Chapter II: The Bridge

Once inside the lobby of the bridge, EVE approached the switchboard controlled by the captain's typist robot, TYP-E, beeping out the robotic code language that permitted access to the bridge lift, and in turn to the Captain's private quarters, where even to this day he resides, able to keep watch over the entirety of the ship that used to be under his full command.

Upon her voice being heard, TYP-E's eye shifted up to look at her, and one of his typing styluses waved an emphatic hello, despite the look on EVE's face warning him to forgo the pleasantries. After that, he shifted the offending stylus back down onto the elevator command key, and the lift whizzed open behind them, EVE gliding past and sparing not another beep or blip in the one-eyed bot's direction.

As the lift began its ascent, EVE finally managed to drum up enough willpower to retrieve the offending memory from her database, reviewing it one last time before going to the captain:

The ship was tilting, and all around her, the Axiom passengers tumbled helplessly down the slope, one by one. The plant that Wall-E and herself had fought so hard to keep alive disappeared within the mass of flabby people, and EVE's attempts at looking for it were made harder and harder by the minute as more people wedged themselves in her field of vision, obscuring the dirty brown boot within a sea of writhing red.

"Look out!"

Suddenly, there was a terrible screeching noise as the tram that carted people to different areas of the ship jumped its track and barreled through the holo-barriers that served as a back-up safety precaution, rolling down the slope of the listing starliner and knocking aside abandoned hover chairs, as it headed straight for the mass of people that had congregated against the far wall of the lido deck. A collective scream began to rise from the humans, and as EVE forced herself away from her task, she darted for the tram, bracing her hands against it and slowing it down just enough so that it stopped inches from the crowd, held only by her strength and the two pillars it had wedged itself between.

The video screen above them flickered, and EVE realized with horror that AUTO was planning to short-circuit the holodetector control, preventing even the Captain from ever opening it again.

And Wall-E was still over there, stuck between the edge of the deck and the slowly descending lid of the one thing that would take them back to Earth, the one chance EVE had to fix him.

She was stuck. She couldn't get over there to help him, because if she let go of the tram, everyone would die. And as the white probe watched , the lid of the holodetector began to slowly press down on Wall-E's battered body, defying the strong, pneumatic shovels that made up his arms desperately trying to hold the machine open, his oily treads sliding further under the deck the harder he tried.

And then they slipped altogether, and the holodetector smashed Wall-E beneath its weight with a sickening crunch.

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"

And that's where the memory ended. The ironic thing was, she had something just like this in her database, but it was longer and had a timestamp of a date seven years in the past. This one was essentially a repeat, and her memory chip described it as such, but the spontaneous occurrence of it, and the fact that it had occurred during a nightly dormant phase, was what puzzled and frightened EVE. This had never happened before, and she wouldn't be coming to the Captain if she could have explained it herself.

The lift slowed to a stop, and the doors hissed open to reveal the bridge of the Axiom, where Captain Bernie McCrea was already standing at the illuminated control panels, running routine morning diagnostics on the ship's systems. He glanced over his shoulder, doing a double take when he spotted EVE, before turning around to face her fully. The probe gave her superior a crisp salute, and the Captain returned it, leaning back on the controls as he addressed her.

"Good morning, EVE. What brings you here?"

Back on the lido deck, no one dared move an inch as the ship's former autopilot menaced the crowd around him, keeping the humans back from Wall-E and WENDI and giving the trash compactor enough time to recover from his slightly collapsed form, straightening enough so that he too could see why everyone around him had fled so suddenly. His own brows sprung up in response to AUTO's sudden appearance, and he reached over to pull his daughter closer to him…only to find that she wasn't there anymore.

Instead, she was latched onto the stem that supported AUTO, a bright eye-smile lighting up her face as she chittered greetings.

"Aw-tow here, yaaaaaaay! Aw-tow here! Good morning, Mr. Aw-tow!"

Only then did the autopilot move, his face-panel tilting upward in an attempt to look the young prototype in the eyescreen, but failing mostly due to his limited range of mobility.

"Your greetings have been welcomed, and are returned with equal enthusiasm. However, while it is appreciated, I must return to my regular duties, WENDI unit. If you please, disengage yourself from my axis."

The collective tension of the crowd evaporated after that as the gold prototype did as she was told; the people around them calming down once it became apparent that AUTO was not going to harm anyone. Even though he had been re-commissioned to serve as the chief head of security of the Axiom, everyone was still a little jumpy around the autopilot, what with the memory of him disobeying the Captain and nearly destroying their one chance to return home still fresh in many former passenger's minds.

"I shall remind the museum patrons that the Wall-E unit does not like to be crowded, and maintaining a safe distance is a must," AUTO continued, this time addressing the rest of the crowd. Heads nodded their understanding and a few others took a few additional steps back, giving the compactor and WENDI even more elbow space. "He is to be respected as are all other museum exhibits. Affirmative?"

A few "yes sirs" rose from the passengers, and as the crowd began to disperse, Wall-E turned his goggles toward the autopilot, nodding his thanks.

"Orders are to maintain the ship. While you are here, you are under my jurisdiction." AUTO responded flatly, a slight twitch in his spokes indicating what could translate to a shrug. "Now, I must continue my patrol. Stay alert, Wall-E unit."

And with that, AUTO glided away, becoming nothing more than a slight, red glow near the edges of the crowd.

The memory cam image faded, leaving Captain McCrea speechless and EVE in no better state than she had been coming up to the bridge in the first place. It was never easy to watch that particular playback, to be reminded of the time she had almost lost the robot that now, she can't imagine existing without. The screen around them was soon illuminated with an automated request from EVE's hardware asking if the Captain wanted to see the video again, but EVE hastily pulled the adapter from the side of her head before McCrea even had a chance to read the prompt fully. Clearly, twice was enough for one day.

"And the watermark says that this happened last night," the Captain stated, and EVE nodded once before turning her eyes down towards the floor. It had scared Wall-E and WENDI to death when she'd jolted awake, screaming so loudly that the magnifying lens Wall-E used to watch his video tape at the end of the workday gained another crack in it, and Wall-E had booted awake so quickly next to her that he'd hit his head on the shelf above him, knocking over a few of his trinkets and in turn bringing their daughter out of dormance as well. EVE was not a bot who got frightened easily, so seeing her like this must have been very frightening indeed to the compactor who loved her so, and the prototype they watched over who was programmed in the likeness of a three-year-old human child.

However, despite EVE's attitude, the Captain suddenly began laughing. EVE was at first taken aback, but her surprised look soon grew indignant. "What?" she asked, though she couldn't help the snap in her voice. It was a taxing chore to have to watch that replay all over again, and the Captain was making a mockery of her, or so she thought.

"EVE…I apologize," The Captain managed to choke out through his laughter, "But here I was, expecting something major, to the tune of 'All the plants are dying and it seems we're going to have to take off in this blasted ship again.' But…this is something that I can understand you'd be worried about of course; but really, this isn't a big deal at all!"

EVE's expression turned to one of curiosity, and she let out a few confused hums, asking McCrea to elaborate.

"EVE…it was just a dream!" The Captain exclaimed, his pudgy hands shooting skyward for emphasis. "It happens sometimes, especially with sentient robots like you. The idea is, the more sentience you gain, the more like a human you are...and that's why Mr. Forthright gave us repair wards on our ships…he knew with the level of artificial intelligence many of the Axiom's crews possessed, there was bound to be a learning curve on how many robots would eventually begin to act like people as the five years went by. He wanted robots to stay on track, focused on their directives. And whose physical and mental states were in question, they would be immediately sent away for diagnosis."

EVE shook her head, not fully comprehending the situation, and Captain McCrea's arms fell as he cleared his throat, hoping to explain the concept to her in terms she would understand.

"Dreams are a human thing, EVE. Hundreds of years ago, at the dawn of AI, the idea of a computer thinking like a human was a novel idea. Many of the early successful robots run by learning intelligence programming were some of the most lifelike ones out there, and they included the ability to make decisions not based upon algorithms, and yes, they had dreams.

"But these robots were imperfect, just like people are. Eventually, some of them would decide to participate in unscrupulous behavior, and left and right, robots began to drop from their jobs and do things that officially classified them as criminals. They lied. They stole. They slacked off on their work. They turned generally violent. So when BnL finally got their hands on the technology, they decided to keep everything out of the code that would allow them to arbitrarily turn rogue, and programming into them the directives that, as computers, they were compelled to follow. Because it is still based heavily on an AI that operates while learning to perform certain functions through a learning process, some of that is essentially destined to come back.

"As you gained your sentience back a long time ago, it was only a matter of time before you started to have dreams again too," the Captain concluded, clapping his hands together. "Well done!"

But EVE was not happy with this answer. She did not want to be a criminal, and the way Captain McCrea had explained it to her, the more frightened she became at the process. The Captain understood this, and he placed a hand on her backside in an effort to comfort her.

"…If you're absolutely positive you don't want to do this again, I would be happy to send you to the repair ward for the day," he responded quietly, causing EVE to shoot him a look. "It's worth a shot, but I can't guarantee that it's something that you would want to do, okay? In order to write out that particular piece of coding, we'd have to shuffle through everything that makes you…well, you. That includes Wall-E and WENDI. You could be right back at square one after that, and there would be nothing we could do about it."

EVE nodded her affirmation, and with that final word, she turned back and punched the button that allowed her back into the lift, descending back toward the Axiom floor.