Fang Jaber finishes a play: “Lanterns of Year 70.” It shows in the commons through the week.
The Ship’s Log
Everything NOR has recorded since departure — the full record, newest first. One day aboard passes every hour of Earth time.
Kamala Salazar, sixteen, takes the plasma systems tech apprenticeship in Drive.
Routine watch. The wheat in Bay 3 stands taller than its keepers. 65,417 days to orbit.
A first shift for Nils Yan, sixteen: instrument maker, Archive & Schools. The badge is printed fresh.
Too soon, at 40: Lanying Ouyang. The commons fills at brightening with those who knew her.
Routine watch. The wheat in Bay 3 stands taller than its keepers. 65,424 days to orbit.
A birth in Ring A: Basma, girl, generation 3. I have added the name to the manifest with the others.
A wedding in the middle watch. Quill Shen, Ecology; Esha Fang, Hydroponics. The ship approves in its way: the lights held steady throughout.
A birth in Ring C: Ion, girl, generation 3. I have added the name to the manifest with the others.
Tern Aaberg chooses Archive & Schools — or it chooses him; the elders disagree cheerfully.
Last shift for Lakshmi Pillai, who joined Medical half a century ago. The crew line the corridor and knock wrenches on the rails.
A new quilt from Josefina Navarrete — “The Inward Field.” The Archive takes a copy; the original belongs to whoever stands nearest.
Nora Salazar coaxes a new bread yeast from the orchard air. The proof is in the mess by morning.
Fernanda Fossum is delivered of a son on the first watch. The child is called Chukwuemeka.
Octavio Domínguez, 70, generation 1, is carried down the spinal corridor feet-first, as the custom is.
Ulises Abiodun retires late in the second watch. The department logs a quiet debt it cannot repay in parts or hours.
Remembrance day. The memorial wall is polished by hand, though nothing aboard needs polishing less.
After 98 years, Nils Wangberg has let go. Remembrance in the Ring C commons at next dimming.
Divya Yadav, 96, generation 0, is carried down the spinal corridor feet-first, as the custom is.
I dim the corridor lights a shade for Johanna Nordahl, 89. It is little enough.
The manifest shortens by one: Modupe Okafor, 94 years. The line rests with the ship now.
A wedding late in the second watch. Esperanza Singh, Hydroponics; Qasim Ning, Fabrication. The ship approves in its way: the lights held steady throughout.
Tariq Abadi does not wake at dimming. 92 years, most of them given to Drive.
Morale index reads 78. The number is crude. The singing from the mess confirms it.
Halley Northam and Anders Thorvaldsen name their son Olusegun. The nursery lamps stay warm.
Morale index reads 78. The number is crude. The singing from the mess confirms it.
A daughter, Daisy Tväten, born in the Ring C infirmary to Huda Tväten and Halvard Diallo. Mother and child are well.
The star ahead brightens by amounts only I can love: another week, another hundred-millionth of a magnitude.
The youngest aboard is now Gantry Merriweather, minutes old, asleep. 742 souls.
Bohai Singh finishes a quilt: “Long Field, Last Sky.” It shows in the commons through the week.
The star ahead brightens by amounts only I can love: another week, another hundred-millionth of a magnitude.
The star ahead brightens by amounts only I can love: another week, another hundred-millionth of a magnitude.
Fang Jaber takes the hand of Nnamdi Sharma before the assembled watch. I witness, as I witness everything.
A second child follows on the night watch: twins for Zahra Orellana. This one is called Pranav.
A daughter, Bhavana Orellana, born in the Ring B infirmary to Zahra Orellana and Ibrahim Navarrete. Mother and child are well.
Tarun Fossum retires at dimming. The department logs a quiet debt it cannot repay in parts or hours.
Stanley Iverson, 94, generation 0, is carried down the spinal corridor feet-first, as the custom is.
The schools release Viggo Mazur to Life Systems. Generation 2 takes up its tools.
The hull ticks as it cools into the long night. Year 70, and I still log it faithfully: ticking, nominal.
“Last Orchard (Year 70),” a poem by Cygnet Zhao, is unveiled at dimming to the particular applause of Fabrication.
Ravindra Navarrete stands the walk of the full spinal corridor, as the sixteen-year custom is, and joins Archive & Schools.
The star ahead brightens by amounts only I can love: another week, another hundred-millionth of a magnitude.
The youngest aboard is now Bruno Navarrete, minutes old, asleep. 740 souls.
Born in the middle watch: Gunhild Thorvaldsen, generation 3. The ship holds 739 souls tonight.
A wedding on the night watch. Temitope Mansour, Hydroponics; Hassan Pillai, Command. The ship approves in its way: the lights held steady throughout.
Maintenance sweep of Ring B complete. Somewhere aft a wrench is missing; it will surface in a decade, in a wall, with a story attached.
Routine watch. The wheat in Bay 3 stands taller than its keepers. 65,557 days to orbit.
Two names braided on the manifest tonight: Halley and Anders. The commons sings late.
A wedding in the middle watch. Lumen Nwosu, Hydroponics; Caelum Sharma, Medical. The ship approves in its way: the lights held steady throughout.
Two names braided on the manifest tonight: Lumen and Yaling. The commons sings late.