A daughter, Widad Fang, born in the Ring C infirmary to Oluwaseun Fang and Sami Nwosu. Mother and child are well.
The Ship’s Log
Everything NOR has recorded since departure — the full record, newest first. One day aboard passes every hour of Earth time.
The manifest shortens by one: Dolores Sharma, 79 years. 10 children carry the line on.
Census check: 969 souls, 133 of them children. The manifest balances to the person, as it must.
A joining in Ring B: Wei Navarrete and Gantry Valdivia. The pressing of cider is authorized.
Gilbert Valdivia and Ekundayo Northam, joined. Their quarters are re-assigned adjoining, per custom.
The youngest aboard is now Chunhua Sharma, minutes old, asleep. 969 souls.
Repair complete on Fabrication Shops after 5 days. I run the test cycle twice, out of respect for history.
Fabrication Shops goes down. I reroute what can be rerouted and wake who must be woken.
Quiet shift. I re-run the arrival calculations for the 1,485th time. They have not changed. I find this restful.
The star ahead brightens by amounts only I can love: another week, another hundred-millionth of a magnitude.
Yuri Petrov finishes a quilt: “Engines of the drive gallery.” It shows in the commons through the week.
Xenia Ulriksen coaxes a new bread yeast from the orchard air. The proof is in the mess by morning.
Howard Jaber and Daisy Jaber, joined. Their quarters are re-assigned adjoining, per custom.
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.
7.59 light-years remain. I have measured this voyage in breakfasts: some 52,135 thousand to go.
The hull ticks as it cools into the long night. Year 102, and I still log it faithfully: ticking, nominal.
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.
Hedda Orellana stands the walk of the full spinal corridor, as the sixteen-year custom is, and joins Hydroponics.
Sixty-eight years: Emilio Barakat hangs up the sash. An elder's quarters in Ring D stands ready.
The manifest shortens by one: Howard Orellana, 82 years. The line rests with the ship now.
Census check: 969 souls, 133 of them children. The manifest balances to the person, as it must.
7.59 light-years remain. I have measured this voyage in breakfasts: some 52,229 thousand to go.
The youngest aboard is now Yusheng Quill, minutes old, asleep. 969 souls.
All boards green. I count 968 sleeping heartbeats and call it a good night's work, though the work is theirs.
Morale index reads 75. The number is crude. The singing from the mess confirms it.
A birth in Ring B: Clara, girl, generation 4. I have added the name to the manifest with the others.
Routine watch. The wheat in Bay 3 stands taller than its keepers. 53,924 days to orbit.
A daughter, Anastasia Shen, born in the Ring A infirmary to Altair Shen and Mikhail Quaye. Mother and child are well.
Devendra Pillai finishes a tale-cycle: “Hollow Anchor (Year 102).” It shows in the commons through the week.
A son, Frederick Tväten, born in the Ring A infirmary to Olga Tväten and Funmilayo Thorvaldsen. Mother and child are well.
Anastasia Fang is delivered of a son in the middle watch. The child is called Pranav.
First watch. The orchard sprinklers run their cycle, and the sound carries down the spine like weather.
Sixteen years for Kavita Mansour, who signs to Fabrication at brightening and is given a locker, a sash, and a schedule.
First Light festival. The children are lifted to the eyepiece one by one to see where they are going.
Quiet shift. I re-run the arrival calculations for the 1,341th time. They have not changed. I find this restful.
Sixty-eight years: Maja Nwosu hangs up the sash. An elder's quarters in Ring A stands ready.
Routine watch. The wheat in Bay 3 stands taller than its keepers. 53,985 days to orbit.
Sixty-eight years: Uzoma Pillai hangs up the sash. An elder's quarters in Ring B stands ready.
A new quilt from Dominika Thorvaldsen — “The Long Root.” The Archive takes a copy; the original belongs to whoever stands nearest.
Orrery Barakat and Oksana Ning, joined. Their quarters are re-assigned adjoining, per custom.
7.61 light-years remain. I have measured this voyage in breakfasts: some 52,044 thousand to go.
Census check: 964 souls, 129 of them children. The manifest balances to the person, as it must.
Routine watch. The wheat in Bay 3 stands taller than its keepers. 54,006 days to orbit.
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.
Census check: 964 souls, 129 of them children. The manifest balances to the person, as it must.
A wedding on the first watch. Adrián Diallo, Archive & Schools; Lucía Aaberg, Medical. The ship approves in its way: the lights held steady throughout.
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.
A birth in Ring D: Adaeze, girl, generation 4. I have added the name to the manifest with the others.
Wren Aaberg takes the hand of Raisa Fang before the assembled watch. I witness, as I witness everything.
Sixty-eight years: Pallas Navarrete hangs up the sash. An elder's quarters in Ring A stands ready.