Chapter 759: The Voyager
Chapter 757 – The Man Who Sailed Away
In the thick fog that seemed to have substance like some kind of viscous fluid, the white hull of the Sea Song moved like a ghost, as if it would disappear into this boundless fog at any moment.
I don’t know when it started, the roar from the steam core turned into a strange, low whimpering sound mixed with layers and layers of echoes, and from time to time there were sharp whistles coming from the piping room, and there were murmurs that sounded like people in their sleep mixed in with those whistles.
“The machine is beginning to be possessed ……” the techno-priest returned from the machinery bay and came to the bridge to report to the captain, “The effect of the soothing incense is becoming less and less effective.”
“Disconnect the power shafts from the differentials, switch all machines to manual control, vent the steam core to the yellow zone – replace the boiling gold catalysts in two hours,” the captain said calmly, “shorten the crew rotation in the mechanical bays to three hourly intervals .”
“Aye, Captain.” The techno-priest bowed his head, and for one brief moment his voice suddenly became extraordinarily hoarse and low, as if a large hole had been broken in his chest and uncontrolled airflow was blowing out of his lungs, yet no one seemed to notice this – the priest left, and the cold-faced captain’s lady watched the other’s back, then withdrew her gaze.
Out of the corner of her eye, she suddenly saw a patch of rust appear on the railing on the side of the captain’s chair, the rust slowly widening as time flew by and the years melted away.
But the next second, those rusts disappeared from sight like a phantom, and she was stunned for a moment, and before she had time to react, she heard a low, muffled voice in her head, a kind but chilling voice ta whisper to herself:
“Ah …… here you are …… my little fish …… swim and swim …… Back into the current ……”
The soft sound of the waves echoed in her ears, and as if the cool touch of being submerged in seawater traveled over her skin, the captain felt a trance, but suddenly she awoke from it.
Someone shouted in the distance, the ship’s first mate, “Captain! There’s something in the fog!”
The captain frowned, some confusion on her cold face for the first time, but this confusion was soon interrupted: out of the corner of her eye she noticed the large ship figure in the fog speeding away.
Everyone on the bridge was incredibly nervous as they watched the figure of the big ship that was gradually approaching in the thick fog, but then suddenly became more and more indistinct and blurred after a certain distance, like a ghostly phantasmagoria, and after a while, the captain suddenly saw a dazzling light of fire appearing near the bows of the Lost Country – the light of the fire flickering and repeating itself with regularity in the fog .
Had the phantom ship really answered the light signal and sent communication?
Many pairs of eyes fixedly watched the flickering fire, while the captain watched the light signal gradually frowned, after a few moments, the first mate quickly walked up, “Captain, the Lost Country ship signaling that it salutes us …… nothing else.”
The first mate immediately led the order, and then the light set on the side of the sea song ship began to play a series of signals, regular flashes of strong light penetrated the thick fog, and silently shouted in the unknown waters of this border.
“That ship is coming!” “The Lost Country!?” “Isn’t it in Lightwind Harbor?!” “It’s coming closer!”
“It’s the Lost Country!” The captain exclaimed in disbelief, “How did it appear here!?”
The captain didn’t respond, she just stared fixedly ahead, as if she suddenly saw a distant destiny through a gap in the fog at the moment the “Lost Country” left.
There were also several cries of alarm from the bridge, and then the first mate quickly came to the captain’s seat: “Captain, that ship is approaching us.”
A low, gentle murmur echoed in her ears – the
The Lost Country’s spirit sails bulged high and wordlessly accelerated through the thick fog, and it almost blinked as it crossed over the Sea Song and sped towards the unknown waters further away, while its massive ship’s shadow quickly disappeared into the flowing mist.
“Little fishes …… you’re all good, now it’s time to rest, don’t be afraid …… every weary soul has a place to return to, if you can’t go back, this is the new home… …”
“…… Signal the lights and ask the other side where they are coming from,” the captain ordered at once, after a slight pause, “All hands on guard, church boilers pressurized – this is the border, don’t jump to believe anything you see, it’s not necessarily the ‘Lost Country’ as we know it.”
“That direction is ……” the first mate on the sidelines suddenly reacted and immediately exclaimed softly, “Captain, the ‘Lost Country’ is heading toward ‘His’ direction!”
The captain instantly came to her senses, and immediately turned her head to look at the side of the bridge, her gaze through that wide hatch, she suddenly saw that there was an ethereal green glow that was gradually rising upwards in the fog, like a huge beast walking slowly towards herself, the outline of that glow solidified little by little, and sketched out the silhouette of another ship in her eyes.
A large ship of staggering size, with a towering bow and translucent sails, came out of the fog, emerging from the side and rear, light as a breeze, easily catching up with the Sea Song, which was running at full power with its steam core, and which was always shrouded in a vague “distortion” that made it impossible to make out the details of the ship, but the captain of the Sea Song still recognized it instantly. Captain instantly recognized the distinctive features of the ship…
A serenity that seemed to well up from the soul descended, and in a slight tremor of the mind, the captain slowly closed her eyes, “…… Please witness ……”
Her eyes snapped open, as if reflecting an unending storm in her deathly gray eyes, “…… Witness my return voyage – my mission is not yet over.”
Fragmented memories suddenly revived in her mind, the journey that had been lost in the dislocated timestream returned to her memory, she remembered the long time since she had crossed the border, all the trials and the darkness, the lost sea at the end of the thick fog, the lonely island stagnant in an eternity of time, the huge temple, the graveyard of the behemoths, and the dead gods in the temple –and his own homeland that was being shrouded in night. “…… You will cross that border …… over the six nautical mile critical line …… He is calling out to the earthly world, go and find Him …… Bring our salutations and bring back news of Him ……”
Coronation Helena’s exhortations still echoed in her ears, but it seemed like centuries ago, and now only vague impressions remained.
The captain shook his head and slowly took steps in the direction of the pilot’s seat, the captain’s uniform on his body had weathered into messy rags at some point, the once neat and bright bridge had been turned into a decaying and tilted ruin under the pinch of the sea breeze and time, and all of the lights had been extinguished, and a sticky fog had drilled through the broken portholes, overflowing in all directions on the bridge.
Everywhere was empty, no crew in sight, all seemed to have left a long time ago – they had all stayed with the Lord, in that eternal peaceful home.
The captain crossed over to those empty spots and trudged along the ship that seemed to have been adrift for centuries, but suddenly she noticed what appeared to be another figure shifting by the bridge.
The figure heard the movement and slowly turned its head.
He was shriveled and ugly, like a corpse that had weathered for a century in the sea air, and his face had crumpled and twisted into a lurid shape.
It was an ugly dry corpse – but soon the captain recognized it as his first mate.
The dry body spoke, its voice rough as gravel rubbing, “Welcome back to the ship, Captain – it looks like it’s not yet time for you to retire.”
“…… You stayed on as well.” The Captain said – until this moment, she hadn’t realized that her voice had turned out to be just as raspy and horrible.
“Yes, I had work left to do,” the first mate grunted, “and the others rested, but I had a dream in which a ghost ship burning with green fire sprang up, and you told me to give it a signal …… oi , and I was awakened by that signal. I don’t like that ship, the Lost Country, it even broke the peace that God gave me …… those damned green fires, and now I can never rest again.”
The captain didn’t pay any attention to the first mate’s recitations – although she noticed how much the first mate seemed to have changed, her groggy mind made it difficult for her to concentrate on the minutiae – she just trudged over to the bridge and watched as the first mate was bustling about, “Is the ship still sailing?”
“No,” the first mate turned his head and grinned a lurid grin, “the steam core shut down a long time ago, the hull eroded into a pile of rubble underneath, no power to speak of.”
“…… Then what are you doing?”
“Getting this ship moving, Captain,” the first mate said slowly, “hold its rudder wheel and make yourself think like a ship …… It’ll move, Captain, and sooner or later we’ll get through this infinite fog and back to the damned infinite sea ……”
The captain slowly sat down as she listened to the first mate’s chatter, and only after a long time did she speak softly as if to herself, “Then I should find something to do as well.”
“Then I suggest you leave some records,” said the First Mate, “I don’t know what will change after crossing that border again, but there will certainly be changes that will take place, and you may no longer be you, and I may continue to be a different person, and we may not even always remember who we are and what we have done –Only Sacred Words Can Leave Precious Guidance ……”
Sacred Words ……
The captain blinked slowly, her mind clearing a little more again, and after a moment’s hesitation she finally reached out and fumbled for something from the pocket of her tattered coat.
It was her log book – something every captain had.
It had likewise been baptized with age, but the divinely blessed paper had survived weathering and corrosion, and the writing on it was still legible.
She bowed her head and fished another pencil from another pocket, slowly leaving a note on a new page-
“I am Captain Kalani of the Sea Song, and this is the record I left on the way back ……
“We found ‘Him’ – roughly half a century after crossing the six nautical mile threshold.”
(end of chapter)