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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

‘They gave me this ring,’ Strongheart said, and he showed Luke a metal ring that was identical in every way to the one his mother wore on her finger. As everyone knew on both sides of the Pool, except perhaps a few Hiding People, there’d only ever been one such ring on Eden, and it could only have been made on Earth. There was metal on Eden, but it was red, and it stained your fingers green if you wore it as a ring for too long. This one was made of two metals, just like his mother’s, one yellow and one white. ‘It belonged to Gela’s sister,’ Strongheart said, his voice flat and his face grey and indifferent with grief. He was a frail frail old man now, close close to death.

‘And of course you’ve got that new message too, Head Guard,’ Newjohn gently prompted him. ‘You’ve got that new message for the Headmanson to hear.’

‘Oh yes, I . . .’ Strongheart fumbled in his wrap with trembly hands and took out another smooth black linkup. ‘By the way,’ he said suddenly, a little of his old strength and power returning for a moment to his voice, ‘they told us that President was not Gela’s dad. It was a man, it’s true, but Gela never even met him, and it wasn’t President that called the Three Men down from the sky.’

He fiddled round awkwardly with the square of glass until suddenly a woman’s voice came out of it. Luke recognized it at once as being the same voice that had spoken from the linkup he still held in his hand, but he refused to listen to what it had to say. It was going to be so much easier for him if he didn’t believe that Earth had come. That way he wouldn’t have to go on carrying the awful burden of shame and guilt that had been with him ever since ­Harry’s death. He wouldn’t have to spend the rest of his life being the one who’d done for the messenger from Earth. He wouldn’t even have to wonder whether the Davidfolk were right after all about John Redlantern and the Johnfolk, and whether he’d brought his friend Gerry across the Pool to die for no good reason at all.

‘Put that away,’ Luke said, while Gaia’s voice was still speaking to him. ‘I’m not interested in your tricks. We’ve always known you have old things from Earth here in Circle Valley. We’ve always known that some of those old things could talk or show pictures or give out light. You’ve just used some of them to fool me.’