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.
The Ship’s Log
Everything NOR has recorded since departure — the full record, newest first. One day aboard passes every hour of Earth time.
10.15 light-years remain. I have measured this voyage in breakfasts: some 50,187 thousand to go.
Anders Thorvaldsen, sixteen, takes the plasma systems tech apprenticeship in Drive.
Sanjay Orellana stands the walk of the full spinal corridor, as the sixteen-year custom is, and joins Medical.
A child in Ring B 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 Dagny Paulsen, 92. It is little enough.
Natalya Shen finishes a play: “Twelve Anchors Waiting.” It shows in the commons through the week.
Census check: 722 souls, 232 of them children. The manifest balances to the person, as it must.
Morale index reads 73. The number is crude. The singing from the mess confirms it.
Naresh Patil does not wake at dimming. 81 years, most of them given to Life Systems.
Margaret Kingsley, 83, generation 0, is carried down the spinal corridor feet-first, as the custom is.
Born at dimming: Walter Orellana, generation 3. The ship holds 724 souls tonight.
First Light festival. The children are lifted to the eyepiece one by one to see where they are going.
Drift Thorvaldsen and Boreal Thorvaldsen are joined under the orchard lamps. The whole of Hydroponics turns out.
Nora Salazar has made a song called “Iron Thread (Year 59).” Asked what it means, she says it means about nine years of evenings.
Wei Mansour stands the walk of the full spinal corridor, as the sixteen-year custom is, and joins Life Systems.
After 81 years, Zaid Abadi has let go. Remembrance in the Ring D commons at next dimming.
The schools release Cygnet Zhao to Fabrication. Generation 2 takes up its tools.
10.16 light-years remain. I have measured this voyage in breakfasts: some 50,443 thousand to go.
A son, Howard Aaberg, born in the Ring D infirmary to Ruth Aaberg and Ulises Gorbachev. Mother and child are well.
Jiayi Shen is delivered of a daughter on the first watch. The child is called Samira.
The youngest aboard is now Jagdish Petrov, minutes old, asleep. 722 souls.
The manifest shortens by one: Dag Nystrom, 91 years. The line rests with the ship now.
Bruno Ocampo, 97, generation 0, is carried down the spinal corridor feet-first, as the custom is.
10.17 light-years remain. I have measured this voyage in breakfasts: some 50,384 thousand to go.
Abena Nwosu, sixteen, takes the soil keeper apprenticeship in Ecology.
After 92 years, Xiaohui Xie has let go. Remembrance in the Ring D commons at next dimming.
Rell Thorvaldsen takes the hand of Rell Barakat before the assembled watch. I witness, as I witness everything.
A son, Wenbo Nwosu, born in the Ring C infirmary to Vega Nwosu and Theodore Ulriksen. Mother and child are well.
Census check: 723 souls, 230 of them children. The manifest balances to the person, as it must.
A birth in Ring B: Dag, boy, generation 3. I have added the name to the manifest with the others.
Maksim Fang, sixteen, takes the teacher apprenticeship in Archive & Schools.
Salvador Peng chooses Drive — or it chooses him; the elders disagree cheerfully.
Inés Barakat, sixteen, takes the quartermaster apprenticeship in Command.
Quiet shift. I re-run the arrival calculations for the 3,589th time. They have not changed. I find this restful.
Yusheng Liang, 90, generation 0, is carried down the spinal corridor feet-first, as the custom is.
Ganesh Subramaniam, 86, generation 0, is carried down the spinal corridor feet-first, as the custom is.
A first shift for Gyre Nwosu, sixteen: sanitation engineer, Life Systems. The badge is printed fresh.
Jinghua Liang died in quarters at dimming, 85 years old. 724 souls aboard.
I dim the corridor lights a shade for Milena Jablonski, 86. It is little enough.
The hull ticks as it cools into the long night. Year 59, and I still log it faithfully: ticking, nominal.
Routine watch. The wheat in Bay 3 stands taller than its keepers. 69,750 days to orbit.
Routine watch. The wheat in Bay 3 stands taller than its keepers. 69,757 days to orbit.
Middle watch. The orchard sprinklers run their cycle, and the sound carries down the spine like weather.
The youngest aboard is now Ayodele Salazar, minutes old, asleep. 726 souls.
Sixteen years for Xingyu Ashworth, who signs to Hydroponics on the first watch and is given a locker, a sash, and a schedule.
Routine watch. The wheat in Bay 3 stands taller than its keepers. 69,766 days to orbit.
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.
Middle watch. The orchard sprinklers run their cycle, and the sound carries down the spine like weather.
Departure Day, year 59. The founders' roll is read from the first name to the thousandth, and the young ones try to stay solemn.