The manifest shortens by one: Gyre Orellana, 88 years. The line rests with the ship now.
The Ship’s Log
Everything NOR has recorded since departure — the full record, newest first. One day aboard passes every hour of Earth time.
Born late in the second watch: Vasanti Zhao, generation 6. The ship holds 861 souls tonight.
A first shift for Umbra Thorvaldsen, sixteen: navigator, Command. The badge is printed fresh.
Wren Aaberg retires at brightening. The department logs a quiet debt it cannot repay in parts or hours.
Routine watch. The wheat in Bay 3 stands taller than its keepers. 36,717 days to orbit.
Xavier Shen has made a play called “Waters of Year 149.” Asked what it means, he says it means about nine years of evenings.
Routine watch. The wheat in Bay 3 stands taller than its keepers. 36,726 days to orbit.
Morale index reads 79. The number is crude. The singing from the mess confirms it.
Born in the middle watch: Yaw Sharma, generation 6. The ship holds 860 souls tonight.
Sixty-eight years: Daisy Jaber hangs up the sash. An elder's quarters in Ring A stands ready.
4.80 light-years remain. I have measured this voyage in breakfasts: some 31,555 thousand to go.
Night watch. The orchard sprinklers run their cycle, and the sound carries down the spine like weather.
The Crossing. Every year it is observed, and every year someone stands to say the second half is the harder, and is booed warmly.
Konstantin Nwosu retires on the first watch. The department logs a quiet debt it cannot repay in parts or hours.
Thermal Control hums again. Vikram Tväten is stood a round of orchard cider by the off-shift.
Thermal Control goes down. I reroute what can be rerouted and wake who must be woken.
The star ahead brightens by amounts only I can love: another week, another hundred-millionth of a magnitude.
Quiet shift. I re-run the arrival calculations for the 544th time. They have not changed. I find this restful.
Iris Navarrete, sixteen, takes the teacher apprenticeship in Archive & Schools.
The hull ticks as it cools into the long night. Year 149, and I still log it faithfully: ticking, nominal.
Routine watch. The wheat in Bay 3 stands taller than its keepers. 36,776 days to orbit.
Born in the middle watch: Ibrahim Valdivia, generation 6. The ship holds 859 souls tonight.
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.
Kestrel Nwosu stands the walk of the full spinal corridor, as the sixteen-year custom is, and joins Archive & Schools.
Caelum Tväten, sixteen, takes the toolmaker apprenticeship in Fabrication.
All boards green. I count 858 sleeping heartbeats and call it a good night's work, though the work is theirs.
The schools release Shanyuan Aaberg to Drive. Generation 5 takes up its tools.
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.
Keel Ulriksen stands down from Ecology 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. 36,793 days to orbit.
A wedding at dimming. Guowei Nwosu, Drive; Huda Jaber, Fabrication. The ship approves in its way: the lights held steady throughout.
The manifest shortens by one: Ibrahim Jaber, 85 years. The line rests with the ship now.
Zahra Quill stands the walk of the full spinal corridor, as the sixteen-year custom is, and joins Ecology.
Vega Petrov stands down from Life Systems at sixty-eight, to the orchard benches and the long game of stones.
Last shift for Ruolan Nwosu, who joined Archive & Schools half a century ago. The crew line the corridor and knock wrenches on the rails.
First Light festival. The children are lifted to the eyepiece one by one to see where they are going.
I dim the corridor lights a shade for Arc Jaber, 98. It is little enough.
Sixteen years for Stanley Navarrete, who signs to Hydroponics on the night watch and is given a locker, a sash, and a schedule.
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.
Caelum Sharma stands the walk of the full spinal corridor, as the sixteen-year custom is, and joins Life Systems.
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.
Aster Fang stands down from Drive at sixty-eight, to the orchard benches and the long game of stones.
Fernanda Nwosu died in quarters at dimming, 77 years old. 860 souls aboard.
A son, Vega Petrov, born in the Ring C infirmary to Yueqin Petrov and Tern Quill. Mother and child are well.
Born on the night watch: Eleanor Thorvaldsen, generation 6. The ship holds 860 souls tonight.
Gantry Valdivia retires at dimming. The department logs a quiet debt it cannot repay in parts or hours.
Morale index reads 79. The number is crude. The singing from the mess confirms it.
Enlai Petrov does not wake at brightening. 93 years, most of them given to Fabrication.
4.82 light-years remain. I have measured this voyage in breakfasts: some 31,695 thousand to go.
Sixty-eight years: Gilbert Valdivia hangs up the sash. An elder's quarters in Ring D stands ready.