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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

‘I’m sorry. Did you say True Heart?’ The woman from Earth had that same pitying frown on her face as she looked into Trueheart’s eyes. It was like how a mother might look at a sick sick child, or a child who’d fallen and cut herself.

‘That’s right.’

‘Do you know where I come from?’ she asked us both, speaking slowly slowly this time to make sure we understood.

‘Of course,’ I said. ‘You come from . . .’ It was weird, I was about to say the word when I realized I was going to cry, and had to stop.

‘You come from Earth,’ said Trueheart, and now my tears did come, and Trueheart’s too. ‘Are you here to take us home?’

The woman frowned again, kind and concerned.

‘I’m sorry,’ she began. ‘I didn’t quite get that. Did you ask if we—?’

‘My name is David Strongheart,’ said a voice beside me. The Head Guard of all the Davidfolk had hobbled right across the clearing to stand beside me and Trueheart. Now he was bowing deeply to the Earth woman like he was just a small person like us and she was high high. His head didn’t even come to her shoulder blade and his red wrap, which would have looked so fine and bright if I’d seen it in Davidstand, looked clumsy and brown and poorly made beside her metal-coloured one. (I couldn’t even see the stitches in hers. I couldn’t make out the threads in the weave. Perhaps it was the skin of some animal?)

‘You’re welcome welcome, Mother,’ he said. He was crying and stammering like a nervous kid. ‘I’m the Head Guard of the Davidfolk, and this is my son, Leader Harry. We Davidfolk have tried our best to keep all of your children together.’

‘Pleased to meet you,’ said Gaia, shaking the old man’s hand with a puzzled look on her face.

‘I’m Headman Newjohn,’ said one of the other high men, also bowing. He had tight curly grey hair and a sharp pointy face, and he leaned on a stick. ‘I’m boss of the Johnfolk from the Brown River Ground, and we’re the people who followed John after you led him to your ring.’

The Earth woman was carefully watching his face, frowning with concentration. She was obviously finding it hard hard to make out the words he was saying, let alone what they meant.