Space oddity

Gaun Arel found something interesting in space, an old wandering spaceship, and was thoughtful to report it back and bookmark its location. Of course, my interest was piqued. Moreover, the ancient ship was just one system away from Gamdis, a system of particular archaeological interest.

I had little trouble finding the artifact using Gaun's directions. It is a most gorgeous solar sail ship:

There is a gold-coated solar sail in front, and it carries along a small gondola attached by swaying cables to two masts, to which the sails are attached. The gondola is actually a kind of shuttle or lifeboat, with a ring not unlike the Stratios:

Note that the perspective here is deceptive: the gondola is actually quite smaller than the Indigatrix which here stands at a distance. The ship is comparable in size to a modern solar sailer such as the Zephyr designed by the Intaki scientist Valsas en Dilat. Perhaps en Dilat encountered this ship or one like this and got inspired? The back of the sail has a different reflectivity:

This ensures that there is a differential light pressure even in a cloud or diffuse light. There were no life-signs in the ship, but the vessel is still active, and powered up. It is just slowly sailing along. Concord has tagged it "Tom's ship". Someone must have scanned it and sent that information to concord. The pilot Tom must have passed away a very long time ago, as this ship shows signs of being adrift for many thousands of years. It was moving along at 0.2 - 0.3 m/s, perhaps it will accelerate somewhat when it gets nearer to the star.

Even though I find it suspicious that the vessel is so close to the Takmahl sphere of influence, it is clearly not a Takmahl design. Nevertheless, I was tempted to board the ship, and perhaps take it back for research. That would pose only minor difficulties, as it is not compatible with capsuleer technology, but that is no real obstacle. 

However, I  did not want to be the one who after all these thousands of years interrupts the journey of this magnificent  and majestic vessel, perhaps a tomb but certainly a monument to the ingenuity of humankind, and its indomitable spirit of exploration.