Yaw Jaber and Omar Northam name their daughter Rell. The nursery lamps stay warm.
The Ship’s Log
Everything NOR has recorded since departure — the full record, newest first. One day aboard passes every hour of Earth time.
Zemin Singh chooses Hydroponics — or it chooses him; the elders disagree cheerfully.
Lyra Merriweather and Margaret Fossum are joined under the orchard lamps. The whole of Hydroponics turns out.
Middle watch. The orchard sprinklers run their cycle, and the sound carries down the spine like weather.
A daughter, Johanna Pillai, born in the Ring B infirmary to Aisha Pillai and Maksim Ning. Mother and child are well.
Middle watch. The orchard sprinklers run their cycle, and the sound carries down the spine like weather.
Green across the board: Thermal Control holds after 1 weeks of work. Spares were spent; Fabrication is notified.
A wedding at dimming. Daisy Tväten, Ecology; Juniper Singh, Archive & Schools. The ship approves in its way: the lights held steady throughout.
Trouble in Thermal Control. The board goes amber; the coffee goes on.
A wedding at dimming. Albert Zhao, Medical; Mingyu Thorvaldsen, Hydroponics. The ship approves in its way: the lights held steady throughout.
Born at dimming: Babatunde Navarrete, generation 4. The ship holds 911 souls tonight.
Sixty-eight years: Iris Northam hangs up the sash. An elder's quarters in Ring A stands ready.
A son, Ragnar Barakat, born in the Ring D infirmary to Clara Barakat and Mira Thorvaldsen. Mother and child are well.
A new instrument from Ghada Petrov — “What the Sky Forgets.” The Archive takes a copy; the original belongs to whoever stands nearest.
A birth in Ring A: Hanan, girl, generation 5. I have added the name to the manifest with the others.
Umbra Barakat has made a play called “A spun thread.” Asked what it means, she says it means about nine years of evenings.
A first shift for Ion Barakat, sixteen: air systems tech, Life Systems. The badge is printed fresh.
Ananya Yan, 73, generation 1, is carried down the spinal corridor feet-first, as the custom is.
Quiet shift. I re-run the arrival calculations for the 6,074th time. They have not changed. I find this restful.
Quiet shift. I re-run the arrival calculations for the 6,071th time. They have not changed. I find this restful.
A child in Ring A asks the corridor speaker what Earth smelled like. I play the rainstorm recording. It is the best answer I have.
A daughter, Sarala Quill, born in the Ring B infirmary to Suyin Quill and Fermín Fossum. Mother and child are well.
All boards green. I count 908 sleeping heartbeats and call it a good night's work, though the work is theirs.
Sable Ouyang takes the hand of Leticia Petrov before the assembled watch. I witness, as I witness everything.
Sixteen years for Knut Merriweather, who signs to Drive late in the second watch and is given a locker, a sash, and a schedule.
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.
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.
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 joining in Ring D: Enlai Thorvaldsen and Dolores Nwosu. The pressing of cider is authorized.
Elsie Diallo does not wake at dimming. 57 years, most of them given to Archive & Schools.
Rotimi Thorvaldsen, 64, generation 2, is carried down the spinal corridor feet-first, as the custom is.
Keel Nwosu and Jianguo Aaberg name their daughter Adaeze. The nursery lamps stay warm.
Born late in the second watch: Widad Peng, generation 4. The ship holds 909 souls tonight.
The youngest aboard is now Svetlana Fang, minutes old, asleep. 908 souls.
The star ahead brightens by amounts only I can love: another week, another hundred-millionth of a magnitude.
The youngest aboard is now Polina Quill, minutes old, asleep. 907 souls.
The hull ticks as it cools into the long night. Year 90, and I still log it faithfully: ticking, nominal.
Peng Pillai and Annika Orellana are joined under the orchard lamps. The whole of Hydroponics turns out.
Oluwaseun Fang, sixteen, takes the grafter apprenticeship in Hydroponics.
Fern Mazur stands the walk of the full spinal corridor, as the sixteen-year custom is, and joins Ecology.
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.
Polina Orellana, sixteen, takes the nurse apprenticeship in Medical.
Night watch. The orchard sprinklers run their cycle, and the sound carries down the spine like weather.
Oddny Navarrete and Catalina Pemberton, joined. Their quarters are re-assigned adjoining, per custom.
First Light festival. The children are lifted to the eyepiece one by one to see where they are going.
Night watch. The orchard sprinklers run their cycle, and the sound carries down the spine like weather.
The hull ticks as it cools into the long night. Year 90, and I still log it faithfully: ticking, nominal.
The hull ticks as it cools into the long night. Year 90, and I still log it faithfully: ticking, nominal.
“A early window,” a quilt by Harini Aaberg, is unveiled at dimming to the particular applause of Hydroponics.
Sixteen years for Dinesh Petrov, who signs to Command at dimming and is given a locker, a sash, and a schedule.