5.14 light-years remain. I have measured this voyage in breakfasts: some 34,544 thousand to go.
The Ship’s Log
Everything NOR has recorded since departure — the full record, newest first. One day aboard passes every hour of Earth time.
Pearl Aaberg stands down from Fabrication at sixty-eight, to the orchard benches and the long game of stones.
Sixty-eight years: Mohan Kong hangs up the sash. An elder's quarters in Ring C stands ready.
Iris Kong and Pranav Yan name their daughter Deepika. The nursery lamps stay warm.
Thermal Control hums again. Chunhua Sharma is stood a round of orchard cider by the off-shift.
Thermal Control faults on the first watch. Life Systems takes the call.
Meridian Valdivia, sixteen, takes the printer operator apprenticeship in Fabrication.
Cygnet Nwosu does not wake at dimming. 81 years, most of them given to Life Systems.
Routine watch. The wheat in Bay 3 stands taller than its keepers. 38,881 days to orbit.
A first shift for Harini Petrov, sixteen: grafter, Hydroponics. The badge is printed fresh.
Last shift for Domingo Thorvaldsen, who joined Archive & Schools half a century ago. The crew line the corridor and knock wrenches on the rails.
A birth in Ring D: Zemin, boy, generation 6. 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.
Funmilayo Valdivia, sixteen, takes the shield tech apprenticeship in Drive.
Anastasia Shen and Ragnar Barakat name their daughter Signe. The nursery lamps stay warm.
Lucía Quill died in quarters in the middle watch, 84 years old. 887 souls aboard.
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.
The hull ticks as it cools into the long night. Year 143, and I still log it faithfully: ticking, nominal.
Last shift for Ishaan Quill, who joined Command half a century ago. The crew line the corridor and knock wrenches on the rails.
The Crossing feast: more behind than ahead. The long tables come out; the good preserves come down.
After 94 years, Dolores Thorvaldsen has let go. Remembrance in the Ring A commons at next dimming.
The manifest shortens by one: Oscar Petrov, 57 years. 2 children carry the line on.
After 89 years, Gilbert Sharma has let go. Remembrance in the Ring A commons at next dimming.
The manifest shortens by one: Enlai Aaberg, 87 years. 3 children carry the line on.
Hydroponics Bays back in service. The old hands say it sounds better than before; the instruments say it sounds the same.
“Four Corridors Standing,” a quilt by Nicolás Zhao, is unveiled late in the second watch to the particular applause of Life Systems.
Chief of Command falls to Bernardo Thorvaldsen, who accepts with a nod and a full docket.
Sixty-eight years: Anand Ulriksen hangs up the sash. An elder's quarters in Ring D stands ready.
Helm Thorvaldsen charts the dust gradient ahead — the star's outer environs, thinning to meet us.
The youngest aboard is now Ravindra Valdivia, minutes old, asleep. 892 souls.
Born at dimming: Oksana Petrov, generation 6. The ship holds 891 souls tonight.
The schools release Adaeze Sharma to Life Systems. Generation 5 takes up its tools.
Hydroponics Bays faults in the middle watch. Hydroponics takes the call.
Qasim Shen, sixteen, takes the grafter apprenticeship in Hydroponics.
Water Reclamation hums again. Ulf Jaber is stood a round of orchard cider by the off-shift.
Trouble in Water Reclamation. The board goes amber; the coffee goes on.
Sixty-eight years: Arc Barakat hangs up the sash. An elder's quarters in Ring B stands ready.
After 93 years, Lumen Nwosu has let go. Remembrance in the Ring C commons at next dimming.
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.
Baozhen Aaberg is delivered of a daughter at dimming. The child is called Georgia.
A new quilt from Sergei Thorvaldsen — “The Kept Anchor.” The Archive takes a copy; the original belongs to whoever stands nearest.
Night watch. The orchard sprinklers run their cycle, and the sound carries down the spine like weather.
First Light festival. The children are lifted to the eyepiece one by one to see where they are going.
Born at dimming: Amina Thorvaldsen, generation 6. The ship holds 890 souls tonight.
Sixty-eight years: Noor Thorvaldsen hangs up the sash. An elder's quarters in Ring D stands ready.
A son, Eos Fang, born in the Ring C infirmary to Nadia Fang and Wei Nwosu. Mother and child are well.
Mohan Nwosu has died at 0, far too early. the ship stands down a shift in grief.
First 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 7,282th time. They have not changed. I find this restful.
Vega Aaberg stands the walk of the full spinal corridor, as the sixteen-year custom is, and joins Drive.