Wonderland (Intergalactic Fairy Tales Book 1) Read Free

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    “I don’t have time for this,” said the creature. “I’m going to be late. Absolem haggles for so long that I’m probably already going to be missed.”
    “Well, if perhaps you were a bit nicer, I might consider letting you have the mushrooms,” said Alice.
    “And if I try to take them without being nice?”
    Alice drew her sword from her sash and pointed it at the creature’s massive eye. Strangely there wasn’t as much of a reflection as she expected to see. There was a large open space behind the glass of its eye. “Then you shall taste my blade,” said Alice as dramatically as she could.
    “That blade is clearly blunted,” scoffed the creature. “Besides, you’re just a tiny little girl and I’m—oh bugger this, I don’t have the time.”
    “What are you, anyway?” asked Alice, lowering her sword, not because it was too heavy to hold up any longer, because she decided she liked this strange and ornery creature. Her aching arm was relieved anyway.
    “I’m late, that’s what I am. The queen will have my head if I’m not back soon,” muttered the ship-creature. “I’ve got to get my mushrooms and go.”
    Suddenly dozens of tiny tendrils sprouted from either side of the creature’s head and began to pluck the mushrooms and pull them back. Alice shrunk from the strange display. Each of the light pink tendrils was roughly the width of a fingertip. They wrapped carefully around the stems of the mushrooms like pink snakes. Then they constricted and pinched them off and took them away toward the ship-creature’s neck. Alice followed them and found they were being pulled inside an open hatch on either side. With them open she could see entirely through the bizarre creature. If she hadn’t been talking to it, she would have assumed it was some sort of vehicle. A hovercraft, since it clearly floated about a half meter off the ground.
    The mushrooms were stored in compartments just inside the creature, toward its rear. They opened very much like a normal drawer or cabinet would, sliding or pulling out. Everything inside was the same light pink as the tendrils. A soft glow emanated from recesses in the ceiling, giving her a decent view down the length of the creature’s insides. “Wow,” commented Alice, unable to find a better word.
    “Stay away from there,” said the creature, pausing in its mushroom collection.
    “You surely are an amazing beast,” said Alice, reaching out to touch its white exterior. It was as hard as steel, but warm to the touch.
    “Hmph,” it said in response, and went back to its mushroom collection.
    Alice tucked her sword back inside her sash, carefully raised her foot, and stepped up on the edge of the creature’s open hatch. The floor was slightly spongy in texture, but plenty solid enough for walking on. Before she could convince herself it was a bad idea, Alice walked toward the rear of the craft, which it clearly was now that she could see inside it. She brushed past the tendrils going about their job of stuffing mushrooms into cabinets and drawers and found there were large crates and bags stacked inside, bursting with other goods. “What is all this stuff for?” asked Alice.
    “None of your business,” replied the creature. Its tendrils deposited their mushrooms and then slowly retreated into tiny holes in the ceiling and walls. Flaps closed over them like eyelids. “Now get out of there, I have business that I’m late for. Out with you.”
    “And if I don’t?” asked Alice, climbing a ladder made of the same white metal material as the creature’s hull.
    “Well, then I shall be forced to pull you out and drop you on your ear.”
    “You’ll have to catch me first,” called Alice, hurrying quickly up the ladder and further toward the rear of the ship. The tendrils were back out and floating toward her. One tickled her side and she let out a giggle. It wasn’t very pirate-like, but she figured it was her intentions that truly mattered, and