Shadows Noticed After the Fact

"One-third of the structure?"

Ted Riel froze upon hearing Duncan's words, looking at the abstract, chaotic lines he had drawn on the paper with some confusion. To be fair, he thought he had drawn terribly, but this was already the closest he could get to his "original impression." The lingering effects of Subspace had long interfered with his mind, preventing him from clearly recalling the details of those memories. Even he found it difficult to reconstruct a complete image from those fragmented lines.

Yet from Duncan's tone, he realized that this "Ghost Captain" had not only recognized what was drawn on the paper—he even... knew what it was supposed to look like.

Duncan stood before the table, frowning as he carefully examined the details Ted had drawn. After a while, he pointed to a spot on the image. "Is the structure here broken?"

Ted frowned and tried hard to remember. At last, a vague impression surfaced in his mind. "It seems so... but I'm not sure. I only caught a glimpse of it in a hurry. I didn't even have time to see its complete side structure..."

"It's broken here, then extends outward. These are some connecting structures," Duncan said, disregarding the hesitation in Ted's words. He casually picked up a pencil and rapidly sketched lines in the blank areas of the page. Under his hand, a bizarre object with a symmetrical three-part structure quickly took shape—something that looked nothing like a "ship" to Ted and Lucretia. "It consists of these three main structures... The engine assembly would be located here..."

Without realizing it, Lucretia had leaned closer to the strange "drawing." After staring at it for a full half minute, she finally could not help asking, "What exactly... is this?"

Duncan did not look up. After several seconds of