First Light. The observation blister queues run all day: Teegarden's Star, held in the eyepiece, a little brighter than last year — 10.40 light-years to go.
The Ship’s Log
Everything NOR has recorded since departure — the full record, newest first. One day aboard passes every hour of Earth time.
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.
Born on the night watch: Enlai Petrov, generation 3. The ship holds 748 souls tonight.
The star ahead brightens by amounts only I can love: another week, another hundred-millionth of a magnitude.
A new poem from Winifred Vance — “What the Water Holds.” The Archive takes a copy; the original belongs to whoever stands nearest.
A birth in Ring C: Umbra, boy, generation 2. I have added the name to the manifest with the others.
Sixteen years for Joaquín Yan, who signs to Fabrication late in the second watch and is given a locker, a sash, and a schedule.
Zemin Lei died in quarters on the first watch, 89 years old. 747 souls aboard.
Morale index reads 72. The number is crude. The singing from the mess confirms it.
Sixteen years for Nora Jaber, who signs to Hydroponics on the night watch and is given a locker, a sash, and a schedule.
Rajesh Jaber finishes a song: “Roots of the commons.” It shows in the commons through the week.
Huifen Aaberg is delivered of a son at brightening. The child is called Radomir.
Night watch. The orchard sprinklers run their cycle, and the sound carries down the spine like weather.
Routine watch. The wheat in Bay 3 stands taller than its keepers. 71,160 days to orbit.
Omolara Chukwu died in quarters in the middle watch, 87 years old. 746 souls aboard.
Ingrid Ulriksen died in quarters on the night watch, 86 years old. 747 souls aboard.
Census check: 748 souls, 203 of them children. The manifest balances to the person, as it must.
Two names braided on the manifest tonight: Bernard and Gunhild. The commons sings late.
I dim the corridor lights a shade for Xingyu Chen, 86. It is little enough.
Yakubu Patil finds an unrecorded microbe thriving in the water walls. Harmless, industrious, ours.
Josefina Shen and Pallas Valdivia name their daughter Svetlana. The nursery lamps stay warm.
Born late in the second watch: Domingo Quaye, generation 3. The ship holds 748 souls tonight.
Farida Mansour has made a instrument called “Gardens of Year 55.” Asked what it means, she says it means about nine years of evenings.
Anli Tväten and Jaroslav Ahlgren name their son Stanislav. The nursery lamps stay warm.
Arne Nystrom does not wake on the first watch. 77 years, most of them given to Hydroponics.
Year 55 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 Emeka Zhao, minutes old, asleep. 747 souls.
A new instrument from Kayode Diallo — “A last door.” The Archive takes a copy; the original belongs to whoever stands nearest.
Maja Fang and Clifford Barrientos name their son Xenia. The nursery lamps stay warm.
A birth in Ring A: Kamala, girl, generation 2. I have added the name to the manifest with the others.
The manifest shortens by one: Deshi Cao, 77 years. The line rests with the ship now.
Ananya Yan and Dag Nordahl name their son Nils. The nursery lamps stay warm.
The star ahead brightens by amounts only I can love: another week, another hundred-millionth of a magnitude.
Howard Thorvaldsen, sixteen, takes the water systems tech apprenticeship in Life Systems.
Rell Thorvaldsen stands the walk of the full spinal corridor, as the sixteen-year custom is, and joins Hydroponics.
I dim the corridor lights a shade for Zofia Ulanov, 92. It is little enough.
Quiet shift. I re-run the arrival calculations for the 2,039th time. They have not changed. I find this restful.
I dim the corridor lights a shade for Ingrid Rasmussen, 92. It is little enough.
Born in the middle watch: Tern Aaberg, generation 3. The ship holds 746 souls tonight.
The manifest shortens by one: Usman Hamdan, 80 years. 1 children carry the line on.
Harold Dunmore died in quarters at dimming, 81 years old. 746 souls aboard.
After 96 years, Funmilayo Danjuma has let go. Remembrance in the Ring B commons at next dimming.
Yakubu Patil works out a tougher print alloy from recycler feedstock. Fabrication adopts it the same week.
The schools release Boreal Thorvaldsen to Archive & Schools. Generation 2 takes up its tools.
Sixteen years for Kayode Pillai, who signs to Life Systems at brightening and is given a locker, a sash, and a schedule.
Census check: 748 souls, 199 of them children. The manifest balances to the person, as it must.
Remembrance day. The memorial wall is polished by hand, though nothing aboard needs polishing less.
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.
Ramiro Juárez, 93, generation 0, is carried down the spinal corridor feet-first, as the custom is.
Quiet shift. I re-run the arrival calculations for the 1,976th time. They have not changed. I find this restful.