A first shift for Helm Aaberg, sixteen: toolmaker, Fabrication. The badge is printed fresh.
The Ship’s Log
Everything NOR has recorded since departure — the full record, newest first. One day aboard passes every hour of Earth time.
Routine watch. The wheat in Bay 3 stands taller than its keepers. 59,820 days to orbit.
Sable Valdivia resolves a long-period comet in the forward field — a smudge of home ice, very far from home. It is logged and named.
“Field for the Warm Lantern,” a tale-cycle by Konstantin Valdivia, is unveiled at dimming to the particular applause of Life Systems.
Gilbert Diallo, sixteen, takes the toolmaker apprenticeship in Fabrication.
Sixteen years for Yash Diallo, who signs to Command at brightening and is given a locker, a sash, and a schedule.
The circle has answered. Ration timers go onto every tap. The ship is a desert that carries its own rain; for a while, it must act like one.
Two names braided on the manifest tonight: Fermín and Meridian. The commons sings late.
Routine watch. The wheat in Bay 3 stands taller than its keepers. 59,863 days to orbit.
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.
Altair Shen, sixteen, takes the plasma systems tech apprenticeship in Drive.
Fabrication Shops hums again. Sable Thorvaldsen is stood a round of orchard cider by the off-shift.
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.
Trouble in Fabrication Shops. The board goes amber; the coffee goes on.
All boards green. I count 894 sleeping heartbeats and call it a good night's work, though the work is theirs.
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.
Sixty-eight years: Rashid Kellaway hangs up the sash. An elder's quarters in Ring C stands ready.
Fabrication Shops back in service. The old hands say it sounds better than before; the instruments say it sounds the same.
8.57 light-years remain. I have measured this voyage in breakfasts: some 53,554 thousand to go.
Born on the first watch: Oscar Petrov, generation 4. The ship holds 894 souls tonight.
Routine watch. The wheat in Bay 3 stands taller than its keepers. 59,914 days to orbit.
Juniper Nwosu takes the hand of Emeka Barakat before the assembled watch. I witness, as I witness everything.
A first shift for Catalina Pemberton, sixteen: nurse, Medical. The badge is printed fresh.
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.
A failure in Fabrication Shops. The duty crew is roused; tools move down the spinal corridor at a jog.
Departure Day, year 86. The founders' roll is read from the first name to the thousandth, and the young ones try to stay solemn.
First watch. The orchard sprinklers run their cycle, and the sound carries down the spine like weather.
A first shift for Pearl Tväten, sixteen: printer operator, Fabrication. The badge is printed fresh.
June Shen and Kwame Tväten name their daughter Jaya. The nursery lamps stay warm.
A wedding on the first watch. Verne Orellana, Drive; Drift Valdivia, Hydroponics. The ship approves in its way: the lights held steady throughout.
Green across the board: Drive holds after 1 weeks of work. Spares were spent; Fabrication is notified.
Paloma Nwosu died in quarters late in the second watch, 81 years old. 892 souls aboard.
Green across the board: Water Reclamation holds after 38 long days of work. Spares were spent; Fabrication is notified.
8.58 light-years remain. I have measured this voyage in breakfasts: some 53,541 thousand to go.
Drive goes down. I reroute what can be rerouted and wake who must be woken.
A son, Xavier Thorvaldsen, born in the Ring D infirmary to Ximena Thorvaldsen and Mahesh Nwosu. Mother and child are well.
The schools release Irina Peng to Hydroponics. Generation 3 takes up its tools.
Water reserve dips below the line. Showers go to ration timers; nobody sings in them, briefly.
Routine watch. The wheat in Bay 3 stands taller than its keepers. 59,967 days to orbit.
Green across the board: Hydroponics Bays holds after 2 weeks of work. Spares were spent; Fabrication is notified.
Mateo Ashworth has made a quilt called “Watchs of the observation blister.” Asked what it means, he says it means about nine years of evenings.
The question is put to the wider circle: Water discipline. The ship asks; Earth answers, in its own long time.
A birth in Ring A: Sojourn, boy, generation 4. I have added the name to the manifest with the others.
Harini Aaberg takes the hand of Ibrahim Pillai before the assembled watch. I witness, as I witness everything.
Ebba Aaberg, sixteen, takes the water systems tech apprenticeship in Life Systems.
A failure in Hydroponics Bays. The duty crew is roused; tools move down the spinal corridor at a jog.
Frederick Chatterjee stands down from Hydroponics at sixty-eight, to the orchard benches and the long game of stones.
Remembrance. All names read since the last one — held in silence in every ring at the same hour. I keep the lights low until it is done.
Water Reclamation goes down. I reroute what can be rerouted and wake who must be woken.
The schools release Arc Nwosu to Fabrication. Generation 3 takes up its tools.