Anders Dahl retires on the night watch. The department logs a quiet debt it cannot repay in parts or hours.
The Ship’s Log
Everything NOR has recorded since departure — the full record, newest first. One day aboard passes every hour of Earth time.
Sixteen years for Walid Maalouf, who signs to Ecology at dimming and is given a locker, a sash, and a schedule.
Octavio Aguirre stands down from Fabrication at sixty-eight, to the orchard benches and the long game of stones.
A birth in Ring C: Usman, boy, generation 2. I have added the name to the manifest with the others.
Sixty-eight years: Sami Yacoub hangs up the sash. An elder's quarters in Ring B stands ready.
Kang Bai retires in the middle watch. The department logs a quiet debt it cannot repay in parts or hours.
“Late Window (Year 38),” a mural by Qiaoyun Quaye, is unveiled on the night watch to the particular applause of Drive.
11.42 light-years remain. I have measured this voyage in breakfasts: some 72,160 thousand to go.
A birth in Ring B: Hakon, boy, generation 2. I have added the name to the manifest with the others.
The manifest shortens by one: Shu Guo, 83 years. The line rests with the ship now.
Year 38 of the voyage begins. The oldest bottle of orchard wine that can be spared is opened. It is always described as "improving."
Ulises Gorbachev stands the walk of the full spinal corridor, as the sixteen-year custom is, and joins Hydroponics.
The hull ticks as it cools into the long night. Year 37, and I still log it faithfully: ticking, nominal.
Night watch. The orchard sprinklers run their cycle, and the sound carries down the spine like weather.
11.43 light-years remain. I have measured this voyage in breakfasts: some 72,201 thousand to go.
Verne Petrov and Theodore Solheim name their son Sergei. The nursery lamps stay warm.
Last shift for Rocío Escamilla, who joined Medical half a century ago. The crew line the corridor and knock wrenches on the rails.
Sixty-eight years: Shanyuan Huang hangs up the sash. An elder's quarters in Ring A stands ready.
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.
The star ahead brightens by amounts only I can love: another week, another hundred-millionth of a magnitude.
I dim the corridor lights a shade for Dolores Cárdenas, 68. It is little enough.
Routine watch. The wheat in Bay 3 stands taller than its keepers. 77,483 days to orbit.
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.
César Guzmán retires at dimming. The department logs a quiet debt it cannot repay in parts or hours.
Night watch. The orchard sprinklers run their cycle, and the sound carries down the spine like weather.
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 star ahead brightens by amounts only I can love: another week, another hundred-millionth of a magnitude.
A birth in Ring B: Halvard, boy, generation 2. I have added the name to the manifest with the others.
Night watch. The orchard sprinklers run their cycle, and the sound carries down the spine like weather.
Harini Pillai, 60, generation 0, is carried down the spinal corridor feet-first, as the custom is.
Last shift for Jianguo Han, who joined Drive half a century ago. The crew line the corridor and knock wrenches on the rails.
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.
Feng Fang stands down from Fabrication at sixty-eight, to the orchard benches and the long game of stones.
Lakshmi Iyer is made Chief of Hydroponics, and marks it by standing the ordinary shift anyway.
Florence Rutherford retires on the first watch. The department logs a quiet debt it cannot repay in parts or hours.
Winifred Merriweather stands down from Hydroponics at sixty-eight, to the orchard benches and the long game of stones.
Routine watch. The wheat in Bay 3 stands taller than its keepers. 77,579 days to orbit.
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.
Born at brightening: June Mansour, generation 2. The ship holds 932 souls tonight.
Last shift for Dagny Paulsen, who joined Life Systems half a century ago. The crew line the corridor and knock wrenches on the rails.
A first shift for Maja Fang, sixteen: watch officer, Command. The badge is printed fresh.
A new quilt from Fathom Gallardo — “What the Engine Leaves.” The Archive takes a copy; the original belongs to whoever stands nearest.
All boards green. I count 931 sleeping heartbeats and call it a good night's work, though the work is theirs.
A daughter, Karin Orellana, born in the Ring A infirmary to Vera Orellana and Ramiro Lockhart. Mother and child are well.
César Bishara and Zenith Peng are joined under the orchard lamps. The whole of Life Systems turns out.
Mahesh Rao, 80, generation 0, is carried down the spinal corridor feet-first, as the custom is.
Born at brightening: Dagny Nwosu, generation 2. The ship holds 931 souls tonight.
Dag Nordahl and Ananya Yan, joined. Their quarters are re-assigned adjoining, per custom.
A birth in Ring B: Yamini, girl, generation 2. I have added the name to the manifest with the others.
Two names braided on the manifest tonight: Anli and Jaroslav. The commons sings late.