Dear Annalis,

My heart is overjoyed at your safe arrival in the Alpha Centauri system.  It is beyond description the way I have obsessed over your wellbeing. Dark thoughts have been my constant companion over the last months and the relief felt now that the burden of these has lifted is indescribable.  Of course this worry could not have come at a more inopportune time.  The bleakness of the landscape around the research station was detrimental even for a balanced and sane individual, but in the state I was delivered there, it was near disastrous for our project. Worry, depression, hopelessness and a limited diet all have taken a toll on me.  It was a true test of the influence remaining in the work I produced and it screams insufficiency in its failure. As I said before, I will need to rethink the materials I have used and the amount of time the piece will need to remain in this quadrant of space before it can be used elsewhere. 

I cannot help contemplating what my state now would be if I did not have the utilization of the painting during my hiatus at the research station. I assume I would be in a further state of neural decline, but the effective extent of the works presence is still not sufficient to deem the piece a success.

As to your cryptic description of where you have been and why you worried me so, I will leave that for another time. I can tell from your letter that it is not a thing to discuss over any type of electronic communication. A very concerning subject, but I can wait.

I do not regret the time I spent at the research station.  It proved the useful application of the work we are doing, and also put a spotlight on the inadequacies.  I now have a direction for improvement, and that was not clear to me until the end of this encounter.

I now return to my work.  Maybe a bit more unstable, but determined as ever and happy to have you back in reality, and not in my mind alone.

Love Victoria