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MAN-D was looking at AUTO with an expression…AUTO had little time for working out expressions, but it decided that this one was "quizzical" verging on "intrigued".

"Why are you looking at me?"

MAN-D jumped, jolted out of deep thoughts.

"Oh. It was just…wondering."

No more information was forthcoming. Was this a clever trick to prod the reluctant autopilot into making conversation? AUTO wasn't sure, so risked rasping: "About what?"

"Oh…I was just thinking…" AUTO resolved that if she stopped this time, even a full song and dance number wouldn't get a reply. "…Is this really the robot that cold-heartedly electrocuted poor little WALL-E? The AI that tried to stop humanity returning home."

"I am not cold-hearted. I am as warm as my surroundings." It blinked. "And affirmative: I disposed of a defective robot and temporarily seized control, in an attempt to prevent the humans from making this mistake." Its warped red gaze swiveled out onto the main center of the Axiom, this time taking in a far longer, closer look. What it saw made AUTO freeze for a moment in confusion.

"They built a salad bar?"

MAN-D was suddenly there, looking down in the direction of the cold, crimson eye.

"Oh, that? Yeah, it's been there for a while now. Salad, smoothies…if they can grow it, they'll serve it."

AUTO did not dare to ask what a "smoothie" was.

"There are small groups of human infants." It added, a spoke pointing. If it squinted further, it could see that each group was dressed in either shorts or bodysuits, and were sat dangling their toes in the many swimming pools.

"Oh, the swimming lessons? Very good for you, apparently.

"But there is a risk of drowning." AUTO pointed out. MAN-D didn't seem to hear. Instead, she sighed. Ah, AUTO knew this one. "Wistful" was just the right term for it.

"I wish I could swim."

For once, there was not appropriate reply it could think of. It was an unpleasant moment, but it rallied by changing the subject.

"The Axiom is still in use?"

"Oh?" MAN-D shook herself out of her longing daze. "Yeah. Well, you know how humans are for remembering the past."

"Affirmative." AUTO replied. Whilst it'd ruled the Axiom, they'd been in quite a hurry to forget.

MAN-D shrugged.

"From what a gather, there was quite a divide in the first year or so. Some were all for abandoning the whole thing, shutting down, turning it into scrap. Some wanted to keep things as they were, keep the whole thing running as normal. In the end, they compromised. Moved out gradually as the planet recovered, started to turn this thing into a swimming pool and a museum of the bad old days. With a salad bar. Every child takes a guided tour, sooner or later."

"Do they come up here?"

"Quite often. The views great from here, isn't it?"

AUTO phrased the next few words carefully.

"What do they say…about me?"

"Oh, well…"

"Be honest."

"Well…you really can't try to crush another robot alive and expect humans to remember you fondly, y'know."

"Am I only remembered for that?" What about the years, decades, centuries even, of clean, reliable service?

"Pretty much, I'm afraid." A faint smile grew over her face, and erupted into giggles.

"What?"

"Kids used to write stuff on you. They put you behind a cordon after some sweethearts drew their initials on you. Nothing says romantic like putting your names on the worlds most dangerous steering-wheel, does it?" She saw that AUTO had slid over the blank computer screen, and was studying itself in the reflection. "Don't worry. They got them all off in the end. Can't let such an important piece of history get messy." She decided not to divulge that the cleaning had been done by enthusiastic but clumsy human children, because no cleaner bot would go within five yards, no matter how much filth was there for the taking.

"You seem either very calm or very foolish." AUTO finally droned.

"Why?"

"To re-activate to someone with such a negative reputation."

"Well…I'm not one to take rumors at face value. I'll believe something when I see it for myself." She grinned. "Besides, d'you think they let you keep your little cattle-prod?"

AUTO blinked.

AUTO opened the casing on the spoke that housed...used to house...its stun-gun.

AUTO, with some reluctance, looked down at the useless stump and raw wires that remained.

AUTO hurriedly closed the casing again.

It was strange. Something uncomfortable stirred around inside the wheels programming. It made it feel...vulnerable? Was that the feeling? It was unfamiliar. As were the vague unpleasant thoughts about the humans that had disarmed it.

It turned its gaze away, out towards the unsanitary world outside the Axiom. The light coming through the cabins windows was the color of copper now. The sky was filled with the warm light, red lying along the horizon like a blush, shading into yellow and deep blue.

"Pretty, eh?" MAN-D stretched and yawned. "You don't get sunsets like this in space."

"Negative." AUTO agreed. Once, sunrise and sunset had been under its exclusive control. It had pulled the moon up into the night sky, a night that wasn't so much dark as a few shades bluer. It had all tied into its internal clock.

This natural sunset was just downright inconvenient.

…Even if it was somewhat aesthetically pleasing.

She part stood, part hovered, watching until the last light had faded, leaving darkness. Pure darkness, like the black between the stars, like the space behind closed eyelids. It was something that came as a contrast to the artificially lit nights on the Axiom before.

MAN-D yawned again.

"You do not need to yawn." AUTO pointed out. "You are an artificial intelligence. You do not need to increase your oxygen intake."

"You'll have to blame that one on my programmers." Another yawn. AUTO found this a touch unnecessary. "I'm gonna go recharge my batteries, if its all the same to you." Her hologram faded, folded, and disappeared, winking back into the projector suspended from the ceiling. Now, looking closer, with the dazzling glare gone, AUTO could see that there was an eye there, a silver slit, and a voice grille.

"Nighty night, AUTO."

"Goodnight, Capt-" It paused. Old habits died hard. "MAN-D." There was no reply, save a little crooning noise that may have been the manual drive settling into a comfortable standby.

Now what was there? An empty cabin, and AUTO's own thoughts. Looking backwards, there was nothing but that faint, unfamiliar sensation. Bitterness, was that the correct term? Looking forwards, there seemed to be nothing but irritation.

It had been shut down and replaced. It had been pummeled and wrestled by its own Captain, a Captain it had done nothing but serve faithfully, and obey when appropriate. It had been forced into oblivion for years. Then, to wake up forgotten and replaced, when all it had done was follow it's programming, albeit with great enthusiasm at some parts, well...that stirred up sensations that AUTO did not have words for.

This, it supposed, was the reward of obedience.

The red light in its eye dimmed for a moment, then snapped back on. AUTO didn't want to shut down again, not yet. It had been shut down for over two years.

The cabin was awfully quiet and dark. The only light now was from a half-moon at the window, and the red glow that kept diminishing and snapping back on.

Soon, there was only moonlight.