Rotimi Thorvaldsen's crew brings Fabrication Shops back after 4 weeks.
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 first shift for Lyra Peng, sixteen: librarian, Archive & Schools. The badge is printed fresh.
Zbigniew Nwosu stands down from Archive & Schools at sixty-eight, to the orchard benches and the long game of stones.
Fabrication Shops goes down. I reroute what can be rerouted and wake who must be woken.
Yuri Nwosu does not wake on the first watch. 103 years, most of them given to Life Systems.
Sixteen years for Ravindra Nwosu, who signs to Hydroponics at brightening and is given a locker, a sash, and a schedule.
A child in Ring C 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 8,978th time. They have not changed. I find this restful.
Routine watch. The wheat in Bay 3 stands taller than its keepers. 28,335 days to orbit.
Ekundayo Navarrete has made a song called “Patient Window (Year 172).” Asked what it means, she says it means about nine years of evenings.
I dim the corridor lights a shade for Rosario Fang, 83. It is little enough.
A first shift for Beatrice Valdivia, sixteen: broadcast keeper, Archive & Schools. The badge is printed fresh.
Born late in the second watch: Olaf Sharma, generation 6. The ship holds 845 souls tonight.
Hanan Quill finishes a mural: “Gardens of Year 172.” It shows in the commons through the week.
Cygnet Northam and Franklin Petrov name their daughter Pilar. The nursery lamps stay warm.
The Crossing. Every year it is observed, and every year someone stands to say the second half is the harder, and is booed warmly.
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.
Two names braided on the manifest tonight: Knut and Carmen. The commons sings late.
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.
Routine watch. The wheat in Bay 3 stands taller than its keepers. 28,361 days to orbit.
The manifest shortens by one: Arne Ulriksen, 95 years. The line rests with the ship now.
3.43 light-years remain. I have measured this voyage in breakfasts: some 23,942 thousand to go.
A first shift for Anjali Ouyang, sixteen: sanitation engineer, Life Systems. The badge is printed fresh.
I dim the corridor lights a shade for Babatunde Navarrete, 81. It is little enough.
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.
Last shift for Samira Quill, who joined Hydroponics half a century ago. The crew line the corridor and knock wrenches on the rails.
Lyra Orellana takes the hand of Fatima Pemberton before the assembled watch. I witness, as I witness everything.
A joining in Ring B: Qiang Quill and Altair Pemberton. The pressing of cider is authorized.
All boards green. I count 845 sleeping heartbeats and call it a good night's work, though the work is theirs.
Deneb Sharma chooses Ecology — or it chooses her; the elders disagree cheerfully.
Census check: 845 souls, 242 of them children. The manifest balances to the person, as it must.
First Light. The observation blister queues run all day: Teegarden's Star, held in the eyepiece, a little brighter than last year — 3.44 light-years to go.
Adrián Merriweather retires on the night watch. The department logs a quiet debt it cannot repay in parts or hours.
Green across the board: Thermal Control holds after 4 days of work. Spares were spent; Fabrication is notified.
All boards green. I count 845 sleeping heartbeats and call it a good night's work, though the work is theirs.
Drift Quill stands the walk of the full spinal corridor, as the sixteen-year custom is, and joins Hydroponics.
Fault isolated in Thermal Control. Repair estimate: unwise to say aloud.
Green across the board: Reactor holds after 4 days of work. Spares were spent; Fabrication is notified.
Brownout. I hold power to the wards and the growing lamps and let the corridors go dim. The ship is patient.
The schools release Nils Jaber to Medical. Generation 6 takes up its tools.
The reactor drops offline. I shed load by schedule: fabrication first, then the long corridors. The wards keep power.
Edith Petrov and Quill Petrov name their son Douglas. The nursery lamps stay warm.
A son, Sundiata Nwosu, born in the Ring B infirmary to Modupe Nwosu and Yuri Sharma. Mother and child are well.
Routine watch. The wheat in Bay 3 stands taller than its keepers. 28,434 days to orbit.
Quiet shift. I re-run the arrival calculations for the 8,872th time. They have not changed. I find this restful.
Josefina Northam is delivered of a daughter late in the second watch. The child is called Meridian.
Radomir Quill and Gantry Petrov, joined. Their quarters are re-assigned adjoining, per custom.
Zhihao Nwosu died in quarters at brightening, 106 years old. 842 souls aboard.
Zhihao Yan and Ember Barakat are joined under the orchard lamps. The whole of Archive & Schools turns out.
The youngest aboard is now Karin Thorvaldsen, minutes old, asleep. 843 souls.