Sixty-eight years: Anjali Tendulkar hangs up the sash. An elder's quarters in Ring A 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.
Routine watch. The wheat in Bay 3 stands taller than its keepers. 74,624 days to orbit.
The star ahead brightens by amounts only I can love: another week, another hundred-millionth of a magnitude.
A birth in Ring D: Gbenga, boy, generation 2. I have added the name to the manifest with the others.
All boards green. I count 875 sleeping heartbeats and call it a good night's work, though the work is theirs.
Middle watch. The orchard sprinklers run their cycle, and the sound carries down the spine like weather.
After 85 years, Bruno Valdivia has let go. Remembrance in the Ring C commons at next dimming.
Sixty-eight years: Jaroslav Petrov hangs up the sash. An elder's quarters in Ring C stands ready.
Fadi El-Amin 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. 74,649 days to orbit.
After 89 years, Svetlana Titov has let go. Remembrance in the Ring C commons at next dimming.
Jinghua Kong retires in the middle watch. The department logs a quiet debt it cannot repay in parts or hours.
The schools release Lars Thorvaldsen to Hydroponics. Generation 2 takes up its tools.
After 65 years, Xiulan Wu has let go. Remembrance in the Ring B commons at next dimming.
Efua Diallo is delivered of a son on the night watch. The child is called Viggo.
Cedric Pemberton retires late in the second watch. The department logs a quiet debt it cannot repay in parts or hours.
Efua Quaye, 65, generation 0, is carried down the spinal corridor feet-first, as the custom is.
Ulises Figueroa does not wake late in the second watch. 79 years, most of them given to Ecology.
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.
Sixty-eight years: Gopal Patil hangs up the sash. An elder's quarters in Ring B stands ready.
Morale index reads 72. The number is crude. The singing from the mess confirms it.
Babatunde Diallo died in quarters at dimming, 90 years old. 879 souls aboard.
All boards green. I count 880 sleeping heartbeats and call it a good night's work, though the work is theirs.
The star ahead brightens by amounts only I can love: another week, another hundred-millionth of a magnitude.
A daughter, Astrid Peng, born in the Ring C infirmary to Zenith Peng and César Bishara. Mother and child are well.
Sixty-eight years: Leandro Zambrano hangs up the sash. An elder's quarters in Ring B stands ready.
The hull ticks as it cools into the long night. Year 45, and I still log it faithfully: ticking, nominal.
Kamala Raghunathan retires at dimming. The department logs a quiet debt it cannot repay in parts or hours.
The circle has answered. Reclamation runs hot past its rating. The techs sleep beside it, and the reserve climbs on borrowed time.
Routine watch. The wheat in Bay 3 stands taller than its keepers. 74,723 days to orbit.
Last shift for Ravindra Sethi, who joined Ecology half a century ago. The crew line the corridor and knock wrenches on the rails.
Margaret Pemberton stands down from Life Systems at sixty-eight, to the orchard benches and the long game of stones.
Last shift for Frederick Carmody, who joined Medical half a century ago. The crew line the corridor and knock wrenches on the rails.
Chitra Reddy retires at dimming. The department logs a quiet debt it cannot repay in parts or hours.
Esperanza Montoya stands down from Medical at sixty-eight, to the orchard benches and the long game of stones.
A wedding at brightening. Stanley Fossum, Ecology; Natalya Shen, Drive. The ship approves in its way: the lights held steady throughout.
The star ahead brightens by amounts only I can love: another week, another hundred-millionth of a magnitude.
All boards green. I count 879 sleeping heartbeats and call it a good night's work, though the work is theirs.
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.
Johanna Nordahl's crew brings Hull & Shielding back after 4 days.
After 73 years, Martin Yardley has let go. Remembrance in the Ring B commons at next dimming.
Vasanti Varma retires late in the second watch. The department logs a quiet debt it cannot repay in parts or hours.
Last shift for Naresh Patil, who joined Life Systems half a century ago. The crew line the corridor and knock wrenches on the rails.
Huifen Cao retires in the middle watch. The department logs a quiet debt it cannot repay in parts or hours.
A shielding section fails outboard of Ring A. The walk to fix it is long and cold.
First Light. The observation blister queues run all day: Teegarden's Star, held in the eyepiece, a little brighter than last year — 10.99 light-years to go.
First watch. The orchard sprinklers run their cycle, and the sound carries down the spine like weather.
The manifest shortens by one: Kehinde Nwosu, 74 years. The line rests with the ship now.
Sixty-eight years: Hilde Tväten hangs up the sash. An elder's quarters in Ring A stands ready.
Deshi Zhu stands down from Fabrication at sixty-eight, to the orchard benches and the long game of stones.