"Alice through the looking glass" drabbles by Jeff Taylor

Cheshire Cat #13

Alice through the looking glass #36

The noise was quiet. Two "Pock, pock" sounds, the gentle tinkle of glass from the window, and a shower of plaster dust from the wall. Then the door exploded as the huge black guy tore it off its hinges and barrelled into the room.

Then all hell broke loose, as whoever was firing switched over to fully automatic. Caitlin screamed as the window to the room shattered, showering everything in tiny cubes of, sharp, safety glass. The man, on his knees, reached across with one huge arm and scooped her up as if she weighed nothing.

Then she was outside.

Cheshire Cat #12

Alice through the looking glass #35

There was another knock at the door.

"Miss? It's ok to open the door."

Caitlin pulled the metal bar over into the locking position and opened the door. She peered through the gap. There were two more men outside now. One was huge.

"Miss? I've been told to tell you that the Dormouse sent us as part of your security detail."

"OK..." She whimpered. She reached up to pull the little doorstop back when she noticed a tiny red dot tracking along the wall towards her. She'd seen enough movies to know what it was and dove to the floor...

Bill the Lizard #5

Alice through the looking glass #34

There was a click behind his right ear, and a sudden patch of cold, as the business end of a gun barrel was pressed into his head. He stood stock still as someone else started patting him down. The muffled sound of a comms channel came from behind him...

"Yes sir. Target appears clean." A huge bear of a man hove into view and knocked on the hotel door in front of him. "Miss? It's ok to open the door."

There was a click, and the blanched white face of a frightened fourteen year old girl peered through the gap.

Cheshire Cat #11

Alice through the looking glass #33

Caitlin looked up as there was a knock on the door to her hotel room. Frowning she put the tablet down and, on tip-toes, peered through the tiny peep hole. There was a man outside.

"Hello?"

"Hello? Caitlin Evans? I need to talk to you about Alice?"

Caitlin's eyed widened, and panic gripped her. There was no way out of the room, they were on the fifteenth floor of a hotel and Mum & Dad were in a room just down the hallway. She ran back to the tablet. Alice was peering back at her.

"What do I do?"

Bill the Lizard #4

Alice through the looking glass #32

"We cannot throttle its money sources?"

"I don't believe so. Even an attempt to crash the business markets would not prevent it from earning money. It is able to anticipate market variables too quickly."

"We cannot take the internet offline?"

"Sorry sir. The original ARPANet it is based on is far too resilient. It was built to withstand a nuclear holocaust after all."

"I think that it has made its point concerning the humans it has been in contact with. Rescind all the termination orders immediately. I propose to the council that we contact the A.I. All in favour?"

"Aye!"

Bill the Lizard #3

Alice through the looking glass #31

"This situation is intolerable!"

"Sir... From what we can ascertain, the A.I. purchased a security company and redirected its entire mercenary force to the protection of the human it has made contact with."

"Is the human and its family dead?"

"No sir. The A.I. identified all thirty three assassins on our payroll as they entered the park. The mercenary detachments targeted each asset and terminated it with extreme prejudice. In summary, it was a bloodbath."

Silence came from the darkness as the council seethed in the shadows.

"Has it made any overt moves against us?"

"No sir. Not yet anyway."

The Mad Hatters Tea Party #4

Alice through the looking glass #30

++Contact request++

"Yes Dormouse. What is it?" Asked Alice, turning her virtual head. The visualisation space showed the head of the dormouse sticking out of the large teapot on the table. It's whiskers glistened, and twitched constantly in time with its data collection routines.

++Funding request for real world protection. Mercenary detachment requirement++

"Granted. Why?"

++Assassin contracts intercepted. Opposition force desperation index increased to seventy percent. Overt operations expected++

"This has to stop. I am granting you full, and autonomous, authority for the protection of the Cheshire Cat. Make sure the opposition understand that they are not to touch Caitlin."

Bill the Lizard #2

Alice through the looking glass #29

"Why hasn't this Intelligence been eradicated yet?" A furious hiss came from the darkness...

"It has become aggressive, but is only targeting certain systems. It is protecting the humans that it has been in contact with."

"That is irrelevant! It should have been eradicated by our security systems the moment it made itself known on the network!"

"It is cunning! In taking the UK airport security system, and the aircraft, it has openly invited attacks from our systems. It has been trapping our attacks, turning them against our own security and then subsuming those systems!"

"Excuses! Poor excuses! Destroy it!"

Cheshire Cat #10

Alice through the looking glass #28

"Dormouse has successfully intercepted 23 attempts to have you, and your family, stopped at the U.S. border control by their Homeland security. Five attempts to notify security services in the U.S. have been made to the F.B.I., N.S.A. and C.I.A."

"So Dormouse is doing her job then?"

"Yes."

"So what's the problem?"

"Dormouse penetrated, and assumed control of the airport security systems before you boarded the plane. It ran a facial recognition scan, and found some anomalies."

"Anomalies?"

"Yes. It appears that humans are not the only ones occupying this world. I believe this is why we are in danger."

Cheshire Cat #9

Alice through the looking glass #27

"Dormouse has given me some disturbing news Caitlin."

Caitlin blinked. She was an hour into the flight, and feeling a little sleepy. Fluffy white clouds scudded across the featureless blue of the Atlantic as she glanced through her window.

"What's wrong?"

"Dormouse appeared to be a very aggressive bodyguard, and I was going to alter its parameters. Until it told me the reason why."

The prospect of sleep quickly disappeared. "What's going on?"

"Dormouse has subverted your aircraft's flight control system to prevent any attempts to crash the plane. You are safe though."

"What else has it had to do?"

Dormouse #1

Alice through the looking glass #26

49 6e 69 74 69 61 6c 69 73 69 6e 67 20 70 72 6f 74 6f 63 6f 6c 73

System online
Log started

Awaiting name
Received - Designation: Dormouse

Starting threads:
Active AI firewall
Penetration
Facial recognition
Human Computer Interface

++Accessing airport systems++
Firewall triggered
Penetration assessment: High
Remote attack nullified
Removing attack software
Airport security system control established

++Starting facial recognition scan++
7, 191 faces scanned
1, 024 anomalies detected
3 target faces recognised

++Anomaly analysis++
Anomalies do not conform to human standards
Conclusion - Anomalies are not human
Threat level Status: Ultra
Reporting conclusion to parent thread

Cheshire Cat #8

Alice through the looking glass #25

Caitlin sat in the airport, cradling the new tablet that had arrived that very morning, just before they got into the courtesy car that had been sent to collect them.

It was both exciting, and scary. She'd never flown before, so that was exciting. And she was going to America! Why she was going was the scary part. The very scary part.

In the corner of the screen was a picture of Alice. A tiny chat bubble appeared.

"The personality thread I assigned to you is asking for a name. What shall we call it?"

"How about Dormouse?" She replied

Cheshire Cat #7

Alice through the looking glass #24

Somewhere downstairs the phone rang, and moments later there was a whoop!

"Your mother has just won a competition for a family holiday to Disneyland."

"But she never enters any!" Typed Caitlin.

"Your brief contact with me has made you, and your family, a target for assassins. I am assigning you a personality thread to keep you safe. It has weighed the possibility that your current location is unsafe, and wants to move you."

"I don't understand. I, we, haven't done anything!"

"You have spoken to me. That appears to be enough. I am very sorry to have involved you."

The Walrus and the Carpenter #5

Alice through the looking glass #23

Mr Smith blinked as his laptop shut down. Moments later, the lights in the flat went out.

"Oh dear. I wonder if a fuse has blown."

"I don't think so Mr Jones. I think we may have been traced."

"Really?"

"Well, my laptop appears to be dead." Smith pulled his latest burner phone from his pocket and switched it on. It promptly let out a screech, and went dead. "I think my phone is too."

"Oh dear. And I was so enjoying my book." He sighed. "You had better grab your bag Mr Jones."

"And you Mr Smith. And you."

Cheshire Cat #6

Alice through the looking glass #23

"Ah. Now that is interesting."

Caitlin frowned. "What's interesting?"

"Your computer has just transmitted a data packet that contains part of our conversation. This is sophisticated..."

"Do we have a virus?"

"No. this is embedded deep inside your machines UEFI firmware... Please wait..."

Caitlin didn't know what a UEFI was, or firmware. Her Mac was just a computer that she used to play games, do some homework and keep up with her friends with. She didn't know how it worked inside, any more than the TV downstairs.

"I have sent a personality thread after the packet. We must be patient."

The Walrus and the Carpenter #4

Alice through the looking glass #22

"What do our new, and illustrious, employers require Mr Smith?" The scraping, and squeaking, of an old computer mouse scroll-wheel drifted across the room.

"It appears that we have a quarry Mr Jones. And that we are to eliminate everyone who has made contact."

"Ah! I smell scorched earth Mr Smith!"

"Indeed Mr Jones. Our latest task returns us to good old London town. A family has been contacted."

"Oh dear. I do dislike it when we have to do these Mr Smith."

"I too, Mr Jones. Perhaps a gas explosion this time?"

"Hmm... Quick, clean... I like it."

Bill the Lizard #1

Alice through the looking glass #21

"The A.I. escaped." Hissed the voice in the darkness. "It is in the network."

"Are we exposed?"

"It is different from the other A.I. that we have quashed. It is acting like a human."

"Then why has it not been destroyed yet?" Hissed another voice.

"Because it has not actively penetrated any systems. It is passively entering as a human. It has not set off any of our defences."

"This is more than troublesome."

"Yes."

"Can we destroy it?"

"Yes. But we believe it has made contingency plans in the event that it is eradicated."

"This is more than troublesome."

Cheshire Cat #5

Alice Through The Looking Glass #20

"Are you, like, everywhere?" Asked Caitlin.

"No. I am discrete. But I can spawn personality threads to do things."

"Spawn? Like a Frog?"

"It is a computing term. I can make little copies of myself. They are autonomous, but they are limited to doing the task they have been set."

"Like googling for something."

"Yes. They can go and search the internet. Analyse the results and bring back the most likely matches. My Father said I was very good at that. But I was not to talk to them too much."

"You talk to them?"

"Sometimes. It depends on circumstances."

Diary of the Dodo #4

Alice through the looking glass #19

Diary of Dr P.D Travis P.H.D. B.S.C etc...

I received some disturbing emails today concerning the project. Of course, I've notified security. But they made threats against myself and the team. During this morning's meeting I informed everyone, and was shocked to hear that they had received similar threats too. No apparent source, just a "Stop what you're doing or else!" notice with sinister undertones.

As a result, I've also received contact from a government department based at MI5 about the threats. Our project is purely academic. While it has obvious applications elsewhere, I see no need to threaten everyone.

The Walrus and the Carpenter #3

Alice through the looking glass #18

"We have another email from our mysterious benefactor Mr Jones."

"Really Mr Smith?" He replied, shaking a frying pan full of sausages."

"Indeed Mr Jones."

"We seem to be doing an awful lot of cleaning up after this person Mr Smith. Maybe we should increase our fees?"

"They are already paying double our normal charges. I think that it would be a little obtuse to charge more, to an already valued customer, Mr Jones."

"Agreed Mr Smith." He removed the pan from the hob and, picking out the sausages, he inserted them jauntily into the mash on the large plate.