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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

Gaia burst out laughing. ‘Angela’s dad ? The President of Merka ! Certainly not! Angela’s dad was a postman ! He lived in London and his family were from J’maker. As far as I know, he never even visited Merka! As to the President, well, there’s no way he would even have heard of Angela until the men in the Defiant made her famous by taking her away!’

None of us knew what a postman was, of course, but the Earth people explained later it was a guy who took messages from one cluster to another. J’maker was a little grounds like Knee Tree, far out in the pool called See, and was where all the Black People came from. And as to Merka, well, it seemed that President wasn’t boss of whole Earth as we’d always thought, but only of one big ground. Merka was sort of like the Davidfolk Ground of Earth.

‘I don’t understand,’ Strongheart complained miserably. All our stories were unravelling, like an old fakeskin wrap, and a cold wind was blowing in through the holes where the wrap had once kept us warm. Strongheart’s pregnant young shelterwoman, Jane, held on grimly to his arm, glaring at the Earth people like they’d insulted him on purpose.

‘What they’re saying,’ Starlight told him, ‘is that our story here in Mainground is wrong about President, but—’

‘But the New Earthers haven’t got it right either,’ interrupted Jane. She wasn’t going to have some jumped-up creature from the Women’s Ground taking it upon herself to explain things to the Head Guard of Eden. ‘And that’s something, isn’t it? At least they’re wrong as well.’

Strongheart looked at her uncertainly. ‘The New Earthers too?’

‘That’s right, Head Guard,’ said Marius. His voice was weary weary now, like he wished this could be over and he could be somewhere else. I guess he was missing his animals and trees. ‘If those New Earthers think President was Gela’s dad, they’re absolutely and completely wrong.’

Headman Newjohn had been fiddling with his beard and quietly watching all this. Now he cleared his throat. ‘But wait a moment,’ he said. ‘I don’t want to be rude, but who’s to say that you Earth people have got the story right any more than we have? These ­stories are way more important to us than they are to you. Way way more important! Surely we’re the ones who’d remember them best?’

It seemed like a good point to me, but Marius obviously didn’t think so. He looked round at Deep and Gaia, as if to say, You deal with this. I’m fed up with trying to explain things to these dumb Eden people.