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 Ship’s Log
Everything NOR has recorded since departure — the full record, newest first. One day aboard passes every hour of Earth time.
Last shift for Zemin Yan, who joined Drive half a century ago. The crew line the corridor and knock wrenches on the rails.
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.
Gyre Valdivia and Olaf Diallo name their daughter Mingyu. The nursery lamps stay warm.
A first shift for Yusheng Quill, sixteen: broadcast keeper, Archive & Schools. The badge is printed fresh.
A first shift for Eos Quaye, sixteen: bay gardener, Hydroponics. The badge is printed fresh.
The Crossing feast: more behind than ahead. The long tables come out; the good preserves come down.
A joining in Ring C: Pranav Tväten and Sojourn Quill. The pressing of cider is authorized.
Rocío Aaberg's crew brings Water Reclamation back after 3 weeks.
The schools release Iman Aaberg to Hydroponics. Generation 5 takes up its tools.
The star ahead brightens by amounts only I can love: another week, another hundred-millionth of a magnitude.
Bjorn Nwosu, 88, generation 3, is carried down the spinal corridor feet-first, as the custom is.
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.
Middle watch. The orchard sprinklers run their cycle, and the sound carries down the spine like weather.
Chiamaka Pemberton is delivered of a daughter on the first watch. The child is called Fatima.
Altair Tväten takes the hand of Opal Petrov before the assembled watch. I witness, as I witness everything.
4.68 light-years remain. I have measured this voyage in breakfasts: some 30,744 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.
Verne Shen is delivered of a son late in the second watch. The child is called Ion.
Safiya Jaber has made a play called “Wheel for the Unlit Garden.” Asked what it means, she says it means about nine years of evenings.
Fault isolated in Water Reclamation. Repair estimate: unwise to say aloud.
Gonzalo Sharma stands down from Fabrication at sixty-eight, to the orchard benches and the long game of stones.
Sixty-eight years: Nora Merriweather hangs up the sash. An elder's quarters in Ring C stands ready.
I dim the corridor lights a shade for Sanjay Zhao, 84. It is little enough.
Chief of Medical falls to Basma Nwosu, who accepts with a nod and a full docket.
Layla Ouyang retires on the first watch. The department logs a quiet debt it cannot repay in parts or hours.
Atmosphere Processing back in service. The old hands say it sounds better than before; the instruments say it sounds the same.
Divya Peng died in quarters on the night watch, 94 years old. 853 souls aboard.
Edith Petrov stands down from Drive at sixty-eight, to the orchard benches and the long game of stones.
First Light festival. The children are lifted to the eyepiece one by one to see where they are going.
We could not reach Wei Navarrete in time. 40 years, Life Systems. The lamps are lowered a full watch.
Everett Zhao is lost in the Life Systems casualty, 36 years old. Work stops at dimming for the procession.
Atmosphere processing faults on the first watch. Scrubber margins hold; the smell of the ship changes, and everyone notices.
Morale index reads 73. The number is crude. The singing from the mess confirms it.
Morale index reads 73. The number is crude. The singing from the mess confirms it.
I dim the corridor lights a shade for Uzoma Ning, 97. It is little enough.
Shanta Fang stands down from Command at sixty-eight, to the orchard benches and the long game of stones.
I dim the corridor lights a shade for Enlai Shen, 72. It is little enough.
Bohai Singh does not wake at brightening. 102 years, most of them given to Archive & Schools.
Sable Ouyang does not wake on the night watch. 82 years, most of them given to Hydroponics.
Astrid Fang does not wake late in the second watch. 71 years, most of them given to Hydroponics.
I dim the corridor lights a shade for Lubna Petrov, 98. It is little enough.
Kestrel Yan is delivered of a son on the night watch. The child is called Torsten.
Ion Yan finishes a mural: “Twelve Waters Standing.” It shows in the commons through the week.
Caelum Ouyang chooses Medical — or it chooses him; the elders disagree cheerfully.
A son, Radomir Quill, born in the Ring D infirmary to Unn Quill and Theodore Nwosu. Mother and child are well.
Nils Thorvaldsen chooses Drive — or it chooses him; the elders disagree cheerfully.
All boards green. I count 860 sleeping heartbeats and call it a good night's work, though the work is theirs.
Gunhild Nwosu stands down from Drive at sixty-eight, to the orchard benches and the long game of stones.
Morale index reads 75. The number is crude. The singing from the mess confirms it.