The moons glowed from the sky. Preteen fingers shot up in the sky.
"Trakk is a full moon, Mama!"
Relda gazed through a scope. The scope magnified night sky at the cratered sphere and two white crescents beyond it.
Relda pulled away from the scope as an object took shape on the horizon.
"What is it, Mama?" Shilah asked, standing on the tips of her toes.
Relda winked into the scope again. The object grew. Raylay waved from the pilot's seat, and Ty from the copilot's side.
"It's Uncle Raylay," Relda told the girls, but didn't move her eyes from the scope. "And Ty."
After a moment, she pushed the scope away. Raylay brought the ship down to a hover above the footpath.
"Get in," he ordered.
Noah glanced back at their cottage.
"B-but," she stammered. "Our stuff."
Relda abandoned the scope and advanced toward the transport. She squeezed between Raylay and Ty. No way would she take the passenger cabin while they got the cockpit. Some things never changed.
"Hurry up," she said.
"You know why," Daly told the younger girls. "Quit dinking around."
Ozla, Klea, Tayla, Asia, Noah, Shilah, and Bria plodded toward the transport. Meanwhile, the older quintuplets followed, making bouncing motions with their hands behind their sisters. They crowded into the cabin, and Raylay twisted in his seat to zone in on them.
"We've already stocked up on supplies. In the kitchen and the girls' bunk room."