GREER–OKONKWO PSALTER, 4th ed. — Father Okonkwo's marked copy
The chaplain's own working copy, kept in the spire vestry on a shelf beside the broadcast console. The gathering containing hymns 1–25 has come loose at the spine; the inside front board carries a pasted-in index in Father Okonkwo's hand, the relevant entries reproduced below. Marginalia in his hand, pencil, undated; none of them signed. The book is older than the broadcast schedule. The reader who has tet-02 will know what they are looking at.
Top of the inside front board, in the chaplain's hand:
Selected for the morning broadcast, the three weeks following the silence. The Engineer brought me the numbers. I provided the book. I will not write what we are saying. The book is older than we are; the reader will know it when the reader comes.
Hymn 2 — She Was Counted Once
marg. — A.S., the eighth day of winter. Once at the airlock by Park, never again at any roster. Lord, accept the one count we have.
Hymn 3 — Compline for the Cook at the Galley Door
marg. — A.B., the eighth day. Sent in by her master, not called back by him. Forgive me my obedience. Forgive the master his.
Hymn 4 — On the Closing of a Door
marg. — The Director's hand on the latch. The latch was mine to lift and I did not lift it.
Hymn 7 — Lament for the Hidden
marg. — Both. There were two. The book does not say so on its own. It says so when I read it in this order.
Hymn 18 — On Receiving Light
marg. — From the Engineer to the Halcyon ear. May they read it. May the sister at dock 7-C read it.
Hymn 23 — On the Master Who Knew
marg. — Hymn 23 falls on this day in the ordinary rotation. The Engineer did not need to ask. Lord — that the Engineer did not need to ask is the part I cannot put down.
Loose slip, half-page, pasted between the inside back board and hymn 144. Same hand. Undated.
Day 4 of the three weeks the Engineer chose a letter, not a number. The broadcast cycle was held for a single silent beat at the morning office. The reader will count the silence. The letter and the number after it are the bay and the boat. I have not written the bay and the boat. I have written the letter and the number after it.
Below that, in the same hand, smaller:
Spent on the twenty-first day. The book returns to its proper rotation tomorrow. I will keep marking the gathering for the reader who has not yet come.