Thrust

As the days counted down to the launch date, EVE began spending more time with her sister probes.

On the first day she took them outside of the launch complex to begin training with them. This turned out to be more difficult than she had first anticipated. When she first met her sisters, they all seemed to share the same brain. But just like Hannah had said, Probes 2 through 5 were developing personalities, and those personalities did not always get along with each other. The Extraterrestrial Vegetation Evaluators had all been programmed to work by themselves, not in a group, so a pecking order was established almost as soon as they met.

Probe 2, Rose, was the bossy one. She had been the leader before EVE came along, so she insisted on going first in everything and became sulky if she did not get this privilege. Probe 3, Violet, was the hot-head. Her temper was short and fierce, and she would get into fights with the others over minor things. She would also start fights just out of boredom. Probe 4, Lily, was the girly one. She preferred flirting to fighting, giggled too much, and was a clumsy shot. This made her the favorite target of Violet's bullying. Probe 5, Daisy, was the baby of the group. She was curious about everything and had a short attention span. If she felt ignored she would get noisy, which put her at odds with Rose for a place in the spotlight.

As soon as she saw them bickering, EVE decided that she would not put up with this kind of nonsense. She made it clear by blasting the nearest pile of garbage with her cannon. The pecking order quickly changed after that.

From that day on, EVE devoted all her energy to turning the independent probes into a team. She spent at least one day alone with each of them to find out their skills and what they needed to learn. This not only helped her, but it helped them. Soon each sister came to respect her as their leader, and knew if they stepped out of line they would have to answer to her.

When EVE went out with her sisters, WALL·E felt as though she were already disappearing.

At first he was stunned that EVE would agree to leave Earth so willingly. But from the way she was acting now it was obvious that going to space was something she truly wanted to do. It made sense, really. Up there she would be free to fly and use her cannon to her heart's content, something she could not do so much on Earth due to gravity and the risk of harming someone. And she could bond with her long-lost sisters, something she was very excited about. WALL·E, however, felt exactly the opposite. If EVE was up in space, she would be really far away from him, and for a really long time. Three weeks? He couldn't stand being apart from her for twenty-four hours!

EVE was so focused on training herself and her sisters for the mission that she remained mostly oblivious to her partner's feelings. She would leave for the spaceport early each morning before he woke up, train all day, and return home late at night. WALL·E tried waiting up for her, but she would always be exhausted and go straight to sleep mode.

Then the launch date came.

It was the day EVE had been waiting for, and the day WALL·E had been dreading. They went to the spaceport together, the first time since a week ago that they went anywhere together. WALL·E brought Hal along this time. He was going to need his company more than ever. When they arrived at the spaceport, the Captain, John, Mary, and Hannah were there waiting for them. The team of probes was also there, all lined up side by side and being cleaned by M-O and his crew.

Just before EVE went to join her team, WALL·E sped up to her and caught her hand. He opened his front panel and took something out.

It was an old BnL cigarette lighter.

EVE stared at him. For the first time since she accepted this mission, she realized exactly what she was about to do.

She held WALL·E's hand for a long moment and just looked at him, memorizing every detail of his appearance. He looked back at her, quietly hoping she would change her mind and forget this whole crazy mission. But it was too late for her to turn back now. The rocket was on the launch pad, and the Captain and her sister probes were waiting. She took the lighter from him and stored it in her own torso chamber. Then she leaned forward and gave him a kiss goodbye.

Probes 2 through 5 watched this whole scene between their sister and the funny garbage-bot with keen interest. They did not understand what it meant, yet somehow they sensed it was important.

It was with great reluctance that EVE finally released WALL·E's hand and joined her sister probes. She did not look back as the transport-bot carried them out of the launch complex and toward the rocket on the launch pad. WALL·E sat there watching her retreating back, and probably would have sat there for hours if Hannah had not suddenly bounced up to him. The human teen had a smile so huge that he was afraid it would break her face.

"WALL·E! WALL·E! Let's go watch the launch from the roof! That's where the best view is!"

She grabbed his arm and dragged him to the elevator with John and Mary. When they got to the roof of the building many other humans and robots were already there. Soon M-O's group of cleaner bots joined them. The air was buzzing with excited voices and chatter. WALL·E was given a spot up front. He pulled himself up as tall as he could and leaned up against the low wall. Off in the distance was the launch pad. From this distance the mighty rocket looked like just a little toy, even when he zoomed in as far as he could. The maintenance bots doing last-minute work on the ship's outer hull looked like lots of little bugs crawling and buzzing around it.

As he stared at the rocket, WALL·E wrung his metal hands together. He remembered the last time that ship had taken EVE away from him. He wished he could chase after it and cling to the ladder on the outside like before. But an Earth class robot like him would just get in the way. He couldn't fly or blow things up, so he would be no help to EVE in space. He could only wait for her and hope she would return to him safe and sound.

Five white identical dots filed into the rocket. Only one of them seemed to hesitate before entering. Then the hatch closed and the count down began. It was the Captain's voice coming from the control tower. "T minus twenty seconds and counting." The ship's engines began to roar and smoke started to billow out underneath it. The Captain's voice continued the countdown. The clouds of smoke became thicker and the roaring grew louder.

"Five… four…three…two…one!"

The rocket rose up on a fiery pillar, all three of its jets blazing like miniature suns. The humans cheered and clapped while M-O and the other robots made excited electrical noises. Only WALL·E remained silent. He kept staring at the ship until it was just a tiny speck up in the sky. Then he sighed a deep, mechanical sigh.

These were going to be the longest three weeks of his life.

EVE was in sleep mode during the launch and remained that way until the ship was high above the Earth. When she awoke she was just a few yards away from a dense field of satellites. The probe ship was entering an orbital pattern, and Probes 2 through 5 had formed a circle around her, waiting for her to show them how to perform their new directive.

As she looked into the faces of each one of them, EVE's resolve became firm. She could not think about what she had left behind while her team and the Captain were all counting on her. So she surveyed the cluttered atmosphere, spotted a particularly large and old satellite, and took off toward it. Without gravity to slow her down she was within range of her target in seconds. Sensing the eyes of her sisters on her, she deployed her quasar ion cannon, took aim at one of the large satellite's solar panels, and fired.

The panel made a satisfying boom as it exploded. EVE fired four more shots to destroy the remaining panels and then the main body of the satellite. Now all that was left of it were specks of tiny burning embers.

Impressed, Probes 2 through 5 gave a collective "Oooh."

Feeling confident, EVE set her sights on another large satellite and repeated the process of destroying it piece by piece. When she had done this three more times the other probes began to understand her method. Most of the satellites consisted of solar panels and a central body. If EVE blew up the center first, the explosion would blow the panels away, and in this weightless environment they would fly far out of range. Working from the outside in was the most efficient way to get the job done.

So one by one, Probes 2 through 5 spread out from their leader and began using their own cannons to destroy more satellites. EVE watched them with a sense of pride. Then she went right back to work. She was truly enjoying this opportunity to use her cannon again. There were plenty of targets out here for her to shoot at. This was not work to her. Work was boring. This was fun. For the next three hours she steadily carved a path with her cannon through the cluttered mass of junk, leaving a trail of glittering dust in her wake.

When she broke through to the other side of the mass, she froze.

Not once in all her past trips on the probe ship had EVE ever seen Earth from space. She had always been in sleep mode, and only knew what the planet looked like from images on holo-screens. The real thing was far more beautiful than any of those images could hope to be, and many, many times larger. For the first time EVE felt small and insignificant in the eyes of the universe. She wondered if WALL·E had seen the world like this before.

And just like, that EVE's good mood was gone.

Everything she had tried not to think about was now flooding her head. For the first time in fifteen years she was away from WALL·E, the farthest she had ever been from him. What was he doing now? Was he trying not to think about her? Was he still going to work? Was he keeping his batteries charged and feeding Hal properly?

She stared at the greenish brown patches of land and wondered which one he was on. From this height there was no way to tell where the colony was, not even with her enhanced robotic vision. She couldn't even be sure if he was on the side of the planet she was looking at. On a whim she opened her torso chamber and took out the BnL lighter he'd given her. She flipped the lid open and tried to ignite a flame.

Nothing happened.

She tried again. Still nothing. Not even a spark.

EVE became worried. This had never happened before. As she struggled with the lighter, she did not notice Probe 2, Rose, watching her from a short distance. She made a noise to get her leader's attention. "Are you alright?" she asked in their native robotic dialect.

Surprised, EVE quickly stowed the lighter inside her torso chamber and pretended nothing was wrong. "Yes, everything is fine. Don't worry about me." she answered in the same dialect. Rose was not entirely convinced, but she went back to her work anyway.

EVE took one more look at the planet before doing the same.

These were going to be the longest three weeks of her life.

To be continued...