[full-time master] short story

.No one can tell the names of every street and lane in this city and all their stories.No one, not even someone who grew up in these cobweb-like alleys.

More cruisers only use this place as a stop. They stop from their long voyages, looking for a shelter, waiting for the sale of goods, the repair of starships, and the recruitment of new crew members.At that time they will bring some vitality to the city of tomorrow, like a stone suddenly thrown into still water.But this change is only temporary.The people who come and go are embraced by the city with open arms, submerged in the water-stained gray buildings, and disappear in the yellow-brown dust and smoke.Those who are lucky (in a sense) will board the next starship for the voyage, while those who have worn their hearts out will stay on shore, talking vaguely over a glass of whiskey about the glory of the past, about the people who have been buried. The old acquaintances who were born in the sea of ​​stars had an expression on their faces that was infinitely approaching loss, making it impossible to judge whether they were celebrating or mourning their own survival.

When Zhang Jiale set foot on the ground of Tomorrow City, he was far from aware of all this.In his eyes, those gray and rusted buildings are full of exotic style, and the intricate streets and alleys are like a natural maze.Like all young cruisers, he spent his waiting leisure in wandering, drinking, gossip, and love.At that time, he was still too young to care about others, he still didn't realize that death and voyage are inseparable, and he still dared to love passionately and embrace with all his strength.But now when he recalled everything about the city of tomorrow, he suddenly understood the sorrow that lingered in this ancient city.The cruisers who have poured their lives into the distant sky can never fully return to the land—no matter in the city of tomorrow or any other place, part of their souls will always stay in the sea of ​​stars.This divided sorrow brews everything in the city of tomorrow, which is deposited in every glass of wine and is drunk by the young cruisers. It is slowly fermented in countless days, and one day it will expand and become the background color of their souls.

And at that time—the time when he and Sun Zheping met, he was still far from realizing all this.

They met in a shop.He can still clearly remember the strange name of the store—Herbsttag, which seems to come from an ancient language, but until the end he couldn't tell whether it was a coffee shop or a bar, and the people who mixed in it couldn't tell. People care about this.

Zhang Jiale would think of those days.Sometimes it was a dream, he was forced to see the familiar decorations of Herbsttag: the polished goblet, the smell of coffee and cream, the old blues that sounded when coins were inserted into the old-fashioned slot machine.He always sat by the window and asked for something, until the bell on the door rang and another person he knew walked in.Sometimes it is memories, he thinks of the weird people he met in Herbsttag: for example, they once met a person who grew up in this street and alley, he said that he has been committed to collecting all the stories of the city of tomorrow, and giving They looked at notebooks that had swollen from overfill and had to be strapped to keep them from becoming loose.Zhang Jiale was also curious, but what he was even more curious about was why the other party had grown so tall - he was so tall that he had to bend over to get in when he stepped into the Herbsttag, and Zhang Jiale had to look up at him when he sat down.The person told him that the gravity of the asteroid is different from that of the settlement, and there is no way to do it in a low-gravity environment.Sun Zheping didn't tell him it was a lie until the other party walked out.I was born on an asteroid.For example, the card player he met had colorful cloth strips and small drilled coins in his messy long hair. They all enthusiastically asked him to do the math.Zhang Jiale couldn't help queuing up to draw a card: an Ace of Spades.

"You will have a smoother life. But if you want to choose a lover, don't love someone who is on a long voyage."

He never cared about those words back then.Now that I think about it, that prophecy is probably true.

2.

Zhang Jiale still remembers the afternoon when he came to Herbsttag for the first time, but he can't remember exactly how he came to the door of the store, whether it was a aimless walk, a wrong turn, or a sudden rain ?But since the first time you step through the maroon door, there are two kinds of people: those who leave once in a while and those who come back repeatedly.And what is it that determines this?The placement of the table, the brightness of the lights, the smell of the wine, or just the ethereal smell that suddenly floats in at a certain moment, a kind of fate-like thing that can never be described in words.In the end, it was like a kind of fate. They would be driven to this store by an invisible hand, and they would be doomed to have their fate intertwined with other customers.Everything is preordained.

This kind of thinking is too fatalistic.But cruisers are more or less superstitious, and there are too many dangers hidden in the vast sea of ​​stars. Even experienced people cannot escape a magnetic storm unscathed. Occasional strays may push the starship into the gravitational force of the black hole .So all cruisers are well aware that every farewell before sailing may become a farewell, that the long absence of familiar old faces may be behind the tragic accident, although people can always comfort themselves: they changed the port of call. Or decided to go back to sedentary life - in any sense, they disappeared from the Herbsttag's guests and ceased to exist.Just like Zhang Jiale.He never even went near the door of Herbsttag after that day.He made himself disappear from there. —If one can no longer come, there is no need for the other to come again.

This kind of thinking is only for young people.Later Zhang Jiale would find this kind of thinking a bit ridiculous, but once he made avoidance a habit, the habit would dominate him in turn, and the longer it took, the more courage it took to break the habit.He found himself dreading going back, dreading to see the Herbsttag changed, dreading that it remained the same in the stream of time.He was afraid that the corner where they sat was no longer what it used to be, and he was also afraid that the moment he opened the door, he could see someone sitting at the bar lazily playing with the wine glass in his hand.He was afraid that going back to the old place would ruin the original memory, and that as the years passed he would forget more and more details.Just like that day when Sun Zheping pulled out a chair and sat across from him, and said, I haven't seen you before.

He can still clearly remember the look in the other party's eyes at that moment.There was always a little childish element in his expression, and his dark eyes were persistent—it was amazing, they knew each other was the same type of person the first time they saw each other; but he couldn't remember exactly what day Sun Zheping What kind of clothes are you wearing.Memories can be made and destroyed.At the end of the day they took a drink to soar the airship—impossible in a large settlement, but on an asteroid there are no police patrols at night.At the beginning, they refused to give in to each other, drawing trajectories of chasing each other in the night sky. The wings of the airship passed the corner of the building dangerously, and the next moment they suddenly raised their altitude and flew into the sky until the lights below them and the lights above their heads The night sky synthesizes a chaotic whole in the endless darkness.

He stared at the night sky, as if he had returned to the sea of ​​stars.Sun Zheping in front slowed down, and they slowly flew forward side by side, like a pair of birds cuddling each other in the night sky, singing to each other with the sound of engines.

Eventually they stopped at a distant lake.The place was obviously deserted, and when the airship landed, many insects with shiny wings were startled, like a small handful of glowing gem fragments being thrown into the night.

have you been here before?

Zhang Jiale asked.

They sat down on the shore, the distant planet casting a huge red shadow on the calm lake.The invisible flowers in the grass exude a rich and thick aroma, which almost suffocates people's senses inside.

But Sun Zheping did not directly answer this question.

Have you ever seen the sunrise in the sea of ​​stars?

One day after a long time, when he was working outside the ship, he suddenly saw the light of distant stars gradually lighting up the large and small stars in his field of vision, and even the dust was shining with golden light.Floating in the vacuum, Zhang Jiale heard his own breath pulsating in the boundless silence. At that moment, he suddenly thought of the gradually fading relay station, the warm scent of Herbsttag mixed with coffee, tobacco and leather, and those spider webs Like alleys, I think of the night and the lake of that day.Were there ever such conversations between them during those short and long days?

——Do you believe in fate?

--No.Never believe it.

3.

No voyage is easy.Funds may run short, crews may backfire, and starships may have problems.Cruisers often have to wait a long time for a chance to sail—a job with uncertain risks and rewards.When Zhang Jiale arrived in Tomorrow City, their fleet was disbanded due to lack of funds: the company was not well managed.Like all the young cruisers, he stayed at the relay station full of optimism, believing that he would be the lucky one.Some were able to travel again—as employees on an energy company's fleet, for example; others returned to their settlements in distress.This is what happens from time to time.

He met Sun Zheping at that time.In other words, with the years that stayed in the city at that time