All boards green. I count 818 sleeping heartbeats and call it a good night's work, though the work is theirs.
The Ship’s Log
Everything NOR has recorded since departure — the full record, newest first. One day aboard passes every hour of Earth time.
Routine watch. The wheat in Bay 3 stands taller than its keepers. 32,558 days to orbit.
After 91 years, Josefina Aaberg has let go. Remembrance in the Ring A commons at next dimming.
The hull ticks as it cools into the long night. Year 160, and I still log it faithfully: ticking, nominal.
Jorgen Thorvaldsen, 93, generation 3, is carried down the spinal corridor feet-first, as the custom is.
Routine watch. The wheat in Bay 3 stands taller than its keepers. 32,570 days to orbit.
The manifest shortens by one: Zikora Ulriksen, 78 years. 3 children carry the line on.
Routine watch. The wheat in Bay 3 stands taller than its keepers. 32,576 days to orbit.
Jianguo Diallo stands down from Medical at sixty-eight, to the orchard benches and the long game of stones.
Census check: 821 souls, 217 of them children. The manifest balances to the person, as it must.
“Four Winters Rising,” a play by Tessa Tväten, is unveiled on the night watch to the particular applause of Hydroponics.
I dim the corridor lights a shade for Gopal Peng, 89. It is little enough.
I dim the corridor lights a shade for Ishaan Quill, 85. It is little enough.
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.
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.
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.
A first shift for Noemí Shen, sixteen: counselor, Medical. The badge is printed fresh.
First watch. The orchard sprinklers run their cycle, and the sound carries down the spine like weather.
Cygnet Fang and Adewale Valdivia, joined. Their quarters are re-assigned adjoining, per custom.
Lumen Petrov is made Chief of Archive & Schools, and marks it by standing the ordinary shift anyway.
Xiulan Thorvaldsen stands down from Archive & Schools at sixty-eight, to the orchard benches and the long game of stones.
Nnamdi Thorvaldsen retires on the first watch. The department logs a quiet debt it cannot repay in parts or hours.
A daughter, Ximena Fang, born in the Ring C infirmary to Lumen Fang and Chandran Yan. Mother and child are well.
Born at dimming: Lumen Petrov, generation 7. The ship holds 822 souls tonight.
The youngest aboard is now Stanislav Valdivia, minutes old, asleep. 821 souls.
Verne Tväten chooses Archive & Schools — or it chooses him; the elders disagree cheerfully.
Safiya Tväten, sixteen, takes the mycologist apprenticeship in Hydroponics.
A daughter, Omolara Petrov, born in the Ring A infirmary to Harini Petrov and Meridian Valdivia. Mother and child are well.
The manifest shortens by one: Xavier Thorvaldsen, 74 years. 2 children carry the line on.
A son, Radomir Valdivia, born in the Ring D infirmary to Ylva Valdivia and Stanley Navarrete. Mother and child are well.
Iman Aaberg and Orrery Navarrete name their daughter Gyre. The nursery lamps stay warm.
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.
Lumen Diallo stands the walk of the full spinal corridor, as the sixteen-year custom is, and joins Medical.
The manifest shortens by one: Joaquín Thorvaldsen, 94 years. 1 children carry the line on.
The star ahead brightens by amounts only I can love: another week, another hundred-millionth of a magnitude.
Jaya Sharma and Vicente Nwosu name their daughter Rosario. The nursery lamps stay warm.
After 79 years, Harish Petrov has let go. Remembrance in the Ring B commons at next dimming.
Quiet shift. I re-run the arrival calculations for the 4,625th time. They have not changed. I find this restful.
Arc Pillai, 84, generation 3, is carried down the spinal corridor feet-first, as the custom is.
Morale index reads 79. The number is crude. The singing from the mess confirms it.
4.14 light-years remain. I have measured this voyage in breakfasts: some 26,820 thousand to go.
After 81 years, Wenbo Thorvaldsen has let go. Remembrance in the Ring C commons at next dimming.
Rell Thorvaldsen stands the walk of the full spinal corridor, as the sixteen-year custom is, and joins Life Systems.
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.
Born on the night watch: Edith Quill, generation 6. The ship holds 821 souls tonight.
Nils Thorvaldsen and Mira Yan are joined under the orchard lamps. The whole of Drive turns out.
Morale index reads 80. The number is crude. The singing from the mess confirms it.
The Crossing feast: more behind than ahead. The long tables come out; the good preserves come down.
Abebi Nwosu and Adrián Quill name their daughter Leticia. The nursery lamps stay warm.
Gayatri Quill and Rajesh Singh name their son Clifford. The nursery lamps stay warm.