Chapter 19 - The First Attempt
Bricks and Lash were continuing their escort to Alice and they were all proceeding in the direction of a place called "Central District" which according to Lash was the main financial centre of the whole island. It was a place of maths, statistics, and science and there were several major buildings that certain companies had built themselves and had become monuments in their own way.
As they strolled into the district, there seemed to be more people bustling around the pavements and more jabberspawn drawn carriages on the street and the buildings seemed to have a more majesty about them and most of which were so tall, the tops of them were not visible to Alice's eye. They simply disappeared into the clouds but all of them had the same linkages between buildings, brimmed with people. It seemed that so impossible that so small a people could manufacture and construct in such a hurried pace.
"How long did it take your people to build all of this?" asked Alice in amazement and curiosity.
She suddenly remembered her companions were not historians and compared to other bandersnatch, they weren't the brightest amongst the crew. However she was surprised by their answer.
"It didn't take that long actually to build the city." Replied Lash
"Most of the basics of the buildings were here already, and were wrecks and ruins because of the chaos and the fighting before the Ordermaster" interrupted Bricks, almost as if it was obligatory. This caught Alice's attention. The Queen of Hearts was fond of re-writing the memories of her subjects to legitimise her orders. Could the same mechanisms be working here??
"The big companies all pulled their resources after the new order came along, but the biggest of the lot was Bandersnatch Opticals. They have the biggest workforce and the most money." continued Lash.
"Well, do they have a building like these ones??" asked Alice.
"Yea" replied Lash and he began to lead her around the corner through the bustling crowd.
Alice went willingly as her curiosity compelled her to explore. However, something was bothering her. She couldn't see the people in the links high above her between the buildings, but she could feel someone watching her. She couldn't tell from where though...
She was right. High up under one of the links a pair of eyes were monitoring her and following her, and when they couldn't see her no more, another pair of eyes took their place. All of this as being watched in the building not 100 yards away from where she was walking, and as she walked, people were talking, events were happening and buttons were being pressed. Something was about to happen.
People were moving down below on the streets, masked by many thousands of others. And they were being watched too.
Alice turned the corner and looked where Bricks was pointing, The tower before her rose high in the sky and had an ominous feeling about it which made her shiver down to her bones.
The tower before her had spires that curled out of the sides that formed an ordered lattice linking shapes together and there was a large clock halfway up the tower amidst the spires. It was high enough to be seen by the people on the ground but it was obvious by its decorations of cogs, hammers and strange shapes that it was meant to be looked upon. This clock, this entire building was in the middle of the district and judging by it's shape it was possibly the centre of the island, and this building demanded respect. Because of it's monument to the steady order of life, you could feel that this tower had eyes. Judging by the way Lash and Bricks looked at it, she could tell they were slightly intimidated.
"This is the head building of Bandersnatch Opticals, The home of the Order Maker and where most of the big decisions are made." quoted Bricks and Lash between them.
"Impressive" replied Alice "I get the feeling I'll be having a look around sooner or..."
Her sentence was interrupted sharply, abruptly and painfully.
One of the empty carriages behind her suddenly and violently exploded sending shards of wood and a shower of splinters all over everyone standing near it and scorching the wall of nearby buildings.
All three of the travellers were hurled off their feet by the blast and Alice was thrown down onto the floor. As she nursed her now aching head, she looked up and saw the clock of the tower looking down upon her. Every tick was like a repeat of the blast and every slight movement of the giant, twisted hands failed to cushion her from the shock of the force. This clock was cold, and filled with malice. To even look upon it made her feel cold.
Someone was trying to talk to her but it was garbled by the ringing in her ears. She shook he head and the white noise seem to fade with every shudder. She eventually heard a voice.
"Alice? You OK?"
It was a Bandersnatch that she had never seen before. He was dressed in a while and his most noticeable feature were his blue eyes that seemed to reach into the back of your mind and relax you.
"Come on Alice, you can make it" the voice seemed to say. It was almost melodic.
Alice came around with bandersnatch in white uniforms and armed guards cordoning off the area and mechanics searching through what was left of the carriage.
She got to her feet and surveyed the scene around her. There were innocent people lying in the streets surrounded by these medics. Scorch marks were on the walls, the floor and the flesh of the nearby people as wooden shards were scattered amongst the wreckage. The picture was that of true hate and chaos. Some was trying to kill. More to the point, someone was trying to kill her!!
The sudden panic overcame her, She reached her arm behind her back and felt her knife, it was still there, she could reach for it in a moments notice and slit the throat of her attacker, but where were they?? She started to toss and turn but the calming voice of the medic slowed her down once more.
"Where are my friends? What happened to them?" asked Alice. The desperation in her voice was obvious.
"They're alright, they got a little shaken and they've got a few cuts but they're ok Alice."
"How do you know my name?"
His smile was reassuring, yet strange.
"We heard you were coming Alice when you were on the ship over the seas. Your lucky I got to you, if it was any other medic, I'm sure you'd be taken away by now."
"Your part of the rebell....." She began to ask, but he clapped his hand about her mouth gently. He took it away slowly when he realised that she had her knife pointed to his side below his ribs. As he pulled away, she sheathed her blade.
"Who are you?"
"Questions are risky in the streets," he began "why do you think the crowds make so much chatter?"
"Good point." She thought.
"I'll take you to your flat and I'll get back to you later," his eyes suddenly went into a piercing glare as if he was drilling a message into her mind, "but NO MORE QUESTIONS for now!"
Alice was getting tired of trusting complete strangers but if this person was working for freedom and choice instead of order and rigidity, he looked a lot better. She kept reminding herself as he led her into another carriage, cracked the whip and led her out of the centre.
One of the bandersnatch medics looked towards them as they both strode away as he was tending to one of the victims and grimaced to himself. He looked over to another one of the medics and shook his head, to which the response was a simple look and a shrug of the shoulders. With this simple yet wordless message, they had revealed themselves to a nearby guard who ushered them both to a nearby ally. Inaudible voices were heard, followed by muffled struggling and 2 small catch sounds of a blinker on full power as 2 dull thuds hit the floor and were hauled away by 2 officers of the bandersnatch cavalry.
"No-one is getting the bounty on her yet!" he said to himself "Not before she's finished doing our job."
Alice was now sitting the room of a place that her medic friend had brought her to. She felt resentment on being told what to do like a little girl but she decided (reluctantly) to do as she was told. She looked into the mirror in a nearby bathroom and her reflection didn't speak a word. She didn't move of her own free will and she didn't copy the solitary tear that rolled off her cheek. She was hunted, and all of her friends were so far away.
Helpless,
Alone....
Bricks and Lash were continuing their escort to Alice and they were all proceeding in the direction of a place called "Central District" which according to Lash was the main financial centre of the whole island. It was a place of maths, statistics, and science and there were several major buildings that certain companies had built themselves and had become monuments in their own way.
As they strolled into the district, there seemed to be more people bustling around the pavements and more jabberspawn drawn carriages on the street and the buildings seemed to have a more majesty about them and most of which were so tall, the tops of them were not visible to Alice's eye. They simply disappeared into the clouds but all of them had the same linkages between buildings, brimmed with people. It seemed that so impossible that so small a people could manufacture and construct in such a hurried pace.
"How long did it take your people to build all of this?" asked Alice in amazement and curiosity.
She suddenly remembered her companions were not historians and compared to other bandersnatch, they weren't the brightest amongst the crew. However she was surprised by their answer.
"It didn't take that long actually to build the city." Replied Lash
"Most of the basics of the buildings were here already, and were wrecks and ruins because of the chaos and the fighting before the Ordermaster" interrupted Bricks, almost as if it was obligatory. This caught Alice's attention. The Queen of Hearts was fond of re-writing the memories of her subjects to legitimise her orders. Could the same mechanisms be working here??
"The big companies all pulled their resources after the new order came along, but the biggest of the lot was Bandersnatch Opticals. They have the biggest workforce and the most money." continued Lash.
"Well, do they have a building like these ones??" asked Alice.
"Yea" replied Lash and he began to lead her around the corner through the bustling crowd.
Alice went willingly as her curiosity compelled her to explore. However, something was bothering her. She couldn't see the people in the links high above her between the buildings, but she could feel someone watching her. She couldn't tell from where though...
She was right. High up under one of the links a pair of eyes were monitoring her and following her, and when they couldn't see her no more, another pair of eyes took their place. All of this as being watched in the building not 100 yards away from where she was walking, and as she walked, people were talking, events were happening and buttons were being pressed. Something was about to happen.
People were moving down below on the streets, masked by many thousands of others. And they were being watched too.
Alice turned the corner and looked where Bricks was pointing, The tower before her rose high in the sky and had an ominous feeling about it which made her shiver down to her bones.
The tower before her had spires that curled out of the sides that formed an ordered lattice linking shapes together and there was a large clock halfway up the tower amidst the spires. It was high enough to be seen by the people on the ground but it was obvious by its decorations of cogs, hammers and strange shapes that it was meant to be looked upon. This clock, this entire building was in the middle of the district and judging by it's shape it was possibly the centre of the island, and this building demanded respect. Because of it's monument to the steady order of life, you could feel that this tower had eyes. Judging by the way Lash and Bricks looked at it, she could tell they were slightly intimidated.
"This is the head building of Bandersnatch Opticals, The home of the Order Maker and where most of the big decisions are made." quoted Bricks and Lash between them.
"Impressive" replied Alice "I get the feeling I'll be having a look around sooner or..."
Her sentence was interrupted sharply, abruptly and painfully.
One of the empty carriages behind her suddenly and violently exploded sending shards of wood and a shower of splinters all over everyone standing near it and scorching the wall of nearby buildings.
All three of the travellers were hurled off their feet by the blast and Alice was thrown down onto the floor. As she nursed her now aching head, she looked up and saw the clock of the tower looking down upon her. Every tick was like a repeat of the blast and every slight movement of the giant, twisted hands failed to cushion her from the shock of the force. This clock was cold, and filled with malice. To even look upon it made her feel cold.
Someone was trying to talk to her but it was garbled by the ringing in her ears. She shook he head and the white noise seem to fade with every shudder. She eventually heard a voice.
"Alice? You OK?"
It was a Bandersnatch that she had never seen before. He was dressed in a while and his most noticeable feature were his blue eyes that seemed to reach into the back of your mind and relax you.
"Come on Alice, you can make it" the voice seemed to say. It was almost melodic.
Alice came around with bandersnatch in white uniforms and armed guards cordoning off the area and mechanics searching through what was left of the carriage.
She got to her feet and surveyed the scene around her. There were innocent people lying in the streets surrounded by these medics. Scorch marks were on the walls, the floor and the flesh of the nearby people as wooden shards were scattered amongst the wreckage. The picture was that of true hate and chaos. Some was trying to kill. More to the point, someone was trying to kill her!!
The sudden panic overcame her, She reached her arm behind her back and felt her knife, it was still there, she could reach for it in a moments notice and slit the throat of her attacker, but where were they?? She started to toss and turn but the calming voice of the medic slowed her down once more.
"Where are my friends? What happened to them?" asked Alice. The desperation in her voice was obvious.
"They're alright, they got a little shaken and they've got a few cuts but they're ok Alice."
"How do you know my name?"
His smile was reassuring, yet strange.
"We heard you were coming Alice when you were on the ship over the seas. Your lucky I got to you, if it was any other medic, I'm sure you'd be taken away by now."
"Your part of the rebell....." She began to ask, but he clapped his hand about her mouth gently. He took it away slowly when he realised that she had her knife pointed to his side below his ribs. As he pulled away, she sheathed her blade.
"Who are you?"
"Questions are risky in the streets," he began "why do you think the crowds make so much chatter?"
"Good point." She thought.
"I'll take you to your flat and I'll get back to you later," his eyes suddenly went into a piercing glare as if he was drilling a message into her mind, "but NO MORE QUESTIONS for now!"
Alice was getting tired of trusting complete strangers but if this person was working for freedom and choice instead of order and rigidity, he looked a lot better. She kept reminding herself as he led her into another carriage, cracked the whip and led her out of the centre.
One of the bandersnatch medics looked towards them as they both strode away as he was tending to one of the victims and grimaced to himself. He looked over to another one of the medics and shook his head, to which the response was a simple look and a shrug of the shoulders. With this simple yet wordless message, they had revealed themselves to a nearby guard who ushered them both to a nearby ally. Inaudible voices were heard, followed by muffled struggling and 2 small catch sounds of a blinker on full power as 2 dull thuds hit the floor and were hauled away by 2 officers of the bandersnatch cavalry.
"No-one is getting the bounty on her yet!" he said to himself "Not before she's finished doing our job."
Alice was now sitting the room of a place that her medic friend had brought her to. She felt resentment on being told what to do like a little girl but she decided (reluctantly) to do as she was told. She looked into the mirror in a nearby bathroom and her reflection didn't speak a word. She didn't move of her own free will and she didn't copy the solitary tear that rolled off her cheek. She was hunted, and all of her friends were so far away.
Helpless,
Alone....