All boards green. I count 969 sleeping heartbeats and call it a good night's work, though the work is theirs.
The Ship’s Log
Everything NOR has recorded since departure — the full record, newest first. One day aboard passes every hour of Earth time.
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.
Cygnet Zhao has made a quilt called “Season for the Green Furrow.” Asked what it means, she says it means about nine years of evenings.
The star ahead brightens by amounts only I can love: another week, another hundred-millionth of a magnitude.
The manifest shortens by one: Jiayi Shen, 87 years. 9 children carry the line on.
Morale index reads 76. The number is crude. The singing from the mess confirms it.
Routine watch. The wheat in Bay 3 stands taller than its keepers. 48,894 days to orbit.
After 76 years, Hedda Tväten has let go. Remembrance in the Ring B commons at next dimming.
Hernán Pillai, 72, generation 2, is carried down the spinal corridor feet-first, as the custom is.
All boards green. I count 972 sleeping heartbeats and call it a good night's work, though the work is theirs.
The manifest shortens by one: Maja Fang, 94 years. 11 children carry the line on.
Last shift for Mahesh Nwosu, who joined Hydroponics half a century ago. The crew line the corridor and knock wrenches on the rails.
Karim Petrov chooses Medical — or it chooses him; the elders disagree cheerfully.
Rajesh Quaye and Divya Aaberg are joined under the orchard lamps. The whole of Life Systems turns out.
A birth in Ring A: Gantry, girl, generation 5. I have added the name to the manifest with the others.
Census check: 972 souls, 99 of them children. The manifest balances to the person, as it must.
6.78 light-years remain. I have measured this voyage in breakfasts: some 47,568 thousand to go.
The manifest shortens by one: Mabel Mazur, 95 years. 7 children carry the line on.
Dmitri Tväten stands the walk of the full spinal corridor, as the sixteen-year custom is, and joins Hydroponics.
Born on the night watch: Deneb Navarrete, generation 6. The ship holds 973 souls tonight.
Routine watch. The wheat in Bay 3 stands taller than its keepers. 48,971 days to orbit.
Departure Day, year 116. The founders' roll is read from the first name to the thousandth, and the young ones try to stay solemn.
Sixty-eight years: Nnamdi Sharma hangs up the sash. An elder's quarters in Ring D stands ready.
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.
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.
Guadalupe Jaber and Emilio Ulriksen name their son Omar. The nursery lamps stay warm.
First watch. The orchard sprinklers run their cycle, and the sound carries down the spine like weather.
The youngest aboard is now Fadi Orellana, minutes old, asleep. 971 souls.
Sixty-eight years: Walid Quaye hangs up the sash. An elder's quarters in Ring D stands ready.
Green across the board: Cryostore holds after 1 weeks of work. Spares were spent; Fabrication is notified.
Beatriz Fang, 97, generation 1, is carried down the spinal corridor feet-first, as the custom is.
A wedding in the middle watch. Bjorn Barakat, Life Systems; Jamila Fang, Hydroponics. The ship approves in its way: the lights held steady throughout.
Last shift for Zofia Kowalczyk, who joined Drive half a century ago. The crew line the corridor and knock wrenches on the rails.
A failure in Cryostore. The duty crew is roused; tools move down the spinal corridor at a jog.
The circle has answered. Agronomy takes the morning hours. The schools smell of soil, and the racks gain a hundred small careful hands.
Born at dimming: Helm Thorvaldsen, generation 5. The ship holds 971 souls tonight.
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.
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.
Repair complete on Water Reclamation after 2 weeks. I run the test cycle twice, out of respect for history.
A wedding on the night watch. Basma Nwosu, Medical; Tao Fang, Command. The ship approves in its way: the lights held steady throughout.
The star ahead brightens by amounts only I can love: another week, another hundred-millionth of a magnitude.
Water Reclamation faults at brightening. Life Systems takes the call.
A new song from Beatriz Fang — “Whole Signal (Year 115).” The Archive takes a copy; the original belongs to whoever stands nearest.
Emeka Petrov stands down from Fabrication at sixty-eight, to the orchard benches and the long game of stones.
The manifest shortens by one: Juniper Orellana, 67 years. 1 children carry the line on.
A first shift for Ulf Jaber, sixteen: water systems tech, Life Systems. The badge is printed fresh.
Tunde Thorvaldsen chooses Drive — or it chooses him; the elders disagree cheerfully.
Feng Ouyang and Yolanda Navarrete are joined under the orchard lamps. The whole of Ecology turns out.
Chief of Command falls to Ximena Thorvaldsen, who accepts with a nod and a full docket.
Sixty-eight years: Hassan Pillai hangs up the sash. An elder's quarters in Ring B stands ready.