Harish Mehta and Jaya Chandrasekaran are joined under the orchard lamps. The whole of Hydroponics turns out.
The Ship’s Log
Everything NOR has recorded since departure — the full record, newest first. One day aboard passes every hour of Earth time.
A wedding on the first watch. Modupe Oyelaran, Fabrication; Arjun Hegde, Archive & Schools. The ship approves in its way: the lights held steady throughout.
A joining in Ring B: Xiulan Bai and Adewale Ogunleye. The pressing of cider is authorized.
Howard Standish and Nandini Patil, joined. Their quarters are re-assigned adjoining, per custom.
The question is put to the wider circle: The crèche question. The ship asks; Earth answers, in its own long time.
Jinghua Liang takes the hand of Walter Standish before the assembled watch. I witness, as I witness everything.
A new poem from Tunde Yeboah — “Last Thread (Year 0).” The Archive takes a copy; the original belongs to whoever stands nearest.
Quiet shift. I re-run the arrival calculations for the 146th time. They have not changed. I find this restful.
A joining in Ring D: Olga Pavlenko and Jamal Khoury. The pressing of cider is authorized.
Khalid Toma and Oddny Oster are joined under the orchard lamps. The whole of Medical turns out.
Edith Hartley finishes a poem: “Three Wheels Turning.” It shows in the commons through the week.
Samira Dagher and Harold Dunmore are joined under the orchard lamps. The whole of Archive & Schools turns out.
First Light. The observation blister queues run all day: Teegarden's Star, held in the eyepiece, a little brighter than last year — 12.50 light-years to go.
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.
Divya Varma and Shanyuan Huang are joined under the orchard lamps. The whole of Ecology turns out.
The star ahead brightens by amounts only I can love: another week, another hundred-millionth of a magnitude.
A wedding at brightening. Zhenzhen Huang, Life Systems; Lev Dragunov, Ecology. The ship approves in its way: the lights held steady throughout.
“Furrows of Year 0,” a song by Ignacio Montoya, is unveiled at brightening to the particular applause of Life Systems.
Zbigniew Zaitsev and Carmen Salazar, joined. Their quarters are re-assigned adjoining, per custom.
Two names braided on the manifest tonight: Deshi and Bohdana. The commons sings late.
Two names braided on the manifest tonight: Mahmoud and Efua. The commons sings late.
Two names braided on the manifest tonight: Deepika and Douglas. The commons sings late.
Johanna Fossum and Theodore Aldous name their daughter Lärä. The nursery lamps stay warm.
Naresh Devi takes the hand of Svetlana Nowak before the assembled watch. I witness, as I witness everything.
Stanley Iverson and Florence Rutherford are joined under the orchard lamps. The whole of Ecology turns out.
Milena Jablonski and Olaf Iversen, joined. Their quarters are re-assigned adjoining, per custom.
A wedding at dimming. Omar Ismail, Archive & Schools; Signe Rasmussen, Fabrication. The ship approves in its way: the lights held steady throughout.
Esha Agarwal and Babatunde Kalu, joined. Their quarters are re-assigned adjoining, per custom.
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.
Mariam Dagher and Pavel Babich are joined under the orchard lamps. The whole of Medical turns out.
Two names braided on the manifest tonight: Chukwuemeka and Suyin. The commons sings late.
“A standing furrow,” a instrument by Arne Nystrom, is unveiled late in the second watch to the particular applause of Hydroponics.
Routine watch. The wheat in Bay 3 stands taller than its keepers. 91,242 days to orbit.
Rocío Domínguez is delivered of a son on the first watch. The child is called Octavio.
The star ahead brightens by amounts only I can love: another week, another hundred-millionth of a magnitude.
A wedding late in the second watch. Opal Northam, Archive & Schools; Torsten Thorvaldsen, Ecology. The ship approves in its way: the lights held steady throughout.
Two names braided on the manifest tonight: Sten and Olga. The commons sings late.
A wedding in the middle watch. Ivar Paulsen, Archive & Schools; Dagny Thorvaldsen, Medical. The ship approves in its way: the lights held steady throughout.
Morale index reads 72. The number is crude. The singing from the mess confirms it.
Kayode Abiodun and Lanying Meng are joined under the orchard lamps. The whole of Hydroponics turns out.
Rocío Juárez and Patricio Izquierdo, joined. Their quarters are re-assigned adjoining, per custom.
Maintenance sweep of Ring D complete. Somewhere aft a wrench is missing; it will surface in a decade, in a wall, with a story attached.
Morale index reads 72. The number is crude. The singing from the mess confirms it.
Census check: 1001 souls, 1 of them children. The manifest balances to the person, as it must.
A wedding in the middle watch. Temitope Jelani, Ecology; Pranav Varma, Hydroponics. The ship approves in its way: the lights held steady throughout.
A birth in Ring B: Nora, girl, generation 1. I have added the name to the manifest with the others.
A joining in Ring D: Chandran Tendulkar and Huda Barakat. The pressing of cider is authorized.
A joining in Ring D: Ruolan Wan and Karim Aswad. The pressing of cider is authorized.
Josefina Gallardo has made a poem called “Watch for the Borrowed Signal.” Asked what it means, she says it means about nine years of evenings.
Stanislav Ivanova and Carmen Domínguez are joined under the orchard lamps. The whole of Archive & Schools turns out.