To read part one, click here.

All day, Evie explored her new world with Adam Gardener. It was full of surprises. She had never seen such lush plant life and colourful flora. The earth responded to her, throwing out new tendrils of growth at her. Wherever she walked, green things grew under her feet. Shoots heaved out of the ground before her very eyes, swelled and pushed heavenward. When she smiled, or laughed, flowers grew and filled the air with their sweet scent.

Adam gave her fruit to eat from several different trees. Evie did not really know how to describe them, other than that they were delicious. One had the look and texture of oranges, but tasted like a cross between pineapple and muscat grape. Another fruit could almost pass for brown bread, and the strangest one tasted just like an oatmeal bar.

She turned back to look at the hothouse, but it was already hidden in the freshly advanced forest. Evie shrugged. She could feel everything, sense all the growing organisms around her. She could almost forget that she was strolling through paradise, naked, with her handsome lover, about whom she knew nothing. At that very moment, he was holding her hand possessively.  Evie turned to Adam Gardener. “How is this happening?”

He smiled sweetly at her, and curled a tendril of her hair round a finger. The world is responding to you and all that you are.

“But why me?” she wondered aloud. His hand was at her shoulder, and at her hip. His face was very near. Now their lips were touching. She thought she should test herself, to at least try to see if she could resist him, but his lips were demanding. Their kiss deepened, and Evie found herself responding with increasing ardour.

She sighed as he broke the kiss to hold her chin in his hand. He leaned his forehead against hers.

The power is inside you, Evie, part of you. It is in your genetic makeup. Your great grandfather terraformed this planet, and its genesis is attuned to you, your feelings and your wellbeing. Once it has reached its critical mass, the link will drop away, but until then, your body and mind are both connected to the earth beneath your feet, the sky above your head.

Evie was slightly unnerved by his gesture of intimacy, so she digested this in silence. It explained some, but not all of the quirks in her lineage. She stared up at him. The suns had risen and one of them was directly behind him. She drew a hand over her eyes, for the light was bright in her face. She stepped into the shade that he cast so that she was not bedazzled.

“And you, Adam? Why are you here at all, and what has this world to do