I dim the corridor lights a shade for Yusheng Shen, 72. It is little enough.
The Ship’s Log
Everything NOR has recorded since departure — the full record, newest first. One day aboard passes every hour of Earth time.
Quiet shift. I re-run the arrival calculations for the 4,101th time. They have not changed. I find this restful.
Karim Yamin retires on the night watch. The department logs a quiet debt it cannot repay in parts or hours.
Thermal Control faults at dimming. Life Systems takes the call.
Last shift for Dag Nystrom, who joined Fabrication half a century ago. The crew line the corridor and knock wrenches on the rails.
Last shift for Omolara Chukwu, who joined Medical half a century ago. The crew line the corridor and knock wrenches on the rails.
After 72 years, Opal Dunmore has let go. Remembrance in the Ring D commons at next dimming.
The youngest aboard is now Nils Nwosu, minutes old, asleep. 940 souls.
Sixty-eight years: Xiaohui Qin hangs up the sash. An elder's quarters in Ring C stands ready.
Domingo Delgado stands down from Command at sixty-eight, to the orchard benches and the long game of stones.
Fault isolated in Comms Array. Repair estimate: unwise to say aloud.
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.
Last shift for Kirill Pavlenko, who joined Medical half a century ago. The crew line the corridor and knock wrenches on the rails.
Morale index reads 67. The number is crude. The singing from the mess confirms it.
Efua Diallo is delivered of a daughter at brightening. The child is called Dagny.
Middle watch. The orchard sprinklers run their cycle, and the sound carries down the spine like weather.
Last shift for Olaf Paulsen, who joined Hydroponics half a century ago. The crew line the corridor and knock wrenches on the rails.
Enlai Pemberton and Funmilayo Singh are joined under the orchard lamps. The whole of Life Systems turns out.
First watch. The orchard sprinklers run their cycle, and the sound carries down the spine like weather.
Huifen Aaberg is delivered of a daughter in the middle watch. The child is called Ananya.
The circle has answered. Light rations. A tenth off every tray — noticed, grumbled at, borne.
Sixty-eight years: Frederick Kingsley hangs up the sash. An elder's quarters in Ring C stands ready.
Lars Eriksen, 76, generation 0, is carried down the spinal corridor feet-first, as the custom is.
After 73 years, Dolores Hidalgo has let go. Remembrance in the Ring D commons at next dimming.
Khalid Vik finishes a instrument: “The Distant Window.” It shows in the commons through the week.
Morale index reads 67. The number is crude. The singing from the mess confirms it.
A birth in Ring B: Ebba, girl, generation 2. I have added the name to the manifest with the others.
The hull ticks as it cools into the long night. Year 35, and I still log it faithfully: ticking, nominal.
Sixty-eight years: Bohdana Gagarin hangs up the sash. An elder's quarters in Ring A stands ready.
Morale index reads 67. The number is crude. The singing from the mess confirms it.
Routine watch. The wheat in Bay 3 stands taller than its keepers. 78,338 days to orbit.
Theodore Aldous retires at brightening. The department logs a quiet debt it cannot repay in parts or hours.
Quiet shift. I re-run the arrival calculations for the 3,973th time. They have not changed. I find this restful.
Last shift for Indira Sethi, who joined Drive half a century ago. The crew line the corridor and knock wrenches on the rails.
Mikhail Czarnecki died in quarters on the first watch, 82 years old. 938 souls aboard.
Suyin Wu stands down from Ecology at sixty-eight, to the orchard benches and the long game of stones.
The hull ticks as it cools into the long night. Year 35, and I still log it faithfully: ticking, nominal.
Last shift for Arthur Aldous, who joined Life Systems half a century ago. The crew line the corridor and knock wrenches on the rails.
Sixty-eight years: Deepika Reddy hangs up the sash. An elder's quarters in Ring C stands ready.
A new tale-cycle from Farida Baz — “A unlit wheel.” The Archive takes a copy; the original belongs to whoever stands nearest.
A birth in Ring D: Theodore, boy, generation 2. I have added the name to the manifest with the others.
Ganesh Varma stands down from Life Systems at sixty-eight, to the orchard benches and the long game of stones.
Morale index reads 66. The number is crude. The singing from the mess confirms it.
Last shift for Divya Varma, who joined Ecology half a century ago. The crew line the corridor and knock wrenches on the rails.
Too soon, at 54: Margaret Iverson. The commons fills in the middle watch with those who knew her.
I dim the corridor lights a shade for Lubna Yamin, 72. It is little enough.
Radomir Quintana takes the hand of Nora Salazar before the assembled watch. I witness, as I witness everything.
Esha Agarwal died in quarters at brightening, 68 years old. 940 souls aboard.
The question is put to the wider circle: Rationing. The ship asks; Earth answers, in its own long time.
Frederick Aldous retires on the first watch. The department logs a quiet debt it cannot repay in parts or hours.