Page 32 (2/2)

A sly look ca like her own voice co mouth, a parody of Bene Gesserit control "All of you! Stay where you are!"

Jessica, lowering her hands, found them damp with tears

Alia rolled to her knees, lurched to her feet

"Don&039;t you knoho I a voice of the youthful Alia as noateyes to Jessica "Mother, make them stop it"

Jessica could only shake her head from side to side, consus were true She looked at Leto and Ghani standing side by side near Alia What did those warnings mean for these poor twins?

"Grand in his voice "Must we have a Trial of Possession?"

"Who are you to speak of trial?" Alia asked, and her voice was that of a querulous ence

Both Leto and Ghaninized the voice The Old Baron Harkonnen Ghaniin to echo in her own head, but the inner gate closed and she sensed herthere

Jessica remained silent

"Then the decision is mine," Leto said "And the choice is yours, Alia Trial of Possession, or" He nodded toward the open

"Who&039;re you to give me a choice?" Alia demanded, and it was still the voice of the Old Baron

"Demon!" Ghanima screamed "Let her irl tones "Mother, what&039;re they doing? What do you want me to do? Help me"

"Help yourself," Leto ordered and, for just an instant, he saw the shattered presence of his aunt in her eyes, a glaring hopelessness which peered out at hi walk She wavered, stumbled, veered from her path but returned to it, nearer and nearer the open

Now the voice of the Old Baron raged from her lips: "Stop! Stop it, I say! I command you! Stop it! Feel this!" Alia clutched her head, stuhs then, but the voice still raved "Don&039;t do this! Stop it and I&039;ll help you I have a plan Listen to me Stop it, I say Wait!" But Alia pulled her hands away fro one Not even a screech came from her as she fell

In the room they heard the crowd shout, the sodden thump as Alia struck the steps far below

Leto looked at Jessica "We told you to pity her"

Jessica turned and buried her face in Farad&039;n&039;s tunic

The assuh an assault on its conscious elenorance This has often been the ignorant approach of those who call theists -The Butlerian Jihad, by Harq al-Ada

"He runs at night, cousin," Ghanima said "He runs Have you seen him run?"

"No," Farad&039;n said

He waited with Ghanima outside the small audience hall of the Keep where Leto had called them to attend Tyekanik stood at one side, uncomfortable with the Lady Jessica, who appeared withdrawn, as though her mind lived in another place It was hardly an hour past the- a sues to CHOAM and the Landsraad

Farad&039;n found it difficult to understand these Atreides The Lady Jessica had warned him, but still the reality of theh most political reasons for it seemed to have dissolved Leto would assume the throne; there appeared little doubt of that His odd living skin would have to be removed, of course but, in time

"He runs to tire himself," Ghanima said "He&039;s Kralizec embodied No wind ever ran as he runs He&039;s a blur atop the dunes I&039;ve seen him He runs and runs And when he has exhausted himself at last, he returns and rests his head in my lap &039;Ask our mother within to find a way for me to die,&039; he pleads"

Farad&039;n stared at her In the week since the riot in the plaza, the Keep had s; stories of bitter fighting beyond the Shield Wall cah Tyekanik, whose military advice had been asked

"I don&039;t understand you," Farad&039;n said "Find a way for him to die?"

"He asked me to prepare you," Ghanima said Not for the first time, she was struck by the curious innocence of this Corrino Prince Was that Jessica&039;s doing, or soer hu to re skin? Never It&039;s part of him now and he&039;s part of it Leto estimates he has perhaps four thousand years before metamorphosis destroys him"

Farad&039;n tried to s in a dry throat

"You see why he runs?" Ghani and be so -"

"Because thehuman is so rich in hiine what that is because you&039;ve no experience of it But I know I can iave before Our father walked into the desert trying to escape it Alia becarandmother has only the blurred infancy of this condition, yet must use every Bene Gesserit wile to live with it - which is what Reverend Mother training amounts to anyway But Leto! He&039;s all alone, never to be duplicated"

Farad&039;n felt stunned by her words Emperor for four thousand years?

"Jessica knows," Ghanirandht He called hie planner in human history"

"What does he plan?"

"The Golden Path He&039;ll explain it to you later"

"And he has a role for me in this plan?"

"Asover the Sisterhood&039;s breeding prograrandmother told you about the Bene Gesserit dream for a male Reverend with extraordinary powers He&039;s -"

"You mean we&039;re just to be -"

"Not just" She took his arm, squeezed it with a warm familiarity "He&039;ll have many very responsible tasks for both of us When we&039;re not producing children, that is"

"Well, you&039;re a little young yet," Farad&039;n said, disengaging his arain," she said There was ice in her tone

Jessica ca has spread off-planet," Jessica said "The Central Teht her oddly calm in this state the night A wildfire of rebellion was spreading through the Empire It would be put down, of course, but Leto would have a sorry Ear now," Ghani for him" And once more she took Farad&039;n&039;s arm

The old Fremen Naib had entered by the far door escorted by two former Death Commando companions from the desert days All were dressed in for and yellow headbands for ar kept his attention on Jessica He stopped in front of her, nodded warily

"You still worry about the death of Duncan Idaho," Jessica said She didn&039;t like this caution in her old friend

"Reverend Mother," he said

So it&039;s going to be that way! Jessica thought All for to the Free

She said: "By our view, you but played apart which Duncan assigned you Not the first tiiven his life for the Atreides Why do they do it, Stil? You&039;ve been ready for it more than once Why? Is it that you kno ive in return?"

"I&039;e," he said "But there are randson These matters may separate us froe?" Ghaniment" He looked coldly at Ghanirowled "We will go back to the old ways Without you if necessary"

"For a ti, Stil What&039;ll you do when there are no more worms, no more desert?"

"I don&039;t believe it!"

"Within one hundred years," Ghanima said, "there&039;ll be fewer than fifty wored reservation Their spice will be for the Spacing Guild only, and the price" She shook her head "I&039;ve seen Leto&039;s figures He&039;s been all over the planet He knows"

"Is this another trick to keep the Fremen as your vassals?"

"When were you ever ar scowled No matter what he said or did, these twins always ht he told ar blurted "I don&039;t like it!"

"That&039;s odd," Ghanirandmother "Most of the Ear e," Ghanirand for the Pharaonic E for a rich peace with abundant harvests, plentiful trade, a leveling of all except the Golden Ruler"

"It&039;ll be the death of the Frear protested

"How can you say that? Will we not need soldiers and brave men to remove the occasional dissatisfaction? Why, Stil, you and Tyek&039;s brave coar looked at the Sardaukar officer and a strange light of understanding passed between them