BooksBarbecue
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

Once, some centuries ago, people might still have believed they could get to the bottom of things, solve the riddle of existence, but I feel we’re past that now. Whatever the faults of the Salvationists, they imbued our culture with a healthy scepticism about scientistic hubris. There is no bottom, there are no final answers. Science will take us all kinds of places, but it will never take us home.

That’s not how it seems to Trueheart, though. I watch her over there with Marius, the two of them stooped together over one of his experiments, and she’s absolutely rapt. She is a truly exceptional girl. We all spotted that very quickly. She’s had no schooling, her writing skills are miminal, and she believes, like all the Eden folk, that her ancestor Angela has somehow come alive again on Earth and is preparing a home there. But she’s incredibly smart, and her desire to learn is immense. I’m still not sure whether we did right or wrong by pretending we didn’t hear her dad ordering her back – there’s no way we can tell what the ramifications of that might be – but it just seemed criminal to deny her this chance when we know it can never come for her again.

I look at her there now with her strong bare back, her long hair, her athletic shoulders, watching everything that Marius does, listening to everything he says. She’s back at the beginning of science, like – oh I don’t know – like maybe people were in the eighteenth century on Earth. She’s back at the stage when it was possible to believe that this wonderfully powerful tool might one day dispel darkness altogether.

A bat swoops down after a flutterbye not far above their heads, Marius turns his head to watch it, and she looks round with him, so that for a moment she’s looking in my direction. It still shocks me when that happens. It’s like someone has taken a sledgehammer and smashed it into middle of her face. It’s the same with Angie, but poor Angie is so shrivelled and old-looking all over (though from what I can work out she can’t be older than her mid-thirties) that the sheer incongruity is a little less jarring than it is with this tough, strong girl with her beautifully made body.

On Earth her face wouldn’t have to be like that. On Earth she could study and develop the talents she so obviously has. On Earth, without any doubt, she would be someone. But what have we got to offer her here? What have we got to offer any of them, for that matter? They’re so excited to see us. They’re so hopeful. But, oh precious Earth, when we’ve gone again, what will we have left behind that will help them in any way with their tough tough lives?