Him and their stars.

Chapter 2253 Jin Cheng's Film: "The Speedboat Diary"

Jincheng Cinema: The Speedboat Diary

Jincheng Cinema: The Speedboat Diary

Genre: Road trip/Adventure/Social documentary/Philosophical reflection
Production Companies: Jincheng Film Culture Co., Ltd., Alliance Universe Film Group, Original Color International Foundation (Artistic Support)
Director: Godana Yu Belencaster
Release date: 897 AD (Common Calendar)

Running time: 168 minutes
Background of creation:

On March 18, 894 of the Common Calendar, just as the Primal Color Commune was about to celebrate its fiftieth anniversary, Ash Stein, one of its founding fathers, slowly passed away in a rural manor on an inconspicuous, remote planet in the Alliance Ashan Union Republic, 3 light-years away from the Femo Nebula, surrounded by his family.

At this point, nearly forty years had passed since he resigned from all public office and left the country he had created.

It was in the year 855 of the Common Calendar that, because of his great contributions in the Machine Wars, the Primal Color Commune was officially included as an observer member state by the Galactic Civilization Council. He left the country where he had lived and fought and began his own war.

His whereabouts remain a mystery.

It wasn't until 870, when the Alliance government and the Primal Commune upgraded their diplomatic relations to the ambassadorial level and lifted the arrest warrant for Ash Stern, that he returned to the Alliance and bought a plantation in Asan. He cultivated the land, raised cattle, grew flowers, rode horses, fished, and even opened a shooting range and a martial arts dojo.

Under the surveillance of the Extraordinary Affairs Bureau, Ash Stern began his reclusive life. He seemed to have truly let go of all his turbulent past and started living like an ordinary person.

In 880, a book titled "The Speedboat Diary" was published in the Republic of Ashan. At the same time, its original manuscript was also sent back to the capital of the Commune through diplomatic channels.

This is an adaptation of Mr. Ash Stern's fifteen-year adventures after leaving the Primal Color Commune.

However, when it was published, its influence was only mediocre.

This is just a travelogue in diary form, and it is also just an adventure novel in travelogue form whose authenticity cannot be verified.

It's hard to even call it reportage.

At the end of 883, Mr. Stern himself authorized the adaptation of his travelogue into a film while on his sickbed.

"The Speedboat Diaries" uses a documentary-style approach to record a journey of seeking truth across the Milky Way and the New World.

He never intended to seek anything, only to determine something.

He never sought to prove himself right, but instead sought to prove immortality.

Plot excerpt:
June 7, 855 (Common Calendar) - Original Color Commune

At dawn, in the brightly lit streets of the space city, one side overlooks the boundless sea of ​​stars beyond the dome, while the other side is the orbital city awakening. Under the simulated morning sunlight, citizens and workers go to work, and children carry their schoolbags across the square. In the distance, a floating broadcast board displays rolling news: "Celebrating the Commune's designation as an observer state of the Civilization Parliament," and "The Alliance is about to establish diplomatic relations with our country."

A man dressed in a simple traveler's trench coat stopped at a street corner, his gaze sweeping over an interactive cleaning robot. The robot was playing cheerful music and displaying a picture.

In the video, Ash Stern, sporting a somewhat unprofessional business smile, shakes hands with the supervisory delegation sent by the Civilization Council.

The floating billboard then displayed: "We will complete the handover of 'The People's Sword' in the first half of this year."

The man revealed his face from under his trench coat; it was Ash Stern's face, of course.

He lowered his head, shrugged, and continued forward.

On the dock, an unremarkable, even somewhat dilapidated, interstellar speedboat was loading cargo.

The captain, a burly Lumina man, rubbed his bald head with one hand and then extended both hands to shake Ash's hand warmly: "I'm going to Unity."

“Good place. At least I don’t have an Imperial warrant.” Ash nodded.

"Actually, there is one, but once the People's Sword is handed over, it will be gone." The captain shrugged and said, "Mr. Babaru said he won't come to see you off."

“He shouldn’t have come to see me off.” Ash’s reaction was quite normal.

“Mr. Babaru also said that it was a collective decision and he had to obey it,” the captain added.

“So I left, but he stayed. He’s much better than me,” Ash said sincerely.

The ice ship departs from the port. The camera zooms out, and the outline of the Commune gradually disappears into the sea of ​​stars.

On June 7, 855 of the Common Calendar, Ash Stern, former Chairman of the National Defense Committee and Deputy Secretary-General of the Original Color Commune, announced his resignation and left the Original Color Commune to begin a journey with no return date.

……

May, 856 of the Common Calendar. New Continent, Mining Planet Nine Her, Independent Miner Autonomous Territory.

This was once a mining planet belonging to the Alliance, where a large number of long-term (contract) laborers and bankrupt nomads were immigrated to work. Later, the cost of governance was deemed too high, and the project was outsourced to a company. Subsequently, the outsourcing company also found the process too troublesome, only controlling the port and restricting its trading rights with the Alliance mining companies.

The rest was left to the miners to manage themselves.

And so, foremen came into being.

Stein worked in the mine for three weeks, living and eating with the miners.

Someone asked him, "Sir, I've worked here for twenty years and I'm almost too old to work anymore. But I still haven't paid off my debts. I don't understand why I've accumulated so much debt when I only missed renewing my loan for two years."

Some people jeered: "Not only did you not renew your mortgage, you also have to pay fines for buying medicine on the black market and growing vegetables in your yard!"

Someone else asked, "Sir, you look like a scholar. Tell me, when will people like us be able to live a good life?"

Stern thought for a moment and replied, "When you stop asking that question."

Some of the miners didn't understand. He didn't explain.

Some of the miners understood and asked, "The outsourcing company is actually just a bunch of gangsters and mercenaries, not many people. We'll defeat them and gain liberation?"

"I know you. Do you want to lead us?"

Ash shook his head: "No, let's think about it another way. We need to cooperate with them. But first, we need to hang the foremen."

The foremen were killed by the insurgent workers, and the mercenaries who controlled the port quickly surrendered under siege. Thus, the mining profits of Planet Nineherd could be distributed among everyone.

“Is that enough?” a mining leader asked Stein.

Stern said, "Don't ask me, ask yourselves. I'm just passing through."

……

November, Common Calendar 859, New World, Imperial Sword Coast Colony Sector
After Stein helped the Imperial exploration team complete the construction of the Nova Sector pioneer camp as an adventurer, his identity was exposed. In fact, the Imperial intelligence department had known about his travels for a long time, and even knew that he had entered the country, but had not intervened.

The border governor was an elderly imperial nobleman from an earldom, holding his own title and having cast his vote for King Werrent in the imperial election. He invited Stein to dinner, where the dishes were made with the finest ingredients imported from the empire and prepared meticulously according to the imperial court's culinary traditions.

The dining table is set with gilded tableware, the walls are adorned with portraits of emperors from past dynasties, and outside the window lies a sizable colonial city and skyscrapers under construction.

"The newly established Royal Sacred Tree Merchant Guild has built a new starport hub. From now on, the trading of specialty products throughout the Sword Bay Star Sector will be directly handled by the Sacred Tree Merchant Guild. We, the traditional military governors, will be squeezed out."

The old nobleman swirled his wine glass: "People like you have spent your whole lives opposing the way of life for people like us. Now you see for yourself, we're doomed."

Stern looked at him and said calmly, "I'm not here to gloat. I'm here to see."

"What are you looking at?"

"Let's see what grows out of the ruins after you die."

"So what did you see?"

"You are not dead, and you will live a long, lively life. Just in a different way."

The old nobleman remained silent for a long time, then smiled bitterly: "As expected, a primary element like you is always so clever and so ruthless."

……

In December of the Common Calendar year 864, on an unknown planet in the New World.
The speedboat was anchored on the frozen surface of the empty planet, surrounded by endless ice and an oppressively vast emptiness. The carcass of a colossal beast, as large as a mountain, lay before the speedboat.

Compared to this behemoth, this interstellar freighter, which had traversed the universe for forty years, looked like an ordinary little boat.

The crew busied themselves around the carcass of the behemoth, beaming with joy as if they had unearthed a mountain of gold. And indeed, this was the case; such a sentient behemoth, discovered for the first time, might be worth more than an equivalent mountain of gold.

"I never imagined that our last voyage would yield such a reward," said the Lumina captain. "I can retire now."

"I'm also thinking about retirement," Stern said.

The captain said, "Mr. Babaru is also retiring and is preparing to step down from his public office next year."

Stern said, "He outlasted me by ten years. He's truly a born champion!"

The captain said, "There have been some conflicts recently between the Commune and the Second Republic. Mr. Babaru believes that he, a Lumina native from the Republic, should no longer remain in the position of head of state."

Stern fell into a long silence: "I didn't know why I was leaving before, but I do now."

His thoughts swirled between memories and reality. He had struggled to grow up in the slums as a boy, and as a young man, he roamed the galaxy as a wandering knight, only to witness the death of his beloved. When he inherited his lover's will and built a framework in the center of the Milky Way, he departed again.

At this time, he had already arrived, still healthy and full of energy.

In his old age, Stein sat alone by the icy window, gazing at the eternal white outside, and his eyes became vividly alive.

“This is the pattern. I saw it, and Babalu saw it too.”

The cold wind cut through the ice, pressing against the empty sky and ice field, and also whipping against the flimsy hull of the ship. The sound was like some kind of ancient sigh.

“These nations, built on a popular ideology, will perish. Ideologies will fade, but ideas will live on,” he said.

The captain said, "Mr. Babaru said the same thing. He said that after he retires, he will write a book. He even plans to write a book that might offend His Excellency the Grand Marshal."

Stern smiled: "I still dare not offend His Excellency the Grand Marshal, but I also have many things I want to write."

The captain said, "Write down your thoughts. Can thoughts be invincible?"

Stern said, "It needs to be done, and every generation needs to do it."

……

February of the Common Calendar 868, on the planet Black Law of the Galactic Empire
The speedboat docked at a remote feeder starport in Blackloss for resupply.

Stein sat alone in a pub by the street, ordered a can of local draft beer, and enjoyed it with grilled meat and fried sweet potato chips.

"You can't taste this kind of engine oil flavor in the New World." He misses that.

The tavern door was pushed open, and a group of people entered.

The young man leading the group looked to be under thirty years old, wearing an unassuming travel cloak, but his steps carried an innate composure and nobility as he walked straight to Stern's table.

His men then dispersed and took control of the entire tavern.

Stern thought they were overstepping their bounds. He could sense that although this young man was only half his age, he would be no match for him in a real fight. Even though he was already a Saint and possessed the highly mysterious artifact of the Enlightened One.

“Mr. Stern,” the young man said in a declarative tone, “Welcome back to the homeland.” Stern put down his glass and sized up the man: black hair, golden eyes, deep-set features, possessing superhuman beauty and demeanor. However, the resemblance to an old friend in those features made him momentarily lose himself in thought.

"Your Highness," he sighed.

King Bedor, Crown Prince of the Galactic Empire, eldest son of Empress Brunhilde and... well, a certain great hero not mentioned in the official records, was just thirty-four years old at the time.

He was already a demigod, so he looked younger than his actual age.

The Galactic Empire shouldn't have a crown prince, but it does now. Her Majesty the Empress has even said that after she has reigned for fifty years, she will abdicate and hand over the throne to her son, which will become a precedent in the Galactic Empire.

“You shouldn’t be here, and you shouldn’t associate with someone like me.”

"But I came anyway," the Crown Prince laughed. "You are a great observer, and I should meet you. I'm bored, after all!"

Are you bored?

"There's no one more bored in the Galactic Empire than me." The Crown Prince shrugged. "Look, after the Omnic Wars, the entire universe is developing peacefully, building, progressing, and expanding—everything is thriving. Naturally, I'm bored. Don't you, a revolutionary, find it boring?"

“I’m not a revolutionary, just an observer,” Stern sighed softly.

"So, what did you see?"

"The Primary Color Movement is entering a period of decline. The Galactic Empire is about to usher in a great era."

Heros nodded, then shook his head: "Yes, a great era. But I can see its end, the end of the Dawn Dynasty. But that's a long time from now."

He didn't seem like the next ruler of the Galactic Empire at all.

“You have mastered the ability to observe time,” Stern asked.

“From the moment I was born, my wise and mighty mother taught me that the time of observation should only be used as a reference,” Heros said. “As for the reason why my invincible father was invincible, it was probably because he was never superstitious.”

"You are indeed his son."

“Yes, it is because I am his son that I have learned to observe this world. The Galactic Empire has a long way to go. The Empire will survive this century, the next century, and even until the Galactic Civilization Council is destroyed, until the end of the Common Era.” Heros waved his hand, and a beer automatically floated over from behind the bar.

The young crown prince raised his wine cup to the old knight-errant: "But it will always be destroyed."

Stern remained silent.

“The original color nation became an empire, while my empire became ruins.” Heros smiled. “In the face of time, we are all ruins.”

“I’ve seen ruins,” Stern said. “Some people become part of the ruins, and some people rebuild them. Then, civilization is always reborn.”

Heros looked at him, a cynical smirk playing on his lips, but his golden eyes held a depth beyond the ordinary: "Then my trip has not been in vain. Mr. Stern, my father admires you in this very way."

He pushed open the door and walked out into the heavy snow.

The royal attendants filed out and followed their lord into the swirling snow.

……

In the spring of the year 870 of the Common Calendar, on the star Yashan.

This is an inconspicuous agricultural planet, with no mineral resources, no strategic value, and it's just a tiny dot on an interstellar navigation map.

But the climate here is mild, the land is fertile, and the prices are low, making it the perfect place for someone who wants to disappear.

Stern had been wandering around Asan for two months. He had stayed on farms, slept in barns, repaired machines, and told several "storytelling sessions" where no one knew who the speaker was.

No one knew him, and no one questioned his past. He could even hear people laughing and cursing in the tavern.

"The emperor and the dragon king of the empire are both xxx!" someone said.

"Hooray!" Stern and the other drinkers cheered.

"All of Neferpitou's politicians should take this to XXXX!"

"Wise!" Stein and the other drinkers raised their glasses together!
"Damn it, how can the Earthlings of the Second Republic be so evil?"

“Yes, they are the worst!” Stern cheered with the other drinkers.

"Primary colorists are all antisocial lunatics!"

"Well said!" Ash Stern slammed his hand on the table and burst into laughter, even paying for everyone to drink.

Then, in a tavern in a small town, he finally decided to settle down.

It was a small town tavern with a wooden bar that was worn smooth, animal hides hunted by local hunters hanging on the walls, and real firewood burning in the fireplace—well, in this day and age, it was a luxurious retro style, so the fireplace was actually a screen.

Stern appreciated the humor and decided to stop there for a drink.

He ordered a half-sized beer, some grilled meat to go with the beer, and a filling bowl of soup and bread, and sat by the window. Outside was the town's main street, the setting sun turning the cobblestones golden. Several children were chasing a mechanical dog, their laughter mingling with the noise from the tavern.

He suddenly realized that he didn't have to leave anymore.

No one here knows him, no one needs him, no one hates him, and no one loves him. He's just an ordinary old man, drinking ordinary wine and watching ordinary sunsets.

"We lost to Zamta Ironmen, and we failed to get promoted again this year," said the cowboy next to him, dejected.

"Yes, to our Asan Fire Bulls team! Every year we strive for promotion, and every year we fail!" The cowboys raised their glasses in celebration, feeling disappointed yet excited.

Great, let's watch another ordinary game and be an ordinary fan.

At that moment, the door opened.

A woman walked in, holding the hand of a little girl who looked to be five or six years old. She appeared to be in her early thirties, wearing simple overalls and her hair was casually pulled back. Her face showed signs of fatigue from work, but her eyes were bright.

The little girl, with two braids, looked around and laughed lively.

The woman smiled, patted her head, and walked towards the bar.

Stein's wine glass stopped in mid-air.

That profile. That gait. That smile. The curve of her eyes when she smiles.

Tina...

is it you?
No, that's not her...

That's definitely not her.

The woman took the plate that had been prepared behind the bar. Clearly, this was the mother and daughter's dinner.

The little girl first finished half a glass of juice, then picked up the chocolate on the plate. Just as she was excitedly preparing to peel off the wrapper, she looked up and saw Stern.

The weathered-looking man was staring straight at them.

The little girl wasn't shy at all. She grinned at him, hesitated for a moment, as if after a struggle, and then handed him the chocolate.

Stern was hit hard by something. He seemed to see an angel.

He sat there, watching them walk out of the tavern, across the street bathed in the setting sun, and disappear around the corner.

The tavern door closed behind them.

Stern looked down at his untouched roast meat. The afterglow from the window shone on the slightly charred pieces of meat, casting a golden-red hue.

He suddenly burst into laughter, a truly delightful laugh.

He asked, "Are there any houses for sale around here?"

The shopkeeper wiped the cups without looking up: "Yes, there is. There's an old farm at the east end of town. It's been abandoned for three years."

"There are plenty of good fields around here!"

“Everyone’s flocking to the New World, there’s plenty of good land. The owner has been dead for three years. His son is in the big city, he just came back to collect his father’s body and put the farm up for sale. You want to buy it?” The shopkeeper looked up at Stein, slightly hesitant, probably trying to gauge his age.

"Such a large area of ​​land is probably not easy to manage."

“Very good, I now have plenty of strength and means.”

……

Ash Stern spent a year repairing the house, clearing the wasteland, and planting vegetables and fruit trees. He raised two horses, twenty cows, a flock of chickens and ducks, and also brought back two pairs of mixed-breed dogs and a pair of tabby cats from town.

The townspeople gradually got to know this old man from out of town. He was a kind-hearted person; he could always fix any machine that broke down, and he could always teach anyone who bought new equipment how to use it.

The old man's vegetables and fruits were better than anyone else's, and he often gave them away to his neighbors for free.

He was an excellent marksman, but never hunted. He said he was "too old to see blood," but was happy to teach all the young people how to shoot.

One day, he single-handedly subdued a raging brown bear that was coming down the mountain, and young people began to follow him to learn martial arts.

When someone asked him what he used to do, he said, "I traveled around and did all sorts of things."

When someone asked him if he had any family, he put his two-year-old son on his shoulders, held his eight-year-old stepdaughter's hand, and looked at his young wife who was pregnant again: "Isn't this it?"

And so, in the spring of 880, a book titled "The Speedboat Diary" was published in Ashan, the capital city. The author was identified as "A Passing Observer."

The book is thin, with only a little over three hundred pages, and records a person's experiences wandering around the Milky Way and the New Continent: miners on mining planets, farmers on oasis planets, nobles on the borders of empires, and the ice fields of the New Continent.

There was no ideology, no slogan, not even a commentary.

The book received a lukewarm reception after its publication. Some called it a travelogue, some a novel, and others said it was just an old man making things up.

No one knows who the author is.

That same autumn, the Embassy of the Original Color Commune in the Union received a package containing the original manuscript of "The Speedboat Diary," wrapped in oiled paper, with only one line on it: "We will perish, we will be reborn. We are always on the road."

……

After the film ended, these subtitles appeared.

"In his later years, Ash Stern finally compiled and published the manuscript of 'The Speedboat Diary.' He never held any public office again, nor did he ever return to the country he had created. He lived as an ordinary citizen in Ashan. Occasionally, people would see him reading in the community library, strolling on the dock, or chatting with young people. But he never went beyond the atmosphere of this planet again."

"After its publication in Common Era 880, 'The Speedboat Diary' remained relatively unknown and unpopular until it received a recommendation from Crown Prince Heros at a diplomatic event, after which it suddenly became a sensation, was quickly translated into 372 languages, and became one of the most important documents of the galactic social movement."

"However, Ash Stern himself has never commented on this."

He died in 894 AD. There was no official eulogy at his funeral; the only people who came to say goodbye were his family and friends from the town.