Routine watch. The wheat in Bay 3 stands taller than its keepers. 83,045 days to orbit.
The Ship’s Log
Everything NOR has recorded since departure — the full record, newest first. One day aboard passes every hour of Earth time.
Quiet shift. I re-run the arrival calculations for the 8,260th time. They have not changed. I find this restful.
I dim the corridor lights a shade for Raymond Blackwood, 65. It is little enough.
Last shift for Florence Vance, who joined Medical half a century ago. The crew line the corridor and knock wrenches on the rails.
Yejide Okonkwo stands down from Hydroponics at sixty-eight, to the orchard benches and the long game of stones.
Sixty-eight years: Bogdan Vasiliev hangs up the sash. An elder's quarters in Ring C stands ready.
Repair complete on Hydroponics Bays after 3 weeks. I run the test cycle twice, out of respect for history.
Pilar Salazar retires late in the second watch. The department logs a quiet debt it cannot repay in parts or hours.
Yelena Valdivia, sixteen, takes the mycologist apprenticeship in Hydroponics.
The food reserve crosses its caution line. Portions hold for now; the conversation in the mess does not.
Xiaohui Ma is made Chief of Command, and marks it by standing the ordinary shift anyway.
Harriet Ellery retires at dimming. The department logs a quiet debt it cannot repay in parts or hours.
The manifest shortens by one: Ghada Hamdan, 59 years. The line rests with the ship now.
Sixty-eight years: Samira Kanaan hangs up the sash. An elder's quarters in Ring A stands ready.
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.
Last shift for Yewande Uche, who joined Medical half a century ago. The crew line the corridor and knock wrenches on the rails.
Sixty-eight years: Samira Darwish hangs up the sash. An elder's quarters in Ring B stands ready.
Fault isolated in Hydroponics Bays. Repair estimate: unwise to say aloud.
Last shift for Harish Joshi, who joined Medical half a century ago. The crew line the corridor and knock wrenches on the rails.
César Escamilla retires on the night watch. The department logs a quiet debt it cannot repay in parts or hours.
Routine watch. The wheat in Bay 3 stands taller than its keepers. 83,139 days to orbit.
The hull ticks as it cools into the long night. Year 22, and I still log it faithfully: ticking, nominal.
Chitra Verma retires late in the second watch. The department logs a quiet debt it cannot repay in parts or hours.
First Light. The observation blister queues run all day: Teegarden's Star, held in the eyepiece, a little brighter than last year — 12.13 light-years to go.
Hanan Haddad stands down from Life Systems at sixty-eight, to the orchard benches and the long game of stones.
Babatunde Ndiaye finishes a poem: “Ladders of Year 22.” It shows in the commons through the week.
Shu Guo stands down from Hydroponics at sixty-eight, to the orchard benches and the long game of stones.
Sixteen years for Kayode Zogby, who signs to Hydroponics on the night watch and is given a locker, a sash, and a schedule.
Olusegun Kalu has made a instrument called “Early Thread (Year 22).” Asked what it means, he says it means about nine years of evenings.
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.
Census check: 1048 souls, 62 of them children. The manifest balances to the person, as it must.
Tarun Trivedi has made a quilt called “Windows of Ring C.” Asked what it means, he says it means about nine years of evenings.
All boards green. I count 1048 sleeping heartbeats and call it a good night's work, though the work is theirs.
Last shift for Oddny Oster, who joined Medical half a century ago. The crew line the corridor and knock wrenches on the rails.
A birth in Ring D: Yakubu, boy, generation 1. I have added the name to the manifest with the others.
Howard Fenwick retires on the first watch. The department logs a quiet debt it cannot repay in parts or hours.
Jamila Rahman retires at brightening. The department logs a quiet debt it cannot repay in parts or hours.
The schools release Zahra Domínguez to Ecology. Generation 1 takes up its tools.
The circle has answered. No cuts. The ship bets on its gardeners, and every eye is on Bay 3.
Ludmila Dragunov finishes a mural: “The Spun Garden.” It shows in the commons through the week.
A son, Clifford Barrientos, born in the Ring A infirmary to Catalina Barrientos and Everett Draycott. Mother and child are well.
Ximena Figueroa retires on the first watch. The department logs a quiet debt it cannot repay in parts or hours.
Quiet shift. I re-run the arrival calculations for the 8,065th time. They have not changed. I find this restful.
A birth in Ring C: Walid, boy, generation 1. I have added the name to the manifest with the others.
Kamala Raghunathan retires at dimming. The department logs a quiet debt it cannot repay in parts or hours.
Morale index reads 84. The number is crude. The singing from the mess confirms it.
Meera Varma finishes a song: “Root for the Sunless Garden.” It shows in the commons through the week.
A wedding late in the second watch. Theodore Lal, Hydroponics; Noor Jaber, Drive. The ship approves in its way: the lights held steady throughout.
12.14 light-years remain. I have measured this voyage in breakfasts: some 87,018 thousand to go.
The hull ticks as it cools into the long night. Year 22, and I still log it faithfully: ticking, nominal.