Nanna Navarrete does not wake in the middle watch. 89 years, most of them given to Fabrication.
The Ship’s Log
Everything NOR has recorded since departure — the full record, newest first. One day aboard passes every hour of Earth time.
Comms Array restored after 4 days. Ulf Aaberg signs the work order and goes to sleep for a full watch.
Abebi Nwosu and Adrián Quill name their son Juniper. The nursery lamps stay warm.
A failure in Comms Array. The duty crew is roused; tools move down the spinal corridor at a jog.
Nadia Barakat died in quarters at dimming, 87 years old. 821 souls aboard.
Born at brightening: Eos Valdivia, generation 6. The ship holds 822 souls tonight.
After 89 years, Zemin Yan has let go. Remembrance in the Ring D commons at next dimming.
The schools release Boreal Navarrete to Archive & Schools. Generation 5 takes up its tools.
Qiaoyun Navarrete is delivered of a daughter in the middle watch. The child is called Kestrel.
First Light. The observation blister queues run all day: Teegarden's Star, held in the eyepiece, a little brighter than last year — 4.27 light-years to go.
A new quilt from Winifred Tväten — “Furrows of Year 158.” The Archive takes a copy; the original belongs to whoever stands nearest.
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.
Folasade Pillai has made a play called “Bright Signal (Year 158).” Asked what it means, she says it means about nine years of evenings.
A birth in Ring C: Lyra, girl, generation 6. I have added the name to the manifest with the others.
I dim the corridor lights a shade for Yelena Shen, 85. It is little enough.
Morale index reads 73. The number is crude. The singing from the mess confirms it.
Sixty-eight years: Ion Ouyang hangs up the sash. An elder's quarters in Ring C stands ready.
A birth in Ring B: Ekene, boy, generation 6. I have added the name to the manifest with the others.
The schools release Lubna Fang to Hydroponics. Generation 6 takes up its tools.
A second child follows on the night watch: twins for Dalia Nwosu. This one is called Percy.
A son, Arc Nwosu, born in the Ring A infirmary to Dalia Nwosu and Ramiro Shen. Mother and child are well.
Census check: 818 souls, 201 of them children. The manifest balances to the person, as it must.
Dalia Nwosu and Ramiro Shen are joined under the orchard lamps. The whole of Hydroponics turns out.
Yasmin Pemberton stands down from Fabrication at sixty-eight, to the orchard benches and the long game of stones.
4.28 light-years remain. I have measured this voyage in breakfasts: some 27,476 thousand to go.
Jaroslav Fang takes the hand of Omolara Thorvaldsen before the assembled watch. I witness, as I witness everything.
Unn Quill is delivered of a son on the first watch. The child is called Node.
Altair Sharma retires in the middle watch. The department logs a quiet debt it cannot repay in parts or hours.
Peizhi Jaber died in quarters at dimming, 95 years old. 817 souls aboard.
Sarala Thorvaldsen retires late in the second watch. The department logs a quiet debt it cannot repay in parts or hours.
I dim the corridor lights a shade for Mateo Ashworth, 91. It is little enough.
Josefina Aaberg and Deshi Tväten name their son Zenith. The nursery lamps stay warm.
After 92 years, Vega Quaye has let go. Remembrance in the Ring B commons at next dimming.
Wenling Ulriksen is delivered of a son on the night watch. The child is called Ernest.
Magnus Thorvaldsen died in quarters in the middle watch, 91 years old. 819 souls aboard.
Hanan Mansour does not wake late in the second watch. 97 years, most of them given to Life Systems.
Departure Day, year 158. The founders' roll is read from the first name to the thousandth, and the young ones try to stay solemn.
4.29 light-years remain. I have measured this voyage in breakfasts: some 27,593 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.
A birth in Ring B: Quill, girl, generation 6. I have added the name to the manifest with the others.
A wedding on the first watch. Yamini Tväten, Command; Eos Quill, Fabrication. The ship approves in its way: the lights held steady throughout.
Verne Peng, sixteen, takes the water systems tech apprenticeship in Life Systems.
A joining in Ring A: Caelum Ouyang and Tern Tväten. The pressing of cider is authorized.
Two names braided on the manifest tonight: Leticia and Ulf. The commons sings late.
The star ahead brightens by amounts only I can love: another week, another hundred-millionth of a magnitude.
Routine watch. The wheat in Bay 3 stands taller than its keepers. 33,678 days to orbit.
A joining in Ring C: Fyodor Ouyang and Nneka Petrov. The pressing of cider is authorized.
Faisal Quill, sixteen, takes the sanitation engineer apprenticeship in Life Systems.
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.
Rell Thorvaldsen, 89, generation 3, is carried down the spinal corridor feet-first, as the custom is.