Routine watch. The wheat in Bay 3 stands taller than its keepers. 35,805 days to orbit.
The Ship’s Log
Everything NOR has recorded since departure — the full record, newest first. One day aboard passes every hour of Earth time.
The youngest aboard is now Lyra Orellana, minutes old, asleep. 856 souls.
The star ahead brightens by amounts only I can love: another week, another hundred-millionth of a magnitude.
Fang Aaberg stands down from Hydroponics at sixty-eight, to the orchard benches and the long game of stones.
Census check: 855 souls, 176 of them children. The manifest balances to the person, as it must.
Departure Day, year 152. The founders' roll is read from the first name to the thousandth, and the young ones try to stay solemn.
Routine watch. The wheat in Bay 3 stands taller than its keepers. 35,846 days to orbit.
Born at brightening: Oddny Yan, generation 6. The ship holds 855 souls tonight.
A birth in Ring C: Boreal, girl, generation 7. I have added the name to the manifest with the others.
Teodoro Mansour stands down from Archive & Schools at sixty-eight, to the orchard benches and the long game of stones.
Sixty-eight years: Edmund Pemberton hangs up the sash. An elder's quarters in Ring C stands ready.
The youngest aboard is now Carmen Valdivia, minutes old, asleep. 853 souls.
The schools release Omolara Thorvaldsen to Ecology. Generation 6 takes up its tools.
Sixty-eight years: Cedric Navarrete hangs up the sash. An elder's quarters in Ring B stands ready.
Sixteen years for Amina Barakat, who signs to Medical at dimming and is given a locker, a sash, and a schedule.
Fadi Yan retires at dimming. The department logs a quiet debt it cannot repay in parts or hours.
Wei Shen stands down from Ecology at sixty-eight, to the orchard benches and the long game of stones.
A birth in Ring C: Ember, girl, generation 6. I have added the name to the manifest with the others.
A birth in Ring D: Zenith, boy, generation 6. I have added the name to the manifest with the others.
The manifest shortens by one: Dominika Navarrete, 85 years. 2 children carry the line on.
Halvard Yan retires on the first watch. The department logs a quiet debt it cannot repay in parts or hours.
All boards green. I count 851 sleeping heartbeats and call it a good night's work, though the work is theirs.
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.
Helm Yan died in quarters at brightening, 73 years old. 851 souls aboard.
Sojourn Ning chooses Hydroponics — or it chooses him; the elders disagree cheerfully.
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.
Remembrance day. The memorial wall is polished by hand, though nothing aboard needs polishing less.
Census check: 852 souls, 174 of them children. The manifest balances to the person, as it must.
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.
After 64 years, Fern Shen has let go. Remembrance in the Ring D commons at next dimming.
Morale index reads 71. The number is crude. The singing from the mess confirms it.
The schools release Sable Nwosu to Hydroponics. Generation 6 takes up its tools.
Adrián Diallo has made a instrument called “Three Waters Sleeping.” Asked what it means, he says it means about nine years of evenings.
All boards green. I count 853 sleeping heartbeats and call it a good night's work, though the work is theirs.
Vega Aaberg and Yusheng Shen name their son Xavier. The nursery lamps stay warm.
Guiying Nwosu retires on the night watch. The department logs a quiet debt it cannot repay in parts or hours.
After 96 years, Tao Jaber has let go. Remembrance in the Ring B commons at next dimming.
4.67 light-years remain. I have measured this voyage in breakfasts: some 30,671 thousand to go.
All boards green. I count 853 sleeping heartbeats and call it a good night's work, though the work is theirs.
“Wheels of Ring A,” a quilt by Finn Merriweather, is unveiled late in the second watch to the particular applause of Hydroponics.
Adaeze Sharma is delivered of a daughter at brightening. The child is called Beatriz.
“Fields of Bay 3,” a mural by Pearl Nwosu, is unveiled on the night watch to the particular applause of Fabrication.
Night watch. The orchard sprinklers run their cycle, and the sound carries down the spine like weather.
Howard Aaberg does not wake in the middle watch. 92 years, most of them given to Drive.
Born on the night watch: Node Aaberg, generation 6. The ship holds 853 souls tonight.
I dim the corridor lights a shade for Teegarden Barakat, 78. It is little enough.
Ulf Thorvaldsen, 86, generation 3, is carried down the spinal corridor feet-first, as the custom is.
All boards green. I count 854 sleeping heartbeats and call it a good night's work, though the work is theirs.
Chitra Ouyang, sixteen, takes the historian apprenticeship in Archive & Schools.
Morale index reads 71. The number is crude. The singing from the mess confirms it.