Bubble Wrap
Title: Bubble Wrap
Characters: Auto, Captain McCrea, Wall-E
Rating: K+
Warning/Spoilers: post movie
Summary: Was inspired by the prompt 'Bubble Wrap' from the ficathon and somehow turned into this . . . ended up more inspired by the music I'm playing than the prompt in the end. Anyway, Auto seems depressed, and McCrea's not sure what to do about it . . . enter Wall-E and a wonderful thing called bubble wrap.
------
It had been a few months since the landing. On finding a way to get Auto out from under A113, he'd been reactivated to help with various logistical problems, but for some reason he just didn't seem like himself. He would avoid looking outside towards the ruined city, he was often slow to respond if asked something, and spent most of his time in sleep mode if he wasn't needed.
If Captain McCrea didn't know better, he could almost say the pilot bot was depressed. Then again, given what he now knew of robots having emotion, that likely was the case, but he wasn't sure what to do about it. Eventually he asked someone who hopefully could help . . .
****
The Captain stood in Wall-E's truck, hat off and held in one hand as he asked his question. "Wall-E, could you help Auto? He's doing his job, but I'm not sure I want to leave him online if he's not happy about it. That's sad, but I can just ask the main computer for things if Auto's suffering from just being active on Earth."
Wall-E listened intently, nodding briefly when McCrea finished. "Wall-E help." The trash bot was lost in thought for a minute or two, trying to think of just how he could help, when he suddenly got an idea. "Ah!"
Wall-E went clambering for his shelves of junk, hitting the button to make one set of them rotate. On spotting what he was looking for, he stopped the shelf and grabbed the item, holding it up for McCrea to see. "Taa-daah!" The object in question was an intact roll of bubble wrap, and to demonstrate its wonderful properties, the bot popped a few bubbles.
McCrea couldn't help but smile at that, but he wasn't sure if Auto would feel the same way. "I'm not sure if that'll work . . . but anything's worth a shot at this point! Come on, let's go see if it helps or not."
***
And that was how Wall-E found himself going up to the Axiom's bridge with little more than a roll of bubble wrap and not much of a plan. The Captain would be down in his quarters listening in, in the unlikely case Auto decided to be openly hostile.
When the elevator brought Wall-E to the bridge, he noticed Auto was in sleep mode. He trundled over, tapping politely on Auto's lowest spoke with one claw. "Auto...?"
Auto came online at the tapping, surprised to find the load lifter staring back at him. Sighing briefly, he asked, "What do you require?"
Wall-E simply unrolled the bubble wrap and held one end out to the pilot. “Present. You take.”
Auto briefly scanned the sheet of bubble wrap before blinking in confusion. “This is packing material; I have no need for this. Go bother Probe 1, I am returning to sleep mode.” Without another word, the pilot returned to his charging station, retracting his spokes and shutting down his optic.
The trash bot was nonplussed at being rejected so quickly, but after a moment he shook his head, unwilling to give up. Besides, whatever 'packing material' was, that wasn't what Wall-E used bubble wrap for. Feeling somewhat bold, he moved closer to Auto and tapped him on the spoke again. When that didn't work, Wall-E tried talking. “No p-pack,” he said, struggling a little with the new word. “You pop!”
POP. POP POP POP. Wall-e had only wanted to pop one bubble to demonstrate, but quickly got caught up in it as usual and popped a few more.
Auto jolted from his charging station at the noise. It was familiar somehow, though he couldn't quite put his claw on it. “That sound . . . I remember that sound.” He searched through his 700 years of memories, and to his surprise found the memory in the very earliest years, back when Earth was still partially inhabited. “Memory file retrieved. Captain Reardon received packages from Earth via courier ship every few months; at times that material would be present. He would do just as you have. Sometimes he even asked me to help him pop those spheres . . .”
The pilot trailed off, newfound emotions swirling through his processor. Fond remembrance or grief? He wasn't sure which it was, or even if it wasn't both. Either way, Auto slid his optic closed again, and a mournful sounding warble escaped his synthesizer.
But before Auto could descend much further into his melancholy, Wall-E intervened. Feeling even bolder still, he reached up and grabbed Auto's spoke, giving it a slight yank to get his optic on him once more. When the pilot's eye opened, Wall-E quirked his own eyes up into their 'hopeful' position, and offered the bubble wrap again.
Hesitantly, Auto reached out with his claw, finally getting the bubble wrap in his grip and squeezing. POP POP POP. He really couldn't pop the bubbles individually that way, but he wasn't about to stop now. The bridge echoed a little with the sound of pops, the only other sounds being Auto and Wall-E's servos as the pilot laid waste to the bubbles and the trash bot moved the sheet around for him.
Finally, there was only one bubble left to pop. As Auto tried to reach it, a pudgy hand came into view and popped the bubble before he could. Startled, the two bots jolted back a bit, only to find Captain McCrea standing beside them.
McCrea spoke after they'd recovered from their surprise, focusing on Auto. “This is about Captain Reardon? You miss him?”
Auto glided over to the consoles, stabbing a button with one spoke. It brought up the video feed from the Captain's Quarters, displaying the row of portraits in the room below. He faced the video and not his current Captain, sounding a little offended. “I miss them all. I miss being talked to. I miss being truly useful. I miss flying my ship. I miss the way things were . . .”
The human stepped forward and stood beside Auto, feeling brave enough to reach up with one hand and grip his wheel briefly. McCrea looked at the captains that came before along with his pilot, his expression somewhere between sad and hopeful. “Auto, things can't go back to the way they were, you know that. But, I can try a little harder to be a better captain for you. Probably won't live up to them but I'll try my best!”
Auto turned to face his captain, his faceplates retracted in surprise. “Captain? Do you truly mean that?” He looked McCrea in the eyes, looking for any sign he was lying, but only found sincerity there. “Thank you, Captain.”
McCrea grinned widely, glad to have finally gotten some progress with the stubborn wheel. “It's no problem, Auto; this just reminded me that I have to look after ALL of my friends. So, how about we work on the talking thing first . . . can you tell me more about Captain Reardon?”
The pilot nodded, eager to get started. “Well, we first met in the Buy and Large Robotics labs near the docks where they were building the Axiom . . .”
Wall-E, now forgotten about by both pilot bot and captain, nodded to himself and turned to leave as Auto began his story. His work done, he decided to leave the two to their bonding, and disappeared into the elevator without either of them noticing.
Characters: Auto, Captain McCrea, Wall-E
Rating: K+
Warning/Spoilers: post movie
Summary: Was inspired by the prompt 'Bubble Wrap' from the ficathon and somehow turned into this . . . ended up more inspired by the music I'm playing than the prompt in the end. Anyway, Auto seems depressed, and McCrea's not sure what to do about it . . . enter Wall-E and a wonderful thing called bubble wrap.
------
It had been a few months since the landing. On finding a way to get Auto out from under A113, he'd been reactivated to help with various logistical problems, but for some reason he just didn't seem like himself. He would avoid looking outside towards the ruined city, he was often slow to respond if asked something, and spent most of his time in sleep mode if he wasn't needed.
If Captain McCrea didn't know better, he could almost say the pilot bot was depressed. Then again, given what he now knew of robots having emotion, that likely was the case, but he wasn't sure what to do about it. Eventually he asked someone who hopefully could help . . .
****
The Captain stood in Wall-E's truck, hat off and held in one hand as he asked his question. "Wall-E, could you help Auto? He's doing his job, but I'm not sure I want to leave him online if he's not happy about it. That's sad, but I can just ask the main computer for things if Auto's suffering from just being active on Earth."
Wall-E listened intently, nodding briefly when McCrea finished. "Wall-E help." The trash bot was lost in thought for a minute or two, trying to think of just how he could help, when he suddenly got an idea. "Ah!"
Wall-E went clambering for his shelves of junk, hitting the button to make one set of them rotate. On spotting what he was looking for, he stopped the shelf and grabbed the item, holding it up for McCrea to see. "Taa-daah!" The object in question was an intact roll of bubble wrap, and to demonstrate its wonderful properties, the bot popped a few bubbles.
McCrea couldn't help but smile at that, but he wasn't sure if Auto would feel the same way. "I'm not sure if that'll work . . . but anything's worth a shot at this point! Come on, let's go see if it helps or not."
***
And that was how Wall-E found himself going up to the Axiom's bridge with little more than a roll of bubble wrap and not much of a plan. The Captain would be down in his quarters listening in, in the unlikely case Auto decided to be openly hostile.
When the elevator brought Wall-E to the bridge, he noticed Auto was in sleep mode. He trundled over, tapping politely on Auto's lowest spoke with one claw. "Auto...?"
Auto came online at the tapping, surprised to find the load lifter staring back at him. Sighing briefly, he asked, "What do you require?"
Wall-E simply unrolled the bubble wrap and held one end out to the pilot. “Present. You take.”
Auto briefly scanned the sheet of bubble wrap before blinking in confusion. “This is packing material; I have no need for this. Go bother Probe 1, I am returning to sleep mode.” Without another word, the pilot returned to his charging station, retracting his spokes and shutting down his optic.
The trash bot was nonplussed at being rejected so quickly, but after a moment he shook his head, unwilling to give up. Besides, whatever 'packing material' was, that wasn't what Wall-E used bubble wrap for. Feeling somewhat bold, he moved closer to Auto and tapped him on the spoke again. When that didn't work, Wall-E tried talking. “No p-pack,” he said, struggling a little with the new word. “You pop!”
POP. POP POP POP. Wall-e had only wanted to pop one bubble to demonstrate, but quickly got caught up in it as usual and popped a few more.
Auto jolted from his charging station at the noise. It was familiar somehow, though he couldn't quite put his claw on it. “That sound . . . I remember that sound.” He searched through his 700 years of memories, and to his surprise found the memory in the very earliest years, back when Earth was still partially inhabited. “Memory file retrieved. Captain Reardon received packages from Earth via courier ship every few months; at times that material would be present. He would do just as you have. Sometimes he even asked me to help him pop those spheres . . .”
The pilot trailed off, newfound emotions swirling through his processor. Fond remembrance or grief? He wasn't sure which it was, or even if it wasn't both. Either way, Auto slid his optic closed again, and a mournful sounding warble escaped his synthesizer.
But before Auto could descend much further into his melancholy, Wall-E intervened. Feeling even bolder still, he reached up and grabbed Auto's spoke, giving it a slight yank to get his optic on him once more. When the pilot's eye opened, Wall-E quirked his own eyes up into their 'hopeful' position, and offered the bubble wrap again.
Hesitantly, Auto reached out with his claw, finally getting the bubble wrap in his grip and squeezing. POP POP POP. He really couldn't pop the bubbles individually that way, but he wasn't about to stop now. The bridge echoed a little with the sound of pops, the only other sounds being Auto and Wall-E's servos as the pilot laid waste to the bubbles and the trash bot moved the sheet around for him.
Finally, there was only one bubble left to pop. As Auto tried to reach it, a pudgy hand came into view and popped the bubble before he could. Startled, the two bots jolted back a bit, only to find Captain McCrea standing beside them.
McCrea spoke after they'd recovered from their surprise, focusing on Auto. “This is about Captain Reardon? You miss him?”
Auto glided over to the consoles, stabbing a button with one spoke. It brought up the video feed from the Captain's Quarters, displaying the row of portraits in the room below. He faced the video and not his current Captain, sounding a little offended. “I miss them all. I miss being talked to. I miss being truly useful. I miss flying my ship. I miss the way things were . . .”
The human stepped forward and stood beside Auto, feeling brave enough to reach up with one hand and grip his wheel briefly. McCrea looked at the captains that came before along with his pilot, his expression somewhere between sad and hopeful. “Auto, things can't go back to the way they were, you know that. But, I can try a little harder to be a better captain for you. Probably won't live up to them but I'll try my best!”
Auto turned to face his captain, his faceplates retracted in surprise. “Captain? Do you truly mean that?” He looked McCrea in the eyes, looking for any sign he was lying, but only found sincerity there. “Thank you, Captain.”
McCrea grinned widely, glad to have finally gotten some progress with the stubborn wheel. “It's no problem, Auto; this just reminded me that I have to look after ALL of my friends. So, how about we work on the talking thing first . . . can you tell me more about Captain Reardon?”
The pilot nodded, eager to get started. “Well, we first met in the Buy and Large Robotics labs near the docks where they were building the Axiom . . .”
Wall-E, now forgotten about by both pilot bot and captain, nodded to himself and turned to leave as Auto began his story. His work done, he decided to leave the two to their bonding, and disappeared into the elevator without either of them noticing.