We could not reach Vicente Quintana in time. 61 years, Fabrication. The lamps are lowered a full watch.
The Ship’s Log
Everything NOR has recorded since departure — the full record, newest first. One day aboard passes every hour of Earth time.
Meera Raghunathan is lost in the Fabrication casualty, 67 years old. Work stops at dimming for the procession.
Hull sensors flag a fault in the shielding lattice. Crews suit up at dimming.
First watch. The orchard sprinklers run their cycle, and the sound carries down the spine like weather.
Ludmila Zhao chooses Medical — or it chooses her; the elders disagree cheerfully.
11.81 light-years remain. I have measured this voyage in breakfasts: some 79,087 thousand to go.
Quiet shift. I re-run the arrival calculations for the 2,101th time. They have not changed. I find this restful.
Elsie Navarrete is delivered of a son at dimming. The child is called Cedric.
Lärä Fossum is delivered of a son on the first watch. The child is called Gbenga.
Birgitta Fossum stands down from Fabrication at sixty-eight, to the orchard benches and the long game of stones.
Last shift for Theodore Holloway, who joined Ecology half a century ago. The crew line the corridor and knock wrenches on the rails.
The circle has answered. No cuts. The ship bets on its gardeners, and every eye is on Bay 3.
The manifest shortens by one: Vikram Mehta, 75 years. The line rests with the ship now.
Routine watch. The wheat in Bay 3 stands taller than its keepers. 80,229 days to orbit.
Last shift for Chunhua Guo, who joined Life Systems half a century ago. The crew line the corridor and knock wrenches on the rails.
After 72 years, Gunhild Fjeld has let go. Remembrance in the Ring D commons at next dimming.
I dim the corridor lights a shade for Fatima Darwish, 66. It is little enough.
Sixty-eight years: Mingyu Liang hangs up the sash. An elder's quarters in Ring C stands ready.
First Light. The observation blister queues run all day: Teegarden's Star, held in the eyepiece, a little brighter than last year — 11.82 light-years to go.
Last shift for Jianguo Ning, who joined Ecology half a century ago. The crew line the corridor and knock wrenches on the rails.
Sixteen years for Tao Ogunleye, who signs to Life Systems at dimming and is given a locker, a sash, and a schedule.
Last shift for Maksim Kaminski, who joined Fabrication half a century ago. The crew line the corridor and knock wrenches on the rails.
The hull ticks as it cools into the long night. Year 30, and I still log it faithfully: ticking, nominal.
Soledad Hidalgo retires late in the second watch. The department logs a quiet debt it cannot repay in parts or hours.
Routine watch. The wheat in Bay 3 stands taller than its keepers. 80,252 days to orbit.
Edmund Yardley stands down from Command at sixty-eight, to the orchard benches and the long game of stones.
Last shift for Evgeni Litvin, who joined Fabrication half a century ago. The crew line the corridor and knock wrenches on the rails.
A child in Ring A asks the corridor speaker what Earth smelled like. I play the rainstorm recording. It is the best answer I have.
Joaquín Ibarra finishes a instrument: “Signal for the Unlit Ladder.” It shows in the commons through the week.
I dim the corridor lights a shade for Layla Haddad, 78. It is little enough.
The Assembly reaches its accord: schedules loosened, stores opened a measure, and a promise recorded in the permanent log. The ship exhales.
Last shift for Lärä Yeboah, who joined Life Systems half a century ago. The crew line the corridor and knock wrenches on the rails.
Ingrid Rasmussen stands down from Command at sixty-eight, to the orchard benches and the long game of stones.
The Ship's Assembly convenes in the largest commons. Everyone who wishes to speaks. I keep time and hold the record, nothing more.
Sundiata Fashola retires late in the second watch. The department logs a quiet debt it cannot repay in parts or hours.
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.
A work slowdown moves through the departments, orderly and cold. The ship runs; the ship also waits.
Last shift for Peng Han, who joined Fabrication half a century ago. The crew line the corridor and knock wrenches on the rails.
Chief of Fabrication falls to Johanna Nordahl, who accepts with a nod and a full docket.
Sixty-eight years: Lakshmi Pillai hangs up the sash. An elder's quarters in Ring A stands ready.
Morale index reads 46. The number is crude. The singing from the mess contradicts it.
Sixteen years for Nora Salazar, who signs to Hydroponics at brightening and is given a locker, a sash, and a schedule.
Rosario Ledesma stands down from Ecology at sixty-eight, to the orchard benches and the long game of stones.
Fernanda Urrutia stands down from Drive at sixty-eight, to the orchard benches and the long game of stones.
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.
Usman Saab, sixteen, takes the arborist apprenticeship in Ecology.
Ragnhild Ekelund, 74, generation 0, is carried down the spinal corridor feet-first, as the custom is.
Quiet shift. I re-run the arrival calculations for the 1,971th time. They have not changed. I find this restful.
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 question is put to the wider circle: Rationing. The ship asks; Earth answers, in its own long time.