A Second Chance at Eden Read Online Free PDF Page B

was a sixty-metre globe at the prow, sprouting thermal radiator panels like the wings of some robotic dragonfly. In front of that, resting on a custom-built cradle, was the seed for another habitat, Ararat, Jupiter’s third; a solid teardrop of biotechnology one hundred metres long, swathed in thermal/ particle impact protection foam. Its mass was the reason Ithilien was manoeuvring so sluggishly.
    Captain Saldana positioned us two kilometres out from the spindle tip, and locked the ship’s attitude. A squadron of commuter shuttles and cargo tug craft swarmed over the gulf towards the Ithilien . I began pulling our flight bags from the storage lockers; after a minute Jocelyn stirred herself and started helping me.
    ‘It won’t be so bad,’ I said. ‘These are good people.’ Her lips tightened grimly. ‘They’re ungodly people. We should never have come.’
    ‘Well, we’re here now, let’s try and make the most of it, OK? It’s only for five years. And you shouldn’t prejudge like that.’
    ‘The word of the Pope is good enough for me.’ Implying it was me at fault, as always. I opened my mouth to reply. But thankfully the twins swam into the cabin, chattering away about the approach phase. As always the façade clicked into place. Nothing wrong. No argument. Mum and Dad are quite happy. Christ, why do we bother?
    *
    The tubular corridor which ran down the centre of Eden’s docking spindle ended in a large chamber just past the rotating pressure seal. It was a large bubble inside the polyp with six mechanical airlock hatches spaced equidistantly around the equator. A screen above one was signalling for Ithilien arrivals; and we all glided through it obediently. The tunnel beyond sloped down at quite a steep angle. I floated along it for nearly thirty metres before centrifugal force began to take hold. About a fifteenth of a gee, just enough to allow me a kind of skating walk.
    An immigration desk waited for us at the far end. Two Eden police officers in smart green uniforms stood behind it. And I do mean smart: spotless, pressed, fitting perfectly. I held in a smile as the first took my passport and scanned it with her palm-sized PNC wafer. She stiffened slightly, and summoned up a blankly courteous smile. ‘Chief Parfitt, welcome to Eden, sir.’
    ‘Thank you,’ I glanced at her name disk, ‘Officer Nyberg.’
    Jocelyn glared at her, which caused a small frown. That would be all round the division in an hour. The new boss’s wife is a pain. Great start.
    A funicular railway car was waiting for us once we’d passed the immigration desk. The twins rushed in impatiently. And, finally, I got to see Eden’s interior. We sank down below the platform and into a white glare. Nicolette’s face hosted a beautiful, incredulous smile as she pressed herself against the glass. For a moment I remembered how her mother had looked, back in the days when she used to smile— I must stop these comparisons.
    ‘Dad, it’s supreme,’ she said.
    I put my arm around her and Nathaniel, savouring the moment. Believe me, sharing anything with your teenage children is a rare event. ‘Yes. Quite something.’ The twins were fifteen, and they hadn’t been too keen on coming to Eden either. Nathaniel didn’t want to leave his school back in the Delph Company’s London arcology. Nicolette had a boy she was under the impression she was destined to marry. But just for that instant the habitat overwhelmed them. Me too.
    The cyclorama was tropical parkland, lush emerald grass crinkled with random patches of trees. Silver streams meandered along shallow dales, all of them leading down to the massive circumfluous lake which ringed the base of the southern endcap. Every plant appeared to be in flower. Birds flashed through the air, tiny darts of primary colour.
    A town was spread out around the rim of the northern endcap, mostly single-storey houses of metal and plastic moated by elaborately manicured gardens; a few larger civic