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.
The Ship’s Log
Everything NOR has recorded since departure — the full record, newest first. One day aboard passes every hour of Earth time.
Sixteen years for Chengdong Jaber, who signs to Drive on the night watch and is given a locker, a sash, and a schedule.
Routine watch. The wheat in Bay 3 stands taller than its keepers. 73,142 days to orbit.
Zenith Peng is delivered of a daughter at dimming. The child is called Xenia.
Sixty-eight years: Ludmila Dragunov hangs up the sash. An elder's quarters in Ring D stands ready.
Sami Jaber retires at brightening. The department logs a quiet debt it cannot repay in parts or hours.
The star ahead brightens by amounts only I can love: another week, another hundred-millionth of a magnitude.
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.
The hull ticks as it cools into the long night. Year 49, and I still log it faithfully: ticking, nominal.
Born at brightening: Halley Northam, generation 3. The ship holds 808 souls tonight.
Chitra Mansour is delivered of a son at brightening. The child is called Bernardo.
Ifeoma Valdivia, sixteen, takes the bay gardener apprenticeship in Hydroponics.
The hull ticks as it cools into the long night. Year 49, and I still log it faithfully: ticking, nominal.
A birth in Ring A: Qasim, boy, generation 2. I have added the name to the manifest with the others.
Quiet shift. I re-run the arrival calculations for the 134th time. They have not changed. I find this restful.
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.
Iris Northam and Ebba Ning, joined. Their quarters are re-assigned adjoining, per custom.
Last shift for Catalina Barrientos, who joined Command half a century ago. The crew line the corridor and knock wrenches on the rails.
A birth in Ring A: Yaling, girl, generation 2. I have added the name to the manifest with the others.
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.
A birth in Ring B: Oluwadamilola, boy, generation 3. I have added the name to the manifest with the others.
Ruolan Luo does not wake on the night watch. 92 years, most of them given to Hydroponics.
Sundiata Okafor died in quarters on the night watch, 72 years old. 804 souls aboard.
Oddny Oster died in quarters on the first watch, 95 years old. 805 souls aboard.
Omolara Adeyemi does not wake at brightening. 72 years, most of them given to Hydroponics.
Two names braided on the manifest tonight: Ulises and Ruth. The commons sings late.
Iveta Chekhov does not wake at dimming. 80 years, most of them given to Life Systems.
The hull ticks as it cools into the long night. Year 49, and I still log it faithfully: ticking, nominal.
Morale index reads 65. The number is crude. The singing from the mess contradicts it.
A daughter, Lumen Nwosu, born in the Ring C infirmary to Bhavana Nwosu and Hernán Thorvaldsen. Mother and child are well.
The schools release Vega Nwosu to Life Systems. Generation 2 takes up its tools.
Ylva Aaberg stands the walk of the full spinal corridor, as the sixteen-year custom is, and joins Command.
10.74 light-years remain. I have measured this voyage in breakfasts: some 59,095 thousand to go.
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.
Noemí Aguirre does not wake at brightening. 94 years, most of them given to Hydroponics.
Eleanor Ellery died in quarters on the first watch, 80 years old. 808 souls aboard.
Konstantin Lebedev died in quarters on the night watch, 79 years old. 808 souls aboard.
Routine watch. The wheat in Bay 3 stands taller than its keepers. 73,235 days to orbit.
Chief of Archive & Schools falls to Funmilayo Singh, who accepts with a nod and a full docket.
Abebi Diallo stands down from Archive & Schools at sixty-eight, to the orchard benches and the long game of stones.
The star ahead brightens by amounts only I can love: another week, another hundred-millionth of a magnitude.
Born at dimming: Qiaoyun Barakat, generation 3. The ship holds 810 souls tonight.
Mingyu Huang died in quarters in the middle watch, 86 years old. 809 souls aboard.
A first shift for Altair Orellana, sixteen: toolmaker, Fabrication. The badge is printed fresh.
Sixty-eight years: Amparo Gallardo hangs up the sash. An elder's quarters in Ring B stands ready.
Ebba Lindqvist does not wake on the night watch. 96 years, most of them given to Fabrication.
The star ahead brightens by amounts only I can love: another week, another hundred-millionth of a magnitude.
A first shift for Elsie Diallo, sixteen: teacher, Archive & Schools. The badge is printed fresh.
Gunhild Petrov, sixteen, takes the soil keeper apprenticeship in 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.