A robot and his cockroach make their hour-long journey over the wasteland, weathered by the sand and time.
Another day of work in the winding alleys and shadows of broken buildings. Nothing salvageable here. Everything is rotted, rusted.
Disappointing.
But there will always be other sites, other times. There is always something to salvage if you look hard enough.
Wait. There's movement. An object, glinting in the dark pile of rubbish.
Wally pauses. Wheels over to the disturbance. A robotic limb, raised to brush away the debris.
The pile of trash jolts.
His optics blink. Wally leans in closer. Curious. He taps the spot of disturbance and it doesn't react.
He hums. No response.
When he clears away the rest of the litter, there is something amazing brought to the surface.
A pair of optical lenses stare up at him. A reflection of his own. Wally squeaks in surprise. Wheels back, cringing. He doesn't dare look away.
Nothing happens. Seconds tick by.
A full minute passes.
Wally blinks. Lowers his arms. Approaches with caution. Digs in the refuse around the optics. Carefully. He doesn't want to damage it.
He unearths a head, robotic neck. A cube-ular body. Coated inside and out with sand and rust.
It's a WALL-E unit. Like him.
Wally lowers his arm, head tilted. He looks over at the cockroach. Back to his counterpart.
The WALL-E unit beeps faintly. Wally yelps, almost drops it in shock. The sound crackles, dissolves into static. It's sparking, broken. Unable to produce results. Wally gingerly lets go of the WALL-E unit's head. It hangs limply. Wally taps it on the shoulder. No response. Wally circles around the heap of scrap. Hums.
Takes the non-functioning WALL-E unit's head in his robotic hands once again. Studies it, as intently as he would a new treasure. The optics are strangely unharmed, at least compared to the rest of its body. The lower half is disintegrating. Scratched and dusty, sure, but he can see his reflection in the grimy visor.
He can always use a new optic.
But as he comes to this conclusion, another thought occurs to him.
He follows the robot's gaze.
Upwards, towards the lifeless sky.
Wally gazes up for a very long time. He tears his attention away from the heavens. Back down to the robot.
Wally wonders what it was looking at.
Shrugs. Decides to leave it alone.
A/N: Style and name choice inspired by the original script, and also to differentiate Wally from his other kin.