Chapter 297 – The White Oak Sets Sail Again
Chapter 297: The White Oak Sets Sail Again
Prendergast, Southeast Docklands, a beautiful white steam turbine ship was undergoing a final refurbishment check.
After a long layover, the White Oak was finally ready to set sail again, this time carrying many commissioned items from the city-state of Prand, through the center shipping route and the northern shipping route, all the way north, passing through Cold Harbor and up to Frost.
It’s a short voyage, but for a specially adapted exploration ship designed for quick oceanic round trips, a route that lies mostly within safe waters is no great challenge – a powerful steam core will ensure the ship’s surging power, and a refurbished on-board chapel will be enough to shelter all the crew.
The sailors, busy both ashore and on board, appeared quite relaxed.
In the White Oak’s aft machinery bay, the Chief Engineer and Assistant Mechanic were supervising the sailors as they completed the final preparations for the steam core.
The mighty machine was as large as a house and was anchored to the main support structure of the ship’s hull by a sturdy steel frame consisting of three vertically aligned spherical containers and a series of intricate pipes, valves, and linkages surrounding the containers, and an iron drawbridge suspended halfway between the three containers for the sailors to check on the operation of the steam core as well as to perform any necessary maintenance work.
At this moment, several sailors were busy on the iron drawbridge, they opened the heavy hatch of the spherical container, and took out several dull metal rods inside that had already been worn out, and fixed several light golden metal rods that were the thickness of a small arm and nearly a meter long onto the slot inside the hatch, and activated the mechanism so that those metal rods were sent into the center of the container.
That is the catalytic medium made of boiling gold, they are the source of the strong power of the steam core, but also one of the important guarantees for the safe operation of the machine, and the same as the priest’s prayers and incense rituals near the steam pipeline, the boiling gold medium inside the steam core can to a certain extent resist the invasion of certain malicious forces, to avoid the machine after a long period of time to suddenly “evil”! “The steam core is also a defense against the intrusion of certain malicious forces.
Pulley set and hinges running creaking sound came continuously, there are two sailors’ operation seems a little rough, the stout bald captain shouted at once: “Be careful! Don’t touch those boiling gold catalysts, that stuff is as soft as a breadstick, touch one and the captain will have to eat it!”
“If you’re referring to the breadsticks that Chef Finley bakes – then you should worry about the slots and catches in the steam core!” The sailor on the drawbridge laughed, but let his movements be careful while being anemic.
“When we get to Frost, I’ll have to advise the captain to get a supply of high-quality zeolite catalyst from the local area – zeolite is as cheap as rocks on the ground in that part of the world,” chimed in the assistant mechanic, a woman who looked to be in her thirties or forties, with arms as sturdy as a man’s powerful, her coveralls stained with oil, “The Adventurer’s Guild’s purchasing channels are too shady.”
“That depends on whether the client and the church agree or not,” the captain shrugged, “Half of the cargo bays on the White Oak are special ‘sealing rooms’, and quite a few of the things we’re shipping this time are raw materials and semi-finished products of holy relics ordered by the church, these things can be sensitive. These things can be very sensitive, the supplies sent to the ship have to have a strict list – before the Gray Crow was because a bastard brought on board a barrel of mead, causing the sealing room on the ship to loosen, and two shadows ran out and killed half the ship… …”
“I know, so I’m just advising the captain when the time comes,” the assistant mechanic waved a hand, followed by a slight frown, “but speaking of which, the captain doesn’t seem to be here yet – he’s not usually late. ”
“The captain will be here,” said the chief engineer, and then after a pause, repeated it again as if for emphasis, “The captain will be here – he’s not retired yet.”
……
“You really should retire,” said his wife, leaning against the doorframe beside him with her arms wrapped around her, looking this way with a scowl on her face, her eyes as sharp as they were back then, “Don’t wait until I come aboard and pull your ears out before you realize how serious your situation is.”
Lawrence didn’t respond, he just silently straightened his captain’s uniform in the mirror, checked his meticulously combed hair again, solemnly picked up the hat that was placed next to him, and put it on his head before he gently breathed a sigh of relief.
“Thanks, Martha, but it’s time for me to get going,” the old captain whispered, “the White Oak is waiting in the harbor.”
His wife watched him silently, no more grumpy words, no more chattering complaints, just a long stare, and silence.
After an indeterminate amount of time, she sighed softly, “Well, be safe then, and come back early – don’t run into any more messes.”
“Hopefully.” Lawrence sighed helplessly and turned away from the mirror.
“Got everything with you?”
“All brought.”
“What about the house keys and the amulet for going out?”
“All with me, I didn’t forget.”
“Take a little prayer book with you, it will do you good.”
“Got it with me, too,” said Lawrence, bending down and picking up the little trunk which lay patted on the door, “and a couple of pages of hand-copied prayers and the sacred candles from the cathedral.”
The wife opened her mouth as if to say something, but Lawrence turned, a smile on his face, “I’ve brought it all with me, and I’m not old enough to lose it all.”
The wife was silent for a moment and exhaled softly, “Your medicine.”
Lawrence’s movements stiffened and stilled.
“Your medicine, don’t forget.” The wife repeated.
Lawrence’s lips twitched slightly twice, his eyes shifting a little to the side. On the small low table in the doorway, a small brown glass bottle was resting quietly, the sunlight sprinkled on the bottle, vaguely visible the clear texture of the liquid in the bottle.
After a long silence, Lawrence picked up the bottle of potion, and after several more seconds, he opened the tiny cork.
He looked up at Martha and saw his wife still leaning against the doorframe, looking at him with her arms wrapped around her, just as he remembered.
“Have a safe trip.” She said with her mouthpiece.
“I’m out the door.” Lawrence responded softly, then followed that psychiatrist’s instructions and put a few drops in his mouth.
The strong flavor escaped in his mouth, and his wife’s silhouette silently dissipated in the sunlight.
Lawrence silently put the lid of the bottle of medicine, and open the small suitcase, put the rest of the potion in a corner that is not afraid of knocking, while organizing things, muttering and complaining: “That psychiatrist net fooled people …… This stuff is simply bitter to death, which has no herbal aroma. ”
This old captain who had drifted in the boundless sea for half a lifetime organized his going out items, sighed softly, lifted the carrying case, and left the house.
……
After finishing her work for the day, Heidi finally returned home before evening, she pushed open the door of her room, took off her jacket, and the first thing she did after walking into the living room was to slump into a chair in a very unimpressive manner, and sighed deeply.
Her mother, who was sitting by the warmth of the fireplace sorting through a few letters, turned her head slightly sideways at the sound of her daughter coming home, “You’re a big girl now, you’ve got to be a little more presentable – a lady wouldn’t be like that.”
“Give the lady a break, the lady’s been dealing with bizarre nightmares and babbling seamen all day,” Heidi slumped in her chair and waved her hand airily, “one of the ships had a mechanical failure on the Infinite Sea and was stranded offshore nearly twice as long as planned, several of the sailors were carried off the ship in five pieces-it was a disaster.”
She exhaled, shaking her head and sighing, “It’s not easy to make a living on the Boundless Sea.”
Her mother looked up from her letter, “That sounds terrible, all the more reason for you not to be paralyzed like this, hurry upstairs and take a bath to soothe yourself first, the bath water is already boiling.”
“Okay, fair enough,” Heidi bristled, finally rising from her chair with a pep talk, she took a step in the direction of the stairs but suddenly paused with some curiosity, “These letters are …… “
“Water, electricity, gas, all sorts of bills – messy stuff,” her mother said casually, her tone bland, “your father used to take care of it, and now that he happens to be out of the house, I’m taking care of it. ”
“Well, I don’t want to deal with that stuff.” Heidi said as she waved her hand and took a step up the stairs.
The mother watched silently as her daughter made her way up the stairs before retracting her gaze and sweeping her eyes over the few letters in front of her.
Most of them were indeed bills.
But there were two others that were actual letters – one of which, came from a place the world could hardly imagine.
It was a letter from Maurice, delivered this afternoon by a messenger covered in green flames.
The letter bore a special incantation from the God of Wisdom to prevent outsiders from glimpsing its true contents.
The old woman looked at the familiar handwriting on it with a smile on her face:
“…… are traveling to Frost, there is not much scenery to see along the way, except for the occasional small piece of ice floes visible on the sea and the cold fog in the distance which is quite interesting ……
“…… Nina was in the dining room today catching up on her winter vacation homework when a strange shadow came out of her textbook, and it was hilarious as everyone fought to beat it up ……
“…… Before lunch the captain went fishing again, you know, one of those ‘fish’ – it struggled very hard this time, it was a thrilling scene , the captain said that fish with vigor tasted better, but actually I didn’t taste the difference ……”
The old woman smiled and put the letter aside for the moment, picking up another letter that she had just opened.
This letter however came from Frost.
The sender was Brown Scott.
(End of chapter)