Alice on the Outside-in

Part 5

Walking further on, and more suspicious than before, another area lit up ahead. There was yet another creature, similar to the unspeaking one I had met earlier but its form was like something or someone had poured its contents into a soft, skinlike bag, bulges emerging from all angles, repositioning themselves every time the creature moved. It was disgusting yet strangely intriguing to watch. The creature was busy painting a picture of an image shown before it hanging from wires and electrical devices.

"Err...hello?"

The bulging form turned to me, shrugged its shoulders and returned to painting what looked like some computer desktop background, with sky, grass and a sun. However, the creature had no idea about colours.

"Excuse me, but why is the sky pink?"

"Isn't it obvious? Because I don't have any blue."

"Oh. Right." A creature who couldn't speak or spell and now one with no sense or lack of colour. At least this one wasn't devouring a program. Was this place only inhabited by programs and crazy ones, at that? "But...but you have some yellow, so why is the sun brown?"

"I have more brown than yellow. Stop interrupting me, I am working."

"Working? Good work if you can get it. But brown, that's handy. What happens when you need to paint, say, trees?"

It was a pleasant change that this one was ignoring me, but now it slammed down its brush and paint palette onto its large easel.

"I refuse to paint trees! I have told them time and time again never to send me pictures of trees to paint! If they send me one more picture of a tree, I'll, I'll...!"

"Burst?" The bulges had started moving in some rhythmic dance around its body.

"Freeze. I was going to say freeze. Now, go away, you pest! I have art to create!"

It shooed me away and although I enjoyed its unattentive company, I went. Far away in the distant horizon there was another much larger conglomeration of lights appearing which I wished to investigate. Perhaps that was the 'main processor', I had no idea. One more exclamation came from the thing as I walked off.

"Oh, damn! They changed the picture! I've told them so many times before, take it off screensaver mode!"

My feet hurt and I was becoming weary of all this walking around and getting nowhere. Where was I? What were these things? Where was the 'main processor'? Where was Bunny? And who...I caught a flash of white run past.

"What?" There it was again.

"I'm late, so late!" The fluffy white tail was unforgettable.

"Bunny? Bunny!" A familiar face popped out from the shadows.

"Yes?"

"Bunny!" I opened my arms but Bunny took a step back.

"And who might you be?" Keeping out of my reach, Bunny crept forwards, curious to know who I was.

"It's Alice, your Alice."

"Alice, Yuralice? I'm sure I don't quite know one of those...but no matter. Are you off to the trial? I will be ever so late."

"Late? Trial? What trial?"

"The trial of Rodgeroffsky versus the Ultimate Viruses of Power, of course! Come, come, do keep up." And Bunny was off, disappearing with a hop, skip and jump into the immense nothingness.

For a moment I stood there and then dropped to the floor, exhausted, distraught. Having finally found Bunny only for him to leave without recognising me was demoralising. How many years had I kept him next to me, cuddling him, holding him, taking him to the shops with me and dragging him along in the mud? Tears rolled down my cheeks.

"Still here, I see."

"Wha...who is it?" The voice was familiar, and once the face appeared, so was that. I wiped one hand across my face. "Oh, it's you, again."

The Winchester worm rotated and held its head up.

"Not really your day, is it?"

"No. I want to go home. I've had enough of this place. Doing my Maths homework is better than this and that's saying something."

"Would you like to write your homework?" The worm burped and out popped a little floating paperclip with eyes and a mouth. "Oh, those help programs repeat on me, sorry." The apparition evaporated leaving a bad smell in the air.

"Phew."

"You must go."

"Yes, but which way?" I whimpered.

"Does it matter? So long as it is...away."

"Has anybody ever told you that you are quite rude?"

"Quite, no." And with that, it rolled away and slipped down a hole. Before I had a chance to get up, it popped its head out. "Oh, by 'that' way, you're wanted as a witness."

It nodded over to the large source of light I'd spotted earlier. The more I looked, the more details I saw. Without moving a muscle, the source came closer and I was soon in the midst of it all, standing amongst strange forms and creatures.