Bhavana Nwosu is delivered of a son on the first watch. The child is called Mahesh.
The Ship’s Log
Everything NOR has recorded since departure — the full record, newest first. One day aboard passes every hour of Earth time.
Tarun Menon retires on the night watch. The department logs a quiet debt it cannot repay in parts or hours.
Kwame Ndiaye stands down from Archive & Schools at sixty-eight, to the orchard benches and the long game of stones.
The manifest shortens by one: Harish Joshi, 93 years. The line rests with the ship now.
Josefina Gallardo retires in the middle watch. The department logs a quiet debt it cannot repay in parts or hours.
Adnan Maalouf, 79, generation 0, is carried down the spinal corridor feet-first, as the custom is.
After 79 years, Tao Chen has let go. Remembrance in the Ring D commons at next dimming.
Hydroponics Bays restored after 2 weeks. Jiayi Shen signs the work order and goes to sleep for a full watch.
Trouble in Hydroponics Bays. The board goes amber; the coffee goes on.
Radhika Subramaniam, 96, generation 0, is carried down the spinal corridor feet-first, as the custom is.
Quiet shift. I re-run the arrival calculations for the 8,534th time. They have not changed. I find this restful.
Oscar Mortlake retires at brightening. The department logs a quiet debt it cannot repay in parts or hours.
Last shift for Jianguo Cao, who joined Fabrication half a century ago. The crew line the corridor and knock wrenches on the rails.
Beatriz Fang has made a mural called “A inward hymn.” Asked what it means, she says it means about nine years of evenings.
I dim the corridor lights a shade for Johanna Fossum, 84. It is little enough.
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.
Year 48 of the voyage begins. The oldest bottle of orchard wine that can be spared is opened. It is always described as "improving."
Morale index reads 56. The number is crude. The singing from the mess contradicts it.
Iveta Aaberg, sixteen, takes the nurse apprenticeship in Medical.
The youngest aboard is now Nnamdi Sharma, minutes old, asleep. 829 souls.
Routine watch. The wheat in Bay 3 stands taller than its keepers. 73,800 days to orbit.
Sixty-eight years: Amir Ismail hangs up the sash. An elder's quarters in Ring C stands ready.
Annika Thorvaldsen retires at dimming. The department logs a quiet debt it cannot repay in parts or hours.
Sixty-eight years: Baozhen Fang hangs up the sash. An elder's quarters in Ring C stands ready.
Sixty-eight years: Ifedayo Lawal hangs up the sash. An elder's quarters in Ring A stands ready.
Qiaoyun Quaye and Jamal Raghunathan name their son Walid. The nursery lamps stay warm.
Yuri Dubrovsky, 82, generation 0, is carried down the spinal corridor feet-first, as the custom is.
Divya Sharma's crew brings Water Reclamation back after 1 weeks.
Repair complete on Hydroponics Bays after 4 days. I run the test cycle twice, out of respect for history.
Water Reclamation goes down. I reroute what can be rerouted and wake who must be woken.
Hydroponics Bays goes down. I reroute what can be rerouted and wake who must be woken.
A joining in Ring B: Hernán Thorvaldsen and Bhavana Nwosu. The pressing of cider is authorized.
The star ahead brightens by amounts only I can love: another week, another hundred-millionth of a magnitude.
The youngest aboard is now Zofia Kowalczyk, minutes old, asleep. 828 souls.
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.
Usman Ghanem retires on the night watch. The department logs a quiet debt it cannot repay in parts or hours.
After 90 years, Vasanti Verma has let go. Remembrance in the Ring D commons at next dimming.
The manifest shortens by one: Thurayya Tahan, 68 years. The line rests with the ship now.
I dim the corridor lights a shade for Naresh Pillai, 90. It is little enough.
Maja Moller retires at dimming. The department logs a quiet debt it cannot repay in parts or hours.
After 68 years, Kehinde Chukwu has let go. Remembrance in the Ring C commons at next dimming.
Ulf Haugen has made a poem called “Long Furrow (Year 47).” Asked what it means, he says it means about nine years of evenings.
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.
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.
Zahra Orellana, sixteen, takes the midwife apprenticeship in Medical.
I dim the corridor lights a shade for Folasade Sowande, 84. It is little enough.
Sixty-eight years: Lev Babich hangs up the sash. An elder's quarters in Ring B stands ready.
Quiet shift. I re-run the arrival calculations for the 8,437th time. They have not changed. I find this restful.
Beatriz Escobar stands down from Fabrication at sixty-eight, to the orchard benches and the long game of stones.
Last shift for Oluwadamilola Kamau, who joined Hydroponics half a century ago. The crew line the corridor and knock wrenches on the rails.