Deneb Pemberton finishes a tale-cycle: “Four Threads Rising.” It shows in the commons through the week.
The Ship’s Log
Everything NOR has recorded since departure — the full record, newest first. One day aboard passes every hour of Earth time.
Night watch. The orchard sprinklers run their cycle, and the sound carries down the spine like weather.
All boards green. I count 975 sleeping heartbeats and call it a good night's work, though the work is theirs.
Census check: 975 souls, 117 of them children. The manifest balances to the person, as it must.
Halley Navarrete retires on the night watch. The department logs a quiet debt it cannot repay in parts or hours.
A birth in Ring A: Quill, boy, generation 4. I have added the name to the manifest with the others.
Dmitri Merriweather stands down from Hydroponics at sixty-eight, to the orchard benches and the long game of stones.
Maintenance sweep of Ring A complete. Somewhere aft a wrench is missing; it will surface in a decade, in a wall, with a story attached.
All boards green. I count 974 sleeping heartbeats and call it a good night's work, though the work is theirs.
Oluwadamilola Quill retires in the middle watch. The department logs a quiet debt it cannot repay in parts or hours.
Torsten Zhao has died at 41, far too early. Hydroponics stands down a shift in grief.
A new tale-cycle from Yuri Nwosu — “Five Waters Standing.” The Archive takes a copy; the original belongs to whoever stands nearest.
7.24 light-years remain. I have measured this voyage in breakfasts: some 50,448 thousand to go.
Sixteen years for Suyin Thorvaldsen, who signs to Drive at brightening and is given a locker, a sash, and a schedule.
A child in Ring D asks the corridor speaker what Earth smelled like. I play the rainstorm recording. It is the best answer I have.
After 94 years, Nora Salazar has let go. Remembrance in the Ring D commons at next dimming.
The manifest shortens by one: Cedric Navarrete, 77 years. 7 children carry the line on.
Fathom Gallardo does not wake at dimming. 89 years, most of them given to Life Systems.
Ada Yan stands the walk of the full spinal corridor, as the sixteen-year custom is, and joins Archive & Schools.
First Light. The observation blister queues run all day: Teegarden's Star, held in the eyepiece, a little brighter than last year — 7.25 light-years to go.
Yolanda Navarrete, sixteen, takes the teacher apprenticeship in Archive & Schools.
A child in Ring D asks the corridor speaker what Earth smelled like. I play the rainstorm recording. It is the best answer I have.
Dagny Diallo, 72, generation 2, is carried down the spinal corridor feet-first, as the custom is.
7.25 light-years remain. I have measured this voyage in breakfasts: some 50,714 thousand to go.
A child in Ring D asks the corridor speaker what Earth smelled like. I play the rainstorm recording. It is the best answer I have.
Sixteen years for Bjorn Barakat, who signs to Life Systems late in the second watch and is given a locker, a sash, and a schedule.
Lakshmi Mansour has made a quilt called “Furrows of Year 108.” Asked what it means, she says it means about nine years of evenings.
Routine watch. The wheat in Bay 3 stands taller than its keepers. 51,849 days to orbit.
Edith Sharma chooses Life Systems — or it chooses her; the elders disagree cheerfully.
Vernon Aaberg retires at dimming. The department logs a quiet debt it cannot repay in parts or hours.
Quiet shift. I re-run the arrival calculations for the 3,446th time. They have not changed. I find this restful.
The council confirms Rell Peng as Chief of Ecology at dimming.
Hedda Tväten retires in the middle watch. The department logs a quiet debt it cannot repay in parts or hours.
The hull ticks as it cools into the long night. Year 108, and I still log it faithfully: ticking, nominal.
“Orchard for the Sunless Thread,” a quilt by Yaw Aaberg, is unveiled at dimming to the particular applause of Hydroponics.
Carmen Valdivia retires on the night watch. The department logs a quiet debt it cannot repay in parts or hours.
Maja Aaberg finishes a mural: “Iron Ladder, Late Season.” It shows in the commons through the week.
Year 108 of the voyage begins. The oldest bottle of orchard wine that can be spared is opened. It is always described as "improving."
Nils Salazar stands down from Medical at sixty-eight, to the orchard benches and the long game of stones.
Routine watch. The wheat in Bay 3 stands taller than its keepers. 51,930 days to orbit.
Last shift for Lakshmi Ning, who joined Fabrication half a century ago. The crew line the corridor and knock wrenches on the rails.
Lakshman Ouyang retires at brightening. The department logs a quiet debt it cannot repay in parts or hours.
Gilbert Fairburn does not wake at brightening. 97 years, most of them given to Hydroponics.
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.
First watch. The orchard sprinklers run their cycle, and the sound carries down the spine like weather.
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.
Last shift for Leticia Zhao, who joined Medical half a century ago. The crew line the corridor and knock wrenches on the rails.
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.
Ulises Aaberg stands the walk of the full spinal corridor, as the sixteen-year custom is, and joins Drive.
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.