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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

While he’d been speaking, the rider behind him had also lifted up his mask, the guy with the letters sewn on his wrap. He was young young too, and he had one of those faces you can’t help liking at once: kind and smiley, beaming out at us delightedly like we were the most interesting people he’d ever met and all he wanted was to be friends.

‘Hi, I’m Teacher Gerry,’ he said. ‘You probably don’t know what that means exactly, but in New Earth, teachers don’t just teach, we also learn and figure things out. Do you see what it says on my wrap here?’ He pulled his wrap straight so we could see the words. Out of all of us, only Tom and Trueheart could read, but Teacher Gerry saw our puzzled faces and read the words aloud for us. ‘It says “Become like Earth”. Because that’s what our Mother and her Father want us to do. They don’t want us to waste our time repeating the same things over and over, but to learn and make things better. Otherwise why did our Mother guide John here across Snowy Dark? Why did she lead him across the water to New Earth? Why would she help us find metal, and not the Davidfolk?’

‘That’s right,’ said Luke. ‘Like I said, John was Gela’s true son and he was trying to help whole Family of Eden. And that’s what we want to do too. We’ve not come here to hurt you people or drive you off your ground. Not at all. What we’ve come here to do is to bring the True Story of Eden back to Old Ground – Mainground, as you call it – and to drive away the false one. We’ve come to make your lives better. We really have!’

I looked round at my Davidfolk companions. Tom’s face was stiff and cold, and Clare’s lips were tight. What these men had just said was all just typical Johnfolk lies as far as they were concerned. That had been confirmed for them when the Headmanson told us his mother was wearing the ring – Gela’s heart, they were thinking, how could this wicked man sit there and say that without shame! – but whether he’d spoken of the ring or not, they’d still have dismissed everything these two men said, and so would Davidson and Kate and all the other grownups there from Michael’s Place. The Headmanson and the Teacher might as well had said ‘la la la’ for all they’d heard and taken in. Only Trueheart seemed to be really listening, her eyes darting between the two men like she wasn’t just hearing them out but trying to weigh up what they said.