All boards green. I count 743 sleeping heartbeats and call it a good night's work, though the work is theirs.
The Ship’s Log
Everything NOR has recorded since departure — the full record, newest first. One day aboard passes every hour of Earth time.
June Mansour is delivered of a daughter late in the second watch. The child is called Marzena.
Yejide Merriweather coaxes a new bread yeast from the orchard air. The proof is in the mess by morning.
Georgia Quill, 92, generation 0, is carried down the spinal corridor feet-first, as the custom is.
Abena Navarrete and Uday Jaber name their son Sami. The nursery lamps stay warm.
Omar Northam, sixteen, takes the reactor tech apprenticeship in Drive.
Amparo Shen, sixteen, takes the toolmaker apprenticeship in Fabrication.
Born on the first watch: Gopal Peng, generation 3. The ship holds 742 souls tonight.
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.
Quiet shift. I re-run the arrival calculations for the 8,049th time. They have not changed. I find this restful.
Morale index reads 83. The number is crude. The singing from the mess confirms it.
Nils Peng takes the hand of Fernanda Mazur before the assembled watch. I witness, as I witness everything.
Ximena Thorvaldsen, sixteen, takes the quartermaster apprenticeship in Command.
First Light festival. The children are lifted to the eyepiece one by one to see where they are going.
9.45 light-years remain. I have measured this voyage in breakfasts: some 48,372 thousand to go.
All boards green. I count 741 sleeping heartbeats and call it a good night's work, though the work is theirs.
Two names braided on the manifest tonight: Daisy and Liang. The commons sings late.
Enlai Petrov, sixteen, takes the printer operator apprenticeship in Fabrication.
Ernest Grantham has made a tale-cycle called “Kept Door, Sunless Map.” Asked what it means, he says it means about nine years of evenings.
Quiet shift. I re-run the arrival calculations for the 8,015th time. They have not changed. I find this restful.
Vera Rutherford has made a play called “Furrows of Bay 3.” Asked what it means, she says it means about nine years of evenings.
The star ahead brightens by amounts only I can love: another week, another hundred-millionth of a magnitude.
The schools release Umbra Kowalczyk to Ecology. Generation 2 takes up its tools.
After 100 years, Joaquín Ibarra has let go. Remembrance in the Ring B commons at next dimming.
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.
Joaquín Ibarra finishes a tale-cycle: “The Warm Hymn.” It shows in the commons through the week.
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.
Radomir Aaberg chooses Fabrication — or it chooses him; the elders disagree cheerfully.
Routine watch. The wheat in Bay 3 stands taller than its keepers. 65,321 days to orbit.
Middle watch. The orchard sprinklers run their cycle, and the sound carries down the spine like weather.
Valentina Ulriksen and Zbigniew Pemberton are joined under the orchard lamps. The whole of Archive & Schools turns out.
A joining in Ring B: Lucía Fang and Oluwadamilola Navarrete. The pressing of cider is authorized.
After 97 years, Ludmila Ulanov has let go. Remembrance in the Ring D commons at next dimming.
Tatiana Merriweather and Emeka Petrov are joined under the orchard lamps. The whole of Archive & Schools turns out.
A second child follows on the night watch: twins for Inés Barakat. This one is called Nadia.
Inés Barakat and Dinesh Merriweather name their daughter Agnieszka. The nursery lamps stay warm.
After 93 years, Titilayo Chike has let go. Remembrance in the Ring C commons at next dimming.
All boards green. I count 742 sleeping heartbeats and call it a good night's work, though the work is theirs.
A birth in Ring A: Fermín, boy, generation 3. I have added the name to the manifest with the others.
The hull ticks as it cools into the long night. Year 71, and I still log it faithfully: ticking, nominal.
The hull ticks as it cools into the long night. Year 71, and I still log it faithfully: ticking, nominal.
Svetlana Shen chooses Fabrication — or it chooses her; the elders disagree cheerfully.
Night watch. The orchard sprinklers run their cycle, and the sound carries down the spine like weather.
Quiet shift. I re-run the arrival calculations for the 7,931th time. They have not changed. I find this restful.
A first shift for Domingo Quaye, sixteen: fuelwright, Drive. The badge is printed fresh.
Stanislav Tväten, sixteen, takes the helm officer apprenticeship in Command.
Year 71 of the voyage begins. The oldest bottle of orchard wine that can be spared is opened. It is always described as "improving."
Sixteen years for Emeka Zhao, who signs to Medical at dimming and is given a locker, a sash, and a schedule.
Ulyana Aaberg and Cristóbal Thorvaldsen name their son Vikram. The nursery lamps stay warm.
Xenia Fang chooses Fabrication — or it chooses him; the elders disagree cheerfully.