Deep Sea Embers

On the edge of the chart table, the silent dark wood-carved goat head has been watching Duncan quietly - compared to the noise of the other goat head, this silent gaze is obviously more awkward.

Duncan finally couldn't ignore the other person's gaze and had to raise his head from his thoughts and asked: "Why are you staring at me?"

"I thought you were going to 'steer' again, just like last time," Goat Head said slowly, "That feeling... was amazing."

Duncan raised his eyebrows and said in a somewhat surprised tone: "You want me to take the helm again?"

"I don't know, I just feel that it is incredible," the goat head thought for a while, with a little more uncertainty in his tone, "I can feel this 'ship', and I can understand every part of it, but I But I don’t know how to communicate with it... It seems to be an old friend of mine, but I forgot about it, so it ignored me, and last time, when you went to the stern deck to hold that When I turned the wheel...I thought I heard its sound.”

"Oh? Did you hear the sound of 'it'? What kind of sound was it?"

Duncan suddenly showed a curious expression. Because he left in a hurry last time, he didn't have time to listen to the goat head talk about this matter. Now when the other party reminded him, he immediately realized that he had ignored this issue - when he went to take the helm , the goat head in the real world woke up, so what about the goat head on the side of the dream? What was its reaction at that time?

The goat head was silent for a moment, as if he was reminiscing. After nearly half a minute, he slowly spoke: "It's not so much a voice, but more like some 'things' that appear directly in my memory. It seems to be calling me, reminding me." I must not forget the contract with the 'Captain', remind me not to leave my post without permission... I also saw some pictures, I saw..."

It suddenly stopped. It seemed that its half-asleep and half-awake state was affecting its thinking, making it unable to organize suitable words to describe the things in its memory. It seemed that it had fallen into that state of thinking pause again and had forgotten. Current Topics.

Duncan had to remind him: "What did you see? Is it an image of this ship?"

"Oh, yes, it's this ship, but I don't seem to be on it..."

"You're not on board?"

"I was in a very dark place, empty...everywhere was empty and chaotic. A shadow floated over, it was the shadow of the ship, but it seemed to be dissipating soon, and there was another shadow. The vague voice talked to me. I can’t remember what the voice said, but the owner of the voice took something from me, and then the shadow became a physical thing..."

The goat head spoke slowly and confusingly in a sleep-like tone. There were often illogical turns and interruptions in its words, just like an already chaotic dream showing its bizarre and endless features without modification. Flashing scenes.

The goat head paused for another ten seconds before adding the last sentence: "...So, I became a part of the shadow. It seemed to be a long time ago, but the ship seemed to still remember... Strange, does it remember it, or do I remember it?"

The goat head seemed to be confused again, and his muttering voice became lower and lower, and finally turned into a whisper that was completely inaudible. After a moment of thinking, Duncan's eyes gradually changed. He sat behind the navigation table, His expression was already a little solemn.

The description of the goat head is confusing and confusing, and there are many missing and vague details, but this does not mean that there is no useful information at all - from those sentences, Duncan can deduce and associate many things!

What it tells... seems to be the scene when the Lost Home and the real Captain Duncan Abnomar took it away from the subspace a hundred years ago!

In the real world on the other side, Duncan also asked another goat head about this matter in a roundabout way, but the latter's answers were vague several times, as if he had forgotten what happened a century ago. Now it seems, Is this information actually left in the memory of the goat head in this dream? Or according to this goat-headed statement, the "Homeless Number" is remembering this?

Duncan looked subtly at the goat head, which had become silent again, and then looked up at the captain's cabin.

This is the dream of the goat head, and dreams in the general sense are the "subconscious projection" of the dreamer.

But just now, Duncan suddenly realized something.

This ship may not just be a goat-headed dream - the Lost Home is also alive!

The century-long "symbiosis" has closely linked the Goat Head and the Lost Home. This connection is not only reflected in the physical structure, but also in spirit - the latter is a living ship, although the people on the ship are Many "objects" seem to have only the most basic activity, but as a whole, as the Lost Home... its "consciousness" may be far more complex and complete than I imagined.

Complete enough to participate in this dream in an unimaginable way.

Duncan slowly put his hand on the chart table in front of him. He stared at it for a long time, as if he was looking at the entire Homeless ship through the table. He thought about what Goat Head's description just revealed. Information, fingers caressing the rough tabletop unconsciously——

"Do you want to take this opportunity to tell me something?" he asked in his heart.

But he received no response.

Perhaps the Lost Home's "consciousness" was a state he couldn't understand, and it might have responded - but no one could.

Duncan thought about what Goat Head had just said.

It said that it once floated in a dark and empty place, surrounded by nothingness and chaos, which was very consistent with the characteristics of subspace. It also said that the Lost Home appeared in front of it, looking like a phantom that was about to dissipate... that is What was the state of Homeless when it first encountered the Goat Head?

About to dissipate... In other words, when the Lost Home just fell into subspace, its condition was actually very bad, even so bad that it lost its entity. In a sense, the ship had even been submerged by subspace at that time. The space was erased—only a vague voice remained, the voice of Duncan Abnomar.

Then, the owner of the voice took something from the "Goat Head", and the phantom of the Lost Home regained its physical form... This "thing" is the key!

Duncan's eyes suddenly became solemn, and then he remembered what Goat Head said at the beginning - the Homeless Ship reminded it not to forget its "contract" with the captain.

There is a contract! The pact between Goathead and Duncan Abnomar!

What is the content of the contract? What agreement did they make when they met in the subspace a hundred years ago?

Duncan Abnomar took "something" from the Goat's Head in order to reshape the entity of the Lost Home, which took the Goat's Head out of the Warp and brought it to a stable dimension of reality...

This should all be part of the contract.

But what happens after that?

Duncan Abnomar did not live until now. He has disappeared. In this powerful body, there is now a soul named "Zhou Ming".

And the goat head in the real world... obviously knew about the changes in the "Captain" for a long time.

But it still performs the duties of first mate diligently.

Is this also part of the contract?

The goat head in the real world said that it did not remember its experience in subspace, so...does it still remember this contract? Or maybe it has forgotten the contract, but some kind of "restriction" is still in effect, forcing it to continue to fulfill the contract...

The thoughts in Duncan's mind were spinning rapidly, and after a moment, he suddenly stood up.

The goat head on the table didn't react at all, and didn't follow Duncan's movements like before.

It seems to still be immersed in that dazed state of half-dreaming and half-awake—the previous memories and thoughts have exceeded some of its "thinking thresholds."

Duncan ignored the goat's head, knowing that it would recover after a while - he had more important things to do now.

He left the captain's cabin, stepped onto the stairs leading to the stern deck, and followed a familiar route to the bridge where the steering wheel was placed.

With the experience from the last time and the preparation this time, Duncan didn't hesitate any more. He quickly took a few steps forward and held the heavy steering wheel tightly.

The next second, the entire ship suddenly "came to life" under the captain's helm.

A familiar scene appeared in front of me again. The huge ghost ship was quickly waking up. There were sounds of items activating from everywhere on the ship. The sail ropes were tightening, the sails were beating, and the cables and winches were making creaking noises - —And the huge "root tunnel" that looked like some kind of giant ship that could accommodate a giant ship also appeared in front of the Lost Home almost at the same time, and hit it like a huge whirlpool.

Countless branches, roots, and phantom light filled the mist filled Duncan's field of vision, surrounding the direction in which the Lost Home was heading. Those warm streams of light once again climbed onto the deck, wandering aimlessly around the bridge. Wandering around.

"Saslokar, is that you?"

A slightly childish voice reached Duncan's ears, and the stream of light wandered around him, as if he was looking for something, but it seemed as if he was simply sleepwalking.

"...Saslokar will not come."

Even though he knew that Silendis could not hear his voice now, Duncan still answered seriously. Then he ignored the phantom lights wandering near him and focused all his attention on the ship under his feet. on board.

The Lost Home is sailing in the darkness, moving quickly in the huge "root tunnel". Occasionally, there will be a structure that looks like a fork in the tunnel. However, the ship seems to know the path on its own and will move on its own without the need for the captain to control it. Select heading.

Duncan just had to hold the wheel.

He was also able to focus more on perception.

If the situation is really as he thought, if this ship is both the dream of the Goat Head and the dream of the Lost Home, then... somewhere in this ship, there must be something similar to the one in reality. There is something different about Lost Home.

That is the subconscious modification of dreams and the recall of memories.

This is what Homeless is trying to show to itself.