Down the Rabbit Hole

Year 2592, technology had reached a new peak, as scientists found out there were different dimensions and soon a device was created to link to one of the many dimensions, a new world which promptly gets dubbed as Somnium – a dream, a fancy, a day-dream, a foolish non-sense. Those who work to keep this device – now named Alice - running are called the Somniculosus – the sleepy. To enter the dimension through the machine made your body enter a state of relaxation, whilst your mind soared and in the other dimension, you could be whatever you wished, for it seemed that Somnium was nothing more than a very lively dream, and many were tricked into believing so. Not many knew that the device was actually a link to another world, a whole different place, all believing that the people they met were just a product of the high-level AI that had been one of the numerous breakthroughs that science had made during the years.

The public was introduced to the idea only because of the government. Soon, smaller and much less complex machines that imitated the original machine’s technique began entering the market – as a new toy for the rich. Every single piece was connected to the other dimension through the mother unit. Everyone could be tracked, watched and kicked out of the system if they caused too much mayhem and destruction in Somnium. The ones doing this, the Lobster Quadrille, were someone’s who were almost always connected into the system, ordinary people who had been deemed skilled and good enough to have such great power, for it was not a great surprise if some got quite involved in the system and it became almost like a drug, something so addictive that being rid of it seemed to end many lives and that is why the Quadrille were a more than admired group of people.

Even if called the Quadrille it had 18 members, 9 from their own dimension and 9 from Somnium, each one given a nickname, as to prevent any sort of conspiracies. The nicknames were given from Lewis Carrolls' book, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, and to many of the moderators it became a lifestyle to live in the system like their characters, many adapting their lifestyles to fit the one of their character. But it seemed that for a long while, the only ones willing for this mingling, were the ones from Earth, going underneath the nick name of King and Queen of Hearts. Their counterparts in Somnium were The Knave of Hearts and The Duchess, and they seemed most skeptical when there began popping up new beings all around them, so many new things. But as it was, after long discussions the reluctant pair finally decided that they could go with this arrangement that it would not corrupt their people, instead, they thought of us humans as nothing but cheap fun, for after all, they had to do nothing but use their inhuman skills. For the Somnians might have looked human, but they were far from it, all having quite interesting skills.

As both sides became more used to each other, it became clear that the human’s would have to expand the market, and soon prices were lowered and the devices spread to the larger public, and soon the Quadrille, which had previously only been for observation, now found themselves swamped and it didn’t take too long for them to start giving other people more power, though everyone were checked for any felonies in their background. To suddenly receive such powers was something unimaginable, and it became quite clear that many would start cheating with their backgrounds. This developed quite a bit of paranoia for a while, but it wasn’t until iris and fingerprint scanners became a required standard that the Quadrille could once again relax and give power to those they deemed worthy. With the lessened need of the Quadrille, they slowly began interacting on a much less formal manner with the Somnians, becoming more open and becoming like almost everyone else: a true person.

Many created lives in Somniun, careers, apartments, everything. Too many forgot the life outside of Somnium, leaving their jobs, and soon the Somniculosus decided that it would be best to not market the product further than the city boundaries. And so, the city was locked down, the only things going in and out were nutrients needed to take care of the ones locked inside of Somnium. And slowly, all of the stress of running a city whose population was almost entirely in another dimension, became almost too much for those still outside, but it didn’t take too long for the government to decide that those already hooked, would be moved to a different location, a hall, in which they would be kept and thus would allow the city to prosper once again. The plan was put into action, and not too many missed those who had been moved, for usually it was whole families. One of the most bizarre things was that as the program of the device was upgraded, money and small items could be tranferred from dimension to dimension, thus making profits possible. And soon, the city was one of the most prosperous, even if most of its money came from an unknown source, for the Alice devices were not spoken off anymore.

The Quadrille knew of these events, but many of them ignored them, not caring as they suddenly seemed to become a burden. But then everything changed and once again they were happy. They had found themselves in a position of almost complete immortality, for they were young when they were plugged in and now all of them were in their mid twenties. Now one might ask how they could have been so young, but as it were, every member of the Quadrille had been merely a child of ten years, everyone a prodigy in their own right. It might have been that those little children were much better suited for the task, for when the members grew up, they developed quite interesting views of righteousness. It didn’t take too long for a sort of corruption to leak into the ranks, but it also did not stop the violators and those corrupted from being kicked out. Because it became a new rule in the ranks; if something stepped into your path of objectiveness or if the wish to think of other’s was over come by conceited thoughts, you were kicked out.

And those that ended up kicked out, were the most miserably bunch there was. Fomer genious’, hooked to the system for ages and now suddenly, they were out and were treated like vermin. Many lost their minds, and soon they were plugged back into the system as normal users, even that was better than the hell they faced outside. But when one was kicked out, it never was the same to return into Somnium again. It gave you a new perspective, and soon, those readministered were taken as the present Quadrille’s councellors. And this way of operation, was better than anyone could have hoped. It also provided the Quadrille a sense of hope: if they strayed, they still had the opportunity to become one’s of power if they so wished. It might have been because of this thought that the moderators became even more carefree in their duties, letting those of lesser skill and mental abilities to take care of the menial tasks that were out of their range of knowledge.

The Somnians were quick to be angered by this foolishness and carelessness and it did not take too long for the Somnian half of the Quadrille to take action, kicking everyone out of their positions apart from one, the White Rabbit. For the Rabbit was still ever so caring and worried of the turn of fate that he did not let anything come in his way of thought. He was one of those who could keep their mind cool, figure out ways to solve complicated problems and he was the one who established a whole new range of moderators, better than any of their elders. But no one could deny that the Rabbit took too much for himself, and soon they took upon themselves to get the Rabbit to stop worrying so much and as stupid as it is, they began leading him to places where he could loosen up, though this lead only to catastrophe as the Rabbit got terrible confused by all of this. This then lead to the almost complete isolation of the Rabbit, and soon he was only seen in the control center, eating carrots and getting most irritated at those who dared disturbed him.

And this is what our story will be about. That poor Rabbit, who did not know what his life would end up with the meeting of the Hatter.