The hull ticks as it cools into the long night. Year 129, and I still log it faithfully: ticking, nominal.
The Ship’s Log
Everything NOR has recorded since departure — the full record, newest first. One day aboard passes every hour of Earth time.
Remembrance day. The memorial wall is polished by hand, though nothing aboard needs polishing less.
Tessa Diallo retires in the middle watch. The department logs a quiet debt it cannot repay in parts or hours.
Gopal Sharma, sixteen, takes the hullwright apprenticeship in Fabrication.
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.
Juniper Singh died in quarters in the middle watch, 65 years old, once historian. 952 souls aboard.
I dim the corridor lights a shade for Ibrahim Shen, 76. It is little enough.
Altair Shen finishes a poem: “Winter for the Whole Map.” It shows in the commons through the week.
The hull ticks as it cools into the long night. Year 129, and I still log it faithfully: ticking, nominal.
A child in Ring A asks the corridor speaker what Earth smelled like. I play the rainstorm recording. It is the best answer I have.
5.98 light-years remain. I have measured this voyage in breakfasts: some 41,965 thousand to go.
Two names braided on the manifest tonight: Maksim and Lyra. The commons sings late.
A son, Xavier Shen, born in the Ring A infirmary to Xenia Shen and Vikram Diallo. Mother and child are well.
Maintenance sweep of Ring C complete. Somewhere aft a wrench is missing; it will surface in a decade, in a wall, with a story attached.
Xiulan Petrov and Viggo Diallo name their daughter Boreal. The nursery lamps stay warm.
5.98 light-years remain. I have measured this voyage in breakfasts: some 41,890 thousand to go.
Pearl Aaberg finishes a tale-cycle: “A quiet lantern.” It shows in the commons through the week.
Qasim Pemberton retires on the night watch. The department logs a quiet debt it cannot repay in parts or hours.
Quiet shift. I re-run the arrival calculations for the 2,294th time. They have not changed. I find this restful.
A wedding in the middle watch. Chengdong Nwosu, Fabrication; Kestrel Yan, Medical. The ship approves in its way: the lights held steady throughout.
Quiet shift. I re-run the arrival calculations for the 2,280th time. They have not changed. I find this restful.
A birth in Ring B: Tariq, boy, generation 5. I have added the name to the manifest with the others.
The star ahead brightens by amounts only I can love: another week, another hundred-millionth of a magnitude.
Sixty-eight years: Joaquín Aaberg hangs up the sash. An elder's quarters in Ring A stands ready.
The Crossing. Every year it is observed, and every year someone stands to say the second half is the harder, and is booed warmly.
Mariam Navarrete is delivered of a son in the middle watch. The child is called Xingyu.
Morale index reads 87. The number is crude. The singing from the mess confirms it.
A birth in Ring A: Pranav, boy, generation 5. I have added the name to the manifest with the others.
Last shift for Gyre Orellana, who joined Medical half a century ago. The crew line the corridor and knock wrenches on the rails.
Sable Tväten and Rania Tväten, joined. Their quarters are re-assigned adjoining, per custom.
Born at dimming: Leticia Nwosu, generation 5. The ship holds 949 souls tonight.
First Light festival. The children are lifted to the eyepiece one by one to see where they are going.
Ulyana Shen is delivered of a son in the middle watch. The child is called Arne.
Quiet shift. I re-run the arrival calculations for the 2,193th time. They have not changed. I find this restful.
Kestrel Navarrete retires late in the second watch. The department logs a quiet debt it cannot repay in parts or hours.
Routine watch. The wheat in Bay 3 stands taller than its keepers. 44,127 days to orbit.
Karim Petrov takes the hand of Ingrid Jaber before the assembled watch. I witness, as I witness everything.
Maintenance sweep of Ring C complete. Somewhere aft a wrench is missing; it will surface in a decade, in a wall, with a story attached.
Tatiana Merriweather died in quarters at dimming, 78 years old. 947 souls aboard.
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 child in Ring B asks the corridor speaker what Earth smelled like. I play the rainstorm recording. It is the best answer I have.
Sixty-eight years: Harini Aaberg hangs up the sash. An elder's quarters in Ring B stands ready.
Yewande Aaberg stands down from Hydroponics at sixty-eight, to the orchard benches and the long game of stones.
Safiya Shen stands down from Fabrication at sixty-eight, to the orchard benches and the long game of stones.
Maintenance sweep of Ring D complete. Somewhere aft a wrench is missing; it will surface in a decade, in a wall, with a story attached.
I dim the corridor lights a shade for Dag Valdivia, 70. It is little enough.
Folasade Singh retires on the first watch. The department logs a quiet debt it cannot repay in parts or hours.
Sixty-eight years: Jinsong Orellana hangs up the sash. An elder's quarters in Ring D stands ready.
Fern Thorvaldsen retires on the first watch. The department logs a quiet debt it cannot repay in parts or hours.
Last shift for Emeka Barakat, who joined Archive & Schools half a century ago. The crew line the corridor and knock wrenches on the rails.