After the fifth pronunciation, WALL-E was able to repeat after EVE the species of the creatures underneath the truck.
"Cat!" he said, leaving out the extra long A-sound.
EVE breathed a sigh of relief, turning back around to face the four felines pressing themselves against the dirt in the shadows. Her body, much like floating white oval wearing a cap, seperated soundlessly at the sides to reveal slender, blade-like arms which became fingers on the end: she extended her hand towards the cats. She knew from her days inside the Axiom, her Teacher and, in a way, Mother, that cats were small mammals capable of replicating through coupling with the opposite sex. The same process for nearly all species of life forms. But for robots, their life form was--
EVE shook away the thought. "Here kitty kitty," she said, recollecting the camera feed of century-old footage from Earth, shown to her by the Axiom. But this did nothing to calm the cats down. Perhaps they had never seen a human, or even a robot. Perhaps not even another form of life but themselves...
"EV-ah?"
EVE turned abruptly. WALL-E was wearing a plastic sack over his head. The bag wasn't clear, but translucent enough so that WALL-E could still see. He lifted his neck proudly and lifted his tongs. "Ta Dah!"
EVE held back a sound of amusement, putting on a scowl. She pointed at the cats. "Directive!" she told him.
WALL-E blinked. "Where?" he asked, then looked around.
EVE grew tired. She floated forward and tore the bag off the other robot's head. He cried out in alarm, ducking momentarily. Oops. She didn't mean to frighten him. "WALL-E..." she said soothingly. Such a reaction from him brought her memories of her first landing on Earth, so long ago...
Suddenly. The airlock doors closed. EVE blinked, whirling around. No, it was the cats. They were hissing again.
WALL-E pointed. "EV-ah!!" he cried.
EVE followed his pointing mechanical digit, and saw something else, standing on a rock just feet from the truck. The cats fell silent and trembled. At once, EVE ran a scan on the new creature. Her databases informed her within seconds that was an animal called a tiger. It was another kind of cat: a very large, vibrantly colored orange and black striped hunter, with a white belly and pink nose. It's eyes were colored like the midday sun. By the look of its size, it (EVE ran one more scan) he was incredibly hungry.
"Cat!" WALL-E said, his tone a wavering note between excitement and horror.
EVE switched one bladed arm into a plasma gun, keeping it steady against her other hand. But wait. Was this animal a threat? What of survival? Of nature? Of Mankind's purpose to help everything thrive as it once had? Was the cats under the truck the source of the tiger's survival? Or was she, and WALL-E, the source of the cats survival? What place did a robot have in asserting themselves between the laws ot nature?
"EVEE-AH!!"
EVE gasped as WALL-E grabbed her arm, pulling her away from the scene at full speed as the tiger launched itself with a roar from the rock on which he stood. His paws crushed deep into the dry ground, marking it until the next storm blew it all away.
EVE squealed in protest, turning her head to watch behind while WALL-E blazed on wheels ahead. The large striped cat was burrowed half under the truck. There were sounds like infants crying, mixed with sounds like thunder and crackling ice. It was horrific to see only the movement of the tiger's rear end, back legs digging deep to propell himself further under, long tail swinging in excitement. "Noooooo!!" cried EVE, despairing. But WALL-E, still in motion, looked at her. "It'ss... okay." he told her. "It'sss okay.."
After the third time he said it, she started to believe him, his voice a sound like windchimes in her emptying mind. She clung to him, wrapped her arms around him suddenly, and took flight, rocketing them both far, far from the scene.
...
"H-hell...Hell..o?" WALL-E asked timidly. He stood with EVE outside of a small wooden structure called by the Captain himself 'A temporary home'. It had a roof to block the sunlight, and windows to let it back in. A door was in the way. It was not automatic. "Hell..ooo?"
EVE rolled her eyes, stepping forward. She looked at WALL-E. "Knock." she told him. Then turned her hand into a fist, knocking the door twice.
WALL-E's eyebrows lifted. They lifted even further when the door opened. Then even further still when the one who opened the door was not the Captain, but a woman, who appeared smaller than the other humans who disembarked. Almost as if she had been working out. Or simply taking steps more than the others. She reminded WALL-E almost of the woman in the musical he loved so much. WALL-E whistled his approval. EVE, her hand still in a fist, punched his arm.
"Are you here for maintenance?" asked the woman, considering the robotic exchange as a malfunction.
EVE narrowed her eyes. "Captain." she told her. "Danger outside. In the valley. Here are coordinates --" she began to press invisible buttons on her chest, but the woman lifted a hand to halt her.
"The Captain and I-- I mean, the Captain is busy. The danger can wait. If it was severe, the radar over there-" the female human gestured to a machine in the corner of what looked like a library room. "-would inform us. We aren't in danger. Go recharge your batteries." The woman closed the door.
WALL-E checked himself. "EVE-ah?" he said, pointing to his mid-battery level. He could use a good charge. EVE stared at the closed door. She knew she could blast a hole into it. She knew she could tell the Captain of the tiger in the valley. But was the danger real? Was the animal coming this way? EVE began to doubt it. Maybe it had it's own boundaries to follow. EVE looked at her hands. Her weapons...
Beep! Beep! Beep! Daaaw...
EVE looked at WALL-E, watching him fold away his compact solar panels. She blinked, and let out a sigh. Slowly, she felt herself relax. She was safe. WALL-E was safe. Everything was fine.
There was no danger.
...