Synopsis: Generation Ship

A generation ship is on its way 55 Cancri f (41 ly away) The unit is designed with two parts to it, like two parallel Pringles cans, each spinning along its long axis to provide gravity within the unit (see Rendezvous with Rama, Arthur C. Clarke, and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/O'Neill_cylinder for inspiration). Inhabitants of the one module are unaware of the existence of the other module, or even that they are on a spaceship, as they have been upon the ship for numerous generations, without any contact with the other module or their origins, and they have lost all records of the past. When the slowly failing gravity gets to a point that the crops are suffering, their society decides to send an investigatory team to attempt to find a solution or a place for them to move the crops. The team discovers the second habitat, which contains intact or partially intact records of the history of the generation ship, and may or may not contain living individuals. The second habitat cannibalized power from the first habitat to maintain a higher level of society for a longer time, and cannibalized the spin as well (though for what, I’m not sure, maybe power generation to maintain some records?). I want to avoid clichés, so no all-powerful AI (The Integral Trees, Larry Niven) and no map to the rediscovery of ancient knowledge (Dragonsblood, Anne McCaffrey). A different twist to the story could be that the generation ship arrives at the destination only to find that it has been already colonized by FTL or faster cryo ships.