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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

‘I don’t know its name but it’s something from Earth. Surely you can see that for yourself ? Earth has come back. Two tall men and a new Gela with black black skin. That’s her voice inside that thing. Their veekle’s sitting in Circle Clearing right now. It’s alive, it moves, it gives out light and makes sounds. Lucky there were Davidfolk there to meet them, wouldn’t you say? Lucky we didn’t all follow your Juicy John. If we’d all been skulking across the Pool there in New Earth, they’d have come and gone and never known anyone was still alive here in Eden.’

Forty-five

As the Earth people wandered about in forest, looking at animals and starflowers and trees, they ran into the Michael’s Place folk who were out there scavenging. Trueheart was with the scavengers, but as soon as she saw the Earth folk there, with their science tools on their bike, she asked to go with them as she’d done before.

‘Certainly not,’ Tom hissed at her, too quietly for the Earth people to hear. ‘I’m your dad, and I’m telling you to stay with us and help find food for your family.’

But Gaia called out that of course Trueheart could go with them, and so Trueheart ignored her dad a second time and ran over to Gaia and Marius and Deep.

Tom said nothing, but two three people described to me how the knuckles of his one hand turned white white round his spear.

Later, when Tom and the others came back to us with the few things they’d found to eat – small bony slinkers, bitter batmeat and stale seeds picked up, one by one, from the dirt – Tom growled to Clare that Trueheart was going to get what was coming to her when the Earth people had gone away.

‘They don’t seem to understand,’ he complained. ‘Okay, I know they come from Earth and I know they’re high high people, but high people here in Eden would never come between a dad and his kid. They’d know whole of Eden works by each person knowing their place between high and low. They’d know there wouldn’t even be high people if there weren’t people in between.’

‘She’s a bad girl, your Trueheart,’ said Flame. She’d become bolder lately, since we’d all felt sorry for her about Suzie. ‘My dad would have beaten me hard hard if I’d behaved like that.’

Clare had been more friendly to Flame lately, but now she glared at Tom. Was he going to let his young shelterwoman speak to him like this, when she wasn’t much older than Trueheart herself ?