Alice stopped at the door to the captain's quarters.
Miss Doll looked up and gazed at the dark oak door before her, noting the line of words written in beautiful cursive letters on the door frame: The Displaced's Door.
It wasn't strange for such a line of words to appear on the door frame of the Homeloss' captain's quarters, but Alice still subconsciously furrowed her brow—her curiosity was not about the door itself, but about why she recognized "text".
She had no memory of learning how to read, in fact, she had no memories of "learning" anything, nor did she remember accumulating any experience of moving about outside or conversing with people, yet this knowledge seemed to be naturally present in her mind.
She could understand the letters on the door frame of the captain's quarters and knew the purpose of various objects in the room, but such things could not be learned simply by lying in a wooden box listening to conversations outside—so where did this knowledge come from?
Before today, Alice had never considered this question, but somehow, after talking to that "Captain Duncan", the concept of "curiosity" suddenly emerged in her doll mind which was supposed to run forever smoothly.
She thought back carefully and the change seemed to have happened after Duncan inquired about the origin of the name "Alice"... At that moment, she doubted some of the things that seemed natural in her mind and began to try to recall the origin of her name, and then, something in her mind loosened.
Alice didn't know whether this loosening was good or bad, but she didn't like the feeling of confusion, so she quickly shook her head, put this little doubt aside, adjusted her mindset at the captain's quarters door, and then put her hand on the oak door handle, pushing it forward slightly.
The door did not budge.
Alice paused for a moment and tried pushing again, but the wooden door felt as if it was entirely made out of steel and did not move at all.
Then, as she was about to try once more, a voice suddenly came from inside the captain's quarters—a hoarse, low voice, as if coming from a piece of decayed wood: "The door opens outward, lady."
It wasn't Captain Duncan's voice. Alice was startled, but she quickly came to her senses, hurriedly said "Oh," and pulled the door outward—this time, the door opened easily.
Only then did she recall that when the captain previously brought her here, he indeed had pulled the door outward.
It seemed that the "life knowledge" that appeared out of nowhere in her mind was after all just knowledge; herself, who had been sleeping in a wooden box for years, was still severely lacking in real-life experience—Alice reflected on this briefly, and then carefully peeked into the captain's quarters.
There was nobody in the captain's quarters; the conspicuous navigation desk sat quietly under the light, with a thin mist over the surface of the sea chart, and the dark wooden carving of a goat's head was turning its gaze from the edge of the desk, its eyes hollowly staring at her, crafted from obsidian.
"Please come in, lady, the captain is busy. You can wait for him here," said the goat's head, more polite than Alice had imagined, "Also, try to avoid peeking like that. It makes some of the overly sensitive crew of the Homeloss feel disliked, and it's troublesome to appease them—not to mention it would be a problem if your head fell off again. I don't have hands, so I can't help you pick it up..."
It really did talk! This woodcarving was truly speaking!
Although Captain Duncan had mentioned that the goat's head on the navigation desk could talk, hearing a woodcarving rattling off so much to her out of the blue still took Alice aback. She reacted after a moment and replied distractedly, "Ah, sure, but my head isn't so prone to falling off, and the last time it was attached, I even made sure... wait, what do you mean by 'overly sensitive' on the Homeloss—could it be there are others on this ship..."
Alice belatedly realized the information implied in the goat head's words. She suddenly looked around in astonishment and nervousness; in this moment, she felt as if every object in the captain's quarters, perhaps even on the entire Homeloss, was shaking in the dim light, becoming "strange objects" like the eerie goat's head, while the voice of the goat's head continued to reach her ears: "Is that strange? To manage such a huge ship takes many hands; did you think the great Captain Duncan would personally go to scrub the decks?"
This goat's head actually made sense. Alice's recently awakened and not fully bright mind felt there was something not quite right about the situation but could only nod after a long thought: "You have a point... So, there are many like you on the Homeloss..."
"The captain's loyal first mate is the only one, and the rest are a bunch of not so bright fellows; you don't need to consider communicating with them—they have no interest in communicating with people," the goat-head didn't wait for Alice to finish and interrupted her, "But considering you are new on board, it's normal not to understand many principles and rules. As Captain Duncan's most loyal first mate, and also second mate, and..., I need to tell you some common sense that is essential for survival on this ship; after all, the captain would never condescend to explain such things to newcomers... Lady, are you ready?"
Alice listened in a daze. She had already forgotten her original purpose for visiting the captain's cabin, feeling that every time this goat-head spoke, it was a rapid-fire string of words, and after a few exchanges, the rhythm of the conversation had completely shifted out of her hands, especially when the other party suddenly rattled off a series of titles, making her feel like her whole head was buzzing. When he finished speaking, she could only nod subconsciously: "Ah, ah, okay... okay?"
"Very well, then here are several rules that Homeloss' crew must know, which will help newcomers adapt faster, and fully embrace the protection from Homeloss and the great Captain Duncan while on the perilous Endless Sea..."
The goat-head seemed very satisfied with Alice's response, shaking his wooden head as he spoke, his tone clearly smug—
"First, Captain Duncan is the absolute master of Homeloss, Captain Duncan is always right, even if reality conflicts with Captain Duncan's word, adhere to Captain Duncan's judgement.
"Second, any crew member may only roam in areas allowed by Captain Duncan. If Captain Duncan hasn't ordered an area to be open, it is absolutely forbidden to step half a foot in, because those areas do not exist.
"Third, if you have set foot in an unauthorized area and you happen to still be alive for the time being, you must stay put and wait for Captain Duncan to bring you back, or peacefully await death—absolutely do not attempt to return on your own because what you are returning to is not Homeloss.
"Fourth, Homeloss is always on the correct course, do not question the captain's navigation plan, if you find that the scenery surrounding Homeloss differs from what you expected or discover that Homeloss has entered a 'deeper' sea area, then this is part of the normal navigation plan.
"Fifth, the captain will occasionally leave the ship, but he will certainly return. While the captain is away, Homeloss will continue to sail normally, but all crew members are strictly forbidden from approaching the stern's helm— the steering system feels insecure when the captain is gone, and the ropes at the stern will strangle all those who show any 'usurping' behavior.
"Sixth, on Homeloss, the basic rules for crew members are only these six.
"Seventh, the door to the captain's cabin opens outward."
The goat-head seemed to have explained the "common sense" to new crew members more than once; he recited the rules smoothly and naturally, but Alice immediately noticed something odd about the last two rules: "Wait, Mr. Goat-head, you just said in the sixth one..."
"Sixth, on Homeloss, the basic rules for crew members are only these six." the goat-head replied immediately, without any hesitation when mentioning these basic rules.
Alice momentarily wondered if she was the one with the problem or if the "first mate" was the issue: "But just now you also mentioned a seventh rule..."
"Seventh, the captain's cabin door opens outward." the goat-head answered very naturally.
Alice stared blankly at the dark goat-head wood carving on the table, doubting her ears before beginning to doubt her brain—but soon she realized she didn't have a brain, and so she confirmed once more, "Aren't these two...contradictory?"
"Not at all contradicting."
Listening to the goat-head's confident answer and looking into his hollow and pitch-black eyes, Alice opened her mouth, but suddenly she swallowed back all her questions.
(Mamma mia!)