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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 can’t wait that long,’ Deep told him, dabbing at the cut on his head with a kind of fakeskin he carried with him. ‘But you can tell them from us that their story isn’t any truer than yours.’

‘I’ll put some more words in a linkup for you,’ Gaia said. ‘And I’ll give you this as well.’ She took the ring from her finger and handed it to the old man. ‘If the fight really has been over a ring like this, you can have this one, and let the Johnfolk keep theirs. I promise you, they’re both exactly the same, except only for the name inside. The other one was Gela’s ring, and this one belonged to her sister. They’re both just as good.’

‘Go on, you useless lot, just go !’ screamed a young woman, and another stone was thrown, bouncing off the veekle with a strange hollow sound.

‘I want to go with you,’ said Trueheart suddenly. You could see she herself was shocked by what she’d said, terrified by her own choice. Her face was pale and she was trembling all over. ‘You said I could be as smart as anyone on Earth, Marius. I want to come with you and learn the things you know.’

Clare stared at her in horror. ‘What?’ she whispered. ‘What?’ And then she began to shout. ‘You can’t, you silly girl! You can’t ! They might not come back again for fifty years! We’d never see you again!’

Trueheart was shaking so violently she could hardly speak, and her little sisters began to scream. ‘I love you all,’ Trueheart said. ‘Mum, Dad, all of you. I don’t want to say goodbye to you, but if I stay what can Eden offer me? Dad would find me some guy in a year or two, I guess, some other batface, perhaps. Or maybe one of his old guard mates will have some slowhead son who needs taking off his hands, and Dad will give me to him as a favour. Whoever it is, I’ll be his shelterwoman and have his kids and spend the rest of my wakings putting food in their mouths and washing their bums, even though no one really wants a batface, and—’

‘How can you say that!’ roared Clare, running forwards and grabbing her by the shoulders. ‘How dare you say that, Trueheart!’ She shook her daughter violently as she spoke. ‘How dare you say that, when you know we’ve loved and cared for you just as much as all the others.’ She looked round for Tom. ‘Go on, Tom! Gela’s tits, man! You’re her dad. You tell her!’

Tom didn’t know what to say. ‘I . . .’ he began, ‘we—’