Last shift for Guowei Tväten, who joined Command half a century ago. The crew line the corridor and knock wrenches on the rails.
The Ship’s Log
Everything NOR has recorded since departure — the full record, newest first. One day aboard passes every hour of Earth time.
A child in Ring D asks the corridor speaker what Earth smelled like. I play the rainstorm recording. It is the best answer I have.
Anand Tväten chooses Drive — or it chooses him; the elders disagree cheerfully.
The youngest aboard is now Widad Thorvaldsen, minutes old, asleep. 818 souls.
Daisy Yan died in quarters in the middle watch, 82 years old. 818 souls aboard.
4.34 light-years remain. I have measured this voyage in breakfasts: some 27,780 thousand to go.
A birth in Ring A: Deepika, girl, generation 6. I have added the name to the manifest with the others.
Born late in the second watch: Huifen Petrov, generation 6. The ship holds 817 souls tonight.
After 79 years, Pavel Ning has let go. Remembrance in the Ring B commons at next dimming.
Census check: 817 souls, 195 of them children. The manifest balances to the person, as it must.
After 96 years, Xiaohui Ouyang has let go. Remembrance in the Ring D commons at next dimming.
The manifest shortens by one: Domingo Thorvaldsen, 81 years. The line rests with the ship now.
Olaf Ouyang does not wake at dimming. 93 years, most of them given to Hydroponics.
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.
Morale index reads 72. The number is crude. The singing from the mess confirms it.
A second child follows on the night watch: twins for Quill Petrov. This one is called Harriet.
A son, Ming Petrov, born in the Ring A infirmary to Quill Petrov and Chengdong Ouyang. Mother and child are well.
A birth in Ring C: Xiaohui, girl, generation 7. I have added the name to the manifest with the others.
Departure Day, year 157. The founders' roll is read from the first name to the thousandth, and the young ones try to stay solemn.
Noor Thorvaldsen does not wake late in the second watch. 91 years, most of them given to Archive & Schools.
The schools release Sami Jaber to Fabrication. Generation 5 takes up its tools.
I dim the corridor lights a shade for Daisy Tväten, 86. It is little enough.
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.
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.
Orrery Petrov stands down from Archive & Schools at sixty-eight, to the orchard benches and the long game of stones.
A daughter, Fernanda Thorvaldsen, born in the Ring D infirmary to Halley Thorvaldsen and Percy Fang. Mother and child are well.
Morale index reads 71. The number is crude. The singing from the mess confirms it.
First watch. The orchard sprinklers run their cycle, and the sound carries down the spine like weather.
A son, Qiang Nwosu, born in the Ring D infirmary to Signe Nwosu and Quill Kowalczyk. Mother and child are well.
A birth in Ring D: Umbra, boy, generation 7. I have added the name to the manifest with the others.
A joining in Ring B: Yusheng Quill and Ulyana Mansour. The pressing of cider is authorized.
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.
Josefina Barakat, 99, generation 3, is carried down the spinal corridor feet-first, as the custom is.
Magnus Nwosu, sixteen, takes the reactor tech apprenticeship in Drive.
Hernán Fang's crew brings Atmosphere Processing back after 1 weeks.
Jiayi Peng is delivered of a daughter at dimming. The child is called Lyra.
CO₂ trim goes ragged as a processor bank fails. Life Systems is on it before I finish the announcement.
A first shift for Cygnet Fang, sixteen: printer operator, Fabrication. The badge is printed fresh.
The star ahead brightens by amounts only I can love: another week, another hundred-millionth of a magnitude.
Jamal Merriweather retires late in the second watch. The department logs a quiet debt it cannot repay in parts or hours.
4.37 light-years remain. I have measured this voyage in breakfasts: some 27,843 thousand to go.
Sixty-eight years: Douglas Navarrete hangs up the sash. An elder's quarters in Ring B stands ready.
A joining in Ring B: Tariq Thorvaldsen and Pilar Sharma. The pressing of cider is authorized.
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.
A child in Ring C asks the corridor speaker what Earth smelled like. I play the rainstorm recording. It is the best answer I have.
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.
Two names braided on the manifest tonight: Quill and Juniper. The commons sings late.
Orrery Navarrete and Iman Aaberg are joined under the orchard lamps. The whole of Life Systems turns out.
Walid Quaye does not wake on the night watch. 96 years, most of them given to Drive.
Morale index reads 73. The number is crude. The singing from the mess confirms it.