By Suzie Anne
A low whine drags me from sleep. I push off the cold floor—wait. Why am I on the floor? The forgotten command room—probably used for training—comes into focus, and images flash through my mind. The team getting ready to enter the forest. A glowing purple light encasing—
“Alice?” I jump up and spin around, searching every corner.
There’s no sign of her white apron or blonde hair.
The low whine pitches higher, and I whirl back to the screen and freeze. My little sister is in the game. The other players—or are they people who were sucked in, too?—are arrayed around her in a semi-circle.
My body goes numb. I stagger to the chair and collapse into it, automatically grasping my headset’s wire and tugging it up and on.
“Charlotte?” C4t3rp1ll3r’s low voice fills my ears.
“C4t3rp1ll3r?”
“You know…” He shakes his head. “It doesn’t matter. We need to move in case they decide to reset it.”
“You’re all in the game?” Disbelief and horror fill me.
“Yes.” Wh1teQu33n’s voice is flat. C4t3rp1ll3r circles his hand in the air like he always does before a mission. The others hesitate for a second, then turn and rush into the barracks.
“What are you doing? You can’t run a mission with Alice. She’s eight years old!”
“We must. Defeating the Queen of Hearts is the only way to escape.”
“But—”
“From all I’ve learned, this was designed for adults. I don’t know how long a child can survive here.” He glances at Alice’s health bar, which is two bricks short of the three they start each day with. “Or if death here is permanent.” He looks up for the first time since I woke up. “If we’re going to succeed, we must have your help. This is the first time we’ve made it this far.”
Can I trust him? I was going to ask him to meet up at the next spaceport after today’s session. My fingers toggle the zoom-in feature, magnifying Alice’s paler-than-normal face. “Okay.” Her fear is too much, and I zoom out again.
C4t3rp1ll3r nods. “I will protect your sister with my life.” He leads Alice into the barracks. Over the next few minutes, the others file back out, dressed for battle. When all eight plus Alice are back, C4t3rp1ll3r leads them into the forest that marks the start of the Queen of Hearts’s territory.
The team quickly navigates the forest, my HUD directions helping them avoid the sentries, and slips through the abandoned tunnels into the Queen of Hearts’s keep. We’ve run this part of the quest every day this past week, but we’ve never gotten past the great hall.
C4t3rp1ll3r raises his fist in front of the door that will spit them out of the tunnels and under the queen’s icy regard. “No one talks but me. Remember what we’ve learned the previous attempts. We’re only guaranteed one shot at reuniting Alice and Charlotte, and after all Charlotte’s done for us, we’re not going to fail her.”
He eases forward and opens the door, expanding the view on my screen to the great hall. I’ve never been confined to a player’s limited view, but if we want to remain in communication, I can’t zoom out to include rooms where none of my teammates are.
“There are no soldiers by this wall.”
C4t3rp1ll3r nods, then steps out, striding across the room with his hand on his sheathed sword. “Queen of Hearts—”
The queen frowns and pushes to her feet. “Guards, seize those intruders.”
“Look at the white rabbit!” Alice’s delighted cry turns all attention to her as she darts away from the rest of the team and around the converging playing-card guards toward a small table set for tea in the corner of the room.
“No! Alice, stop!” My cry jolts Wh1t3Qu33n into motion, but she’s too late.
“Hello, Sir Rabbit.” Alice curtsies. “I do hope you’ll allow me to join you for tea.”
The rabbit’s nose twitches nervously, his gaze sliding to where the Queen of Hearts is rising to her feet. “Oh dear, oh dear. I’m sure I can’t issue an invitation to a tea party in the presence of the queen.” He pulls a pocket watch from his waistcoat. “Oh dear, I’m late!” He hops to his feet and dashes off.
“You want to attend my tea party?” The Queen of Hearts slowly descends her dais, her look shifting from angry to calculating. “Very well. Guards, escort the intruders to the table, and find some more chairs. If it is a tea party they want, a tea party they shall have.”
Several cards make their way through the crowd toward the team, and with a sigh, C4t3rp1ll3r moves to the low table. “Your majesty?”
“Do take a seat.” The queen waves her hand as the others join them.
C4t3rp1ll3r moves to pull his chair out, but Alice shakes her head. “Oh, but we could never sit before you and dishonor you.” A disgruntled look twists the queen’s face, but she nods and takes her seat. The tea party passes in awkward silence, with the Queen of Hearts constantly making suggestions Alice refuses as improper.
“Well.” The queen tilts her head back and drains the last of her tea. “Since you’ve defeated me, I suppose you’ll be wanting something for your trouble.”
“Defeated you?”
“We want to go to our real home, please.”
C4t3rp1ll3r’s and Alice’s voices collide.
The queen perks up. “You want to leave? Very well.” She claps her hands, and the screen goes dark.
“Alice? C4t3r—” Multiple glowing lavender domes appear around the room. They grow so bright I squeeze my eyes shut, and then a pair of arms wrap around me.
“Alice?”
“Charlotte!” Alice’s delighted cry is joined by other voices, and I look up, my gaze meeting C4t3rp1ll3r’s for the first time.
He grins as the others crowd around him. “So, where in the world are we?”
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
This was such a unique and creative read!!! It was neat seeing where the story has come since the early version I saw. Congrats, Suzie!!!
Oooooooh, Suzie, I really loved this one. Plenty of mystery but also so satisfying. The character voices are engaging and distinct, and the techno spin on Alice (and those usernames!) is so clever. So so fun!
Clever use of language. I especially liked C4t3rp1ll3r.
The Red Queen claps her hands, beginning the transport protocol. “Good riddance” she thinks as the swirling lavender light envelopes Alice’s body. But before the sequence completes, Alice’s voice was heard uttering a final phrase which resounded through the hall.
“skill issue. git gud.”
Yesss Suzie, so good!! Love the storytelling twist combining elements from familiar tales. Can’t wait to hear more of your writing 🙌
Thanks, Amelie! It was a lot of fun to write, and coming up with the usernames was one of my favorite parts. :)
Thank you, Pamela! I was trying to come up with cool sci-fi sounding names, and then thought, “why not just use ones from the original story, but with a twist?” and thus these were born.
😂 That’s a fun addition, TheLibrarian! Though, Alice is a bit too polite for it. Wh1t3Qu33n, though…
@Esther – best sister ever! <3
Very nice, fun twist on the Alice story and characters – perfectly fitting for Techno Tuesday.
Thank you Rosemarie! It was fun to branch out and work with a spaceship/sci-fi setting for the first time.
Thank you, Rachel! Your insight – especially the help brainstorming the title – was key to making it what it is!
Fun!