Wall-E buzzed happily down the corridor, humming along with his recording of "Put On Your Sunday Clothes." He slowed on occasion to sort through a particularly interesting pile of detritus, but managed to resist cubing any of it; Captain McCrea had given the robots "vacations" and "days off." The concept baffled the lot of them, but after seeing the robots working non-stop-- in some cases, literally-- to help make Earth habitable for the colonists, the Captain had insisted. "We don't want you to wear yourselves out," he had reasoned, trying to fit such an absurd idea into bot logic. The robots knew, of course, that the Axiom could easily create any replacement parts they needed, but the Captain seemed so very earnest that they could not refuse him. This week was the first week in his existence that Wall-E had been expected to do absolutely nothing. He and Eve spent the first day at a bit of a loss, mingling with the colonists and trying to make themselves useful at any task they could take up; several of the humans had scolded them lovingly and suggested that they research "vacation" on the Axiom's computer. After poring over the information she provided, they decided that they would "take a trip" and "go hiking." Eve had flown Wall-E to a section of the city that he had never seen-- other Wall-Es had cleared this area centuries before, so there had never been any need for him here-- and they had simply started wandering.
Soon, they both discovered that even without the magnificent forests and mountains the computer had shown them as typical "hiking" locations, they could still entertain themselves in the vast artificial caverns of the city. They always enjoyed being together no matter the circumstances, and now they took turns finding odd items here and there and showing them to one another. Soon Wall-E's "Ooooohs!" and Eve's giggles danced and echoed between the old skyscrapers. A few of the buildings still appeared sturdy enough for exploration, so they began darting into a few of them, finding little more than dust and strange scraps for the effort but enjoying it all the same. The impromptu escapade soon turned into hide and seek, though neither of them realized their new game had a name, and Wall-E found himself humming down his new corridor with the intent of finding a nice hiding place for himself-- though not too good, of course. He definitely wanted to be found.
Still humming brightly, he turned a corner into a darkened corridor. The lights blazed on overhead. He slowed and looked up, but didn't stop; he was used to lights and holograms bursting to life when certain sensors were triggered. He used to pass by such ads for the Axiom every day on his way to and from work. Obviously, this building had solar panels and capacitors somewhere that still operated, and his presence had triggered the lights. He rolled a bit farther, his humming hitting a high note that coincided with the end of the corridor and a large, featureless door. As soon as he was close enough to see that the door had no visible mechanism with which to open it, he intended to turn and head back the other way in search of a hidey hole; but as he drew near the door slid open. "Whoa!" He stopped short and wheeled back out of his turn, clicking his music off with one claw. Cocking his head as far as he could, he peered into the open room. Whatever sensor he had tripped to open the door had also turned on the lights inside, illuminating rows of…something. He whistled to himself and rolled carefully into the room. "Whoooaaa," he repeated, trundling down rows of steel tanks stacked six high, almost higher than he could see, even if he craned his neck mechanism all the way back. He stopped and tapped lightly on one of the tanks with his claw, still tilting his head this way and that. He heard no response; the tank sounded empty. He crossed over a couple of rows. Here he found a tank that registered differently to his temperature sensors and he stopped again. A light tap here sounded muffled. "Ooooooh." He tried standing on his tip-treads, but he couldn't reach the top of the tank to see the lid. He scanned the tanks around it; several more registered as much colder than the ambient temperature, as this one did. He tilted his head at it a few more times, then decided that this mystery was even more fun than hide and seek, and flew at top speed out of the room to find Eve.
"Eevah!" he called as soon as he cleared the doorway. "Ev-Ev-Eevah!" He cast around for her and as he burst out of the corridor, he saw her gleaming white form racing through the building's erstwhile lobby toward his voice.
She pulled up when she spotted him, her cannon at the ready in case anything had threatened her beloved. He squinted his visor shields at her as if his eyes were crinkling in a smile while he shook his head "no" and waved her gun away. She cased the ion cannon immediately and calmed down, drifting down to nearly eye level with him. "Wall-E, all right?"
He nodded and reached her for fin, which she gave him readily. "Eevah, see! See!" he babbled, dragging her back down "his" corridor. She giggled and floated along behind him, grateful that he had simply found some new treasure he wanted to share with her, and not that something dire had happened to him. She had reckoned the Axiom to be large, though not as large as the area she was authorized to search when she would come to Earth once a year; but now that she lived on Earth, she was beginning to realize just how large it was, and how tiny Wall-E was in relation to it. It scared her sometimes, to think of how many awful things could happen to her love out there; but then she would remind herself what a resourceful beloved she had, and that he had survived this dangerous lonely place for centuries…that always made her feel better.
Wall-E slowed as they approached the "tank room" (as he thought he would call it, at least to himself) and released Eve's fin so she could explore the room on her own. He stayed at the doorway, clicking his claws together and watching her, his head tilted to one side. He adored watching her move. He adored her. Just seeing her float, gliding like a dream of a cloud made solid-- it would never get old for him, not if he lived another seven hundred years.
Eve floated by the racks of tanks, then began scanning them. She made a little noise to herself, a kind of quiet hum that Wall-E associated with keen interest on her part; he clicked his hands together faster. He had found something new, something worth investigating! He rolled toward the row with the colder tanks and pointed with one arm. "Eevah! This!"
She swept immediately toward him and ran her scanner over the tanks. Her eyes widened to perfect circles and she started visibly. "Ah!" she cried. She turned and grabbed Wall-E, wheeling off into the air with him and flying back down the corridor.
"Whoooo!" Wall-E called down the hallway, his voice echoing back to them. He stretched out his arms like wings, then tilted his head up.
Eve looked back down at him. Her eyes were still wide, but with no hint of fear or anger; she wasn't protecting him from anything, so he hadn't found anything dangerous. He concluded that must mean that he had found something even more interesting than he had anticipated. "Eevah?"
"Captain!" Eve replied, hardly watching as they left the building and dodged back and forth between the surrounding scrapers, climbing ever higher in the sky so they could fly straight back to the colony.
"Wall-E…goooood?" He clicked his claws together again.
Her eyes turned to crescents. "Verrrry good," she replied. "Special!"
He turned his eyes back to their path and spread his arms once more. "Whooooo!" he called to the clear morning sky.