I dim the corridor lights a shade for Silvia Navarrete, 66. It is little enough.
The Ship’s Log
Everything NOR has recorded since departure — year 46, newest first. One day aboard passes every hour of Earth time.
Astrid Nwosu has died at 15, far too early. the ship stands down a shift in grief.
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.
Walid Yacoub stands down from Drive 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. 74,309 days to orbit.
Sixty-eight years: Tariq Abadi hangs up the sash. An elder's quarters in Ring C stands ready.
Pallas Valdivia, sixteen, takes the pollinator keeper apprenticeship in Ecology.
The schools release Lucía Aaberg to Ecology. Generation 2 takes up its tools.
I dim the corridor lights a shade for Shanyuan Meng, 88. It is little enough.
I dim the corridor lights a shade for Gonzalo Riquelme, 84. It is little enough.
“A small map,” a tale-cycle by Ivar Paulsen, is unveiled on the night watch to the particular applause of Archive & Schools.
Winifred Quaye, sixteen, takes the sanitation engineer apprenticeship in Life Systems.
Walid Kanaan retires at dimming. The department logs a quiet debt it cannot repay in parts or hours.
The manifest shortens by one: Per Dahl, 75 years. The line rests with the ship now.
Dag Lund retires on the first watch. The department logs a quiet debt it cannot repay in parts or hours.
Too soon, at 1: Astrid Peng. The commons fills in the middle watch with those who knew her.
All boards green. I count 868 sleeping heartbeats and call it a good night's work, though the work is theirs.
After 69 years, Bhaskar Trivedi has let go. Remembrance in the Ring C commons at next dimming.
Josefina Shen stands the walk of the full spinal corridor, as the sixteen-year custom is, and joins Hydroponics.
Last shift for Zofia Dragunov, who joined Hydroponics half a century ago. The crew line the corridor and knock wrenches on the rails.
Morale index reads 69. The number is crude. The singing from the mess confirms it.
A first shift for Lanying Ouyang, sixteen: recycler, Fabrication. The badge is printed fresh.
Last shift for Esperanza Orellana, who joined Medical half a century ago. The crew line the corridor and knock wrenches on the rails.
Zahra Aswad retires at dimming. The department logs a quiet debt it cannot repay in parts or hours.
Georgia Quill stands down from Fabrication at sixty-eight, to the orchard benches and the long game of stones.
Fermín Valdivia stands down from Life Systems at sixty-eight, to the orchard benches and the long game of stones.
Jaroslav Petrov died in quarters in the middle watch, 68 years old. 869 souls aboard.
First watch. The orchard sprinklers run their cycle, and the sound carries down the spine like weather.
10.93 light-years remain. I have measured this voyage in breakfasts: some 64,691 thousand to go.
Ishaan Agarwal retires late in the second watch. The department logs a quiet debt it cannot repay in parts or hours.
The manifest shortens by one: Usman Fakhoury, 88 years. The line rests with the ship now.
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.
Last shift for Jianguo Huang, who joined Drive half a century ago. The crew line the corridor and knock wrenches on the rails.
Last shift for Tarun Hegde, who joined Fabrication half a century ago. The crew line the corridor and knock wrenches on the rails.
Cedric Navarrete stands the walk of the full spinal corridor, as the sixteen-year custom is, and joins Fabrication.
Kiran Hegde stands down from Hydroponics at sixty-eight, to the orchard benches and the long game of stones.
The schools release Gbenga Fossum to Hydroponics. Generation 2 takes up its tools.
After 92 years, Natalya Lebedev has let go. Remembrance in the Ring B commons at next dimming.
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.
Harvest arithmetic turns unkind: reserves under twenty days. Hydroponics doubles shifts among the racks.
Fermín Herrera, 86, generation 0, is carried down the spinal corridor feet-first, as the custom is.
Arne Paulsen stands down from Life Systems at sixty-eight, to the orchard benches and the long game of stones.
First Light. The observation blister queues run all day: Teegarden's Star, held in the eyepiece, a little brighter than last year — 10.93 light-years to go.
Sixty-eight years: Josefina Navarrete hangs up the sash. An elder's quarters in Ring C stands ready.
The hull ticks as it cools into the long night. Year 46, and I still log it faithfully: ticking, nominal.
Sixty-eight years: Nikolai Petrov hangs up the sash. An elder's quarters in Ring D stands ready.
The manifest shortens by one: Olaf Iversen, 82 years. The line rests with the ship now.
The question is put to the wider circle: Rationing. The ship asks; Earth answers, in its own long time.
Ingrid Ulriksen finishes a quilt: “Warm Bell (Year 46).” It shows in the commons through the week.
Mahesh Iyer stands down from Command at sixty-eight, to the orchard benches and the long game of stones.