Chapter III: Confrontation in the Corridor

Wall-E and WENDI were idling in front of a display of an old hoverchair when EVE rejoined them, surrounded by a straggle of human children listening to an old teaching robot drone on about their uses, how the anti-gravity in their bases worked, and how the Axiom had adapted over the centuries as more and more people began to use them, necessitating the need to have a sort of ship-wide track system (as the service robots had with the ship's initial construction), as well as entertainment features so that the passengers wouldn't have had to get up to enjoy themselves. This was all terribly boring to EVE, but she waited anyway as her lover and her daughter listened with wide optics, and surveyed the SECUR-Ts standing rigid at their assigned posts now that the morning crowd was beginning to thicken.

The captain had said that dreams were a sign of sentience. He'd also said that sentient robots in the past acted like people-imperfect and sometimes dangerous people-without directives to guide them. And EVE knew there was some credibility to what he was saying; while she hadn't been around the entire time the Axiom had been in orbit, she had been around long enough to recall some memories of robots that still ran with highly sensitive learning AI. They were, at best, considered works in progress even for their time; with EVE herself being on the high end of the spectrum: her specific job class was one of the first of the modern Axiom service droids to successfully receive what the few human researchers on the ship called "directive-centered learning artificial intelligence", or "DCLAI"…then only tested in the ship's autopilot system. It had taken a long time to develop the technology needed for DCLAI programming because of Buy N Large's focus first on launching the rest of the starliners, then on cleaning up the calamity on Earth and other extrasolar colonies, but once it held it was standard. The only robot in the colony that didn't have it was Wall-E, but his own AI (despite being very primitive as it was made in 2101, the eve of the human exodus on Earth) had learned on its own over 700 years of existence; and at least he still understood that he had a job to do.

Granted, it was easier now with the colony's help, but it was still a job nonetheless.

Finally, the teaching bot finished her speech and began to glide away, and as the children followed in her wake, Wall-E and WENDI turned to find EVE parked behind them, lost in her thoughts until WENDI greeted her mother with such an enthused hug that their bodies let out a clang when they hit together, stunning WENDI and working out a small chuckle from EVE. Wall-E's expression became relieved when he saw that EVE seemed to be at least a little better than when she'd first come in, but her expression told that there was something new niggling at the back of her mind, and it bothered him. He wanted to ask what it was, but he didn't speak the ship's code language, and both his and EVE's human speak was limited. So, he'd have to suffer in silence for the time being.

WENDI, however, did speak human much better human than her parents, albeit with the grammar and quirks of a young child, and she was using it now as she tugged at EVE's condensed fin, trying to get her to come with her away from the main area of the ship and down one of the service corridors, where her friend, M-O the cleaning robot, was probably fervently scrubbing at one speck of dust or another.

"Mama! I go sees Mo-Mo, mama?"

Of course she'd want to go see him. They go to see him nearly every time they visit the Axiom, just because he happens to often be in the lower-deck corridors when Wall-E makes his occasional trips to the Repair Ward to be poked and prodded by Dr. Murdoc, the Axiom's current (and only) human robotics expert. She had an interest in old technology (and an even more special interest in how Wall-E's AI developed to accommodate his survival over 700 years), and knowing that he'd had to have major repair work done on him, offered to see him periodically to be sure all of his systems were functioning as they should. And, being as EVE didn't have to do her scheduled fly-over of the green rings until later today and Wall-E's work crew was taking the day off, what harm would a few more hours on the Axiom do?

Besides, if they swung by the repair ward, maybe EVE could get some counseling from Murdoc herself about the whole "shuffling through her mind to erase her ability to have dreams" bit Captain McCrea had suggested. Even if it weren't for the fact that EVE didn't like being compared to imperfect human beings…she didn't want to have to go through another dream like the one she had last night. It was bad enough having to actually see Wall-E very nearly die.

But she also couldn't imagine the possibility of not remembering who her family was either.

"Yes," EVE finally replied to WENDI's incessant badgering, and as her fin split at the ends into four-fingered hands to interlock with her daughter's, the prototype let out a happy cry, and Wall-E's brows sprung up as he used a combination of whistling and waving both of his shovels in a gesture that conveyed "keep it down" to keep his daughter from alerting the SECUR-Ts and getting them escorted from the area. WENDI nodded, but didn't quiet down too much until she and her mother were on their way, Wall-E always rolling along a couple paces behind them.

No matter how thick and noisy the crowds got, and no matter the fact that his one optic limited what he could see, AUTO never had any trouble with his job heading security on the Axiom. Despite what his position had been in the ship's final days in space and despite what the humans thought of him, the former Axiom autopilot still had all the proper clearance to command every robot on the ship; a clearance that he used without hesitation and liberally as the situation called for it. Crowd control was simply a game of strategy to him after all: he had a set number of SECUR-Ts to work with, and he had to make sure that most of them were within the densest population of humans. Thanks to his improved ship-wide track system, including a hover port that carried him under the "sky" of the lido deck, this was entirely doable, as he now had an unobstructed view of who needed to be where, as well as any mishaps that he could call on a team of cleanup bots to remedy.

This was better than the alternative, sitting dormant and useless back on his home port in the bridge; or worse, active and confined to the bridge, powerless to do anything but be constantly reminded of his failed directive. And yes, he still considered the return of the Axiom to Earth to be a failure, but now that they were here, what was AUTO to do? By the time he was reactivated the Captain had already powered down the ship's reactor core enough so that the only thing that it could possibly run was the ship's power circuit, and then he'd taken away AUTO's ability to command it back on.

So, they'd come to an agreement. As long as the Captain kept the ship running and able to take off in case re-colonization failed (and even after 7 years AUTO was still convinced enough by Mr. Forthright's final order that he felt it would eventually), AUTO would help maintain it, and since the Axiom eventually became nothing more than a museum and its living quarters now prime resort space to work-weary former passengers, that meant policing the crowds and making sure the repair bots kept the starliner from falling apart.

Speaking of which, AUTO noted that he had to head into the corridors to make sure they were doing just that.

Well, he was satisfied with his current SECUR-T placement at the moment, so the wheel-shaped robot sent out the wireless command for all stewards to stand ground, then slid along his track and into the A-Deck, which was the beginning of the service corridors and the location of one of the Axiom's many repair wards…with this one being where the ship's roboticist took up residence due to the repair arms being…nonfunctional.

He had not even gone a few feet away from the repair ward entrance when AUTO heard clicking behind him, causing him to stop on his track.

"Unauthorized robot spotted. Please state your designation and directive."

AUTO's light dimmed and a low rumbling sound from his processor indicated annoyance, and as he swiveled around to look at his assailant, he was not surprised at all to be face-to-eye with a six-foot, humanoid robot, standing at rapt attention with the laser sights on his shoulders pointing directly at the autopilot's axis.

"The jest becomes even less amusing the more it is used, Interrogator Unit Two. Please remove your sights from me."

The android did not budge; instead he replied: "Invalid answer received. Please state your designation and directive."

"Stand down," AUTO commanded flatly, and finally, he complied, a low chuckle emanating from his own voice box.

"You never had a sense of humor anyway," the android muttered, shrugging his shoulders as the shoulder cannons retreated back into his paneling. "It really makes listening to you boring, actually. And the Doctor believes so too."

"The doctor can believe what she pleases, Interrogator Unit Two. You, however, must refrain from aiming at me every time I patrol this corridor."

The police robot's red eyes narrowed for a moment, but before he had a chance to reply, a squat, brown-haired human, still pudgy from inactivity like the rest of the former passengers, waddled out of the broken repair ward and appeared at the other's side, staring up into his square face with furrowed brows.

"CODI, I thought you told me you were going to play nice with others," Dr. Murdoc shook her head, making a "tsk-tsk" noise as she reached up to place a hand on the robot's shoulder. "Come on, AUTO's just doing his job, just like you. Can't you leave him to do it in peace?"

"No," CODI responded, laughing that low, rumbling chuckle of his again as AUTO made another noise of annoyance. "Jesting aside, passengers believe he is a threat and I shall continue to treat him with caution, commanding unit or not," the Interrogator said in a more serious tone, forcing an eye-roll from the doctor.

"CODI, it's great that you're following your directive and putting the passenger's best interests in mind. But remember what I said about AUTO following his directive as well? And how he's modified his duties for the better of everyone now?"

While he couldn't properly express it, AUTO was indeed comforted by the fact that Dr. Ginger Murdoc seemed to be the only person left on the Axiom that understood why he had acted the way he did during his "rebellion" in space…but only because she was the only one of the passengers besides McCrea (who had been too zealous about going home to care at the time, hence his declaring AUTO mutinous) who had even a vague understanding of how directives issued by the highest authority available (in this case, it was the Global CEO of Buy N Large) could not and would not be broken by the robot under that particular order.

"Yes, yes, of course I know," CODI replied, his tone changing to one of almost idle boredom. One of his arms, fitted at the wrist with a series of needle-like protrusions built for plugging into security cameras and robot hard-drives, moved so that it was in front of his narrow eye-screen, and he inspected them as a human would inspect their nails. AUTO tried to ignore the insolence as the doctor continued.

"Besides, CODI, you're not properly equipped to detain someone anymore, remember?" The doctor motioned to his other arm, this one being bare of electrically invasive devices, but burnt and damaged by what appeared to be a plasma blast. It sparked and hung stiffly at his side, and as CODI's optics followed Murdoc's eyes, and AUTO felt a twinge of smugness as it was the police robot's turn to make a sound of annoyance.

"My guns still work," he argued weakly back.

"But you're not allowed to fire them in here," Murdoc retorted. "That's how the repair arms in this ward were fried. Granted, your miniature cannons don't have the power of an EVE probe's, but you can still cause a lot of damage. Shooting is out of the question."

"Do not worry, Interrogator Unit Two," AUTO cut in, nodding to Dr. Murdoc. "You are doing a fine job of guarding the defunct ward. The doctor has also put in many good words about your assistance as well. Do not spoil your reputation by being a simpleton."

"Of course," CODI finally conceded, gliding back on his rollerball boots. "Aye, autopilot, I will stand down."

"Good."

And with that, AUTO turned on his axis and left the pair standing there, continuing on his path to check on the service robots.