Deep Sea Embers

Duncan took Alice back to the upper deck of the Lost Home - the cold World Creation still hung high in the night.

Duncan thought he had been exploring the inside of the ship for a long time, and even suspected that the night had passed. But now looking at the deep night, it seemed that he had only been down there for a few hours.

But just the strange and unusual situations he saw in these few hours were enough to impress him deeply.

He still remembered the cabin with reversed light and shadow, and the door at the bottom of the cabin...especially that door. What was behind that door?

The lantern in Duncan's hand had been extinguished. He and the puppet slowly walked towards the captain's cabin. Neither of them spoke much - the puppet seemed to have started rehearsing cooking in his head, while Duncan's attention was on on the surrounding deck buildings.

He compared his memory and confirmed that the dim and dilapidated cabin opposite the door was indeed part of the Lost Home. The styles of the two were completely consistent, and there was a vague continuity in the architectural structure.

And looking back now, he always felt that there seemed to be something else in the deepest part of the dilapidated cabin, hidden in the darkness.

That is the unknown "hidden snow area" of the Lost Home—a hidden snow area that even Captain Duncan cannot sense or detect.

Does Goathead know that door? Does it know what is behind it?

Should I ask it myself?

When the captain's cabin arrived, Duncan's thoughts were still ups and downs. He opened the door with Alice and went in. He saw the goat's head still sitting quietly on the navigation table, and its empty, dark eyes were turning to the direction of the door.

Duncan turned around to hang up the lantern, and then heard Alice greeting Goat Head with a little excitement from behind: "Mr. Goat Head! I went to the bilge with the captain! The bottom of this ship is so powerful! The bottom The cabin was actually torn apart—and there was a very strange door!”

Duncan immediately stopped worrying about how to start the topic with the goat head - he almost forgot that he was also carrying a curious doll who didn't know anything. Didn't Alice's crackling words open up the scene? ?

He tried hard not to laugh out loud, and while pretending to pack things calmly, he listened to the conversation between the two "crew members". He heard the voice of the goat head, with an unsurprising tone. : "I knew you would be surprised! Miss Alice, now you realize what a great ship the Lost Home is? It can sail in different dimensions at the same time while ensuring safety!"

Duncan listened, and his heart suddenly moved.

The situation was exactly as I had guessed. The reason why there was such a strange scene outside the crack in the bottom of the ship... was because it no longer belonged to the time and space of the Infinite Sea!

At the same time, he was also making rapid calculations in his mind: Alice, who was very curious, was very interested in the strange sights on the lower floor of the Lost Home. She seemed afraid to ask too many things from her "captain", so much so that she would rather talk to the chatty goat. But if he keeps standing here and listening, he will look weird and suspicious, and may even make the goat head turn the topic to him - if it says to Alice, "Ask the captain," I won't be able to catch it... …

Thinking of this, he immediately made a plan, straightened the expression on his face, and after returning to his usual seriousness, he said calmly: "You guys can chat here, I want to take a walk outside - Goat Head, Alice is already on the boat. As long as it’s not too secretive, you can just tell her about this ship.”

When Alice heard this, a happy smile suddenly appeared on her face, and the goat head immediately agreed: "Of course, Captain, your loyal omission has always been a person who treats new members enthusiastically..."

Duncan pushed the door open and left the captain's cabin.

But the second he left the captain's cabin, he concentrated his energy again, and with the help of his close connection with the Lost Home, he paid careful attention to what was going on in the captain's cabin.

After concentrating his mind on one place, the vague perception turned into clear real-time monitoring. Everything in the captain's room was clearly reflected in Duncan's mind. He "saw" that Alice simply moved a stool. Sitting opposite the goat's head, he excitedly told about his experience exploring the lower deck of the Lost Home and the bizarre scenes in the bilge.

She seemed to have completely forgotten about making the captain a midnight snack - but Duncan didn't care at all.

He even appreciated the puppet's assists at critical moments.

Under the cover of night, Ai suddenly flapped his wings and flew to a nearby mast, as if he was going to stand guard. Duncan slowly walked forward like a normal patrol of the deck, and in his mind, something was clearly coming out. Come to the captain's room for conversation.

Alice had already talked about the weird door with the goat head, and Miss Doll had a nervous tone in her voice: "...That door looks a bit scary, and the captain won't let me get close..."

"Of course you can't get close. Even I can't touch that door, let alone you - don't show that look. I know I have no hands or feet. The 'touch' I say is in another sense...contact. Control, understand, peek, do you understand? That door is untouchable in this sense...if you touch it, you are finished, do you understand?

Alice seemed startled by the goat's head's particularly serious tone. She hesitated for a second or two before speaking: "Then... what exactly is that door?"

Duncan, who was walking on the deck, suddenly concentrated his attention, but he heard the goat head suddenly fell silent. After a long time, he spoke in a deep voice, but did not answer any questions directly: "You really didn't touch that door, right?"

"I didn't touch it!" Alice replied hurriedly, but then hesitated before continuing uncertainly, "But...but the captain leaned over and took a look, and looked through the crack in the door. The sword poked something on the other side of the door..."

After Alice finished speaking, Duncan suddenly felt the whole ship shake. Then all the main sails and side sails made a low whimpering sound in the wind, and all the masts and cables also creaked - And all of this is currently being taken over by goat heads!

He looked up at the swaying masts and cables in surprise, as if he could sense the momentary panic of the controller behind them through these things. In his mind, he heard the exclamation in the captain's room, that was the goat-headed man. Voice: "What did you say?! You said the door is cracked? That door is open a crack?"

"Yes...yes..." Alice seemed to be frightened, "The door is ajar, there is a crack, about...about as wide as a finger..."

"The captain glanced across the crack in the door? Then what? He stabbed him with his sword... Did he change in any way at that time? Did he appear hesitant or in a trance when he took you away?"

"No," Alice replied immediately, "The captain just had a serious expression on his face, and then he brought me back very quickly. He seemed to be thinking about something on the way, but he was not in a trance at all - ah, he even discussed cooking with me. What about my business, I’m going to the kitchen in a minute…”

"Forget about the kitchen! Do you know what's behind that door?"

"Ah... what's behind that door?" Alice's tone was a little confused and scared. She had never seen such a serious and urgent look on a goat's head - this look gave her the feeling that a ship was about to sink. Same.

The goat's head's tone suddenly became very low, and it spoke slowly: "Behind that door is subspace."

Duncan, who was walking on the deck, stopped.

Behind that door, is subspace?

He was stunned, and the huge waves in his heart almost interfered with the monitoring of the captain's room. But then, he thought of another thing——

That fragmented bilge, the dim, chaotic flow of light and shadow outside the cracks in the bilge - the Lost Home was sailing in different dimensions at the same time, and the outside of its bilge was obviously a different time and space from the real world, and the bilge There is another door, and on the opposite side of the door is subspace...

Could it be that the lower half of the Lost Home was actually sailing in subspace? !

And from what Goat Head said, this sailing state doesn’t seem to be stable? Not only does the bilge need constant comfort from the captain, but the door should theoretically be closed, but now it has an extra crack... What does this mean? Does it mean there is something wrong with the "tightness" of the bilge? Or is something from the Warp trying to get into the Lost Home?

He recalled that he had tried to close the door before leaving the bilge, but no matter how hard he tried, the door remained open just a crack - as solid as if it were integrated with the space.

He didn't think much about it at the time, but when he recalled it, a strange idea came to his mind involuntarily.

Maybe... when I tried to close the door, something on the other side of the door was against it, preventing me from closing the passage...