Katarzyna Ashworth, 81, generation 2, is carried down the spinal corridor feet-first, as the custom is.
The Ship’s Log
Everything NOR has recorded since departure — the full record, newest first. One day aboard passes every hour of Earth time.
A first shift for Margaret Nwosu, sixteen: shield tech, Drive. The badge is printed fresh.
A birth in Ring B: Quill, girl, generation 6. I have added the name to the manifest with the others.
The manifest shortens by one: Renshu Thorvaldsen, 90 years. The line rests with the ship now.
Eleanor Barakat is made Chief of Life Systems, and marks it by standing the ordinary shift anyway.
Sixty-eight years: Viggo Mazur hangs up the sash. An elder's quarters in Ring C stands ready.
I dim the corridor lights a shade for Emeka Petrov, 74. It is little enough.
The hull ticks as it cools into the long night. Year 122, and I still log it faithfully: ticking, nominal.
Maintenance sweep of Ring B complete. Somewhere aft a wrench is missing; it will surface in a decade, in a wall, with a story attached.
Born at dimming: Oscar Shen, generation 5. The ship holds 959 souls tonight.
The schools release Olaf Diallo to Hydroponics. Generation 4 takes up its tools.
Bohdana Fossum does not wake late in the second watch. 94 years, most of them given to Medical.
The youngest aboard is now Olga Shen, minutes old, asleep. 959 souls.
Last shift for Halvard Thorvaldsen, who joined Archive & Schools half a century ago. The crew line the corridor and knock wrenches on the rails.
A first shift for Lumen Petrov, sixteen: librarian, Archive & Schools. The badge is printed fresh.
A wedding on the first watch. Ragnar Barakat, Life Systems; Anastasia Shen, Drive. The ship approves in its way: the lights held steady throughout.
A second child follows on the night watch: twins for Kavita Ouyang. This one is called Chengdong.
A birth in Ring C: Yasmin, girl, generation 5. I have added the name to the manifest with the others.
Viggo Jaber, sixteen, takes the drive engineer apprenticeship in Drive.
Sixteen years for Amina Navarrete, who signs to Life Systems in the middle watch and is given a locker, a sash, and a schedule.
Adnan Shen stands down from Life Systems at sixty-eight, to the orchard benches and the long game of stones.
The hull ticks as it cools into the long night. Year 122, and I still log it faithfully: ticking, nominal.
A son, Mahmoud Kong, born in the Ring D infirmary to Vera Kong and Orrery Nwosu. Mother and child are well.
Middle watch. The orchard sprinklers run their cycle, and the sound carries down the spine like weather.
Freya Valdivia and Nneka Diallo are joined under the orchard lamps. The whole of Medical turns out.
First Light. The observation blister queues run all day: Teegarden's Star, held in the eyepiece, a little brighter than last year — 6.41 light-years to go.
Routine watch. The wheat in Bay 3 stands taller than its keepers. 46,664 days to orbit.
All boards green. I count 955 sleeping heartbeats and call it a good night's work, though the work is theirs.
I compare today's star field against day one's. The constellations have begun, very slightly, to come apart. Nobody else will look; that is what I am for.
A wedding at brightening. Rotimi Orellana, Hydroponics; Adaeze Valdivia, Drive. The ship approves in its way: the lights held steady throughout.
All boards green. I count 955 sleeping heartbeats and call it a good night's work, though the work is theirs.
Last shift for Dagny Thorvaldsen, who joined Medical half a century ago. The crew line the corridor and knock wrenches on the rails.
Daisy Sharma died in quarters late in the second watch, 71 years old. 955 souls aboard.
Salvador Thorvaldsen has made a mural called “Slow Season, Warm Window.” Asked what it means, he says it means about nine years of evenings.
Sixty-eight years: Uzoma Ning hangs up the sash. An elder's quarters in Ring D stands ready.
Yash Aaberg chooses Fabrication — or it chooses him; the elders disagree cheerfully.
Adaeze Quill stands down from Life Systems at sixty-eight, to the orchard benches and the long game of stones.
Green across the board: Water Reclamation holds after 4 days of work. Spares were spent; Fabrication is notified.
Night watch. The orchard sprinklers run their cycle, and the sound carries down the spine like weather.
Sixty-eight years: Deneb Pemberton hangs up the sash. An elder's quarters in Ring C stands ready.
Trouble in Water Reclamation. The board goes amber; the coffee goes on.
Last shift for Jinghua Fang, who joined Life Systems half a century ago. The crew line the corridor and knock wrenches on the rails.
The center chair passes to Haoran Tväten, 64, commanding. I brief the new Captain until brightening.
Gilbert Sharma stands down from Command at sixty-eight, to the orchard benches and the long game of stones.
Fernanda Mazur, 71, generation 2, is carried down the spinal corridor feet-first, as the custom is.
Kehinde Ouyang and Helm Petrov name their daughter Fathom. The nursery lamps stay warm.
The council confirms Tao Navarrete as Chief of Archive & Schools at dimming.
Last shift for Yejide Merriweather, who joined Archive & Schools half a century ago. The crew line the corridor and knock wrenches on the rails.
All boards green. I count 956 sleeping heartbeats and call it a good night's work, though the work is theirs.
Night watch. The orchard sprinklers run their cycle, and the sound carries down the spine like weather.