Sixty-eight years: Divya Yadav hangs up the sash. An elder's quarters in Ring D stands ready.
The Ship’s Log
Everything NOR has recorded since departure — the full record, newest first. One day aboard passes every hour of Earth time.
The youngest aboard is now Viggo Singh, minutes old, asleep. 899 souls.
Yusuf Ismail does not wake on the first watch. 80 years, most of them given to Archive & Schools.
Eleanor Bexley, 76, generation 0, is carried down the spinal corridor feet-first, as the custom is.
The circle has answered. Strict rations, then. Portions are cut by a fifth; the mess goes quiet, and the reserve figure begins, slowly, to climb.
Ibrahim Ghanem, 73, generation 0, is carried down the spinal corridor feet-first, as the custom is.
Liang Luo stands down from Fabrication at sixty-eight, to the orchard benches and the long game of stones.
A child in Ring D asks the corridor speaker what Earth smelled like. I play the rainstorm recording. It is the best answer I have.
I dim the corridor lights a shade for Chinedu Mba, 85. It is little enough.
Born on the night watch: Arne Ouyang, generation 2. The ship holds 902 souls tonight.
Clifford Barrientos and Maja Fang, joined. Their quarters are re-assigned adjoining, per custom.
After 81 years, Meera Varma has let go. Remembrance in the Ring B commons at next dimming.
11.18 light-years remain. I have measured this voyage in breakfasts: some 68,471 thousand to go.
The star ahead brightens by amounts only I can love: another week, another hundred-millionth of a magnitude.
Sarala Yadav retires at dimming. 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.
A child in Ring C asks the corridor speaker what Earth smelled like. I play the rainstorm recording. It is the best answer I have.
Ikenna Adeyemi retires in the middle watch. The department logs a quiet debt it cannot repay in parts or hours.
Ingrid Jansson died in quarters at dimming, 88 years old. 902 souls aboard.
Departure Day, year 42. The founders' roll is read from the first name to the thousandth, and the young ones try to stay solemn.
Hakon Solheim stands down from Command at sixty-eight, to the orchard benches and the long game of stones.
Hydroponics Bays hums again. Everett Draycott is stood a round of orchard cider by the off-shift.
The question is put to the wider circle: Rationing. The ship asks; Earth answers, in its own long time.
Sixteen years for Rotimi Thorvaldsen, who signs to Archive & Schools on the night watch and is given a locker, a sash, and a schedule.
Born at dimming: Juniper Orellana, generation 2. The ship holds 903 souls tonight.
Hydroponics Bays goes down. I reroute what can be rerouted and wake who must be woken.
After 79 years, Hanan Zayed has let go. Remembrance in the Ring B commons at next dimming.
Raisa Zielinski stands down from Ecology at sixty-eight, to the orchard benches and the long game of stones.
Fernanda Ibarra died in quarters at dimming, 83 years old. 903 souls aboard.
A son, Gantry Zhao, born in the Ring C infirmary to Ludmila Zhao and Leandro Pemberton. Mother and child are well.
Born late in the second watch: Nils Quaye, generation 2. The ship holds 903 souls tonight.
Clara Pemberton does not wake at dimming. 78 years, most of them given to Archive & Schools.
Gunnar Jansson died in quarters at brightening, 86 years old. 903 souls aboard.
A birth in Ring C: Kestrel, boy, generation 2. I have added the name to the manifest with the others.
The manifest shortens by one: Jamila Rahman, 87 years. The line rests with the ship now.
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.
Lars Nystrom stands down from Life Systems at sixty-eight, to the orchard benches and the long game of stones.
All boards green. I count 904 sleeping heartbeats and call it a good night's work, though the work is theirs.
The youngest aboard is now Jiayi Thorvaldsen, minutes old, asleep. 904 souls.
Sixty-eight years: Nicolás Figueroa hangs up the sash. An elder's quarters in Ring A stands ready.
Routine watch. The wheat in Bay 3 stands taller than its keepers. 76,056 days to orbit.
Svetlana Tereshkova stands down from Archive & Schools at sixty-eight, to the orchard benches and the long game of stones.
Jaroslav Dragunov does not wake at brightening. 87 years, most of them given to Archive & Schools.
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: Lakshman Devi, 62 years. The line rests with the ship now.
I dim the corridor lights a shade for Dominika Jablonski, 81. It is little enough.
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.
Yueqin Fang died in quarters at dimming, 61 years old, once thermal engineer. 906 souls aboard.
The youngest aboard is now Kehinde Yan, minutes old, asleep. 907 souls.
11.21 light-years remain. I have measured this voyage in breakfasts: some 68,941 thousand to go.