Tessa Diallo does not wake in the middle watch. 75 years, most of them given to Hydroponics.
The Ship’s Log
Everything NOR has recorded since departure — the full record, newest first. One day aboard passes every hour of Earth time.
Annika Orellana stands down from Ecology at sixty-eight, to the orchard benches and the long game of stones.
Josefina Aaberg retires in the middle watch. The department logs a quiet debt it cannot repay in parts or hours.
The youngest aboard is now Ulf Aaberg, minutes old, asleep. 926 souls.
The council confirms Per Ouyang as Chief of Life Systems at dimming.
Last shift for Eleanor Barakat, who joined Life Systems half a century ago. The crew line the corridor and knock wrenches on the rails.
Last shift for Yolanda Quill, who joined Command half a century ago. The crew line the corridor and knock wrenches on the rails.
Quiet shift. I re-run the arrival calculations for the 5,177th time. They have not changed. I find this restful.
The hull ticks as it cools into the long night. Year 137, and I still log it faithfully: ticking, nominal.
Helm Thorvaldsen is delivered of a son at dimming. The child is called Viggo.
I dim the corridor lights a shade for Viggo Mazur, 82. It is little enough.
Born on the first watch: Ramiro Shen, generation 6. The ship holds 925 souls tonight.
Sixty-eight years: Albert Zhao hangs up the sash. An elder's quarters in Ring D stands ready.
Sixty-eight years: Mingyu Thorvaldsen hangs up the sash. An elder's quarters in Ring D stands ready.
Tao Thorvaldsen does not wake at brightening. 78 years, most of them given to Archive & Schools.
Routine watch. The wheat in Bay 3 stands taller than its keepers. 41,165 days to orbit.
Born on the night watch: Jinsong Quaye, generation 5. The ship holds 925 souls tonight.
A child in Ring C asks the corridor speaker what Earth smelled like. I play the rainstorm recording. It is the best answer I have.
A joining in Ring B: Fathom Fang and Ernest Aaberg. The pressing of cider is authorized.
Sarala Peng does not wake on the night watch. 88 years, most of them given to Hydroponics.
First Light. The observation blister queues run all day: Teegarden's Star, held in the eyepiece, a little brighter than last year — 5.52 light-years to go.
“The Borrowed Orchard,” a instrument by Beatriz Sharma, is unveiled at dimming to the particular applause of Medical.
Sixty-eight years: Leticia Petrov hangs up the sash. An elder's quarters in Ring B stands ready.
Samira Quill and Jaroslav Navarrete name their daughter Nadia. The nursery lamps stay warm.
Middle watch. The orchard sprinklers run their cycle, and the sound carries down the spine like weather.
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.
Routine watch. The wheat in Bay 3 stands taller than its keepers. 41,205 days to orbit.
Night watch. The orchard sprinklers run their cycle, and the sound carries down the spine like weather.
Quiet shift. I re-run the arrival calculations for the 5,096th time. They have not changed. I find this restful.
Verne Shen, sixteen, takes the sanitation engineer apprenticeship in Life Systems.
Morale index reads 78. The number is crude. The singing from the mess confirms it.
Margaret Fossum stands down from Hydroponics at sixty-eight, to the orchard benches and the long game of stones.
Lyra Petrov is delivered of a daughter in the middle watch. The child is called Nneka.
After 78 years, Ayodele Salazar has let go. Remembrance in the Ring C commons at next dimming.
Edmund Pillai, 84, generation 2, is carried down the spinal corridor feet-first, as the custom is.
Last shift for Nanna Navarrete, who joined Fabrication half a century ago. The crew line the corridor and knock wrenches on the rails.
Drive back in service. The old hands say it sounds better than before; the instruments say it sounds the same.
Medical Bay back in service. The old hands say it sounds better than before; the instruments say it sounds the same.
Fault isolated in Medical Bay. Repair estimate: unwise to say aloud.
All boards green. I count 925 sleeping heartbeats and call it a good night's work, though the work is theirs.
A failure in Drive. The duty crew is roused; tools move down the spinal corridor at a jog.
A birth in Ring D: Dalia, girl, generation 6. I have added the name to the manifest with the others.
Carmen Zhao has made a mural called “Water for the Late Winter.” Asked what it means, she says it means about nine years of evenings.
Sixty-eight years: Konstantin Valdivia hangs up the sash. An elder's quarters in Ring D stands ready.
“Kept Root, Unlit Field,” a song by Sarala Aaberg, is unveiled at dimming to the particular applause of Drive.
Aster Aaberg chooses Drive — or it chooses her; the elders disagree cheerfully.
Sixty-eight years: Edmund Ulriksen hangs up the sash. An elder's quarters in Ring D stands ready.
Routine watch. The wheat in Bay 3 stands taller than its keepers. 41,295 days to orbit.
Last shift for Yuri Nwosu, who joined Life Systems half a century ago. The crew line the corridor and knock wrenches on the rails.
Night watch. The orchard sprinklers run their cycle, and the sound carries down the spine like weather.