The first thing AUTO noticed when his systems re-activated was the discrepancy in time. According to his systems, the last date of activation was the year 2812. According to his internal clock, however, the year was 2875. He had been off-line for 53 years. It was an unusual fact to process, but as his memories of what had led to de-activation returned, it made sense. It did not become less worrisome, however.

"Hello there, AUTO. Hope you're feeling well."

The wheel turned his glowing red eye to the source of that weary old voice and found himself confronted with three unwelcome guests: the WALL-E who had disrupted his ship, the EVE probe who had betrayed her directive, and...wait. The third figure, AUTO did not immediately recognize. He was thinner now, his body was covered in wrinkles and liver-spots. Yet the uniform still fit.

"Captain."

"Heh heh..." the old man laughed with a cough, "yup. It's me."

The wheel spun himself around, hopping to topple the frail old man and his friends and prevent them...but wait. If 53 years had passed, it only made sense that he had ALREADY succeeded in returning the Axiom to Earth. Stopping his movement, AUTO's fear was confirmed when the ship did not respond to his command. "Explain." he said simply.

"We're home, AUTO," the Captain wheezed, "we have been for a long time now."

"Then why have I been re-activated?"

"Because..." the old man started, then paused to change his track; he knew this would take a bit of explaining. "It took us a while to get back on our feet, but we're doing pretty well for ourselves. In the last couple of years, we've even begun seeing people learn enough about robots to do some programming work."

"This does not answer my question."

"Hold on, hold on, I'm getting there. Anyway, even after 50 years, none of the other ships from the BnL fleet had returned to Earth. We realized they must have been...delayed...by their auto-pilots like we had been. So I assembled a group to try and program a way for us to de-activate Override Directive A-113."

Though he was still not yet satisfied his question had been answered, the mention of A-113 kept AUTO from speaking up again. Somehow, where once those numbers had made sense, they seemed...empty. This did not sit well with the auto-pilot. The Captain continued, "A few weeks back, the group made a breakthrough. We needed to be sure it worked first, so..."

"You tested it on me."

To his surprise, the Captain shook his head. "No, AUTO. We used the transmission from Mr. Forthright on another robot, and tested the code on THAT robot. It worked."

"Then why have I been re-activated?"

"Because..." he said, and this time did not stop himself from answering, "from the second I became Captain, you were right there by my side helping me. No matter what mistakes you made, I can't forget that. So I wanted to give you the chance to be part of this new family. I felt I owed you that much."

The old man coughed violently at the end of his sentence, leaning on a quite-willing EVE for support. It felt so strange to AUTO to see the Captain so frail. It was just as it had been with the other Captains, of course, but AUTO had never witnessed their deterioration reach this level; it had always happened out of his sight, with a new fresh Captain taking their place. What the Captain had said...it too contributed to AUTO's unease. It was trite human sentiment that had no baring on him...but again, A-113 was not there to remind him of that anymore. "So..." the Captain said weakly, "what do you say, AUTO? I'm sure we could find a place for you..."

Without fully knowing why, the wheel spun itself ever so slightly, a little tic of nervousness he was not at all used to. "I will...consider it." he answered before retracting himself into his nest in the roof.

"Take...take your time." the Captain called after him.

Watching from above, AUTO did not answer as WALL-E and EVE guided the thin old man who had once been the Captain out of the room. He should have just said no. What place could there be for an auto-pilot in the world outside this ship? Yet...for the first time, that world did not seem as scary as it had for 700 years.

The wheel's eye remained open.