Decided system building is not for me. Respect to all the space truckers out there who make the markets what they are and working towards humanities expanse across the galaxy, but I'm not sure I can haul another 20k tons of material.

In preparation for my next exploration trip, I am gathering materials to upgrade my Mandalay just a bit more. The pre-engineered SCO drive will give a bit more oomph to the drive versus my current build, and upgrading the detailed scanner to make scanning planets a bit quicker.

As much as I dislike hauling gear after the colonization attempt, i also need to load up Cygnus-1 with tritium for a round trip. Rather than build a miner with the expectation of refueling, I hope to load enough for my route. As a test run, I will be visiting the Zurara. I intend to park that way for a bit, do a bit of exobio. Bringing my AX ship just in case i make some unwanted contact.

Brewer Corp had a success in the rollout of their colonization ships. The bubble is expanding like never before. I had only made it back to civilization, fearing space madness was beginning to take hold. I've helped build a few structures in a system and they are generous enough to provide a credit allowance each week for my efforts, but man, the building is slow. Even running a cutter with auto-dock (necessary for the mindlessly dull effort of trucking), I feel the big players would do well to offer a new ship with larger capacity. If the Type-8 Can cram all of that cargo and land on a medium pad, imagine what a similar focus can achieve with a large pad? 1500t of space would be a game changer for colonization.

I am currently building a security station and bar for my new system. Everyone enjoys a good bar, and from there, I need to decide if I keep up with this, or return to the black, exploring a new sector of the galaxy. With a carrier, I can now settle in a region for longer times, and still have a piece of civilization, even if small, with me at all times.

Today I found my first space spud. This tiny misshapen rock looked like the head of a boxer fighting up a weight class. Other than its exceedingly small gravity, this little potato had a water atmosphere and hosted 7 different species of exobiology. My little potato was hiding riches.

I'm still quite a few jumps from the bubble and despite my approach to civilization the lessening star density makes the trip look less welcoming and more lonely with every jump.

I think I've been in the black for too long. I spent far too much time on an icy planet looking for a bacteria worth essentially nothing in a system with a Class Y star and otherwise unexciting. 2 geological features also could not be accounted for. The planet, with its dim pink/purple hue, was alarmingly welcoming, though. I found myself wanting to dismiss my ship, sit against a rock, and take in the stars

I have found worlds where a botanist could nearly walk for days and still be within eyesight of some plant life. Planets where geological formations occur in groups large enough to keep a geologist entertained for a lifetime. I've found nested moons whose rings from the primary planets appear to touch the highest mountain tops. Earth-Like worlds orbiting each other begging for colonization, and enough diversity and beauty to become future points of interests for tourism. Yet this insignificant ice world, with its seemingly hidden bacteria and geological formations, was the most welcoming sight in the weeks I've been away from the bubble.

I eventually came back to my senses and moved on, not even noting the system as there seems no reason to return. It's time to get back to civilization, or at least a nearby DSSA carrier as I fear my time away is starting to make me mad.

Why couldn't I find that bacteria?