The door’s in the back of Baldr’s messy cabin, padlocked, with a masking-tape tag labeling it “TACKLE.”

“And this leads to the place where they’ve taken him?” asks Miss Chamuel.

“It leads to Niflheim,” says Baldr.

“But all such afterlives suspended are one; doesn’t one find throughout human history the echoes of life-without-life, and isn’t the only difference among them perspective?”

“It leads to Niflheim,” says Baldr patiently.

“And you’ll let us back out when I knock,” says Miss Chamuel firmly.

Baldr nods.

When they’ve gone through, he padlocks the door again, then sets the boat on fire.