Humans and Pokémon are colonising Mars, but good people aren't the only ones with their eyes on this new world.
The first spaceflight of the Ares program launched 49 years ago. So far, the red planet hasn't been kind. Without spacesuits, few Pokémon...
Ross avoided signing the permits to build new settlements on Mars. He didn't want to refuse directly yet, in case he really wouldn't make it home if he did, so he told the Martian architects that he would see to it later.
There were two architects pushing to build the settlements: Luke Clemens and Apple Yakhin. They were both descendants of serial renovators, Wattson and Clay. Since Luke arrived 34 years ago, he designed many of the buildings in Ironville, including the town hall. He was a strict taskmaster, good friends with Rudolph and rumoured to be dating the Martian Admin of the Ares program, Kekili Kukui, who was 29 years his junior. It was only with Apple's arrival, 20 years ago, that he had to share the glory of presiding over every important architectural project on Mars.
Ross was in the archive, working on his records of missing people, when someone hammered on the door. Larissa didn't wait for an answer.
'Have you seen the email?'
'The email...?'
Ross felt like such a fool. All of this was happening under his oblivious nose from the moment he agreed to lead the Ares program. He was never up to date. He didn't even know what 'the email' was, although that was understandable, since his head was full to the brim with missing people.
'The latest newsletter.'
Larissa sat in front of him on the floor. She apparently expected Ross to be unaware of the latest newsletter, because she printed it out to show him. His eyes widened. The first image was of Apple, welcoming a group of tourists to a brightly-lit square surrounded by towering buildings. The next was of Luke cutting the ribbon in an airlock leading to an enclosed town reminiscent of Mauville City in Hoenn. Its top floor was a vast garden protected by a bubble like Ironville's. Larissa replaced the newsletter with a pile of newspapers from the nearest convenience store.
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The door opened again. Naaji and his Charizard walked in with a coffee for Larissa.
'How...?'
Ross stared at the pictures in disbelief.
'I didn't sign the permits... they haven't been signed for me... I check every day... and Kekili wouldn't...'
'Kekili did,' Naaji said, 'About five years ago. I hope you don't mind I did some hacking. They're all at it, anyway.'
'No... I need your help, if I'm honest... but why even bother showing the permits to me if she signed them five years ago?'
'If you read the description really carefully, it's basically asking you to allow people to live there, not to allow construction to go ahead. And Kekili signed those a few days ago.'
Ross' heart sank. He never could see Kekili dating that Luke, let alone turning a blind eye to missing people, but maybe that was because he couldn't accept that he lost the only woman he ever loved when he endorsed her to go to Mars. She promised she would call him every day. Then she met Luke and never called Ross again unless it concerned the Ares program.
