《机器人总动员》第9章

As the probe ship roared through the murky brown sky, WALL · E could feel the force of Earth's gravity on his body, pulling powerfully against the acceleration of the ship. He tightened his grip on the support rod as the ship burst through Earth's atmosphere. The engines slowed down, and WALL · E, now weightless, took in the majestic splendor of all the stars sparkling in clear space.

The probe ship passed the moon, where WALL · E saw a billboard reading BNL OUTLET COMING SOON! It stood in the lunar dust, forgotten long ago.

WALL · E blinked hard and recharged his solar panels as the ship zipped past the sun. Traveling quickly into deep space, the ship approached Saturn. WALL · E reached out and ran his hand through the dust and ice particles that made up one of the planet's outer rings. Mesmerized by the view, he saw a single light growing in the distance. He recognized it from the billboards he had seen on Earth. It was a gigantic luxury-class star liner. It was the Axiom!

The Axiom was enormous—wide and tall. At the lowest level, there was a garbage depot where the ship's trash was compacted and tossed into space. Just above that stretched loading docks and service-robot corridors. The next three levels were where the passengers lived: the least expensive economy-class units in the middle of the ship; coach class on the level above, with its main concourse (which looked like a huge shopping mall); and the luxury housing units overlooking the lido deck, high above them all.

The Captain and his autopilot also had a view of the lido deck from the bridge at the top of the ship. The bridge's control panels could activate practically anything on the Axiom—the Captain could broadcast announcements, adjust the fake sun that shone on the passengers (which gave them a sense of the time of day), and, of course, guide the star liner through space. One day, the Captain would look down on the lido deck and activate the holo-detector, a computer designed to confirm the presence of life on Earth. Then the great machine would rise from its platform and automatically take the ship back home.

探测飞船轰鸣着穿越烟笼雾罩的棕色天空，瓦力能感受到地球引力对他身体的影响，它正和飞船的加速度对抗，强有力地把他往下拉。飞船穿越地球大气层的时候他更用力地抓住了支撑杆。飞船引擎降低了速度。瓦力现在处于失重状态，欣赏着明亮太空中群星闪耀的瑰丽景致。

探测飞船飞过月球时，瓦力看见了一块广告牌，上面写着：“大卖场直销店即将开业！”它立在月球的灰尘中，早已被遗忘。

飞船呼啸着飞过太阳时，瓦力用力眨了眨眼睛，给他的太阳能电池板充电。飞船快速地飞向太空深处，靠近了土星。瓦力向土星的外部一个星环伸出手去，将手穿入构成它的灰尘和冰晶颗粒中。当他因美景而着迷时，他看见远处有一个光点越来越明亮。他在地球上的广告牌上见过这艘巨型豪华星际飞船，他认出它来了。它是“功理”号！

“功理”号异常庞大，又高又宽。它的最底层有一个垃圾站，飞船上的垃圾在这里被压缩并被抛入太空。在这一层上面是装卸月台和服务机器人通道。再上面的三层是乘客们居住的地方：经济舱客房位于飞船的中间一层，价格最实惠；二等舱在其上面一层，带有一个中央广场（它看上去就像一个巨型购物中心）；豪华舱客房在客房最高层，俯瞰着泳池甲板。

船长和他的自动驾驶仪在飞船顶端的舰桥上也能看见泳池甲板。舰桥上的控制面板可以启动“功理”号上几乎所有东西——船长可以发广播通知，调整照耀乘客们的虚拟太阳（这能让他们知道时刻），当然，还能引导这艘星际飞船在太空中航行。终有一日，船长将俯瞰着泳池甲板，启动全息探测器——一台用于确认地球上存在着生命的电脑。然后，这台超乎寻常的机器将从它的安放平台上升起，自动将飞船开回家。