PART I: A CAT WITHOUT A GRIN

Chapter 1: Down the Rabbit Hole ... In Which Alice Looks for the Rabbit and Finds Something Else

Alice Little peered cautiously between the thick fronds into yet another empty clearing. Her brow furrowed. The conservation group insisted no other rival family grouping could be found competing for resources in this area, but so far, Alice had come up empty-handed in her search for the missing troop she'd been studying. There were definite signs that gorillas had been here, especially in this clearing, she noted, but they hadn't shown themselves for some time. She was becoming worried.

As she had done several times already, Alice slowly entered the clearing, her feet dragging more from resignation and disappointment than wariness, and scanned the trampled foliage. Yes, there were definitely signs that a large group had spent considerable time in this spot, likely grooming and lounging, having a wonderful time... But how long ago, and why did they leave?

She didn't have a god damned clue.

Her six months here had started out a little rocky and uncertain, because try as she might, she was still a rookie in the field. She found that putting the greats' words into practice was more easily said than done, and each approach she made resulted in a warning roar and a mass exodus. Patience won out, though, and once she established herself as a silent and non-confrontational observer, making no threatening movements and keeping her distance, the alpha grew to tolerate her presence. From there, things progressed beautifully until last week, when the troop's alpha male, Kirk, started getting edgy. Add to that the fact that Marta, the most vivacious female, was in estrus and Kirk was ignoring her... Well, that was completely unexpected.

Show me the Kirk that ever turned his nose up at a female throwing herself at him, Alice thought with a smirk.

Until today, she'd always managed to find them, though they seemed to be moving further away from where the scientists and their guides were encamped. While her colleagues were conducting their own studies, Alice alone managed the observations of Troop A10.

There must be a logical reason for it. Poachers were an ever-present threat in the nature preserve, of course, regardless of the patrols and warning signs at the borders. Had they somehow found her troop?

Hands on her hips, Alice turned her gaze to the surrounding jungle. It was hot and humid as usual, not a breath of wind at ground level. The underarms of her olive t-shirt were already dark with sweat, and she badly wanted to take off her long cargo pants and heavy hiking boots. Lying draped on her cot in front of a fan wearing nothing but a sports bra and the men's boxers she preferred was a massive temptation.

There was no sign of human traffic through the clearing, she decided. Moss-covered trees grew thick around the edges, and the undergrowth frequently required use of a machete to cut through. Her own was starting to dull from frequent use. If anyone had tried to get in from any other direction than the one she had, there'd be pretty clear evidence of it.

Alice frowned, feeling uneasy for some reason. She could hear the moisture drip that seemed a constant sound in the rain forest, but... that's all. No insects, no distant predatory animal cries, no birds...

Maybe it would be a good idea to return to the encampment, she thought nervously.

Adjusting her pack on her slim shoulders, Alice turned...

There was a moment of shock as the giant black... thing slowly emerged from the foliage, hissing and drooling gobs of saliva from its razor-sharp teeth. Her fear-fogged brain observed how like a cold-ripened banana the head appeared, then she was running for her life.

The thing gave chase, less hampered than her by the dense undergrowth. From the sounds it made, she guessed it was leaping from tree trunk to tree trunk most of the time, rather than running on the ground. She had the distinct impression that it was pacing itself on purpose, maybe even enjoying itself. Fully pumped with adrenalin and fear, she forced her eyes ahead. Don't look back, she told herself. Keep running.

She didn't even try to guess what the hell it might be, or where the hell it came from.

Quite unexpectedly, there was a deafening shriek from the creature. Alice was so startled by the noise in what was otherwise a silent run that she stumbled and fell face-down in the ferns. Gathering herself, she quickly looked back, and saw something even more bizarre.

The banana-headed creature was being attacked by a very, very tall... man... sort of... She honestly wasn't sure. It was humanoid, and looked male, but...

It... he... wielded a long spear-like weapon, and wore what appeared to be an almost reptilian bodysuit of a pale ochre coloring on the chest blending into dusty, dull green around his back. From her vantage point, she was able to make out plates of metal armor atop the suit, mostly about the upper chest, shoulders, wrists, and thighs. A metal helmet covered his face, and what looked like thick tubular appendages flowed from the back of his head like hair.

He moved with amazing speed, making it difficult for Alice to track him with her eyes and make out further details, but it was clear that his surprise attack had placed him at an advantage that he was exploiting with extreme prejudice. The creature he fought bled a yellowish green fluid from many wounds opened not just with the spear but a pair of foot-long scythes extended from his right wrist gauntlet. The male did not escape the battle unscathed, however; even as he delivered the killing blow, the creature's foreleg slashed and its talons tore across his chest. A mesh-like covering there seemed to interrupt the strike and prevent it from going too deep or too wide, but he was still wounded, and Alice gaped.

What she assumed must be blood streaming from the cut was a glowing, neon green. It suddenly occurred to her that maybe, just maybe, that wasn't a bodysuit.

She couldn't seem to draw in enough air to breathe, and sat cowering from the battle's victor. The humanoid squatted down and set about removing the creature's head. Blinking, Alice watched with horrified fascination as he severed the neck, taking care not to let the blood touch him. As it dripped, she could swear she heard something sizzling, like bacon on a hot skillet. Then he applied some sort of clip to the skull and hooked it on his belt next to...

Freezing, she realized what she was seeing, and her already labored breathing changed to hyperventilation. There were two bloody skulls with their spinal columns still attached, already hanging there. They were clearly human.

Faraji, she thought, horror building. Maybe Dubaku too?

He slowly rose and looked at her, tilting his head to the side. Some distant, primitive part of her brain advised her to stay still, make no sudden moves... She felt like a deer caught in the headlights. Then he approached her.

Had she been maracas, the cacophony of her trembling would have deafened, or at least seriously annoyed, everyone in a ten mile radius. As he got closer, she realized he made a strange churring, clicking sound, muffled somewhat by the mask. Alice suddenly knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that the last thing in the world she wanted right now was for him to take that mask off.

Stopping some two yards from her, he kept tilting his head from one side to the other, as if examining her. Alice stayed rigidly still, not even looking him over, afraid to make eye contact with that expressionless mask. She felt she'd seen quite enough of him, thank you very much. If she could possibly see less of him now, that would be ideal. So close, she could make out the details of the banana-head much more clearly, and she recoiled. Worse, a drop of its blood fell to the forest floor, and now she realized that the sizzling she heard earlier was generated by the acidic blood burning everything it touched.

At that point, Alice's brain decided that this was entirely too much, and rather than take the extremist route and go for a full-blown aneurysm, it settled on a simple faint and turned off the lights on its way out.

Moc'tut wasn't sure what surprised him more; seeing a lone ooman out in the middle of nowhere, seeing a lone female ooman out in the middle of nowhere, or seeing said ooman go limp and lifeless for no apparent reason.

He briefly wondered if it was some sort of passive defense.

Well, it didn't matter. He'd met the objective of his chiva by slaying the kainde amedha that slipped the net and escaped the pyramid hidden ten miles away. That it had slipped through the perimeter at the point he was responsible for was not something he wished to dwell on. Nor did he want to acknowledge the fact that this ooman essentially baited the xenomorph, capturing its attention so his attack caught it unawares. Whether his skills were sufficient to best the creature on his own was a question he didn't want to think about either.

Shaking off the uncomfortable thoughts, he squatted down next to the immobilized ooman and looked it over. With a tap, he switched his helmet's infrared vision to another mode. The ooman must have adopted a passive defensive posture, he decided, for though it was down and unmoving, its heat did not diminish as would happen with death, nor had its inefficient single heart stopped beating. To make sure, he poked its midsection with his retracted ki'cti-pa. It didn't respond.

Chuffing, he stood and strode back to the corpse, extracting a container of blue liquid from his belt. If he did not dispose of the kill, oomans were sure to find it and become far more curious than was healthy for them. Moc'tut didn't want to be punished for neglecting this most important step, perhaps undoing all he had accomplished today.

Moc'tut growled, amused by the situation. He had two well-formed skulls, a smaller drone from the pyramid and this warrior, both unmarred by battle, that would certainly serve to commend him back on the clan ship. A fine start to anyone's collection of trophies, to be sure. And this... a live female ooman, unguarded by the males he and a hunt brother had run across an hour earlier... A rare thing indeed.

Paya must have finally given her blessing to the young hunter. Even if his trophies were no better than any of the other young bloods, he would still have bragging rights for this. Moc'tut hoisted his prize onto his shoulder and headed back to the pick-up point.

Terms:

Chiva = rite of passage, trial
kainde amedha = 'hard meat,' Yautja word for xenomorph
ki'cti-pa = combi-stick, spear
ooman = slang term for 'human'
Paya = warrior goddess

Star Trek reference: Just in case I'm the only obscure Star Trek character dork out there, the name 'Marta' Alice uses for the 'vivacious' female gorilla is a reference to the green Orion lady from the original series episode, 'Whom Gods Destroy.'

A/N: While this story is by no means a 'crossover' with Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass and What Alice Found There, the astute (or downright lit-geeky) reader may notice that the chapter titles are taken straight from the Lewis Carroll books. Also, the Yautja names, and to some extent their roles in the story, are references to creatures and people that Carroll's Alice meets on her adventures. Given this, it should also be obvious that my 'Alice Little' is a direct reference to the inspiration for Carroll's works, Alice Liddell.