Pixar One- Shots

The Weight of the World (Wall-E)

THIS COMPLETELY SLIPPED MY MIND LAST NIGHT. That's why the update is late! Sorry 'bout that!

The movie Wall-E has always kind of disturbed me, the beginning of it, anyways. All that trash on the Earth, with no humans around, only robots... it's unnerving. Wall-E is supposedly set in the 2800's, and I believe the humans were forced to evacuate in 2105 aboard the Axiom. What bothers me even more about those numbers is the fact that 2105 is only eight-eight years away, which seems like a long time, but is it really? My information may be a little inaccurate, but it's not far from the truth.

The other day I was remembering how, in the movie, Auto didn't want Captain McCrae to find out the truth about the Earth; the fact that the people could never return to Earth, and it got me thinking. Rather than thinking about the future, I started thinking about the past, though, around six hundred years before Wall-E takes place.  And I had this idea for a one-shot.

Something wasn't right on board the Axiom. Then again, things weren't right on Earth, either. Nothing had been right anywhere, for that matter, not since the entire human population of the one life sustaining planet in sixteen galaxies had had to evacuate Earth. They'd only been trying to avoid the climate change and trash accumulation that had gradually made the Earth virtually uninhabitable, but that temporary avoidance had turned into something else. For several decades, the environmentalists had warned that this would happen, but had anyone listened? No.

Of course, Buy N Large had been able to save humanity by constructing hundreds of monstrous starships, an entire fleet designed to rule the cosmos. They were meant to serve as the home of the people of Earth for only a few years while artificial intelligence began to repair some of the damage done to the planet. Artificial intelligence had become huge in the years leading up to the evacuation, but now AI was more important than ever before: it may have been humanity's last shot at salvation.

For  a while, everyone had held out hope that the robots would complete their task of cleaning up the filthy Earth; that they would someday be allowed to return home. But as the years stretched into decades, and generations came and went, that hope began to falter. The voyage into space was only supposed to last around three years, yet the hundred year anniversary of their departure was fast approaching.

Somehow it had all gone sour, although Captain Jim Reardon was the only one who had any inkling of what was truly happening. He'd been the captain of the Axiom for a long ninety years, and over that time period, he'd seen some drastic changes occurring, slowly but surely. The passengers- no, residents- of the Axiom weren't as energetic as they had once been. With new luxury items being created every day, no one had any need to be walking around all the time. Their bodies were changing and evolving for the worse; becoming less and less capable all the time.

The sense of foreboding Captain Reardon felt only grew when he tried to bring up his concerns to his automated assistant, nicknamed Auto. The machine always seemed far too nonchalant about how things were changing. What worried the elderly captain further was when he would wonder aloud just when the Axiom could return to Earth. Auto never seemed to hear him, always conveniently changing the subject. Occasionally he would pull up the old videos on the projector, simply to remind the captain of his place and his tasks onboard the ship.

Captain Reardon had watched the films featuring the director of BNL explaining the situation countless times, yet there were still so many unanswered questions. The director was long dead, now, but Auto kept him up to date with what was happening on Earth, and for the first few decades, it was all enough to satisfy Reardon. He only began to feel that something was wrong when some of the Waste Allocator Load Lifter bots began to short circuit and die out. It started out slowly, and for a while, Auto had him convinced it was just a virus of sorts, possibly caused by a microchip embedded in the trash that was carried around by one of the allocators. When they began to malfunction by the hundreds, though, the captain put his foot down.

"Auto!" He barked, watching the feed on the projector as yet another allocator mysteriously shut down.

"Yes, Captain?" The deep, monotone voice answered. Captain Reardon tried to organize his thoughts, prioritizing his questions and concerns.

"I know that a microchip didn't- couldn't have caused this kind of damage." The captain didn't bother trying to keep the scowl off of his face. "So what is it?" Auto remained silent for a long time.

"The Waste Allocators were never meant to withstand the amount of time that they have thus far." He finally droned. Captain Reardon sighed. He wasn't relieved, but it did feel as though a weight had been lifted from his shoulders.

"We should be on Earth, then." He said, his voice full of conviction. "We must go back, now."

"No." Auto's voice was still monotone, but it sounded firmer somehow. "We cannot."

"Why? Why can't we go back, Auto?" The captain snapped.

"No evidence that the Earth is still able to support life has been found."

"That doesn't mean it isn't capable of supporting life!" He was getting frustrated at Auto; the machine didn't know what was best for the people of the Axiom. Things were going to get even worse if they couldn't return to the Earth soon.

"The air is toxic. Until some organic life form is found, we cannot go back." Auto's voice filled the cabin once again. "It is unlikely that will happen." Reardon felt his blood run cold.

"Why is it unlikely?" He tried to keep his voice steady.

"The air is toxic." Auto repeated himself. "Nothing can live in the conditions present on Earth. Without the organic life, the air can't be cleansed." The truth hit the captain like a load of bricks. He'd been in denial for so long. He'd never even considered the fact that in order for the Earth to be restored, plants would be needed to excrete oxygen. On top of that, animals, or humans, would be needed to keep the plants alive. But nothing and no one could return to Earth; they'd suffocate in the sulphurous atmosphere that now coated the dead planet. It was a vicious, unending cycle.

Rolling his chair over to the bulletproof glass to gaze out into the endless abyss of outer space, Jim Reardon finally understood true despair. Taking deep, ragged breaths, he struggled not to begin yelling at the top of his lungs and trying to break the glass. It wouldn't do anything; the glass was unbreakable, and besides, he had to stay strong. If he could keep his own terror at bay, maybe no one else would figure out what was going on. If they did, there would be complete and total chaos. Reardon made up his mind; he couldn't allow his people to know the utter hopelessness he felt. He would keep them occupied to the best of his ability. No one else would suffer with the weight of the world on their shoulders; the knowledge that everyone on the Axiom would be trapped here among the stars forever. They were never going home.

That got really freakin dark, huh?

The premise of this one- shot was how the first person to realize that Earth was totally uninhabitable must have felt. I've never tried to write something like this before, something based totally on the feelings of an individual, so feedback would be much appreciated! I know it was a little short, but that's not necessarily a bad thing.

Oh, and one more thing. Next Friday (WHEN CARS 3 COMES OUT MIND YOU), would you guys rather see another music video of drawings made by me (like the You've Got A Friend In Me one) or read another one-shot like usual? Currently I have one music video that is nearly done, and no ideas for one-shots. Please comment, I don't know what to do!

Thank you so much for reading; I will see you guys later!