As WALL · E and EVE were placed back in the transport, the Captain remained on the bridge, thumbing through the manual. “... And the internal gyroscope will level out,” he read, intrigued by the real workings of space travel.
He looked at his hand and noticed the filthy reminder of WALL · E’s handshake. Reaching to clean it off, he paused, then took a sample and placed it on the console. Seconds later, the dirt was suspended in a beam of light.
The holo-screen showed pictures of dirt, and a computer voice announced, “Analysis: soil, dirt, or earth.”
The Captain was curious. His eyes drifted toward a holo-graphic globe on a shelf. “Define ‘earth,’” he told the ship’s computer.
“Earth,” it responded, as the beauty of forests and rolling green hills appeared on the screen. “The surface of the world as distinct from the sky or sea.”
“Define ‘sea,’” the Captain said, fascinated.
Great foaming blue waves suddenly appeared on his screen. The Captain was spellbound. In his relentless pursuit of EVE and true love, WALL · E was slowly affecting those around him. Even the Captain was showing interest in something. Like Mary, he was noticing a whole new world. He was enjoying being engaged in something beyond a digital experience.
At that same moment, WALL · E and EVE were being shuttled through the transport tunnel. WALL · E tried to catch EVE’s eye, but she refused to look at him.
WALL · E and EVE were taken into the chaos of the ship’s huge repair ward. Malfunctioning robots, confined by energy bands, chatted noisily and behaved wildly. Not realizing that they were defective, the bots tried to continue with their directives, making quite a scene. WALL · E spotted an overanxious massage-bot tearing a crash-test dummy to bits. In a corner, a mad defibrillator-bot was wildly waving his paddles, zapping at anything within his reach.
An orderly locked a red “defect” device onto EVE’s head. These non-removable devices made it difficult for the bots to escape the repair ward. The orderlies started toward WALL · E with one of the devices, but he dodged and escaped before they could tag him. His goal was to get away and save EVE.
And then ... he was snatched by a defective beautician-bot, who slapped makeup onto his face. She held a mirror up and shouted, “You look gorgeous!”
Now thoroughly confused, WALL · E finally got caught in the robotic arms of one of the orderlies. The robot secured him to a spot along the wall.
WALL · E was locked down between a paint-bot, who was spraying paint everywhere, and a defective vacuum-bot, who was sneezing dust into WALL · E’s face. It was not the best place to be locked down.
Rotating his head to peer past his two new companions, WALL · E watched the orderlies take EVE to be inspected. He could see her outline through the frosted glass of the diagnostic room.
WALL · E heard a defective bot howling somewhere in the repair ward. He was sure it was EVE. And he was sure they were hurting her!
A surge of energy rushed through WALL · E’s circuits. Desperate to save her, he used the laser beam between his eyes to cut himself free. He fell to the ground, landing on his Play button. The same Hello, Dolly! song that had awakened the Captain earlier now blared across the repair ward. Every reject-bot froze. They all turned toward WALL · E. Stunned, they watched him crash through the glass doors and grab EVE’s blaster arm, which the technician-bots had just removed.
WALL · E was trembling, but the message to the orderlies was clear: Let her go, or else!
The orderlies sprang at WALL · E, and in a moment of bumbling panic, he fired EVE’s blaster. Fortunately, he was holding the blaster backward. The shot went wild, shattering the repair ward’s control panel to smoking bits.
The blue energy bands around the reject-bots instantly disappeared. The trembling rejects were released! They stared for a moment and then cheered wildly.
EVE glared at WALL · E. He realized she had not been hurt after all. But now she certainly was angry.
“WALL · E!” she said sternly as a mob of excited rejects raced toward him. They lifted WALL · E onto their shoulders and carried their hero out of the ward. EVE followed, astonished, as sirens began to wail throughout the ship.
The escaping bots stampeded through the halls. Umbrella-bots randomly opened and closed, and the paint-bot hurled paint in every direction. WALL · E helplessly bounced on top of the heap, still holding EVE’s blaster arm.
A line of steward-bots appeared, blocking the reject-bots.
“Halt!” a steward barked.
WALL · E cowered. A small robot came forward and pushed his hero WALL · E closer to the stewards.
The reject-bots, anxiously awaiting the stewards’ next move, suddenly saw EVE flying overhead. She swooped down, snatched her blaster arm, and yelled, “WALL · E!”
The steward-bots snapped their photo, and an image of WALL · E and EVE waving her dangerous blaster arm flashed across every screen in the Axiom.
“Caution!” the ship’s computer announced. “Rogue robots! Rogue robots!”
Now they were really in trouble. WALL · E and EVE looked like criminals!
The stewards were preparing to lock WALL · E in a suspension beam when EVE snatched WALL · E up by his arm. She carried him high above their heads.
The reject-bots held back the steward-bots as EVE flew WALL · E through the crowded halls. She heard service robots shriek when they identified WALL · E and EVE as the blaster-arm-toting two-some on their screens. EVE looked for a place to hide.
She pushed WALL · E into an elevator. As it descended, their WANTED! image appeared on the elevator’s screen. “Caution! Rogue robots!” blared on its speakers.
“Eee-vah!” WALL · E pointed excitedly to the picture of the two of them on the screen. He thought they looked a bit like the romantic couple in his favorite movie. But EVE realized that they looked like fugitives. She drew her arm back and blasted the screen to pieces.
