“Chirrrp!” A little cockroach jumped happily onto WALL · E’s shoulder. As the toxic winds began to pick up speed, WALL · E and his only companion motored bouncily toward home. WALL · E’s treads were wearing thin, and the cockroach held on bravely as they crossed the rough terrain.
Over miles of desolate waste, WALL · E saw buildings and highways and rolled across the remains of broken bridges. Everything was branded with the same logo: BUY-N-LARGE. BnL had its stamp on everything. The mega-superstore had once overseen almost all operations on the planet.
As WALL · E hurried onward, he rolled over an old newspaper. TOO MUCH TRASH! EARTH COVERED! BNL CEO DECLARES GLOBAL EMERGENCY! the headline proclaimed. WALL · E did not notice.
He passed a salvage yard full of other rusted WALL · E units, shut down long ago. The cockroach watched eagerly as WALL · E stopped to examine something of interest on one of the old units—its treads.
The treads were thick bands of rubber, built to protect the WALL · E units’ metallic wheels like giant tires. This old unit’s treads were in much better shape than WALL · E’s.
WALL · E quickly switched his old pair for the newer ones as the cockroach chirped and jumped excitedly. Then, moving on, WALL · E felt the cockroach settling happily on his shoulder, enjoying the new, smoother ride.
WALL · E rolled past a BnL billboard, activating its holo-graphic message as he moved. The image buzzed to life. Several loudspeakers began broadcasting the chipper voice of a human announcer, recorded centuries ago.
“Too much garbage in your face?
There’s plenty of space out in space!
BnL star liners leaving each day.
We’ll clean up the mess while you’re away!”
WALL · E headed across a bumpy freeway over-pass, activating another ancient billboard. Through the smoggy haze, the image of a sparkling BnL star liner flashed onto the screen. Its happy passengers appeared to be enjoying all the amenities of a luxury cruise ship.
“The jewel of the BnL fleet: The Axiom!” the announcer’s voice boomed. “Spend your five-year cruise in style ...” But the people had been gone from Earth far longer than five years.
“The Axiom!” the voice exclaimed proudly. “Putting the ‘star’ in ‘executive star liner.’”
The wind was starting to howl now. WALL · E squinted and turned on a set of tiny windshield wipers to clean the lenses of his eyes. Looking across a bay that had dried up long ago, he saw a battered old BnL truck. WALL · E’s spirits rose.
“吱吱—”一只小蟑螂快樂地跳上瓦力的肩膀。攜帶有毒物質的風加速了,瓦力載著他唯一的伙伴,顛簸著朝家駛去。瓦力的履帶越磨越薄,他們穿越這個崎嶇的地帶時小蟑螂勇敢地抓緊他。
隔著幾英里荒蕪的垃圾堆,瓦力看見了一排排大樓和一條條公路。他慢慢行駛過殘存的斷損橋梁。所有物品都打著同樣的商標:大賣場。大賣場在任何事物上都打上了它的印記。這家巨型超市曾經幾乎掌管著這個星球上所有的業(yè)務。
當瓦力向前趕路的時候,他的履帶壓過一張舊報紙,上面的標題寫著:“垃圾太多!地球已被覆蓋!大賣場首席執(zhí)行官宣稱全球告急!”瓦力沒有留意。
他路過一個早就關閉了的廢品回收場,里面滿是其他生銹的地球垃圾分裝裝置。蟑螂關切地看著瓦力停下來檢視其中一個舊裝置上某個讓他感興趣的東西—它的履帶。
這些履帶由厚橡膠帶制成,就像巨型輪胎一樣,用于保護地球垃圾分裝裝置的金屬輪子。這具舊裝置的履帶狀態(tài)要比瓦力的好得多。
伴隨著蟑螂的吱吱聲與興奮的跳躍,瓦力快速地將自己的舊履帶換成了較新的那對。然后,瓦力繼續(xù)前行時,感覺到蟑螂愉快地歇在他肩上,享受這段更平穩(wěn)的新旅程。
瓦力從一塊大賣場廣告牌前駛過,他的移動觸發(fā)了它所儲存的全息影像信息。幾個揚聲器開始播放幾個世紀前錄制的一位人類播音員爽朗的話音,生動的影像伴著這陣熱鬧浮現。
“垃圾太多,束手無策?
“在太空中還有充足的空間!
“大賣場星際航班每日出航。
“我們將在您離開期間,把垃圾清理干凈!”
瓦力沿著一條顛簸的高架快速公路行駛,激活了另一塊古老的廣告牌。一艘閃閃發(fā)光的大賣場星際飛船的影像穿過濃濃的霧霾閃現在屏幕上,船上的乘客們正在愉快地享受著豪華郵輪上的各種便利設施。
“大賣場艦隊中的珍寶:‘功理’號!”播音員低沉的聲音響起,“享受五年的太空奢華之旅……”但這些人離開地球的時間已經遠遠不止五年。
“‘功理’號!”播音員驕傲地大聲說道,“高級星際航空公司的星級航班。”
此時風開始咆哮。瓦力瞇起眼睛,打開一對微型雨刮器來清潔他作為眼睛的鏡頭。他向一片早已干涸的海灣的另一側望去,看見一輛破舊的大賣場舊貨車。瓦力的情緒變得高昂起來。