Chapter 5 - Distant Eyes.
Far, far out so sea. A little person was watching his display wall seeing all the usual activity a normal day would produce and for once, he wished something would happen.
The little person was a Flik Bandersnatch. Today he had been allocated the visual room of Bandersnatch Opticals and his duty was to watch every inch of the isle for something interesting or out of the ordinary. It never happened here though. But he didn't know, something was about to happen.
He was just about to doze off in his leather, rotating chair when a light on his display wall began to flash and beep annoyingly under one of the screens immediately attracting his attention. He turned his chair towards his main view-screen and hit the activation button and a haze of static fog appeared on the monitor, he had forgotten something again. What was it? He looked up at the flashing light under the screen and remembered he had forgotten to type the number of the affected screen. He punched the number into the control box in his main screen and pressed the activation button once again and instead of static he saw a definite picture. But what is was, he couldn't tell.
The Watcherwall around him was covered in small view-screens all of them showing a different picture (albeit in a small way as they were all small) and they were looking all over the Island but this particular set of eyes was not on the isle and were at least 10 years older than all the rest.
He was watching a little girl in a blue dress and a very unusual creature standing next to her. It had the body and limbs of a turtle but the head was a completely different story. This was out of his league stuff. He was only to report disorder and troublemakers but this girl seemed neither of them, in fact she looked rather sweet. The creature on the other hand must be what the machine had warned him about so he picked up his natterbox and switched it on.
"Hello sir, are you there?" he spoke. His voice was slightly higher pitched and nervous.
"Yes Flik what is it?" came the reply. The response was quite the opposite, confident and normal.
"I'm not sure sir," flick replied honestly "I think you'd better come take a look at this"
A moaning sigh was heard over the listeners and a cracking sound which meant he had shut off and was on his way.
The watcher room was a very lonely place lit by the glare off the screens and a dim light hanging from the centre of the room. The watcherwall was the most prominent thing in the room (it was the only thing in the room as it was circular) aside from the watchers chair in the centre and the door on the far end. A few minutes later another figure entered the room end approached Flik sitting in his chair staring at the screen with avid curiosity.
"Alright then Water Flik, lets have a look." Said the Director and moved over to the main screen.
He didn't recognise any thing he saw either and his mind couldn't assign the picture to what he should do about it.
"What do you think Director? What should we do?" asked Flik.
In a futile attempt to sound important and organised, he tried to shift some of the responsibility.
"Well you think about your training stupid boy? What do you think?"
"Well," Flik was on the spot. "The girl doesn't look as bad as the creature sir."
"And?" The Director was enjoying this. "Where are they now Flik?"
"Screen 2123, sir."
"And where's that?"
Flik thought back to his watcher training but this particular location wasn't important enough to be in his training so he reached for the Watchers Bandermap and looked at the index. He scrolled through the screen locations to find the corresponding one. (the fact that the Director of the company was looking over his shoulder didn't help) He wrote the location down on his report notes and handed it to the Director.
"2123. The Underwater Skool. How close is that to us Flik?"
"Not al all sir. In fact it's a long journey away near the mainland. Now What sir?"
The Director thought to himself for a moment.
"Keep monitoring Flik and report anything unusual. Don't forget the rest of the isle though!"
Flik nodded in acknowledgement and returned to his main screen with curiosity while the Director walked out of the room with the report slip in his hands. For the first time in a long time, he didn't know what to do as he entered the riser and pressed the secret button hidden next to the door and shot up to the highest level in the building.
The doors opened on a dark room with the chattering of various machines in the background accompanied by the noise of the riser as if they were talking to each other in a machine-like way. He entered the room which had it's very own watcherwall. It covered one wall of the square room and various devices lay strewn around the rest in an organised manner. In the centre of the room sat a lone dark chair with it's back towards the door, giving the Director the impression that it's occupant didn't want to be seen. But this was important.
"Ordermaster sir?" said the Director as he cautiously entered the room.
There was an uncomfortable silence, rather like a sword through the heart.
"Yes Director?" said a shrill voice from behind the chair.
He swallowed hard and began to report.
"Sir, One of the Banderwatchers have reported the young girl you asked for in range of our distant eyes."
Another silence. The Director was not sure how much of this he could take.
"Tell the Banderwatcher on duty, he is to be commended. Is she on the island?"
"No sir. The eyes are one of our oldest in service. We had them installed in the underwater Skool many miles away." His poise of attention was starting to crumble.
"Hmmmmmmm." Said the person. "Do those walls have ears?"
Disagreeing with the Ordermaster was a VERY dangerous thing to do but he had to tell him.
"No sir. When the Skool was used it was thought to be improper."
His heart and brain almost jumped out of his back and ran away as he saw the chair slowly turning around to face him. As the Ordermaster was about to be revealed, a blinding light was turned on from behind the chair totally blanketing him in darkness but almost blinding the Director.
"This is unfortunate." His voice was laced with fury and anger. "Keep your eyes on her as long as possible!"
"Yes sir!" whimpered the Director.
"Now, GET OUT!"
The Director didn't need telling and rushed back towards the riser and plummeted down back to his office in complete terror. The Ordermaster was angry, but like his title, he didn't lose his calm and began to think. If Alice came to the Island and found him, She'd dispose of him. That is what the goodie goodies do after all. If he remained a secret he'd be safe. He turned back to his command console and lifted his personal Natterbox
.
"This is the Ordermaker here, I want the B.E.N.D.S"
A short time later a gruff voice answered.
"General Chaos Bandersnatch speaking, What do you require sir?" He sounded very important and disciplined. He didn't sound frightened of him at all.
"I want a detachment of troops to keep an eye on the shoreline. Anyone unfamiliar comes on the island and I want to know about it, IMMEDIATLTY!"
"Yes Sir! Understood Sir" replied the General and put down his Natterbox.
The Ordermaker felt a little better. The B.E.N.D.S were now on the case and they have never been beaten or outfoxed before, and he had them to command and they followed his orders to the letter.
He relaxed back into his chair and reached for his cup.
Far, far out so sea. A little person was watching his display wall seeing all the usual activity a normal day would produce and for once, he wished something would happen.
The little person was a Flik Bandersnatch. Today he had been allocated the visual room of Bandersnatch Opticals and his duty was to watch every inch of the isle for something interesting or out of the ordinary. It never happened here though. But he didn't know, something was about to happen.
He was just about to doze off in his leather, rotating chair when a light on his display wall began to flash and beep annoyingly under one of the screens immediately attracting his attention. He turned his chair towards his main view-screen and hit the activation button and a haze of static fog appeared on the monitor, he had forgotten something again. What was it? He looked up at the flashing light under the screen and remembered he had forgotten to type the number of the affected screen. He punched the number into the control box in his main screen and pressed the activation button once again and instead of static he saw a definite picture. But what is was, he couldn't tell.
The Watcherwall around him was covered in small view-screens all of them showing a different picture (albeit in a small way as they were all small) and they were looking all over the Island but this particular set of eyes was not on the isle and were at least 10 years older than all the rest.
He was watching a little girl in a blue dress and a very unusual creature standing next to her. It had the body and limbs of a turtle but the head was a completely different story. This was out of his league stuff. He was only to report disorder and troublemakers but this girl seemed neither of them, in fact she looked rather sweet. The creature on the other hand must be what the machine had warned him about so he picked up his natterbox and switched it on.
"Hello sir, are you there?" he spoke. His voice was slightly higher pitched and nervous.
"Yes Flik what is it?" came the reply. The response was quite the opposite, confident and normal.
"I'm not sure sir," flick replied honestly "I think you'd better come take a look at this"
A moaning sigh was heard over the listeners and a cracking sound which meant he had shut off and was on his way.
The watcher room was a very lonely place lit by the glare off the screens and a dim light hanging from the centre of the room. The watcherwall was the most prominent thing in the room (it was the only thing in the room as it was circular) aside from the watchers chair in the centre and the door on the far end. A few minutes later another figure entered the room end approached Flik sitting in his chair staring at the screen with avid curiosity.
"Alright then Water Flik, lets have a look." Said the Director and moved over to the main screen.
He didn't recognise any thing he saw either and his mind couldn't assign the picture to what he should do about it.
"What do you think Director? What should we do?" asked Flik.
In a futile attempt to sound important and organised, he tried to shift some of the responsibility.
"Well you think about your training stupid boy? What do you think?"
"Well," Flik was on the spot. "The girl doesn't look as bad as the creature sir."
"And?" The Director was enjoying this. "Where are they now Flik?"
"Screen 2123, sir."
"And where's that?"
Flik thought back to his watcher training but this particular location wasn't important enough to be in his training so he reached for the Watchers Bandermap and looked at the index. He scrolled through the screen locations to find the corresponding one. (the fact that the Director of the company was looking over his shoulder didn't help) He wrote the location down on his report notes and handed it to the Director.
"2123. The Underwater Skool. How close is that to us Flik?"
"Not al all sir. In fact it's a long journey away near the mainland. Now What sir?"
The Director thought to himself for a moment.
"Keep monitoring Flik and report anything unusual. Don't forget the rest of the isle though!"
Flik nodded in acknowledgement and returned to his main screen with curiosity while the Director walked out of the room with the report slip in his hands. For the first time in a long time, he didn't know what to do as he entered the riser and pressed the secret button hidden next to the door and shot up to the highest level in the building.
The doors opened on a dark room with the chattering of various machines in the background accompanied by the noise of the riser as if they were talking to each other in a machine-like way. He entered the room which had it's very own watcherwall. It covered one wall of the square room and various devices lay strewn around the rest in an organised manner. In the centre of the room sat a lone dark chair with it's back towards the door, giving the Director the impression that it's occupant didn't want to be seen. But this was important.
"Ordermaster sir?" said the Director as he cautiously entered the room.
There was an uncomfortable silence, rather like a sword through the heart.
"Yes Director?" said a shrill voice from behind the chair.
He swallowed hard and began to report.
"Sir, One of the Banderwatchers have reported the young girl you asked for in range of our distant eyes."
Another silence. The Director was not sure how much of this he could take.
"Tell the Banderwatcher on duty, he is to be commended. Is she on the island?"
"No sir. The eyes are one of our oldest in service. We had them installed in the underwater Skool many miles away." His poise of attention was starting to crumble.
"Hmmmmmmm." Said the person. "Do those walls have ears?"
Disagreeing with the Ordermaster was a VERY dangerous thing to do but he had to tell him.
"No sir. When the Skool was used it was thought to be improper."
His heart and brain almost jumped out of his back and ran away as he saw the chair slowly turning around to face him. As the Ordermaster was about to be revealed, a blinding light was turned on from behind the chair totally blanketing him in darkness but almost blinding the Director.
"This is unfortunate." His voice was laced with fury and anger. "Keep your eyes on her as long as possible!"
"Yes sir!" whimpered the Director.
"Now, GET OUT!"
The Director didn't need telling and rushed back towards the riser and plummeted down back to his office in complete terror. The Ordermaster was angry, but like his title, he didn't lose his calm and began to think. If Alice came to the Island and found him, She'd dispose of him. That is what the goodie goodies do after all. If he remained a secret he'd be safe. He turned back to his command console and lifted his personal Natterbox
.
"This is the Ordermaker here, I want the B.E.N.D.S"
A short time later a gruff voice answered.
"General Chaos Bandersnatch speaking, What do you require sir?" He sounded very important and disciplined. He didn't sound frightened of him at all.
"I want a detachment of troops to keep an eye on the shoreline. Anyone unfamiliar comes on the island and I want to know about it, IMMEDIATLTY!"
"Yes Sir! Understood Sir" replied the General and put down his Natterbox.
The Ordermaker felt a little better. The B.E.N.D.S were now on the case and they have never been beaten or outfoxed before, and he had them to command and they followed his orders to the letter.
He relaxed back into his chair and reached for his cup.