Rhiannon was a lovely creature with salmon-colored skin and eyes the colors of asteroids. She came in with a cart with syringes and sterilizing pads and a cart with a clear pouch. Relda dry heaved at the sight of the syringes, and the thought of them making contact with her veins.
"I'm Head Nurse Rhiannon," she said. "I also do anesthetics."
Rhiannon's voice faded somewhere in the middle of her introduction as Relda eyed the syringe Rhiannon unwrapped.
"There'll just be a little pinch," Rhiannon promised, prepping Relda's hand with a cool, wet sterilizing pad.
The needle slid into Relda's veins. The world around her faded to black. She came back to it with Eyan standing at her sleeping pod's end. He grinned down at her.
"The implantation is complete," he told her. "We took several egg cells and transferred the nucleus to make copies."
"How many...are in me?" Relda groaned.
"Two," Eyan said, holding up fingers.
They blurred together, but Relda ventured to guess there were two.
"I ordered seven though," she said, rubbing her eyes.
"They'll be healthier if we don't implant all at once," he explained. "The most I've attempted successfully are five. We'll implant the others in nine or ten months."
Relda positioned her head on the pillow. Her body felt light and airy, but her head felt clouded.
"Where are my daughters?" She staggered.
"They'll be here in a moment," Eyan promised.