Seeing Redd by Frank Beddor

off the bone, and she seasons it with a scrumptious glaze just the right amount of sweet and tart and spicy, oh and her corn relish!”
    The knight cleared his throat.
    â€œRight. So anyway, I landed in a tree and my wife was half a block away, sprawled on top of a citizen who—the nerve of him—complained that she’d landed on him purposely.”
    The pawn waited, eager to learn how helpful his civilians had been. The generals resumed their pacing and the rook blinked at the men with something like disbelief. Only the knight remembered himself.
    â€œYou’ve done the queendom a great service, providing such a smorgasbord of helpful information,” he said. And to the pawn: “See that these gentlemen are examined by a physician before you release them.”
    â€œYessir.”
    The pawn saluted and led the Wonderlanders off.
    â€œWe’ll have to station guards at all the portals,” said Doppel.
    â€œAnd see if we can’t analyze whatever’s contaminated the continuum,” said Gänger. “What is that bleeping?”
    It was coming from the rook’s ammo belt, which looped over his battlements and crossed in an X on his chest. “It’s the latest model crystal communicator, Generals,” he said. “I press this button here…” the chessman pressed a button on the miniature keypad strapped to his forearm, “…the incoming message alert stops sounding, and then this little hole here…” he pointed to a nozzle-like opening on his ammo belt, “…shoots out a visual of the transmission that all of us can view equally well.”
    A screen formed in the air before him, on which appeared a frantic pawn patrolling Wondertropolis’ Obsidian Park neighborhood.
    â€œGlass Eyes are in the city!” the pawn shouted. “Repeat: Glass Eyes have infiltrated Wondertropolis! Alot of them!”
    Behind the pawn, fleet-footed Glass Eyes could be seen rampaging through the streets, overpowering one chessman and card soldier after another.
    â€œUnable to locate their point of entry!” the pawn shouted. “They seem to be coming from everywhere! ”
    A Glass Eye was rocketing up fast behind him, getting closer and closer—
    â€œLook out!” the rook cried.
    The transmission went dead.
    The generals were already barking commands into their flip-screen, older model crystal communicators:
    â€œAll available decks deploy to Obsidian Park!”
    â€œFor White Imagination’s sake, get civilians off the streets!”
    But neither the generals nor the chessmen voiced what all knew to be true: They were not equipped to counter a major attack on the capital city, not with the continuum rendered useless, and the numerous decks that had been dispatched to military outposts stranded along the edges of the queendom.
    â€œThe queen must be informed,” the knight said.
    â€œThere’s no need.”
    They all turned to see Alyss Heart, gifted with the most powerful imagination ever to legally occupy Wonderland’s throne, walking toward the middle of the square with scepter in hand. The sight of her, so matter-of-factly confident, might have been enough to give even the walrus-butler courage, but the chessmen and generals weren’t the walrus-butler. Their courage didn’t need bolstering. They would not whine about the Glass Eyes’ superior numbers. They would not disappoint their queen. The rook unholstered his AD52, checked the supply of projectile decks in its ammo bay. The knight unsheathed his sword and stood at the ready. Generals Doppel and Gänger each split in two, and the four generals each divided again, forming eight generals in all—four Doppels and four Gängers. The more bodies to aid in Wonderland’s defense, the better.
    â€œThere!” the knight said.
    Alyss had already seen them: a contingent of Glass Eyes bearing down from Slithy Avenue, keeping close to the