The schools release Natalya Shen to Drive. Generation 2 takes up its tools.
The Ship’s Log
Everything NOR has recorded since departure — the full record, newest first. One day aboard passes every hour of Earth time.
Kwame Adeyemi retires at dimming. 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. 76,843 days to orbit.
A daughter, Huifen Ulriksen, born in the Ring C infirmary to Yaling Ulriksen and Theodore Sharma. Mother and child are well.
Bogdan Ivanova, 69, generation 0, is carried down the spinal corridor feet-first, as the custom is.
Ignacio Palacios died in quarters on the night watch, 76 years old. 923 souls aboard.
Last shift for Frederick Ingram, who joined Hydroponics half a century ago. The crew line the corridor and knock wrenches on the rails.
Sixty-eight years: Bhaskar Kapoor hangs up the sash. An elder's quarters in Ring B stands ready.
Maintenance sweep of Ring C complete. Somewhere aft a wrench is missing; it will surface in a decade, in a wall, with a story attached.
Sixty-eight years: Ekene Oyelaran hangs up the sash. An elder's quarters in Ring A stands ready.
Sixty-eight years: Martin Merriweather hangs up the sash. An elder's quarters in Ring A stands ready.
Gunhild Aaberg retires at dimming. The department logs a quiet debt it cannot repay in parts or hours.
The manifest shortens by one: Rotimi Mba, 84 years. The line rests with the ship now.
Routine watch. The wheat in Bay 3 stands taller than its keepers. 76,863 days to orbit.
Census check: 926 souls, 103 of them children. The manifest balances to the person, as it must.
Sixty-eight years: Unn Aaberg hangs up the sash. An elder's quarters in Ring B stands ready.
Annika Aaberg retires on the night 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. 76,869 days to orbit.
A new poem from Mahmoud Rahman — “What the Ladder Leaves.” The Archive takes a copy; the original belongs to whoever stands nearest.
Last shift for Ngozi Uche, who joined Life Systems half a century ago. The crew line the corridor and knock wrenches on the rails.
Yewande Kalu died in quarters in the middle watch, 87 years old. 926 souls aboard.
The youngest aboard is now Caelum Diallo, minutes old, asleep. 927 souls.
Quiet shift. I re-run the arrival calculations for the 5,436th time. They have not changed. I find this restful.
I dim the corridor lights a shade for Chiamaka Ndiaye, 73. It is little enough.
The circle has answered. The evenings belong to the ship's own voices. The commons learn each other's songs, and the applause is for people with quarters three doors down.
Tunde Jelani, 60, generation 0, is carried down the spinal corridor feet-first, as the custom is.
Sixty-eight years: Tunde Abiodun hangs up the sash. An elder's quarters in Ring C stands ready.
Quiet shift. I re-run the arrival calculations for the 5,423th time. They have not changed. I find this restful.
The hull ticks as it cools into the long night. Year 39, and I still log it faithfully: ticking, nominal.
Martin Yardley stands down from Life Systems at sixty-eight, to the orchard benches and the long game of stones.
Ignacio Barrientos stands down from Medical at sixty-eight, to the orchard benches and the long game of stones.
I dim the corridor lights a shade for Chukwuemeka Okonkwo, 61. It is little enough.
Abena Diallo retires at brightening. The department logs a quiet debt it cannot repay in parts or hours.
Last shift for Feng Xie, who joined Life Systems half a century ago. The crew line the corridor and knock wrenches on the rails.
Sixty-eight years: Katarzyna Vasiliev hangs up the sash. An elder's quarters in Ring D stands ready.
The youngest aboard is now Ingrid Fang, minutes old, asleep. 929 souls.
Per Dahl retires on the night watch. The department logs a quiet debt it cannot repay in parts or hours.
Last shift for Elsie Kingsley, who joined Archive & Schools half a century ago. The crew line the corridor and knock wrenches on the rails.
Safiya Bishara finishes a play: “The Iron Engine.” It shows in the commons through the week.
Last shift for Mahmoud Zayed, who joined Fabrication half a century ago. The crew line the corridor and knock wrenches on the rails.
Sixty-eight years: Zemin Zhao hangs up the sash. An elder's quarters in Ring B stands ready.
Pranav Lal died in quarters at brightening, 74 years old. 928 souls aboard.
Sixty-eight years: Kang Guo 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 — 11.35 light-years to go.
Night watch. The orchard sprinklers run their cycle, and the sound carries down the spine like weather.
Unn Fossum retires at dimming. The department logs a quiet debt it cannot repay in parts or hours.
Last shift for Pranav Varma, who joined Hydroponics half a century ago. The crew line the corridor and knock wrenches on the rails.
Last shift for Chandran Gupta, who joined Medical half a century ago. The crew line the corridor and knock wrenches on the rails.
Ananya Yan is delivered of a son late in the second watch. The child is called Joaquín.
Born at dimming: Nora Jaber, generation 2. The ship holds 928 souls tonight.