Second Self
Five hundred long and toilsome years they had compacted the garbage, stacked it, and gone to hibernation mode together. They might have called each other brothers if they knew the word.
WALL-E looked at his companion and emitted a mechanical sigh. He had once again returned to the truck and without so much as a warble cubed up. Now he was sitting on the shelf, processors set for minimum output. Sometimes, the lack of life was so disheartening that he despaired of ever seeing the other unit become more than machine. Still, he’d stopped compacting WALL-E’s precious collection, and understood the necessity of repairs.
WALL-E gently rolled over to the inactive box and reached out an arm. He grabbed the shelf, pulled back, then let it swing gently. Somehow, he thought, this would be appreciated one day. Rolling into the shelf across the way, he set his own rack in motion before fully winding down.
Both units, about eight hours later, were awoken by their emergency power warning beeps. WALL-E groggily pulled out his optics, noting that his far less emotional truck-mate had already opened the door. Good. He rolled out on the ramp and opened his solar panels. True, it was less efficient than the roof that his companion preferred, but here, he could see the towers of trash he treasured…
Almost simultaneously, two chimes rang out across the landscape. His companion rolled down the makeshift slope of garbage that he had constructed long ago. WALL-E began after him–then he heard a strange crunching sound under his tread. He backed up to investigate. Some… thing popped right back into shape and skittered away.
Odd.
WALL-E snapped his optics after his companion, speeding his treads to their maximum in order to catch up. This day was going to be it, he promised himself futilely. This was the day when his truck-mate would wake up. Because if he didn’t, WALL-E swore he was going to be scrap.
The routine began anew. Gather, compact, stack. Gather, compact, stack. Gather, compact, stack. WALL-E broke up the monotony by inserting particularly pleasing items into his cooler. An army knife here, a whisk there… so shiny… Back to work. Gather, compact, stack.
WALL-E glanced at his companion. Same robotic actions. Oh well, the day wasn’t half over yet. He turned to a mannequin he’d found buried in the heaps of filth and activated his laser. When it collapsed into two even pieces, he giggled.
A tap on his arm brought to his attention the other WALL-E unit. He offered a black tape. WALL-E warbled in appreciation; this was the first time that he’d ever picked something out for collection. The other unit, however, remained stone-faced. But it was a gesture, nonetheless, and a major step. WALL-E delicately placed the tape into his cooler.
Gather, compress, stack. Gather, compress, stack. Gather, compress, stack. The sun rose to its highest point and slowly began to fall. Three hours after noon, WALL-E stopped his job and grabbed his partner. The robot turned and watched as he mimed replacing an optic. Still as cold as ever, he placed his last cube up before following WALL-E to a large nearby concentration of nonfunctioning automatons.
This was WALL-E’s second favorite part of the day, after collecting things. He popped off some arms and gleefully placed them in his compactor. They didn’t fit, of course, but then they didn’t have to. Staring at the metal cube in front of him, he let out a happy warble. His partner, mathematical as always, set about collecting pairs of functioning optics, alongside some solar panels.
A few hours later, they returned to their truck, one elated, the other simply quiet. WALL-E handed him the arms and tread in his compactor, then set about organizing his personal collection. Army knife, whisk, this… action figure, was it? At the end, he came to the tape.
He pondered it while, whilst his companion placed the final optic on the rack. Before he could cube up, WALL-E pulled the other unit in front of their crudely constructed media station, turned on the screen, flipped out the magnifier, and inserted the tape.
The music began brightly, as the camera panned straight into a large group of dancing people. “Call on Dolly,” they sang, “She’s the one the spinsters recommend…” WALL-E flexed his optics appreciatively. This was quite a good find, quite a good find.
He turned to look at his partner-- and almost gasped.
Where once had been a facade of utter coldness, now there was… something. Curiosity? No. Bedazzlement. All focused on this one little image. At last, at long last, he was something more then just another WALL-E unit.
WALL-E’s lower lids raised, and he watched the film to its end. Then, the newly awakened unit cubed up and backed into his shelf. WALL-E, still with a pleased expression, set the rack swinging, before cubing up himself and going into standby.
Another night, another awakening. WALL-E took the ramp, and his partner took the roof. WALL-E stared happily at the skyscraping towers of garbage. Today was a new day, a special day. Today was his partner’s birthday. He’d read that word in a battered dictionary, an annual anniversary of when someone was born. Yes, that sounded about right.
His solar charge chimed, and he rolled forward again. There was that crunching noise again. This time, though, he backed up and snatched his hand down before the thing could escape. His data files vaguely recognized it as a genetically engineered terraformer, designed to convert garbage into usable soil. It looked cute, poinging right back up like it was uninjured. WALL-E considered it, then set it down.
The two of them rolled out. Gather, compact, stack. Gather, compact, stack. WALL-E glanced at his partner. Yes, it was slight and had to be looked for, but something was there. He watched as the other unit slowly reached out and grabbed a colorful statue with a pointed red hat. Uncertainly, the object was placed in the cooler. The other unit looked up at him. He nodded, lower lids rising.
So the day went, WALL-E selecting a sharp shard of glass, whilst his truck-mate found a plastic green monster. They completed the tower, giving WALL-E a sense of great pride, but prouder still was he of his companion, who had emitted a chuckle. Yes, at last, life was good. They rolled down the ramp together, heading for the graveyard.
WALL-E hummed brightly as he ripped gear wheels off of the nonfunctioning units. He glanced behind him quietly, and noticed his companion patting one of the automatons on the optics. That made no sense… but then, WALL-E thought, they couldn’t be identical. Logically, if they were identical, they’d have awoken at the same time. Which hadn’t happened.
WALL-E turned to the almost demolished robot in front of him and giggled. Then he popped off the optics and whistled to his companion. Ignoring the guilty start his partner gave, WALL-E began his long trek home. Something caught his eye… a PR-T unit, cracked completely open. He approached it, reached out…
His partner whistled at him. WALL-E turned around and waved. The PR-T would have to wait, he decided.
The genetically engineered terraformer was back, to the surprise of WALL-E. It hopped up and ran into the truck, landing right in WALL-E’s squishy collection, where it dove into a sponge cake. His partner chuckled, amused. WALL-E was also entertained, but there were more important things to think about. He whistled for his partner’s attention… and handed him the cooler.
His partner stared at it. He looked at WALL-E in surprise. WALL-E nodded, giggling and shooing the other unit with his hand. Tonight, he would run the maintenance and allow his newly born companion to organize his precious collection.
The pair watched Hello Dolly again. WALL-E’s truck-mate attempted to mimic the strange movements of the people, much to WALL-E’s amusement, and soon they were both whirling around and humming the tune. Eventually, though, the movie ended, and WALL-E’s partner cubed up for the night, setting his rack rocking. WALL-E raised his lower lids and chuckled, before doing the exact same thing.
The next morn, both units awoke somewhat groggily. WALL-E almost knocked over his partner, who had stopped for a moment, but managed to avoid injuring him. His companion headed for the roof, while he himself merely popped open his solar panels. The trash piles seemed particularly overcast today. It was beautiful beyond compare.
The genetically engineered terraformer skittered out as WALL-E chimed his full power level. Experimentally, he rolled over it. When it poinged straight back up again, he laughed. He might have spent hours with the insect had not his partner whistled for his attention. Oh, well, back to work.
Gather, compact, stack. Gather, compact stack. Gather, compac–
Their warning sirens blared. WALL-E and his partner shared a horrified stare before turning to the horizon. The sand growled hungrily, racing toward the two robots in an apoplectic attempt to snuff out their circuitry. WALL-E and his truck-mate raced for it.
WALL-E managed to make it into the truck, pulling the lever to shut the door as outside, the sand howled. His partner, a few feet behind, couldn’t make it to the rising ramp. Instead, he leapt at the small gap at the side of the door. A strange grinding brought WALL-E’s attention to his companion, who was now jammed between the door and the truck. He called out for help.
WALL-E burst out laughing. It was hilarious.
He watched as his partner detached an optic and tossed it at the door-switch. That was even more hysterical! WALL-E cackled, barely able to keep from falling down at the amusing situation. Then, another though struck him, and as his truck-mate rolled up the now open ramp, WALL-E zoomed forward with a high-pitched giggle, manipulators at the ready.
The two were interlocked in a twirling caper, WALL-E attempting to pull of an arm, a tread, anything! This was just so much fun! When his partner activated his laser and blinded his left optic, WALL-E’s joyful screeches resounded through the truck. Then, his front casing was opened–
[i]WALL-E looked sadly on his truckmate, as the sand howled outside. A mere hour ago, he had randomly attacked him, for no reason other then apparent entertainment. WALL-E had managed to pull out his blue motherboard, shutting off the mad robot instantly.
He’d replaced both their damaged optics. But somehow, he knew that he would never allow this other unit to be active again. WALL-E delicately extracted the primary memory core, looking at the collection of knifes, whisks, and other sharp utensils.
He couldn’t bring himself to destroy it, though. He hid it under the toaster.[/i]
I guess I never thought of those painter bots being able to create works of art, but why not? I’m really liking the way you’re giving all these bots a real thinking personality.