Yes, I'm writing Wall-E fanfiction, good lord.
Anyway, before we begin, a few disclaimers: while this story does indeed take place in the Wall-E universe, keep in mind that a lot of it will be set about 700 years pre-movie, during the time of Earth's mass exodus. So, yeah... not strictly canon, I suppose, since a lot of what happened back then is speculation on my part. :3
Also I'm... er, kind of out of practice with the whole fanfiction-writing business (FANFICTION IS SRS BIZNESS GUYS); here's to hoping it won't suck TOO much. Mwaha.

Wall-E is © Pixar
Owner of the Mysterious Hand (oh, you'll see, just read on) is © Metrophor (yours truly)

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Ex Machina

Chapter: 01

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These are the last things he remembers:

Shock, as he realized that the incessantly blinking light on the control panel meant that the ship was actually being hailed-

A dun-colored wasteland looming in front of the viewscreen, orbited by interstellar debris and the satellite remnants of an age far gone in the history of the human race-

The dawning realization that something had gone very wrong, as if the shrill alarms reverberating through the bridge weren't enough of a tip-off-

"CAPTAIN!"

These are the last things he remembers.

Fragments in the darkness.

And then...

--

If EVE hadn't already known what it was, she never would have assessed that the hulking thing she was currently looking at was a ship.

She'd heard it coming before she had seen it, the spacecraft's screaming descent passing so low overhead -and at such a high velocity- that it had knocked every one of the new colonists off of their collective feet, like dominoes. That could probably have been attributed, however, to the fact that after having spent a lifetime in a recumbent position, none of them -not even the Captain- were very steady on their pins.

But if the force of the vessel's passing was an illusion, the impact -as it had driven into the ground at the edge of the wasteland that bordered the city's skeletal remnants- most certainly was not. In fact, it had made the ground ripple in a manner that seemed better attuned to water, actually rocking the Axiom off of one of its landing apparatuses for a moment.

That had been... festive.

At the moment, Earth's newest visitor was lying at the end of a deep trench, several hundred feet long, littered with bits of debris that could only be part of the shipуs body that had been torn off during its skidding and none-too-graceful landing. Thick, oily black smoke poured skyward, mingling with clouds of settling dust and grit, and the bulk of the crashed vessel glowed a deep, sullen red in places.

EVE's directive did not include a working knowledge of mechanics, beyond what she needed to repair herself (and which had come in very, very handy in WALL-E's case). But even she could draw the conclusion that it was nothing less than a miracle that the starship was still intact after hitting the ground that hard.

Well. Mostly intact; it would probably never get off the ground again. Not that whoever had been piloting the thing would want to try, what with that gaping hole torn in the side.

"OOOOoooooh..."

The electronic voice came from behind her, accompanied by the grinding of treads. It was WALL-E, of course, his little metallic hands tapping against one another in trepidation as he peered at the wreckage, then over at EVE, and back again. There was definitely a hint of the 'wow-will-you-look-at-that' in the drawn-out, normally monosyllabic response. His hand closed around the nearer of EVE's fins, interlocking his makeshift fingers with hers.

In spite of the distraction the scene in front of her provided, the action elicited a high-pitched giggle that would have seemed downright girlish if EVE had not been a machine. For some reason, the outdated, mud-spattered robot always had that effect. It was... perplexing. Something her neural processors couldn't pinpoint the reason for.

Maybe the idle observation of the female human -Mary- was the best way to describe it, although EVE still didn't quite know what she'd meant when she had said the probe looked 'happy'.

So yes, WALL-E made EVE 'happy', even if she didn't know what 'happy' was beyond that it was something she liked.

"Eee-vah!" WALL-E pointed with his free hand at the wreckage, apparently excited... if the jigging up and down was any indication, either from the fact that it was something unexpected or the prospect of scavenging new 'treasures' out of what was left.

Personally, EVE hoped it was the former, but even she couldn't be sure.

"Eee-vah! Look!"

"Ship," she agreed, following his gaze. She started to drift toward it, only stopping when the tug on her fin made her realize that her companion still hadn't let go of her hand. She rotated her head to look back at him. If a robot with no facial features other than a pair of eyes could look mischievous, then EVE was positively oozing it. "Investigate?"

They should have technically waited for instructions on what to do next, possibly from Captain McCrea, the de facto leader of Earth's new colonists. But if McCrea was the leader of the humans, then WALL-E and EVE were setting an example for the machine half of the colonists' numbers (actually it was more than half, but most of them were so small or unobtrusive that it didn't particularly seem like it). And it was a leader's duty (EVE told herself) to make certain that a potentially dangerous area was secure before allowing others to put themselves at risk.

The real reason was that WALL-E's curiosity was infectious: she was as eager to see what was inside the ship as he was. Indeed, the suggestion to 'investigate' was barely out in the open before he was off, towing EVE along after him like some odd, luminous balloon.
Behind them, the humans and even several robots were creeping up to the hillside the duo had just vacated, not even noticing as two solitary machines vanished into the smoke.

Due to the fact that the starship was lying on its side, at a severe angle, EVE had to actually carry WALL-E with her in order to get inside, as the machineуs treads weren't meant for such a steep ascent. It was a lucky thing that the bulk of the ship had cooled sufficiently by the time the duo had gotten close enough to attempt an entry; it was bad enough that the climb was at such a severe angle without being hot on top of the bargain. It was true that both EVE and WALL-E were built to be fire-retardant, but if molten or semimolten metal had gotten on either of them, it might have caused some minor damage.

Not to mention, it would have been a real hassle to get it off again.

This ship was smaller than the Axiom, although still huge by conventional standards, and from what undamaged parts sheуd been able to look over, while more aerodynamic it also wasn't as sturdy... which probably was one of the reasons it had gotten so battered on its way in.

That was a guess on EVE's part, of course; it would take much more scrutiny to determine what exactly had gone wrong. Preferably from robots actually meant to process such information. In her opinion, the best thing to do would be to try and find the Captain... or at least, someone or something that could tell them what had happened or at least what to do next.

Here, however, it seemed her luck had run out: the bridge itself was deserted. The vessel had landed (if you could call it that) nose first, with enough force to hurl a lot of the more delicately-moored equipment clear to the back. And, as WALL-E set about picking through jumbles of software and twisted metal parts (and EVE scanned the surrounding area for signs of life), his female counterpart came to realize that for whatever reason, here was no sign of... well, anyone in the room other than themselves.

A moment's further scrutiny, however, revealed that her conclusion wasn't entirely accurate. The Autopilot was hanging from the ceiling in the center of the bridge, just as one did in the Axiom (not that she enjoyed thinking about it). The difference was, there was a definite slump to this one, its delicate black-and-white paint job liberally streaked with scorch marks.

Furthermore, and perhaps most noticeably -after she'd flown up to have a closer look-, the machineуs single 'eye' was dark, and sported an ugly, spiderwebbed crack right through its center. Something must have struck it with considerable force before it could retract into the ceiling; possibly a part of the metallic snarl that littered the floor.

WALL-E, for his part, was cheerfully turning over odds and ends tat heуd managed to tug loose: assorted lengths of wire (of various colors); a piece of glass that had melted into a rough approximation of a heart-shape; a red-tinted lens of some kind attached to a broken length of chain.

Something else had caught his eye when heуd reached to retrieve the latter, wedged underneath a large metal panel that had been thrown right up against the wall: something light-colored and which looked as though it had a soft texture.

He stretched his neck out, tilting his head to peer into the shadowy recesses underneath the panel, peering hard in an effort to make it out.

"Eee-vah!"

EVE jumped at the sound of her name; no mean feat considering she was floating in midair. "WALL-E?"

She rotated around to find him pointing excitedly at something underneath a warped section of metal. Curious, she floated over, the gun in her arm -as always- at the ready in case whatever he was looking at decided to surprise her. EVE, needless to say, didn't like being surprised.

Not. At. All.

That, of course, was when the panel decided to shift. Loudly.

Instantly the business end of her weapon was leveled at the metal plate- not quite preparing to fire at it, but if something decided to... say, jump out at her, she would be in the perfect position to vaporize it for its audacity.

Thankfully, nothing did decide to jump out. Instead, the panel shifted again, then abruptly fell to one side with an earsplitting clang.

It had fallen over because it had been pushed from behind, by the object that had attracted WALL-E's interest. Namely, a hand.

A human hand.

It seemed the bridge was not as deserted as the two robots had thought, after all.

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AN: There, you see? Did I, or did I not tell you there would be a mysterious hand?

You'll find out who it belongs to (along with... other things... heh heh) in the next chapter.