Thank you everyone for the continued support! Glad you are enjoying this story so far! Hope this chapter doesn't disappoint ^_^
Disclaimer: I do not own WALL-E or any characters associated with it. It belongs to Pixar.
Chapter 2
Despite how sanitized the Axiom was kept, Thompson had somehow caught some sort of virus about a week ago. And even though he was recovering (surprisingly quickly, given his old age), he had still woken up that morning with another headache and sore throat. Regardless, he proceeded with his duties, not giving the symptoms much thought, even when the soreness refused to die down several cups of water later.
"Morning AUTO," he greeted half-heartedly as he reached the bridge, getting a low "greetings captain" in response. Heading toward his station, he started the morning broadcast. "Good morning, ladies and gentleman." Thompson winced and cleared his throat, trying to speak around the pain. "Hope you all are having a wonderful December 14th, 2515. As you can see, the weather is…"
AUTO watched silently as Thompson droned on, all too aware that something was wrong with the captain. "Captain," he addressed as soon as the captain finished up the announcements.
"What is it, AUTO?" Thompson sighed, rubbing his face with a hand while moving to get a cup of coffee.
"Permission to summon the medical crew, sir."
Thompson blinked, taking a while to figure out what prompted the question and uttering a soft "oh" when he did. "AUTO," he started, trying to reassure his co-captain. "It's probably a small relapse. I'm fine."
AUTO, however, had other ideas. He quickly ran a scan over Thompson, much to the elder captain's annoyance. The results showed that Thompson was indeed ill, as AUTO had suspected, running a body temperature of 38.111 degrees Celsius. "Negative, captain. You are not well. Suggested action is to return to quarters. CLNI-C units will arrive shortly."
Rest did sound good, Thompson acknowledged. He was tired, both from his duties and from his battles with the sickness. However, he had to continue on his day, not only because of his duties, but also because of Brace's training. It was of the utmost importance for the young captain-to-be to complete his training and assessment programs, as well as get as much experience as he possibly could before Thompson left this world. The captain groaned and massaged his temples. It would take a lot for AUTO to willingly accept his actions, and arguing with an extremely stubborn autopilot would definitely not help his headache. "No, AUTO. You know that Brace has to continue his training. He has already missed most of last week due to my state of health."
There is a pause. "Permission to cancel Captain Brace's training for today, captain."
"Oh, for—" Thompson threw his arms up in exasperation. His patience was not the best at the moment, and the current debate was quickly adding fuel to his irritation. Taking a few deep breaths, he managed to ground out, "Just… drop the topic for the day, AUTO."
"Sir—"
"That's an order!" The captain snapped.
Silence filled the room, long and loud, punctuated only by the hum and whirs of machinery. Guilt started seeping into his stomach as he watched his partner. AUTO's wheel was spinning slightly as the construct struggled between his two directives: the directive of keeping the captain alive and healthy, and the directive of always following a captain's orders.
He was about to apologize and retract his order, when the wheel made his decision. "…Aye, aye, sir." With that, AUTO retracted into the ceiling, only to appear again in what seemed to be one of AUTO's favorite locations, hanging in front of the main computer where the bot could case out onto the Lido Deck.
"Um… yes." Thompson cleared his throat, grimacing at how raw it felt. "Right." The two worked quietly for a while. Thompson shifted uneasily as the silence stretched, as guilt continued eating at him. He had to say something…. Maybe a compromise of sorts? Thompson licked his lips. "Maybe you were right about canceling Brace's training for today, though. Permission granted."
"…Yes, captain."
There was no denying that the symptoms were getting worse. Thompson coughed vigorously into his elbow, his frame shuddering as he tried to suppress them. With almost a kind of desperation, he grasped for the cup of water, bringing the straw to his mouth and downing the liquid in large gulps in an attempt to soothe both the cough and the burning fire in his throat, extremely conscious of the AUTO's stare as he swallowed the last of the drops.
His order was probably the only thing that was keeping AUTO from confronting him, Thompson mused as he took a few more sips from a new cup. It was obvious that AUTO had noticed his worsening condition as well. However, the bot's programming demanded that the bot obey Thompson's wishes, and his wish was to leave the matter of his sickness alone. As long as Thompson's life wasn't in danger, AUTO would probably never approach the topic again for the rest of the day, not without the captain's consent.
A familiar melancholy crept into Thompson's chest as he reflected upon that fact. When he was a young child, he had often wondered what it would be like to live the life of a robot, having his actions and available choices planned out for him beforehand. "Young man, you are too curious for your own good!" his mother would scold him whenever he brought out the subject. Regardless, the question stuck with him through his life. An effect of being around so many robots all his life, he supposed. The prospect of having everything written out for him had made him uneasy then, and it still disturbed him now.
"Captain?" Thompson blinked as AUTO's low timbre snapped Thompson out of his thoughts, and he found himself staring at the construct, who had turned to face him.
"Ah, it's nothing AUTO," Thompson replied. He grimaced and cleared his throat. Just how long had he been looking at AUTO? "I was just thinking."
Seeing that captain had nothing else to tell him. AUTO turned back to the main computer. His circuits clenched and his wheel twitched slightly at the sight of the sick captain, and he fought the urge to summon the CLNI-C bots. The captain had explicitly stated that he wanted to have nothing to do with them today, forbidding AUTO from such an action. A notification popped up on the screen, and he turned his attention towards it, for once grateful for the distraction. It seemed that a robot had escaped from the repair ward. He immediately signaled for GO-4 to take care of the situation.
"Are you still sulking about this morning?"
AUTO turned towards Thompson, confused with the question. "Not possible. Robots do not have emotions. Therefore, they cannot sulk." Thompson looked absolutely amused at his response, confusing him even more.
"Oh, AUTO." Calming down and setting his cup aside, the captain settled himself beside AUTO and looked out over the Lido Deck. "I know. You keep saying that."
"It is a logical fact." AUTO swept a scan over the captain once more, thinking that the illness had affected the captain to the point where it altered Thompson's thinking. Analyzing the results, AUTO took note that the fever had gone up significantly through the day. "Captain…." He paused, deliberating what to do.
The captain suddenly spoke up. "Okay, AUTO, you win."
"Sir?"
"Call up the CLNI-C units, AUTO. I think I might need some checking over after all."
The uncomfortable, strict constraints of his programing appeared to loosen immediately after Thompson gave his approval. "Affirmative, captain." Had AUTO been human, he would have sighed in relief. As it were, he simply pressed a few buttons, summoning the two CLNI-C units and GO-4.
Designed to be a mostly stationary robot, the escaped L-T unit and her maximum speed left a lot to be desired. Her swerves were the only quality that held off the crowd of less maneuverable Stewards chasing her down. Humans cried out in pain and irritation as her light, stuck on and flickering irregularly, flashed in their eyes.
Turning, she bolted down a corridor. She had been stuck in the repair ward for far too long. For the last five Earth-years, she had been nothing but a broken construct stuck behind a force-field door, a bot the repair crew never got around to fixing. Now that she had earned her freedom back, she wasn't about to give it up that easily. Besides, getting caught would undoubtedly mean severe punishment.
"Halt!"
Suddenly several Stewards approached her from ahead, cut off her path in front of her. Skidding to a stop, she headed back, only to find herself surrounded. The infamous small red and white bot made his way towards her, and L-T lowered her head, knowing that she was defeated. "GO-4, sir," She greeted softly. Maybe showing some respect would get her a less severe penalty.
"L-T unit 429." By the sound of GO-4's voice, though, the possibility of that was close to none. "Are you aware of your infraction." GO-4 had not intended it to be a question.
"Yes, sir." L-T squirmed under the head of security's dark gaze.
"State your infraction." L-T thought his one eye just got darker, if that was possible.
"Escape from the repair ward, sir. I have no excuse." It was better to just cooperate GO-4's questioning. There were numerous stories about how the uncooperative constructs had met their fates. She shuddered, recalling how some of such bots have been reduced to scrap metal, recycled into another construct or, rarely, just thrown away into the depths of space.
GO-4's voice jolted her back to the present moment. "That is correct. Therefore, you will come with—" the bot trailed off. L-T kept her head lowered for a bit longer before looking up in confusion.
"Sir?"
That seemed to recapture his attention. "Yes… indeed. You will come willingly with me, or suffer the consequences." The small bot seemed distracted, though, his mind not entirely on her capture. Turning, GO-4 addressed the Stewards through a private connection, issuing some sort of command. L-T waited, at a loss at what else to do. Suddenly, most of the Stewards turned and left, leaving only two behind, who immediately fell into place behind their superior. "Move," came the order, signaling L-T to walk in front of them.
Unknown to the other three robots, GO-4 was reeling in his thoughts as he made his way to the bridge. He had just received a signal from AUTO summoning him to the bridge, something he would be doing anyways after capturing the escaped bot. What could have been so urgent that AUTO had to send a message requesting an action that would have happened anyways? As GO-4 neared the entrance to TYP-E's station, hesitation filled him once more. Ever since his query regarding directives fifteen years ago, his relationship with AUTO hadn't really been the same. Was the second summon due to something he had done? What would AUTO want with him?
I swear, AUTO and GO-4 must have the some of most difficult programing to live with DX Poor fellas. All just to protect the humans. Anyways, that's it for now! Hope you enjoyed that! Feel free to point out any errors that you see. Any reviews and constructive criticism will be greatly appreciated! And as always, thanks for reading.