1 Cheshire Spies

DIMENSION: WONDERLAND

Place: Behind a HUMANA Meeting

Licking his paw, Cheshire stayed out of distance. Alice disobeyed him. Oh, it was only a matter of time for that little girl to grow up. Human lives were so short, that was what he thought. Helping that little girl, giving her some basic power to live longer, he thought it would be best.

No, no. Alice grew up, went into secrecy, started her own organization, and now this? He felt his claws become longer. This was not the Wonderland style he had been so fond of. This was a war he did not want to join.

The humans inside continued to talk while Cheshire continued to groom. Grooming was so important, you know. Cheshire's don't naturally look that nice. Then again, he had no competition. There was no one left of his species, simply him. All the games his kind used to play, they were simply dreams now.

"Do you have any pangs of guilt for what we're doing?" a woman asked as she looked around the room. Nervous human, not a surprise considering what they had been doing. Cheshire simply spread out his front paws and curled up tighter. "We are ruining the lives of two good people, Joe," the human woman spoke again.

"Missed opportunity if we don't, Chantal," her partner reminder her. "One human, and we'll make sure it was one of the non-free ones. One trapped by a contract willingly. As for the other, that guy isn't any more wonderful than all the other aliens on this god forsaken planet."

Cheshire opened his eye in the man's direction. How crude.

"She is still a human," Chantal said as she looked through folders.

"Nothing's human here. They become something else, something primal," Joe said as he picked up another folder. "If it wasn't for the fact we were all gutted before being taken to this place, I'd rather kill the thing."

Honestly. Cheshire's fur stood up slightly. He almost hissed, but he didn't need them to know he was there. Sinking Alice would be fun if they suspected double crossing…yet it would be redundant. She would need to see for herself how awful this plan had been. This would not work, Cheshire knew it. He turned over, licking his back paw. There was no need for concern yet, he should stay out of the way. For now. He closed his eyes, waiting for them to finish.

"What if this doesn't work? What if there's something were not thinking of? What if there's a law to make sure this doesn't happen?"

"If there was, they wouldn't gut us all. No, they know if they messed up, there's hell to pay. We are going to give them hell to pay, Chantal. One baby, that's it. Just one from a human that's reproductive."

"I still don't know if this will work. The natives never had rights."

"Universal laws, Chantal. I don't care how good they are, humans are a recognized leader of the planet Earth. It doesn't matter who is responsible for us. We aren't a meat market to pick and choose. We are humans, with human rights. This has to work. If it doesn't, the human race is over. Wonderland will eventually win."

Trademarks. Patents. Licensing. Oh, all the legal talk was such a bore. For now, many dimensions the queen wanted were out of her reach. But Wonderland had limited rights it could explore. As long as the 'picking' didn't cause wars. As long as it didn't disrupt the environment or the ecosystem of another dimension. The chosen were often alone in open areas. In the country, in fields, and simple areas with limited people hanging around to be witness.

If only Cheshire's kind had been that lucky. Ooh, what was that in the corner? He crept around the humans, seeing a yummy morsel flitting to a hole.

"How is it looking over there?"

"I don't know. So far all of them are good. I wanted to find a . . .oh. This one is actually contracting with that betrayer, Preston Carrington. No, wait, his boss? She hasn't even told him yet that she is trying to be a contractee." Chantal's partner raised his head. "Do you see what I mean? No decency anymore. No marriage, just obedience."

Well. Cheshire tried to stifle a laugh. The morsel could get away, this conversation had become interesting. These humans, under Alice's HUMANA organization, they were a fun bunch. They thought they understood all the under belly of Wonderland…when they hardly had a clue.

"Age?"

"Twenty-One."

"That's young. Can't we go older?"

"Not a lot of humans want to willingly give their lives into slavery," her partner answered, "and there aren't many to pick from. You can't shove a baby to a good human because she's forty. Nuh uh. Her."

Age as well. Species, age, these humans. Cheshire felt almost ashamed he ever helped Alice with her little problem. Sending her back home and leaving her there, that's what he should have done. She would have grown old, died, and not continued to be a thorn in his side. Silly, silly Cheshire he had been.

"She hasn't even told Carrington yet," the ignorant man said again. "Fine, yes, if she's rejected, we'll find another one if we can. The native though, it's easy. The leader."

"She is just so young, and the leader of that pack? Why him?"

Pack, did she say Pack? Well, no wonder she was there. Her ethics were as misled as the man's own. Cheshire spotted his morsel in the corner but decided not to pursue. The humans had made him lose his appetite. His food had more compassion than those humans.

He was getting tired of humans. Perhaps it was time that he switched his appetite toward them? They preferred not to be there anyway; it would be a service.

"It'll be perfect. I wish I could see the fireworks," the human laughed, his mouth large. "That traitor Preston has always skirted relations with the mafia, this would fix him for good."

"This is supposed to be for the human race, not your own grudges."

"Best candidates. Prime position. Protest if you want but come on. The time is now. This is for the sake of Earth. For the sake of every humans' rights. For humanity's future, Chantal."

"For humanity's future. Shay Austin and the original."

For the love of a little kibble. Cheshire wished he could do it, sink his teeth into their meat. Oh, but old habits and memories died hard. Hearing the name of innocence in trouble, that conscience of his bit back.

He closed his eyes. He had glimpsed the future, and it was not what they wanted. Destiny would not be rushed. Besides, humans were often too gamey anyway.

***

DIMENSION: APOCALYPSE SUN'S

Place: Dominic Closin's Home in Liberal, Kansas.

Cheryl heard the light scratching of the pencil to paper behind her. She was cooking on the stove, but she could hear that sound over anything. It was the sound of trouble with her brother. Dominic, a twelve-year-old with a bright future ahead of him, had a significant problem.

He saw things that weren't actually there.

When Dominic was younger, the images came to him only occasionally. As he matured with age the visions appeared more often. He had many pictures and drawings of the people Cheryl couldn't see.

Scritch scritch scratch. That sound. That pencil. "Dominic, you should go play outside for a little while."

"I can't right now," he answered as he looked toward her. "She's out there." He went back to his drawing.

Scritch scritch scratch.

A part of Cheryl wanted to believe that he could see the unseen, but it couldn't be true. She had a thought about it once and looked into it. There were such a thing as mediums, but they saw dead people. People that had lived and passed on. Ghosts and spirits.

Dominic didn't believe that he saw ghosts or spirits. He believed that he saw into different dimensions.

Not just any dimensions. Fairytales. Places that could never exist except in children's stories or imagination.

"I've told you once," Cheryl said to her brother as she turned off the stove. After fixing Dominic's food, she would often fix her own share. There would be quiet in the house while Dominic played outside. There wasn't a big table in their house, she would have to sit somewhere else if he didn't finish up and go outside. "Dominic."

"She's out there."

Cheryl turned her attention back to him. He was staring out the screen of the front door. She glanced toward it herself, but was not surprised when she saw no one behind it. She fixated back toward Dominic who stopped his drawing to eat some of his bread.

Today, she would have to eat on the couch. It would be nice to have a big enough table where they could eat at the same time without feeling claustrophobic. Cheryl served up the food from her pan onto a plate. Her house was not the most respectable, many would be surprised it even had someone living in it.

It was what Cheryl could afford. She had no high school degree, and no work experience. When she was eighteen, her parents were both lost in a car wreck. Her parents had been caring, but the family tree had not been. They were treated like complete strangers.

Her aunt and uncle helped her out with some money. She thanked them each month, trying to show how grateful she had been that they didn't abandon her and her brother. She couldn't afford college, or to ever leave Kansas, but she could still raise herself and Dominic.

Ever since the day he had been born, Dominic had acted different. He never got into trouble, and always did as he had been told. A dream child any parent would love to have, but as he became old enough to communicate, Cheryl knew he would have problems the older he matured. Her aunt and uncle paid his medical bill to a special doctor that lived near them, and he worked with Dominic.

A bright kid, sweet, but he didn't always respond to the world. He believed he was seeing different worlds separate from his own. Still, even though he wasn't always the best communicator, he was someone she loved dearly. The last of her family.

Dominic had to be home schooled too. Cheryl received extra money not to send him to public school. Cheryl herself didn't want him to go either, fearing how others may treat him.

"She's out there, Cheryl," Dominic repeated from the table as he ate his last piece of food. "Don't make me go out there. She is too sad. She doesn't want to marry anyone. I want to tell her it's okay, but she can't hear me." He brushed his light hair out of the way as he picked up his plate. "Cheshire wants to help her."

"What?" Cheryl approached her brother with her plate.

"Cheshire." Dominic repeated casually as he set his dish in the sink. "He wants to help."

Cheryl almost lost it as she landed in Dominic's previous spot on the kitchen seat. "Who is Cheshire?" She probably knew the answer.

"The. . ." Dominic fidgeted with his fingers. "The special creature from Wonderland."

Cheryl closed her eyes. She would have expected by his age that the doctor would have given him some kind of medication to help. He was the only doctor her aunt and uncle would allow to see Dominic. The trusted family doctor.

They had always known best, so she had to go with his opinion. She wanted to speak to Dominic about what he saw, tell him it wasn't real, or that he was confusing fairytales with something else. Maybe he was a medium? She expected it, the way he seemed so sure of things. She wasn't supposed to though. Although it would make her feel better, the doctor said it would not help. He alone spoke to Dominic about the matters.

"I know you don't believe me," Dominic said to her. "I have trouble trusting myself sometimes, but it's all coming together. The end."

"The end?" Cheryl sighed as she tipped her head back. "What do you mean?"

"When worlds collide, it will be the end of days." Dominic walked off toward the screen door. "Some have been trapped while others have come back and forth. The apocalypse isn't a simple boom with the Earth being destroyed. It's the end of everything." He pressed his hand against the glass of the door. "It's coming."

Cheryl took a bite of her food and shook her head. Dominic was far from a normal twelve year old. He had gifted intelligence. If only he didn't think he saw fairytales. Who knew how far he could have gone in the world?

He'd get past Kansas.