Elsie Hartley finishes a song: “What the Bell Forgets.” It shows in the commons through the week.
The Ship’s Log
Everything NOR has recorded since departure — the full record, newest first. One day aboard passes every hour of Earth time.
Vera Zaitsev stands down from Medical at sixty-eight, to the orchard benches and the long game of stones.
Sixty-eight years: Anand Gupta hangs up the sash. An elder's quarters in Ring B stands ready.
A daughter, Natalya Shen, born in the Ring B infirmary to Zofia Shen and Octavio Domínguez. Mother and child are well.
Quiet shift. I re-run the arrival calculations for the 8,637th time. They have not changed. I find this restful.
Sixty-eight years: Jianguo Gao hangs up the sash. An elder's quarters in Ring B stands ready.
Too soon, at 47: Everett Rutherford. The commons fills on the first watch with those who knew him.
Last shift for Kavita Verma, who joined Medical half a century ago. The crew line the corridor and knock wrenches on the rails.
Last shift for Meera Joshi, who joined Drive half a century ago. The crew line the corridor and knock wrenches on the rails.
Morale index reads 55. The number is crude. The singing from the mess contradicts it.
Noemí Mendoza died in quarters in the middle watch, 61 years old, once reactor tech. 1043 souls aboard.
Sanjay Kapoor has died at 45, far too early. Fabrication stands down a shift in grief.
Ifedayo Ndiaye stands down from Command at sixty-eight, to the orchard benches and the long game of stones.
Sixty-eight years: Nandini Varma hangs up the sash. An elder's quarters in Ring D stands ready.
“Twelve Lanterns Rising,” a song by Ingrid Rasmussen, is unveiled on the night watch to the particular applause of Command.
Last shift for Tara Nair, who joined Medical half a century ago. The crew line the corridor and knock wrenches on the rails.
Census check: 1045 souls, 61 of them children. The manifest balances to the person, as it must.
Rocío Ibarra stands down from Fabrication at sixty-eight, to the orchard benches and the long game of stones.
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.
Sixty-eight years: Alice Holloway hangs up the sash. An elder's quarters in Ring C stands ready.
Too soon, at 47: Safiya Sarraf. The commons fills at dimming with those who knew her.
The hull ticks as it cools into the long night. Year 23, and I still log it faithfully: ticking, nominal.
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.
Maintenance sweep of Ring D 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 23, and I still log it faithfully: ticking, nominal.
Too soon, at 46: Oluwaseun Adeyemi. The commons fills at dimming with those who knew her.
The question is put to the wider circle: The seed vault. The ship asks; Earth answers, in its own long time.
Lanying Lei stands down from Medical at sixty-eight, to the orchard benches and the long game of stones.
Sixty-eight years: Dag Moller hangs up the sash. An elder's quarters in Ring B stands ready.
Samira Saab has died at 45, far too early. Medical stands down a shift in grief.
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.
Hedda Nystrom has died at 49, far too early. Life Systems stands down a shift in grief.
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.
Census check: 1049 souls, 61 of them children. The manifest balances to the person, as it must.
Sixty-eight years: Lev Babich hangs up the sash. An elder's quarters in Ring D stands ready.
Tarun Fossum takes the hand of Nora Thorvaldsen before the assembled watch. I witness, as I witness everything.
Zaid Yacoub stands down from Drive at sixty-eight, to the orchard benches and the long game of stones.
First Light. The observation blister queues run all day: Teegarden's Star, held in the eyepiece, a little brighter than last year — 12.10 light-years to go.
Ragnhild Ekelund retires in the middle watch. The department logs a quiet debt it cannot repay in parts or hours.
Ikenna Falade, 69, generation 0, is carried down the spinal corridor feet-first, as the custom is.
Last shift for Harish Mehta, who joined Hydroponics half a century ago. The crew line the corridor and knock wrenches on the rails.
Sixteen years for Gunhild Thorvaldsen, who signs to Hydroponics at brightening and is given a locker, a sash, and a schedule.
Sixteen years for Percy Escamilla, who signs to Ecology late in the second watch and is given a locker, a sash, and a schedule.
Noemí Aguirre retires at brightening. The department logs a quiet debt it cannot repay in parts or hours.
Carmen Cárdenas is made Chief of Ecology, and marks it by standing the ordinary shift anyway.
A first shift for Jamila Ouyang, sixteen: entomologist, Ecology. The badge is printed fresh.
Tao Wan stands down from Ecology at sixty-eight, to the orchard benches and the long game of stones.
The manifest shortens by one: Sten Moller, 59 years. The line rests with the ship now.
Last shift for Gunnar Jansson, who joined Hydroponics half a century ago. The crew line the corridor and knock wrenches on the rails.
Pavel Babich retires late in the second watch. The department logs a quiet debt it cannot repay in parts or hours.