I find myself back at Artemis Lodge tonight. Ostensibly I have returned in order to prepare, package and ship a moderate quantity of biological and resinous samples back to the University - and this is a task to which I apply myself with great vigour and diligence as soon as the docking clamp is secure and I can quit the pilot's chair.

Once the foul material is safely contained and suitably addressed, however, my previously occupied mind is once more able to drift away from the present moment and back over the events of the previous twenty hours or so. I had travelled out to the first (only the first!) of the sites which will be investigated and mapped over the course of this scientific expedition, finding this particular corner of HIP 17862 to be deep in shadow and wholly unsuitable for photography. An attempt to capture the finer details using Night Vision from a height of just over a kilometre served only to remind me that the instruments on the Quinn are overdue for replacement, and to deepen the eyestrain-induced headache which has been bothering me so for the past few weeks. I made the decision, after having explored the site under the glare of incandescent light, to sleep for a few hours and wait for the motion of the planetary bodies to provide me with a more natural and plentiful light source which would be more than adequate for any and all photography. I will not relate what it was which woke me five hours later. In fact, I will find something else to keep my mind busy as soon as I am done making these notes, in the hope that I can distract myself long enough to screw up the courage to press on with the expedition. Perhaps a bottle of brandy would help with that. I am sure I can find some here in this station, for a reasonable price. Suffice to say, though, that after waking and once I had dried my sweat-drenched clothing somewhat, I made a hasty departure from the system. An aerial photograph of the site gives testament to the hasty nature of my departure - the lighting is still not up to the level which one would expect from a scientific document, and there is some unexplained blurring of the finer details. Which is certainly not due to the tremor in my left hand which is growing steadily worse.

I did map another of our scheduled sites before returning here - the lighting was much better, and I was not foolhardy enough to sleep within the vicinity. This second site was the source of the majority of the samples which I have now sent on their merry way. I cannot say that I am not glad to be back at the Lodge, even if only for a little while. The expedition will continue.