A birth in Ring C: Amina, girl, generation 7. I have added the name to the manifest with the others.
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 Verne Sharma, sixteen: water systems tech, Life Systems. The badge is printed fresh.
Oluwaseun Merriweather died in quarters on the first watch, 73 years old. 859 souls aboard.
Last shift for Sami Quill, who joined Life Systems half a century ago. The crew line the corridor and knock wrenches on the rails.
Quiet shift. I re-run the arrival calculations for the 3,878th time. They have not changed. I find this restful.
Quiet shift. I re-run the arrival calculations for the 3,878th time. They have not changed. I find this restful.
Quiet shift. I re-run the arrival calculations for the 3,878th time. They have not changed. I find this restful.
The question is put to the wider circle: The broadcast hours. The ship asks; Earth answers, in its own long time.
Ibrahim Valdivia and Keel Petrov, joined. Their quarters are re-assigned adjoining, per custom.
The schools release Meridian Quill to Medical. Generation 6 takes up its tools.
The hull ticks as it cools into the long night. Year 183, and I still log it faithfully: ticking, nominal.
A first shift for Omolara Quill, sixteen: mycologist, Hydroponics. The badge is printed fresh.
Census check: 860 souls, 209 of them children. The manifest balances to the person, as it must.
Orrery Petrov, 94, generation 4, is carried down the spinal corridor feet-first, as the custom is.
Helm Navarrete chooses Fabrication — or it chooses her; the elders disagree cheerfully.
A joining in Ring D: Node Quill and Umbra Nwosu. The pressing of cider is authorized.
Percy Navarrete chooses Life Systems — or it chooses him; the elders disagree cheerfully.
Bohai Quill stands down from Life Systems at sixty-eight, to the orchard benches and the long game of stones.
Vasili Sharma is made Chief of Drive, and marks it by standing the ordinary shift anyway.
Nils Thorvaldsen has died at 47, far too early. Drive stands down a shift in grief.
A birth in Ring C: Sable, boy, generation 7. I have added the name to the manifest with the others.
A wedding at dimming. Soledad Yan, Archive & Schools; Yash Navarrete, Fabrication. The ship approves in its way: the lights held steady throughout.
A joining in Ring B: Baozhen Shen and Gantry Jaber. The pressing of cider is authorized.
Sojourn Pillai finishes a song: “The Whole Corridor.” It shows in the commons through the week.
Year 183 of the voyage begins. The oldest bottle of orchard wine that can be spared is opened. It is always described as "improving."
Cora Sharma and Ibrahim Thorvaldsen name their daughter Fern. The nursery lamps stay warm.
Quiet shift. I re-run the arrival calculations for the 3,790th time. They have not changed. I find this restful.
Last shift for Chiamaka Pemberton, who joined Fabrication half a century ago. The crew line the corridor and knock wrenches on the rails.
All boards green. I count 860 sleeping heartbeats and call it a good night's work, though the work is theirs.
A daughter, Yaw Fang, born in the Ring B infirmary to Ximena Fang and Bogdan Ouyang. Mother and child are well.
Zenith Diallo does not wake in the middle watch. 84 years, most of them given to Archive & Schools.
Two names braided on the manifest tonight: Sergei and Gyre. The commons sings late.
A first shift for Zbigniew Aaberg, sixteen: toolmaker, Fabrication. The badge is printed fresh.
A wedding at dimming. Umbra Fang, Medical; Mateo Fang, Ecology. The ship approves in its way: the lights held steady throughout.
Anton Diallo, sixteen, takes the teacher apprenticeship in Archive & Schools.
Chinedu Mansour chooses Hydroponics — or it chooses him; the elders disagree cheerfully.
Sixteen years for Yasmin Tväten, who signs to Ecology late in the second watch and is given a locker, a sash, and a schedule.
Morale index reads 84. The number is crude. The singing from the mess confirms it.
Per Ouyang, 91, generation 4, is carried down the spinal corridor feet-first, as the custom is.
Born late in the second watch: Helm Jaber, generation 7. The ship holds 861 souls tonight.
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.
The star ahead brightens by amounts only I can love: another week, another hundred-millionth of a magnitude.
Pranav Yan, 83, generation 5, is carried down the spinal corridor feet-first, as the custom is.
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 Inward Lantern,” a song by Olga Shen, is unveiled on the night watch to the particular applause of Fabrication.
Quiet shift. I re-run the arrival calculations for the 3,722th time. They have not changed. I find this restful.
The youngest aboard is now Halley Petrov, minutes old, asleep. 861 souls.
Born at dimming: Caelum Valdivia, generation 7. The ship holds 860 souls tonight.
Two names braided on the manifest tonight: Ayodele and Wren. The commons sings late.
The schools release Jamila Tväten to Fabrication. Generation 6 takes up its tools.