Chapter 22 Code of Conduct for Crews
Chapter 22 The Crew Code
Alice stopped at the door to the captain’s cabin.
The doll lady looked up at the dark, dreary oak door in front of her and noticed a single line of words written in beautiful fancy letters on the frame: the Door of the Lost Countrymen.
While there was certainly nothing strange about such a line appearing on the doorframe of the Lost Country’s captain’s cabin, Alice subconsciously frowned – it wasn’t the door that she was curious about, but why she recognized the “words”.
She had no memories of learning words, in fact she had no memories of “learning”, nor could she remember where she had gained experience in moving around and talking to people, yet this knowledge existed naturally in her mind.
She could read the letters on the doorframe of the captain’s cabin, and she could understand the purpose of the various furnishings in the room, which she could not have learned simply by lying in a wooden box and listening to the people outside – so where did this knowledge come from?
Before today, Alice had never considered this question, but for some reason, after talking to that “Captain Duncan”, the concept of “curiosity” suddenly appeared in the doll’s mind, which should always be running calmly.
She carefully recalled that the change seemed to have occurred after Duncan had asked about the origin of the name “Alice”. …… At that moment, she questioned some of the things she had taken for granted in her own mind, and began to try to remember the origin of her own name, and then, something in her mind began to question the origin of her own name. Then, something in her mind loosened up.
Alice didn’t know if this loosening was good or bad, but she didn’t like the feeling of confusion, so she quickly shook her head and threw this point of doubt in her mind aside, and adjusted her mind in the doorway of the captain’s room again before placing her hand on the handle of the oak door and pushing it forward with a slight force.
The door did not budge.
Alice was stunned for a moment, and tried to push again, but felt that the wooden door seemed to be cast in steel as if it was unshakable.
Immediately afterward, as she was about to try again, a voice suddenly came out from the captain’s room – a voice that was hoarse and low, as if it came from a piece of rotten wood: “The door opens outward, ma’am.”
It wasn’t Captain Duncan’s voice, and Alice was taken aback, but she reacted quickly and gave a panicked “Oh” before pulling the door open – this time, it opened very gently.
It was only then that she remembered that the Captain had indeed pulled the door open when he brought her here.
It seemed that the “life knowledge” that appeared out of nowhere in her mind was only knowledge after all, and she was still too lacking in real survival experience after years of sleeping in a wooden box – Alice reflected on this for a while, and then cautiously poked her head to look into the captain’s room.
The captain’s room was empty, the striking nautical table stood silently in the light, the surface of the charts on the table was misted with a thin layer of fog, and the dark wooden goat’s head was turned from the edge of the table, a pair of obsidian eyes staring blankly at herself.
“Please come in, ma’am, the captain’s busy, you can wait here for him for a while,” the goat-head spoke, more politely than Alice could have imagined, “Also, try to avoid such probing behavior, it’s going to make some of the overly-neurotic fellows aboard the Lost Country feel like they’re being hated on. Appeasing them can be a pain in the ass – and it’s also a problem in case your head falls off again, I don’t have the hands to pick it up for you ……”
Really talking! This wooden statue was really talking!
Although Captain Duncan had said before that the goat’s head on the nautical table could talk, but suddenly hearing a wooden sculpture crackling with so many things to herself still made Alice froze, and she reacted for a moment before replying with realization, “Ah, well, but my head doesn’t really fall off that easily, and I specifically installed it the last time… …Wait, you said that certain nervous sensitivities on the Lost Country …… Are there still …… on this ship”
Alice realized the information revealed in the goat head’s words, she immediately looked around with surprise and nervousness, at this moment, she seemed to feel that the captain’s room, and even the entire Lost Country ship, everything shook in the darkness, becoming the same as that weird goat head, “strange and weird”, and the goat head’s voice immediately came into the ship, and the goat head’s voice immediately came into the ship. The goat head’s voice came into her ears immediately afterward: “Is this strange? It takes a lot of hands to get a ship this size up and running, and you’d think the great Captain Duncan would hose down the decks himself.”
What this goat head said actually made some sense, and although Alice’s newly awakened mind was still not too bright, she could only nod after half a day’s thought, “That’s true …… so there are a lot of people like you on the Lost Country… …”
“There’s only one captain’s loyal mate, the rest are a bunch of less brainy guys you don’t have to think about interacting with – and they have no interest in interacting with people,” Goathead interrupted Alice without waiting for her to finish her sentence, “But considering you’re new to the ship, it’s only natural that there are a lot of truths and rules that you don’t understand, and as Captain Duncan’s most loyal First Mate cum Second Mate cum …… I’m going to need to tell you some of the common sense things you have to know in order to survive on this ship, after all, the Captain wouldn’t stoop to explaining this kind of stuff to a newcomer Are you ready, Ms. ……?”
Alice listened in a daze, she had already forgotten her original purpose of coming to the captain’s room, she only felt that in front of her this goat head every time she opened her mouth was a large series of crackling, after three or two times she opened her mouth the rhythm of this conversation was already completely out of their own side, especially when the other party suddenly popped out a large series of titles just now, she felt that her whole head was buzzing, at this time the other party’s words fell she also could only Subconsciously nodded: “Ah, ah, good …… good?” “Good, then next are a few rules that the crew of the Lost Country must know, which will help the newcomers to adapt to the environment faster and fully accept the blessings from the Lost Country and the great Captain Duncan in the dangerous infinite sea ……”
The goat-head was clearly satisfied with Alice’s answer, and he shook his wooden head as he spoke with a tone of obvious triumph-
“First, Captain Duncan is the absolute master of the Lost Country, Captain Duncan is always right, even if reality conflicts with Captain Duncan’s words, Captain Duncan’s judgment shall prevail.
“Secondly, any crew member is only allowed to move around in the areas that Captain Duncan has allowed them to move around in, and no one is ever allowed to step halfway into an area that Captain Duncan has not ordered to be opened up, because those areas don’t exist.
“Third, if you step into an unauthorized area and you are lucky enough to survive for the time being, you must stay where you are and wait for Captain Duncan to bring you back, or wait for death – there is absolutely no return without permission, for it is not the Lost Country you are returning to.
“Fourthly, the Lost Country always sails on the correct course, do not question the Captain’s sailing plan, if you find that the scenery around the Lost Country is not what you expected, or if you find that the Lost Country has fallen into deeper ‘deeper’ waters, then this is part of the normal sailing plan.
“Fifth, the captain will occasionally leave the ship, but he will always return, and during the captain’s absence the Lost Country will continue to sail normally, but all crew members will be prohibited from approaching the aft bridge at all times – the rudder system will be insecure in the captain’s absence, and the aft cables will be strung up to kill all those who exhibit ‘usurping’ moves by daredevils.
“Sixth, on the Lost Country, there are, and only six, basic crew codes.
“Seventh, the door to the captain’s cabin opens outward.”
Goathead seemed to have more than once popularized “common sense” to new crew members, and he said these rules very smoothly and naturally, but Alice immediately noticed something wrong when she heard the last two rules: “Wait, Mr. Goathead, the sixth rule you just said… …”
“Sixth, on the Lost Country, there are and only six basic crew codes.” Goathead replied immediately, not dragging his feet when it came to bringing up these basic codes.
Alice wondered for a moment if she had a problem or the “First Mate” in front of her, “But you just mentioned the seventh rule …….”
“Seventh, the door to the captain’s cabin opens to the outside.” The goat head answered very naturally.
Alice stared blankly at the pitch-black wooden sculpture of a goat’s head on the table, and after doubting her own ears she began to doubt her own brain – but she soon realized that she didn’t have a brain, so she confirmed it once again: “These two articles… . don’t they contradict each other?”
“No contradiction at all.”
Listening to the goat head’s certain answer and looking at the other party’s empty and dark eyes, Alice opened her mouth, but suddenly swallowed back all her questions.
(Mom yeah!)
(End of this chapter)