Chapter 33 – Fish
Chapter 33 Fish
This breakfast tasted like wax – and the texture was worse than wax.
After finishing a not-so-satisfying breakfast, Duncan’s mood didn’t improve in the slightest as his stomach was filled, but instead became slightly annoyed because some of the information that Goathead had inadvertently mentioned had evoked a bunch of jumbled speculations.
He glanced over at Aye the Pigeon, who was lounging on a nearby shelf, and felt the ramblings in his head getting more and more outrageous.
He had always thought that this pigeon with a mouth full of “Earth words” was born because he had an Earthling soul, and that when he was walking in the Spirit Realm, the individual “Zhou Ming” reacted with the Brass Compass, thus giving birth to such a strange bird as Ai. The strange bird.
But what if …… the situation is really not like that?
What if, as Goat Head had said, this pigeon was merely a phantom that had run out from a “deeper” place, and then happened to coalesce into a form by his side?
Then those “Earth words” that Ai popped up from time to time would have nothing to do with Zhou Ming’s memories, but would become a projection of a certain part of history recorded by this world itself ……
The possibilities behind this distracted Duncan.
Alice stood up, her voice interrupting Duncan’s thoughts, “Do you need me to wash the dishes?”
Duncan gave Miss Doll a somewhat surprised look, who scratched her hair awkwardly, “I was thinking that since I’m already on board, I should always find something to do, otherwise I look like a jerk ……”
“But you don’t eat at all,” Duncan reminded her, “but it’s good that you have the heart to do so – take the dishes to the water room, talk to the sink, and if it doesn’t mind you’ll wash them. ”
With those words, he stood up without waiting for Alice’s reply, and casually remarked as he made his way to the door of the captain’s cabin, “I’m going to go round the decks, so don’t bother if there’s nothing to be done.”
The pigeons that were taking a stroll on the shelves immediately fluttered to Duncan’s shoulder and followed him out of the room, leaving Alice wide-eyed with the goathead at the sailing table.
“Is the Captain in a bad mood?” After a moment’s hesitation, Alice cautiously asked Goathead.
Goat Head spoke in a deep tone, “The captain’s mood is like the weather of the Infinite Sea, don’t speculate, just accept it.”
Alice did not wait for this goat head to continue to speak then quickly continued to ask: “By the way, just now the captain said let me discuss with the pool …… how to discuss ah?”
“Simple, you go to wash things, if you get splashed all over, it means that the pool does not like you – speaking of which do you know how to wash dishes? If not I have some theoretical experience ……”
Before Goathead’s words fell, he saw Alice quickly clean up the dishes on the table and then rushed towards the door while yelling, “No I’ll learn thank you Mr. Goathead bye!”
There was an instant silence in the captain’s room, leaving only the pitch-black Goathead to stay at the table, gazing in the direction of everyone’s departure with empty eyes.
It was a long time before a sigh came from the nautical table, “How much better if I had legs ……”
It then returned its gaze to the charts.
The mist around the Lost Country was still dissipating unhurriedly, and the task left to it by the captain at the helm still had to be accomplished properly.
Under precise control, this huge and “alive” ghost ship sensitively adjusted the angle of each sail, and began to continue to sail in the boundless sea, while the goat head hummed a ship’s song that had been handed down from an unknown era – coarse and hoarse, like noise! The “humming” echoed in the captain’s room:
“The sails are up, the sails are up, the sailor who has left home goes on;
“In the wind and the waves, in the clamor, we’re a plank away from death;
“Furl the corner sails, spread the mainsail, let go of the halyards, and hold on to the sides! We have come to the middle of the sea!
“Away from the fishes, away from the fishes, sailors shall cross the course where those sons are entrenched;
“Away from the fish, away from the fish! We’ll dock safely – spirits and fireplaces are just ahead ……”
Duncan glanced around the storehouse where the provisions were kept, and then around the galley, before finally returning to the mid-deck of the Lost Country.
No matter how many times he rummaged through the ship, he couldn’t find anything more palatable than jerky and cheese.
The good news was that he didn’t have to eat maggot-ridden cookies like those sailors of the Age of Sail on Earth, the bad news was that there weren’t even any maggot-ridden cookies on this ship.
He put aside those previous rambling thoughts for the moment, and took the quiet Aey with him to the edge of the deck. Looking out over the boundless sea, he kept calculating in his mind:
“…… In any case, find a way to replenish the necessities of life on the Lost Country …… Although I can’t be too particular about the quality of life on a ghost ship, I can’t really live like a ghost after all ……
“Alice might even need a change of clothes, and there’s no dresses or skirts on this ship that would fit her.
“We must establish contact with the city-states on land as soon as possible …… The Lost Country has been adrift at sea for too many years, and the city-states on land may have developed in the meantime to a degree that even that goat-head couldn’t have foreseen, and from what we saw in that sewer earlier, at least the city-state of Prand is a Strong and advanced big city, those revolvers that the cultists carry with them can also illustrate the technological development of human society ……
“Ancient ghost ships are not necessarily still so invincible in front of a civilized society that has developed for a century, the remnants of the Lost Country are still there, but in case one is left, it’s not a good idea ……”
Duncan glanced over his shoulder at Aye.
Perhaps …… today, after a little refreshing, it’s time to try the next “spirit world walk” again.
“Goo-goo?”
Aey cocked his head, finally making some of the normal pigeon noises.
Duncan couldn’t help but chuckle a little, and just then, out of the corner of his eye, he suddenly noticed what appeared to be a flash of waves on the surface of the sea nearby.
His attention was caught by the movement, and he subconsciously looked out over the side of the ship a few more times, and immediately noticed that something did indeed seem to be swimming below the surface of the water nearby.
After a moment’s hesitation, Duncan suddenly slapped himself on the side of the head.
“Hi! This is my reaction …… This is the sea! Aren’t there fish in the sea!”
Duncan’s mood improved at the sudden “possibility” of establishing a land connection and a steady supply of supplies to the Lost Country, but couldn’t the vast expanse of the sea itself be of some help?
There were fish in the sea – and he’d had enough of the jerky and cheese on the ghost ships!
Duncan’s enthusiasm was aroused, and he remembered that there were heavy fishing rods for sea fishing in one of the warehouses below decks, and spots for securing them could be found on the ship’s side at the edge of the deck, and as for bait …… wondered if the jerky and cheese would work?
And so it was that while the cursed mannequin was washing dishes in the water room, and the talking goathead was concentrating on steering the ship, the captain of the Lost Country was busy between the decks and the cabins.
Duncan soon found what he was looking for, carrying three heavy rods and the “bait” back on deck, which he rustily secured to the edge of the side of the ship, and after baiting and casting, he moved an empty bucket from nearby to use as a chair while he waited.
Duncan didn’t really have any experience with sea fishing – all of his fishing experience had been limited to ponds and a small river back home – and he wasn’t sure if he could actually catch a fish with this whimsical move, but it was good to be idle anyway, what if?
Think of it as recuperating before your next spiritual walk, and by the way, you can still keep an expectation of improved meals in the future.
Duncan took a seat between a couple of fishing poles and regained his composure a little bit during the long wait.
The sea conditions were fairly calm today, the sky was quite cloudy, but there was no sign of a storm.
Duncan sat on a barrel with his back against one of the winches used to hold the cable in place, squinting slightly at the slight rocking of the boat.
At some point, he fell into a half-asleep state.
He dreamed that he was barefoot on a calm sea, the water blue and the sun and warm.
The familiar and “normal” sun he remembered was high in the sky, bright, but not hot.
He heard a splashing sound and looked around to see a fish suddenly jumping out of the nearby calm water.
It was a school of small golden fish, looking only as big as the palm of his hand, and they were spitting bubbles in the air and wagging their tails as if they were swimming in the water as they slowly circled around Duncan.
These fish swimming in the air leaned over a little bit, and Zhou Ming looked at them curiously, looking at their bulging eyes, at their fine scales, at their mouths that opened and closed, and at the fine lines that fluttered open slightly behind them, like water waves.
Zhou Ming suddenly felt that these fish were beautiful and ……
very fragrant.
It must be very, very fragrant.
(End of Chapter)