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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

‘You certainly are not !’ Tom told her, but she ran after them anyway, calling out to them to wait. They stopped their bike and helped her onto the back of it with them, and then the bike rolled off along the path beside Longpool that led out into forest.

Tom watched them disappear through the shining trees, his face dark with anger and shame. It seemed pretty certain that the Earth people would have heard what he said to Trueheart and had chosen to ignore him, taking the side of a newhair daughter against a grey-haired dad. And they’d done so not only in front of all the Michael’s Place people, but in front of the crowd that was always waiting round their shelter. Tom was a strong strong man, or at any rate that was how he liked to see himself, he was a guard who’d lost his hand standing up for the laws of the Davidfolk, and he was proud of being cluster head of Michael’s Place, but now all these people had seen him failing to control his own newhair daughter. Gela’s heart, a batfaced girl was already hard enough to find a man for. Who would want one who hadn’t learned to do as she was told?

‘What am I supposed to do with that girl?’ he bellowed, pretending to be speaking to Trueheart’s mother, Clare, though really it was for the benefit of everyone watching. ‘It’s not like I’ve spared her the stick when she steps out of line – you know that! – but she still just does what she likes. Anyone would think she was Head Guard of Eden.’

Some people shook their heads and clicked their tongues sympathetically. But no one – not Tom, not anyone else – said a word against the people from Earth.

‘I would have gone with them myself,’ Starlight said when we met later on beside Longpool. ‘But I don’t like to leave Strongheart and Newjohn alone too long. They’re getting on so well now, you wouldn’t believe! If I’m not there to keep an eye on them, I’m afraid they’ll start sharing out Half Sky between the two of them. It could double the size of both their grounds.’

‘Is it really true that men and women decide things equally in Half Sky?’

‘Yes, I’d say it is.’

‘How do you stop the men from taking over?’

‘Well, they didn’t take over in Knee Tree Grounds, did they?’

‘No, but . . .’ I laughed. ‘But then nothing happened there, did it? Nothing happened at all.’