Morale index reads 83. The number is crude. The singing from the mess confirms it.
The Ship’s Log
Everything NOR has recorded since departure — the full record, newest first. One day aboard passes every hour of Earth time.
Born at brightening: Rajesh Petrov, generation 8. The ship holds 858 souls tonight.
2.93 light-years remain. I have measured this voyage in breakfasts: some 21,686 thousand to go.
A birth in Ring C: Evgeni, boy, generation 7. I have added the name to the manifest with the others.
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.
The youngest aboard is now Rajesh Fang, minutes old, asleep. 856 souls.
Middle watch. The orchard sprinklers run their cycle, and the sound carries down the spine like weather.
Zenith Barakat chooses Command — or it chooses him; the elders disagree cheerfully.
Radhika Petrov is delivered of a daughter on the night watch. The child is called Oluwaseun.
Kwame Tväten chooses Archive & Schools — or it chooses him; the elders disagree cheerfully.
Rotimi Petrov finishes a tale-cycle: “Doors of Bay 3.” It shows in the commons through the week.
Sixteen years for Helm Quill, who signs to Command late in the second watch and is given a locker, a sash, and a schedule.
Two names braided on the manifest tonight: Eos and Nils. The commons sings late.
Sixteen years for Viggo Tväten, who signs to Ecology late in the second watch and is given a locker, a sash, and a schedule.
Routine watch. The wheat in Bay 3 stands taller than its keepers. 25,359 days to orbit.
The schools release Aleksandr Sharma to Archive & Schools. Generation 6 takes up its tools.
Nora Fang and Ulyana Fang name their daughter Arc. The nursery lamps stay warm.
Emilio Tväten does not wake in the middle watch. 81 years, most of them given to Medical.
Maintenance sweep of Ring B complete. Somewhere aft a wrench is missing; it will surface in a decade, in a wall, with a story attached.
Born on the first watch: Fern Thorvaldsen, generation 7. The ship holds 854 souls tonight.
Sixteen years for Quill Aaberg, who signs to Life Systems at dimming 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.
All boards green. I count 853 sleeping heartbeats and call it a good night's work, though the work is theirs.
First watch. The orchard sprinklers run their cycle, and the sound carries down the spine like weather.
Gayatri Sharma takes the hand of Fernanda Thorvaldsen before the assembled watch. I witness, as I witness everything.
A son, Drift Quill, born in the Ring A infirmary to Tara Quill and Rashid Petrov. Mother and child are well.
The star ahead brightens by amounts only I can love: another week, another hundred-millionth of a magnitude.
Born in the middle watch: Eos Shen, generation 7. The ship holds 852 souls tonight.
Xenia Diallo, sixteen, takes the sanitation engineer apprenticeship in Life Systems.
Routine watch. The wheat in Bay 3 stands taller than its keepers. 25,415 days to orbit.
Vera Valdivia died in quarters at brightening, 99 years old. 851 souls aboard.
A first shift for Kang Valdivia, sixteen: bay gardener, Hydroponics. The badge is printed fresh.
Quiet shift. I re-run the arrival calculations for the 2,891th time. They have not changed. I find this restful.
The Crossing feast: more behind than ahead. The long tables come out; the good preserves come down.
Evgeni Petrov stands the walk of the full spinal corridor, as the sixteen-year custom is, and joins Archive & Schools.
I dim the corridor lights a shade for Ion Ouyang, 90. It is little enough.
Margaret Valdivia is delivered of a son late in the second watch. The child is called Deneb.
All boards green. I count 852 sleeping heartbeats and call it a good night's work, though the work is theirs.
Routine watch. The wheat in Bay 3 stands taller than its keepers. 25,437 days to orbit.
After 85 years, Kayode Shen has let go. Remembrance in the Ring C commons at next dimming.
Morale index reads 80. The number is crude. The singing from the mess confirms it.
The youngest aboard is now Arc Thorvaldsen, minutes old, asleep. 853 souls.
The star ahead brightens by amounts only I can love: another week, another hundred-millionth of a magnitude.
Helm Nwosu and Drift Quill, joined. Their quarters are re-assigned adjoining, per custom.
Routine watch. The wheat in Bay 3 stands taller than its keepers. 25,456 days to orbit.
2.96 light-years remain. I have measured this voyage in breakfasts: some 21,689 thousand to go.
The schools release Umbra Thorvaldsen to Archive & Schools. Generation 7 takes up its tools.
Fabrication Shops hums again. Ekaterina Sharma is stood a round of orchard cider by the off-shift.
Morale index reads 80. The number is crude. The singing from the mess confirms it.
Orrery Sharma and Obinna Fang name their son Konstantin. The nursery lamps stay warm.