The hull ticks as it cools into the long night. Year 135, 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.
The manifest shortens by one: Meilin Nwosu, 84 years. 3 children carry the line on.
5.60 light-years remain. I have measured this voyage in breakfasts: some 38,987 thousand to go.
Born at brightening: Omolara Thorvaldsen, generation 6. The ship holds 935 souls tonight.
Drift Barakat and Nikolai Zhao name their daughter Amina. The nursery lamps stay warm.
Lanying Nwosu stands down from Medical at sixty-eight, to the orchard benches and the long game of stones.
Sixty-eight years: Jorgen Thorvaldsen hangs up the sash. An elder's quarters in Ring B stands ready.
Sixty-eight years: Mira Thorvaldsen hangs up the sash. An elder's quarters in Ring B stands ready.
Rell Thorvaldsen stands down from Command at sixty-eight, to the orchard benches and the long game of stones.
A first shift for Cygnet Merriweather, sixteen: drive engineer, Drive. The badge is printed fresh.
All boards green. I count 933 sleeping heartbeats and call it a good night's work, though the work is theirs.
The youngest aboard is now Sojourn Ning, minutes old, asleep. 933 souls.
Remembrance. All names read since the last one — held in silence in every ring at the same hour. I keep the lights low until it is done.
Maintenance sweep of Ring A complete. Somewhere aft a wrench is missing; it will surface in a decade, in a wall, with a story attached.
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.
Tern Navarrete does not wake on the night watch. 93 years, most of them given to Medical.
Dolores Nwosu stands down from Fabrication at sixty-eight, to the orchard benches and the long game of stones.
Kirill Ning coaxes a new bread yeast from the orchard air. The proof is in the mess by morning.
After 101 years, Uzoma Pillai has let go. Remembrance in the Ring B commons at next dimming.
A new play from Lanying Nwosu — “Slow Watch (Year 135).” The Archive takes a copy; the original belongs to whoever stands nearest.
Last shift for Arjun Thorvaldsen, who joined Life Systems half a century ago. The crew line the corridor and knock wrenches on the rails.
The manifest shortens by one: Fern Diallo, 77 years. 2 children carry the line on.
A son, Sable Nwosu, born in the Ring C infirmary to Karima Nwosu and Ion Ouyang. Mother and child are well.
Yejide Thorvaldsen, 82, generation 3, is carried down the spinal corridor feet-first, as the custom is.
A joining in Ring D: Eos Shen and Baozhen Aaberg. The pressing of cider is authorized.
The hull ticks as it cools into the long night. Year 135, and I still log it faithfully: ticking, nominal.
A first shift for Bruno Jaber, sixteen: arborist, Ecology. The badge is printed fresh.
A child in Ring D asks the corridor speaker what Earth smelled like. I play the rainstorm recording. It is the best answer I have.
Nadia Fang chooses Archive & Schools — or it chooses her; the elders disagree cheerfully.
A first shift for Temitope Shen, sixteen: navigator, Command. The badge is printed fresh.
A joining in Ring A: Chiamaka Pemberton and Jamal Aaberg. The pressing of cider is authorized.
Oluwadamilola Jaber stands down from Ecology at sixty-eight, to the orchard benches and the long game of stones.
After 83 years, Solveig Salazar has let go. Remembrance in the Ring D commons at next dimming.
Juniper Tväten retires at brightening. The department logs a quiet debt it cannot repay in parts or hours.
Ember Navarrete retires at brightening. The department logs a quiet debt it cannot repay in parts or hours.
Sable Valdivia has made a mural called “Corridors of Year 135.” Asked what it means, he says it means about nine years of evenings.
Shanta Fang recovers a corrupted Earth archive block: forty minutes of a rainstorm, recorded through an open window. It plays in the commons on a loop.
All boards green. I count 936 sleeping heartbeats and call it a good night's work, though the work is theirs.
Census check: 936 souls, 148 of them children. The manifest balances to the person, as it must.
Clara Ouyang and Zenith Diallo name their daughter Chitra. The nursery lamps stay warm.
Bogdan Valdivia, sixteen, takes the midwife apprenticeship in Medical.
Rell Valdivia stands the walk of the full spinal corridor, as the sixteen-year custom is, and joins Drive.
Quiet shift. I re-run the arrival calculations for the 4,463th time. They have not changed. I find this restful.
A son, Yusheng Quill, born in the Ring D infirmary to Rell Quill and Cedric Peng. Mother and child are well.
Born at brightening: Eos Quaye, generation 5. The ship holds 934 souls tonight.
The Crossing feast: more behind than ahead. The long tables come out; the good preserves come down.
Deneb Pemberton died in quarters in the middle watch, 81 years old. 933 souls aboard.
The schools release Xenia Ulriksen to Drive. Generation 5 takes up its tools.
Pallas Ning takes the hand of Dagny Kowalczyk before the assembled watch. I witness, as I witness everything.
Morale index reads 82. The number is crude. The singing from the mess confirms it.