"The flaw in that statement," says Cray after a pause, "is that this may be another ship of the same name."
"No," says the colonel. "Explorer Class cruiser. They went out of service two hundred eighty years back."
The Space Force, I remember, does not re-use names of lost ships: some says Very Proper Feeling some say Superstitious Rot.
B says, "When was she found again?"
Lennie says it was j-just thirty-seven revolutions of his native planet which means f-f-fifty-three Terrestrial years ago, she was found by an Interplanetary scout called Crusoe.
Judging by the colonel's expression this data is Classified; he does not know that Lennie's family come from one of the oldest settled planets and are space-goers to a man, woman, and juvenile; they pick up ship gossip the way others hear about the relations of people next door.
Lennie goes on to say that the Explorer Class were the first official exploration ships sent out from Earth when the Terries decided to find out what happened to the colonies formed during the Exodus. Gilgamesh was the first to re-make contact with Garuda, Legba, Lister, Cor-bis and Antelope; she vanished on her third voyage.
"Where was she found?" asks Eru.
"Near the p-p-pole of an uninhabited planet—maybe I shouldn't say where because that may be secret, but the rest's History if you know where to look."