Morale index reads 83. The number is crude. The singing from the mess confirms it.
The Ship’s Log
Everything NOR has recorded since departure — the full record, newest first. One day aboard passes every hour of Earth time.
Born at dimming: Adaeze Sharma, generation 6. The ship holds 831 souls tonight.
Middle watch. The orchard sprinklers run their cycle, and the sound carries down the spine like weather.
Anand Tväten and Georgia Aaberg are joined under the orchard lamps. The whole of Drive turns out.
A birth in Ring C: Rashid, boy, generation 7. I have added the name to the manifest with the others.
Ibrahim Thorvaldsen, sixteen, takes the sanitation engineer apprenticeship in Life Systems.
Wei Nwosu is confirmed Captain at brightening, and asks, first of all, for the harvest figures.
Divya Aaberg retires at brightening. The department logs a quiet debt it cannot repay in parts or hours.
The manifest shortens by one: Tariq Fang, 86 years. The line rests with the ship now.
Maintenance sweep of Ring C complete. Somewhere aft a wrench is missing; it will surface in a decade, in a wall, with a story attached.
Wei Shen, 79, generation 4, is carried down the spinal corridor feet-first, as the custom is.
The manifest shortens by one: Noor Kowalczyk, 89 years. 3 children carry the line on.
A daughter, Ekundayo Jaber, born in the Ring C infirmary to Nneka Jaber and Orrery Pillai. Mother and child are well.
Pearl Quaye, sixteen, takes the grafter apprenticeship in Hydroponics.
Sixteen years for Ragnhild Ulriksen, who signs to Medical on the night watch and is given a locker, a sash, and a schedule.
The Crossing. Every year it is observed, and every year someone stands to say the second half is the harder, and is booed warmly.
Zenith Ouyang takes the hand of Wanrong Thorvaldsen before the assembled watch. I witness, as I witness everything.
After 105 years, Kestrel Ouyang has let go. Remembrance in the Ring B commons at next dimming.
3.97 light-years remain. I have measured this voyage in breakfasts: some 26,329 thousand to go.
First watch. The orchard sprinklers run their cycle, and the sound carries down the spine like weather.
Josefina Northam chooses Ecology — or it chooses her; the elders disagree cheerfully.
Two names braided on the manifest tonight: Eos and Quill. The commons sings late.
Morale index reads 85. The number is crude. The singing from the mess confirms it.
First Light festival. The children are lifted to the eyepiece one by one to see where they are going.
Kofi Orellana chooses Archive & Schools — or it chooses him; the elders disagree cheerfully.
Nandini Quill is delivered of a daughter at dimming. The child is called Keel.
Census check: 831 souls, 221 of them children. The manifest balances to the person, as it must.
Noor Quaye, 91, generation 3, is carried down the spinal corridor feet-first, as the custom is.
Morale index reads 83. The number is crude. The singing from the mess confirms it.
3.98 light-years remain. I have measured this voyage in breakfasts: some 26,407 thousand to go.
3.98 light-years remain. I have measured this voyage in breakfasts: some 26,413 thousand to go.
Eos Ouyang, sixteen, takes the reactor tech apprenticeship in Drive.
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.
Cygnet Quill is delivered of a son late in the second watch. The child is called Keel.
Edith Ouyang and Tarun Navarrete name their daughter Ekaterina. The nursery lamps stay warm.
After 80 years, Silvia Yan has let go. Remembrance in the Ring C commons at next dimming.
Sami Thorvaldsen 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.
Gonzalo Sharma and Boreal Navarrete, joined. Their quarters are re-assigned adjoining, per custom.
3.99 light-years remain. I have measured this voyage in breakfasts: some 26,394 thousand to go.
A birth in Ring D: Kestrel, girl, generation 6. I have added the name to the manifest with the others.
A first shift for Altair Pemberton, sixteen: thermal engineer, Life Systems. The badge is printed fresh.
Thermal Control back in service. The old hands say it sounds better than before; the instruments say it sounds the same.
Thermal Control faults at dimming. Life Systems takes the call.
A new play from Yuri Nwosu — “Early Winter (Year 163).” The Archive takes a copy; the original belongs to whoever stands nearest.
The star ahead brightens by amounts only I can love: another week, another hundred-millionth of a magnitude.
Nadia Fang documents a new strain among the pollinator moths, wings the color of hull metal.
Census check: 830 souls, 220 of them children. The manifest balances to the person, as it must.
Hassan Mansour, 88, generation 3, is carried down the spinal corridor feet-first, as the custom is.
Lumen Fang is delivered of a son late in the second watch. The child is called Ramiro.