Otua let her mind wander as she walked away from the bridge lobby. Even her brother had been apprehensive about the updates. But she could see where he was coming from; there was only one her, and the others would be very reluctant for her to do anything extremely risky. As she traversed the distance between the lido deck and the docking station, she decided to weigh in her family's outlook against her own decision. She had wanted to better herself to fit in, but yet her family and friends had all told her otherwise. Was she really being that selfish?

But the answer was never given; for Otua had walked right into a passing Burn-E and almost toppled over it. Quickly coming to her senses she apologized several times as she helped the robot regain its footing. Righting its leg peg back onto the track system of the Axiom, Otua gave a slight bow to the rather irritated welder and made tracks out of the ship. As the Burn-E stood there wondering why the human hadn't watched where it was going, he found himself in for an even bigger surprise.

He watched as the human stopped in mid-walk, before rubbing her teal gloved hand over brilliant red locks of hair. When she turned, he saw that it wasn't a human. Lacking a right eye completely, she had some strange patch over her left eye that gleamed with a sea blue. (Although he didn't know, all these colors showed up as blue to him) She came back to him and laughed slightly, "I'm sorry," he heard, "I forgot my cap." she picked something off the top of his head and placed it upon her head; he noticed it was the same sort of hat that his boss Auto and the human Captains wore; although hers had two feathers perched upon either side of the cap. She gave a weak smile and then walked off; her cable array swishing behind her like some sort of long mane of hair.

Freezing up with some unknown emotion, it took him a moment to come to his senses; the pretty android was gone. He then realized that in his stupor he had dropped his welding tools and the pack of lighter fluid on his back. Regaining his composure he reattached his tools to himself and looked out the door that led to the outside world. Who was that woman? He had never seen her before, and now that he was no longer grumpy from the initial bump he cursed himself for not speaking up. But now he was determined to find out more about her.... but why? Fueled on by some unknown source, he made his way up to the bridge; Auto would be sure of her name, he must be.

He wheeled up the pathway to the bridge. Little did he know that the task he was about to undertake would change his life forever.

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"You honestly think that children are going to take lessons from teachers now?" a familiar black disc spoke out from atop a book shelf. It looked down into the room with its single eye, scanning the shelves filled to the brim with trinkets and baubles from a 700 year beach combing expedition. A red and orange robot answered the question as it rummaged through some of the upturned belongings.

"Of course I am Kirie," Sae seemed confident, "We need actual teachers for the Earth generation. Who better to do it then myself and you?"

"What about Mage?" Kirie extended her legs and hopped down from her perch. "She doesn't care about education; she'd rather build up towns and the ecosystem."

"Well," Sae thought on how to respond, "She never did teach, what does she know?"

"You're not acting like yourself Sae," the hacker muttered as she stationed herself on the entryway to the truck, "haven't since we landed."

"Never you mind," the teacher folded her arms, "besides we were stationed here to watch Wall-E's home while he's gone."

"Remind me, why exactly is he gone?"

"He wanted to see more of the world; travel with Eve and such and such." Sae explained, "The little guy hitched a ride with the Apertures, for the season he and Eve are going to be with them in Yellow Stone... although I think they roomed with Mage in the settlement nearby, you know.." she felt winded, "Aperture Town."

"Meanwhile we're stuck out here near the dusty city," Kirie mumbled, "I don't see how this could possibly be any worse..."

It was at that moment that the author decided to be cruel and punish the two, for several tiny little GO-4's whisked up the ramp leading into the truck and begin to bounce all over them. Somewhat unsure of how to deal with the multitude of small bouncing "squiggly pens" they could only sit back as a larger GO-4 hovered in and watched at the bouncing mini versions of himself clamber over Sae and Kirie.

"Sorry about that," he said sheepishly, "I told them we were going to the truck and they went crazy."

"Look what you did Kirie, you invoked the wrath of the author!" Sae accused.

"Sae!" Kirie snapped back, "You're breaking the fourth wall here!"

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She watched the sky with patience. The clouds were covering the evening sunset; the wind had been howling all the meanwhile. Her black coat fluttered in the wind; only to be blown with more force as she was alerted to a ship fly through overhead. Looking to the east she saw the approaching vessel, recognizing the markings immediately; it was the Cyan Marine. She stood silently as she watched the craft descend and land close to its stark white sister ship; the Aperture Marine.

She did not know what was going to happen, although her heightened senses alerted her to something approaching. It wasn't a physical being or anything; it was more like an event. But whether or not it was good or bad, she was unsure of. Although by how the weather had been acting, the girl knew that it was more or less some theatric foreshadow to either someone or something monumental.

She wondered if it had to do anything concerning Otua. Otua and Auto were the ones who had saved her life a year ago, but she had repaid them by running away and leaving her only fellow survivor in the Aperture Town...

She let her thoughts wander to that day of salvation.

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There was an area installed in which should have been the Lido Deck. Blood splattered it's walls; both the scarlet of humans and the silver life of robots. A lone figure stood in the middle, over the dead body of her previous opponent, her chest was heaving, her fists were clenched. She did not know that the audience who had been watching had left. She only had the thoughts of "kill or be killed" running rampant in her mind.

She didn't notice the other who walked up to her, nor someone else's retorts of them not getting closer. She only noticed with the cyan garbed pilot stopped a few feet away from her. The cyan pilot eyed the silent fighter; she was underweight. There were bruises upon her neck, her back, her face. And scars, most of which were hidden. She looked to be in her mid to late teens; possibly even older, and had long, knotted scarlet hair that matched the pilots red hued locks.

As the pilot kept her distance, the adrenaline faded from the teenager's body and she fell to her knees. The pilot approached her from behind, but refrained from touching her. There was a small audible click that sounded from the pilot's one eye, and then the teen heard the first non aggressive words in what seemed like a lifetime.

"What happened here?" there was calm to Otua's voice, "Please tell us.. we're not here to fight."

Upon hearing the protopilot's voice, she spun around and backed up rather clumsily until she fell. When she spoke, her voice cracked; it was parched from malnourishment and fighting. "Massacre...." she managed to get out.

Otua shielded her gun away from the survivor, thinking that weapons would only worsen the girl's already shell shocked mind. She knelt down next to the girl. "Are there any others?" she spoke slowly, "We can bring them and you back with us..."

"No..." there was a croaking answer. The girl stared back at the protopilot with awe, she eyed Otua with apprehension; her blue eyes rather reserved. After a few tense moments of silence, the girl spoke again with her haggard and cracked voice, "The ones.. did this... they left..."

Not knowing who "they" were, Otua decided to hold out he r good hand in a friendly gesture, "Then lets get out before they come back." but the pilot's attention was diverted, for she heard the small hum of a motor approach them. The familiar form of a MO appeared, wiggling its brusher. Although at the sight of the human, it held up its brush in the universal sign of surrender; it really meant no harm.

"Look," Otua tried to be reassuring, "Here's someone else, maybe there are more like him on the ship?"

"Doubtful," the girl said softly, "Killing was a sport here...." it was her first coherent sentence. The MO nodded in a negative manner. It had seen the slaughter of its brothers and the human passengers; it had been nothing more than a sport for their enigmatic occupiers.

"Then lets get you two out of here then," Otua re-extended her hand out, "we'll take you both back to Earth, they won't follow you there."

She hesitated, but anything would be better than the hell she had gone through here. So she took Otua's hand, shakily, but still.

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And now she watched as Otua descended from the Cyan Marine and walk to the ivory ship. She did not know why the protopilot had been frequenting the Apertures more often; but she viewed it as none of her business. She decided it would be better to go back to the town and check up on the MO that had been rescued along with her. With inhuman agility she ran down the side of the ledge of rock she had perched upon and sped through the forest.

Little did she know, she would be leaving what was soon to be a crime scene.

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"So, what are you going to do?"

"I've made up my mind. The four core units will be the update that I want."

"Morality, Intelligence, Curiosity, and rage shall all be enhanced. This will require a complete shut down and reboot for the updates to take effect."

"Mother, I'm an A.I., not a PC."

"It doesn't matter..... It's what's required...."

"Alright, I'll leave everything to you...."

Otua wouldn't wake up for quite some time....

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He puttered along the plains at a leisurely pace. Wall-E was in no rush to visit his friends; it was not that he didn't want to see old faces, but he wanted to take in the new sights and sounds. The trash compactor gave out a sigh as he continued his "walk". His seasonal house was in Aperture Town, rooming with Eve, Mage, and MO was a bit overwhelming, but he enjoyed their company alongside Hal. He heard his little cockroach chirp excitedly as the ivory ship came into view. He also noticed that a familiar blue ship was also parked nearby; his friend from the Axiom must've stopped by for a visit as well.

Wall-E picked up the pace. Knowing that the blue protopilot would perhaps still be with the others; he hadn't had time between his relaxation and garbage duties to give her proper (though simple) thanks. And she had been too busy teaming up with Auto and trying to eradicate A-113. The waste allocator let his mind mull over how the sky was slowly turning blue, and the dusty drab browns were once again becoming a tint of green.

What he wasn't planning on was the proud white ship going up in a plume of black smoke as an explosion punched right through the hull and sent debris flying.

He let out a quail of fright. But Wall-E pressed on at full throttle to see if he could help.

It was only the beginning of a much bigger problem...