Remembrance day. The memorial wall is polished by hand, though nothing aboard needs polishing less.
The Ship’s Log
Everything NOR has recorded since departure — the full record, newest first. One day aboard passes every hour of Earth time.
Nabil Rizk takes the hand of Yewande Eze before the assembled watch. I witness, as I witness everything.
Franklin Kingsley has died at 24, far too early. Hydroponics stands down a shift in grief.
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.
A joining in Ring A: Simisola Mba and Nils Eriksen. The pressing of cider is authorized.
Two names braided on the manifest tonight: Ekene and Amparo. The commons sings late.
Quiet shift. I re-run the arrival calculations for the 1,339th time. They have not changed. I find this restful.
The star ahead brightens by amounts only I can love: another week, another hundred-millionth of a magnitude.
Simisola Fashola and Ifeoma Jelani, joined. Their quarters are re-assigned adjoining, per custom.
Vasanti Verma and Percy Northam are joined under the orchard lamps. The whole of Hydroponics turns out.
Abena Diallo takes the hand of Yusheng Huang before the assembled watch. I witness, as I witness everything.
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.
Pilar Izquierdo and Pranav Lal, joined. Their quarters are re-assigned adjoining, per custom.
The hull ticks as it cools into the long night. Year 3, and I still log it faithfully: ticking, nominal.
12.49 light-years remain. I have measured this voyage in breakfasts: some 91,637 thousand to go.
Night watch. The orchard sprinklers run their cycle, and the sound carries down the spine like weather.
Two names braided on the manifest tonight: Rosario and Ganesh. The commons sings late.
Huifen Ouyang takes the hand of Qasim Fakhoury before the assembled watch. I witness, as I witness everything.
12.49 light-years remain. I have measured this voyage in breakfasts: some 91,660 thousand to go.
Drive back in service. The old hands say it sounds better than before; the instruments say it sounds the same.
Two names braided on the manifest tonight: Cedric and Oluwaseun. The commons sings late.
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.
Night watch. The orchard sprinklers run their cycle, and the sound carries down the spine like weather.
Agnieszka Kaminski and Frederick Aldous are joined under the orchard lamps. The whole of Fabrication turns out.
12.49 light-years remain. I have measured this voyage in breakfasts: some 91,706 thousand to go.
12.49 light-years remain. I have measured this voyage in breakfasts: some 91,707 thousand to go.
Drive quits on the first watch, with a sound the old hands do not like.
Census check: 1018 souls, 18 of them children. The manifest balances to the person, as it must.
Cristóbal Bustamante finishes a poem: “What the Harvest Keeps.” It shows in the commons through the week.
First Light festival. The children are lifted to the eyepiece one by one to see where they are going.
A new tale-cycle from Vera Draycott — “Watchs of the drive gallery.” The Archive takes a copy; the original belongs to whoever stands nearest.
Two names braided on the manifest tonight: Chinedu and Winifred. The commons sings late.
Two names braided on the manifest tonight: Rocío and Cristóbal. The commons sings late.
Morale index reads 84. The number is crude. The singing from the mess confirms it.
Morale index reads 84. The number is crude. The singing from the mess confirms it.
12.49 light-years remain. I have measured this voyage in breakfasts: some 91,760 thousand to go.
A wedding on the night watch. Naresh Chandrasekaran, Fabrication; Darya Dragunov, Life Systems. The ship approves in its way: the lights held steady throughout.
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.
Two names braided on the manifest tonight: Harish and Silvia. The commons sings late.
A joining in Ring B: Paloma Lozano and Ulf Gundersen. The pressing of cider is authorized.
Morale index reads 84. The number is crude. The singing from the mess confirms it.
Meera Lal and Gonzalo Valdivia, joined. Their quarters are re-assigned adjoining, per custom.
Two names braided on the manifest tonight: Jianguo and Beatrice. The commons sings late.
Nnamdi Kamau and Hedda Jansson, joined. Their quarters are re-assigned adjoining, per custom.
Morale index reads 85. The number is crude. The singing from the mess confirms it.
A wedding at dimming. Fatima Zayed, Medical; Zemin Lei, Drive. The ship approves in its way: the lights held steady throughout.
A wedding in the middle watch. Sten Bergstrom, Hydroponics; Cora Aldous, Drive. The ship approves in its way: the lights held steady throughout.
A joining in Ring C: Yueqin Fang and Kirill Sokolov. The pressing of cider is authorized.
A wedding at dimming. Xiulan Cao, Medical; Nandini Sharma, Life Systems. The ship approves in its way: the lights held steady throughout.