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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

When the story isn’t certain – and it almost never is – all I can do is think about the people and the situation they were in, and figure out for myself what makes most sense. I work out, as best I can, how things would most likely have unfolded and connected together, and make the best guess I can as to how it must have been. I might be wrong – I’m sure I am wrong sometimes – but I figure that if we only ever told stories we could be completely certain of, then there’d be no stories at all. I mean, never mind other people, we can’t even be sure of our own memories.

I met Headmanson Luke that one time in Wide Forest when his men surrounded us as we were running away from Michael’s Place. I saw him again for a short time when he came down into Circle Valley with Harry’s body. I also listened to the stories that were passed round by the guards that came with him down from the Dark. Yes, and I also met his dad long ago, that first time me and Starlight went to Veeklehouse: Chief Dixon as he was then, that cold, proud man, who later did for Greenstone and became Headman of New Earth. Starlight had to deal with Chief Dixon when she was in New Earth – if he’d had his way, she’d have been thrown into the fire with Greenstone – and she met Luke’s sister and his mother Lucy, whose own dad and brothers had been thrown into that fire themselves by Greenstone’s dad. Luke would only have been a kid when she was over there, and Starlight says she must have met him, but can’t remember it. She would soon meet him again, though. She’d meet him in Strongheart’s shelter in Old Family cluster, and she’d tell me what happened there. It’s from all those things that I’ve got a sense of that young man, and what was in his mind.

When the light flashed out from the veekle, Luke had just reached the place on David’s Path where you can look down into Circle Valley. He saw forest round the distant clearing fill with brilliant light, far brighter than anything he’d ever seen, even in the shining caves of New Earth, and he saw how the smoke that rose from the many fires of Old Family cluster, which had been a dull orange smear against the stars, suddenly shone white against the black black sky.