Opening Note:
Four chapters in and you finally meet the other main protagonist! I suppose that's a bit of an indicator as to how long this fic will be, so there you go. I'm not going to set a finite goal for myself by giving a definitive final word count or anything of the like. I plan to write enough to finish my character's story, as WALL-E's obviously doesn't end here. No more, no less. To prevent spoilers, I've placed an updated disclaimer in the closing notes. So read on, review, and (hopefully) enjoy!
Have a nice day!
Ghost Duck
Desolation: Chapter Four
1004 was stunned. Laying in the exposed cryochamber before it was an actual human. A living, breathing human! Throughout the entire course of its existence the small robot had only been around humans for a period of two years and six months. Those thirty months were the most trying times in 1004's operational lifespan. The humans, almost as mechanical as the legions of WALL·Es they directed on Earth, began to lose their tolerance towards even the slightest error while they supervised the planet's recovery. The humans left behind to supervise were ruthless in their enforcement of the cleanup regime, and their misplaced aggression at the seemingly inadequate progress led to the damage or destruction of at least fifteen local WALL·E units, as 1004's records showed. The small robot tuned its focus back in on the human before it. Instantly the fear returned, constricting 1004's perceptual schematic tightly. 1004 grew concerned. Would this human punish it for not tending to the main directive? This scenario caused the small robot to regret once again that it had not found a better hiding spot.
1004's audio sensors were engrossed with the peculiar noises that the human inside the cryotube was emitting. The small machine's memory banks registered this long unheard noise as the sound of coughing. To support this observation, the pale hand above the steel cylinder flailed violently in synchronization with the coughing fits. Fifteen seconds after the fits ceased the hand lowered and grasped the right side of the cryotube. Subsequently, the human swung it's left appendage over the right side as well to pull itself upright. Now that it had an upper-body side view of the human 1004 could easily differentiate its gender. Based off shoulder size and body proportions, the human in question was revealed to be male. In addition, the man's upper body was exposed entirely, and as human culture dictated, this was not publically acceptable for females of the species. The decidedly male human had short strait brown hair, neatly cut but messy and disheveled due to the side effects of the defreezing process. According to various visual tests, 1004 placed the man's age somewhere between the ages of thirty and forty human years. The only eye that 1004 could see from its vantage point was bloodshot, and the iris was hazel. The human's Adam's-apple bobbed as he swallowed loudly.
The man blinked rapidly in a vain attempt to extinguish the "freezer-burn" effect of long-term cryosleep. The dilated eyes swiveled rapidly in their sockets, taking in their seemingly empty surroundings. With a series of maneuvers lacking greatly in grace, the man hoisted himself out of the container, revealing his skinny lower build. He wore a skin-tight red pair of standard cotton Buy N' Large undergarments that were also unfazed by the ravages of time. Not a single drop of liquid was visible on the man's build or the undergarments; leading 1004 to believe that the cryotube had completely evaporated the liquids in the canister. His whole body moved in tone with his breath as though he were incredibly weary; another negative side-effect of the cryostasis. The disorientation of the thawing process had not yet entirely cleared and the human seemed to have difficulty differentiating between various details in the room. He took four tentative steps towards the door and away from 1004's hiding spot. Then, the man proceeded to make two rotations while standing in the same spot. Likely he was searching for another human form, for the person who had awakened him from his ice nap. After these few moments of ambling about in the room, he collapsed to the floor and laid his back on the empty cryotube for support. His hands were lax as they lay on the reflective floor. Slowly the fleshy lids above his still dilated eyes lowered, blocking his vision. He held this prone position for a long amount of time. 1004 reluctantly began moving forward from its hiding hole. Perhaps if it made it to the door before the man's vision and senses returned…
"HELLO!?" The man's eyes shot open as he called out to nobody in particular, the single word writhe with implied desperation and a hint of fear. 1004 was startled, and it let out a shriek as it cubed up yet again and raced in full reverse back to its semi-hidden locale under the desk. The human jumped at the noise and the sight of the robot; the small machine had moved with such care before that it had not made a noise loud enough for the human to detect prior to its yelp. The man's vision fell upon the now-shivering rusty cube. Slim fractions of two lenses were visible as the robot peeped back. The man looked at the small robot with his head cocked, as his dazed mind tried to process the intense air of nostalgia this machine had about it. The human's mouth fell agape as the pieces came together and realization dawned.
"My lord… I never thought I'd see the day." The man blinked several times, his eyes still affixed on 1004. "Come here, robot. I won't harm you." 1004, knowing its position had been compromised, rolled reluctantly towards this strange figure. "Do you… know who I am?" 1004's eye stalks move out of their shell unhurriedly and its arms began to detach themselves from their bodily perches. The small machine trembled in trepidation. The man waited patiently, and when it became evident that no verbal reply was to be had, he chuckled lightheartedly, "No artificial speech synthesizers, eh?" He cleared his throat once again; evidently another side effect of the cryonics process was a temporary increase in phlegm production. "That's quite alright. I expected them to change the original up quite a bit."
At this, 1004 tilted its eyes in curiosity. What did he mean by the original? The man picked up on this and sighed, deep in contemplation. He paused for a moment to compose himself. "My name is Alan Lanning," The newly-decreed Alan Lanning began, his voice full of barely restrained enthusiasm and a prideful undertone. "I'm not sure how to say this, and I was always terrible at first impressions, so I suppose I'll just tell you; I'm the one who… designed you." He beamed at this last statement and looked to the machine for a reaction.
1004's optical lenses widened. "Woah," the robot vocalized.
Alan laughed in delight. "So you can speak? I suppose you're just a bit shy, then." The small machine nodded yes absentmindedly and held up a finger as if to say 'wait' as it searched through its memory database for the name in question. After running three additional redundant searches and finding nothing but a handful of schematics and design files attached to the WALL-E project, the robot cooed dejectedly in confusion and shook its head in the universal sign for no while pointing at Lanning. 1004 glanced inquisitively at the now-named Alan Lanning. Alan noticed the robot's questioning glare, and his brows furrowed as realization dawned. "You don't believe me?" Lanning asked incredulously, surprised that this machine who knew nothing of his existence until several moments prior was skeptical of his claim. 1004's unconvinced demeanor did nothing to dampen the man's enthusiasm, though. "Try searching WOBLE for employee number three zero one seven nine nine zero," he suggested with an unaffected energetic tone.
To someone unfamilure with the term WOBLE the recently unfrozen man would appear even more delusional than he actually was. To 1004, however, Lanning's mentioning of WOBLE eased the automaton's doubt towards the man's claims substantially. The Worldwide Online Buy N' Large Lynch Encyclopedia, (WOBLE) was set up to discreetly contain and conceal the achievements of the individual, putting more, if not all, emphasis on the group dynamic. It was developed in 2042 by Ford Lynch, the fourth Buy N Large Global CEO. Ford, being a human who valued being remembered above all other things, commissioned WOBLE's creation and had it named after himself. Only upper-tier BnL staff (and, of course, the supposedly soulless and mindless worker bots toiling endlessly below them) were granted the privilege of knowledge and access to the system.
1004 began running its internet access subroutines. The robot huffed mentally. It disliked the sensation of running subroutines. Subroutines made 1004 feel unnatural, or at least as unnatural as a machine could feel. Its "feelings" aside, the cubical robot proceeded with its task. 1004 entered the inactive digital blob that was cyberspace for an access point to WOBLE. Cyberspace was invariably strange. It was like an infinescimally huge library organized in the most maddeningly bizarre way possible. A library where whatever volume or novella you were searching for was within fingertip's reach, even if it was really located on the other side of the library. In addition, the 'books' you could choose from had the power to bring you to other books related to aspects of the first book.
Unlike the cyberspace library, WOBLE only holds information on Buy N' Large Club Card holders, which consists literally of the Earth's entire populace. In Lynch's encyclopedia, one could find personal information on the club card members, such as medical problems, marital status, shoe size, and favourite food. In addition to that, social information, such as occupation, lifetime achievements, and most importantly projects they were involved with, could be found on WOBLE. 1004's entrypoint into cyberspace, regardless of its location in the physical world, was always near an ominous "You Are Here" directory surrounded on all sides by a blank void. Knowing the location of the WOBLE gateway by its CPU cooling unit, 1004 found the gateway hyperlink instantaneously. With a mental click, 1004 was transported to the WOBLE directory.
Sure enough, immediately after the numbers were inserted into WOBLE's search algorithms they garnered the robot's desired results. The profile loomed before 1004's digital self.
Complying with BnL licencing and regulations, the lifetime achievements of a Club Card holder were to be saved to their WOBLE entry permanently. If these achievements included the design of an important advancement for human society, then they would be in the Card holder's file. Since this would definitively be the case, there would have to be a great number of documents relating directly to the WALL·E units to prove Alan Lanning's bold claim. For better or worse, this would be the end of 1004's doubts concerning Alan Lanning. It opened the profile.
Just as the seemingly insane man said, 3017990 was his profile. As the digital file opened, a flood of data bombarded 1004's perceptual schematic. Hundreds upon hundreds of files materialized before the robot's digital form, all under Lanning's BnL employee profile. At first, the files appeared to be routine. Thousands and thousands of bills, messages, statistics, and factoids populated the list before 1004. Some of the tidbits presented were quite important or useful, such as Club Card number, email address, traditional address, and Internet search history. However, most of the bits and pieces on the list seemed to have very limited application. Hairstyle records, dining expenses between the years of 2084 to 2085, amassed dental costs, lifelong employment records, online music purchase history, and...
Dual hydraulic shovel arm blueprints?
Closing Notes:
Disney/Pixar own WALL-E. I am in no way, shape, or form affiliated with Disney or Pixar. I am also not affiliated with Isaac Asimov or any of his works. (A cookie goes to whoever caught the small reference.)
I own Alan Lanning, Ford Lynch, and the concept of WOBLE. In the improbable event that someone wants to my ideas, feel free to. Please give proper credit, if you do.
I hope you enjoyed this chapter as much as I enjoyed writing it. As you can likely tell, it serves as a loose introduction for Alan Lanning, who is going to be the other main character in this fic. Constructive criticism and comments are encouraged. Please let me what you think of this chapter and/or of the story. If you're feeling particularly inspired, let me know what you speculate will happen next in the chapter. I'd like that quite a bit. :D
Have a nice day!
Ghost Duck