Sixty-eight years: Teodoro Merriweather hangs up the sash. An elder's quarters in Ring A stands ready.
The Ship’s Log
Everything NOR has recorded since departure — the full record, newest first. One day aboard passes every hour of Earth time.
4.94 light-years remain. I have measured this voyage in breakfasts: some 32,955 thousand to go.
The schools release Uday Thorvaldsen to Archive & Schools. Generation 5 takes up its tools.
Ragnhild Peng, 74, generation 3, is carried down the spinal corridor feet-first, as the custom is.
All boards green. I count 877 sleeping heartbeats and call it a good night's work, though the work is theirs.
Wenbo Thorvaldsen stands down from Fabrication at sixty-eight, to the orchard benches and the long game of stones.
Salvador Petrov, 89, generation 3, is carried down the spinal corridor feet-first, as the custom is.
First watch. The orchard sprinklers run their cycle, and the sound carries down the spine like weather.
Last shift for Hilde Petrov, who joined Ecology half a century ago. The crew line the corridor and knock wrenches on the rails.
Dawud Zhao, 86, generation 3, is carried down the spinal corridor feet-first, as the custom is.
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.
Year 147 of the voyage begins. The oldest bottle of orchard wine that can be spared is opened. It is always described as "improving."
The star ahead brightens by amounts only I can love: another week, another hundred-millionth of a magnitude.
Drift Valdivia died in quarters late in the second watch, 82 years old. 879 souls aboard.
I dim the corridor lights a shade for Omar Northam, 91. It is little enough.
Dalia Aaberg, 83, generation 3, is carried down the spinal corridor feet-first, as the custom is.
Aleksandr Aaberg does not wake at brightening. 87 years, most of them given to Life Systems.
Cygnet Quill takes the hand of Mohan Shen before the assembled watch. I witness, as I witness everything.
A son, Wren Thorvaldsen, born in the Ring A infirmary to Quill Thorvaldsen and Xiulan Tväten. Mother and child are well.
The youngest aboard is now Adaeze Barakat, minutes old, asleep. 882 souls.
Ember Jaber stands down from Fabrication at sixty-eight, to the orchard benches and the long game of stones.
Routine watch. The wheat in Bay 3 stands taller than its keepers. 37,689 days to orbit.
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.
Khalid Fang chooses Archive & Schools — or it chooses him; the elders disagree cheerfully.
A wedding late in the second watch. Tern Mansour, Medical; Wenling Ulriksen, Hydroponics. The ship approves in its way: the lights held steady throughout.
Chidinma Shen stands the walk of the full spinal corridor, as the sixteen-year custom is, and joins Life Systems.
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.
Quiet shift. I re-run the arrival calculations for the 8,603th time. They have not changed. I find this restful.
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.
The manifest shortens by one: Fermín Jaber, 75 years. The line rests with the ship now.
The hull ticks as it cools into the long night. Year 146, and I still log it faithfully: ticking, nominal.
Opal Petrov stands the walk of the full spinal corridor, as the sixteen-year custom is, and joins Hydroponics.
Yewande Aaberg finishes a quilt: “Early Corridor, Slow Door.” It shows in the commons through the week.
Hassan Ashworth, 97, generation 2, is carried down the spinal corridor feet-first, as the custom is.
After 70 years, Kayode Diallo has let go. Remembrance in the Ring C commons at next dimming.
The youngest aboard is now Anand Valdivia, minutes old, asleep. 884 souls.
Milena Kowalczyk does not wake at dimming. 89 years, most of them given to Hydroponics.
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.
Last shift for Gantry Quill, who joined Archive & Schools half a century ago. The crew line the corridor and knock wrenches on the rails.
A daughter, Suyin Thorvaldsen, born in the Ring D infirmary to Edith Thorvaldsen and Lyra Nwosu. Mother and child are well.
Leticia Shen and Xenia Ulriksen name their son Theodore. The nursery lamps stay warm.
A wedding at dimming. Arthur Navarrete, Drive; Widad Shen, Life Systems. The ship approves in its way: the lights held steady throughout.
Ignacio Fossum does not wake at dimming. 84 years, most of them given to Medical.
Ion Petrov, 57, generation 4, is carried down the spinal corridor feet-first, as the custom is.
All boards green. I count 884 sleeping heartbeats and call it a good night's work, though the work is theirs.
Theodore Nwosu chooses Command — or it chooses him; the elders disagree cheerfully.
Enlai Shen retires at dimming. The department logs a quiet debt it cannot repay in parts or hours.
A birth in Ring D: Alice, girl, generation 6. I have added the name to the manifest with the others.
All boards green. I count 883 sleeping heartbeats and call it a good night's work, though the work is theirs.
The schools release Chengdong Jaber to Fabrication. Generation 5 takes up its tools.