Warhammer: Hail to the Void Lords!.

Chapter 557 06.0556: "The Anguish of the Subspace"

In the subspace, time is very uncertain. No one knows how much time has passed in the real universe when they return, because there is no concept of time in the subspace.

All the clocks either stopped at the moment of advancing into the subspace, or the hands twisted strangely, resulting in a large time difference, and the time laws of the real universe could not be used.

Even the bow and stern of the ship can have a time difference of several hours.

For the convenience of management, people will use an ancient timekeeping method to calibrate the subspace navigation of the entire ship - hourglass timekeeping.

It is hung next to the ship's clock in front of the captain's command throne. The hourglass on one side quantifies the time in half an hour. Every half an hour, the armed sailor will turn it over and record the passage of time for a unit at the same time.

A scroll-driven brass hourglass hung suspended beneath the bridge dome, each grain of quartz sand inscribing a new prayer on the adamantine frame as it fell.

The Imperium of Man uses this method to calculate how long a warship has been drifting in the Warp.

The sailors will then ring the ship's bell, and with each cycle, they will add an additional strike amidships to spread the unified time throughout the ship through sound, which will serve as the only standard time for the entire ship.

But it still does not change the fact that the concept of time does not exist in subspace.

It seems that everything has fallen into an eternal stagnation, and the situation is gradually deteriorating in such a stagnation, which is precisely the most terrifying thing.

"Emperor, please guide us!" The navigator opened his arms in the navigation tower and shouted in a hoarse voice.

"What's the situation?" Horatio asked the officers of the Navigation Department, who were the specialists who represented the Imperial Navy in communicating with the Navigator's family.

The officer shook his head. "The situation is not good. The turbulence in this warp is too violent. The Epic is like being in a vortex. Every time the navigator catches a little light from the Astronomican, it will quickly disappear. Such turbulence may make it difficult for us to escape from it, and we may be washed to a distant or even endless unknown shore."

"We have to try to get out. The Epic's Geller force field and subspace engine have not been fully tested. Father Lati believes that short-distance jumps are controllable, but long-distance jumps are likely to cause problems."

"Understood, Captain. May the Emperor bless us."

Horatio nodded and walked towards the corridor. A soft mist like a veil floated in the corridor. Every step he took would be crushed by his boots and then returned to its original shape behind his feet.

A blood-red liquid adhered to the gray-black and cold wall, which was the product of the accumulation of subspace power inside the ship.

As long as it doesn't grow hideous tentacles, then everything won't be a big problem.

But the unknown whispers that come with this power have been challenging the limits of human rationality.

The eyes of the sailors on guard were bloodshot, and they were slightly nervous and alert to any strange movements around them.

They must use their willpower to fight the voices that haunt their ears all the time and remain highly alert at all times.

This was not easy, so Horatio arranged the shifts into three-hour shifts so that they could get enough rest.

They were relieved to see the captain and saluted with their guns.

"What's the situation?"

"No, Captain, everything is fine."

"Thank you for your hard work." He nodded and walked past a sailors' rest cabin.

The sailors in the lounge sat together tiredly, their guns with bayonets were simply piled up. They gathered in a circle to discuss the strange phenomena that had occurred recently on the Epic.

"The ghost fog is getting thicker. When I was on the Indefatigable before, because the Indefatigable is a battlecruiser, it has enough space, so I didn't feel the fog was so thick."

"Based on our previous experience on the Indefatigable, when the ghost fog becomes thick enough, the crew will undergo terrible mutations."

"have you seen?"

"When I was on the Indefatigable, my sentry area was at the junction of the middle and lower decks of BP-8. I saw it, God Emperor, it was the most horrifying scene I have ever seen in my life. A huge brown horn burst directly from the people's heads, turning them into bloodthirsty thugs." "May the God Emperor bless us and help us escape from the damned High Heaven as soon as possible."

"Keep quiet. If you feel you have more energy than you can use, I will consider adding an hour to your guard duty." The sergeant interrupted them and asked them to shut up.

The conversation was interrupted in a huff.

Horatio continued to walk forward and came to the incubator. The scarlet mist nearby was like a witch or an old woman in a fairy tale, sneaking up to the incubator containing healthy babies. Then, after being touched by the power of faith of the nuns, it suddenly shrank back as if pricked by a needle.

With the nuns' careful care, Farida recovered her mobility at an unexpected speed.

After more than a month on the ship, she was able to walk.

"Maybe you should rest for a while longer." Horatio said to Farida who was buttoning up her Military Supervisor uniform.

"Maternity leave is over, Captain." She put on her wide-brimmed hat. "The Epic is in the turbulence of the empire. She needs me."

"The navigator has not found a way out of the turbulence so far. We have tried to rush out randomly, but the turbulence is too strong. No matter which direction we go, the Epic is still under its control."

(Abnormally dangerous subspace turbulence)——
If Horatio were asked to describe what it was like to be in the turbulence of the warp.

Then he would definitely say that it was like a submarine lurking under the sea a hundred meters deep, with terrible and dull sounds coming from outside the hull, and no gorgeous scenery from the Milky Way visible. Every day when he opened his eyes, all he saw were the gray and black bulkheads, decks, and gray isolating steel curtains.

Whether it is the Imperial Navy's battleships, cruisers, or small ships, life in this high-pressure environment is always extremely dull and depressing, just like being in a 'void submarine'.

It's all monotonous, extremely depressing, and oppressive, as if you were imprisoned in a prison of steel and gold, and could never be free.

Moreover, as a torpedo attack ship, the torpedoes occupy most of the space inside the ship, which is narrow and closed, making the already difficult "void submarine life" even more psychologically uncomfortable.

The Mechanicus never considered the psychological benefits of the crew when designing these warships - they were lucky enough to treat naval officers as human beings and carefully design the officers' living quarters.

This forced Horatio to open the reserve officer's rest area below to the crew for entertainment and rest, in order to alleviate the common emotional depression among the crew, and also to increase the richness of the food rations.

However, in the subspace, although people also need to eat, it is different from the physical universe after all. Therefore, the warships at this time have a unique rationing system and are highly dependent on the ship's self-sustaining and recycling equipment.

This is why any warship of the Empire that can navigate in the Warp will not be less than 1 kilometer in length - without a complete set of self-sustaining systems, the ship will quickly get lost during navigation in the Warp.

The reason was not that the exit of the rift could not be found, but the serious shortage of resources on the ship caused chaos and infighting, which ultimately led to the entire battleship being completely buried in the dark clouds of the subspace.

The ship is counting down to the "third month".

A young crew member recruited from Abyss Port shrugged his head, his whites of the eyes were bloodshot, his thick dry and cracked lips were weakly open, and waves of white air came out of his mouth. He followed his fellow workers off the job in a daze.

The strange whispers continued to linger in his ears, and even when he was lying in the hammock, the whispers would not let him go.

Finally, in the accumulating fatigue and trance.

"Hey! Be careful! This is the Geller force field! What are you doing?" The young crew member was startled by the boatswain's shout and the wrench in his hand fell to the ground.

He was sent to check the pipeline, but he didn't know what happened and was using a wrench to unscrew the nut of the pressure relief pipe.

"Hold... I'm sorry."

"You look like you've lost your soul. Is this how you serve the Imperial Navy?!" The boatswain picked up a wrench and hit him on the head. "I warn you, if you do this again, I won't let you go."

"Yes... yes, boatswain." The thin young member left trembling, as dispirited as when he came.

The boatswain looked at his back, shook his head helplessly and sighed.

(End of this chapter)