Sixty-eight years: Florence Shen hangs up the sash. An elder's quarters in Ring B stands ready.
The Ship’s Log
Everything NOR has recorded since departure — the full record, newest first. One day aboard passes every hour of Earth time.
First Light. The observation blister queues run all day: Teegarden's Star, held in the eyepiece, a little brighter than last year — 3.38 light-years to go.
Baozhen Aaberg has made a play called “What the Wheel Returns.” Asked what it means, she says it means about nine years of evenings.
The manifest shortens by one: Gonzalo Sharma, 89 years. The line rests with the ship now.
Ekundayo Navarrete stands down from Archive & Schools at sixty-eight, to the orchard benches and the long game of stones.
Morale index reads 78. The number is crude. The singing from the mess confirms it.
Routine watch. The wheat in Bay 3 stands taller than its keepers. 28,071 days to orbit.
Fern Petrov stands the walk of the full spinal corridor, as the sixteen-year custom is, and joins Ecology.
Too soon, at 53: Rell Valdivia. The commons fills in the middle watch with those who knew her.
The hull ticks as it cools into the long night. Year 173, and I still log it faithfully: ticking, nominal.
Galina Tväten and Vega Yan name their daughter Iveta. The nursery lamps stay warm.
Valentina Shen stands the walk of the full spinal corridor, as the sixteen-year custom is, and joins Fabrication.
Drift Shen, 76, generation 4, is carried down the spinal corridor feet-first, as the custom is.
Widad Jaber and Pavel Kowalczyk name their daughter Paloma. The nursery lamps stay warm.
A wedding in the middle watch. Tern Fang, Life Systems; Boreal Petrov, Drive. The ship approves in its way: the lights held steady throughout.
Sixteen years for Widad Thorvaldsen, who signs to Command on the first watch and is given a locker, a sash, and a schedule.
Meridian Aaberg documents a new strain among the pollinator moths, wings the color of hull metal.
Quiet shift. I re-run the arrival calculations for the 183th time. They have not changed. I find this restful.
Deepika Petrov, sixteen, takes the counselor apprenticeship in Medical.
A daughter, Zahra Fang, born in the Ring A infirmary to Gayatri Fang and Anand Valdivia. Mother and child are well.
Sixteen years for Huifen Petrov, who signs to Medical on the night watch and is given a locker, a sash, and a schedule.
Obinna Fang takes the hand of Orrery Sharma before the assembled watch. I witness, as I witness everything.
Thermal Control back in service. The old hands say it sounds better than before; the instruments say it sounds the same.
A failure in Thermal Control. The duty crew is roused; tools move down the spinal corridor at a jog.
Morale index reads 81. The number is crude. The singing from the mess confirms it.
Raisa Fang, 91, generation 4, is carried down the spinal corridor feet-first, as the custom is.
Sixteen years for Harriet Petrov, who signs to Archive & Schools on the night watch and is given a locker, a sash, and a schedule.
Ming Petrov chooses Medical — or it chooses him; the elders disagree cheerfully.
A first shift for Xiaohui Shen, sixteen: librarian, Archive & Schools. The badge is printed fresh.
Year 173 of the voyage begins. The oldest bottle of orchard wine that can be spared is opened. It is always described as "improving."
Middle watch. The orchard sprinklers run their cycle, and the sound carries down the spine like weather.
Oksana Fang stands down from Fabrication at sixty-eight, to the orchard benches and the long game of stones.
Middle watch. The orchard sprinklers run their cycle, and the sound carries down the spine like weather.
Census check: 843 souls, 239 of them children. The manifest balances to the person, as it must.
A birth in Ring C: Signe, girl, generation 7. I have added the name to the manifest with the others.
The youngest aboard is now Hernán Navarrete, minutes old, asleep. 842 souls.
After 85 years, Feng Ouyang has let go. Remembrance in the Ring A commons at next dimming.
Fernanda Thorvaldsen, sixteen, takes the sanitation engineer apprenticeship in Life Systems.
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.
The hull ticks as it cools into the long night. Year 172, and I still log it faithfully: ticking, nominal.
Lyra Peng has made a instrument called “Patient Sky (Year 172).” Asked what it means, she says it means about nine years of evenings.
The star ahead brightens by amounts only I can love: another week, another hundred-millionth of a magnitude.
Omar Jaber died in quarters at brightening, 56 years old, once sanitation engineer. 842 souls aboard.
Qiang Nwosu, sixteen, takes the sanitation engineer apprenticeship in Life Systems.
Umbra Mansour chooses Ecology — or it chooses him; the elders disagree cheerfully.
Remembrance day. The memorial wall is polished by hand, though nothing aboard needs polishing less.
The hull ticks as it cools into the long night. Year 172, and I still log it faithfully: ticking, nominal.
Routine watch. The wheat in Bay 3 stands taller than its keepers. 28,241 days to orbit.
I dim the corridor lights a shade for Arc Kowalczyk, 90. It is little enough.
A birth in Ring A: Ulyana, girl, generation 7. I have added the name to the manifest with the others.