Routine watch. The wheat in Bay 3 stands taller than its keepers. 56,174 days to orbit.
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 at dimming. Umbra Orellana, Life Systems; Amparo Quaye, Hydroponics. The ship approves in its way: the lights held steady throughout.
Emilio Quintana, 73, generation 1, is carried down the spinal corridor feet-first, as the custom is.
Samira Shen and Ikenna Jaber name their daughter Ulyana. The nursery lamps stay warm.
Mikhail Valdivia and Ragnhild Zhao are joined under the orchard lamps. The whole of Fabrication turns out.
The star ahead brightens by amounts only I can love: another week, another hundred-millionth of a magnitude.
Two names braided on the manifest tonight: Arjun and Zofia. The commons sings late.
Sixty-eight years: Bohdana Fossum hangs up the sash. An elder's quarters in Ring A stands ready.
Qasim Quill stands the walk of the full spinal corridor, as the sixteen-year custom is, and joins Archive & Schools.
Census check: 955 souls, 167 of them children. The manifest balances to the person, as it must.
Morale index reads 85. The number is crude. The singing from the mess confirms it.
Sixteen years for Anli Northam, who signs to Archive & Schools on the night watch and is given a locker, a sash, and a schedule.
Vasili Northam stands the walk of the full spinal corridor, as the sixteen-year custom is, and joins Hydroponics.
Departure Day, year 96. The founders' roll is read from the first name to the thousandth, and the young ones try to stay solemn.
A son, Nikolai Zhao, born in the Ring A infirmary to Deneb Zhao and Kofi Tväten. Mother and child are well.
Quiet shift. I re-run the arrival calculations for the 8,027th time. They have not changed. I find this restful.
A first shift for Enlai Fang, sixteen: physician, Medical. The badge is printed fresh.
Sami Nwosu and Oluwaseun Fang, joined. Their quarters are re-assigned adjoining, per custom.
Bhavana Thorvaldsen stands the walk of the full spinal corridor, as the sixteen-year custom is, and joins Drive.
Theodore Quaye retires at brightening. The department logs a quiet debt it cannot repay in parts or hours.
Mateo Ashworth takes the hand of Daisy Yan before the assembled watch. I witness, as I witness everything.
Orrery Barakat chooses Fabrication — or it chooses him; the elders disagree cheerfully.
A first shift for Anastasia Fang, sixteen: nurse, Medical. The badge is printed fresh.
A joining in Ring B: Naresh Petrov and Noor Kowalczyk. The pressing of cider is authorized.
Zahra Domínguez does not wake late in the second watch. 89 years, most of them given to Ecology.
Remembrance day. The memorial wall is polished by hand, though nothing aboard needs polishing less.
A birth in Ring A: Farida, girl, generation 4. I have added the name to the manifest with the others.
Peng Shen and Noor Thorvaldsen, joined. Their quarters are re-assigned adjoining, per custom.
I dim the corridor lights a shade for Jamal Raghunathan, 90. It is little enough.
“The Sunless Root,” a instrument by Irina Diallo, is unveiled at brightening to the particular applause of Archive & Schools.
Irina Diallo and Lev Diallo name their daughter Nneka. The nursery lamps stay warm.
Maintenance sweep of Ring C complete. Somewhere aft a wrench is missing; it will surface in a decade, in a wall, with a story attached.
The star ahead brightens by amounts only I can love: another week, another hundred-millionth of a magnitude.
Sixty-eight years: Hernán Thorvaldsen hangs up the sash. An elder's quarters in Ring C stands ready.
Astrid Fang, sixteen, takes the mycologist apprenticeship in Hydroponics.
I dim the corridor lights a shade for Frederick Chatterjee, 77. It is little enough.
8.00 light-years remain. I have measured this voyage in breakfasts: some 53,855 thousand to go.
Morale index reads 83. The number is crude. The singing from the mess confirms it.
Bhavana Nwosu stands down from Hydroponics at sixty-eight, to the orchard benches and the long game of stones.
Two names braided on the manifest tonight: Vera and Yusuf. The commons sings late.
Gopal Peng takes the hand of Halley Nwosu before the assembled watch. I witness, as I witness everything.
A birth in Ring C: Divya, girl, generation 4. I have added the name to the manifest with the others.
Gonzalo Quaye chooses Life Systems — or it chooses him; the elders disagree cheerfully.
Percy Quaye stands the walk of the full spinal corridor, as the sixteen-year custom is, and joins Drive.
The hull ticks as it cools into the long night. Year 95, and I still log it faithfully: ticking, nominal.
Thermal Control back in service. The old hands say it sounds better than before; the instruments say it sounds the same.
Thermal Control goes down. I reroute what can be rerouted and wake who must be woken.
Quiet shift. I re-run the arrival calculations for the 7,866th time. They have not changed. I find this restful.
Rell Nwosu, sixteen, takes the shield tech apprenticeship in Drive.
A first shift for Kavita Nwosu, sixteen: arborist, Ecology. The badge is printed fresh.