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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

‘What?’ these even newer people would ask. ‘Is that a veekle? Is that really—?’

‘Yes!’ one of the people who’d arrived before would answer. ‘Yes, it’s Mother Gela! And she’s—’

‘Her skin is black black, just like the stories,’ one of the others would excitedly interrupt. ‘And there’s Tommy with her too, and another one they think is Mehmet.’

‘Not Wise Mehmet, mind you, but Beautiful Mehmet. You know, the one Gela loved best out of the—’

‘They’ve really come! Just like we’ve always been promised. All our troubles are over, my friends! They’ve come to take us home!’

It’s hard hard to remember the order of things now. Trueheart ran back to fetch the other Michael’s Place people. I felt torn because I wanted to be with my kids at this big big moment. But I was scared of losing my special place close to Gaia and then not being able to get back to her, so I stayed where I was, knowing that Trueheart would bring my children sooner or later. Gaia seemed to like me beside her. I guess with all those hundreds of new people pressing towards her and the two men, it was good to have a familiar face.

‘Thankyou, Angie,’ she said once twice. ‘It’s nice of you to stay with me.’

‘Keep back! Keep back!’ called out the guards. ‘Let the Earth people breathe!’

‘Don’t make Angie move back,’ Gaia told them. ‘She and Trueheart were the first people we saw here in Eden.’

Later there was a feast. I can’t remember exactly how this happened, but I know all three of my kids were with me by then, along with Trueheart, who I guess must have carried Metty, and I remember introducing my kids to Starlight who told me she’d got seven kids herself, and that my kids were lucky because hers were back in Half Sky, missing all of this. I know a big fire was lit over in Brooklyn, because I remember seeing the flames through the trees. And I seem to remember hearing that four big smoothbucks, or maybe it was even five, were done for right there and then and put over the flames to roast. I can certainly remember the smell of the meat, and Starlight laughing – ‘Poor Angie, you’re hungry hungry, aren’t you!’ – and Strongheart’s helpers carrying wooden plates piled with meat and flowercakes through to Circle Clearing. And I can remember how we all watched closely closely as the Earth people chewed on it, and sipped at the badjuice that was brought to them in mugs.

‘Delicious!’ they said and everyone cheered, but if you were near to them you could see they could hardly force the stuff down. Food was obviously different on Earth.