Chapter 4: Auto's Plan (Spoiler alert!)

What happened? M-O woke up and looked around. He tried his best to remember what had happened, but all he remembered were people running and screaming. Stewards were everywhere, attacking innocent citizens trying to create a distraction so they can capture one of his friends. That someone just so happened to be him. That was when he realized something. WALL-E, EVE, and the Rejects! They must be frantic right now! I hope they find me. Wherever I am. M-O tried to sit up, but realized he couldn't. Whoever my captor is was smart enough to restrain me to this ... table ... thing. It was true. He was on a stainless steel table. A thick metal bar was pinning his waist down. His scrubbing brush was over his head, also pinned down by small piece of metal. M-O's train of thought was interrupted when the elevator chimed. It was then he realized he was in the Captain's old room. He was even more surprised when he saw who strolled in.

"Gopher?!" M-O exclaimed. "This is impossible! The fight! You... you were smashed to smithereens!"

Gopher just smirked. "Auto rebuilt me. Now I'm as good as new. He even gave my a voice chip."

M-O was confused. "Did I hear that right? Auto? I thought McCrea shut him down."

"He did. But he must have rebooted. Why are we having this conversation? He wants to see you!"

Oh, crap... M-O thought. I'm doomed.

Upstairs, Auto was waiting for them. Gopher casually and professionally strolled in. M-O was in his tractor beam. He took one glance at Auto and glared at him. Auto just smirked. "Glad to see you're awake again. Set him there." Obediently, Gopher set M-O down. The little cleaner bot continued to scowl. "Alright. Here's the deal. I'm going to ask you a question and you're gonna answer honestly. If you refuse to do so, you get hurt. Cooperate and I'll think about it. Understand?"

M-O just stood there, glaring at Auto. Remember, he thought to himself. Don't show fear. If I show fear, he will see it and it will weaken my chances of getting out of here alive. He WILL use it against me! Just stay calm, M-O.

"Going with the silent option, huh?" Auto asked. "Well, I can take care of that." Whereupon, he revealed his taser.

M-O's eyes grew a little wider. He remembered WALL-E's description of what the sensation of being tased was like. It did not sound pretty. He shuddered inwardly. He knew he should say something. "Okay, fine. What's the question?"

"Tell me what happened after the Captain shut me down. In full detail."

"You know you're asking me think about something that happened last year, right?"

"Tell me. What happened!"

"OKAY, okay! After you were shut down, the Captain straightened the Axiom. EVE rushed to the Holo-detector and tried her best to lift it. The reject bots started tending to the humans. EVE started calling for someone to find the plant." M-O took a moment to gulp He is not going to like this. I'm in trouble. He took a robotic breath and continued. "I started looking for the plant."

Auto's eye widened with interest. There was a look in it that M-O couldn't read, but he didn't like it. "Go on." Auto asked curiously. M-O took in another breath.

" I-I-I found the plant-"

"WHAT?!" Auto cried. "It was you who found it?! I knew it was you who got WALL-E and EVE out of the airlock alive, but I didn't know it was you who got the Axiom back to Earth! I thought you were just a cleaner thing, but apparently you're more, Microbe Obliterator Unit 101!"

You are gonna regret calling me "cleaner thing" and my full name. M-O thought to himself. If he said that aloud, he knew he would regret it in a matter of seconds. Instead, he decided to continue. "I found the plant and then the whole thing became a relay race. The rejects and the humans were passing the plant to the lido deck. BRL-A opened up, sending the plant toward the lido deck. EVE put it in and the Axiom went to Earth." M-O concluded.

Auto took a deep breath. "Okay. Thanks for telling me. I still can't believe you brought the Axiom home. So without further adieu." Auto whipped out his taser again. M-O gulped inwardly. He knew he was gonna get it good. And sure enough, he was right. Electric shocks were pulsing through his circuits within a split second. M-O could have sworn the taser was held there for longer than WALL-E.

When Auto pulled the taser away, M-O collapsed in heap. "Why?" he whispered.

Auto shrugged. "You found the plant, not me."

"You're sick." M-O growled.

Auto decided to ignore that. "Gopher. Take him back to his room. I'll call his friends momentarily."