Johnny Nine shuffled his feet. There was an awkward silence.
The History of the Ship. Which of them would dare attempt that?
The life of twenty-one generations; the death of nineteen; the dream of Earth....
Their little, circumscribed hopes and fears. The little things out of the night drench of a thousand lives. How well they lived together, the mutual respect and the mutual affection....
The little things whose total is life.
Or the big things.
Like the Great Sickness, during the Second Generation. It had almost finished the Ship.
The little things and the big, all rolled into an emotion that meant the Ship. That was the Ship....
The History of the Ship. Who could tell that? Who?
The Captain walked to the transmitter. He picked up the microphone and switched the "send" lever over.