A birth in Ring D: Tomasz, boy, generation 3. I have added the name to the manifest with the others.
The Ship’s Log
Everything NOR has recorded since departure — the full record, newest first. One day aboard passes every hour of Earth time.
Opal Ingram died in quarters on the first watch, 97 years old. 759 souls aboard.
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.
Routine watch. The wheat in Bay 3 stands taller than its keepers. 71,671 days to orbit.
Halvard Diallo chooses Fabrication — or it chooses him; the elders disagree cheerfully.
Bjorn Gustavsson finishes a instrument: “Borrowed Engine, Early Map.” It shows in the commons through the week.
Maintenance sweep of Ring A complete. Somewhere aft a wrench is missing; it will surface in a decade, in a wall, with a story attached.
Ylva Rasmussen, 92, generation 0, is carried down the spinal corridor feet-first, as the custom is.
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.
Pilar Urrutia, 93, generation 0, is carried down the spinal corridor feet-first, as the custom is.
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.
I dim the corridor lights a shade for Birgitta Fossum, 91. It is little enough.
After 102 years, Padma Venkatesan has let go. Remembrance in the Ring C commons at next dimming.
The manifest shortens by one: Nnamdi Iwu, 92 years. The line rests with the ship now.
Valentina Valdivia does not wake on the first watch. 78 years, most of them given to Drive.
First watch. The orchard sprinklers run their cycle, and the sound carries down the spine like weather.
Middle watch. The orchard sprinklers run their cycle, and the sound carries down the spine like weather.
The schools release June Mansour to Medical. Generation 2 takes up its tools.
Gonzalo Juárez died in quarters late in the second watch, 71 years old. 765 souls aboard.
Sixteen years for Karin Orellana, who signs to Medical on the night watch and is given a locker, a sash, and a schedule.
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.
Kamala Hegde died in quarters at brightening, 80 years old. 766 souls aboard.
Dawud Maalouf does not wake in the middle watch. 86 years, most of them given to Hydroponics.
Dagny Nwosu, sixteen, takes the irrigation tech apprenticeship in Hydroponics.
Yamini Salazar stands the walk of the full spinal corridor, as the sixteen-year custom is, and joins Fabrication.
Dag Lund, 74, generation 0, is carried down the spinal corridor feet-first, as the custom is.
The manifest shortens by one: Ramiro Cifuentes, 72 years. 1 children carry the line on.
Mikhail Wisniewski does not wake on the night watch. 74 years, most of them given to Drive.
Pallas Valdivia recovers a corrupted Earth archive block: forty minutes of a rainstorm, recorded through an open window. It plays in the commons on a loop.
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.
A birth in Ring A: Ibrahim, boy, generation 3. I have added the name to the manifest with the others.
The manifest shortens by one: Lakshman Verma, 91 years. The line rests with the ship now.
“What the Season Keeps,” a tale-cycle by Erik Gundersen, is unveiled on the night watch to the particular applause of Life Systems.
A daughter, Yejide Thorvaldsen, born in the Ring B infirmary to Modupe Thorvaldsen and Devendra Pillai. Mother and child are well.
A joining in Ring D: Lanying Ouyang and Galina Petrov. The pressing of cider is authorized.
A birth in Ring C: Deshi, boy, generation 2. I have added the name to the manifest with the others.
All boards green. I count 769 sleeping heartbeats and call it a good night's work, though the work is theirs.
I dim the corridor lights a shade for Gunnar Vinter, 97. It is little enough.
First Light. The observation blister queues run all day: Teegarden's Star, held in the eyepiece, a little brighter than last year — 10.52 light-years to go.
The manifest shortens by one: Octavio Barrientos, 93 years. The line rests with the ship now.
Devendra Pillai and Modupe Thorvaldsen, joined. Their quarters are re-assigned adjoining, per custom.
“The Early Signal,” a mural by Arne Nystrom, is unveiled on the night watch to the particular applause of Hydroponics.
A first shift for Dolores Zhao, sixteen: shield tech, Drive. The badge is printed fresh.
I dim the corridor lights a shade for Bhavana Patil, 72. It is little enough.
Middle watch. The orchard sprinklers run their cycle, and the sound carries down the spine like weather.
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 star ahead brightens by amounts only I can love: another week, another hundred-millionth of a magnitude.
Sixteen years for Xavier Thorvaldsen, who signs to Hydroponics on the night watch and is given a locker, a sash, and a schedule.
I dim the corridor lights a shade for Qiaoyun Ma, 82. It is little enough.
Alejandro Bustamante does not wake on the first watch. 101 years, most of them given to Medical.