Enlai Ouyang died in quarters on the first watch, 68 years old. 941 souls aboard.
The Ship’s Log
Everything NOR has recorded since departure — the full record, newest first. One day aboard passes every hour of Earth time.
Temitope Jelani does not wake at brightening. 75 years, most of them given to Ecology.
The hull ticks as it cools into the long night. Year 35, and I still log it faithfully: ticking, nominal.
Sixty-eight years: Kamala Nair hangs up the sash. An elder's quarters in Ring D stands ready.
First Light. The observation blister queues run all day: Teegarden's Star, held in the eyepiece, a little brighter than last year — 11.57 light-years to go.
Vera Draycott does not wake on the night watch. 82 years, most of them given to Drive.
Arne Oster retires on the first watch. The department logs a quiet debt it cannot repay in parts or hours.
Morale index reads 66. The number is crude. The singing from the mess confirms it.
The food reserve crosses its caution line. Portions hold for now; the conversation in the mess does not.
After 67 years, Catalina Escobar has let go. Remembrance in the Ring B commons at next dimming.
Darya Ivanova died in quarters late in the second watch, 76 years old. 944 souls aboard.
Census check: 946 souls, 75 of them children. The manifest balances to the person, as it must.
Quiet shift. I re-run the arrival calculations for the 3,854th time. They have not changed. I find this restful.
Torsten Thorvaldsen retires on the first watch. The department logs a quiet debt it cannot repay in parts or hours.
The star ahead brightens by amounts only I can love: another week, another hundred-millionth of a magnitude.
The manifest shortens by one: Sanjay Varma, 79 years. The line rests with the ship now.
Jamila Ouyang is delivered of a son in the middle watch. The child is called Ravindra.
A joining in Ring B: Dagny Merriweather and Tunde Chekhov. The pressing of cider is authorized.
Igor Romanov, 82, generation 0, is carried down the spinal corridor feet-first, as the custom is.
Farida Bishara has made a song called “A whole bell.” Asked what it means, she says it means about nine years of evenings.
Dolores Kong and Khalid Jaber name their son Vernon. The nursery lamps stay warm.
Dolores Quintana's crew brings Water Reclamation back after 1 weeks.
Quiet shift. I re-run the arrival calculations for the 3,825th time. They have not changed. I find this restful.
Last shift for Hedda Lindqvist, who joined Archive & Schools half a century ago. The crew line the corridor and knock wrenches on the rails.
Mahmoud Rahman retires late in the second watch. The department logs a quiet debt it cannot repay in parts or hours.
Water Reclamation faults late in the second watch. Life Systems takes the call.
Last shift for Clara Grantham, who joined Fabrication half a century ago. The crew line the corridor and knock wrenches on the rails.
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.
A birth in Ring D: Bernard, boy, generation 2. I have added the name to the manifest with the others.
Sixty-eight years: Adnan Yamin hangs up the sash. An elder's quarters in Ring A stands ready.
Kayode Abiodun stands down from Hydroponics at sixty-eight, to the orchard benches and the long game of stones.
The star ahead brightens by amounts only I can love: another week, another hundred-millionth of a magnitude.
Esha Agarwal stands down from Hydroponics at sixty-eight, to the orchard benches and the long game of stones.
Morale index reads 71. The number is crude. The singing from the mess confirms it.
The manifest shortens by one: Shanta Rao, 79 years. The line rests with the ship now.
Census check: 946 souls, 72 of them children. The manifest balances to the person, as it must.
Born at brightening: Frederick Valdivia, generation 2. The ship holds 946 souls tonight.
Last shift for Aleksandr Babich, 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 3,781th time. They have not changed. I find this restful.
The youngest aboard is now Bhaskar Petrov, minutes old, asleep. 945 souls.
Year 35 of the voyage begins. The oldest bottle of orchard wine that can be spared is opened. It is always described as "improving."
Kayode Diallo retires on the night watch. The department logs a quiet debt it cannot repay in parts or hours.
11.59 light-years remain. I have measured this voyage in breakfasts: some 74,140 thousand to go.
Last shift for Olusegun Danjuma, who joined Life Systems half a century ago. The crew line the corridor and knock wrenches on the rails.
Morale index reads 69. The number is crude. The singing from the mess confirms it.
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 manifest shortens by one: Silvia Guzmán, 65 years. The line rests with the ship now.
Katarzyna Dragunov retires on the first watch. The department logs a quiet debt it cannot repay in parts or hours.
11.59 light-years remain. I have measured this voyage in breakfasts: some 74,244 thousand to go.
Qing Ma, 65, generation 0, is carried down the spinal corridor feet-first, as the custom is.