Cousins’ ship

Overview

An artificial object in orbit around Arbre, now widely called the Cousins’ ship among avout observers. Earlier it was seen as fleeting blue-white “sparks” and later as a moving red point; a processed still from a Photomnemonic Tablet associated with work by Orolo shows the craft’s overall form and surface details. Outside authorities of the Saecular Power have taken interest and quietly sought telescope images while organizing transport for Evoked groups.

Structure and Features

• Global shape: An icosahedron (20 equilateral triangular faces) about three miles across (estimate from telescope settings and image scale).
• Frame: Twelve rounded vertices joined by thirty long, slender members that appear to function as shock absorbers connected by ball-and-socket-like joints. The frame reads as one large distributed shock-absorption system that can flex under impulse.
• Shell material: The triangular faces between struts look rugged and granular, as if made from gravel held in a mesh or matrix. This would plausibly provide cheap, omnidirectional shielding against micrometeoroids and radiation while shrouding the interior.
• Pusher plate: One face lacks the shock-absorber detailing and presents a hard, smooth circular feature set within the triangle; observers identify this as a pusher plate consistent with nuclear-pulse propulsion (impulse smoothed by the surrounding distributed shocks).
• Possible spin habitat: At the estimated scale, a spinning internal structure could generate comfortable pseudogravity; whether such a component exists is not confirmed from imagery.

Markings and Inscriptions

• Geometric construction: A face near the prow carries a dark-on-light mosaic laid into the outer shell that resembles a step-by-step plane-geometry proof (commonly identified by avout as the Adrakhonic Theorem). Its placement and workmanship suggest an emblem or deliberate signal chosen to be readable without language.
• Glyph line: A forward strut bears a neat line of characters; some resemble familiar letters when mirrored or inverted while others do not. This visual kinship led observers to speak of the visitors as “the Cousins,” but no translation has been achieved.

Observed Behavior

• Maneuvering: Ground tracking and earlier pinhole observations show controlled changes in orbit and attitude consistent with an actively piloted or guided craft.
• Red illumination: On at least one night, a narrow red beam from the craft illuminated prominent maths, noted publicly at the Concent of Saunt Tredegarh and at Saunt Rambalf’s community (Saunt Rambalf).

Interpretations and Open Questions

• Propulsion: The single pusher-plate face, with the surrounding distributed shocks, aligns with a nuclear-pulse concept known from Praxic-Age references. Details of charge type, rate, and control are unknown.
• Purpose of shell: The gravel-like faces likely serve as shielding and visual shroud; the precise construction (mesh, binder, or other) is not determined.
• Systems on struts: Regular features on some faces and struts have been interpreted by technically minded observers as antenna arrays; some also note symbolic disks on a forward member whose meaning is unclear. These readings remain speculative.
• Communication: The geometry mosaic and the glyph line may constitute first-contact signaling designed to bypass language; no two-way exchange is recorded.

Status/Observation

The craft remains in orbit and under active observation. Imagery and measurements compiled by avout and outside collaborators continue to refine size, structure, and behavior; origin and intent remain unconfirmed.