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.
The Ship’s Log
Everything NOR has recorded since departure — year 116, newest first. One day aboard passes every hour of Earth time.
The sickness holds its grip. Wards full, schools closed, meals delivered by runner. The ship wears masks and patience.
Raymond Fang and Rania Ulriksen, joined. Their quarters are re-assigned adjoining, per custom.
Dolores Thorvaldsen stands down from Ecology at sixty-eight, to the orchard benches and the long game of stones.
The sickness holds its grip. Wards full, schools closed, meals delivered by runner. The ship wears masks and patience.
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.
Medical reports a fever moving through the rings — the same story in three infirmaries by dimming. Isolation protocols stand up within the hour.
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.
Sixty-eight years: Bohai Singh hangs up the sash. An elder's quarters in Ring D stands ready.
César Fang retires at dimming. The department logs a quiet debt it cannot repay in parts or hours.
Efua Jaber has died at 50, far too early. Ecology stands down a shift in grief.
Sarala Peng stands down from Hydroponics at sixty-eight, to the orchard benches and the long game of stones.
First Light. The observation blister queues run all day: Teegarden's Star, held in the eyepiece, a little brighter than last year — 6.77 light-years to go.
After 98 years, César Bishara has let go. Remembrance in the Ring D commons at next dimming.
Middle watch. The orchard sprinklers run their cycle, and the sound carries down the spine like weather.
Quill Shen retires on the first watch. The department logs a quiet debt it cannot repay in parts or hours.
A first shift for Drift Barakat, sixteen: machinist, Fabrication. The badge is printed fresh.
Temitope Mansour retires at brightening. The department logs a quiet debt it cannot repay in parts or hours.
Sixteen years for Nicolás Sharma, who signs to Life Systems at brightening and is given a locker, a sash, and a schedule.
A birth in Ring D: Signe, girl, generation 5. I have added the name to the manifest with the others.
Noor Shen stands the walk of the full spinal corridor, as the sixteen-year custom is, and joins Medical.
The hull ticks as it cools into the long night. Year 116, and I still log it faithfully: ticking, nominal.
A joining in Ring B: Cygnet Jaber and Cora Orellana. The pressing of cider is authorized.
All boards green. I count 969 sleeping heartbeats and call it a good night's work, though the work is theirs.
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.