Ask Alice Ch. 04

"Looks like a hurricane is brewing in the southern hemisphere, Lieutenant." Crewman Tago observed. "Should I inform New Nippon's weather central?"

"I think they know more about that hurricane than we do," Haiku said.

"New Nippon", Alice whispered to herself.

"Isn't New Nippon a terra formed planet," Matisse asked. "Don't they have control over the weather?"

"Science Officer Chetka, care to inform the cadet?"

"Happy to, Mavis," a guy in a red skin-suit said. The dude was a couple of pounds passed chubby and the suit was not flattering for his flabby shape although his red and gold eye makeup was interesting and helped slim his round face a bit. The guy cleared his throat and said, "Planet New Nippon is one of the older terra forms in the Organized Cluster. At some point in a terra formed planet's cycle, natural forces will take over and... "

"That Norman woman is wearing pilot's silver," Kang whispered to Alice. "That's what we'll be wearing too."

Alice nodded like she knew what that meant.

"Red stripe on the left arm means combat skin-fighter action," Kang went on.

Alice was more interested in Haiku than Norman so she asked, "What does the black striped on the Lieutenant's arm mean?"

"Black ops," Kang whispered, looking at Haiku too. Kang leaned into Alice's and whispered, "She a trained spook. Navy intelligence... maybe even IIW."

"Know a lot about cloak-and-dagger I see," Haiku said in the same low whisper as Cadet Kang. Neither Kang or Alice had seen Haiku step up on them. Kang's eyes grew wide and her face tuned bright red.

"Your mother is Freda Kang right?" Haiku asked in the same low whisper. "She served on the inner cluster council for what? Twelve years? Very few people know of the existence of the IIW. Do you know what the initials stand for cadet Kang? Did your mommy tell you"

Kang whispered, "Internal Imperial Workings, sir."

"That is correct," Haiku said softly. "Perhaps I should send your mom a FTL-mail to inform her on how well schooled her little girl is?"

Haiku gave the sorry cadet a carnivorous smile then Kang and Alice jump when Haiku said loudly, "Enough science geek crap, Chetka. Come kiddies let's check out the the skin-fighter bay."

Science Officer Chetka looked offended at being so rudely interrupted. Everyone else seemed excited to move on though, except for Kang who looked totally miserable. The group filed out into the clean futuristic passageway.

Wait... Alice thought, since this WAS the future, and she a refugee from the past, the passage way was just a passage way, right? She crack a tiny smile at her comic genius moment. Joy would have appreciated the joke. She desperately wanted to meet up with her again even though the Joy Maeda from this world she hardly knew.

Haiku joined Kang at the end of the line to talk in private. The lieutenant was doing most the talking it seemed. Alice was selfishly relieved that Haiku was more focused on Kang than her.

Part three-A blasts from the past

They took a lift down to the so called skin-fighter bay. Although Alice had never been in the belly of an aircraft carrier of her time, she would guess that the activity in the skin-fighter bay wouldn't be that much different. People were running about, drilling, maintaining and servicing the variety of vehicles spread out in the large space. Most of the activity was done by machines or robots it seemed.

"Look! It's a Mustang!" one of the cadets exclaimed excitedly.

Alice stupidly looked around for a Ford until she realized that everyone was looking at a sleek black and red space ship the size of a jet fighter.

"Is that an old bone knife?" Matisse asked, pointing at another craft.

"Yes it is," Haiku said.

"Aren't they a little out of date?" Johannes asked.

"VERY out of date," Haiku said emphatically.

"These were old even during the Kippler revolt," Matisse said.

The silver winged fighter with orange and black trim looked like something out of Star Wars and seemed the most futuristic of all the vehicles in the skin-fighter bay to Alice's opinion which proved that she knew fuck all about things in this world.

"It's one of the captain's many indulgences," Haiku said. "The captain used to fly one of these in his fighter days. Keeps one around just for fun. If he were here, he'd go on ALL day about his adventures in a bone knife."

"You make me sound like such a bore," came a deep male voice from the other side of the fighter.

A six foot tall Polynesian man in his early forties stepped into view. Alice's eyes widened for the guy was a repeat from two other mirrors. He first appeared as a face among many in a crowd of men at an orgy and then again as the actor Harry Hoopii in a quasi porn movie she stared in. She couldn't take her eyes off the man. Like the actor Harry, the man was achingly handsome. He wore a gold color Navy skin-suit. Clearly, they had HIS body in mind when they designed the skin-suits for men.

"Thought you were off ship, captain?" Haiku asked, sounding a little flustered for clearly, the man had heard her running him down moments before.

"Came down here to polish the old girl," he said as he slapped the nose of the small fighter. "A far more productive activity then talking to members of the web council, I think." Kahakaloha had a rag in one hand and a spray bottle of Armorall in the other. "What do we have here?" he asked eying up the cadets.

"Honor cadets," Haiku said. "Giving them a tour of the ship."

"Really? You, Mavis?" Kahakaloha asked with arched eyebrows of disbelief.

"I can be nice," Haiku said, sounding irritated.

The captain chuckled. "Are going to introduce me?"

Alice's companions looked at the Kahakaloha with puppy dog eyes. Even Kang temperately put aside her distress to gawk at the handsome captain.

Haiku said, "Cadets Johannes, Kang, Matisse and Mihara, meet Captain Johnathan, Mokihana Kahakaloha of the Imperial Space Navy, Captain of the ISN Battleship Miami."

The captain gave the group a polite nod and his eyes settled on Alice. He frowned giving her an inquisitive look that made her heart jump and her mind race.

Does he know the other Alice? What the fuck am I gonna do if he does?

"Do I know you from somewhere Miss—" the captain started to ask but Haiku cut him short.

"Couldn't possibly. We have another stop to make. You can continue polishing your thing. Good day captain."

"Enjoy your visit, cadets," the captain called after them sounding a little bewildered.

Haiku fell in step with Alice and she whispered to her," Watch your ass. You're his type, cute, petite and Japanese."

Alice could hear the edge of jealousy in the lieutenant's voice. She soooo wanted this stupid tour to be over with!

They left the skin-fighter bay and took a lift deeper down into the belly of INS Miami.

"Why are we getting a tour of the drive engines?" Matisse whispered to Johannes. "We're fighter recruits not drive geeks."

"Because," Haiku said, proving that she had supernatural hearing, "as fighters you need to know the face of your enemy."

"Pirates," Johannes said sure of herself.

Pirates? Alice thought astounded. Pirates like in Blackbeard? Captain Jack Sparrow? Could pirates possible threaten this monstrous spaceship and its vast trained crew? Seemed unlikely!

"Not pirates," Lieutenant Haiku said in a tone that conveyed her low opinion of cadet Johannes' answer.

They lift door opened and Haiku led the group down a dimly lit hall to a door marked 'SECOND DRIVE CHAMBER: AUTHORIZED PERSONNEL ONLY. Haiku put her hand on a panel near the door.

A deep yet strangely female electronic voice said, "Lieutenant, you are cleared to enter into the second drive chamber but the others with you are not."

"I cleared this with central command, Jessica," Haiku said.

"Not with the captain. I will need his approval to allow the others in."

"Than check with the captain," Haiku said with no small amount of irritation.

"I am not a messenger program to do your bidding, lieutenant. I am the main drive program and you must follow proper Navy and Imperial Corporation protocol."

Haiku mumbled some choice local Hawaii pidgin swear words that were apparently still in use in this distant future. Haiku slapped at the communication panel again. "Captain, will you tell Jessica to allow me to complete my tour?"

The Captain's voice came over the intercom, "Stop being a bitch, Jessica."

The door to the drive chamber opened. The cadets filed in with Haiku behind them. The room was circular and fairly large about the size of a tennis court, a white featureless ceiling loomed ten feet above their heads, at the center of the chamber a large black cube the size of a Hummer ran from floor to ceiling.

"Worm drive inner chamber," Matisse said clearly in competition with Johannes for miss know it all.

Haiku held her arms out and did a small spin. "What is all around us just below this thin layer of plasti-steel?"

"Powerful drive engines!" Johannes barked.

"The drive engines are in another part of the ship, doppler head," Matisse said. "We are surrounded by advanced wormhole technology that feeds the engines."

"Not the answer I'm asking for," Haiku said.

"We are surrounded by gold," Kang whispered.

"Right, gold," Haiku said. She went to a section of the wall and peeled away a piece of white paneling, beneath was a layer of gleaming metallic gold. "Three inches thick, walls, floor and ceiling."

"That's a lot of gold," Alice said impressed.

"And THAT is our true enemy," Haiku said. "The reason for all our woes. The reason there be pirates in the world."

Cadets Matisse and Johannes looked totally confused but Alice got what the lieutenant was getting at... human greed was the reason for the cadet's training. Haiku could see that the lesson was going over the heads of most her audience and so decided to move on. "Ship's computer, bring up four study desks in the outer chamber please."

"The drive chambers are my domain," came Jessica's voice over head sounding too much like Hal the killer computer for Alice's comfort.

"If it's not beneath you, can I have the desks?" Haiku asked with barely contained exasperation.

"You didn't say the magic word," Jessica said.

"Bring up the fucking desks!" Haiku barked. "That magical enough for you?"

Jessica chuckled in a creepy childish way as three college style desk and chair combinations grew out of the floor.

"Plug in," Haiku said.

Alice held back to watch the others. Everyone sat and place their FTL phones on the their desks so Alice did the same. The moment her phone touched the surface of the desk a TV screen about the size of an average laptop appeared in the air before her. The color on the screen was a flat green. Alice reached up to touch it but her hand went right through it. Must me some kind of projection from the desk she figured although she couldn't see how it was done.

"If your screen is anything but green please raise your hand," Haiku said. No one raised their hand. "Good, I'm handing out training head meshes, you know the drill."

Alice didn't and looked at the sealed plastic pouch with fresh panic. She looked around and everyone was tearing open the pouches and shaking out what looked like black mesh pantyhose. The cadets slipped the mesh thing on their heads and a glowing green band flickered into life in the area around their eyes. They looked like a gang about to rob a 7-11. Alice slipped her mesh thing on. The hood impair her vision making it hard to see what the others were doing.

"You seem hesitant," a female voice said coming from her right side.

Alice turned to her right thinking that it was Haiku that had spoken but no one was there. After a couple of beats, Alice said in a whisper, "I'm not sure what to do."

"This is the latest neuro-net training device made to link with a FTL phone," the voice said. "It's no different from the training hoods used at honor flight school. Just tell it to start."

"Um... start?" Alice said.

The world went green then abruptly she found herself standing in the sand on a beach. She staggered back a couple of steps then fell on her butt.

"What the fuck!" she barked. She looked around and saw a woman she immediately recognized as Pansy Dale from the Roman Hotel back in Las Vegas 1983... one mirror ago. She wore a flowered wrap that barely contained her Victoria Secret's figure, her shiny long blond cascaded over her shoulders..

"Pansy?" Alice asked.

"Yes," the woman said. "You seem upset."

"I am," Alice said finding herself near tears, she felt so lost and confused that the sight of a familiar face was such a relief. Alice got to her feet and hugged the woman. "Were am I?" she asked as she held Pansy tight.

"In the INS Miami docked in orbit over planet New Nippon," Pansy said.

"Where did this beach come from?" Alice asked as she pulled away from Pansy to look at her.

"An illusion created by the neuro-net training hood," Pansy said looking back with a furrowed bow. "You are not a huger so clearly, there is something wrong."

"Of course there's something wrong! Everything is wrong!" Alice yelled. "How come you're here all of a sudden?"

"I'm your companion program from your FTL phone." Pansy said her frown deepening, "But you don't know that do you?"

Alice shook her head. "What's a FTL phone?"

"FTL stands for faster than light' although that's an inaccurate description of the device. Your phone uses the latest wormhole technology to bend light and the very fabric of reality to send communications long distances. Nothing reaches the speed of light, the FTL simply takes shortcuts."

The explanation of an FTL phone did nothing to calm Alice.

"I sense that your anxiety is increasing," Pansy said. "Perhaps you should excuse yourself from the tour and I will help you find a local doctor that accepts your insurance."

"No!" Alice said quickly as she forced herself to be calm. "That Lieutenant Haiku spooks me. I don't want her to sink her claws into me like she did with that Kang chick. I survived Las Vegas, I can get through this. Just help me along until the tour is over."

"As you wish," Pansy said. "But my programing will force me to take action if you put yourself or another in danger."

"Can I get hurt in here?" Alice asked.

"None of this is real," Pansy said patiently.

Alice touched Pansy's arm. "You feel so real though?"

"The others are waiting for your arrival at the end of the beach. You best hurry." Pansy blinked out of existence.

Alice broke into a jog. The illusion of reality was perfect, sounds, textures, smells... it was like she was at the beach. Around a small bend she saw Haiku and the rest of the cadets.

"There you are," Haiku said. "I was about to go see if you had a problem with the neuro-net.

Pansy was suddenly among them.

"Personal companions off please," Haiku said when she saw Pansy.

"Alice did have trouble," Pansy said. "Her FTL provider is having trouble hooking up with the ship's network. I may have to pop in now and then to smooth out the link."

"Whatever," Haiku said with a dismissive wave. Pansy gave Alice a shifty wink before blinked out again. Apparently, Haiku bought the story for she didn't say boo about Pansy coming and going. "Welcome to Hookipa Park on the island of Maui, in the Kingdom of Hawaii, on planet Earth," Haiku said

"Should we take notes?" Matisse asked.

"No," Haiku said. "this is just a pretty place that I like to go to. You are all about to receive visual information at a blurring speed. When or if you are able to discern an image, focus on it and it will slow down."

"If we can't focus on a particular image?" Johannes asked.

"Then you can forget about serving on the Miami," Haiku said pleasantly. "Don't worry, there are thousands of other ships you can serve on. A Stanley hauler would be a nice assignment don't you think?" The cadets each held an identical look of disdain. Apparently, a Stanley hauler was beneath their potential. Haiku continued, "If you fail to focus on any image for a reasonable amount of time, the tour is over for you and you will be escorted off the ship."

The cadets eyed each other up clearly excited by the sudden injection of competition. Even Kang recovered a little and seemed to be looking forward to showing up her companions.

Good, Alice thought. All I have to do is blow this test and I'm out of here!

The world around Alice sped like someone had hit the fast forward button in her brain. It made her dizzy at first so she shut her eyes to keep from toppling over. When she opened her eyes again images flashed by her: mountains, trees, buildings, all moving too fast for her to focus on. Good she thought, flunk out and get out.

Then for about a second, she saw the interior of a room filled with people but it flashed away before she could lock in details. Seconds later, she saw the room again, then maddeningly, it flashed away once more. There was something familiar about the room and the people in it. In spite of her intention to flunk, she made the effort to focus and the racing images seemed to be slowing around her. Then abruptly, the world froze on some dense jungle like forest scene. The place felt weirdly familiar her too. In the dense shade of a large gnarly tree was a figure, a woman standing stiff and unmoving. Just as Alice's eyes were adjusting to the gloom under the trees, the scene zipped away and suddenly, she was standing in the room full of people. She knew exactly where she was, it was her bedroom back in Honolulu!

"What the fuck is this?" she said aloud.

"It appears to be a in an old time flat movie," Pansy said suddenly at her side. Pansy no longer wore the flowered wrap and was now dressed in a clinging white dress that showed off her spectacular figure.

"A movie?" Alice asked even more confused. She heard voices coming from the living room and went to investigate. "Holy fuck," Alice whispered when she realized she was on the set of the movie she had starred in with the handsome Harry Hoopii who was Captain Kahakaloha in this world. The movie was at the scene with her standing and the men groped her through her clothing. "I stared in this movie," Alice said.

"That is unlikely," Pansy said. "I estimate that the movie was made on earth in the early twenty first century." Pansy studied the female figure at the center of the grope session. "Although, the likeness to you is uncanny. The film is adapted for 3D walk around. You can move about and watch from any angle as if you were there."

"I WAS there," Alice whispered. She walked around to watch Captain Kahakaloha and three other men groped at Movie Alice's clothed body. "This is... amazing," Alice whispered. She looked around and expected to see a movie set and crew but all she saw was her apartment. "Joy and the film crew are gone," Alice said.

"The film's intent is to create a real space and not a movie set," Pansy said. "Your best friend Joy Maeda was in the movie with you?"

"Yeah. And that Ishani chick too."

"Both your closest friends?"

"I didn't know Ishani back then... I still don't know her."

The groping got hotter as the men reached under movie Alice's dress to get at her body beneath. The other men suddenly pulled away leaving Harry... Captain Kahakaloha... alone with movie Alice. The captain had her dress hiked up with his right hand under her panties.

"Joy had just told the others to back away," Alice said remembering the movie shoot.

"Joy was the director too?" Pansy asked.

"Yes and no. She just kind of took over. In that particular mirror, Joy was a famous porn star named Mandy Almond. The director was a bit of a dope when it came to filming hard core sex. Joy took it upon herself to improve on the quality of the scene."