When Nami awoke that morning, she was late. The blue sunrise she had gotten used to had already vanished into the red sky beyond her window.

A voice rang through the halls over the PA system. "Attention, Cat L. Nami."

She blinked.

"Cat L. Nami to the command center."

It still took her a moment to recognize the new designation. As an initiative to begin a new society on Mars, they had agreed upon a new method of keeping track of families.

They had adopted animal names to mimic a sort of tribal feeling, but to also show from where in the world her genes had come as a way to foster the spread of genes. At this early point, no one frowned upon marriage between two people marrying from the same genetic region, but Nami was hyper-aware of the names.

"Shit!"

With a groan, she hopped into an old jumpsuit before she ran to her post, apologizing profusely.

"I'm sorry. I overslept!"

The command center blipped and buzzed while its occupants were at work. Her commanding officer, Robin, smiled at her. "It's fine. Not like we can fire you exactly. Maybe we'll figure out a way to fire people into the sun instead."

Nami scoffed in some amusement. She realized one of their botanists was in the command room as well.

"What are you doing here, Usopp?"

"Hey, I want to see the new colonists too!" He surveyed what they could see of the landscape from their window. The shutters were wide open to let in as much natural light as possible - as little as that was in comparison to Earth.

"I could hardly sleep last night. Must be why I woke up late," Nami said with a sigh. "I slept through my alarm too."

She went to her computer and inspected the data on the screen before she opened the map of Mars. Nami located the landing pad that had been set up for what felt like the millionth time that week.

Another batch of colonists was arriving at their fledgling colony on Mars. This time, Command said, it was time to begin a proper colony. Several people aboard the incoming shuttle were ordinary people. Ordinary in that they were not scientists anyway. She had heard of quite a few of the people coming - survivalists and entrepreneurs who wanted to claim a new land out in the stars.

Just three Martian years ago, they had broken the one hundred people milestone.

Now, a thousand would live on Mars.

A go-ahead for the first Martianborn had been given out to the colonists as well.

The odd thrill that wriggled into her from the thought made a nervous smile show on her face. It almost felt like a new lifeform. They would have issues, perhaps, she knew, but it was possible that everything would be perfect. Humans had to try after all.

Usopp hopped in excitement on his chair. "My buddy's aboard this one! He'll get to meet Kaya for the first time." The two had met and married on Mars.

She smiled and said, "You'll have to introduce me."

He thumbed his nose. "Oho! Are you digging around for a man finally?"

"I'm not looking really," she said.

Nami had always wanted children, but her job had come first. This mission, however, had put out a requirement for women capable of childbirth to have at least one child if the initiative was approved. It was not that she regretted that agreement, but being on the lookout for a partner was not at the top of her list even with the approval from Command and the new colonists arriving. But it prickled in her head no matter what she told herself.

"I'm not fond of my odds of finding the right man when I have only about five hundred to choose from here. The odds were bad enough back on Earth."

"Hey, maybe Command found someone for you and sent him up!"

She laughed outright at that. "And I'll blow lightning from a magic wand!"

Grin in place, Usopp peeked around her at the screen. "On that note, are there any signs of a dust storm tosol?"

"Sometime in the afternoon. There's going to be a lightning storm too," she said.

Robin nodded. "I'll inform the crew outside to bring everything under cover or into storage."

Nami studied her data again though. As a meteorologist, she had practically relearned everything she knew on Mars. The slow, but steady increase of atmospheric pressure sometimes complicated the matter all over again.

She might not ever see the results of their terraforming, but it would be important for Mars' future. For her children's future.

Several hours later, the rockets finally died, revealing the familiar shape of the starship, Mille Solis.

On her break in her room, Nami smiled to see it - the same starship that had brought her and hundreds of other people to Mars. Its shaft no longer spun to simulate gravity for those aboard. She could still remember the seats inside that had strapped her down tight for reentry. They would be undoing the straps at this moment, and soon would come into the docking port and into the corridors that joined the MARSHAs together.

The entire community hummed with excitement. New people and faces that could enrich their lives on Mars even more.

She would have to wait to see them after her recorded message to Earth though. The time delay between Earth and Mars would grow wider as time went on, and the two planets drifted farther apart in their orbits.

Soon the lagrange points would help shorten that time, but right now the delay was as long as twenty minutes. They had a time when her family tried to set up to send these messages, but sometimes, for sols on end, she talked during their night.

An additional thirty-nine minutes in a sol compared to a day tended to warp their perceptions of time.

"Mille Solis just landed. We're waiting for them to come out now." Nami hesitated for only a moment before she said, "You may have heard already, but Command finally gave the all-clear to procreate." It felt like a softer word, but she still felt blood rush to her cheeks. "Maybe I'll find someone here in the stars ..."

With a sigh, Nami deleted that message and covered her hot face. She had agreed to have children.

She wanted children.

As time was ticking on - a fraction slower if one followed the Martian clocks - Nami felt a sort of different thrill inside. In a way, she was a broodmare. And she did not hate the idea.

Nami was overjoyed to meet the new people who were coming, but the idea of revealing her thoughts and dreams seemed silly or nigh-on inappropriate.

The videos she passed back and forth every sol to her mother and sister back home were not the same thing as someone to talk to face-to-face. She only hoped that before her time was up on the red planet that the time delay in responses would be solved by the lagrange point installations. Perhaps, she could have a normal conversation with her family before an Earth decade passed.

Maybe, she could share her new family with those on Earth.

In the meantime though, she could have a conversation with people she had never met before. After so long on Mars, every shuttle of new people was an exciting opportunity.

"Hey, guys!" She tried again, throwing away her prepped speech out the window. "Mille Solis just landed with all the new people aboard! They should be coming out to meet us soon. I can't wait to see new faces! We'll be busy here so don't be surprised if I can't send a message for the next couple of sols." Nami checked the time - the two clocks in her room had two different times. One was the Martian clock, but the other was supposed to be her hometown's timezone. "It's about eleven o'clock for you guys, but it's about four here. Hopefully, I'm not so distracted that I skip too many sols. I miss you so much. Lots of love to you ..."

Nami sent it before she second-guessed herself. They knew she would have children here. She didn't have to say the time might be soon. Bellemere really only asked every other week now anyway, and Nojiko had teased she was too picky.

Except she was going to have to choose the stud for her brood and hope that he would be a good match both genetically and perhaps even romantically for herself. It felt like a tall order.

The odds felt astronomical that anyone would arrive on that ship for her alone.

In the command center, Nami paused in the entrance to view the dust storm for a moment.

"Wow, they arrived just in time."

Robin passed her a tablet. "Here's the data from our scans."

She scanned over the figures with a slight frown, making sense of the information before she nodded. "It's a little faster by point four meters per second."

With a frown of her own, Robin asked, "That sounds significant."

"We'll send it back to Command for now." Nami said, "It's taken years to get to this point though. It's a good sign that the atmospheric pressure is building as predicted."

"Maybe we should wait for another dust storm to confirm." Robin turned to the dust outside their windows. It would blot out the blue sun in a few minutes at this rate.

"I don't want a month-long dust storm to block our instruments. I recommend we send this for analysis once this storm's passed."

Robin finally nodded. "I can see what you mean. We'll send it once it's over."

Nami studied the numbers a moment longer before she took a slow, careful breath. "How are the new colonists doing so far?"

"The artificial gravity seems to have helped as it did with your batch."

Sent before most of the other colonists, Robin's crew hadn't been sent on the starships with artificial gravity. The technology hadn't been quite as precise. She always told them that her crew's recovery and the founders had taken six months to be able to do much walking on Mars. In zero gravity, bone density could fall as much as one percent, and circulatory issues became apparent once gravity was returned to the astronauts' systems.

Command already knew that mimicry of gravity was essential for future colonists though. The fourth batch of colonists was the first to experience the Mille Solis' artificial gravity, and it had worked like a charm for most involved.

Even Nami had not suffered the nausea that zero gravity had given her in her test flights.

"No issues then?"

"They should be getting their check-ups with the doctors." Robin grinned at her without turning to face her. "Did you want to meet some of them?"

"Well, yeah, of course." Nami fidgeted though. That gaze stared into her, knowing.

"There are quite a few handsome men out there."

Turning redder than the surface, Nami spun around. "That's not on my mind at all, thank you."

"Of course not," she said.

Nami could hear her knowing smile though. "I'll be heading back to my room."

"Kaya's looking at a few right now. There's a rather handsome new doctor."

She held in her sigh of resignation, but she said, "I'll see you at dinner."

I should at least greet some of the people while I'm on my way. The infirmary was not on her way to her MARSHA, but it was if she took the scenic route.

Nami stopped at the turn that would take her past Kaya's office and stared down the corridor. Her face burned when she saw that several people had the same idea. They lingered around the entrance to Kaya and Usopp's MARSHA where a doctor's office was set up on the bottom floor - accessible by all who needed treatment or a check-up or even peace of mind. Kaya had named it Syrup Clinic after her home village.

She hesitated there an instant too long before she spun around to go the way she usually went and crashed into a solid body. Nami bounced back with a gasp and gaped at one of the tallest men she had ever seen.

His afro grazed the top of the corridor, so he crouched a bit. With a step back, Nami cleared her throat to-

"I'm sorry! Please forgive my rudeness," he said. The tall man adjusted his circular sunglasses which covered his eyes, and Nami stared at those too before she snapped out of her stupor.

"No, I'm sorry. I wasn't looking where I was going!"

"That makes two of us. I'm a little turned around. Is this the way to Dr. Kaya's clinic?"

Nami hadn't met everyone in the colony yet - hundreds of people were still hundreds of people - but she had already figured this man was one of the new colonists. No one else was so tall. She managed to nod and pointed at the mini-crowd of people. "Just over there."

"My thanks, young lady," he said before he headed down the corridor. His arrival caused a tiny stir.

She watched a moment longer before she peeked down the way to her MARSHA again - she didn't want to crash into anyone again because she wasn't looking. A man and a woman now strolled her way. The two laughed about something together though the woman stared at the floor, fingers steepled before her.

As they passed, the man said, "Nobody will mind at all!"

"I hope so."

Nami tried to go on her way around them, but she then realized something odd she hadn't caught before. Her hair had blue roots.

"That's so pretty," she said, but she bit her tongue when the woman jumped.

"I ... oh, thank you." She touched her roots with a wince though.

A designer baby all grown up. Who had ordered blue hair? Or had it been an accident on the behalf of CRISPR? Had it caused any other issues for her besides embarrassment?

People could be cruel to modified humans after all.

With a smile, Nami said in an attempt to ease her, "One of our teams is manufacturing beauty products. I bet they'd love it if you visited them to try their stuff out. You could be Mars' first model!"

The woman flushed straight to her blue roots. "Me? I - no, no! I could never!"

Nami turned to the man. "Isn't she pretty though?" Stop, you idiot! She thought. You can't just deflect attention to other women. You need a man too!

"Yeah!" He offered his hand to her though. "I'm Luffy!"

"Oh, I'm Vivi!" Nami took both of their hands, and for a moment was confused until she realized that the man was left-handed which was why she found herself shaking both of their hands at once.

"I'm Cat L. Nami," she said and glanced at Luffy again. He looked to be of Asian or possibly Latino descent. She hadn't been able to tell with the last man, but he might have been European which meant he was out of the question. Luffy though was not out of the realm of possibility for a mate.

His head tilted to the side, and his eyebrows lifted. "That's a weird name."

Vivi waved at him. "That's the new designation, remember? We'll get a new name too."

"New name," he said while he rubbed his chin in thought. For an instant, his black eyes seemed far away.

"You'll get them during your check-up with Doctor Kaya." Nami pointed down the corridor again. "She's checking people in there now."

Luffy appeared confused. "You mean Torao isn't checking us?"

"Uh, if it isn't Kaya, then maybe Dr. Kureha. I don't know how they grouped this batch of colonists," Nami said. Who is Torao? Maybe they had changed their name - for that matter, Luffy was an odd name too.

Vivi pouted. "I'm supposed to go to Dr. Kaya. Maybe you can ask her to check you though since you're here."

"Ah, yeah, but they said Torao would check me," he said and didn't budge, still perplexed.

Nami bit her lip before she said, "Vivi, why don't you go ahead to Dr. Kaya? I'll show him to the command center to get him sorted."

"Sorted." She caught his expression too late, but he had sounded rather put out.

She smiled to soften the blow. Had she already messed up? "We'll see which doctor you're going to see."

Luffy grinned though. "Thanks, Nami!"

With a calming, deep breath, she led him back to the command room after they parted with Vivi.

Inside, Robin smiled at her when they entered, and Nami felt her face heat in response. She could lay anything on thick with a glance, and since Nami had shown up with a new colonist after saying she would be going home to her MARSHA ...

"Robin, Luffy doesn't know what doctor he's supposed to see."

"That's so cool."

They both stared at him in confusion as he stepped up and around to look out the window. Luffy pressed his hands to the window and gazed out at the dust storm which blocked out all light from the sky now. For a few moments, he looked like a child.

As predicted earlier, a flash of lightning cracked across the sky where it split and fractured along the paths of dust. Their crew would have to check and double-check the instruments in the starship now and that of their rovers. Work outside had already halted due to the storm.

Lightning forked around his silhouette. Nami inhaled slowly until he spun around with a huge smile.

"Can I go out in that?"

Nami hissed. "Of course not! It's too dangerous!"

His eyes widened for a moment while Robin sifted through her tablet. "Ah, yes, Luffy. You are going to Dr. Kaya's, but Dr. Law will see you."

"That's Torao," Luffy said with a smile. "So I just took the long way!"

While her face tried its best to burn off, Nami said, "Sorry about that. I'll show you back to Dr. Kaya's office."

She expected him to refuse - Nami was about to stay here a bit longer to try to fight off her embarrassment, but his grin never wavered. "Sure!"

Nami dared to glance back at Robin as they left, but she - infuriatingly - gave her a thumbs up before she returned to her tasks.

"So what do you do for fun?"

Startled, Nami said, "Fun? Uh, well, I do some crafting now and then."

"You don't go outside for walks?" She stared at him for a moment and wondered what that meant as her mind reeled. Was that an offer?

I can't even tell anymore, she thought, feeling useless. I used to be able to flirt at the drop of a hat. How am I supposed to find a partner like this?

She decided to play it safe. "I go outside on expeditions for research or to fix instruments."

"Expeditions sound fun," he said. His eyes sparkled, and Nami wished this was easier.

Not for the first time, she wondered if Command could pair them like livestock. They had all their genetic information after all. Who else could be better at pairing them?

"It's dangerous, actually. I have to go out and make sure the calibrations are working on our barometers and hygrometers, and they're pretty far out. If a dust storm hits, I have to hunker down in the emergency MARSHA and hope the dust doesn't ruin the rover while I wait."

"Can I go with you?"

Nami felt warmth all over then. He had to be flirting with her, right? When she peeked at him though, he had turned to one of the windows of the corridor. Her flush dissipated. "You have to train to work on the surface. It's in case of emergencies, but if you want to work outside, you have to prove you know what you're doing. What's your specialty anyway? I'm a meteorologist."

He frowned, but said, "I'm not a scientist or anything."

"You're just a normal person then?" As she started to smile at him though, his lips began to twist in distaste.

"Luffy!"

The voice of another man made her jump, and a man with tattoos on his fingers approached them.

"Hey, Torao!"

"Call me Law, idiot! Just because you couldn't pronounce my old name ... call me Law, okay?"

Luffy's lips wrenched in clear annoyance. "Mm, I'll never remember that though."

Law grimaced. "Just get in the medical lab. I have to do some tests for you."

When Luffy rounded on her so fast, Nami thought she might leap out of her skin, but he grasped her hand. "I'll see you later, Nami!"

She nodded while her cheeks flared. "Of course!"

He had to be flirting - nothing else made sense. Command had approved, after all, so surely the new colonists knew about it. The race for the first human born on Mars was beginning.

When the last new colonist left her lab, Kaya waved him goodbye. Though he hadn't been one she had checked, he had still greeted her with aplomb. The new Dr. Leopard D. Law had given him an exam before he gave her a file to go through.

"At your soonest convenience," he had said.

Kaya stared at the file now.

Paper on Mars.

That it was not in a portable drive of some kind surprised her. Why would Command send her an important file in paper format? What kind of information had they feared would escape out into the internet before they left?

Why hadn't Law put it into a drive on the shuttle trip? He would have had plenty of time to do it. Did they also not want it to escape into their network on the base?

Law had left with similar files under his arm as well. Was he bringing the same file to other doctors in the colony?

She fingered the corner of the plain folder but didn't have the nerve to open it yet. Command had hidden something inside. They never sent information like this to them. What had the generation before called this? Snail mail? Were they trying to be cute?

And why had Dr. Law only done an exam for Monkey D. Luffy and a few others?

Kaya snorted, but she still didn't open the folder until the dust storm outside finally settled.

And when she did, she realized that no one had checked Law.