Deep Sea Embers

Beneath Goathead, a faint creaking noise emanated as its neck slowly rotated on its pedestal. It watched in silence as Duncan made his way back to the captain’s quarters, its gaze intently following his every move.

Upon reaching the chart table, Duncan seated himself in the high-backed chair and rested his hands on the tabletop. The sea chart before him was shrouded in mist, obscuring the details and creating the impression that even this remarkable chart had lost its guiding ability in this mysterious “sea” that had long surpassed any known boundaries.

Duncan’s attention, however, was not on the obscured sea chart. Instead, he seemed to be looking through the desk and the ship’s floor, reaching out towards the vast emptiness beyond the known realms.

After a while, Goathead spoke up cautiously, “I just noticed… there has been a significant change in the ‘environment’ surrounding the Vanished. Did you cause this?”

In contrast to his normal demeanor, Duncan remained subdued, possibly influenced by the somber atmosphere.

“I conducted some experiments,” Duncan replied softly. “I tested the hypothesis that information endures and confirmed that the ‘Ashen Sea’ still supports the functioning of objects, at least in the brief experiments where the ripples of change manifested anew in this cooled ash.”

“But it didn’t last, did it?” Goathead hesitated before adding, “I sensed it… the emergence and disappearance of the ‘ripple’ you mentioned. Although I don’t understand the principles and processes involved, I can sense that something fundamental seems to be missing behind those changes.”

“The initial driving force, a process capable of instantly resetting and fully rebooting the entire ‘mathematical machine’,” Duncan disclosed the insights he had gained from the fleeting ripple. “Simply put, short-term, localized manipulation of materials in the Ashen Sea is futile. The overall ‘entropization’ of the Ashen Sea causes all changes to revert to nothingness. Thus, if we truly want to transform the materials here into a new world, we need to reset the entire system. Integrating the preserved data from the old world during the reset process should be relatively straightforward.”

Goathead was silent for a long time, reflecting deeply. Eventually, it slowly raised its head and said, “I’m not sure what you mean by ‘entropization,’ but it seems you are still contemplating some quite radical plans. Forgive my bluntness, Captain… Miss Nina would be saddened, given your promise to her.”

“Do you consider yourself the most suitable ‘initial driving force’?” Goathead asked, undeterred by the captain’s intense scrutiny. “Resetting the entire ‘mathematical machine’ seems to require immense energy and ‘information,’ both of which you ‘yourself’ possess…”

“I am exploring an alternative,” Duncan suddenly interjected, his tone calm.

Taken aback by the interruption, Goathead’s neck emitted a series of squeaks and creaks, “…I thought you were planning on sacrificing yourself…”

“Yes, I had considered that, but Bartok reminded me before he left,” Duncan stated calmly. “He advised against using sacrifice to lay the foundations of a new world too readily. Sacrifice should always be the last and most reluctant choice, not the initial strategy. Too easy a sacrifice diminishes its significance. Besides, I promised Nina and Lucy that I would return home.”

After saying this, Duncan sighed softly.

“Of course, if there really is no other option, I am not opposed to dying, but for now… I think I should put more effort into finding a better solution.”

“Do you have an idea?” Goathead asked curiously. “Is there another way to initiate the process?”

“In theory, all I need is information and energy, and the ‘information’ part can be supplemented later through post-assignment. So, what I primarily need is energy, energy to restart the mathematical machine, to activate the ‘information’,” Duncan explained thoughtfully. “I have a vague notion for resolving this issue, but its feasibility remains uncertain…”

He paused suddenly, his gaze fixing on something invisible in the distance. After a brief moment, he resumed, “I think I need to speak with someone with whom I have an appointment.”

While speaking, he casually inquired, “What is Alice currently doing?”

Goathead hesitated briefly, checked the situation on the ship, and a subtly human expression appeared on its rigid wooden face: “…She is with the Frost Queen, preparing to engage in something quite peculiar…”

This remark from Goathead underscored the strangeness of the situation.

On the spacious mid-deck, Alice was eagerly dragging Ray Nora to demonstrate a trick she had recently mastered. The doll was visibly excited, pulling the bewildered Frost Queen onto a barrel and then pointing to her own head, exclaiming, “I just learned this! I practiced it a lot with Luni to succeed!”

Before Ray Nora could grasp the situation, the doll embraced her own head and yanked it upward with a “pop,” tossing the head into the air.

She then adjusted her body left and right, aligning her neck joints to catch the descending head…

It was only then that Ray Nora understood what the doll was attempting to do—though she might have been better off not knowing.

To make matters worse, the doll failed to catch her head.

Her head plummeted down, landing head-first with a “thud” against her neck joint, and rolled to a stop at Ray Nora’s feet, looking up innocently and blinking: “A slight… slight miscalculation… help pick… up…”

Ray Nora’s eye twitched as she observed this debacle. The Frost Queen, who may be accustomed to overseeing the Abyss Plan and confronting rebels without flinching, appeared momentarily unsettled by the spectacle.

Duncan arrived on the deck just in time to witness this unusual scene.

He had been struck quite hard—though perhaps not as hard as Ray Nora had been.

He swiftly stepped forward, seized Alice’s head, and reattached it to her neck with a definitive “pop.” He then turned to face the still bewildered Ray Nora, his expression subtly apologetic as he explained, “Sorry, Alice sometimes thinks differently from most people…”

It seemed that only then did Ray Nora recover from her shock. She stared at Duncan blankly before finally uttering, “…This is the first time I’ve witnessed such a scene from a third-person perspective.”

Duncan: “…”

Unexpectedly, the Frost Queen added her second remark: “Frankly, it’s quite interesting.”

“I was talking with Alice when she mentioned that her neck joints tend to loosen easily,” Ray Nora elaborated, spreading her hands and appearing calmer than before, “Out of curiosity, I asked her to show me exactly what she meant. Her demonstration turned out to be more thrilling than I had anticipated…”

What could Duncan really say to that? He merely twitched the corner of his mouth, turning to adjust Alice’s head while giving Ray Nora an awkward smile.

Ray Nora, however, appeared unfazed, observing the scene with interest. It was neither simple nor normal, yet it felt extraordinarily peaceful and routine. After a moment, she smiled and remarked, “It seems she’s really happy.”

“If only she weren’t always so carefree,” Duncan sighed helplessly. “Seriously, are you really okay? That scene just now… I thought you might be traumatized…”

“I’m fine,” Ray Nora assured him, taking a deep breath. “When my head was cut off back then, I didn’t see it myself—associative things can be overcome.”

Duncan paused for a moment, realizing that the Frost Queen indeed possessed a very strong mind—and even stronger peripheral nerves.

At that moment, Alice seemed to realize something, turning her head to look at Duncan: “Captain, did you come to find me?”

“Yes,” Duncan carefully freed the last strand of hair caught in Alice’s joint, nodding, “We’ve arrived here, and there’s an appointment… it’s time to keep it.”

Alice blinked, finally recalling something, “Ah, the flaming meatball hanging at our door…”

Duncan was surprised, amazed that the doll could remember such details so accurately, and even more impressed by Alice’s refreshingly unconventional way of describing it…

Ray Nora looked on, puzzled, not understanding what the two were discussing. She couldn’t help but ask curiously, “An appointment? Where are we going next?”

“It’s an appointment for me and Alice,” Duncan smiled, “Don’t worry, we won’t leave this ship, just briefly visit another dimension, and we’ll be back soon.”

“Yes, the captain is going to wind me up!” Alice exclaimed happily, waving to Ray Nora, “You go back to your room first, I’ll come to play with you after I’m wind up!”

Ray Nora listened, even more bewildered: “Wind up?”

But the doll obviously had no intention of explaining further, pulling the captain towards the rear deck, leaving the Frost Queen bewildered with a head full of question marks.