First Channel

But Abel said, "Tonight, in the chapel, I will make my vision clear to everyone. Be there, Rimon, with Kadi. Then,

if you still feel you do not belong here, leave before the feast tomorrow."

In the chapel that evening, sitting with Del and Carlana, Rimon felt the tension all around them. First there were prayers of thanks that the small community had survived another year, that the crops had been good, and that five babies had been born and had survived.

When he lifted his head at the end of the prayer, Rimon felt the ambient nager shift toward indignation. After a moment, he realized they had expected thanks for all who had established.

Veritt stepped out from behind the lectern, and called, "Carlana Erick." Carlana left them, and at the front, Jord seated her on one of four chairs. "Miral Coyne." Another woman, heavily pregnant, moved forward and was seated beside Carlana. A third woman, also obviously pregnant, was called forth, and so Rimon was not at all surprised when Veritt called, "Kadi Farris."

Kadi stopped before him. "Abel, I will be pleased to have your blessing and your prayers for the health and safety of my child. But, if you're going to pray he'll be Gen, I can't participate."

Smug satisfaction filled the air around Rimon, then was shattered into disbelief and anger as Veritt replied, "No, Kadi, I shall not pray that any of these children be either Sime or Gen—only that they be born healthy."

A gasp went up, and then people began rising to leave, muttering indignantly. "Wait!" called Veritt, his powerful voice silencing the murmurs. "Hear me out before you condemn!"

Reluctantly, the people reseated themselves. "I promise," said Veritt, "if you cannot accept the new revelation God has granted me, I'll step down as your spiritual leader."

He returned to the lectern, placed his hands on the sides, and extended his handling tentacles.

This time the gasps of horror took the form of words: "Sacrilege!"

"In God's Own House!"

"How dare he?"

"I dare," Veritt answered them, "because I am a Sime. God made me a Sime." He lifted his right hand, tentacles spread. "God made my tentacles, as surely as He made the rest of me. I learned long ago not to question the will of God. If it is wrong to question His will, is it not equally wrong to deny His gifts?"

"Gifts!" The exclamation stuttered from several points.

Veritt was silent for a moment, allowing the heat of emotion to die, retracting his tentacles and becoming once more the calm and pious leader they were used to. "Every one of you has had to change the beliefs he grew up with, in order to survive. In Gen Territory, you were taught that Simes have no souls."

Rimon felt the first melting around the edges of cold indignation.

"I have taught for twenty years that the Sime nature is a curse. But in this past year, God has seen fit to demonstrate to us that it's not our nature that is a curse, but what we do with it. He has sent among us a man—a Sime—who lives entirely without killing. Look at the girl seated to his left, a Gen from Slina's Pens—a Gen we would have taken for the kill had Rimon not chosen her—and here she sits, safe in the midst of Simes, not because she can protect herself, but because Rimon Farris protects her. Look at Rimon's wife, a Gen, who will bear his child this year. Kadi Farris is a miracle in herself, for she was able to keep Rimon from the kill until he could learn to take selyn from any Gen without killing. Rimon Farris is our hope for the future—and you would have me banish him from Fort Freedom?"

There was instant response from all sides. "He killed Drust and Vee!"

"He's a devil sent to mislead us!" Others, though, cried out, "Rimon wasn't even here when Drust and Vee died!"

"He's a healer!"

Veritt held up his hands—hands only—for silence. "Yes," he said, "there are those who recognize what Rimon has done already. Since he began changeover training, two of our children have come through, if not easily, certainly with far less pain than most of us knew." He added solemnly, "But it is true that two other young people died. We all loved Drust Fenell and Vee Lassiter. Yes, it was in my heart, as it was in all of yours, that they might have been the first among us to live as Rimon and Kadi Farris do. Had they waited, they might have succeeded. Do you think Rimon learned what he does at his changeover? No—it took him four years!"

Another murmur—and the first hint of sympathy. Veritt seized upon it. "I have seen you looking at me, at my son, at Mr. Erick. I have heard you say that Rimon brings only death, pain, and illness to those who try to learn what he does. But it cannot be learned overnight—and is it not worth any amount of suffering to learn to live without killing?"

Before anyone could shout him down, Verrit raced on. "I've called these four women before you for our traditional prayers for those with child. They know they face the pain of childbirth—yet each one rejoices that she will bring a new life into the world. There will be pain in our learning not to kill, pain as inevitable as the pangs of childbirth—but will the results not be as well worth the suffering?

"Traditionally, we have prayed this night each year that the children in our midst establish, that the babies to be born grow up Gen. I submit we have blasphemed by asking for God to do our will, not His Own! Think. Count. God's will has been to make two out of every three of our children Sime—and often we have allowed them to die! Rimon has taught us to save them. Will you go back to letting your children die horribly—or will you pray with me and with Rimon and Kadi Farris, that when these children grow up, it will not matter if they are Gen or Sime?"

He turned back to the congregation. "If there's anyone here who in good conscience cannot pray with me, I ask you to leave. If you all leave, then I shall leave Fort Freedom. For I have sworn a vow that no matter how I may suffer, and no matter if it takes me the rest of my life, as God is my witness, I will not die a killer!"

There was a silence in the chapel. Then, at the back, a rustling as Sara Fenell stood. "Drust believed in this new vision of yours," she said, "and because he believed, he's dead. I can't accept that his death was God's will—it was a punishment to him and to me, for turning against God's Law. Now you'd have us believe it's not a curse to be Sime? If Vee were here, she'd tell you what a curse it is!" With tears threatening to choke her voice, she said loudly, "I believe in the old ways, the true ways. Until you return to them and cast these demons out of our midst, I can no longer follow you."

Alone, head high, she walked toward the door. Dan Whelan, the blacksmith, rose, and with him a pale woman and a boy of about ten. As they followed Sara out, others got up and left—perhaps twenty people in all. The chapel door closed behind them, the heavy sound echoing in the silence.

Rimon looked back to Abel Veritt. He was staring at the door, in stricken disbelief. Then Jord came up beside him, putting an arm about his father's shoulders. "All cannot accept the truth immediately," he said. Then, to the congregation, he said, "There will always be those who doubt. We must not condemn them. Once they see us fulfill our vows, they'll return."

Veritt straightened. "That is true. My son is right. We must pray even more for those who have left us tonight, for they have rejected the chance to be among the first to learn to live together, Sime and Gen. Come, then, let us pray for God's blessing upon us all."

Am I going to be responsible for destroying Fort Freedom, too? Rimon wondered. Where will it end?

Chapter Fourteen FIRST WORDS

After the scene in the chapel, the atmosphere in Fort Freedom was strained. The feast was held, as planned, but the absence of six families in so small a community was strongly felt. Even Willa, who enjoyed anything resembling a party, was subdued. Those who had walked out remained behind closed doors all day, with curtains drawn.