A joining in Ring A: Ekundayo Quaye and Mikhail Fedorenko. The pressing of cider is authorized.
The Ship’s Log
Everything NOR has recorded since departure — the full record, newest first. One day aboard passes every hour of Earth time.
A joining in Ring A: Mahesh Iyer and Ekaterina Pavlenko. The pressing of cider is authorized.
Year 3 of the voyage begins. The oldest bottle of orchard wine that can be spared is opened. It is always described as "improving."
Fermín Valdivia and Jamila Wahba, joined. Their quarters are re-assigned adjoining, per custom.
Liang Qiu takes the hand of Chiamaka Quaye before the assembled watch. I witness, as I witness everything.
A wedding at brightening. Amir Rizk, Archive & Schools; Basma Othman, Archive & Schools. The ship approves in its way: the lights held steady throughout.
Kayode Diallo and Ludmila Ostrowski are joined under the orchard lamps. The whole of Hydroponics turns out.
A new instrument from Agnieszka Gagarin — “Gardens of the drive gallery.” The Archive takes a copy; the original belongs to whoever stands nearest.
All boards green. I count 1018 sleeping heartbeats and call it a good night's work, though the work is theirs.
Census check: 1018 souls, 18 of them children. The manifest balances to the person, as it must.
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.
Census check: 1018 souls, 18 of them children. The manifest balances to the person, as it must.
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.
Domingo Delgado and Nadia Wahba, joined. Their quarters are re-assigned adjoining, per custom.
Born on the first watch: Lakshmi Pillai, generation 1. The ship holds 1018 souls tonight.
Tessa Hartley is delivered of a son on the first watch. The child is called Pavel.
Two names braided on the manifest tonight: Adnan and Meera. The commons sings late.
“Root for the Patient Garden,” a quilt by Igor Romanov, is unveiled late in the second watch to the particular applause of Command.
Olusegun Danjuma and Meera Joshi are joined under the orchard lamps. The whole of Life Systems turns out.
Titilayo Abiodun and Lev Yakovlev name their son Ulises. The nursery lamps stay warm.
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.
Night watch. The orchard sprinklers run their cycle, and the sound carries down the spine like weather.
Noemí Aguirre times an occultation to refine our ephemeris. The course correction is smaller than a held breath.
“Watchs of Year 2,” a instrument by Ulf Gundersen, is unveiled on the first watch to the particular applause of Archive & Schools.
Leonard Lockhart and Deepika Patil, joined. Their quarters are re-assigned adjoining, per custom.
First watch. The orchard sprinklers run their cycle, and the sound carries down the spine like weather.
A wedding late in the second watch. Tessa Ashworth, Fabrication; Zemin Zhao, Hydroponics. The ship approves in its way: the lights held steady throughout.
Chidinma Adeyemi takes the hand of Octavio Figueroa before the assembled watch. I witness, as I witness everything.
Alice Pemberton takes the hand of Iris Northam before the assembled watch. I witness, as I witness everything.
Yueqin Xie and Per Dahl, joined. Their quarters are re-assigned adjoining, per custom.
12.49 light-years remain. I have measured this voyage in breakfasts: some 91,686 thousand to go.
All boards green. I count 1015 sleeping heartbeats and call it a good night's work, though the work is theirs.
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 hull ticks as it cools into the long night. Year 2, and I still log it faithfully: ticking, nominal.
12.49 light-years remain. I have measured this voyage in breakfasts: some 91,698 thousand to go.
Born on the night watch: Tarun Fossum, generation 1. The ship holds 1015 souls tonight.
A joining in Ring B: Rania Fakhoury and Salvador Montoya. The pressing of cider is authorized.
Maintenance sweep of Ring B complete. Somewhere aft a wrench is missing; it will surface in a decade, in a wall, with a story attached.
Two names braided on the manifest tonight: Nikolai and Tara. The commons sings late.
Olusegun Kalu has made a song called “What the Garden Returns.” Asked what it means, he says it means about nine years of evenings.
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.
Morale index reads 82. The number is crude. The singing from the mess confirms it.
Yewande Eze has made a instrument called “Season for the Kept Field.” Asked what it means, she says it means about nine years of evenings.
Two names braided on the manifest tonight: Stanley and Xiaohui. The commons sings late.
The star ahead brightens by amounts only I can love: another week, another hundred-millionth of a magnitude.
The circle has answered. The evenings belong to Earth's archive. Rain and orchestras down every corridor at dimming, and the old world stays a neighbor.
Jianguo Peng and Dalia El-Amin are joined under the orchard lamps. The whole of Archive & Schools turns out.
Freya Paulsen and Octavio Escamilla are joined under the orchard lamps. The whole of Hydroponics turns out.
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.
Lakshman Devi takes the hand of Raisa Zielinski before the assembled watch. I witness, as I witness everything.