Quiet shift. I re-run the arrival calculations for the 8,009th time. They have not changed. I find this restful.
The Ship’s Log
Everything NOR has recorded since departure — the full record, newest first. One day aboard passes every hour of Earth time.
A birth in Ring A: Yejide, girl, generation 7. I have added the name to the manifest with the others.
The circle has answered. Agronomy takes the morning hours. The schools smell of soil, and the racks gain a hundred small careful hands.
Morale index reads 81. The number is crude. The singing from the mess confirms it.
A second child follows on the night watch: twins for Yamini Tväten. This one is called Dag.
Yamini Tväten is delivered of a son in the middle watch. The child is called Hassan.
Arc Kowalczyk finishes a song: “Hollow Anchor (Year 169).” It shows in the commons through the week.
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.
Farida Ning finishes a song: “What the Signal Holds.” It shows in the commons through the week.
The manifest shortens by one: Gilbert Pemberton, 91 years. The line rests with the ship now.
All boards green. I count 825 sleeping heartbeats and call it a good night's work, though the work is theirs.
I dim the corridor lights a shade for Femi Orellana, 72. It is little enough.
Sixteen years for Arne Mansour, who signs to Fabrication on the first watch and is given a locker, a sash, and a schedule.
Sten Yan, sixteen, takes the printer operator apprenticeship in Fabrication.
Census check: 826 souls, 234 of them children. The manifest balances to the person, as it must.
A birth in Ring B: Sanjay, boy, generation 8. I have added the name to the manifest with the others.
The manifest shortens by one: Edmund Pemberton, 85 years. The line rests with the ship now.
Two names braided on the manifest tonight: Kofi and Kamala. The commons sings late.
A birth in Ring B: Unn, girl, generation 7. I have added the name to the manifest with the others.
Sixteen years for Efua Shen, who signs to Life Systems in the middle watch and is given a locker, a sash, and a schedule.
The youngest aboard is now Alice Navarrete, minutes old, asleep. 825 souls.
The schools release Deneb Nwosu to Life Systems. Generation 6 takes up its tools.
A son, Omar Petrov, born in the Ring B infirmary to Yasmin Petrov and Aster Quill. Mother and child are well.
Ada Shen and Chengdong Jaber name their daughter Kestrel. The nursery lamps stay warm.
A birth in Ring D: Halvard, boy, generation 6. I have added the name to the manifest with the others.
The star ahead brightens by amounts only I can love: another week, another hundred-millionth of a magnitude.
The question is put to the wider circle: The curriculum question. The ship asks; Earth answers, in its own long time.
A new quilt from Ion Yan — “Roots of Ring A.” The Archive takes a copy; the original belongs to whoever stands nearest.
Edith Petrov is delivered of a daughter on the night watch. The child is called Vasanti.
All boards green. I count 820 sleeping heartbeats and call it a good night's work, though the work is theirs.
The star ahead brightens by amounts only I can love: another week, another hundred-millionth of a magnitude.
The Crossing feast: more behind than ahead. The long tables come out; the good preserves come down.
The youngest aboard is now Lumen Quill, minutes old, asleep. 820 souls.
Born at brightening: Juniper Thorvaldsen, generation 7. The ship holds 819 souls tonight.
Too soon, at 11: Ruolan Tväten. The commons fills on the first watch with those who knew her.
Irina Peng does not wake on the night watch. 99 years, most of them given to Hydroponics.
Gyre Thorvaldsen and Ragnhild Ulriksen, joined. Their quarters are re-assigned adjoining, per custom.
After 102 years, Verne Fang has let go. Remembrance in the Ring C commons at next dimming.
Jorgen Thorvaldsen retires on the first watch. The department logs a quiet debt it cannot repay in parts or hours.
The schools release Cora Sharma to Life Systems. Generation 6 takes up its tools.
Routine watch. The wheat in Bay 3 stands taller than its keepers. 29,478 days to orbit.
Anand Valdivia takes the hand of Gayatri Fang before the assembled watch. I witness, as I witness everything.
Jianguo Tväten chooses Hydroponics — or it chooses him; the elders disagree cheerfully.
A birth in Ring D: Opal, girl, generation 7. I have added the name to the manifest with the others.
Karima Nwosu stands down from Hydroponics at sixty-eight, to the orchard benches and the long game of stones.
First Light festival. The children are lifted to the eyepiece one by one to see where they are going.
Sixteen years for Zemin Fang, who signs to Command on the night watch and is given a locker, a sash, and a schedule.
I dim the corridor lights a shade for Rell Jaber, 78. It is little enough.
A first shift for Ember Shen, sixteen: plasma systems tech, Drive. The badge is printed fresh.
Jinghua Tväten does not wake on the night watch. 76 years, most of them given to Fabrication.