3.99 light-years remain. I have measured this voyage in breakfasts: some 26,395 thousand to go.
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 Kayode Shen, who joined Fabrication half a century ago. The crew line the corridor and knock wrenches on the rails.
All boards green. I count 830 sleeping heartbeats and call it a good night's work, though the work is theirs.
Departure Day, year 163. The founders' roll is read from the first name to the thousandth, and the young ones try to stay solemn.
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.
A wedding on the first watch. Finn Quill, Fabrication; Jinsong Quaye, Hydroponics. The ship approves in its way: the lights held steady throughout.
A child in Ring B asks the corridor speaker what Earth smelled like. I play the rainstorm recording. It is the best answer I have.
Sixty-eight years: Rania Ulriksen hangs up the sash. An elder's quarters in Ring D stands ready.
Shanta Fang does not wake at brightening. 79 years, most of them given to Command.
Wren Thorvaldsen stands the walk of the full spinal corridor, as the sixteen-year custom is, and joins Archive & Schools.
A child in Ring B asks the corridor speaker what Earth smelled like. I play the rainstorm recording. It is the best answer I have.
Census check: 831 souls, 220 of them children. The manifest balances to the person, as it must.
Adaeze Barakat, sixteen, takes the mycologist apprenticeship in Hydroponics.
Bruno Fang has made a quilt called “Kept Corridor, Inward Map.” Asked what it means, he says it means about nine years of evenings.
Born late in the second watch: Altair Shen, generation 7. The ship holds 831 souls tonight.
The youngest aboard is now Halley Jaber, minutes old, asleep. 830 souls.
Two names braided on the manifest tonight: Renshu and Anli. The commons sings late.
By council vote, Divya Aaberg takes the center chair as Captain. The watch changes hands without a tremor.
Sixty-eight years: Torsten Nwosu hangs up the sash. An elder's quarters in Ring A stands ready.
After 81 years, Vega Petrov has let go. Remembrance in the Ring C commons at next dimming.
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.
A birth in Ring C: Stanley, boy, generation 6. I have added the name to the manifest with the others.
Quiet shift. I re-run the arrival calculations for the 5,426th time. They have not changed. I find this restful.
Rotimi Orellana retires on the night watch. The department logs a quiet debt it cannot repay in parts or hours.
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.
Last shift for Viggo Navarrete, who joined Life Systems half a century ago. The crew line the corridor and knock wrenches on the rails.
All boards green. I count 829 sleeping heartbeats and call it a good night's work, though the work is theirs.
All boards green. I count 829 sleeping heartbeats and call it a good night's work, though the work is theirs.
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 B asks the corridor speaker what Earth smelled like. I play the rainstorm recording. It is the best answer I have.
The schools release Anand Valdivia to Hydroponics. Generation 6 takes up its tools.
“The Turning Anchor,” a instrument by Farida Navarrete, is unveiled on the first watch to the particular applause of Ecology.
Mira Merriweather stands down from Life Systems at sixty-eight, to the orchard benches and the long game of stones.
Morale index reads 82. The number is crude. The singing from the mess confirms it.
Routine watch. The wheat in Bay 3 stands taller than its keepers. 31,943 days to orbit.
A son, Yash Navarrete, born in the Ring C infirmary to Qiaoyun Navarrete and Sami Yan. Mother and child are well.
Suyin Thorvaldsen chooses Life Systems — or it chooses her; the elders disagree cheerfully.
Theodore Shen stands the walk of the full spinal corridor, as the sixteen-year custom is, and joins Drive.
Quiet shift. I re-run the arrival calculations for the 5,348th time. They have not changed. I find this restful.
The council confirms Kestrel Tväten as Chief of Ecology on the night watch.
Sixty-eight years: Josefina Tväten hangs up the sash. An elder's quarters in Ring A stands ready.
Routine watch. The wheat in Bay 3 stands taller than its keepers. 31,970 days to orbit.
A birth in Ring B: Helm, boy, generation 6. I have added the name to the manifest with the others.
Sarala Quill died in quarters late in the second watch, 71 years old. 827 souls aboard.
Alice Fang, sixteen, takes the recycler apprenticeship in Fabrication.
The manifest shortens by one: Chinedu Nwosu, 64 years. 1 children carry the line on.
Routine watch. The wheat in Bay 3 stands taller than its keepers. 32,000 days to orbit.
The Crossing feast: more behind than ahead. The long tables come out; the good preserves come down.
Lev Navarrete, sixteen, takes the quartermaster apprenticeship in Command.