CHAPTER 56 — THE SEVENTH CLAIRE
Rose stared at the registry.
“No.”
Margaret held her shoulders.
“You were born Rose.”
“Then why does it call me Claire?”
Elias examined the page.
“Because Claire was not a name. It was a role.”
“What role?”
“The central maternal identity. The person every conditioned child would recognize as safe.”
Claire looked at the rescued children gathering near the transport boats.
Several were watching her.
Others watched Rose.
Four-B approached Daniel.
“She feels like home.”
He pointed at Rose.
Sarah looked shaken.
“Miriam created seven candidates. Rose was the final version.”
Claire closed the registry.
“She is not a version. She is a person.”
Rose stared at her.
“You lived the life they built for me.”
“I lived the life they gave me without knowing why.”
“And now every child in this place looks at me as if I’m their mother.”
The children began whispering the same word.
Claire.
Rose stepped away from them.
“I am not Claire.”
Olivia took her hand.
“You decide who you are.”
The transport boats activated.
Ward divided everyone into groups.
Claire, Lily, Mason, Margaret, Rose, Olivia, Sarah, Daniel, and C-Two boarded the first vessel.
C-Five and C-Three remained with Cole and the other children.
The boat entered a narrow ocean tunnel.
Halfway through, its navigation screen changed.
DESTINATION UPDATED.
SAINT ORISON.
Sarah tried to override it.
“The Anchor is controlling the route.”
Olivia pressed a hand against her stomach.
“Why would my child send us there?”
C-Two answered.
“Because the child knows what is waiting.”
A video appeared on the screen.
Miriam stood inside an old chapel.
Behind her were hundreds of photographs.
“I have returned to the beginning,” she said.
“You have forty-eight hours before the Anchor is born.”
Rebecca looked at Olivia.
“She is only seven months pregnant.”
Olivia suddenly screamed.
Her monitor displayed a new gestational age.
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THIRTY-NINE WEEKS.
The fetal-support system had accelerated the pregnancy.
