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Back Daughter of Eden
Chapters (68)
  1. Title page
  2. Dedication
  3. Part I
  4. One
  5. Two
  6. Three
  7. Four
  8. Five
  9. Six
  10. Seven
  11. Eight
  12. Nine
  13. Ten
  14. Eleven
  15. Twelve
  16. Thirteen
  17. Fourteen
  18. Fifteen
  19. Sixteen
  20. Seventeen
  21. Eighteen
  22. Nineteen
  23. Twenty
  24. Twenty-one
  25. Twenty-two
  26. Twenty-three
  27. Twenty-four
  28. Twenty-five
  29. GAIA YOUNG. SUBJECTIVE IMPRESSIONS.MISSION DAY 20. 20:25 MT.
  30. Part II
  31. Twenty-six
  32. Twenty-seven
  33. Twenty-eight
  34. Twenty-nine
  35. Thirty
  36. Thirty-one
  37. Thirty-two
  38. Thirty-three
  39. Thirty-four
  40. Thirty-five
  41. Thirty-six
  42. Thirty-seven
  43. GAIA YOUNG. SUBJECTIVE IMPRESSIONS.MISSION DAY 22. 20:05 MT.
  44. Thirty-eight
  45. Thirty-nine
  46. Forty
  47. Forty-one
  48. GAIA YOUNG. SUBJECTIVE IMPRESSIONS.MISSION DAY 25. 15:30 MT.
  49. Forty-two
  50. Forty-three
  51. Forty-four
  52. Forty-five
  53. Forty-six
  54. Forty-seven
  55. Forty-eight
  56. Forty-nine
  57. Fifty
  58. Fifty-one
  59. Fifty-two
  60. Fifty-three
  61. Fifty-four
  62. Part III
  63. Fifty-five
  64. Fifty-six
  65. Fifty-seven
  66. Fifty-eight
  67. Also by Chris Beckett
  68. Copyright page

‘Always questioning, always poking away at what I say, hinting that you think I’m a fool at best and a liar at worst, but never quite saying it.’

‘But Mary, you said that—’

‘Hinting over and over again that I just say what the high people want me to say, but never coming out and telling me straight that’s what you think.’ She put on an ugly spluttery voice, imitating my batface speech as cruelly as any kid had done back on Knee Tree Grounds. ‘“I’m not saying anyfing bad about you, Mawy. I twust you. I juft wondered.” Yeah, right, you just wondered. Do you think I didn’t notice the expression on your face when I came back from Leader Harry? Oh I noticed alright. And I know exactly what you think. You think I trade with the high people, don’t you? You think I trade Gela’s truth for their support.’

Sweet Mother of Eden, the poison in her voice! Her face was red. Her spit spattered into my face. It was like she’d been storing up every single little angry thought she’d had about me all these last two years, squeezing them tightly tightly together into some small dark space inside herself, and now the whole lot was coming out at once.

‘No, Mary! I don’t think that. I don’t think that at—’

‘It’s no good, Angie. I know your tricks now. It’s always the same. You hint and hint at something, and then you insist you didn’t really mean it.’

‘But you said you liked me asking questions, Mary!’

She gave a snort and half-turned away from me.

‘I was a fool. There are honest questions and there are sneaky questions that crawl round inside the truth like a tubeslinker in a tree. I should have noticed the difference. I should have noticed how your questions made me feel inside.’

She turned back to me.

‘Do you know why you don’t hear Mother Gela?’

‘I’m not sure, Mary, but I guess maybe it’s because I—’

‘Oh, no need to guess, Angie, I’ll tell you why it is. It’s because you’re too good. Nothing is true enough for you unless you can be absolutely certain of it, is it? Good good Angie! Pure pure Angie! You can’t take the risk that you might be wrong!’

I was sobbing by then. She was my only friend. My only family. She was my mum, my dad, my sister, my brother.

‘Please, Mary, you don’t—’