"Do you think those two are going to be okay on their own?" Sae asked as they turned tail and began their search for the nearest elevator.
"They'll be fine," Mage ushered as they ran down the hall in pursuit of GO-4, "That damn wheel is who isn't going to be fine in the next few minutes."
"The Captain seemed unbothered by Auto," Kirie mentioned as they found an elevator. As Mage began to jam the button for 'up', Kirie continued, "Captain McCrea hasn't been suspicious of Auto's behavior, then again, people on this ship haven't questioned anything since they've boarded."
"That leaves us with a problem then," Sae stated as the elevator doors opened and they rushed inside, "How is the Captain going to listen to us if we say that Auto, or at least GO-4 is destroying the plants that the Eve probes keep bringing back from Earth?"
"I don't think we'll have to worry about that either," Mage seemed pumped, "That Captain who gave us the okay to not be shot down those centuries ago, I don't think the humans are going to be THAT lax.."
"Er...." Otua didn't know how to reply to Mage. It then hit her that Mage hadn't seen what the human race had 'de-evolved' into. "I'm not too sure how confident you should be in your assumptions Mage."
"Eh," Mage was indifferent despite the warning, "How bad could it be?"
As if on cue, the doors to the elevator opened. Once again the group found themselves within the metropolis of the Axiom. Having this be her frist time seeing everything, Mage was (for once in her life) struck dumb as she took in the sights. Kirie was unfazed; she had been living on the Axiom this entire time, although it did intrigue her how the other newcomers reacted to this change of scenery. Something that amused them all was what happened when Mage spotted was what left of the human race in the distance.
"Er... Sae?" Mage rubbed her view port with her wings, "I'm not imagining this am I?"
"No," Otua answered before Sae had a chance to, "those are humans that you are looking at."
There was a silence that transcended the current sentence. This silence was a static build up that Otua knew would end in some type of small nuclear explosion. Needless, to say, she wasn't far from the truth.
"AUGH!!! WHAT IN THE NINETEEN TEST CHAMBERS?!" Mage threw her wings up, "Those ... THOSE AREN'T HUMANS!! They, they, THEY ATE THE HUMANS!!!"
"If you're done being over dramatic Mage," Sae mumbled as they started their trek across the city, "We would like it if you rejoined us."
"Bu-bu-but...." Mage seemed like she was going to have a circuit fried.... "aughh..... so... fat.. can't.... augggg" she chirped a few times and said something unintelligible, before she finally hit herself upside the head, "Okay, I'm good now.." she shook her head to get the images out, but it didn't help that the trek through the city had to take them past everything that Mage just seconds ago had freaked out at. Sae hailed one of the people movers, and the team jumped in. Taking their seats, the four discussed their plans as the vehicle took them to their goal.
"This is it," Kirie said as she slinked in between Mage and Sae, "After all this mess, we're on our way to finally get that code."
"But seriously," Sae folded her arms and went into thought, "Why are the humans giving so much trust in Auto? When I went to the bridge earlier, the captain.. McCrea was it?"
"Yes." Kirie said as she retracted into her disk form.
"Yeah, McCrea didn't seem to object to anything that Auto was saying, he just went along with everything he said."
"Wait," Mage looked up, "You were in the bridge?"
"Long story, but no, we weren't even able to get a chance to tap into Auto or the ship's memory," Sae said with a hint of frustration, "Since McCrea decided to give me the job to escort Wall-E and Eve down to the repair ward."
"Dangit," Mage also folded her arms, "That's just the way things work out I guess."
They sat awhile in thought, not knowing exactly what they were going to do once they got to the bridge. As they traveled through the city, they started to bounce ideas off one another. Mage suggested her water gun trick again, but Sae interjected saying that it wouldn't work on an AI like Auto. Kirie knew her stealth wouldn't work against the autopilot; he had caught her once before, and he wasn't going to let her just waltz in unmonitored. Otua then came up with something that sparked an idea in all of them.
"What if we get him to accidentally tell us what the directive is?" she mused, "As long as I know what it is called, we can get the update and we'll have accomplished what we set out to do on the Axiom in the first place."
"I notice that you're not the teacher bot," Kirie said as she was in disc mode, "You're speaking through her... what kind of robot are you then?"
"Otua? She's the Protopilot of our ship." Mage answered.
"Protopilot you say?" Kirie gained a spark of interest, "I heard they were all destroyed once the Axiom and it's sister ships hoisted anchor and took to the skies."
"Not this one," Sae snapped back, "We saved her before Shelby Forthwright melted her down."
"Hmm..." Kirie let an arm slide out of her body and she scratched the top of her head. "Mr. Forthwright.... I sense this entire plot is becomming rather intricate..."
"What do you mean?" Mage was curious as to what the hacker had to say.
"Forthwright, I was commissioned by him before the Axioms were created..." Kirie trailed off, "I remember seeing the ships that the Protopilots commanded. The Cyan Marines used to dot the air; all of them were so aerodynamic as they flew through the sky, and dove into water to dock at the embarcaderos. I'm sorry Otua..."
"Huh?" Otua was caught off guard by the random apology, "What for Kirie?"
"I... I am the reason why you were replaced...." Kirie said solemnly, "Before I gained a sense of self, Forthwright commanded that I go into the bowels of the servers of Aperture Science. I stole your blueprints for Forthwright. During my investigation into Aperture Science, I discovered that they were connected through Blue Screens Inc, a rival business and data company. Forthwright had me find out where all the CEOs of Blue Screens resided... and... he dealt with them."
"Wait, what?!" Mage hopped back a little bit, "BnL.. you mean, not only did they buy out other companies.. but..."
"Yes," Kirie continued, "they even silenced those who they deemed too much of a threat; those who knew that BnL were and... I'm afraid that, even Otua's creators were part of the unlucky ones..." there was silence, Kirie retracted her arms and sat there as a disc. "And then, Forthwright had me stationed on the Axiom to further weed out anyone who might be considered a threat. But as I was working here.... things began to dawn on me as to how corrupted everything was. You've seen it countless times since you've set foot on this ship. And..." she didn't even bother to look up at Sae, "I'm sorry Otua... I didn't know any better..... if you want to throw me out of the vehicle, you may do so."
There was a static silence for a moment. Mage glowered at Kirie, and Sae didn't even acknowledge it; they were all waiting for Otua's answer. What the answer was, was a big surprise.
"You're wrong Kirie, I don't think that's possible."
"What?" Kirie extended her feet and looked up at Sae, "What do you mean?"
"I don't think my creators would have let themselves be caught so easily by someone so dense." The protopilot explained, "Besides... that's over 700 years ago. And now we're all here together, and we all want the same thing. We want the truth."
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McCrea watched the computer screen in wonder. Ever since the false alarm, and meeting Wall-E, the captain became fascinated by his old home; Planet Earth. While he had never set foot upon it himself, the wonder and possible future that he would lead the people of the Axiom back enthralled him. Despite Auto telling him it was past his bedtime, the captain stayed up until the wee hours asking the ship's computer about Earth and what was there before it was ruined. McCrea then began to wonder about the events earlier that day. What would have happened if the Eve probe did have a plant? If Earth was such a wonderful place as shown on the computer, why hadn't they gone back yet?
Then there was also the events of the Wall-E and that.... Teacher-Bot. Had the false alarm hadn't had sounded, he would have been more level headed. He wondered how they even had gotten on board the Axiom. Lost in thought, it wasn't until there was a good ker-thunk that sounded from the Garbage chute that alerted him outside his personal bubble.
Turning to look, McCrea saw Eve levitate out of the chute; she was displaying the the plant in her hands with a look of triumph on her face.
"The plant!" a feeling of glee came over the captain, "You found it!" Gently taking it from Eve's hands, he looked at it intently. But to his distress, he saw that the poor thing was beginning to wither away. "Uh oh..." quickly remembering what the Axiom's computer said about farming, McCrea wheeled over to the drinking faucet and let the plant get it's fair share of pure water. "There there little guy, you came a long way for a drink of water."
Eve gave a sigh of relief. The plant was now in the captain's hands. Wall-E was down at the pools laying low. Everything was going as planned.
It was then that they both heard the ding of the elevator. McCrea saw a familiar face as Sae, Mage, and Kirie came in. Mage peered around; on alert for the steering wheel. Kirie crawled on Sae's back and remained hidden. Sae waved at the Captain in effort to look friendly. "Hello again Captain McCrea."
"Friends of yours?" McCrea asked Eve.
Not knowing how to answer, Eve only managed a nod. Despite not knowing one another, the taller of the Teacher-Bots had at least tried to be friendly with her. Before full introductions could be made though, there was a sound from above; Auto lower himself down to the lower level. Adjusting his lens, he saw more than the usual amount of people on the bridge. And something that he didn't count on seeing.
"Captain," Auto didn't bother with the new company. "That plant is to be confiscated immediately."
"What do you mean confiscated?" McCrea was taken aback at Auto's behavior, "We finally have the thing we need to get back home, and now you're saying that I should give it up?!"
Eve and the others stood by the sidelines. None of them knew how to interject, and none of them knew where this conversation would lead.
"It is part of the directive, Captain," Auto replied firmly, Otua lit up with excitement, maybe he would slip up. "Give me the plant!" The wheel showed signs of hostility as he extended his arm in effort to grab the plant from McCrea.
"No Auto!" McCrea shielded the tiny plant from Auto's claw, "Give me a reason!"
"It's not required," Auto snapped back as he kept reaching for his prize, "Give it to me!"
"Not without reason Auto! That's an ORDER!" The Captain shouted back.
It was as if time had stopped. Auto stood frozen in place for a moment, before he did and about face and moved over to the ship's keyboards. "You want the reasoning behind this?" Auto asked, knowing full well what the answer was, "Then look at what is in the data banks themselves."
Hitting a few select buttons on the keyboard, a projector filled the room. Everyone became hushed as they saw a podium with the President of the United States Logo (although upon closer inspection, United States was replaced by 'World') and an extremely disheveled Shelby Forthwright straining to stand straight on the podium.
"Sorry guys..." he said through heavy breaths, "But it seems that we've hit a snag. We'll have to cancel Operation recolonize" he was gut off as he began to cough violently.
"Those coughs are so fake." Muttered Mage.
"Everyone," Shelby continued, "It will be easier and safer to remain in space."
"Easier?" even McCrea seemed put off.
"All Autopilots, give the mandatory shift to Directive A-113. Under no circumstances are you to return to Earth." he looked over to the side as he put on a gas mask, "Come on everyone, lets get out of here."
Immediately after his last words, the video feed cut off. McCrea was shocked, he couldn't believe what he just heard. "Computer!" he wanted to check his doubts, "When was that message sent?"
"Received transmission 699 years ago." The ship spoke bluntly.
"699 years ago?" McCrea kept the plant shielded; his suspicious were correct, "That was only a year for the five year plan for recolonization. Auto! Take the directive down. This plant proves that Shelby was wrong."
"Negative Captain," Auto spoke back in his cold voice, "I must follow my directive."
"Wait- Directive!?" Sae snapped out of her trance. "That's It Otua! A-113! Quick! Type it in!"
"No BS from you either Macinstalker!" Mage shouted at Auto as she pulled out her green feather, "This thing's loaded!"
Auto didn't know what to make of the situation. He vaguely remembered the two teacher bots, there was someone missing. Then it came back to him.
"You're two of the three the first captain of the Axiom spared those seven centuries ago..."
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A-113? That was it? That was the minuscule thing that was required for her final update? It seemed a bit underwhelming, but Otua knew that no matter what the final codeword was for the update, she would enter it. Quickly using her claw to type in the five characters, she pushed the enter button.
Almost immediately she could tell that something was wrong. She felt everything began to splinter in her memory. She heard something crackle in the distance, then she felt the initial pain. An electric current surged through her entire being with a sudden jolt. Then another, and then another, there was a relentless barrage of electric bursts that were so violent that they even threatened to crack open her core. If she could cry from pain, she would have done so a long time ago.
"Otua!!" she could hear Sae calling to her. It sounded so far off, her hearing sensors were getting damaged by the electricity every passing second.
"S-s-" she tried calling to her friend; but her audio sensors were already broken. The pain was becoming too much to bear. She could feel the electricity begin to cut her off from everything else. Soon she wasn't even able to register the ship's data in her system anymore. She could hear herself screaming as the electric currents became more concentrated. Her sight began to go, before her visual feedback cut, she saw her lens shatter before her. As she continued to feel pain in the darkness, she felt her connection with Sae cut off. No, she didn't want to die alone. She knew death was what she was experiencing. Why was she lied to? Why was she dying? Didn't her creators love her?
The last thing she remembered was falling, and hitting the ground with a thud.
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"Otua?!" Sae fiddled with her speakers in desperation to get in contact with the Protopilot, "Otua!!!"
"Oh, now I remember," Auto feigned confusion,"Shelby Forthwright mentioned that downloading the A-113 directive into the Protopilot would destroy it. He knew it escaped; he decided to have the A-113 serve two purposes."
"Wait," Mage faltered, almost dropping her gun, "Otua... she's...."
"YOU MONSTER!!" without a warning Kirie threw herself from Sae's back and latched onto Auto like an Octopus. The wheel was at a disadvantage due to Kirie being more ambidextrous, but things didn't stay uneven for long. There was a loud hiss as GO-4 came flying into the battle. Seeing that McCrea was preoccupied with that bothersome hacker and Auto, GO-4 snagged the plant out of the Captain's hands with his tractor beam.
"GO-4!" McCrea yelled at the steward amongst the confusion. "Drop that plant right now!"
Deciding that this was the perfect time to be a smart ass, GO-4 did what he was told, and chucked the plant down the garbage chute. There was a yell of protest as everyone watched the plant fall down the hole. For a scant second, there was another bought of silence, which was broken as the plant....
Slowly levitated into view. Unsure of what was causing it, the question was answered when they saw that it was Wall-E, who had somehow traversed up the Garbage chute and onto the bridge. Not knowing of the immediate danger, Wall-E held the plant up and called out Eve's name. Seeing that the plant was still indisposed of, Auto growled. Eve went to Wall-E's aid, but was immobilized as GO-4 caught her in his tractor beam. Auto spun his wheel and threw Kirie off. He extended his claw and rushed at Wall-E.
"Give me the plant!" he bellowed once again. Wall-E was going to do everything in his power but do what Auto told him. He held the plant out of the wheel's reach and tried to valiant fend him off with his other arm. Seeing that the wheel was more articulated, Wall-E stuffed the plant into him to protect it. Seeing how he wasn't going to grab the plant from his adversary, Auto extended his left handle into a tazer and stabbed the defenseless trash compactor. Eve gave out a scream of fright as Wall-E was stabbed bofore her eyes. When Auto thought that the smaller bot had deserved enough, he disengaged his tazer and shoved Wall-E down into the pit below. Turning around, Auto then hit the button that had been placed onto Eve in the ward. She shut down and was too thrown into the chute by GO-4.
Snapping out of the shock of loosing Otua, Sae and Mage rushed to the chute and called out in vain down into the darkness.
"Your friend is dead. The plant is gone." Auto stated the facts.
"No way," Mage said in a rage, "Now Wall-E and Eve.."
"Mage, Don't do it!" Sae pleaded.
"You're not going to stop me!" The bird shouted as she jumped down the hatch.
"We can at least attempt to save them," Kirie sputtered as she found her footing and scurried over and down the chute as well, "Come on Sae!" her voice faded into the darkness.
It seemed like time had frozen over entirely for her. Sae looked down into the darkness. Mage was trying to mask her sadness, her anger, everything, and now was bent on rescuing Wall-E and Eve. Even though it hurt her, she also had to follow in her friends footsteps. Letting the weight fall upon her front half, she let gravity do the rest as she fell head first down into the depths below.
"As for you, Captain," Auto said the last word in a mockery, "you are to be held down here." Auto lifted himself back into the floor above. McCrea pitifuly gave chase, and watched as Auto shut the floor beneath him.
"MUTINY!!" the Captain blared out.