Homecoming

WALL·E could not remember the last time he had felt so excited. Today was the day. EVE was coming home.

After his talk with her at the spaceport last week, he had actually gone inside his truck again. It still seemed too empty in there, but it wasn’t as bad as before. He opened a packaged BnL sponge cake and let Hal the 15th eagerly burrow in. Then he turned to the space where EVE usually hovered in sleep mode. It was getting dusty. He took a little brush and dust pan from his collection and swept the floor. Then he boxed up, sat on his shelf, and went to sleep.

The next morning he went up to the roof and charged his solar batteries. When they were full he took a moment to admire the view. The sunny blue sky was reflected in the bay where small fishing boats sailed, and in the distance the mountainous shape of the Axiom loomed like a sleeping giant. It was a fantastic view. How had he spent so many days in this same spot and not noticed it all?

WALL·E did not stay on the roof for long, though. It was time to go to work. He went back down to the truck to retrieve his collection box and then set out for the city junkyard. Along the way he heard many human and robot voices happily greeting him. When he arrived at the junkyard all his co-workers behaved the same way. He greeted everyone just as happily, realizing he had missed seeing them, too.

All day long WALL·E worked. He found many interesting items in the trash that day. Some plastic action figures with missing limbs, an eight track tape reading The Best of Bing Crosby on the cover, a dancing cactus wearing a sombrero, and a stuffed monkey doll with stains and one eye. He had forgotten how much he enjoyed this part of his job. EVE always liked to see what he found, so he planned to show her all these new treasures when she came home.

When work was done he hooked his box onto its latch, waved goodbye to his co-workers and whistled his favorite show tunes as he headed home. When he got there Hal the 15th was there waiting for him. As he fed his pet a new sponge cake, WALL·E marveled at how similar this Hal was to the first one. Come to think of it, all the other cockroaches EVE had given him behaved very much like his first one. She certainly knew what to look for when it came to choosing new pets.

It was like that for the rest of the week. The more things WALL·E did, the more places he went and more people he saw, he felt better and better. The world had not ended, and life was not over simply because EVE was not beside him. She was always in the back of his mind, but her absence was no longer painful. He no longer felt an empty void where his heart was. If he ever felt anything close to it, he simply played back his happy memories of her. He had fifteen years worth of them saved up, so he never ran out. He also remembered that the day of her return was fast approaching. But every night, before he went to sleep mode, he would look up at the stars and hope that she was getting along as well as he was.

And EVE was getting along well. Like WALL·E, she had drawn strength from their brief connection. It reminded her of why she had been so eager to accept this mission in the first place. At the start of her waking cycles she would zip around the debris field as free as a bird, pretending she was dancing with her partner. When she needed to destroy a target she would do it with gusto, and put the same enthusiasm into giving orders to her sisters.

The Earth was always in view, but EVE did not feel sad when she saw it anymore. She would still think of WALL·E, of course, and the lighter still didn’t work, but she didn’t try to light it anymore. She didn’t need to. Just having it there, safely stowed in her torso chamber, was enough to remind her of how much she was loved. WALL·E did not want her to be sad, so she wasn’t. She had wasted too much time being sad and there was very little time left. She absolutely would not face him until she could truly make him proud.

EVE was so busy enjoying her work that she didn’t even notice how surprised her sisters were to see her acting like her old self again. They were aware that she had been in contact with the spaceport recently, but it had been a private connection which they could not hear through their own transmitters. Whatever it was, EVE’s emotional glitch seemed to have cured itself and the mission could continue as planned.

Now the return date had come.

Everyone was excited for the rocket to bring the probe-bots home, but no one was more excited then WALL·E. Once again the spaceport roof was crowded with humans and robots, and he got the same spot up front with his friends. It was Friday, very hot and sunny, and exactly fifteen minutes to two in the afternoon. In his head he was doing his own countdown until the ship was scheduled to land.

When the fifteen minutes were nearly up, and WALL·E was beginning to worry he was counting wrong, there was a loud roaring noise overhead. Everyone looked up and had to either shield their eyes with dark glasses or readjust their optics. Three bright pillars of flame poured down from the heavens, creating a thick cloud on the launch pad below.

WALL·E counted. 5 … 4 … 3 … 2 … 1!

The ship touched down right as the last second ticked off. No sooner had that second passed then WALL·E was speeding for the elevator, but two stewards were blocking the entrance. Before he could try to get around them, Hannah had caught up to him.

“It’s not safe to go down there yet, WALL·E. Too much smoke and heat. You’d either get lost or cooked in that cloud!”

The garbage-bot shook his rusty fists and gave an impatient whine. Hannah snickered at his frustrated behavior, then smiled sympathetically.

“I know, you wanna go meet EVE right now, but you’ve already waited three weeks for her. A few more minutes aren't gonna kill you, right?”

WALL·E was almost certain that they would. But when he looked back at the launch pad again, he saw that the human girl was right. The dust cloud kicked up by the jets was so huge and thick that it almost obscured the rocket completely. Even when he zoomed his binocular eyes in as close as he could, the haze was still too thick for him to see through. Only the properly equipped maintenance bots could go near it now. So WALL·E went inside the spaceport with his friends and waited. For twenty-minutes he waited. Then M-O who came to his rescue once again. He was leading his team of cleaner-bots to the exit but as soon as he saw WALL·E, he skidded to a halt and chirped at him as if to say Are you coming or what?

WALL·E jumped at the chance. Surely if it were safe for the cleaner-bots to go now it would be safe for him. But he should check with his young human friend to be certain. “Hah-nah?”

The girl looked at him, then at M-O and his group. She tapped her chin for a moment, then she shrugged. “Sure, I guess it’s okay. I’ll give the landing guys a ring for you.”

That was all WALL·E needed to hear. By the time Hannah fished her cell phone out of her bag he was already accompanying M-O’s group to the exit. A transport-bot was waiting for them, but there wasn’t much room for him with the whole group on it. Thankfully the vacuum-bot was kind enough to let him piggyback. Soon they were speeding across the steamy tarmac, but it still seemed painfully slow. Undaunted, he zoomed his optics onto the rocket again. The smoke was clearing now, and he could make out the distant forms of maintenance bots performing their post-landing duties. There was no way for him to tell if the probes had come out yet.

Suddenly, a squealing white blur pierced through the cloud, swept him off the vacuum-bot’s back and high into the air. It took less then a second for him to recognize the joyful blue eyes beaming at him and the voice that was practically singing his name.

“WALL·EEEE!”

“Eee-vaaah!”

He was so happy that he didn’t care that she was holding him hundreds of feet off the ground. He flung his arms around her and held on with all his might, pressed his optics against the space below her head and listened to the hum of her inner workings. How long had it been since they had held each other like this? Never mind, it didn’t matter. She was here now, holding him now, just like she always had.

Eventually the robot lovers had to return to the ground, but they refused to let anything else part them. When M-O and his crew cleaned EVE, when all their friends came to greet her, even when the Captain summoned her, WALL·E stayed right by her side tightly clasping her hand. He wouldn’t have noticed her four sister probes at all if they hadn’t been constantly following her. They kept looking at him and murmuring to each other in a very skeptical manner. Normally this would have worried him, but he was holding EVE’s hand again for the first time in three weeks. All four of them could have fired their lasers at him and he wouldn’t have cared.

Currently they were in a part of the spaceport that had been converted into a conference room. Besides the Captain there were many other humans there. Hannah was the youngest member in the group, but there were a few others who were only a few years older then her. Among them WALL·E recognized the technician who had helped him contact EVE. He gave the young man a friendly wave, which was returned with a smile.

The purpose of this meeting was to talk about the results of the spaceport’s first atmosphere clean-up mission. The man who was talking right now was the leader of the technicians in charge of monitoring the progress of the probe-bots. His name was Milton, and he was gesturing to a chart displayed on a large holo-screen on the wall. “As you can see,” Milton was saying. “The productivity levels of Probes 2 through 5 stayed consistent throughout the mission. But look at Probe 1’s graph. Her level was high for the first few days, then declined drastically and completely bottomed out by the second week. These erratic results have me and my group concerned that Probe 1 may have a defect.”

The word ‘defect’ got EVE’s attention. She didn’t like it when people questioned her abilities. She looked at the Captain, who was sitting at the head of the long conference table with a very pensive look on his face.

“Hmm … I hear what you’re saying, but I don’t think I agree with you.” He turned to the group of roboticists. “You checked all her systems for any glitches before the launch, didn’t you?”

Hannah would have jumped up and answered him but her older comrades held her back. Their adult leader, a gray-haired woman named Susan, answered instead. “Yes, sir, we ran diagnostics on all the EVE probes and found no defects in any of their programming.”

“Then how do you explain these results?” Milton questioned, in a rather self-important tone. “What do your diagnostics say about all this? Clearly something was going on with Probe 1 while she was in space. What if she was damaged by a meteorite or some other piece of debris?”

Susan did not like the lead technician’s tone but she kept her voice calm. “The EVE probes are equipped with failsafe mechanisms that cause automatic stasis-lock if they receive serious damage. And if you’re so concerned with consistent results, Milton, why don’t you take another look at the charts for Probes 2 through 5? That sudden spike in the middle of the timeline doesn’t look so consistent to me.”

She was right and Milton knew it, but he refused to let her win this argument. “How do you know these failsafe mechanisms weren’t faulty? Maybe your diagnostic equipment is what was really malfunctioning all along.”

“Our equipment came straight from the Axiom, just like yours!” Susan retorted. “Why don’t you check your own machines before you go blaming somebody else’s?” The conference rapidly began to deteriorate into an argument between the technicians and the roboticists, but before it could get too far the Captain pounded a fist on the table.

“Hey! This isn’t a contest about whose machines work better! We aren’t gonna find any answers if we keep bickering, so all of you just simmer down!”

“With all due respect, Captain,” Milton replied. “Any equipment that didn’t come from the Axiom is faulty at best and --”

The Captain silenced him with a hard look. “Unless you have something useful to say, Milton, I think you’d better sit down.” He scanned the faces of the other humans for any signs of misbehavior. “Is there anyone in this room who can tell me a good reason for EVE’s behavior in space without starting a fight?”

The room was quiet for several moments. Then a hand went up. “Permission to speak, Captain?”

He nodded to her. “Yes, Hannah, what do you have to say?”

There was a bit of muffled scoffing, but another hard look from the Captain sent the room back into silence. Hannah was not only the youngest human in the room but she also had the lowest status. She was more like an assistant trainee then a true roboticist. This basically meant she was only allowed to talk to the robots and not take them apart, but she seemed to think that she was an expert on them anyway. Many of the adults didn’t appreciate Hannah’s cocky attitude. At the moment she didn’t care about any of that. Besides the Captain she knew EVE better then any of the humans in the room did, and the only thing on her mind right now was to set everyone else straight.

Hannah stood up so that everyone could see and hear her. She put her hands on her hips and frowned at the adults around her, as if they were a bunch of unruly kindergarteners. “I think my colleagues are forgetting some very important details here, Captain. And honestly, I’m surprised they could. Everybody in this room is older then me, and should know exactly what EVE is like by now!”

Every adult in the room glared at her. Even the Captain seemed to be growing impatient. “Hannah, we don’t have time for a lecture today. Just get to the point, please.”

Hannah puffed herself up even taller, which really wasn’t all that tall. “My point is that EVE isn’t just a simple robot who only follows whatever orders she’s given. She’s got emotions and a personality. And everyone knows about her relationship with WALL·E. Of course she’d be depressed about leaving him for so long!”

Slowly the Captain began to smile. He had hoped she would say something like this. “So, you believe the reason she wasn’t working as hard as her sisters is an emotional one?”

“Exactly!” Hannah thrust a triumphant finger in the air, then aimed that finger at the robot couple at the back of the room. “I mean, just look how cuddly she’s been with him! She hasn’t let him go since she got back!”

Both EVE and WALL·E felt slightly embarrassed that this fact was pointed out so bluntly, but the other probes and the humans were listening to her. Maybe EVE wouldn’t get in trouble after all.

Another hand went up. It was the young technician WALL·E remembered. The Captain acknowledged him. “Yes, Luke, do you have something to add?”

Luke stood up and cleared his throat, obviously uncomfortable being in the spotlight. “Um, I think Hannah has a good point. EVE’s productivity was low until the day she spoke with WALL·E. After that it went back up to the same level as when she started. Right, guys?” He glanced around at his comrades for support. They nodded quietly.

“All right!” the Captain said, obviously pleased by these developments. “That explains what EVE’s problem was. Now, what about the other probes? Why did their productivity levels go up when hers went down?”

Hannah waved her arm eagerly. “I know! They’re her sisters! They were picking up her slack so she wouldn’t get in trouble!”

The Captain stifled a snicker. “Really? What makes you think that?”

Hannah folded her arms. “You said they were sisters, sir, so that’s how I taught them to act. How else could you get a bunch of stubborn bots like EVE to work as a team?”

Again EVE felt embarrassed by the girl’s bluntness, but this time she was also surprised. She had not realized what her sisters had been doing while she was stuck in her funk. When she looked at them they looked back at her with discreet smiles in their eyes.

The Captain leaned back in his chair with a big grin on his face. “Well, I think that about covers it. Does anyone else have anything to add?”

Luke raised his hand. “I have a question, sir. Should we stick to the plan to send the EVE probes on more space missions?”

WALL·E instinctively clutched EVE’s hand tighter. She squeezed back and waited apprehensively.

“I don’t see why not.” the Captain said. Then he turned in his seat to address the robots personally. “Of course, the final decision is up to you, EVE. What do you want to do?”

EVE looked at her partner and at her sisters for a long moment. Then she tried to answer the Captain as well as she could. “EVE need more time … Think about it …”

The man nodded. “Okay, you do that. Take some time off with WALL·E, visit with your sisters, then let us know what you decide.”

Then he stood up and officially called the meeting to an end. At last the robot couple was free to go home. They started to leave the room together, but the sound of four probe-bots in motion slowed them down. EVE and WALL·E looked behind them. Sure enough, Probes 2 through 5 were tailing them. EVE asked them an electronic question in their own language. Rose responded. WALL·E looked up at EVE for a translation. There was a distinct note of discomfort in her voice. “Sisters want visit … Captain say so.”

WALL·E stared blankly at her for a moment, thinking he had misunderstood. When he realized he hadn’t, he tried to come up with some way to get out of this new mess. He hadn’t waited three weeks for EVE to come back just so her sisters could steal her away again! “Uh … Eee-vah need vacation … Sisters visit later?” He put extra emphasis on the last phrase, hoping they would get the hint. They did not raise any objections and agreed to stay at the spaceport until they were called for. As they filed out with the roboticists, WALL·E couldn’t help noticing that the probes were still giving him funny looks.

When the couple returned home, Hal the 15th was waiting for them. He chirped and hopped happily at the sight of EVE. She filled the truck with her laughter as the insect scurried all over her body. Then she sighed and looked around at all the shelves full of knick-knacks and keepsakes. The strings of lights were lit and the spot were she slept had been freshly dusted. It was like she was seeing the place for the first time again.

WALL·E was soon showing her the items he had found while she was away. EVE inspected and admired them all, especially the action figures. They had some foldable pieces on them which made them appear to change into a different object. First they looked like little humans wearing clunky armor, but with a bit of switching and flipping, they turned into cars or airplanes.

Later WALL·E decided to try playing the new tape he had found. He dug an old cassette player out of one of the shelves and found that the tape fit perfectly inside. When he pressed the play button a man’s deep voice began singing through the speakers. Both robots were fascinated by this new discovery and huddled around the player to hear the music better. WALL·E even pressed the record button on his own music player to save the songs for work time.

When they had finished listening to all twelve songs on the tape, the pair moved to the truck’s roof. The sun had set long ago and the sky was now a deep blue tapestry studded with tiny diamonds. “Eee-vah…” WALL·E took a firm grip on EVE’s hand and watched her for a long time to make absolutely certain that she was really here and not up there anymore.

As if reading his thoughts, she leaned closer and rested the side of her head against his. “WALL·E…” she sighed contentedly. Perhaps she would accept the Captain’s offer and return to space one day. Perhaps she would invite her sisters to visit her at home. But there was no need to decide any of that tonight. She was with WALL·E again, her dear, sweet, wonderful WALL·E, and she would not leave him again, not for a long, long time.

Suddenly EVE remembered something. She pulled away from WALL·E and opened up her bio-stasis chamber. Releasing her grip on his hand she reached inside and took out the lighter. Confused, he watched as she carefully opened the lid and flicked the switch. There was a spark, and then a tiny flame ignited. EVE’s eyes grew wide in amazement and closed with relief. As she gazed at the flickering light she noticed her sweetheart’s deep, soulful optics gazing back at her. She lowered the flame, leaned forward and passed a spark of her own to him.

Just like her, the lighter had never been broken. It just needed to be on Earth, where it belonged.

The End