Alice stepped aboard the mighty vessel accompanied by the Captain and the First mate and she was impressed by what she saw. She remembered from a long time ago that she had been on a large ship before while her parents had made a trip to Europe and this boat Alice found surprisingly large for the small people who sailed upon it. In consideration, the Bandersnatch were not very tall to begin with but the boat was large in all aspects as they walked down the many corridors which seemed to go on without end.
"We're taking you to the bridge." Said the captain "You're the first off-lander to ever board her you see. And after we reach the bridge we'll assign you some quarters for the duration of the journey."
"Thank you, Captain" Alice replied. She felt compelled to ask. "What was in those large boxes you left on the beach, Sir?"
"They're full of Banderscotch!" interrupted the First Mate. His tone said "how stupid can you get?" which Alice picked up on and gave him a stern look which unnerved him slightly but he regained his composure, like an officer.
They passed through a large steel door with a single wheel in the middle and a small porthole above the centre and they entered the bridge.
There were stations and contraptions of all description in every direction, all with various bandersnatch manning them. A large curved wall of glass stood on the opposite side of the door which gave Alice a large view of the shoreline, and she could see the large crates being moved away by various crewman and then running back to the ship. In front of the window stood the helm of the wheel. The large oak wheel was almost as tall as her as she ran her fingers over the curved frame. She looked down and saw a small set of stops in front, leading to the wheel. Alice surmised that the bandersnatch, being of different sizes were not all capable of griping and steering successfully so the steps had been introduced. It made perfect sense to her but she could steer with only slight difficulty.
The captain walked across the neatly polished wooden floors, climbed the steps and clasped both hands on the wheel. He turned his head around to Alice and spoke.
"Please sit down my dear, We are about to leave."
Alice found this strange as a chair appeared on the deck where none had been before, however it did look comfortable with padded leather, so she sat and watched expectantly. The strange thing about being in wonderland (especially for her) was that when you needed something to fix a problem, it appeared suddenly and silently. She remembered the time in the small room when she was of little height and couldn't reach the key for the door on the glass table and a box of biscuits appeared with "eat me" written on it. She snapped her concentration back to real events (she did wish her mind wouldn't wander so in case she missed something.) and waited expectantly.
The bridge was now hustle and bustle with various small crew members running to their stations ready for the captains orders, whatever they may be.
"All back full!" yelled the captain. "Reverse all engines!"
"All back full!" echoed the First mate and the chorus of orders reverberated around the bridge as all members present repeated it and carried out some task to follow the order.
A voice sounded through a little box above the window. Alice had never seen a talking box before and she was quite intrigued. It was coming from below in the engine room.
"Engine room, Bridge, sir" the voice sounded "all engines ready at your disposal, captain!"
The captain picked up a little box on a stand next to the wheel and spoke into it.
"Thank you engine room, get ready!" he ordered and pulled a large lever on the other side of the wheel backwards onto a label of "reverse".
The whole ship shimmered and vibrated as the engines below heaved into action and Alice could see through the window that the shore had begun to move away from them very slowly but with increasing speed. A few moments passed and they were moving moderately fast away from the shore, the crewmembers all looking to either their stations or the Captain. The captain turned the giant wheel to the left and the ship began to rotate, leaning to the side slightly. Alice instinctively held onto the arms of the chair (who then complained about her grip) as her surroundings all veered to one side. The ship was turning around, away from her Wonderland and turning to point somewhere she had only created in an unconscious thought in the back of her mind. (She was wandering again!)
The Captain centred the wheel and reached for the lever once more. He thrusted it all the way forward and the who ship was hurled back upon itself as the engines began to slow down and spin in the opposite direction, moving them forward. Alice could not see anything out of the window ahead of them but empty seas. If they were heading somewhere, it was a very long way away. Alice wondered to herself on where the skool beneath them was and how the old turtle was doing all by himself down there. However, a comforting feeling swept across her when she realised he was probably sleeping through life until someone or something woke him up.
"I wonder if the engine noise will wake old "Tortoise"?" Alice thought to herself "It is rather powerful and I know because I nearly got pulled into it!"
The captain signalled to the First Mate who then stepped up and took over control of the wheel as his superior approached his guest.
"Miss Alice," he began politely. "Now that we are underway I'm sure that you are anxious to see your quarters?"
"Actually, I'm more curious about the engine room and that small box you talked into!" she replied enthusiastically.
The captain took the box from the stand next to the wheel. "We call it a natterbox Miss." And held the box in her direction to give her a better look. "We bandersnatch use them to communicate with each other. There are plenty on the ship and hundreds more back home, here let me demonstrate."
The captain held the box to his ear and mouth and ordered to one of the crew near the back of the bridge, "Get me the Engine room!"
A small bandersnatch was fiddling with his control box, pulling levers and pressing buttons and doing various other activities which Alice had no idea about until he stopped and nodded towards the captain who pushed a button on the box's stand and replaced it. The same voice from earlier came out of the box above the front windows, simple and rough sounding.
"Engine room," it said "Yes captain?"
"Chief," began the captain "we have a visitor on board and she would like to talk to you and you will address her as Miss Alice, understood?"
"Yes sir, just don't be long! It's quite busy down here!" he barked.
Alice stepped up to the box and cautiously looked it over. She never thought that today she would be talking to a box and expect it to give an intelligent (if not hurried or rude) conversation.
"Err, hello?" she asked nervously.
"Hello, Miss Alice." replied the chief "How can I help you?"
Alice hadn't the slightest idea.
"Just wondering what it's like where you are and if I may visit later?" she replied.
"Well, it's very noisy and it's quite dirty Miss. I suppose you can come for a visit but don't stay too long! We've got a lot on our plate right now!"
On that note, the Captain stepped up beside her and gestured for her to return to her seat.
"Understood chief, but It's getting late in the day and I think she'll want to retire for the night. Are you coming to the officers mess for dinner?"
"Not tonight sir," replied the Chief with a slight hint of nervousness in his voice "I've got to keep an eye on the works down here for a while. Sorry 'bout that"
"Quite alright Chief, I'm sure your doing a good job down there. Bridge out." And the Captain pressed another button switching off the natterbox and silencing the voice of the Chief and the background hissing of the engines. He turned towards Alice slightly disappointed.
"I'm sure you've had a tiring day miss?" he asked
"Well after swimming an awful long way and almost getting chopped into pieces by your engine, I'm rather tired!" Alice replied. The hint of sarcasm glistened in the air of the bridge which the captain almost missed. But laughed as he thought she was joking.
"Very funny miss! Very good. I'll escort you to the guest quarters" and walked of the bridge with the assumption she would follow him. And she almost did except for a brief second, she looked at one of the maps on the chart table and saw a small island or peninsular with a line running from it to wonderland. (This was obviously the ships course between the two places) further examination of the papers revealed a tiny label above the island.
It read:
"Bandersnatch Isle"
This was her destination, and followed the captain to her room.
The room was not too far away from the bridge. The designers of the ship thought it would be good for the passengers if they were close to the action if any happened and designed the rooms accordingly, much to the objection of the Bandersnatch Navy as tourists got in their way.
The captain opened the door and revealed a small but cosy little room. The bed was covered in a bedspread which was lined with fine lace and frills. There was a chest of draws on the far wall with a large mirror on top of them with little compartments on top of the compartment. A small table and bed light was next to the bed with small draws which could contain books and tapestry. Alice thought this was a convenient surprise as the room was obviously meant for a woman and queried the captain accordingly.
"Oh yes!" he replied "this room is meant for female usage and all the fixtures and fittings have been added and adjusted for that purpose. Women like to pamper themselves so the mirror is large and there are spaces for books and embroidery to pass the time. I think you'll agree that the bed is quite comfortable, please try it." Alice sat on the bed and found it exceedingly comfortable for her back. When staying with her friend the gnome elder in the village she had to sleep on the floor and her bed at Rutledges for many years was cold and sometimes damp. She felt she would have her first good nights sleep for a long time and smiled at the captain. Something she rarely did in recent times.
"Ah good. In that case. I shall leave you to get some sleep, as you told me on the bridge, you have had a busy day and I would be quite exhausted after your adventures."
"I am rather tired and I'm looking forward to the rest!" said Alice and remembered where she was and where she was going "How long until we reach our destination, Captain?"
The captain remembered the travel time from all the previous journeys. "At full speed it will take us just under a day. We should arrive on the coast by supper time tomorrow and I'll arrange for you to stay in some accommodation on the land if you wish or you may stay aboard ship?"
"I'll let you know, Goodnight captain." Said Alice, determined to get to bed.
"Sleep well miss and the key to your door is in the top drawer of your bedside cabinet." He replied. He snapped to attention for a moment and closed the door, Alice was slightly unnerved to hear the lock "clank" shut but reassured herself that being the captain, he must have a skeleton key to all decks.
Alice removed her dress, folded it up and placed it over the foot of the bed and took her boots off placing them in front of the dressing table. Alice climbed into bed in her underwear and wrapped herself in the warm blankets feeling as snug as a bandersnatch in the guest quarters and fell asleep almost instantly.
She would have sweet dreams in such a comfortable bed. But she wouldn't if she knew who was conspiring down below in the lower decks.
"We're taking you to the bridge." Said the captain "You're the first off-lander to ever board her you see. And after we reach the bridge we'll assign you some quarters for the duration of the journey."
"Thank you, Captain" Alice replied. She felt compelled to ask. "What was in those large boxes you left on the beach, Sir?"
"They're full of Banderscotch!" interrupted the First Mate. His tone said "how stupid can you get?" which Alice picked up on and gave him a stern look which unnerved him slightly but he regained his composure, like an officer.
They passed through a large steel door with a single wheel in the middle and a small porthole above the centre and they entered the bridge.
There were stations and contraptions of all description in every direction, all with various bandersnatch manning them. A large curved wall of glass stood on the opposite side of the door which gave Alice a large view of the shoreline, and she could see the large crates being moved away by various crewman and then running back to the ship. In front of the window stood the helm of the wheel. The large oak wheel was almost as tall as her as she ran her fingers over the curved frame. She looked down and saw a small set of stops in front, leading to the wheel. Alice surmised that the bandersnatch, being of different sizes were not all capable of griping and steering successfully so the steps had been introduced. It made perfect sense to her but she could steer with only slight difficulty.
The captain walked across the neatly polished wooden floors, climbed the steps and clasped both hands on the wheel. He turned his head around to Alice and spoke.
"Please sit down my dear, We are about to leave."
Alice found this strange as a chair appeared on the deck where none had been before, however it did look comfortable with padded leather, so she sat and watched expectantly. The strange thing about being in wonderland (especially for her) was that when you needed something to fix a problem, it appeared suddenly and silently. She remembered the time in the small room when she was of little height and couldn't reach the key for the door on the glass table and a box of biscuits appeared with "eat me" written on it. She snapped her concentration back to real events (she did wish her mind wouldn't wander so in case she missed something.) and waited expectantly.
The bridge was now hustle and bustle with various small crew members running to their stations ready for the captains orders, whatever they may be.
"All back full!" yelled the captain. "Reverse all engines!"
"All back full!" echoed the First mate and the chorus of orders reverberated around the bridge as all members present repeated it and carried out some task to follow the order.
A voice sounded through a little box above the window. Alice had never seen a talking box before and she was quite intrigued. It was coming from below in the engine room.
"Engine room, Bridge, sir" the voice sounded "all engines ready at your disposal, captain!"
The captain picked up a little box on a stand next to the wheel and spoke into it.
"Thank you engine room, get ready!" he ordered and pulled a large lever on the other side of the wheel backwards onto a label of "reverse".
The whole ship shimmered and vibrated as the engines below heaved into action and Alice could see through the window that the shore had begun to move away from them very slowly but with increasing speed. A few moments passed and they were moving moderately fast away from the shore, the crewmembers all looking to either their stations or the Captain. The captain turned the giant wheel to the left and the ship began to rotate, leaning to the side slightly. Alice instinctively held onto the arms of the chair (who then complained about her grip) as her surroundings all veered to one side. The ship was turning around, away from her Wonderland and turning to point somewhere she had only created in an unconscious thought in the back of her mind. (She was wandering again!)
The Captain centred the wheel and reached for the lever once more. He thrusted it all the way forward and the who ship was hurled back upon itself as the engines began to slow down and spin in the opposite direction, moving them forward. Alice could not see anything out of the window ahead of them but empty seas. If they were heading somewhere, it was a very long way away. Alice wondered to herself on where the skool beneath them was and how the old turtle was doing all by himself down there. However, a comforting feeling swept across her when she realised he was probably sleeping through life until someone or something woke him up.
"I wonder if the engine noise will wake old "Tortoise"?" Alice thought to herself "It is rather powerful and I know because I nearly got pulled into it!"
The captain signalled to the First Mate who then stepped up and took over control of the wheel as his superior approached his guest.
"Miss Alice," he began politely. "Now that we are underway I'm sure that you are anxious to see your quarters?"
"Actually, I'm more curious about the engine room and that small box you talked into!" she replied enthusiastically.
The captain took the box from the stand next to the wheel. "We call it a natterbox Miss." And held the box in her direction to give her a better look. "We bandersnatch use them to communicate with each other. There are plenty on the ship and hundreds more back home, here let me demonstrate."
The captain held the box to his ear and mouth and ordered to one of the crew near the back of the bridge, "Get me the Engine room!"
A small bandersnatch was fiddling with his control box, pulling levers and pressing buttons and doing various other activities which Alice had no idea about until he stopped and nodded towards the captain who pushed a button on the box's stand and replaced it. The same voice from earlier came out of the box above the front windows, simple and rough sounding.
"Engine room," it said "Yes captain?"
"Chief," began the captain "we have a visitor on board and she would like to talk to you and you will address her as Miss Alice, understood?"
"Yes sir, just don't be long! It's quite busy down here!" he barked.
Alice stepped up to the box and cautiously looked it over. She never thought that today she would be talking to a box and expect it to give an intelligent (if not hurried or rude) conversation.
"Err, hello?" she asked nervously.
"Hello, Miss Alice." replied the chief "How can I help you?"
Alice hadn't the slightest idea.
"Just wondering what it's like where you are and if I may visit later?" she replied.
"Well, it's very noisy and it's quite dirty Miss. I suppose you can come for a visit but don't stay too long! We've got a lot on our plate right now!"
On that note, the Captain stepped up beside her and gestured for her to return to her seat.
"Understood chief, but It's getting late in the day and I think she'll want to retire for the night. Are you coming to the officers mess for dinner?"
"Not tonight sir," replied the Chief with a slight hint of nervousness in his voice "I've got to keep an eye on the works down here for a while. Sorry 'bout that"
"Quite alright Chief, I'm sure your doing a good job down there. Bridge out." And the Captain pressed another button switching off the natterbox and silencing the voice of the Chief and the background hissing of the engines. He turned towards Alice slightly disappointed.
"I'm sure you've had a tiring day miss?" he asked
"Well after swimming an awful long way and almost getting chopped into pieces by your engine, I'm rather tired!" Alice replied. The hint of sarcasm glistened in the air of the bridge which the captain almost missed. But laughed as he thought she was joking.
"Very funny miss! Very good. I'll escort you to the guest quarters" and walked of the bridge with the assumption she would follow him. And she almost did except for a brief second, she looked at one of the maps on the chart table and saw a small island or peninsular with a line running from it to wonderland. (This was obviously the ships course between the two places) further examination of the papers revealed a tiny label above the island.
It read:
"Bandersnatch Isle"
This was her destination, and followed the captain to her room.
The room was not too far away from the bridge. The designers of the ship thought it would be good for the passengers if they were close to the action if any happened and designed the rooms accordingly, much to the objection of the Bandersnatch Navy as tourists got in their way.
The captain opened the door and revealed a small but cosy little room. The bed was covered in a bedspread which was lined with fine lace and frills. There was a chest of draws on the far wall with a large mirror on top of them with little compartments on top of the compartment. A small table and bed light was next to the bed with small draws which could contain books and tapestry. Alice thought this was a convenient surprise as the room was obviously meant for a woman and queried the captain accordingly.
"Oh yes!" he replied "this room is meant for female usage and all the fixtures and fittings have been added and adjusted for that purpose. Women like to pamper themselves so the mirror is large and there are spaces for books and embroidery to pass the time. I think you'll agree that the bed is quite comfortable, please try it." Alice sat on the bed and found it exceedingly comfortable for her back. When staying with her friend the gnome elder in the village she had to sleep on the floor and her bed at Rutledges for many years was cold and sometimes damp. She felt she would have her first good nights sleep for a long time and smiled at the captain. Something she rarely did in recent times.
"Ah good. In that case. I shall leave you to get some sleep, as you told me on the bridge, you have had a busy day and I would be quite exhausted after your adventures."
"I am rather tired and I'm looking forward to the rest!" said Alice and remembered where she was and where she was going "How long until we reach our destination, Captain?"
The captain remembered the travel time from all the previous journeys. "At full speed it will take us just under a day. We should arrive on the coast by supper time tomorrow and I'll arrange for you to stay in some accommodation on the land if you wish or you may stay aboard ship?"
"I'll let you know, Goodnight captain." Said Alice, determined to get to bed.
"Sleep well miss and the key to your door is in the top drawer of your bedside cabinet." He replied. He snapped to attention for a moment and closed the door, Alice was slightly unnerved to hear the lock "clank" shut but reassured herself that being the captain, he must have a skeleton key to all decks.
Alice removed her dress, folded it up and placed it over the foot of the bed and took her boots off placing them in front of the dressing table. Alice climbed into bed in her underwear and wrapped herself in the warm blankets feeling as snug as a bandersnatch in the guest quarters and fell asleep almost instantly.
She would have sweet dreams in such a comfortable bed. But she wouldn't if she knew who was conspiring down below in the lower decks.