Gunhild Thorvaldsen retires in the middle watch. The department logs a quiet debt it cannot repay in parts or hours.
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 youngest aboard is now Verne Nwosu, minutes old, asleep. 916 souls.
A birth in Ring B: Valentina, girl, generation 6. I have added the name to the manifest with the others.
Albert Sharma died in quarters late in the second watch, 59 years old, once librarian. 914 souls aboard.
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.
Routine watch. The wheat in Bay 3 stands taller than its keepers. 40,748 days to orbit.
A joining in Ring D: Gyre Valdivia and Olaf Diallo. The pressing of cider is authorized.
The Crossing. Every year it is observed, and every year someone stands to say the second half is the harder, and is booed warmly.
Beatrice Nwosu retires on the night watch. The department logs a quiet debt it cannot repay in parts or hours.
Olga Shen stands the walk of the full spinal corridor, as the sixteen-year custom is, and joins Fabrication.
Drift Quaye, 82, generation 3, is carried down the spinal corridor feet-first, as the custom is.
Pearl Tväten has made a mural called “Windows of Year 138.” Asked what it means, she says it means about nine years of evenings.
The schools release Chengdong Ouyang to Medical. Generation 5 takes up its tools.
A first shift for Yasmin Ouyang, sixteen: mycologist, Hydroponics. The badge is printed fresh.
Ingrid Fang does not wake late in the second watch. 99 years, most of them given to Hydroponics.
The star ahead brightens by amounts only I can love: another week, another hundred-millionth of a magnitude.
Rell Nwosu died in quarters late in the second watch, 58 years old, once shield tech. 917 souls aboard.
Sixty-eight years: Freya Tväten hangs up the sash. An elder's quarters in Ring C stands ready.
Nils Yan, 83, generation 2, is carried down the spinal corridor feet-first, as the custom is.
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.
The hull ticks as it cools into the long night. Year 138, and I still log it faithfully: ticking, nominal.
The manifest shortens by one: Domingo Quaye, 83 years. The line rests with the ship now.
The schools release Mahmoud Kong to Drive. Generation 5 takes up its tools.
Ignacio Pillai and Iris Thorvaldsen, joined. Their quarters are re-assigned adjoining, per custom.
Census check: 920 souls, 150 of them children. The manifest balances to the person, as it must.
The manifest shortens by one: Tatiana Quaye, 67 years. The line rests with the ship now.
First Light festival. The children are lifted to the eyepiece one by one to see where they are going.
Routine watch. The wheat in Bay 3 stands taller than its keepers. 40,833 days to orbit.
Peng Pillai stands down from Hydroponics at sixty-eight, to the orchard benches and the long game of stones.
Sixty-eight years: Helm Aaberg hangs up the sash. An elder's quarters in Ring C stands ready.
Middle watch. The orchard sprinklers run their cycle, and the sound carries down the spine like weather.
A birth in Ring D: Pavel, boy, generation 5. I have added the name to the manifest with the others.
Paloma Quill, 94, generation 2, is carried down the spinal corridor feet-first, as the custom is.
A new song from Enlai Fang — “Long Orchard (Year 138).” The Archive takes a copy; the original belongs to whoever stands nearest.
Repair complete on Drive within the day. I run the test cycle twice, out of respect for history.
A failure in Drive. The duty crew is roused; tools move down the spinal corridor at a jog.
The hull ticks as it cools into the long night. Year 138, and I still log it faithfully: ticking, nominal.
Xiulan Nwosu recovers a corrupted Earth archive block: forty minutes of a rainstorm, recorded through an open window. It plays in the commons on a loop.
Routine watch. The wheat in Bay 3 stands taller than its keepers. 40,856 days to orbit.
Routine watch. The wheat in Bay 3 stands taller than its keepers. 40,869 days to orbit.
Gilbert Diallo retires at brightening. The department logs a quiet debt it cannot repay in parts or hours.
Yash Diallo stands down from Command at sixty-eight, to the orchard benches and the long game of stones.
The hull ticks as it cools into the long night. Year 138, and I still log it faithfully: ticking, nominal.
The manifest shortens by one: Jiayi Merriweather, 72 years. 1 children carry the line on.
Quiet shift. I re-run the arrival calculations for the 5,433th time. They have not changed. I find this restful.
A birth in Ring D: Anli, girl, generation 6. I have added the name to the manifest with the others.
The schools release Fathom Ouyang to Medical. Generation 5 takes up its tools.
Last shift for Altair Shen, who joined Drive half a century ago. The crew line the corridor and knock wrenches on the rails.
Dolores Valdivia does not wake at brightening. 101 years, most of them given to Hydroponics.
5.48 light-years remain. I have measured this voyage in breakfasts: some 37,721 thousand to go.