The forgotten human

Chapter 5: A new arrival

The noise goes down, and soon, the only thing that I can hear is the ringing in my ears. I feel Wall-E move above me, but I stay down, knowing well the surface is hot. The ringing dies down, and I can hear the little bot shuddering.

A clang is heard, and Wall-E leaves the hole. I follow after him, wincing slightly as the ground around me scratches me. As I leave the ground, my eyes flick up. I nearly lose my grip as I see a large piece of metal right above me.

I shake out of my stupor and fully get out. As I look around, Wall-E catches up with me. I admire the design of the rocket, noticing it standing like a tripod. A door seemed to hang on the center of the bottom. Steam is being let out of the machine, most likely to relieve pressure. We walk closer to the center but jolt to a stop when the doors suddenly open.

We panic and try to think of ways to hide, but Wall-E turns into a cube and pulls me behind him. Something comes down and I stay in place, not wanting to be noticed if whoever is in there poses a threat.

What seems to be a machine with a tube lands on the ground. A blue light sweeps the ground in front of it, looking around. With a nod, the bot and I inch closer, trying to get a better look.

The two cases on the tube move and Wall-E screams. I hug him, whispering to him that it's okay, but I do not take my eyes off the machine. Something comes down and a pod comes out. One was big while the other is smaller.

The cases open up and three prongs come out from each. They hold the cases down. Curiosity takes over again, and I inch closer to my friend. The cases are removed from the bottom of the tubes and turned to face them, allowing me to see a keypad embedded in them.

Another arm springs out, scaring Wall-E back into a cube. A small cylinder that looks like a stylus taps a few things on the keypads before retreating. The cases start to whirr loudly until they hiss, meaning that they opened. Wall-E and I get behind the cases, avoiding the line of sight of whatever just came out.

Wall-E takes a peek and I follow above him. The first thing we see is a sleek white cone with a black oval on the top. Suddenly, the side floats off, revealing arms. The body lifts from the ground and a head comes up. Blue digital eyes blink open. I hear a sound of amazement from Wall-E and I hum in agreement with him.

My eyes land on a case next to the new bot just in time for it to open as well. I could barely hold back a gasp when I see a human come out. Their figure is thin, but it was fit. Their suit matched the robot companion.  I try to get a look at their face, but the helmet they were wearing had tinted class.

The two look around them, not knowing that their eyes were on them. They then turn around and start giving off a blue light on their chest, proceeding to scan the ground.

Before we can stare longer, the tubes go up and we frantically go to the center. Wall-E stops to stare at the bot again until I shake him. He proceeds to dig another hole and I jump down, him following after me. The rocket takes off and I hold my breath again.

Once the shaking is done, we poke our heads out. Wall-E is quivering until he sees the two again and stops. The two watch the rocket flies off. After a bit, they suddenly take flight.

With a breath of amazement, we stare as the newcomers zip around in the air. The new bot flies past us. I close my eyes from the oncoming dirt and look at Wall-E, who stares at the bot while using the wipers to clean his eyes.

It clicks in my head, but I do not say anything, only stare at the two of him. They do many tricks in the air, clearly enjoying themselves. We get behind a big rock as they land. Wall-E coos until he pushes a chunk off a rock and screams.

The two hear him and suddenly pull out weapons aimed right at us.

"Get down!" I tell Wall-E as the new arrivals shoot at the rock in front of us. Wall-E turns into a cube and I go to another side of the rock. A strong gust of air hits, but I hold onto the side of the rock.

Once the ringing goes down, I hear the footsteps of the human go quieter. I looked at the rock and could feel my blood drain as I saw a gaping hole cut through the object, a singe of red-orange on the rim. My eyes go to Wall-E and the bot is shaking badly. I put my arms around the little one and he returns it.

"Do you wanna go home? I'll keep an eye on these people." I offer. I know the little guy was scared out of his wits and it would be stupid to put him through something he didn't want to do.

With a shake of his head, Wall-E pulls himself together and goes after the two from a good distance. I sigh, knowing he's interested nonetheless, and go after him.

The two go to the desolate town and scan the area. Wall-E and I go from one hiding place to another, making sure we didn't catch their attention.

We reach the tire tracks, all the strong-scented rubber in many piles all around. The two scan the area. We look through some tubes to watch them. I see motion and look down to see Hal looking at them

Hal looks over at us, and the both of us shake our heads, not liking what he's doing. He ignores us and skitters over to the levitating bot, chirping as he does so.

The bot shoots Hal, making Wall-E and I silently shriek. A hole is where Hal is and the human joins their companion. Hal then crawls out, shaking off the dust with a chirp.

The bot lights up at this. She puts away her gun and holds her hand out to the roach. Hal climbs up and crawls under the head, prompting the sleek bot to let out a giggle.

This makes Wall-E lightly chuckle, amused at the sight. The two newcomers pull out their blasters again and shoot the pile of tires in front of us. We rush to another pile, but it gets blasted and repeats. Once we see we can't hide anywhere, Wall-E turns into a cube and I curl into a ball. We hear the two ask "Who are you?" as they get closer to us.

As I regret what I did, I look up from my spot. My eyes land on the helmet of the human. They flinch at my stare and put their gun away. "Disarm." They command, their voice robotic.

The bot follows the order and looks over at me. I guess she didn't notice me from the way her eyes go wide. The human holds out their hand, but I retract a bit, uncurling from my balled position. Wall-E cautiously holds his hand out, his eyes fearfully watching the two.

I quickly grab it and help myself up. The human looks me up and down, making me tug at the corner of my lip. Is this person judging me?

I'm about to voice my question, but I clamp my mouth shut when the human swiftly opens a pocket bag and takes out something that looks like a perfume bottle. "This will help with the injuries." They explain.

I stare at it. Why should I trust them? I must have been staring for too long, the person speaking up again. "Right, we just met." They speak in a muttered tone.

They hold their hand to their bot and speak again. "Remove glove." The bot seems to undo a certain system that airtight the outfit. Once their hand is revealed, I quickly take note of the paleness of their skin. They take the bottle and spritz the liquid on their hand.

They hold it up, and I could feel their smile from under the helmet. "See? It's safe." They insist. The sincerity in their electronic tone seems to push me a bit for me to try it. But it wasn't enough until Wall-E takes my hand, looking at me with pleading eyes.

I sigh, hanging my head low. I take the spritz. I squint my eyes at it, my mind running with ideas of what's in it. The human nods. "So, how did you get stranded on this dead planet?"

I look up at them and I glare. If they want my story, they need to work for it. The human sighs. "Okay, we'll give you and your robot space. When you're ready, please find us." When the glove is put back on, the two left, scanning the area again.

I hear a sigh and look to see Wall-E staring after the sleek bot. "Boy, you got bad."