Magellan Prime 1: The Lost Colony
an excerpt

Chapter 1
The First Martian
A thousand stars stood guard over the young boy’s dreams. They arced overhead, covering the boy – now nearly a young man, as the peach fuzz dotting his chin attested – from head to toe. He could not see them but seemed to know, somewhere within his quiet, shapeless dreams, that they were there. They were a comfort of home.
Were his eyes not closed he would see above him a smattering of bluish-white points across a dark navy blue fabric. A nearby digital clock cast a slight red glow across the canopy above the roomy twin bed. In this glow the compact bedroom could be glimpsed at through the pervasive darkness. Spartan in appearance and utilitarian in function, the room sported the standard four walls. On two of these the crimson light illuminated the basic forms of large, wall-spanning murals content to remain in the shadows for now. A night table astride the bed and a dresser across filled the remainder of the space.
It was much less then what he was accustomed to back home, but the room was only temporary. The canopy helped. At night, with sleep crawling through the corners of his eyes, the false stars were convincing enough to suggest to his weary mind that he was still resting beneath the clear skies at Daedalus.
So it was that the 14 year old Jacob Anderson dreamt long and peacefully.