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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

Those tears that had been so close to coming out before came pressing forwards again. I laid Metty on the ground beside me and stood up so I could walk a little way off and turn my face away. Would I like to get away from Dave’s moaning and his hands feeling for me after every waking, like I was there to prove to him, over and over, that in spite of his clawfeet he was a man? Would I like to get away from his brother Tom sneaking up on me? Would I like to get away from scratching and scraping to find enough to eat, and then having to find still more to keep the Leader off our backs? Would I like to have my batface taken from me, that ugly face that made me feel like I should apologize to each new person I met? Gela’s heart, of course I would. That would be like laying down a heavy heavy load that I carried every waking of my life.

But to say goodbye forever to my own kids? Well, I couldn’t bear that. And I couldn’t do it to them. I just couldn’t.

Yes and anyway, I said to myself, who was I kidding? I’d never feel at home in that strange pale place. Whatever they did for my mouth and nose and teeth with their metal needles and knives, I’d still feel like a batface among those tall beautiful people, who knew so much. Beside them, I’d always be a foolish child.

Clare had come after me. She laid her hand on my arm.

‘I’m alright,’ I told her. ‘It was a silly question Gaia asked, wasn’t it? She knows I’ve got three kids.’

‘Yes, and Dave would never manage without you.’

Later the Earth people went out in forest again with their strange tools that worked by lecky-trickity. (Yes, there really is such a thing, though the Earth people’s name for it seemed to have changed. They say eleck-trissity. I guess words wear down more quickly when you use them all the time, like the edge of a stone knife.) They promised Strongheart they wouldn’t go far, so he could call them back with horns if the New Earthers came to talk.

Forty-four

Kneel on the snow, stonespear!’ commanded Luke Johnson. ‘Kneel on the snow and bow your head. Show me you admit the fight is over.’

Shivering shivering, blue with cold, Harry half-glanced back towards his guards, and then knelt and bowed as he’d been asked. ‘It is over,’ he said. ‘But not for the reason you think.’