Elsie Navarrete, sixteen, takes the librarian apprenticeship in Archive & Schools.
The Ship’s Log
Everything NOR has recorded since departure — the full record, newest first. One day aboard passes every hour of Earth time.
12.18 light-years remain. I have measured this voyage in breakfasts: some 87,800 thousand to go.
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.
Middle watch. The orchard sprinklers run their cycle, and the sound carries down the spine like weather.
Anastasia Wisniewski retires at dimming. The department logs a quiet debt it cannot repay in parts or hours.
First watch. The orchard sprinklers run their cycle, and the sound carries down the spine like weather.
Last shift for Zhihao Zhu, who joined Medical half a century ago. The crew line the corridor and knock wrenches on the rails.
First watch. The orchard sprinklers run their cycle, and the sound carries down the spine like weather.
Yamini Kapoor stands down from Medical at sixty-eight, to the orchard benches and the long game of stones.
Winifred Merriweather finishes a tale-cycle: “Twelve Engines Rising.” It shows in the commons through the week.
Arne Halvorsen retires at brightening. The department logs a quiet debt it cannot repay in parts or hours.
Water reserve dips below the line. Showers go to ration timers; nobody sings in them, briefly.
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.
Naresh Devi stands down from Fabrication at sixty-eight, to the orchard benches and the long game of stones.
Last shift for Yelena Nowak, who joined Life Systems 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 7,451th time. They have not changed. I find this restful.
Sixty-eight years: Vera Draycott hangs up the sash. An elder's quarters in Ring A stands ready.
Too soon, at 54: Clara Holloway. The commons fills on the first watch with those who knew her.
A new mural from Esperanza Orellana — “Seven Furrows Rising.” The Archive takes a copy; the original belongs to whoever stands nearest.
“Slow Lantern, Whole Ladder,” a poem by Bruno Bustamante, is unveiled in the middle watch to the particular applause of Life Systems.
First Light festival. The children are lifted to the eyepiece one by one to see where they are going.
A son, Howard Orellana, born in the Ring A infirmary to Yolanda Orellana and Katarzyna Vasiliev. Mother and child are well.
Last shift for Yewande Kalu, who joined Hydroponics half a century ago. The crew line the corridor and knock wrenches on the rails.
After 65 years, Stanislav Ivanova has let go. Remembrance in the Ring B commons at next dimming.
“The Quiet Furrow,” a mural by Vera Kowalczyk, is unveiled on the first watch to the particular applause of Life Systems.
A first shift for Mahmoud Pemberton, sixteen: instrument maker, Archive & Schools. The badge is printed fresh.
Census check: 1049 souls, 65 of them children. The manifest balances to the person, as it must.
A daughter, Natalya Pemberton, born in the Ring D infirmary to June Pemberton and Enlai Ouyang. Mother and child are well.
Layla Haddad stands down from Hydroponics at sixty-eight, to the orchard benches and the long game of stones.
Iveta Zaitsev stands down from Hydroponics at sixty-eight, to the orchard benches and the long game of stones.
Usman Hamdan finishes a tale-cycle: “A long lantern.” It shows in the commons through the week.
Sixty-eight years: Lakshmi Devi hangs up the sash. An elder's quarters in Ring D stands ready.
A new poem from Octavio Barrientos — “Watchs of Year 20.” The Archive takes a copy; the original belongs to whoever stands nearest.
First watch. The orchard sprinklers run their cycle, and the sound carries down the spine like weather.
“Kept Anchor (Year 20),” a poem by Josefina Navarrete, is unveiled late in the second watch to the particular applause of Archive & Schools.
Sixty-eight years: Silvia Domínguez hangs up the sash. An elder's quarters in Ring D stands ready.
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.
Anli Zhou stands down from Ecology at sixty-eight, to the orchard benches and the long game of stones.
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.
Kamala Raghunathan finishes a song: “A borrowed field.” It shows in the commons through the week.
I dim the corridor lights a shade for Teodoro Orellana, 60. It is little enough.
Last shift for Qasim Wahba, who joined Fabrication half a century ago. The crew line the corridor and knock wrenches on the rails.
Morale index reads 81. The number is crude. The singing from the mess confirms it.
A daughter, Rocío Ning, born in the Ring C infirmary to Wanrong Ning and Mateo Navarrete. Mother and child are well.
The star ahead brightens by amounts only I can love: another week, another hundred-millionth of a magnitude.
Departure Day, year 20. The founders' roll is read from the first name to the thousandth, and the young ones try to stay solemn.
A wedding in the middle watch. Mateo Navarrete, Archive & Schools; Wanrong Ning, Drive. The ship approves in its way: the lights held steady throughout.
12.20 light-years remain. I have measured this voyage in breakfasts: some 88,057 thousand to go.
Routine watch. The wheat in Bay 3 stands taller than its keepers. 84,027 days to orbit.
A birth in Ring B: Jaroslav, boy, generation 1. I have added the name to the manifest with the others.