Green across the board: Fabrication Shops holds after 1 weeks of work. Spares were spent; Fabrication is notified.
The Ship’s Log
Everything NOR has recorded since departure — the full record, newest first. One day aboard passes every hour of Earth time.
Catalina Thorvaldsen chooses Ecology — or it chooses her; the elders disagree cheerfully.
Abena Navarrete and Uday Jaber name their son Bogdan. The nursery lamps stay warm.
Fault isolated in Fabrication Shops. Repair estimate: unwise to say aloud.
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.
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 manifest shortens by one: Emilio Izquierdo, 91 years. The line rests with the ship now.
After 88 years, Babatunde Kalu has let go. Remembrance in the Ring B commons at next dimming.
The hull ticks as it cools into the long night. Year 53, and I still log it faithfully: ticking, nominal.
Uma Varma finishes a instrument: “Roots of Year 53.” It shows in the commons through the week.
After 88 years, Mateo Cárdenas has let go. Remembrance in the Ring B commons at next dimming.
Abena Navarrete takes the hand of Uday Jaber before the assembled watch. I witness, as I witness everything.
A first shift for Harold Ashworth, sixteen: broadcast keeper, Archive & Schools. The badge is printed fresh.
Census check: 776 souls, 195 of them children. The manifest balances to the person, as it must.
A birth in Ring D: Sergei, boy, generation 3. I have added the name to the manifest with the others.
Year 53 of the voyage begins. The oldest bottle of orchard wine that can be spared is opened. It is always described as "improving."
The youngest aboard is now Clara Ulriksen, minutes old, asleep. 775 souls.
Kamala Singh does not wake on the first watch. 77 years, most of them given to Life Systems.
Theodore Eastwood does not wake on the night watch. 93 years, most of them given to Command.
Quiet shift. I re-run the arrival calculations for the 1,331th time. They have not changed. I find this restful.
Damilare Quaye stands the walk of the full spinal corridor, as the sixteen-year custom is, and joins Drive.
Routine watch. The wheat in Bay 3 stands taller than its keepers. 71,987 days to orbit.
Sixteen years for Zemin Ulriksen, who signs to Command in the middle watch and is given a locker, a sash, and a schedule.
Yelena Fedorenko does not wake at dimming. 91 years, most of them given to Hydroponics.
I dim the corridor lights a shade for Oleg Dubrovsky, 77. It is little enough.
The hull ticks as it cools into the long night. Year 52, and I still log it faithfully: ticking, nominal.
The youngest aboard is now Salvador Thorvaldsen, minutes old, asleep. 778 souls.
After 84 years, Xiaohui Deng has let go. Remembrance in the Ring D commons at next dimming.
Born at brightening: Lubna Fossum, generation 3. The ship holds 778 souls tonight.
I dim the corridor lights a shade for Ifedayo Okonkwo, 82. It is little enough.
Remembrance day. The memorial wall is polished by hand, though nothing aboard needs polishing less.
Bohdana Fossum and Hassan Pillai name their son Fermín. The nursery lamps stay warm.
I dim the corridor lights a shade for Edith Aldous, 95. It is little enough.
The star ahead brightens by amounts only I can love: another week, another hundred-millionth of a magnitude.
Guadalupe Riquelme, 82, generation 0, is carried down the spinal corridor feet-first, as the custom is.
A daughter, Dalia Merriweather, born in the Ring A infirmary to Dagny Merriweather and Tunde Chekhov. Mother and child are well.
Farida Baz, 88, generation 0, is carried down the spinal corridor feet-first, as the custom is.
Leif Nystrom, 86, generation 0, is carried down the spinal corridor feet-first, as the custom is.
Routine watch. The wheat in Bay 3 stands taller than its keepers. 72,066 days to orbit.
Green across the board: Hydroponics Bays holds after 2 weeks of work. Spares were spent; Fabrication is notified.
I dim the corridor lights a shade for Ayodele Chike, 99. It is little enough.
I dim the corridor lights a shade for Dawud Jaber, 92. It is little enough.
After 82 years, Shanyuan Huang has let go. Remembrance in the Ring D commons at next dimming.
“Roots of Year 52,” a tale-cycle by Opal Merriweather, is unveiled at brightening to the particular applause of Life Systems.
Hydroponics Bays quits on the night watch, with a sound the old hands do not like.
Sixteen years for Anastasia Ouyang, who signs to Ecology at dimming and is given a locker, a sash, and a schedule.
Born at dimming: Gbenga Navarrete, generation 3. The ship holds 783 souls tonight.
Ulyana Petrov and Rajesh Jaber name their daughter Lubna. The nursery lamps stay warm.
Census check: 781 souls, 190 of them children. The manifest balances to the person, as it must.
The star ahead brightens by amounts only I can love: another week, another hundred-millionth of a magnitude.