somehow. She remembered a movie called WALL-E, in which they seemed to appear. Brandie didn't know why they seemed so familiar. There was something about them…she didn't know what.
When SUPPLY-R came home from work, Brandie decided now she had to tell them. "SUPPLY-R?"
"What is it, BRAND-E?"
"Can I tell you and BURN-E something?"
"Sure."
Brandie took a deep breath. She waited until both BURN-E and SUPPLY-R were seated. "Well…I don't know how to say this, but…I'm actually a human."
BURN-E and SUPPLY-R were startled. "Wh-what? You're a human?!"
Brandie continued, "Well, I remember being one. And somehow, I turned into one of your type. I don't remember how it happened, or how I got here, but I was a human,
"I think that when I was a human, I watched a movie called WALL-E. And there was a short film named after BURN-E…And you two starred in it. That's why you seem so familiar to me…"
There was a long silence, in which BURN-E and SUPPLY-R exchanged uneasy looks. SUPPLY-R looked the most shocked. He gulped. "I…I think we need to tell Auto about this…"
It was obvious that neither were looking forward to it. Brandie didn't know what to make of it.
Chapter Three: Admitting To Auto
Leaving Brandie and BURN-E at home, SUPPLY-R left to tell Auto about Brandie. Every step towards the Bridge seemed longer than it should be. When at last he made it there, he trembled a little bit. "A-Auto? I have something t-to tell you…"
Auto, a 'bot in his early fifties, whirled around. "What is it?" he asked in a frustrated tone.
SUPPLY-R hesitated before saying, "You know how I told you about how I found that 'bot BRAND-E….? Well, it turns out…she's not a robot at all. She's a human…"
He shut his eyes tight, preparing for the blow. Nothing came. SUPPLY-R nervously looked at Auto. He was facing the other way, breathing heavily in anger. "A human?! Do you realize that the humans worked us half to death on this ship?! Don't you remember?!" Auto shouted.
He glared menacingly at SUPPLY-R. "The humans took advantage of us! Now you're helping one?!"
There was a loud crack as Auto slapped SUPPLY-R as hard as he could. "I won't have it! First thing tomorrow, you're going to get that human back to its home! I won't allow you fraternizing with the enemy!"
SUPPLY-R winced as the blow hit him. He knew that Auto had given him a direct order, but he couldn't do it. He knew he couldn't. "Auto…no. I won't get rid of BRAND-E,"
Auto's face flashed scarlet. SLAP! "You WILL do it! You can and you will!"
SUPPLY-R felt tears welling up. "I'm not going to…Auto, she's not that kind of human…"
Auto glared at SUPPLY-R for several minutes. SUPPLY-R got ready for another slap. It didn't come. Auto closed his eyes and counted to ten. Then he angrily muttered, "Fine. I will reserve judgment. You're free to go."
SUPPLY-R ran out as fast as he could. He wanted to put as much distance as possible between himself and Auto. When he got home that night, BURN-E immediately started asking questions. "What happened? Can she stay? What did he say?!"
SUPPLY-R managed to say, "BRAND-E's staying. Auto's gonna judge her later…"
He brushed past BURN-E. SUPPLY-R ran into the bathroom. He locked himself in and started crying on the floor. He was worried. For BRAND-E. What would Auto do to her if he didn't like her?