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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 humans are clever, aren’t we, with the stories we tell ourselves?’ I finally said, when the guards were up ahead and out of hearing distance. ‘Harry Stonehand shamed those people, beat them, made them feel small small. But, even though they were beaten, they found a way of turning that round, and making themselves feel big and strong all over again.’

There was an uncomfortable silence for a moment. I’d come at this from a direction Mary wasn’t expecting, and she wasn’t sure what to make of it.

‘Yeah,’ she finally answered, a little doubtfully. ‘Yeah, I guess so.’ Then she smiled. She was smart, and she too had figured out a way of turning a story round. ‘And quite right too,’ she said happily. ‘Because of course it’s not being beaten when you come back to True Family. It’s winning. It’s always winning. Because it’s joining the side that’s bound to win in the end.’

She leaned forwards, put an arm round me to pull me against her and kissed my cheek from behind. It seemed like I’d worried her a bit for a moment there, but now she felt as sure and confident as ever. ‘What you’ve got to remember, Angie dear, is that when people are wrong, they know it deep down. It’s hard to admit to being wrong of course, but it’s always a relief as well.’

Well, that shut me up, because I knew it was true only too well. I knew I had things that I ought to tell her about, and I knew it was wrong that I didn’t. So I felt badly about that, as I always did, whenever I thought about it. And yet in a funny way, I was pleased I felt bad, because it meant that Mary was right, and that what she’d said about the Rockway people made sense after all. And that meant I didn’t have to have doubts about the reasons for my choosing to be with her.

We came to Harry’s Rest, which was the Edgefolk’s biggest cluster. Everyone seemed pleased pleased to see us – I guess they didn’t have many visitors up there – and after we’d been given a big meal and had a good long sleep in one of their shelters, Mary put on a fine show in front of one of the most excited crowds I’d yet seen. Mary was quite right about the Edgefolk. Whatever their reasons for giving up John and turning to David, they didn’t seem to have any doubts about it now.