《机器人总动员》第24章

Gently, EVE rested WALL · E against a pile of trash. Opening his chest, she saw that his circuitry had been burned by Auto's electric blast. She knew she had to do something fast, so she began searching in the garbage for a circuit board to replace WALL · E's ruined one.

M-O approached WALL · E. He gently began cleaning him, now as an act of friendship. All this time, M-O had been madly chasing WALL · E, intent on scrubbing him clean. Now he massaged WALL · E's metallic exterior with his softest brush. WALL · E had made M-O see the world differently, too.

EVE returned with a large selection of circuit boards. Then she reached out to hold WALL · E's hand—the one thing he had wanted from her all this time. But instead of giving his hand to her in return, WALL · E offered EVE the plant, which he had kept in his chest cavity.

Struggling to communicate, WALL · E insisted that EVE complete her directive. But EVE no longer cared about her job. She only cared about WALL · E. Tossing the plant aside, she began trying to repair him.

"Rrr." WALL · E struggled to say "Earth." EVE finally understood: If she wanted to repair him, she would have to get him back to Earth, to his home, where he kept all his spare parts.

EVE grabbed the plant. She no longer needed it to complete her directive. She needed it to make the Axiom return to Earth so that she could save WALL · E.

Quickly, she scooped up WALL · E and raised her blaster arm to the ceiling. There was a faster way out of this place, but it meant blowing a hole in one of the lower levels of the ship. BOOM!

M-O jumped on, too, as EVE flew WALL · E out of the trash bay.

Down in the robot service tunnel, the ship's stewards were feverishly trying to round up the escaped reject-bots, when the entire service hall began to shake. One steward was trying to stop the defective paint-bot from applying yellow lines to the floor. The paint-bot was confusing all the service-bots, who were trying to stay on their lines to follow their directives.

A low rumbling seemed to be coming from far below them. The steward was moving toward the noise when WALL · E, EVE, and M-O burst into the long corridor.

The steward sounded his alarm. He snapped a photo, focusing in on EVE and WALL · E ... and the plant.

EVE, WALL · E, and M-O took off down the corridor with the paint-bot leaking paint behind them. The paint-bot was humming the song he remembered WALL · E playing in the repair ward. That gave WALL · E an idea. Still weak and barely functioning, he managed to press the Play button on his chest. The tune echoed faintly through the hallway. But it was enough to lure the timid reject-bots out of hiding. Their hero had returned!

In only moments, the steward's photo had become a WANTED! poster. Images of EVE with WALL · E holding the plant flashed all over the ship. On the bridge, Auto saw the picture. He couldn't believe his eye. "Not possible," he moaned.

Below the bridge, locked in his quarters, the Captain noticed a flash on his computer screen. It was the EVE Probe, the dirty trash-compacting robot ... and the plant!

The Captain's eyes lit up. A look of determination came over his face. He searched through the manual again and saw a picture of the holo-detector's activation button. Now he knew what he could do to help. He realized that he did not have to put the plant in the holo-detector to set the course for home. The EVE probe could do it without him.

He stared at the ceiling. Somehow, he had to get through that trapdoor and up to the bridge so that he could push the button.

The Captain rolled out of his hover chair, moved under his personal console, and started rewiring his computer. Soon his image and voice showed up on every holo-screen throughout the ship. He was sending a message to EVE.

"Pssst! Hey! Hey! This is the Captain. I'm locked in my room. Probe One, bring the plant to the lido deck. I'll have activated the holo-detector. Now, hurry! Auto's probably going to cut me off, and—"

The air was suddenly filled with static. But EVE and WALL · E had gotten the message. Instead of heading toward the Captain, they changed direction. They went up toward the lido deck ... and the holo-detector.

伊芙温柔地将瓦力靠在一堆垃圾上。她打开他的胸腔，发现他的电路已经被傲特的电击烧毁。她知道自己必须尽快采取行动，所以她开始在垃圾堆里寻找合适的电路板来替换瓦力被毁坏了的。

莫走近瓦力，开始温柔地给他进行清洁，现在是出于友谊。一直以来，他疯狂地追着瓦力，一心想把他擦洗干净。现在他用他最柔软的刷子按摩着瓦力的金属外壳。瓦力也让莫有了一个不同的看待世界的角度。

伊芙带着她选的一大堆电路板回来了。然后她伸手去握住瓦力的手——这是一直以来他唯一希望她做的事。但是，瓦力没有去握她的手，而是把放在胸腔里的那株植物给了伊芙。

瓦力努力和伊芙交流，坚持要伊芙完成她的指令。但是伊芙不再在意她的使命，她只在意瓦力。她将那株植物抛在一边，开始试图修复他。

“地——”瓦力挣扎着想说出“地球”。伊芙终于明白了：如果她想修好他，她就得将他送回地球，回到他的家，在那里他收藏着所有维修他的配件。

伊芙抓住了那株植物。她不再需要它来完成她的指令。她需要它让“功理”号回到地球从而挽救瓦力的生命。

她迅速抱起瓦力，举起她的爆破枪抵着天花板。离开这个地方有一条捷径，但那意味着在飞船的低层炸出一个洞。“轰！”

伊芙带着瓦力飞出垃圾站的时候，莫也跳了上去。

在机器人工作隧道的远处，飞船上的乘务员机器人们正手忙脚乱地努力围捕脱逃的残次品机器人，突然整个服务大厅开始摇晃。有一个乘务员机器人正在努力阻止一个出了故障的油漆工机器人往地上涂黄线。那个油漆工机器人让那些正试图沿着预定路线执行指令的餐厅服务机器人都糊涂了。

离他们很远的下方隐约传来一阵低沉的隆隆声。瓦力、伊芙和莫冲进长长的走廊的时候，这个乘务员机器人朝着响声传来的方向走来。

这个乘务员机器人拉响了他的警报。他拍了张照片，焦点是伊芙和瓦力……还有那株植物。

伊芙、瓦力和莫飞起来向着走廊远处飞去，而那个油漆工机器人还在他们后面喷着线。油漆工机器人正哼着歌，他记得瓦力在维修间里播放过这首歌。这让瓦力有了一个主意。仍然虚弱且几乎已丧失所有功能的他努力按下了胸前的“播放”键，这首乐曲轻轻地回荡在走廊里。但是这足够吸引那些胆怯的残次品机器人从躲藏的地方走出来。他们的英雄回来了！

片刻之后，那个乘务员机器人拍的照片就被制成了一张“通缉令”海报。飞船上各处都闪现着伊芙和瓦力拿着那株植物的照片。舰桥上的傲特看见了这张照片。他觉得难以置信。“不可能。”他呻吟道。

舰桥下面，被锁在舱房里的船长注意到他的电脑屏幕亮了。是伊芙探测器、那个脏兮兮的垃圾压缩机器人……还有那株植物！

船长的眼睛亮了起来。他的脸上露出坚毅的神色。他再次查遍操作手册，看见了一幅全息探测仪启动按钮的图片。现在他知道自己可以做什么来帮忙了。他明白他不必把那株植物放到全息探测仪里也能设定回家的航线。伊芙探测器不必找到他也可以做到。

他盯着天花板。不管怎么样，他必须通过那扇活动天窗，回到上面的舰桥，才能按那个按钮。

船长从他的悬浮椅里翻身下地，走到他的个人操纵台下，开始重新给他的电脑接线。很快，他的影像和声音在飞船的每一块全息影像屏幕上出现。他在给伊芙发送口信。

“嘘！嘿！嘿！我是船长。我被锁在我的舱房里。探测器一号，将那株植物带到泳池甲板。那时候我应该已经启动全息探测器了。快，马上！傲特可能马上就要切断我的信号，而且——”

空中突然充满了静电干扰。但是伊芙和瓦力已经收到口信了。他们改变了方向，不再朝船长那里赶。他们向上赶往泳池甲板……和全息探测器。