Inspiration taken from the lyric, "Will you still need me, will you still feed me when I'm sixty-four?"

"Commander Kim - time to wake up." The synthesised voice was quiet but insistent. "Commander Kim - time to wake up."

"Go 'way." The response was heavy the burden of reluctant consciousness.

The voice changed, becoming more insistent. "Commander Kim. It is time to wake up. Today is your birthday, commander. You are sixty-four years old today." As if sensing that it was on the verge of victory, the voice became louder and began to repeat itself.

"Aww ... Lights!"

The small cabin was illuminated by a bright white light that came from multiple sources in the walls and ceiling. Commander Nari Kim lay in her bunk, shielding her eyes from the light to give them time to adjust. More importantly, it gave a few extra moments in her bunk. After all, there was no need to hurry. Not today. However, the voice that emanated from the bulkhead was not so easily appeased.

"Commander Kim, your itinerary for the day is as follows." The voice began to read out a list of events and times.

Nari's response was to sit up in her bunk and wave a hand towards the source of the voice. "Alright, alright. I'm up. Enough. Stop!"

The voice paused in its recital. "Are you sure, Commander Kim?"

"Yeas. I'm sure. I've been planning today for over a year. I know exactly what I am going to do. So, just leave me in peace for now, yes?"

"As you wish, commander."

Nari rose from her bunk and began her morning ritual of ablutions, before putting on the full dress uniform of a commanding officer of a Colonial Missions' vessel. Normally, in the sealed environment of the generation ship Pilgrim, there was no need for the flummery and frogging of a uniform. After more than fifty years in space heading for the star Gliese 1002, there was very little formality among the crew members. Kim knew everyone onboard by sight - if not personally. But, today - her sixty-fourth birthday - demanded something special. By the time that Nari had transformed herself into Commander Kim, there was a knock at the door of her cabin.

"Come!"

The door slid open to admit Doctor Franks. He was ten years younger than Kim, but had been the Pilgrim's physician for as long as she could remember. "Good morning, commander," the doctor said, and placed a covered tray on the fold-out table beside the bunk. "The log will state that the condemned man ate a hearty breakfast."

Nari took the cover off the tray, and looked at its contents with obvious disappointment. There was a beaker filled with what could have been orange juice, except that the nearest orange was more than half-a-dozen light years away. There was also a small container filled with a fragrant, green paste. "I take it this is an example of your gallows humour, Ben?"

"Not at all." The doctor lifted the beaker from the tray and handed it to Nari. "I read somewhere that the traditional last meal on occasions like this was a bottle of whiskey and a revolver loaded with a single round." He shrugged. "Today, this will have to do instead. Low residue, so it won't interfere with anything later; but high in nutrients to get you through the day."

Nari lifted the beaker to her mouth and took a swig. The liquid was sweet and sharp on her tongue, pleasantly soothing to her parched throat. The last remnants of the throbbing ache in her head started to fade. "You put something in it?"

"Doctor's orders. An analgesic to help deal with the excesses of last night. Or at least those last, few toxins that your nanos might be having trouble with. Speaking of which." Doctor Franks held out a medical scanner. "Wrist, please."

Obediently, Nari held out her free hand. Franks held the plate of the scanner against her wrist and read the codes that scrolled up the device's screen. "Good. Your blood urea levels are slightly elevated, but that's nothing to be concerned about. Everything else seems to be in order, and your nanos are functioning perfectly. This will make things easier." The doctor caught Nari's expression. "Medically speaking, of course."

He put the scanner away. "Remember your appointment, commander. End of duty shift, please. As it is, I'll let you get on with the rest of your day. Oh - and happy birthday."

"Thank you," Nari mumbled, and began to pick at the tub of paste.

Her first official act of the day was to go to the ship's command centre. It was a small chamber, with every available surface covered in screens and terminals. However, it was enough to give the occupants of the command centre an overview of everything going on onboard the Pilgrim. As Kim entered, the officer in the central seat sprang to attention. "Commander present!"

The men and women in the compartment spun around in their seats to face Nari. "Happy birthday, commander."

"As you were," Nari said. She nodded at the duty officer. "Just doing the rounds for one last time, Mister Reynolds. Anything to report?"

The duty officer eased himself out of his seat and stood up. "Everything's just fine here, commander. I have the logs for your inspection, if you would be so good?" He gave a sideways glance towards a secluded cubby. Nari followed him.

"What is it, Nate?" Nari kept her voice quiet.

"It's about the commander-designate. Some of us were talking after your party last night. The subject of your successor came up and, well ... ." Nate let his voice trail off.

"Mister Reynolds, may I remind you that I picked Mister Dane to be my successor?"

"We know that, commander. And we have no objection to your decision." Nate rubbed his nose. "But we think that he needs a bit more time before he's ready to fly solo, if you know what I mean."

Commander Kim shook her head. "And I would be happier too. But you know the rules. I am sixty-four. I have to retire. This means that Mister Dane has to take command, and I expect you and the other shift officers to give him all the help that he needs to be the commander I think he can be. Remember - we're doing this for the mission."

"For the mission." The reply came by reflex.

"Good. You understand." Nari's reply was a statement, not a question.

Nate sighed. "I'm sorry, commander. I didn't mean any disrespect."

"Don't be sorry." Kim slapped the younger man on his shoulder in a gesture of friendly reassurance. "You've been a good officer. I'll take what you said to me about Mister Dane as a compliment to my command. Besides." She gave Nate a conspiratorial smile. "I said the same things to my first commander on the day she retired. And she said to me exactly what I'm saying you. It's just how things go."

The two emerged from the cubby, and Commander Kim spent a quarter of an hour talking to the staff in the command centre, accepting their congratulations and their commiserations, before she excused herself. Her rounds took her through the various departments in the Pilgrim so she could reassure herself that everything was in order. At the end of it, Commander Kim reluctantly returned to her cabin. Even today there was still paperwork to be done, reports to be read and forms to be signed. But it wasn't enough to stop Nari's thoughts turning to what awaited her at the end of her shift.

The rules laid down by the Colonial Missions Authority for their generation ships were simple. Each colonisation vessel was a closed environment, incapable of supporting the number of people needed to establish more than a foothold on a new world. So, most of the crew and colonists had to travel in stasis. Not only did this reduce the burden on the ships' biospheres, but it also protected the travellers from the effects of cosmic radiation and other conditions that had plagued previous long-duration expeditions. But the number of people active had to be kept within limits. If there were too many - or too few - a mission would be jeopardised.

In order to enforce this, a rule was put in place. Crew members were to serve until they reached the age of sixty-four. This was meant to be a compromise between useful experience and encroaching senescence. On their sixty-fourth birthday, the crewman would be placed into a stasis tube in the hibernaculum. They would spend the rest of the journey there, ageless and and insensate; their final reward to set foot on the world they had set out to colonise. A replacement would be brought out of stasis, thus keeping the complement of the generation ship the same. The new crew member would then learn the skills necessary to keep the mission going, carrying out their duties and - ultimately - training their replacement. Then, when they turned sixty-four, they would return to the hibernaculum, to sleep and await their own reward.

Nari Kim had no idea what would be waiting for her when she was revived on the surface of Gliese 1002-b. It didn't matter. She had been promised a place there, and this had sustained her throughout her career.

"Commander Kim? Nari?"

Nari looked up from her terminal. Standing in the entrance to her cabin were Doctor Franks and her replacement, Commander-designate Dane. "It is time already?"

Franks nodded. "It is."

"Come in."

The two visitors ended Nari's cabin. They stood, waiting quietly. Dane fidgeted as Nari finished the last of the paperwork and turned off the terminal. "Well, gentlemen, there is just one last duty." She stood up, and saluted the pair. "Mister Dane. I pass to you the command of the Pilgrim. Doctor Franks, will you certify that I am of sound mind and am performing this task willingly?"

Franks cleared his throat. "For the record, I do."

"Good." Nari held up her left hand. There was a ring on it - a simple metal band, marked with the crest of the Colonial Missions Authority. Not only was the ring a symbol of the commander's position, it contained within it microcircuits that allowed the wearer to access the generation ship's vital systems. She pulled the ring from her hand, then passed it to Mister Dane. "There you go. It's yours now."

Dane looked at the ring. "Th-thank you."

"I suggest you familiarise yourself with the access protocols. And - Mister Dane?"

"Bon voyage."

Now no longer the commander of the Pilgrim, Nari followed Doctor Franks through the ship's companionways to the hibernaculum. The few people she encountered on the way stood to one side and lowered their gaze in respect of her passing; otherwise, they did not acknowledge her, nor did she acknowledge them. Nari was now just another colonist, to be carried safely to their destination.

The hibernaculum was cold and sterile. Blue-white LEDs illuminated row upon row of metal tubes. All of them were closed and dark, except for one. This was to be the one that Nari would wait out the rest of the voyage.

Under Doctor Frank's supervision, Nari stripped off her uniform and donned a skintight bodysuit. Satisfied that everything was in order, Doctor Franks helped Nari climb into the open tube, then connected wires and cables to the ports on Nari's bodysuit. As each connection clicked home, Nari felt a slight stinging sensation. Last of all, Doctor Franks took a metal circlet and placed it around her forehead.

"I am going to put you into stasis, Nari," Franks told her. "It will be just like falling asleep, except that you won't experience any passing of time. You will close your eyes, and when you open them again we will be in orbit around our new home." He smiled. "Who knows? We might even have a nice cottage built just for you."

A warm drowsiness began to spread throughout Nari's body, radiating out from her lips and forehead. Consciousness began to slip away from her. There was something that she wanted to ask Franks, but it took a moment for Nari to think of what it was. "Ben? How many have you ... ?"

The ship's physician glanced towards the rows of pods in the hibernaculum. "Plenty," he said.

"Will you be ... ?" Nari wanted to close her eyes, to fall asleep. But she forced herself to stay awake just that bit longer. She forced the words through leather lips. "Will you be there?"

"Of course."

Nari smiled and closed her eyes.