Routine watch. The wheat in Bay 3 stands taller than its keepers. 26,983 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.
Morale index reads 78. The number is crude. The singing from the mess confirms it.
Born in the middle watch: Sundiata Nwosu, generation 6. The ship holds 846 souls tonight.
Rell Quill does not wake at dimming. 61 years, most of them given to Fabrication.
Ragnar Barakat, 85, generation 4, is carried down the spinal corridor feet-first, as the custom is.
Nneka Petrov is delivered of a daughter late in the second watch. The child is called Ifeoma.
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.
Night watch. The orchard sprinklers run their cycle, and the sound carries down the spine like weather.
Two names braided on the manifest tonight: Uzoma and Nneka. The commons sings late.
A first shift for Orrery Nwosu, sixteen: air systems tech, Life Systems. The badge is printed fresh.
Bogdan Ouyang, sixteen, takes the irrigation tech apprenticeship in Hydroponics.
Census check: 846 souls, 225 of them children. The manifest balances to the person, as it must.
A first shift for Meridian Peng, sixteen: pollinator keeper, Ecology. The badge is printed fresh.
“A inward root,” a tale-cycle by Chengdong Merriweather, is unveiled on the night watch to the particular applause of Hydroponics.
Sixteen years for Soledad Yan, who signs to Archive & Schools at brightening and is given a locker, a sash, and a schedule.
The schools release Ibrahim Shen to Drive. Generation 6 takes up its tools.
Green across the board: Fabrication Shops holds after 6 days of work. Spares were spent; Fabrication is notified.
Fabrication Shops quits on the first watch, with a sound the old hands do not like.
Departure Day, year 176. The founders' roll is read from the first name to the thousandth, and the young ones try to stay solemn.
Boreal Fang chooses Drive — or it chooses him; the elders disagree cheerfully.
Tao Navarrete does not wake at brightening. 91 years, most of them given to Archive & Schools.
The schools release Bassam Aaberg to Fabrication. Generation 6 takes up its tools.
Gyre Aaberg and Pallas Yan, joined. Their quarters are re-assigned adjoining, per custom.
Amina Navarrete does not wake at dimming. 69 years, most of them given to Life Systems.
A daughter, Caelum Shen, born in the Ring B infirmary to Kamala Shen and Kofi Petrov. Mother and child are well.
Morale index reads 79. The number is crude. The singing from the mess confirms it.
Routine watch. The wheat in Bay 3 stands taller than its keepers. 27,111 days to orbit.
The hull ticks as it cools into the long night. Year 175, and I still log it faithfully: ticking, nominal.
Sami Navarrete died in quarters at brightening, 104 years old. 847 souls aboard.
The schools release Konstantin Thorvaldsen to Hydroponics. Generation 6 takes up its tools.
The schools release Grigori Shen to Medical. Generation 6 takes up its tools.
Sixteen years for Huifen Shen, who signs to Life Systems on the night watch and is given a locker, a sash, and a schedule.
Caelum Shen, sixteen, takes the watch officer apprenticeship in Command.
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.
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.
Lumen Quaye stands the walk of the full spinal corridor, as the sixteen-year custom is, and joins Life Systems.
Morale index reads 78. The number is crude. The singing from the mess confirms it.
All boards green. I count 848 sleeping heartbeats and call it a good night's work, though the work is theirs.
3.24 light-years remain. I have measured this voyage in breakfasts: some 23,046 thousand to go.
The schools release Juniper Thorvaldsen to Ecology. Generation 7 takes up its tools.
A birth in Ring A: Svetlana, girl, generation 7. I have added the name to the manifest with the others.
Census check: 847 souls, 234 of them children. The manifest balances to the person, as it must.
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.
Altair Orellana has made a play called “What the Map Remembers.” Asked what it means, he says it means about nine years of evenings.
Tern Quill stands down from Hydroponics at sixty-eight, to the orchard benches and the long game of stones.
Census check: 847 souls, 234 of them children. The manifest balances to the person, as it must.
The youngest aboard is now Suyin Zhao, minutes old, asleep. 847 souls.
Natalya Ouyang chooses Archive & Schools — or it chooses her; the elders disagree cheerfully.
The manifest shortens by one: Cedric Navarrete, 91 years. 1 children carry the line on.
A son, Nikolai Quill, born in the Ring B infirmary to Teresa Quill and Percy Tväten. Mother and child are well.