By Luca Nobleman
“I wasn’t always a soldier, Leroy,” Alice growled as she piloted her hundred-foot-tall, gear-powered, British Mark VII Mecha, overlooking the coast of Praia do Guincho, Portugal.
“Oh?” the young French lieutenant remarked through the AM radio system as he sat in the adjacent American-made Ford T1919 Mecha.
“I grew up a proper Victorian girl in the English countryside.”
“You?”
She smothered her cigarette on the armrest. “Yes, me.”
“How’d you become a Mecha pilot?”
“I lost my family in the Titan attacks of 1899.”
“Well, a lot has changed in the past twenty-five years.”
“Not me.” Alice sneered.
“Clearly. I mean you gotta be in your seventies.”
“Sixty-eight, Leroy,” she spat.
“All right, chaps, quit your yappin’ and focus!” Captain Wheelright’s Irish accent interrupted through the com-set. “Titans spotted at an azimuth of 290 degrees, thirty kilometers out and moving.”
Alice peered out of the flight deck due west. Black exhaust billowed from her fellow International Federation Alliance (IFA) Mechas. The ocean lapped at their massive grade A steel feet. Each towering machine glowed an ethereal blue from within. The ore powering the machines, Caerulum, was a godsend. Its discovery by the Turks and subsequent use as a superconductor by the Germans redefined mechanical warfare in the early 1900s, changing the course of history. With the help of Nikola Tesla, the Americans created the first Caerulum-powered Mechas in 1912, allowing humankind a fighting chance against the monstrous Titans.
Alice strained her tired eyes as she peered past the Mechas into the horizon. I could really go for a cup of Earl Grey. She conceded to her other vice instead, lighting another cigarette. The glare of the setting sun forced her eyelids shut. Alice surrendered to its warmth, and her breathing deepened.
A sudden and unexpected voice echoed behind her seat. “You really should quit those things. They cause cancer.”
With reflexes born from years of combat training, Alice simultaneously unbuckled, spun, and aimed her pistol at the extra control room seat. A masked woman sat there, turning a blue crystal in her scarred and aged fingers.
“Who are you? How’d you get in here?” Alice gritted her teeth.
“Alice, do you remember that old dream?
“Dream? Who are you?”
“I am the Codifier. A Timekeeper.”
“Coda-whatee?”
“The Jaroweth—well I guess you knew him as a talking cat,” the masked woman corrected herself, “informed me you discovered the anomaly as a child.”
“The anomaly?”
“Wonderland.”
Images of a smoking caterpillar and a mad hatter rushed through Alice’s mind.
“But it was just a dream!”
“Was it, though?” The masked woman stopped spinning the crystal. “You entered the anomaly via a dream state. A rare ability you have, my friend. The anomaly is where the Earth keeps its soul—a place where time stands still and the laws of physics constantly rewrite themselves. My ancestors, the elves, discovered it in ancient times. But afterward, the anomaly created a construct within the realm to protect itself from outsiders. A ruler of sorts.”
“The Queen of Hearts,” Alice whispered.
“Correct.”
A sudden shudder rumbled beneath them, and Alice glanced out the window to see a Titan rising from the sea.
“I don’t have time for this.” Alice turned back to her seat, gripping the joysticks.
“It’s the only thing you do have time for.” The woman stood. “You’re a Dreamspeaker. You possess a rare genetic trait that allows you to communicate with others across time and space.”
“What are you talking about? I’d ask you to get off my Mecha, but there’s no time.” Alice primed the gears. Mechas around her rushed into the sea, unloading their massive guns into the Titan. The rocky, ogrelike behemoth covered its glowing blue eyes from the onslaught and roared.
“As the Codifier, I must inform you that your world is near the brink of destruction.”
“No kidding.” Alice flipped switches on her console.
“But you can save it.”
Alice’s ears perked up.
“Humankind has mined the life source of the planet. Your Mechas run off the same ore that powers the Titans. Your only chance of survival is to return the planet’s soul to the anomaly.”
“Listen, lady, you’re crazy. Can’t you see that monster out there?” Alice moved the joysticks on each side of her seat. Her Mecha’s arms mirrored her movements.
Rough fingertips gripped Alice’s temple, as the Codifier whispered a mysterious language. Sudden unwanted contact by another person would have normally caused Alice to break their wrist, but instead, she froze in place, mind erupting into a vision of violence and destruction across her world. The woman’s voice echoed in her head as the images flowed. “This is your future if you do not act now.”
The truth of the Codifier’s vision permeated Alice’s being.
“The only way for you to stop it is to return to Wonderland and summon its soul back.”
Alice gasped as the Codifier let go of her temple. The images still seared her psyche.
“But how? I’m no elf like you, Miriel.” Alice panted, the vision having revealed the Codifier’s identity.
“The Caerulum.” Miriel placed the crystal in Alice’s hand.
As her fingers closed around it, a white rabbit materialized on her console. Alice jumped back and looked up at the Codifier, who nodded.
The rabbit checked its pocket watch and hopped toward the rear of the control room.
“So, if I follow this rabbit, I’ll return to…”
“The anomaly,” the Codifier whispered.
“And then what?”
“Find the grinning cat.”
The woodland creature jumped down the dark ladder shaft, and Alice gave into her curiosity… and her desperation.
She approached the ladder and peered into the belly of the machine. “You better be right.”
“I always am.” The masked woman bowed.
Alice crawled into the darkness, and the sound of fighting Mechas faded. All materiality melted away, and a broad, sharp-toothed smile illuminated the black void.
“Welcome back, Alice. My, you’ve changed.”
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Great story. You have a talent. Love you.
Gendo Ikari watches from Central Dogma as Alice abandon her pilot’s chair. He’s down one mecha, and the fight hasn’t even started. The titans are closing in. He turns to his son…
“Get in the robot, Shinji.”
Yesssssssssss. Except Yui Ikari steps in and says, “No, Gendo. Shinji must brush his teeth and clean his room before stepping foot in Unit-01!”
Always love to read your work!
Thank you so much! Glad you like it!
Wow, quite the contrast to Alice in Wonderland! I really look forward to these stories to come out!
Wow, quite the contrast to Alice in Wonderland! I really look forward to these stories to come out!
Haha, Alice as an older chain-smoking veteran mecha pilot seemed just about right.
Yep, alternate history… my cup of Earl Grey tea.
Haha, yeah, alternate history tickles my fancy as well!
The idea that Wonderland keeps Earth’s soul would appeal to Lewis Carroll.
Why, thank you, Pamela! He was quite a fantastic chap, wasn’t he? I loved how he incorporated his mathematics degree into his writing, using base 18 rather than 10 for Alice’s calculations of 4 x 5 equaling 12. It is so intriguing.
PS loved your addition to the Wild Brooms series! “Alice Draws Attention.”
Oh, my, and what a cliffhanger! Brilliant, unique, wonderfully done.
Thank you so much, Rosemarie! I really appreciate the kind words!
This story is way out there creatively, and that’s meant as a huge compliment!
Thanks, Mr. Doran! That means a lot coming from a creative genius like yourself!
I love how you have entwined Alice in Wonderland in a futuristic story. Hope you publish more chapters soon!
Thanks! Definitely will. Check out Harmony Star’s chapter in the Timekeepers series next month, and Dorian Gray will play his part in October. Thanks for reading!
Fantastic and gritty.
Thanks!