CHAPTER NINE
WALL-E screamed as he and EVE were thrown out of the escape pod at the last minute. Seconds later, the vessel which they had been in rammed straight into the Axiom's bridge, its only other occupant still on board.
"Skids!" WALL-E reached out in desperation for his Autobot friend, though EVE kept him from going out any further.
The explosion resulting from the crash eventually cleared and WALL-E could see Viral, his blade-like arms dug into the bridge's floor to prevent himself from being flung out into space. Skids was nearby, clinging onto a metal pole while fumbling for his gun, and AUTO was dangling loosely from what was left of the ceiling, alive but disoriented.
WALL-E glanced at EVE and beeped, inquiring her on what they were going to do. The probe bot thought for a moment before shooting forward without warning, evoking a surprised cry from WALL-E.
Fighting against the tug of space, EVE pulled herself and WALL-E along enough to reach AUTO. She then grabbed onto the autopilot's support beam to use as a buttress against the vacuum of space.
AUTO rolled his single red optic to look up at them. With a sense of dread, WALL-E could tell that he recognized the two robots who had interfered with his directive.
"You," AUTO said to WALL-E, a sinister undertone in his otherwise emotionless voice. "Alive. Not possible."
WALL-E mustered the courage to stare back at him. "Nuh-uh. Possible."
In response, AUTO extended a taser from one of his spokes. Before he could use it on the trash collector bot, EVE unfurled her gun from her arm and aimed it straight at AUTO's eye. This was enough to deter the autopilot from taking his revenge.
Once the taser was gone, WALL-E squeaked out, "AUTO... help."
AUTO narrowed his optic. "Why should I help you?"
WALL-E pointed at Viral, who was oblivious to the Earth robots' interaction. "Bad robot. Must be... stopped."
The autopilot tilted himself in a gesture of what appeared to be-- much to WALL-E's surprise-- sadness. "I cannot turn against him. My directive was changed to be loyal to the Decepticons."
"Changed?" EVE asked, forgetting her hatred for AUTO for the time being. "How?"
AUTO wiggled one of his spokes, gesturing at the base of his support beam. A control panel was exposed on it. "They found access to my computer."
EVE looked up at the base; from the look in her optics, WALL-E could tell that an idea was forming in her head. Pulling herself up, EVE reached the exposed control panel on the base and began interfacing with it. After a few minutes, she looked back down at AUTO.
"New directive," she said.
WALL-E looked at the autopilot as well and saw something flash over AUTO's sole optic; it read A332.
"Understood." AUTO extended himself further down from the ceiling, something he did with caution due to his weakening support. He then moved himself towards Viral, hovering a few feet over the Decepticon. "Sir," he said to his master quietly.
Viral's head whipped around to face him. "What?!" he exclaimed. "Can't you see I'm trying not to get thrown into space?!"
"Sir," AUTO said again, more sinister this time. "You are relieved of duty."
He then brought out his taser and jammed it into Viral's neck. The Decepticon screamed in pain and reflexively pulled his arms out of the floor, moving to lash out at AUTO... only to realize his mistake. He scrabbled to stop himself from flying out the ship, but a well-aimed shot to his visor from Skids saw to that he didn't. As Viral went flying out into space, WALL-E waved at the screaming Decepticon as he went.
Putting away his gun, Skids called to AUTO, "Hey, Blinky! Any way to stop us from being sucked out with him?"
"I can try to activate the emergency air field," AUTO replied. "Provided it wasn't damaged in your crash."
Skids rolled his eyes. "Oh, sure; throw the blame onto me."
With WALL-E and EVE still clinging onto him, AUTO slid over to the Axiom's computer and punched in a few commands. Instantly, a green ray shield materialized over the gap made by the shuttle and gravity restored itself. WALL-E and EVE quickly got off of the autopilot while Skids got to his feet.
"Well," the Autobot said after a long pause. "That was fun."
"Eh," WALL-E muttered.
Glancing from the robot couple to AUTO and back, Skids then said, "So, uh, are all charges dropped?"
EVE crossed her arms and gave a firm shake of the head. WALL-E shifted his treads, unsure of what to think about AUTO, even after he had practically saved their lives.
"Well, regardless, we still need him to bring the ship back to Earth." To AUTO himself, Skids said, "Can you get the other ships to follow?"
"As autopilot of the fleet's primary ship, I have authorization to override other units' directives," AUTO replied. "I shall transmit Directive A332 to replace A113 with."
"I'll take that as a yes." Skids then turned his attention to the ship's computer. "But before we go... I have some research to do."
* * *
It had never occurred to Viral how empty space was. True, there were stars twinkling in the distance and glimpses of planets here and there, but where he was now, there was simply nothing but... space.
Did this do anything to make him regret his actions, he asked himself. Hardly. If anything, he was merely disappointed that things had not gone as planned. Now the project was completely unable to be salvaged; there was no sense in trying to fly back to the Axiom. And it was just as well, for the BnL ships were already returning to Earth.
Viral sighed. There was little point in going on; he had only one option left.
Initiating permanent stasis lock.
All around him, the stars went out.
* * *
As the Axiom descended through Earth's clouds for the second time, Skids stepped away from the ship's computer, his mind reeling from what he had just read. It appeared that Que's presumptions had been correct and Viral was telling the truth: the Axiom and the other cruise ships had been built using Cybertronian technology.
Luckily, however, he had no reason to fear that the humans would be using the Axiom's dreadnought qualities anytime soon. From the ship's computer, he was able to disable those features, as well as those of the other starliners. Now no one would be the wiser.
As the massive ship touched down, Skids looked out the ray shield and saw the humans gathering down below, clearly amazed by the arrival of the other BnL ships. They were also probably gawking at the damage done to the Axiom.
He turned to WALL-E and EVE, who were now accompanied by a recovered BURN-E. With a smile, the Autobot said, "Shall we greet the parade?"
The four robots headed down for the Axiom's boarding ramp. As it lowered, Skids could hear confused murmurs among the humans, which soon changed to excited cheers when they saw WALL-E and EVE alive and well. Then silence took hold when Skids stepped up behind them.
Finding himself in an awkward situation, Skids smiled weakly. "Um... I can explain."
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