When I stood before the viewport and gazed out at the dreamlike scenery, I knew I had come alive.
When I shouted, "Set sail!" the ship's roar told me it had come alive.
Yes, alive for me.
A ship moored in port had no purpose. Cold machinery pieced together a frigid shell, its metal exterior polished to a shine, its icy gleam unable to dispel the aura of death.
I stepped inside, the bridge lights came on, and surging power from the engines coursed through the entire ship. Only then did it come alive.
I was its heart.
The Heart of Exploration was the ship's soul. No chart of explored territory could contain the ocean in my heart. Boundless darkness waited for me to illuminate it.
To me, the sounds inside its shell were merely the panting breaths of our onward journey.
I wanted to hear the gale roar past me, unable to keep up with my stride even with all its might!
I wanted to see countless stars fall behind me, their light shining only upon my back, so those who followed would see a brilliant figure forever pressing onward!
I wanted to touch the far shore of the river of stars and plant the first flag where no one had ever set foot.
Vect operated the complex equipment alone, handling controls that should have required several Aeldari working together. The endless precision work had already left him exhausted.
The original ship of Commorragh, the Dark City, raced through the Webway. Ever since the Crimson Tide had performed "surgery" on it, precisely amputating everything below its skull, it had returned to its original form,
a large survival vessel.
In itself, it was merely a trading hub that could float in the wider stretches of the Webway and provide