Rattle The Stars

Chapter Two: Captain Bones

Alice stepped through the green light. She paused, her eyes shrouded in darkness, and blinked.

“What is that?” A growling voice asked somewhere nearby.

“Dunno. Looks human, whatever it is.”

“Oy, Two-Legs!”

Alice humphed. “Well, that’s hardly a proper name for a lady, is it?”

Cackles of laugher erupted all around her, and Alice realized there were many more men nearby. She rubbed her eyes, willing them to adjust to the dim green light of the doorway behind her. She could finally make out a silhouette, and then a grinning, alien, fox-like face. She gasped.

“Sorry, missie,” the alien said. “Didn’t mean to scare ya.”

“Say, are you from Montressor?”

She turned to face another of the aliens and took a step back. This one was even stranger-looking, with a pointed face and drooping eyes like a turtle. His wide eyes reminded her of something, or of someone. A smiling cat, disappearing little by little until his lamplike eyes and glowing grin were all that remained.

Wonderland. The name resonated with that feeling of deja vu she’d had falling down the rabbit hole. That’s where she was.

“I must be in Wonderland.”

The aliens all laughed again.

“We aint’ never heard of Wonderland.”

She watched them as they laughed, their grotesque features even more eerie in the green light. They didn’t seem unfriendly, but something about them gave Alice a feeling of deep wariness somewhere in the pit of her stomach. They didn’t know what Wonderland was. But how could they not? How could this place not be Wonderland, the same Wonderland she’d seen before?

“Where did you come from, then?” It was the turtle-faced alien speaking again.

“Well, I…” Alice looked back to the giant doorway. She’d fallen down the rabbit hole, that was certain, and she was sure she’d done it the first time, too. The door had said so. It only made sense that this place should be Wonderland. Or perhaps they were only in a different part, or perhaps Wonderland was only one place in a much larger world. Wonderland had been a world of nonsense, after all. Perhaps these aliens were only lying.

“Where is this place?” She asked.

“Well, lass,” said the turtle-faced alien, “this would be Treasure Planet.” He gestured out behind her, past the triangular door.

She turned and gasped. They stood on the outcropping of a rocky cliff, overlooking a barren stone landscape that stretched out in an endless, gray sheet. It was perfectly dreadful, and yet her heart thrilled at the thought that they stood so high up.

“Oy, why’d you tell ‘er that?”

“Shut yer yap!” The turtle-faced alien’s hand came to rest on Alice’s shoulder. “She ain’t no threat.”

“How d’you know?”

“Listen, missie.” The turtle-faced alien turned her around again. His leathery, wrinkled face held no trace of malice. “I dunno how you stumbled through that door, but yer obviously lost.”

Alice nodded. “Apparently, I am.” She was lost, and though her adventure had been granted, she found herself wishing for the safety and fragrant calm of the meadow.

“How’s about joinin’ us on our voyage? We can take you back to Montressor. I’m sure yer family’s there waitin’ on ya.”

“Cap'n, I don’t think—”

The turtle-faced alien turned then and silenced the dissenter with a resounding slap across his fox-like face.

“Haven’t I told you to shut it? What would ya have me do? Leave ‘er here to starve?”

Starving? Alice didn’t like that idea in the slightest.

“She could be a spy from the cyborg.” Another alien, this one short and frog-faced, spoke up.

“I’m not a spy,” she said. “I just want to find my way home.”

“See now?” The alien called Bones patted her back. She stumbled to keep her feet. “She’s perfectly harmless.” He smiled at her. “What do you say to a little dinner before we’re off, eh?”

“Well.” Alice twisted her hands in front of her. “I am a little hungry, and could use a spot of tea.”

“Tea!” The aliens roared with laughter, and Bones threw one great arm over Alice’s shoulders. “We’ve got tea, all right! Though I warn you, lass, it’s a bit rough around the edges, bitter, if you know what I mean. Think you can handle it?”

Alice gave a nervous laugh. “Well, I’m sure it can’t be as perfectly horrible as Sister’s.”

The aliens laughed again, and Alice, feeling a bit less frightened, thought they made a rather humorous bunch.

AlyCatAuthor