Free Visions by James C. Glass

amphitheatre floor on which he stood to greet them.
    Anka looked around at the others, and when he spoke his voice echoed hollowly from the walls. “My son, we thank you for the warning regarding a sudden influx of Hinchai from the south, but our investigation shows it to be a temporary situation which will end in the near future. A major travel-way is being built so heavy supplies may be delivered to the Hinchai village. Within the next several days all workmen will be gone. Because of the formidable building machines they use, it is easy to see why you thought an invasion in progress, but as you can see now there is nothing to fear.”
    Maki felt his face flush with anger. His report had been casually dismissed, and he was in the presence of fools. “I disagree with your assessment,” he said hoarsely. “The way is now open for hoards of Hinchai to come in, tearing down the forests and eliminating our food supply.”
    “This is unlikely,” said Anka. “The Hinchai have so far lived in harmony with the forests, and even if the animals begin to move in numbers it will take little to feed the few of us who remain here. All the rest will be integrated with the Hinchai, and under Pegre’s care.” Anka’s voice was firm, and Tel’s mouth was suddenly pressed into a thin line. The rest watched silently, for the hearing was becoming a public argument between parents and son.
    “You insist on destroying the Tenanken life and identity by incorporation with the Hinchai. You are all afraid to fight.” Maki’s lips curled in a sneer of disgust with those who sat around him.
    “We have had this conversation before,” said Anka. “All arguments have been heard, and the group will has prevailed, as it must. It is a matter of personal choice, and most have chosen to leave the caverns for a new existence. That is their right. Some of us will remain, also by choice. We will all survive in our own way, and you are free to choose yours.”
    “What surprise we’ve been forced to live in darkness for a generation! The Tenanken are led by old women who do anything to save their own skins. One more generation, and The Memories will be gone, the mind-touch unused. There will be no more visions, Father, and you will be responsible for that. You will be the destroyer of the Tenanken!”
    Maki was gratified to see Anka could not stand up to his fervor, was now looking down at his hands, but then his mother, eyes blazing, began to shout at him.
    “My son is an ignorant fool! Hinchai! Tenanken! You constantly distinguish, and on what basis? Appearance? Size? Speech? A way of living? I’ll tell you again, carefully, as I did when you were a little child complaining when a heavy-browed Tenanken pushed you down and called you pretty. We are all one animal. Tenanken and Hinchai. Our ancient ancestors are in common, our only difference the time of crossing over the frozen waters. The Hinchai are there in the first Tenanken Memory, and now they are with us again. It is natural that we live together, yet you refuse to accept it. Look at yourself in a pool of still water, my son. What do you see there? Oh, Maki, in your heart you are Tenanken, but in appearance you are a young Hinchai adult!”
    “Tel, that’s enough!” growled Anka.
    “No, this is my time to talk. Maki, don’t you see that Tenanken and Hinchai are but two strains of one people so close in appearance they can intermingle without discovery? Rather you should talk of Tahehto or Hanken, for they are the first peoples of The Memories. I look at you and see Hanken. You look at your father and I and see Tahehto with The Memories which you also have inherited. And the mind-touch, which springs from Hanken, not Tahehto. It is the union that makes us Tenanken, the same union which through liberal breeding practices has brought forth the Hinchai. Your discrimination is selective, ignoring the physical differences between yourself and your parents. Do you hate us , Maki? Our