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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

‘We’re Davidfolk,’ the old man said, ‘and there are two things that Great David taught us, two things that I want you to remember and never never forget. The first is that there’s only one True Family in Eden, and we’re all in it, and we must hold that Family together no matter what. The second is that sometimes that means being tough. Back when Great David was young up in Circle Valley, all the people in Eden lived together by the Circle that our Mother and Father made. They understood the first part of what I’ve just said, about family being important, but they stumbled badly on that second point. And that meant that when John Redlantern started his nonsense, way back at Virsry One Six Three, Family couldn’t bear to be as firm with him as they needed to be. Only Great David saw that this wasn’t a time for kindness. Only he saw that it was one of those times like when you get a boil on your neck, and you’ve just got to take a knife to it. But the rest of them faltered – Oh! Oh! Oh! Not a knife! A knife will hurt! – and that meant that when they did finally come to their senses, it was too late: Juicy John had split them in two. Which is how we got to the situation we’re in now: two grounds facing each other across Worldpool, hating each other. None of it need have happened, none of it, if only Family had ­listened to Great David.’

He took his arms from the shoulders of his young grandson and his even younger shelterwoman, and picked up one of the little kids in front of him.

‘Isn’t she beautiful, people?’ he asked, and everyone cheered. ‘I’ve got eighty-two kids, nine hundred forty-one grandchildren, and . . . well . . . more great-grandchildren than I can count, and – do you know what? – I love every single one of them. You’re all good Davidfolk out there, I can see, and I know you’ll understand.’

Again everyone cheered, while Strongheart looked round for one of his women to take the little girl from him.

‘What makes me madder than anything about the Johnfolk,’ he told us, ‘is how they claim that, if it wasn’t for them, everyone would still be living in Circle Valley. Of course not! Tom’s dick and Harry’s, we Davidfolk would have found our way across the Dark in our own good time, without any help from Juicy John. Of course we would! But we would have done it when everyone was ready. And that’s the difference between us and them. We look after everyone. We make sure everyone is ready before we move.’