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As the ornithopter&039;s wings dipped and the craft went skidding into the air, she felt the pos - but they were fragile, oh, how fragile!
Why nohen her plans were not co, and she could see the bright sunlight upon the changing landscape of the planet: broad reaches of green vegetation where parched earth had once dominated
Without a vision of the future, I could fail Oh, what ic I could perform if only I could see as Paul saw! Not for ht
A torh her and she wished she could put aside the power Oh, to be as others were - blind in that safest of all blindnesses, living only the hypnoidal half-life into which birth-shock precipitated most humans But no! She had been born an Atreides, victim of that eons-deep awareness inflicted by her mother&039;s spice addiction
Why does my mother return today?
Gurney Halleck would be with her - ever the devoted servant, the hired killer of ugly htforward, a musician who played murder with a sliptip, or entertained with equal ease upon his nine-string baliset Some said he&039;d beco to ferret out; it e
The wish to be as others were left her
Leto must be lured into the spice trance
She recalled asking the boy hoould deal with Gurney Halleck And Leto, sensing undercurrents in her question, had said Halleck was loyal "to a fault," adding: "He adored my father"
She&039;d noted the small hesitation Leto had almost said "me" instead of "eneticflesh Gurney Halleck would not make that separation easier for Leto
A harsh smile touched Alia&039;s lips
Gurney had chosen to return to Caladan with the Lady Jessica after Paul&039;s death His return would tangleback to Arrakis, he would add his own co lines He had served Paul&039;s father - and thus the succession went: Leto I to Paul to Leto II And out of the Bene Gesserit breeding progra line Gurney, adding to the confusion of identities, ht prove valuable
What would he do if he discovered we carry the blood of Harkonnens, the Harkonnens he hates so bitterly?
The smile on Alia&039;s lips became introspective The tere, after all, children They were like children with countless parents, whose ed both to others and to self They would stand at the lip of Sietch Tabr and watch the track of their grand e visible on the sky - would it randchildren?
My ht Do I mix prana bindu disciplines with a judicious hand? And I will tell her that they train therandson to her: "A the responsibilities of command is the necessity to punish but only when the victim demands it"
It came to Alia then that if she could only focus the Lady Jessica&039;s attention sharply enough onto the twins, otherscould be done Leto was very much like Paul And why not? He could be Paul whenever he chose Even Ghani ability
Just as I can be my mother or any of the others who&039;ve shared their lives with us
She veered away fro landscape of the Shield Wall Then: Hoas it to leave the warm safety of water-rich Caladan and return to Arrakis, to this desert planet where her Duke was murdered and her son died a martyr?
Why did the Lady Jessica co certain She could share another&039;s ego-awareness, but when experiences went their separate ways, then ed as well The stuff of decisions lay in the private actions taken by individuals For the pre-born, the many-born Atreides, this remained the paramount reality, in itself another kind of birth: it was the absolute separation of living, breathing flesh when that flesh left the hich had afflicted it withand hating her mother simultaneously It was a necessity, a required balance without roo stop? Was one to blame the Bene Gesserit because they set the Lady Jessica upon a certain course? Guilt and blarew diffuse whento breed a Kwisatz Haderach: the male counterpart of a fully developed Reverend Mother and more - a human of superior sensitivity and awareness, the Kwisatz Haderach who could be many places simultaneously And the Lady Jessica, ra partner to whoned Responsive to her beloved Duke&039;s wishes, she produced a son instead of the daughter which the Sisterhood had co me to be born after she became addicted to the spice! And now they don&039;t want ood reason
They&039;d achieved Paul, their Kwisatz Haderach, one lifetime too early - a minor miscalculation in a plan that extended And now they had another probleenes they&039;d sought for so lanced upward Her escort was assu She shook her head in wonderood was served by calling up old lifetiether? This was a new lifetime
Duncan Idaho had put his mentat awareness to the question of why Jessica returned at this ti the probleift He said she returned to take over the twins for the Sisterhood The twins, too, carried those precious genes Duncan could well be right That h to take the Lady Jessica out of her self-imposed seclusion on Caladan If the Sisterhood commanded Well, why else would she coly painful to her?
"We shall see," Alia muttered
She felt the ornithopter touch down on the roof of her Keep, a positive and jarring punctuation which filled her with grie also ht to derive from ancient Terran Franzh): a eriatric properties first noted by Yanshuph Ashkoko, royal chee, found only in deepest desert sands of Arrakis, linked to prophetic visions of Paul Muad&039;Dib (Atreides), first Freators and the Bene Gesserit -Dictionary Royal fifth edition
The two big cats ca easily They were not really into the passionate hunt as yet, ers, a special breed brought here to the planet Salusa Secundus alht thousand years past Genetic manipulation of the ancient Terran stock had erased soer features and refined other ele Their faces ide, eyes alert and intelligent The paere enlarged to give them support on uneven terrain and their sheathed claws could extend some ten centimeters, sharpened at the ends into razor tips by abrasive compression of the sheath Their coats were a flat and even tan which ainst sand
They differed in another way from their ancestors: servo-stimulators had been implanted in their brains while they were cubs The stimulators made them pawns of whoever possessed the transmitter
It was cold and as the cats paused to scan the terrain, their breath ion of Salusa Secundus left sere and barren, a place which harbored a scant few sandtrout sled from Arrakis and kept precariously alive in the dreaht be broken Where the cats stood, the landscape wasof sparse bushes, silvery green in the long shadows of the rew suddenly alert Their eyes turned slowly left, then their heads turned Far down in the scarred land two children struggled up a dry wash, hand in hand The children appeared to be of an age, perhaps nine or ten standard years They were red-haired and wore stillsuits partly covered by rich white bourkas which bore all around the hem and at the forehead the hawk crest of the House Atreides worked in flame-jewel threads As they walked, the children chattered happily and their voices carried clearly to the hunting cats The Laza tigers knew this game; they had played it before, but they renal in their servo-stietop behind the cats He stopped and surveyed the scene: cats, children The rey and black with insignia of a Levenbrech, aide to a Bashar A harness passed behind his neck and under his arainst his chest where the keys could be reached easily by either hand
The cats did not turn at his approach They knew this man by sound and smell He scrambled down to stop two paces from the cats, mopped his forehead The air was cold, but this was hot work Again his pale eyes surveyed the scene: cats, children He pushed a da helmet, touched the implanted ht"
The answering voice cah receivers implanted behind each ear "We see them"
"This time?" the Levenbrech asked
"Will they do it without a chase command?" the voice countered
"They&039;re ready," the Levenbrech said
"Very well Let us see if four conditioning sessions will be enough"
"Tell me when you&039;re ready"
"Any time"
"Now, then," the Levenbrech said
He touched a red key on the right hand side of his servo-trans a bar which shielded the key Now the cats stood without any transmitted restraints He held his hand over a black key below the red one, ready to stop the animals should they turn on hi their way down the ridge toward the children Their great paws slid out in sthat somewhere around him a hidden transeye carried this entire scene to a secret monitor within the Keep where his Prince lived
Presently the cats began to lope, then to run
The children, intent on clih the rocky terrain, still had not seen their peril One of the sound in the clear air The other child stu balance, turned and saw the cats The child pointed "Look!"
Both children stopped and stared at the interesting intrusion into their lives They were still standing when the Laza tigers hit them, one cat to each child The children died with a casual abruptness, necks broken swiftly The cats began to feed
"Shall I recall them?" the Levenbrech asked
"Let them finish They did well I knew they would; this pair is superb"
"Best I&039;ve ever seen," the Levenbrech agreed
"Very good, then Transport is being sent for you We will sign off now"
The Levenbrech stood and stretched He refrained froround on his left where a telltale glitter had revealed the location of the transeye, which had relayed his fine perforreen lands of the Capitol The Levenbrech smiled There would be a promotion for this day&039;s work Already he could feel a Bator&039;s insignia at his neck - and so Even, one day, Bashar People who served well in the corps of Farad&039;n, grandson of the late Shaddam IV, earned rich prohtful throne, there would be even greater proht not be the end of it There were Baronies and Earldoms to be had on the many worlds of this realm once the twin Atreides were reinal faith, to his genius in for human communities; he must return to the past, where that lesson of survival was learned in the struggle with Arrakis The only business of the Fres The worlds of the Imperiue to give him They will only rob him of his soul -The Preacher at Arrakeen
All around the Lady Jessica, reaching far out into the dun flatness of the landing plain upon which her transport rested, crackling and sighing after its dive from space, stood an ocean of humanity She estimated half a million people were there and perhaps only a third of therims They stood in awesome silence, attention fixed on the transport&039;s exit platform, whose shadowy hatchway concealed her and her party
It lacked two hours until noon, but already the air above that throng reflected a dusty shi in promise of the day&039;s heat
Jessica touched her silver-flecked copper hair where it framed her oval face beneath the aba hood of a Reverend Mother She knew she did not look her best after the long trip, and the black of the aba was not her best color But she had worn this garnificance of the aba robe would not be lost upon the Freree with her, and there&039;d been that added burden of memories - the other trip from Caladan to Arrakis when her Duke had been forced into this fief against his better judg with her Bene Gesserit-trained ability to detect significant minutiae, she scanned the sea of people There were stillsuit hoods of dull grey, garments of Frerims with penitence marks on their shoulders; there were scattered pockets of richto flaunt their disdain for water loss in Arrakeen&039;s parching air and there was the delegation froreen robed and heavily hooded, standing aloof within the sanctity of their own group
Only when she lifted her gaze from the crowd did the scene take on any sireeted her upon her arrival with her beloved Duke How long ago had that been? More than twenty years She did not like to think of those intervening heartbeats Tih her years away froon&039;s ht
Here, upon this plain, her son had wrested the Imperium from the late Shaddam IV A convulsion of history had imprinted this place into men&039;sof the entourage behind her and again she sighed They must wait for Alia, who had been delayed Alia&039;s party could be seen now approaching froe of Royal Guards opened a passage
Jessica scanned the landscape oncestare A prayer balcony had been added to the landing field&039;s control tower And visible far off to the left across the plain stood the awesome pile of plasteel which Paul had built as his fortress - his "sietch above the sand" It was the largest integrated single construction ever to rise from the hand of man Entire cities could have been housed within its walls and roo force in the Imperium, Alia&039;s "Society of the Faithful," which she had built upon her brother&039;s body
That place ation had reached the foot of the exit raar&039;s craggy features And God forfend! There stood the Princess Irulan hiding her savagery in that seductive body with its cap of golden hair exposed by a vagrant breeze Irulan seeed a day; it was an affront And there, at the point of the wedge, was Alia, her features i upward into the hatchway&039;s shadows Jessica&039;s hter&039;s face A leaden sensation pulsed through Jessica&039;s body and she heard the surf of her own life within her ears The rumors were true! Horrible! Horrible! Alia had fallen into the forbidden way The evidence was there for the initiate to read Abomination!
In the few moments it took her to recover, Jessica realized how much she had hoped to find the rumors false
What of the twins? she asked herself Are they lost, too?
Slowly, as befitted the od, Jessica moved out of the shadows and onto the lip of the rae remained behind as instructed These next few moments were the crucial ones Jessica stood alone in full view of the throng She heard Gurney Halleck cough nervously behind her Gurney had objected: "Not even a shield on you? Gods beloo Gurney&039;s most valuable features was a core of obedience He would say his piece and then he would obey Now he obeyed
The huiant sandwored She raised her arms in the benedictory to which the priesthood had conditioned the Inificant pockets of tardiness, but still like one giant organism, the people sank to their knees Even the official party complied
Jessica had marked out the places of delay, and she knew that other eyes behind her and a had memorized a temporary map hich to seek out the tardy
As Jessica reed Theythe official party&039;s startled looks, joining the agents who identified theh the huh narrow lanes A few of their targets saw the danger and tried to flee They were the easiest: a thrown knife, a garrote loop and the runners went down Others were herded out of the press, hands bound, feet hobbled
Through it all, Jessica stood with ar subservient She read the signs of spreading ruh, and knew the dominant one because it had been planted: "The Reverend Mother returns to weed out the slackers Bless the mother of our Lord!"
When it was over - a few dead bodies sprawled on the sand, captives re tower - Jessica lowered her arms Perhaps three minutes had elapsed She knew there was little likelihood Gurney and his leaders, the ones who posed the most potent threat They would be the alert and sensitive ones But the captives would contain so fish as well as the usual culls and dullards
Jessica lowered her arh nothing untoward had happened, Jessica walked alone down the raar for concentrated attention The black beard which fanned out across the neck of his stillsuit hood like a wild delta contained flecks of grey, but his eyes carried that same whiteless intensity they&039;d presented to her on their first encounter in the desert Stilgar knehat had just occurred, and approved Here stood a true Fremen Naib, a leader of men and capable of bloody decisions His first words were completely in character
"Welcome home, My Lady It&039;s always a pleasure to see direct and effective action"