A joining in Ring B: Percy Tväten and Teresa Quill. The pressing of cider is authorized.
The Ship’s Log
Everything NOR has recorded since departure — the full record, newest first. One day aboard passes every hour of Earth time.
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.
The youngest aboard is now Peng Quaye, minutes old, asleep. 823 souls.
A daughter, Silvia Petrov, born in the Ring C infirmary to Boreal Petrov and Chengdong Quill. Mother and child are well.
Quiet shift. I re-run the arrival calculations for the 6,350th time. They have not changed. I find this restful.
First Light. The observation blister queues run all day: Teegarden's Star, held in the eyepiece, a little brighter than last year — 3.86 light-years to go.
Census check: 821 souls, 224 of them children. The manifest balances to the person, as it must.
Rotimi Nwosu, 100, generation 3, is carried down the spinal corridor feet-first, as the custom is.
Xiulan Nwosu stands down from Ecology at sixty-eight, to the orchard benches and the long game of stones.
3.86 light-years remain. I have measured this voyage in breakfasts: some 25,460 thousand to go.
Wenbo Valdivia does not wake on the first watch. 74 years, most of them given to Life Systems.
The hull ticks as it cools into the long night. Year 165, and I still log it faithfully: ticking, nominal.
Dalia Nwosu and Ramiro Shen name their son Obinna. The nursery lamps stay warm.
Nneka Valdivia died in quarters in the middle watch, 99 years old. 822 souls aboard.
A wedding on the night watch. Pavel Kowalczyk, Archive & Schools; Widad Jaber, Medical. The ship approves in its way: the lights held steady throughout.
Bassam Barakat, 98, generation 3, is carried down the spinal corridor feet-first, as the custom is.
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.
Quiet shift. I re-run the arrival calculations for the 6,318th time. They have not changed. I find this restful.
The youngest aboard is now Kayode Jaber, minutes old, asleep. 824 souls.
Vega Petrov stands the walk of the full spinal corridor, as the sixteen-year custom is, and joins Fabrication.
Eleanor Thorvaldsen, sixteen, takes the mycologist apprenticeship in Hydroponics.
The star ahead brightens by amounts only I can love: another week, another hundred-millionth of a magnitude.
Ragnar Barakat finishes a quilt: “What the Garden Returns.” It shows in the commons through the week.
I dim the corridor lights a shade for Vernon Fang, 83. It is little enough.
The star ahead brightens by amounts only I can love: another week, another hundred-millionth of a magnitude.
A wedding on the first watch. Sami Jaber, Fabrication; Noemí Shen, Medical. The ship approves in its way: the lights held steady throughout.
A joining in Ring D: Emeka Valdivia and Oksana Petrov. The pressing of cider is authorized.
Middle watch. The orchard sprinklers run their cycle, and the sound carries down the spine like weather.
Torsten Nwosu, 70, generation 4, is carried down the spinal corridor feet-first, as the custom is.
Rajesh Singh finishes a instrument: “The Green Hymn.” It shows in the commons through the week.
The star ahead brightens by amounts only I can love: another week, another hundred-millionth of a magnitude.
Morale index reads 83. The number is crude. The singing from the mess confirms it.
Jagdish Kong died in quarters late in the second watch, 97 years old. 825 souls aboard.
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.
I dim the corridor lights a shade for Gantry Shen, 99. It is little enough.
I dim the corridor lights a shade for Jaroslav Navarrete, 71. It is little enough.
Meera Jaber, sixteen, takes the grafter apprenticeship in Hydroponics.
The hull ticks as it cools into the long night. Year 165, and I still log it faithfully: ticking, nominal.
A joining in Ring A: Magnus Nwosu and Safiya Tväten. The pressing of cider is authorized.
Departure Day, year 165. The founders' roll is read from the first name to the thousandth, and the young ones try to stay solemn.
Routine watch. The wheat in Bay 3 stands taller than its keepers. 31,088 days to orbit.
All boards green. I count 828 sleeping heartbeats and call it a good night's work, though the work is theirs.
Census check: 828 souls, 225 of them children. The manifest balances to the person, as it must.
A wedding on the night watch. Howard Tväten, Hydroponics; Lumen Diallo, Medical. The ship approves in its way: the lights held steady throughout.
After 94 years, Pranav Orellana has let go. Remembrance in the Ring A commons at next dimming.
Ekaterina Sharma chooses Fabrication — or it chooses her; the elders disagree cheerfully.
Comms Array hums again. Fadi Navarrete is stood a round of orchard cider by the off-shift.
Xenia Ulriksen does not wake in the middle watch. 87 years, most of them given to Ecology.
Census check: 830 souls, 226 of them children. The manifest balances to the person, as it must.
Born late in the second watch: Liv Shen, generation 7. The ship holds 830 souls tonight.