Anthem, Anniston, Annika, Daly, and Darrion played virtual reality, aiming blasters at nonexistent targets.
"I think they like it," Raylay observed.
"I appreciate it," she said.
She felt a firm squeeze on her shoulder. For a second, they watched the five nine-year-olds deep in a digital world.
"It's not a toy," Raylay remarked. "It's preparation for what's to come."
With that, he gave a slight bow to Relda.
"I'm off," he said.
Relda placed her hand on her huge stomach. She was bigger than she was with the twins. That much she was sure of. Her stomach hardened under her palm.
"Can you take the girls?" she asked. "The quints are coming. I can tell."
Raylay chewed on his lip, and nodded. He went to the high chairs and clapped his hands at Ozla and Klea. They reached for him, and he scooped them up.
"Alright, girls," he called over them. "Your mom is about to have the babies."
A few moments later, Relda lay in the cot. It had become so familiar, she could safely dub it her fourth home: first Jucardi, then Anmer, then the Eyan-assigned apartment, and simultaneously, the hospital. Rhiannon, again, started the intravenous tube.
"Everything will be fine," she assured Relda. "I was with Eyan when he delivered the quints you adopted."
And Relda drifted off. She woke to Eyan at the foot of her bed. Again.
"Let's go to the nursery," he said. "We'll see your babies."
He walked her down a long corridor, and stopped at a wall of plexiglass. Left to right, one was wrapped in a pale pink blanket. Another, a mint green one, another a pale blue blanket that had lace. The fourth, a white one. The fifth, a gray blanket.
"The names?" Eyan inquired.
Relda swiped her fingers from the left to right.
"That one--the one in pink--is Tayla. Next one is Asia. Third one is Noah. Fourth is Shilah. Fifth is Bria."
Eyan gave a curt nod. Relda pressed her nose against the glass.
"Listen," he said. "You remember the contract."
Relda ached inside, and she said, "Yes. I remember. I never stop thinking about it. Every time I look at my girls."
"It begins when your adopted clones are twenty-one, and when your seven are all twelve."