Sixty-eight years: Ramiro Cifuentes 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.
Temitope Uche retires on the first watch. The department logs a quiet debt it cannot repay in parts or hours.
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.
The schools release Devendra Pillai to Drive. Generation 2 takes up its tools.
Zbigniew Navarrete has died at 3, far too early. the ship stands down a shift in grief.
I dim the corridor lights a shade for Cristóbal Bustamante, 91. It is little enough.
Ekene Ogunleye stands down from Archive & Schools at sixty-eight, to the orchard benches and the long game of stones.
Evgeni Litvin died in quarters on the night watch, 86 years old. 824 souls aboard.
Agnieszka Kaminski does not wake on the first watch. 84 years, most of them given to Fabrication.
Last shift for Deshi Luo, who joined Fabrication half a century ago. The crew line the corridor and knock wrenches on the rails.
Sixty-eight years: Magnus Sandvik hangs up the sash. An elder's quarters in Ring A stands ready.
The youngest aboard is now Juniper Orellana, minutes old, asleep. 826 souls.
First watch. The orchard sprinklers run their cycle, and the sound carries down the spine like weather.
A new song from Hanan Rahman — “The Small Lantern.” The Archive takes a copy; the original belongs to whoever stands nearest.
Morale index reads 59. The number is crude. The singing from the mess contradicts it.
Repair complete on Hydroponics Bays after 2 weeks. I run the test cycle twice, out of respect for history.
10.80 light-years remain. I have measured this voyage in breakfasts: some 60,721 thousand to go.
Gunhild Thorvaldsen is delivered of a daughter on the night watch. The child is called Dolores.
Pranav Varma died in quarters on the first watch, 77 years old. 825 souls aboard.
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.
Trouble in Hydroponics Bays. The board goes amber; the coffee goes on.
Sixty-eight years: Olusegun Diallo hangs up the sash. An elder's quarters in Ring D stands ready.
Mateo Navarrete retires in the middle watch. The department logs a quiet debt it cannot repay in parts or hours.
Sixty-eight years: Halvard Moller hangs up the sash. An elder's quarters in Ring C stands ready.
Quiet shift. I re-run the arrival calculations for the 8,685th time. They have not changed. I find this restful.
Funmilayo Singh and Enlai Pemberton name their son Bohai. The nursery lamps stay warm.
I dim the corridor lights a shade for Carmen Domínguez, 90. It is little enough.
Born on the night watch: César Fang, generation 2. The ship holds 825 souls tonight.
Abena Navarrete chooses Fabrication — or it chooses her; the elders disagree cheerfully.
Chief of Hydroponics falls to Paloma Nwosu, who accepts with a nod and a full docket.
Sixty-eight years: Raisa Gorbachev hangs up the sash. An elder's quarters in Ring B stands ready.
Born on the night watch: Sarala Peng, generation 2. The ship holds 824 souls tonight.
Rocío Domínguez died in quarters on the night watch, 84 years old. 823 souls aboard.
The star ahead brightens by amounts only I can love: another week, another hundred-millionth of a magnitude.
Last shift for Hanan Maalouf, who joined Life Systems half a century ago. The crew line the corridor and knock wrenches on the rails.
Yash Lal retires late in the second watch. The department logs a quiet debt it cannot repay in parts or hours.
First Light. The observation blister queues run all day: Teegarden's Star, held in the eyepiece, a little brighter than last year — 10.82 light-years to go.
The manifest shortens by one: Hassan Mansour, 94 years. The line rests with the ship now.
A son, Quill Shen, born in the Ring A infirmary to Natalya Shen and Stanley Fossum. Mother and child are well.
Tunde Yeboah stands down from Ecology at sixty-eight, to the orchard benches and the long game of stones.
Last shift for Zofia Mazur, who joined Hydroponics half a century ago. The crew line the corridor and knock wrenches on the rails.
The manifest shortens by one: Pilar Salazar, 93 years. The line rests with the ship now.
A daughter, Temitope Mansour, born in the Ring A infirmary to Chitra Mansour and Ravindra Yamin. Mother and child are well.
After 84 years, Ivar Paulsen has let go. Remembrance in the Ring A commons at next dimming.
Morale index reads 58. The number is crude. The singing from the mess contradicts it.
A new instrument from Omar Titov — “What the Season Forgets.” The Archive takes a copy; the original belongs to whoever stands nearest.
Xiulan Cao does not wake on the night watch. 74 years, most of them given to Medical.
The schools release Renshu Thorvaldsen to Life Systems. Generation 2 takes up its tools.
Dagny Merriweather is delivered of a daughter in the middle watch. The child is called Padma.
Huifen Peng stands down from Ecology at sixty-eight, to the orchard benches and the long game of stones.