Alice awoke after a dreamless nights sleep (much to her delight to see nothing instead of any of her old friends) and got ready to face the day. She reminded herself that today she would be arriving in a place that would be totally unfamiliar to her. She hadn't even learnt what kind of buildings there would be, and even if there were any buildings, maybe the island was just a big grassy field. However judging by the boat she was currently travelling in, there had to be somewhere to make all the parts and put them together. Hence, buildings. And big ones too.
Alice was about to walk out of the door when she stopped herself for a moment and looked towards her bed. Her knife was still under the pillow from the previous night in case of another incident so she decided to take it along with her. In case bad degenerated into worse, she was going to be prepared if trouble came looking for her. She slipped the knife into her dress pouch (her favourite place) and strolled outside to see the security guard outside her door with his weapon holstered and himself being stood to attention, however, he did have very large bags under his eyes.
"If you're tired you'd better go and rest yourself sir." She said in a slightly demanding voice.
The guard was like every other bandersnatch she had seen except he was more stockier and more broader than others. It was obvious he was employed in some work of an aggressive nature. Despite his large frame of a creature he was, he was feeling the ill effects from the absence of a good nights sleep.
"I'm not sure young miss." He replied nervously (and groggily) "My orders are to watch your door all night."
"Well since it's morning, you don't have to do that anymore, do you?"
She had a point.
"I suppose so, Thank you miss!" replied the guard and he started to walk back to his room but Alice stopped him.
"What s your name please?" she asked politely
"Eh?" he answered sleepily. "Oh my name. It's bricks. Bricks Bandersnatch"
"Do all your people have the same last name?" she asked. It was a valid question as all the members of his race had the same surname, but all different first names.
"Well we are Bandersnatch aren't we?" he replied as though it was a stupid question.
"Yes I suppose so, but I'm a human, and my names not Alice Human?"
Bricks looked at her in total surprise. For him, this was an unusual thing to say because all the people he knew were bandersnatch and she was the first non-bandersnatch he had ever met and she seemed nice enough.
"Well if you put it like that, maybe it is a bit strange but I think we may all be related down the line somewhere. It's too early to think! And rubbed his eyes. The bags opened and a large chunk of sleep fell out of them and landed on his foot. He picked it up and crushed it into dust in his hand. Alice had had sleep in her eye before but it was never that big. He must not have slept for several days.
"Haven't you been asleep at all?" she asked
"I've been patrolling for the past three nights so I'm looking forward to this!" and he strolled off down the corridor.
"They must train their officers very well," Alice thought to herself "or feed them just as energetically!" and headed off towards the bridge, still amazed.
She reached the bridge which was guarded by two officers (similar in size to Bricks) and the door was a lot more heavy-duty looking than the other side. It had a variety of locks and gyros on this side to obviously stopping rogue elements getting in. ("one of those out but not in doors" Alice thought).
The officers looked her over and spotted the knife blade sticking out of her pocket and momentarily stopped her. They looked at each other as if searching for what to do.
"Very well miss" said one of them gruffly "but no slicing fun or you're asking for it!"
They opened the door and Alice stepped through. She reasoned, that it was good advice to do as one is told by two people of that size. Trouble would definitely be in similar proportion to the person or persons who administered it (and those guards were huge!)
The bridge was aglow by the sunlight passing through the windscreen and shining on the decks below and all the crew who worked on them. There was only sparse clouding in the sky as if it knew not to spoil the day pouring down upon them as they made good speed towards their destination at speeds which Alice thought were uncommon for a vessels of such size.
The Captain turned his chair in her direction and smiled at her.
"Good Morning miss Alice!" he began "Since it's such a nice day, how about a stroll on the deck so we can enjoy the day?"
"That would be lovely." Replied Alice
"First mate, You have the bridge till I return."
"Yes sir." Replied the first mate in his aristocratic voice and he took the chair as he watched the captain descend the stairs to the deck.
The decking was made of wood all arranged with equal precision, (Alice had noticed this type of arrangement on ships in her world in her memories) and walking was no more tiring to the feet than running was. All about them, many bandersnatch were doing various duties from scrubbing the decks to washing the windows. (For a moment Alice thought she saw them poking out of the ships funnels which were bellowing black smoke) To her slight misery, all of them were scowling of frowning at her after the events of last night as Shift was a popular member of the lower ranks of the crew and him being in imprisoned in the brig did not gain much for her in the way of respect. However their looks of discontentment all stopped when they saw the captain beside her. She had inadvertently chosen a good ally for her voyage.
"While I think on sir, What happened to the crewmen who tries to attack me?"
"They are all in the brig awaiting trial when we get back to the island and then they will be punished accordingly. But all we can do for now is hold them." The captain replied.
Alice looked about her at the many bandersnatch doing their duties, noticing their reaction to her presence.
"I fear I'm causing a bad reaction amongst your crew, judging by their looks!"
The captain looked at his crew, but he saw not a stern or condescending look towards him and he was satisfied all was well. His authoritarian complex could blind him sometimes as Alice had witnessed such occurrences with people like the tweedles and the Jabberwock.
Alice felt it necessary to change the subject as the topic of rebellion and mutiny with such company was impolite and she did not wish to invite more trouble.
"Captain I have noticed you have strange weapons, could you explain them to me?" she asked.
He unholstered his firearm and presented it to her for her to examine to satisfy her curiosity.
"Well, we call them blinkers," he explained "Inside that round area at the end is the eye of a jabberspawn and you select the intensity of the blast with that dial on the top section."
(Alice saw a small turntable with the numbers one to ten stencilled around it. It was currently set at 1)
"To fire it, you pull the trigger in that small alcove and the round chamber "blinks" open briefly depending on the setting of the dial to such effect and intensity. Then the energy is released into a pulse which is a short burst."
"I used to have a bandersnatch eye staff in my collection a while ago." Alice retorted "This seems to be a scaled down version?"
"In a sense that is true," he replied "such items of weaponry are worth a lot in modern times as they are quite powerful. There haven't been too many fully grown Jabberwocks that I know of. Why don't you try that weapon on that barrel over there?"
He gesture over to a barrel which was standing on the edge of the ship next to a sturdy bandersnatch who was collecting some rope, tying it up and forming knots of almost beautiful design.
"Aim the eye at the barrel and squeeze the trigger."
Alice closed her left eye and centred her remaining eye over the sphere of the weapon and straightened her arms towards the barrel. She held the gun with steady precision, placed her finger on the trigger and squeezed gently. She felt the gun warming up slightly and bent her arm slightly to see if she had done anything incorrectly but the weapon discharged a moment later and the bolt of energy hit the seaman who was tying the rope! It impacted into his shoulder and knocked him off his feet and crashing through the barrel that was Alice's intended target.
The force of the blast was not powerful enough to cause him any amount of physical harm except for a mildly charred patch on his garment and a somewhat bruised shoulder which he was rubbing in mild discomfort. He suddenly snapped his head in her direction, his eyes glowing with anger. He had no injuries, but his pride had taken a serious blow as he stood up and walked towards her pulling something from a tool-belt around his waist. He had drawn a large mallet, similar in size to Alice's blade and composed of wood. He clenched it with both hands and made a swing for her head.
Alice in the mean time had dropped the blinker and drew her own blade out in one nervous but well practised move and easy parried his blow. She was surprised that the blade had not sliced through the material of the hammer as they both stood with their arms locked together, vying to knock the other to the floor. This intense (yet silent) conflict was ended by the captain picking up the weapons and pointing it at the crewman's head which followed by a clicking as the weapon became cocked with the captains finger on the trigger.
"I think you'd better go to the sickbay and get that shoulder seen to, crewman!?" he ordered and for the first time in Alice's perception, he had sounded aggressive and demanding.
The crewman slowly placed his weapon back in his tool-belt and stood to attention. Alice felt it prudent to keep her knife drawn for the time being in case the captain s orders were not as solid effecting on this large bandersnatch.
"That's alright sir, it's just a mild burn and a bruise." His tone suggested hi was seriously, not impressed and his wide eyes never left Alice's.
Alice tried to remedy the situation as best as she could and re-sheathed her knife.
"I'm sorry about that, truly I am. That was the first time I've used a blinker". She said timidly
That seemed to help as the bandersnatch smiled slightly and his expression eased somewhat.
"That's quite alright miss, I shot me own captain when I first fired mine!" and he laughed slightly.
He bowed to Alice in apology and Alice curtseyed in reply.
"That's better." Said the Captain "we're all friends again, what?"
Alice remembered something from last nights conversation.
"Captain is the dinner still taking place in the officers mess tonight?" she asked.
"Why yes Miss Alice why?"
"Well could I invite this person and someone else I met to the dinner? It would be my way of apologising?"
The bandersnatchs' eyes open wide. He had never been invited to the officers mess before and he was shocked that someone who had just shot him wished to invite him.
"Why of course Alice!" replied the captain.
"Who are you sir?" asked Alice.
"Lash Bandersnatch miss, rope technician." He replied.
"Then report to the officers mess hall at 8 bells thirty tonight. Now return to your duties please." Ordered the captain and lash went back to his job of tying his ropes by the barrel (which was now in pieces)
"Captain, I believe you promised me a tour of the engine room yesterday?" queried Alice
"Very well miss" replied the Captain "But his time I'll keep my sidearm to myself" and the both descended the steps into the deep recesses of the ship.
Alice was about to walk out of the door when she stopped herself for a moment and looked towards her bed. Her knife was still under the pillow from the previous night in case of another incident so she decided to take it along with her. In case bad degenerated into worse, she was going to be prepared if trouble came looking for her. She slipped the knife into her dress pouch (her favourite place) and strolled outside to see the security guard outside her door with his weapon holstered and himself being stood to attention, however, he did have very large bags under his eyes.
"If you're tired you'd better go and rest yourself sir." She said in a slightly demanding voice.
The guard was like every other bandersnatch she had seen except he was more stockier and more broader than others. It was obvious he was employed in some work of an aggressive nature. Despite his large frame of a creature he was, he was feeling the ill effects from the absence of a good nights sleep.
"I'm not sure young miss." He replied nervously (and groggily) "My orders are to watch your door all night."
"Well since it's morning, you don't have to do that anymore, do you?"
She had a point.
"I suppose so, Thank you miss!" replied the guard and he started to walk back to his room but Alice stopped him.
"What s your name please?" she asked politely
"Eh?" he answered sleepily. "Oh my name. It's bricks. Bricks Bandersnatch"
"Do all your people have the same last name?" she asked. It was a valid question as all the members of his race had the same surname, but all different first names.
"Well we are Bandersnatch aren't we?" he replied as though it was a stupid question.
"Yes I suppose so, but I'm a human, and my names not Alice Human?"
Bricks looked at her in total surprise. For him, this was an unusual thing to say because all the people he knew were bandersnatch and she was the first non-bandersnatch he had ever met and she seemed nice enough.
"Well if you put it like that, maybe it is a bit strange but I think we may all be related down the line somewhere. It's too early to think! And rubbed his eyes. The bags opened and a large chunk of sleep fell out of them and landed on his foot. He picked it up and crushed it into dust in his hand. Alice had had sleep in her eye before but it was never that big. He must not have slept for several days.
"Haven't you been asleep at all?" she asked
"I've been patrolling for the past three nights so I'm looking forward to this!" and he strolled off down the corridor.
"They must train their officers very well," Alice thought to herself "or feed them just as energetically!" and headed off towards the bridge, still amazed.
She reached the bridge which was guarded by two officers (similar in size to Bricks) and the door was a lot more heavy-duty looking than the other side. It had a variety of locks and gyros on this side to obviously stopping rogue elements getting in. ("one of those out but not in doors" Alice thought).
The officers looked her over and spotted the knife blade sticking out of her pocket and momentarily stopped her. They looked at each other as if searching for what to do.
"Very well miss" said one of them gruffly "but no slicing fun or you're asking for it!"
They opened the door and Alice stepped through. She reasoned, that it was good advice to do as one is told by two people of that size. Trouble would definitely be in similar proportion to the person or persons who administered it (and those guards were huge!)
The bridge was aglow by the sunlight passing through the windscreen and shining on the decks below and all the crew who worked on them. There was only sparse clouding in the sky as if it knew not to spoil the day pouring down upon them as they made good speed towards their destination at speeds which Alice thought were uncommon for a vessels of such size.
The Captain turned his chair in her direction and smiled at her.
"Good Morning miss Alice!" he began "Since it's such a nice day, how about a stroll on the deck so we can enjoy the day?"
"That would be lovely." Replied Alice
"First mate, You have the bridge till I return."
"Yes sir." Replied the first mate in his aristocratic voice and he took the chair as he watched the captain descend the stairs to the deck.
The decking was made of wood all arranged with equal precision, (Alice had noticed this type of arrangement on ships in her world in her memories) and walking was no more tiring to the feet than running was. All about them, many bandersnatch were doing various duties from scrubbing the decks to washing the windows. (For a moment Alice thought she saw them poking out of the ships funnels which were bellowing black smoke) To her slight misery, all of them were scowling of frowning at her after the events of last night as Shift was a popular member of the lower ranks of the crew and him being in imprisoned in the brig did not gain much for her in the way of respect. However their looks of discontentment all stopped when they saw the captain beside her. She had inadvertently chosen a good ally for her voyage.
"While I think on sir, What happened to the crewmen who tries to attack me?"
"They are all in the brig awaiting trial when we get back to the island and then they will be punished accordingly. But all we can do for now is hold them." The captain replied.
Alice looked about her at the many bandersnatch doing their duties, noticing their reaction to her presence.
"I fear I'm causing a bad reaction amongst your crew, judging by their looks!"
The captain looked at his crew, but he saw not a stern or condescending look towards him and he was satisfied all was well. His authoritarian complex could blind him sometimes as Alice had witnessed such occurrences with people like the tweedles and the Jabberwock.
Alice felt it necessary to change the subject as the topic of rebellion and mutiny with such company was impolite and she did not wish to invite more trouble.
"Captain I have noticed you have strange weapons, could you explain them to me?" she asked.
He unholstered his firearm and presented it to her for her to examine to satisfy her curiosity.
"Well, we call them blinkers," he explained "Inside that round area at the end is the eye of a jabberspawn and you select the intensity of the blast with that dial on the top section."
(Alice saw a small turntable with the numbers one to ten stencilled around it. It was currently set at 1)
"To fire it, you pull the trigger in that small alcove and the round chamber "blinks" open briefly depending on the setting of the dial to such effect and intensity. Then the energy is released into a pulse which is a short burst."
"I used to have a bandersnatch eye staff in my collection a while ago." Alice retorted "This seems to be a scaled down version?"
"In a sense that is true," he replied "such items of weaponry are worth a lot in modern times as they are quite powerful. There haven't been too many fully grown Jabberwocks that I know of. Why don't you try that weapon on that barrel over there?"
He gesture over to a barrel which was standing on the edge of the ship next to a sturdy bandersnatch who was collecting some rope, tying it up and forming knots of almost beautiful design.
"Aim the eye at the barrel and squeeze the trigger."
Alice closed her left eye and centred her remaining eye over the sphere of the weapon and straightened her arms towards the barrel. She held the gun with steady precision, placed her finger on the trigger and squeezed gently. She felt the gun warming up slightly and bent her arm slightly to see if she had done anything incorrectly but the weapon discharged a moment later and the bolt of energy hit the seaman who was tying the rope! It impacted into his shoulder and knocked him off his feet and crashing through the barrel that was Alice's intended target.
The force of the blast was not powerful enough to cause him any amount of physical harm except for a mildly charred patch on his garment and a somewhat bruised shoulder which he was rubbing in mild discomfort. He suddenly snapped his head in her direction, his eyes glowing with anger. He had no injuries, but his pride had taken a serious blow as he stood up and walked towards her pulling something from a tool-belt around his waist. He had drawn a large mallet, similar in size to Alice's blade and composed of wood. He clenched it with both hands and made a swing for her head.
Alice in the mean time had dropped the blinker and drew her own blade out in one nervous but well practised move and easy parried his blow. She was surprised that the blade had not sliced through the material of the hammer as they both stood with their arms locked together, vying to knock the other to the floor. This intense (yet silent) conflict was ended by the captain picking up the weapons and pointing it at the crewman's head which followed by a clicking as the weapon became cocked with the captains finger on the trigger.
"I think you'd better go to the sickbay and get that shoulder seen to, crewman!?" he ordered and for the first time in Alice's perception, he had sounded aggressive and demanding.
The crewman slowly placed his weapon back in his tool-belt and stood to attention. Alice felt it prudent to keep her knife drawn for the time being in case the captain s orders were not as solid effecting on this large bandersnatch.
"That's alright sir, it's just a mild burn and a bruise." His tone suggested hi was seriously, not impressed and his wide eyes never left Alice's.
Alice tried to remedy the situation as best as she could and re-sheathed her knife.
"I'm sorry about that, truly I am. That was the first time I've used a blinker". She said timidly
That seemed to help as the bandersnatch smiled slightly and his expression eased somewhat.
"That's quite alright miss, I shot me own captain when I first fired mine!" and he laughed slightly.
He bowed to Alice in apology and Alice curtseyed in reply.
"That's better." Said the Captain "we're all friends again, what?"
Alice remembered something from last nights conversation.
"Captain is the dinner still taking place in the officers mess tonight?" she asked.
"Why yes Miss Alice why?"
"Well could I invite this person and someone else I met to the dinner? It would be my way of apologising?"
The bandersnatchs' eyes open wide. He had never been invited to the officers mess before and he was shocked that someone who had just shot him wished to invite him.
"Why of course Alice!" replied the captain.
"Who are you sir?" asked Alice.
"Lash Bandersnatch miss, rope technician." He replied.
"Then report to the officers mess hall at 8 bells thirty tonight. Now return to your duties please." Ordered the captain and lash went back to his job of tying his ropes by the barrel (which was now in pieces)
"Captain, I believe you promised me a tour of the engine room yesterday?" queried Alice
"Very well miss" replied the Captain "But his time I'll keep my sidearm to myself" and the both descended the steps into the deep recesses of the ship.