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Kepler Station Vignette

A trip to June Lake. Peleos progress. Long live long-form fiction! A vignette of Mars Colony's Kepler Station.

Ryan Southwick

19 May 2026 • 5 min read

Image credit: Mars One/Bryan Versteeg

Work has been crazy lately at both startups. Fundraising and compliance each have their own challenges. I feel lucky sometimes that I only have to face the compliance end. On the plus side, my job also requires me to go to June Lake to work with my brother for a week. Yosemite should be open by the time I get there. Working and hiking is my favorite combination. =] We plan to bike the valley floor while the weather is still cool-ish, which I've never done. Can't wait!

Peleos is sliding along slower than I'd hoped. Early a.m. work meetings have made writing time hard to secure. Hopefully things will free up in a few weeks, but we've also been saying that for months. That said, I'm pushing through Climax #1, building to Climax #2, which should neatly close the series. Every chapter brings new, exciting twists that I couldn't have seen when writing my outline. That in itself keeps me writing.

Talking with my kid a few days ago, he mentioned how much more he enjoys longer stories where he can really get to know the characters and such. It brought a tear to my eye to know that long-form fiction isn't dead even to the TikTok generation. Both kids are talented voice actors and have recently said they'd be willing to narrate one of my books. Since we recently upgraded their audio equipment, it sounds like a fair deal. One of them might voice Project Xerxes, which is a nice, short starter, and the other One Man's Trash (need to clear that with the publisher). Either way, it should be fun!

This month's feature is a tantalizing vignette of what it's like to be in the upper portion of Mars Colony, Kepler Station.

Vignette: Kepler Station
Book Sales and Events
Currently Reading
Other Authors You Might Like

Vignette: Kepler Station

In Peleos (Timeless Keeper Saga Book 3), Mars Colony consists of 2 parts: Kepler Station, and Peleos. Kepler Station is topside and has only a handful of habitats, along with solar cells and other things that should only live on the Martian surface. Peleos is a sprawling mesh of interconnected habitats underground in the vast Martian lava tubes.

This vignette paints a small picture of life in Mars Colony.

Wide grooves in the brown Martian dirt guided Chuck's rover to its parking spot next to the airlock. He killed power. The vehicle's electric hum died, replaced by the whisper of ghostly wind and dust against the exterior. A haze muddied the landscape into an even duller brown. He'd seen dustier, but it would still leave a layer on the rover he would need to clean later.

Chuck sealed his helmet. A whirr sounded from his environmental pack. Recirculated air whisked his nose, smelling too pungently of himself. He needed a shower.

The rover's airlock whooshed open, a dozen times too quiet in the thin atmosphere. Chuck scooted out. His feet bounced off the ground in the low Martian gravity, forcing a quick hop to regain his balance, then he bounded lightly to the airlock. Dust colored the white door a mottled brown, slid off the lever when he pulled it, blew out in a small cloud when the door cracked open. He stepped inside, waited for the red light to turn green, then entered Kepler Station and sealed the hatch behind him.

The best part was always climbing out of his environmental suit, less the climbing than the out. His nose wrinkled against the sharp smell of cleaning chemicals that permeated every habitat in Mars Colony. Usually he didn't notice, but coming in from the rover always made it stand out.

Chuck began to make his way through the connected habitats toward the descent. A flash of blue caught his eye in the last hab. The sun was setting. He lingered for a moment, never tiring of the alien sight, so different from Earth. Then he said goodbye to natural light for a while and entered the lava tube.

He enjoyed this journey the least. The tube was small, purpose-built to convey people from Kepler Station to Peleos and nothing else. No ports, no tables, no features, just a quarter kilometer of tubes and hatches and artificial lights. One day he might bring a crayon and scribble a drawing on the wall just for a change of scenery. Kiezik would love that.

Not.

At last, he stepped through the final hatch into the last home he would ever know.

Into Peleos.

Book Sales and Events

May 31 — Bay Area Book Festival. Last year's festival was very successful for Water Dragon, and this year looks to be the same. Doubt I'll make it to this one, but if you're in the area, there are usually a lot of book stalls to peruse and authors to chat with.
July 4–5 — BayCon. The Bay Area's premiere science fiction convention. Always worth stopping by for sci-fi fans.
August 27–31 — WorldCon. World's biggest science fiction convention, this year in the Anaheim Convention Center. I may attend this one.
October 22–25 — World Fantasy Convention. Another Oakland event. Lots of them there this year, it seems.