The meal had finished and like all dinner parties with any sense of formality attached to the came the traditional pudding and then the part Alice was looking forward to. After dinner tea, coffee and biscuits. Alice sat in her chair with great expectancy as her steward poured a flow of brown steaming liquid into a small cup of an equally small saucer. IF there was one thing Alice liked in this magical place, it was her cup of tea and it's many varieties. AS she knew, grasshopper tea increased her stamina and changed her partially into an insect for a short while so she sipped her bandersnatch tea cautiously. She wasn't disappointed as the rich flavour and the hot liquid poured down her throat exciting her palate with every small drop. She finished her cup rather quickly (which she felt was rude) so asked for another while the officers had their varieties of drink. The chief of course drank his bandershock whilst most of the other officers had a form of coffee. The only people to share her tea were the navigator, Lost and the medic, Bones. And during this liquid experience, many of the gentleman were smoking long cigarettes and filling the room with smoke with every puff they made. But thankfully, the mood had lightened and the topic turned to tea, which surprised Alice.
"I do find this tea quite lovely, here's to the Ordermaker, gentleman" said the navigator.
As the other officers raised their teacups, no-one noticed the small yet sinister smile of Shift behind his teacup.
"Who is the Ordermaker?" asked Alice sipping her tea; "is he your leader?"
Several of the officers laughed gently and smiled at each other but it was the captain to begin the story.
"Well miss Alice," he began; "Not so long ago, most of us were fighting amongst each other and there was chaos everywhere. In fact most of our mechanical knowledge comes from when we were inventing better and better machines to destroy each other."
The Chief interrupted him for a moment.
"In fact Alice, this vessel was around when the fighting was happening. I think she used to be a troop transport a long time ago. One of the first to go to the mainland it think?"
"I never knew that?" piped up Lost, looking genuinely surprised.
"Well they don't call you "Lost" for nothing do they?!" Shift managed to slide in but got a firm look from the young navigator.
The captain reestablised his flow of control as the others listened intently.
"Gentleman Please, I'll continue if you don't mind?" gestured the Captain, and the others fell silent.
"Right, As the chief said, this vessel was sent on a journey to the mainland to try and find resources and knowledge to aid in the never ending fighting."
"Did those Bandersnatch find anything?" asked Alice.
"Well the history is a little sketchy but the team who explored wonderland found someone who was like them and they assumed he was some form of grand technician as he knew about mechanics. So they brought him back to the mainland to see if he would wok for them." He continued. "He saw the chaos on the island and united all the bandersnatch to a common goal. To better ourselves in the order he could give us. He made sure every one had something to do and helped us build he great machines in the city and for the island."
The Doctor managed to interrupt the story, but Alice was learning more and more with every word.
"He even managed to double the life expectancy of the Jabberspawn on the island and helped us tame them. He formed the Jabberwock Cavalry and the mounted orderlies" The captain continued not minding the doctors interruption as it was relevant to his story.
"So we thank him for the peace and prosperity he gave our people" finished the captain.
"And our military is not to be laughed at either!" commented Shift.
"But mercifully, we've never had to use them yet , have we?" asked the captain and managed to entice a small chorus of laughter from his officers.
"Except on the freedom resistance but they're not much more than petty thugs and immature mechanics." Reminded Shift.
This simple comment was the first thing him and the officers agreed on.
"Who are they and why do they resist?" asked Alice; "it sounds very organised to me"
Shift was the only one to answer this question as the others were quite in the dark about the topic.
"They resist because they say the Ordermaker takes away our freedom and our rights. But they're just anarchists wanting to send us back to our more……violent times."
"But they're not doing a very good job right?" she asked.
"Correct, our orderlies always stop them before they can carry out any of their plans. Thanks to the Ordermaker of course"
"I think I'd like to meet this leader of yours when we arrive." Thought Alice aloud finishing her tea and all the guests gave expressions of "certainly" and "why not" All except one.
"You'll meet him Alice, I'm sure of it." said Shift underneath his breath
The teacups were empty, the food had been eaten and the slow feeling of sleep and tiredness was creeping up on Alice and her friends. Night was falling from out of the porthole windows and the officers were gesturing to leave.
"Gentleman," the captain spoke, sound quite important; "I shall want you rested and at your posts tomorrow morning as we'll be arriving port." He turned to Alice. "And miss Alice, we'll wake you when we are about to dock so you can come up on deck and see for yourself. A bit of sea air will do you wonders!"
Alice simply smiled. "I'm sure I will. When will we arrive, I don't want to miss anything?"
"Don't worry Miss Alice, I will send for you when the time is right," he assured her; "trust me, you wont miss a thing. May I escort you to your cabin?"
"No thank you, I'd prefer it if Bricks and Lash did that for me captain, I haven't talked to them all night." She replied apologetically. But it was true that throughout the whole occasion, they had spoken nothing or very little. The captain smiled and nodded his head towards the two crewmen (to which they snapped to attention) and he progressed out of to the door and presumably back to the bridge leaving Alice, Bricks and Lash.
As they walked back down the corridors of the ship Alice questioned (or interrogated) her two friends on their silence through dinner.
"Well I thought it was an interesting party, but why did you two not say a single word?" she asked, almost in a threatening manner. The two simply looked at each other, as if trying to find the answer in each others minds but finding nothing. It was a few minutes before lash managed to stammer something.
"Well, well there were all the officers in one room. A very high gathering you might say"
"Very high indeed" bricks managed to echo.
"And we didn't want to say anything if we got it wrong, or we conflicted with someone. Those officers DO run the ship you know?" Alice noticed that he almost seemed frightened and became the shoulder to lean on. (Even though she was at least a foot taller than he was.)
"The officers are gentlemen by nature and they wouldn't punish you for something you did wrong. And besides I think Shift was the pain of the dinner table tonight, even though he did come up with some curious points. The rebels and all that."
There were quiet nods and murmurs of agreement from both the seamen before the silence resumed as they walked. Alice had one more topic to talk about before they reached her cabin.
"Do you know any of these resistance people?" she asked curiously? Her body suddenly became quite meek looking, portraying a childlike innocence.
Bricks stopped walking suddenly and turned to face her.
"Yes, but not all of them are bad you know." He spoke, almost in a whisper. "Some of them are hunted for crimes they didn't commit and their cause is not all that evil. The Ordermaker has made some unreasonable demands from time to time."
"Like what" she asked, and noticed Lash was apparently watching to check the coast was clear
"Well some people say that some people went to military and science type places and were never heard from again and some have heard screams in the night!"
Lash continued his friends' story. "And the patrollers, They're constables to you I suppose, don't know anything about it."
"It's only rumour of course. But If I were you, I'd keep you eyes open when we get there Miss Alice"
Alice was not often scared, but this news was slightly chilling to hear. But nevertheless, they had arrived at her cabin. They parted company and Alice went over to the mirror to brush her hair before bed. As she sat down in front of the dresser, her reflection copied all her movements exactly but gave it's own opinions as always!
"Don't worry too much, I doubt if those two have half a handkerchief to tie a not in."
"That's not very nice, they are my best friends so far!"
"Well I was made on the island" reassured the reflection; "and look how I turned out."
Alice turned the mirror towards the wall, abruptly silencing it which brought her a mild sense of satisfaction. But she remembered well that she was the better person as looking glass people aren't all they were cracked up to be. But still as she climbed into bed she had a lot to think about.
She looked up at the roof and her mind wandered on all the things she had learnt. The rebels? The Island in fact? This Ordermaster person and the Jabberwock? All these questions swirled through the winds of thought in her head before exhaustion closed her eyes for her and she began to fall asleep.
Before she fell totally asleep, she reached under the mattress of her bed.
Good, her mallet was still there.
"I do find this tea quite lovely, here's to the Ordermaker, gentleman" said the navigator.
As the other officers raised their teacups, no-one noticed the small yet sinister smile of Shift behind his teacup.
"Who is the Ordermaker?" asked Alice sipping her tea; "is he your leader?"
Several of the officers laughed gently and smiled at each other but it was the captain to begin the story.
"Well miss Alice," he began; "Not so long ago, most of us were fighting amongst each other and there was chaos everywhere. In fact most of our mechanical knowledge comes from when we were inventing better and better machines to destroy each other."
The Chief interrupted him for a moment.
"In fact Alice, this vessel was around when the fighting was happening. I think she used to be a troop transport a long time ago. One of the first to go to the mainland it think?"
"I never knew that?" piped up Lost, looking genuinely surprised.
"Well they don't call you "Lost" for nothing do they?!" Shift managed to slide in but got a firm look from the young navigator.
The captain reestablised his flow of control as the others listened intently.
"Gentleman Please, I'll continue if you don't mind?" gestured the Captain, and the others fell silent.
"Right, As the chief said, this vessel was sent on a journey to the mainland to try and find resources and knowledge to aid in the never ending fighting."
"Did those Bandersnatch find anything?" asked Alice.
"Well the history is a little sketchy but the team who explored wonderland found someone who was like them and they assumed he was some form of grand technician as he knew about mechanics. So they brought him back to the mainland to see if he would wok for them." He continued. "He saw the chaos on the island and united all the bandersnatch to a common goal. To better ourselves in the order he could give us. He made sure every one had something to do and helped us build he great machines in the city and for the island."
The Doctor managed to interrupt the story, but Alice was learning more and more with every word.
"He even managed to double the life expectancy of the Jabberspawn on the island and helped us tame them. He formed the Jabberwock Cavalry and the mounted orderlies" The captain continued not minding the doctors interruption as it was relevant to his story.
"So we thank him for the peace and prosperity he gave our people" finished the captain.
"And our military is not to be laughed at either!" commented Shift.
"But mercifully, we've never had to use them yet , have we?" asked the captain and managed to entice a small chorus of laughter from his officers.
"Except on the freedom resistance but they're not much more than petty thugs and immature mechanics." Reminded Shift.
This simple comment was the first thing him and the officers agreed on.
"Who are they and why do they resist?" asked Alice; "it sounds very organised to me"
Shift was the only one to answer this question as the others were quite in the dark about the topic.
"They resist because they say the Ordermaker takes away our freedom and our rights. But they're just anarchists wanting to send us back to our more……violent times."
"But they're not doing a very good job right?" she asked.
"Correct, our orderlies always stop them before they can carry out any of their plans. Thanks to the Ordermaker of course"
"I think I'd like to meet this leader of yours when we arrive." Thought Alice aloud finishing her tea and all the guests gave expressions of "certainly" and "why not" All except one.
"You'll meet him Alice, I'm sure of it." said Shift underneath his breath
The teacups were empty, the food had been eaten and the slow feeling of sleep and tiredness was creeping up on Alice and her friends. Night was falling from out of the porthole windows and the officers were gesturing to leave.
"Gentleman," the captain spoke, sound quite important; "I shall want you rested and at your posts tomorrow morning as we'll be arriving port." He turned to Alice. "And miss Alice, we'll wake you when we are about to dock so you can come up on deck and see for yourself. A bit of sea air will do you wonders!"
Alice simply smiled. "I'm sure I will. When will we arrive, I don't want to miss anything?"
"Don't worry Miss Alice, I will send for you when the time is right," he assured her; "trust me, you wont miss a thing. May I escort you to your cabin?"
"No thank you, I'd prefer it if Bricks and Lash did that for me captain, I haven't talked to them all night." She replied apologetically. But it was true that throughout the whole occasion, they had spoken nothing or very little. The captain smiled and nodded his head towards the two crewmen (to which they snapped to attention) and he progressed out of to the door and presumably back to the bridge leaving Alice, Bricks and Lash.
As they walked back down the corridors of the ship Alice questioned (or interrogated) her two friends on their silence through dinner.
"Well I thought it was an interesting party, but why did you two not say a single word?" she asked, almost in a threatening manner. The two simply looked at each other, as if trying to find the answer in each others minds but finding nothing. It was a few minutes before lash managed to stammer something.
"Well, well there were all the officers in one room. A very high gathering you might say"
"Very high indeed" bricks managed to echo.
"And we didn't want to say anything if we got it wrong, or we conflicted with someone. Those officers DO run the ship you know?" Alice noticed that he almost seemed frightened and became the shoulder to lean on. (Even though she was at least a foot taller than he was.)
"The officers are gentlemen by nature and they wouldn't punish you for something you did wrong. And besides I think Shift was the pain of the dinner table tonight, even though he did come up with some curious points. The rebels and all that."
There were quiet nods and murmurs of agreement from both the seamen before the silence resumed as they walked. Alice had one more topic to talk about before they reached her cabin.
"Do you know any of these resistance people?" she asked curiously? Her body suddenly became quite meek looking, portraying a childlike innocence.
Bricks stopped walking suddenly and turned to face her.
"Yes, but not all of them are bad you know." He spoke, almost in a whisper. "Some of them are hunted for crimes they didn't commit and their cause is not all that evil. The Ordermaker has made some unreasonable demands from time to time."
"Like what" she asked, and noticed Lash was apparently watching to check the coast was clear
"Well some people say that some people went to military and science type places and were never heard from again and some have heard screams in the night!"
Lash continued his friends' story. "And the patrollers, They're constables to you I suppose, don't know anything about it."
"It's only rumour of course. But If I were you, I'd keep you eyes open when we get there Miss Alice"
Alice was not often scared, but this news was slightly chilling to hear. But nevertheless, they had arrived at her cabin. They parted company and Alice went over to the mirror to brush her hair before bed. As she sat down in front of the dresser, her reflection copied all her movements exactly but gave it's own opinions as always!
"Don't worry too much, I doubt if those two have half a handkerchief to tie a not in."
"That's not very nice, they are my best friends so far!"
"Well I was made on the island" reassured the reflection; "and look how I turned out."
Alice turned the mirror towards the wall, abruptly silencing it which brought her a mild sense of satisfaction. But she remembered well that she was the better person as looking glass people aren't all they were cracked up to be. But still as she climbed into bed she had a lot to think about.
She looked up at the roof and her mind wandered on all the things she had learnt. The rebels? The Island in fact? This Ordermaster person and the Jabberwock? All these questions swirled through the winds of thought in her head before exhaustion closed her eyes for her and she began to fall asleep.
Before she fell totally asleep, she reached under the mattress of her bed.
Good, her mallet was still there.