goodreads.ccChapter Ten
"Sit down," she said. "You insulted me so."
Slowly, he sank back into the chair.
And Jessica, reading the signs of this face that she knew so well, allowed hersel...eep breath. It isn't Hawat .
"No...now you remain loyal to my Duke," she said. "I'm prepared, therefore, to forgive your affront to me."
"Is there something to forgive?"
Jessica scowled, wondering: Shal...lay my trump? Shal...ell him of the Duke's daughter I've carried within me these few weeks? N... . Leto himself doesn't know. This would only complicate his life, divert him i...ime when he must concentrate on our survival. There is yet time to use this .
"A Truthsayer would solve this," she said, "but we have no Truthsayer qualified by the High Board."
"As you say. We've no Truthsayer."
"Is ther...raitor among us?" she asked. "I've studied our people with great care. Who could it be? Not Gurney. Certainly not Dunca...heir lieutenants are not strategically enough placed to consider. It's not you, Thufir. It cannot be Paul...now it's not me. Dr. Yueh, then? Shal...all him in and put him to the test?"
"You know that's an empty gesture," Hawat said. "He's conditioned by the High Colleg...ha...now for certain."
"Not to mention that his wife wa...ene Gesserit slain by the Harkonnens," Jessica said.
"So that's what happened to her," Hawat said.
"Haven't you heard the hate in his voice when he speaks the Harkonnen name?"
"You kno...on't have the ear," Hawat said.
"What brought this base suspicion on me?" she asked.
Hawat frowned. "My Lady puts her servant in an impossible position. My first loyalty is to the Duke."
"I'm prepared to forgive much because of that loyalty," she said.
"And agai...ust ask: Is there something to forgive?"
"Stalemate?" she asked.
He shrugged.
"Let us discuss something else fo...inute, then," she said. "Duncan Idaho, the admirable fighting man whose abilities at guarding and surveillance are so esteemed. Tonight, he overindulged in something called spice beer...ear reports that others among our people have been stupefied by this concoction. Is that true?"
"You have your reports, my Lady."
"S...o. Don't you see this drinking a...ymptom, Thufir?"
"My Lady speaks riddles."
"Apply your Mentat abilities to it!" she snapped. "What's the problem with Duncan and the others...an tell you in four word...hey have no home."
He jabbe...inger at the floor. "Arrakis, that's their home."
"Arrakis is an unknown! Caladan was their home, but we've uprooted them. They have no home. And they fear the Duke's failing them."
He stiffened. "Such talk from one of the men would be cause fo...quot;
"Oh, stop that, Thufir. Is it defeatist or treacherous fo...octor to diagnos...isease correctly? My only intention is to cure the disease."
"The Duke gives me charge over such matters."
"But you understan...av...ertain natural concern over the progress of this disease," she said. "And perhaps you'll gran...ave certain abilities along these lines."
Wil...ave to shock him severely? she wondered. He needs shaking u...omething to break him from routine .
"There could be many interpretations for your concern," Hawat said. He shrugged.
"Then you've already convicted me?"
"Of course not, my Lady. Bu...annot afford to take any chances, the situation being what it is."
"A threat to my son got past you right here in this house," she said. "Who took that chance?"
His face darkened. "I offered my resignation to the Duke."
"Did you offer your resignation to m... . or to Paul?"
Now he was openly angry, betraying it in quickness of breathing, in dilation of nostrils...teady stare. She sa...ulse beating at his temple.
"I'm the Duke's man," he said, biting off the words.
"There is no traitor," she said. "The threat's something else. Perhaps it has to do with the lasguns. Perhaps they'll risk secretin...ew lasguns with timing mechanisms aimed at house shields. Perhaps they'l... . "
"And who could tell after the blast if the explosion wasn't atomic?" he asked. "No, my Lady. They'll not risk anything that illegal. Radiation lingers. The evidence is hard to erase. No. They'll observe most of the forms. It has to b...raitor."
"You're the Duke's man," she sneered. "Would you destroy him in the effort to save him?"
He too...eep breath, then: "If you're innocent, you'll have my most abject apologies."
"Look at you now, Thufir," she said. "Humans live best when each has his own place, when each knows where he belongs in the scheme of things. Destroy the place and destroy the person. You and I, Thufir, of all those who love the Duke, are most ideally situated to destroy the other's place. Coul...ot whisper suspicions about you into the Duke's ear at night? When would he be most susceptible to such whispering, Thufir? Mus...raw it for you more clearly?"
"You threaten me?" he growled.
"Indeed not...erely point out to you that someone is attacking us through the basic arrangement of our lives. It's clever, diabolical...ropose to negate this attack by so ordering our lives that there'll be no chinks for such barbs to enter."
"You accuse me of whispering baseless suspicions?"
"Baseless, yes."
"You'd meet this with your own whispers?"
"Your life is compounded of whispers, not mine, Thufir."
"Then you question my abilities?"
She sighed. "Thufir...ant you to examine your own emotional involvement in this. The natural human's an animal without logic. Your projections of logic onto all affairs is un natural, but suffered to continue for its usefulness. You're the embodiment of logi... Mentat. Yet, your problem solutions are concepts that, i...ery real sense, are projected outside yourself, there to be studied and rolled around, examined from all sides."
"You think now to teach me my trade?" he asked, and he did not try to hide the disdain in his voice.
"Anything outside yourself, this you can see and apply your logic to it," she said. "But it'...uman trait that when we encounter personal problems, those things most deeply personal are the most difficult to bring out for our logic to scan. We tend to flounder around, blaming everything but the actual, deep-seated thing that's really chewing on us."
"You're deliberately attempting to undermine my faith in my abilities a...entat," he rasped. "Wer...o find one of our people attempting thus to sabotage any other weapon in our arsenal...hould not hesitate to denounce and destroy him."
"The finest Mentats hav...ealthy respect for the error factor in their computations," she said.
"I've never said otherwise!"
"Then apply yourself to these symptoms we've both seen: drunkenness among the men, quarrel...hey gossip and exchange wild rumors about Arrakis; they ignore the most simpl...quot;
"Idleness, no more," he said. "Don't try to divert my attention by trying to mak...imple matter appear mysterious."
She stared at him, thinking of the Duke's men rubbing their woes together in the barracks until you could almost smell the charge there, like burnt insulation. They're becoming like the men of the pre-Guild legen...he thought: Like the men of the lost star-searcher, Ampoliro...ick at their gun...orever seeking, forever prepared and forever unready .
"Why have you never made full use of my abilities in your service to the Duke?" she asked. "Do you fea...ival for your position?"
He glared at her, the old eyes blazing. "I know some of the training they give you Bene Gesseri... . " He broke off, scowling.
"Go ahead, say it," she said. "Bene Gesserit witches ."
"I know something of the real training they give you," he said. "I've seen it come out in Paul. I'm not fooled by what your schools tell the public: you exist only to serve."
The shock must be severe and he's almost ready for i...he thought.
"You listen respectfully to me in Council," she said, "yet you seldom heed my advice. Why?"
"I don't trust your Bene Gesserit motives," he said. "You may think you can look throug...an; you may think you can mak...an do exactly what yo...quot;
"You poor foo...hufir!" she raged.
He scowled, pushing himself back in the chair.
"Whatever rumors you've heard about our schools," she said, "the truth is far greater. I...ished to destroy the Duk... . or you, or any other person within my reach, you could not stop me."
And she thought: Why d...et pride drive such words out of me? This is not the wa...as trained. This is not ho...ust shock him .
Hawat slippe...and beneath his tunic where he kep...iny projector of poison darts. She wears no shiel...e thought. Is this jus...rag she makes...ould slay her no... . but, ah-h-h-h, the consequences if I'm wrong .
Jessica saw the gesture toward his pocket, said: "Let us pray violence shall never be necessary between us."
"A worthy prayer," he agreed.
"Meanwhile, the sickness spreads among us," she said. "I must ask you again: Isn't it more reasonable to suppose the Harkonnens have planted this suspicion to pit the two of us against each other?"
"We appear to've returned to stalemate," he said.
She sighed, thinking: He's almost ready for it .
"The Duke an...re father and mother surrogates to our people," she said. "The positio...quot;
"He hasn't married you," Hawat said.
She forced herself to calmness, thinking...ood riposte, that .
"But he'll not marry anyone else," she said. "Not as long a...ive. And we are surrogates, as I've said. To break up this natural order in our affairs, to disturb, disrupt, and confuse u...hich target offers itself most enticingly to the Harkonnens?"
He sensed the direction she was taking, and his brows drew down i...owering scowl.
"The Duke?" she asked. "Attractive target, yes, but no one with the possible exception of Paul is better guarded. Me...empt them, surely, but they must know the Bene Gesserit make difficult targets. And there'...etter target, one whose duties create, necessarily...onstrous blind spot. One to whom suspicion is as natural as breathing. One who builds his entire life on innuendo and mystery." She darted her right hand toward him. "You!"
Hawat started to leap from his chair.
"I have not dismissed you, Thufir!" she flared.
The old Mentat almost fell back into the chair, so quickly did his muscles betray him.
She smiled without mirth.
"Now you know something of the real training they give us," she said.
Hawat tried to swallow i...ry throat. Her command had been regal, preemptor...ttered i...one and manner he had found completely irresistible. His body had obeyed her before he could think about it. Nothing could have prevented his respons...ot logic, not passionate ange... . nothing. To do what she had done spoke o...ensitive, intimate knowledge of the person thus commanded...epth of control he had not dreamed possible.
"I have said to you before that we should understand each other," she said. "I meant you should understand m... already understand you. An...ell you now that your loyalty to the Duke is all that guarantees your safety with me."
He stared at her, wet his lips with his tongue.
"I...esire...uppet, the Duke would marry me," she said. "He might even think he did it of his own free will."
Hawat lowered his head, looked upward through his sparse lashes. Only the most rigid control kept him from calling the guard. Contro... . and the suspicion now that woman might not permit it. His skin crawled with the memory of how she had controlled him. In the moment of hesitation, she could have draw...eapon and killed him!
Does every human have this blind spot? he wondered. Can any of us be ordered into action before he can resist? The idea staggered him. Who could sto...erson with such power?
"You've glimpsed the fist within the Bene Gesserit glove," she said. "Few glimpse it and live. And wha...id wa...elatively simple thing for us. You've not seen my entire arsenal. Think on that,"
"Why aren't you out destroying the Duke's enemies?" he asked.
"What would you have me destroy?" she asked. "Would you have me mak...eakling of our Duke, have him forever leaning on me?"
"But, with such powe... . "
"Power'...wo-edged sword, Thufir," she said; "You think: 'How easy for her to shap...uman tool to thrust into an enemy's vitals.' True, Thufir; even into your vitals. Yet, what woul...ccomplish? If enough of us Bene Gesserit did this, wouldn't it make all Bene Gesserit suspect? We don't want that, Thufir. We do not wish to destroy ourselves." She nodded. "We truly exist only to serve."
"I cannot answer you," he said. "You kno...annot answer."
"You'll say nothing about what has happened here to anyone," she said. "I know you, Thufir."
"My Lad... . " Again the old man tried to swallow i...ry throat.
And he thought: She has great powers, yes. But would these not make her an even more formidable tool for the Harkonnens?
"The Duke could be destroyed as quickly by his friends as by his enemies," she said. "I trust now you'll get to the bottom of this suspicion and remove it."
"If it proves baseless," he said.
"If, " she sneered.
"If," he said.
"You are tenacious," she said.
"Cautious," he said, "and aware of the error factor."
"Then I'll pose another question for you: What does it mean to you that you stand before another human, that you are bound and helpless and the other human hold...nife at your throa...et this other human refrains from killing you, frees you from your bonds and gives you the knife to use as you will?"
She lifted herself out of the chair, turned her back on him. "You may go now, Thufir."
The old Mentat arose, hesitated, hand creeping toward the deadly weapon beneath his tunic. He was reminded of the bull ring and of the Duke's father (who'd been brave, no matter what his other failings) and one day of the corrida long ago: The fierce black beast had stood there, head bowed, immobilized and confused. The Old Duke had turned his back on the horns, cape thrown flamboyantly over one arm, while cheers rained down from the stands.
I am the bull and she the matado...awat thought. He withdrew his hand from the weapon, glanced at the sweat glistening in his empty palm.
And he knew that whatever the facts proved to be in the end, he would never forget this moment nor lose this sense of supreme admiration for the Lady Jessica.
Quietly, he turned and left the room.
Jessica lowered her gaze from the reflection in the windows, turned, and stared at the closed door.
"Now we'll see some proper action," she whispered.
Do you wrestle with dreams?
Do you contend with shadows?
Do you move i...ind of sleep?
Time has slipped away.
Your life is stolen.
You tarried with trifles,
Victim of your folly.
- Dirge for Jamis on the Funeral Plain,
from "Songs of Muad'Dib" by the Princess Irulan
Leto stood in the foyer of his house, studyin...ote by the light o...ingle suspensor lamp. Dawn was ye...ew hours away, and he felt his tiredness...remen messenger had brought the note to the outer guard just now as the Duke arrived from his command post.
The note read: "A column of smoke by day...illar of fire by night."
There was no signature.
What does it mean? he wondered.
The messenger had gone without waiting for an answer and before he could be questioned. He had slipped into the night like some smoky shadow.
Leto pushed the paper int...unic pocket, thinking to show it to Hawat later. He brushe...ock of hair from his forehead, too...ighing breath. The anti-fatigue pills were beginning to wear thin. It had bee...ong two days since the dinner party and longer than that since he had slept.
On top of all the military problems, there'd been the disquieting session with Hawat, the report on his meeting with Jessica.
Shoul...aken Jessica? he wondered. There's no reason to play the secrecy game with her any longer. Or is there?
Blast and damn that Duncan Idaho!
He shook his head. No, not Duncan...as wrong not to take Jessica into my confidence from the first...ust do it now, before more damage is done .
The decision made him feel better, and he hurried from the foyer through the Great Hall and down the passages toward the family wing.
At the turn where the passages split to the service area, he paused...trange mewling came from somewhere down the service passage. Leto put his left hand to the switch on his shield belt, slipped his kindjal into his right hand. The knife conveye...ense of reassurance. That strange sound had sen...hill through him.
Softly, the Duke moved down the service passage, cursing the inadequate illumination. The smallest of suspensors had been spaced about eight meters apart along here and tuned to their dimmest level. The dark stone walls swallowed the light.
A dull blob stretching across the floor appeared out of the gloom ahead.
Leto hesitated, almost activated his shield, but refrained because that would limit his movements, his hearin... . and because the captured shipment of lasguns had left him filled with doubts.
Silently, he moved toward the grey blob, saw that it wa...uman figure...an face down on the stone. Leto turned him over wit...oot, knife poised, bent close in the dim light to see the face. It was the smuggler, Tuek...et stain down his chest. The dead eyes stared with empty darkness. Leto touched the stai...arm.
How could this man be dead here? Leto asked himself. Who killed him?
The mewling sound was louder here. It came from ahead and down the side passage to the central room where they had installed the main shield generator for the house.
Hand on belt switch, kindjal poised, the Duke skirted the body, slipped down the passage and peered around the corner toward the shield generator room.
Another grey blob lay stretched on the floo...ew paces away, and he saw at once this was the source of the noise. The shape crawled toward him with painful slowness, gasping, mumbling.
Leto stilled his sudden constriction of fear, darted down the passage, crouched beside the crawling figure. It was Mapes, the Fremen housekeeper, her hair tumbled around her face, clothing disarrayed...ull shininess of dark stain spread from her back along her side. He touched her shoulder and she lifted herself on her elbows, head tipped up to peer at him, the eyes black-shadowed emptiness.
"S'you," she gasped. "Kille... . guar... . sen... . ge... . Tue... . escap... . m'Lad... . yo... . yo... . her... . n... . " She flopped forward, her head thumping against the stone.
Leto felt for pulse at the temples. There was none. He looked at the stain: she'd been stabbed in the back. Who? His mind raced. Did she mean someone had kille...uard? And Tue...ad Jessica sent for him? Why?
He started to stand up...ixth sense warned him. He flashe...and toward the shield switc...oo late...umbing shock slammed his arm aside. He felt pain there, sa...art protruding from the sleeve, sensed paralysis spreading from it up his arm. It took an agonizing effort to lift his head and look down the passage.
Yueh stood in the open door of the generator room. His face reflected yellow from the light o...ingle, brighter suspensor above the door. There was stillness from the room behind hi...o sound of generators.
Yueh! Leto thought. He's sabotaged the house generators! We 're wide open!
Yueh began walking toward him, pocketin...artgun.
Leto found he could still speak, gasped: "Yueh! How?" Then the paralysis reached his legs and he slid to the floor with his back propped against the stone wall.
Yueh's face carrie...ook of sadness as he bent over, touched Leto's forehead. The Duke found he could feel the touch, but it was remot... . dull.
"The drug on the dart is selective," Yueh said "You can speak, but I'd advise against it." He glanced down the hall, and again bent over Leto, pulled out the dart, tossed it aside. The sound of the dart clattering on the stones was faint and distant to the Duke's ears.
It can't be Yue...eto thought. He's conditioned.
"How?" Leto whispered.
"I'm sorry, my dear Duke, but there are things which will make greater demands than this." He touched the diamond tattoo on his forehead. "I find it very strange, mysel...n override on my pyretic conscienc...u...ish to kil...an. Yes...ctually wish it...ill stop at nothing to do it."
He looked down at the Duke. "Oh, not you, my dear Duke. The Baron Harkonnen...ish to kill the Baron."
"Ba... . on Ha... . "
"Be quiet, please, my poor Duke. You haven't much time. That peg toot...ut in your mouth after the tumble at Narca...hat tooth must be replaced, i...oment, I'll render you unconscious and replace that tooth." He opened his hand, stared at something in it. "An exact duplicate, its core shaped most exquisitely lik...erve. It'll escape the usual detectors, eve...ast scanning. But if you bite down hard on it, the cover crushes. Then, when you expel your breath sharply, you fill the air around you wit...oison ga...ost deadly."
Leto stared up at Yueh, seeing madness in the man's eyes, the perspiration along brown and chin.
"You were dead anyway, my poor Duke," Yueh said. "But you will get close to the Baron before you die. He'll believe you're stupefied by drugs beyond any dying effort to attack him. And you will be drugge...nd tied. But attack can take strange forms. And you will remember the tooth. The toot...uke Leto Atreides. You will remember the tooth."
The old doctor leaned closer and closer until his face and drooping mustache dominated Leto's narrowing vision.
"The tooth," Yueh muttered.
"Why?" Leto whispered.
Yueh lowered himself to one knee beside the Duke. "I mad...haitan's bargain with the Baron. An...ust be certain he has fulfilled his half of it. Whe...ee him, I'll know. Whe...ook at the Baron, the...ill know. But I'll never enter his presence without the price. You're the price, my poor Duke. And I'll know whe...ee him. My poor Wanna taught me many things, and one is to see certainty of truth when the stress is great...annot do it always, but whe...ee the Baro...hen...ill know."
Leto tried to look down at the tooth in Yueh's hand. He felt this was happening i...ightmar...t could not be.
Yueh's purple lips turned up i...rimace. "I'll not get close enough to the Baron, or I'd do this myself. No. I'll be detained a...afe distance. But yo... . ah, now! You, my lovely weapon! He'll want you close to hi...o gloat over you, to boas...ittle."
Leto found himself almost hypnotized b...uscle on the left side of Yueh's jaw. The muscle twisted when the man spoke.
Yueh leaned closer. "And you, my good Duke, my precious Duke, you must remember this tooth." He held it up between thumb and forefinger. "It will be all that remains to you."
Leto's mouth moved without sound, then: "Refuse."
"Ah-h, no! You mustn't refuse. Because, in return for this small service, I'm doin...hing for you...ill save your son and your woman. No other can do it. They can be removed t...lace where no Harkonnen can reach them."
"Ho... . sav... . them?" Leto whispered.
"By making it appear they're dead, by secreting them among people who draw knife at hearing the Harkonnen name, who hate the Harkonnens so much they'll bur...hair in whic...arkonnen has sat, salt the ground over whic...arkonnen has walked." He touched Leto's jaw. "Can you feel anything in your jaw?"
The Duke found that he could not answer. He sensed distant tugging, saw Yueh's hand come up with the ducal signet ring.
"For Paul," Yueh said. "You'll be unconscious presently. Good-by, my poor Duke. When next we meet we'll have no time for conversation."
Cool remoteness spread upward from Leto's jaw, across his cheeks. The shadowy, hall narrowed t...inpoint with Yueh's purple lips centered in it.
"Remember the tooth!" Yueh hissed. "The tooth!"
There should b...cience of discontent. People need hard times and oppression to develop psychic muscles.
- from "Collected Sayings of Muad'Dib" by the Princess Irulan
Jessica awoke in the dark, feeling premonition in the stillness around her. She could not understand why her mind and body felt so sluggish. Skin raspings of fear ran along her nerves. She thought of sitting up and turning o...ight, but something stayed the decision. Her mouth fel... . strange.
Lump-lump-lump-lump!
It wa...ull sound, directionless in the dark. Somewhere.
The waiting moment was packed with time, with rustling needle-stick movements.
She began to feel her body, grew aware of bindings on wrists and ankles...ag in her mouth. She was on her side, hands tied behind her. She tested the bindings, realized they were krimskell fiber, would only claw tighter as she pulled.
And now, she remembered.
There had been movement in the darkness of her bedroom, something wet and pungent slapped against her face, filling her mouth, hands grasping for her. She had gaspe...ne indrawn breat...ensing the narcotic in the wetness. Consciousness had receded, sinking her int...lack bin of terror.
It has com...he thought. How simple it was to subdue the Bene Gesserit. All it took was treachery. Hawat was right.
She forced herself not to pull on her bindings.
This is not my bedroo...he thought. They've taken me someplace else .
Slowly, she marshaled the inner calmness.
She grew aware of the smell of her own stale sweat with its chemical infusion of fear.
Where is Paul? she asked herself. My so...hat have they done to him?
Calmness .
She forced herself to it, using the ancient routines.
But terror remained so near.
Leto? Where are you, Leto?
She sense...iminishing in the dark. It began with shadows. Dimensions separated, became new thorns of awareness. White...ine unde...oor.
I'm on the floor .
People walking. She sensed it through the floor.
Jessica squeezed back the memory of terror...ust remain calm, alert, and prepared...ay get only one chanc...gain, she forced the inner calmness.
The ungainly thumping of her heartbeats evened, shaping out time. She counted back...as unconscious about an hou...he closed her eyes, focused her awareness onto the approaching footsteps.
Four people .
She counted the differences in their steps.
I must pretend I'm still unconsciou...he relaxed against the cold floor, testing her body's readiness, hear...oor open, sensed increased light through her eyelids.
Feet approached: someone standing over her.
"You are awake," rumble...asso voice. "Do not pretend."
She opened her eyes.
The Baron Vladimir Harkonnen stood over her. Around them, she recognized the cellar room where Paul had slept, saw his cot at one sid...mpty. Suspensor lamps were brought in by guards, distributed near the open door. There wa...lare of light in the hallway beyond that hurt her eyes.
She looked up at the Baron. He wor...ellow cape that bulged over his portable suspensors. The fat cheeks were two cherubic mounds beneath spider-black eyes.
"The drug was timed," he rumbled. "We knew to the minute when you'd be coming out of it."
How could that be? she wondered. They'd have to know my exact weight, my metabolism, m... . Yueh!
"Suc...ity you must remain gagged," the Baron said. "We could have such an interesting conversation."
Yueh's the only one it could b...he thought. How?
The Baron glanced behind him at the door. "Come in, Piter."
She had never before seen the man who entered to stand beside the Baron, but the face was know...nd the man: Piter de Vries, the Mentat-Assassi...he studied hi...awk features, blue-ink eyes that suggested he wa...ative of Arrakis, but subtleties of movement and stance told her he was not. And his flesh was too well firmed with water. He was tall, though slender, and something about him suggested effeminacy.
"Suc...ity we cannot have our conversation, my dear Lady Jessica." the Baron said. "However, I'm aware of your abilities." He glanced at the Mentat. "Isn't that true, Piter?"
"As you say, Baron," the man said.
The voice was tenor. It touched her spine wit...ash of coldness. She had never heard suc...hill voice. To one with the Bene Gesserit training, the voice screamed: Killer!
"I hav...urprise for Piter," the Baron said. "He thinks he has come here to collect his rewar...ou, Lady Jessica. Bu...ish to demonstrat...hing: that he does not really want you."
"You play with me, Baron?" Piter asked, and he smiled.
Seeing that smile, Jessica wondered that the Baron did not leap to defend himself from this Piter. Then she corrected herself. The Baron could not read that smile. He did not have the Training.
"In many ways, Piter is quite naive," the Baron said. "He doesn't admit to himself wha...eadly creature you are, Lady Jessica. I'd show him, but it'd b...oolish risk." The Baron smiled at Piter, whose face had becom...aiting mask. "I know what Piter really wants. Piter wants power."
"You promise...ould have her ," Piter said. The tenor voice had lost some of its cold reserve.
Jessica heard the clue-tones in the man's voice, allowed herself an inward shudder. How could the Baron have made such an animal out o...entat?
"I give yo...hoice, Piter," the Baron said.
"What choice?"
The Baron snapped fat fingers. "This woman and exile from the Imperium, or the Duchy of Atreides on Arrakis to rule as you see fit in my name."
Jessica watched the Baron's spider eyes study Piter.
"You could be Duke here in all but name," the Baron said.
Is my Leto dead, then? Jessica asked herself. She fel...ilent wail begin somewhere in her mind.
The Baron kept his attention on the Mentat. "Understand yourself, Piter. You want her because she wa...uke's woman...ymbol of his powe...eautiful, useful, exquisitely trained for her role. But an entire duchy, Piter! That's more tha...ymbol; that's the reality. With it you could have many wome... . and more."
"You do not joke with Piter?"
The Baron turned with that dancing lightness the suspensors gave him. "Joke? I? Remembe... am giving up the boy. You heard what the traitor said about the lad's training. They are alike, this mother and so...eadly." The Baron smiled. "I must go now...ill send in the guard I've reserved for this moment. He's stone deaf. His orders will be to convey you on the first leg of your journey into exile. He will subdue this woman if he sees her gain control of you. He'll not permit you to untie her gag until you're off Arrakis. If you choose not to leav... . he has other orders."
"You don't have to leave," Piter said. "I've chosen."
"Ah, hah!" the Baron chortled. "Such quick decision can mean only one thing."
"I will take the duchy," Piter said.
And Jessica thought: Doesn't Piter know the Baron's lying to him? Bu...ow could he know? He'...wisted Mentat .
The Baron glanced down at Jessica. "Is it not wonderful tha...now Piter so well...agered with my Master at Arms that this would be Piter's choice. Hah! Well...eave now. This is much better. Ah-h, much better. You understand, Lady Jessica...old no rancor toward you. It'...ecessity. Much better this way. Yes. And I've not actually ordered you destroyed. When it's asked of me what happened to you...an shrug it off in all truth."
"You leave it to me then?" Piter asked.
"The guar...end you will take your orders," the Baron said. "Whatever's don...eave to you." He stared at Piter. "Yes. There will be no blood on my hands here. It's your decision. Yes...now nothing of it. You will wait until I've gone before doing whatever you must do. Yes. Wel... . ah, yes. Yes. Good."
He fears the questioning o...ruthsaye...essica thought. Who? Ah-h-h, the Reverend Mother Gaius Helen, of course! If he knows he must face her questions, then the Emperor is in on this for sure. Ah-h-h-h, my poor Leto .
With one last glance at Jessica, the Baron turned, went out the door. She followed him with her eyes, thinking: It's as the Reverend Mother warne...oo potent an adversary .
Two Harkonnen troopers entered. Another, his fac...carred mask, followed and stood in the doorway with drawn lasgun.
The deaf on...essica thought, studying the scarred face. The Baron know...ould use the Voice on any other man .
Scarface looked at Piter. "We've the boy o...itter outside. What are your orders?"
Piter spoke to Jessica. "I'd thought of binding you b...hreat held over your son, bu...egin to see that would not have worked...et emotion cloud reason. Bad policy fo...entat." He looked at the first pair of troopers, turning so the deaf one could read his lips: "Take them into the desert as the traitor suggested for the boy. His plan i...ood one. The worms will destroy all evidence. Their bodies must never be found."
"You don't wish to dispatch them yourself?" Scarface asked.
He reads lip...essica thought.
"I follow my Baron's example," Piter said. "Take them where the traitor said."
Jessica heard the harsh Mentat control in Piter's voice, thought: He, too, fears the Truthsayer .
Piter shrugged, turned, and went through the doorway. He hesitated there, and Jessica thought he might turn back fo...ast look at her, but he went out without turning.
"Me...ouldn't like the thought of facing that Truthsayer after this night's work," Scarface said.
"You ain't likely ever to run into that old witch," one of the other troopers said. He went around to Jessica's head, bent over her. "It ain't getting our work done standing around here chattering. Take her feet an...quot;
"Why'n't we kill 'em here?" Scarface asked.
"Too messy," the first one said. "Unless you wants to strangle'em. Me...ike...ice straightforward job. Drop 'em on the desert like that traitor said, cut 'em once or twice, leave 'the evidence for the worms. Nothing to clean up afterwards."
"Yea... . well...uess you're right," Scarface said.
Jessica listened to them, watching, registering. But the gag blocked her Voice, and there was the deaf one to consider.
Scarface holstered his lasgun, took her feet. They lifted her lik...ack of grain, maneuvered her through the door and dumped her ont...uspensor-buoyed litter with another bound figure. As they turned her, fitting her to the litter, she saw her companion's fac...aul! He was bound, but not gagged. His face was no more than ten centimeters from hers, eyes closed, his breathing even.
Is he drugged? she wondered.
......
Slowly, he sank back into the chair.
And Jessica, reading the signs of this face that she knew so well, allowed hersel...eep breath. It isn't Hawat .
"No...now you remain loyal to my Duke," she said. "I'm prepared, therefore, to forgive your affront to me."
"Is there something to forgive?"
Jessica scowled, wondering: Shal...lay my trump? Shal...ell him of the Duke's daughter I've carried within me these few weeks? N... . Leto himself doesn't know. This would only complicate his life, divert him i...ime when he must concentrate on our survival. There is yet time to use this .
"A Truthsayer would solve this," she said, "but we have no Truthsayer qualified by the High Board."
"As you say. We've no Truthsayer."
"Is ther...raitor among us?" she asked. "I've studied our people with great care. Who could it be? Not Gurney. Certainly not Dunca...heir lieutenants are not strategically enough placed to consider. It's not you, Thufir. It cannot be Paul...now it's not me. Dr. Yueh, then? Shal...all him in and put him to the test?"
"You know that's an empty gesture," Hawat said. "He's conditioned by the High Colleg...ha...now for certain."
"Not to mention that his wife wa...ene Gesserit slain by the Harkonnens," Jessica said.
"So that's what happened to her," Hawat said.
"Haven't you heard the hate in his voice when he speaks the Harkonnen name?"
"You kno...on't have the ear," Hawat said.
"What brought this base suspicion on me?" she asked.
Hawat frowned. "My Lady puts her servant in an impossible position. My first loyalty is to the Duke."
"I'm prepared to forgive much because of that loyalty," she said.
"And agai...ust ask: Is there something to forgive?"
"Stalemate?" she asked.
He shrugged.
"Let us discuss something else fo...inute, then," she said. "Duncan Idaho, the admirable fighting man whose abilities at guarding and surveillance are so esteemed. Tonight, he overindulged in something called spice beer...ear reports that others among our people have been stupefied by this concoction. Is that true?"
"You have your reports, my Lady."
"S...o. Don't you see this drinking a...ymptom, Thufir?"
"My Lady speaks riddles."
"Apply your Mentat abilities to it!" she snapped. "What's the problem with Duncan and the others...an tell you in four word...hey have no home."
He jabbe...inger at the floor. "Arrakis, that's their home."
"Arrakis is an unknown! Caladan was their home, but we've uprooted them. They have no home. And they fear the Duke's failing them."
He stiffened. "Such talk from one of the men would be cause fo...quot;
"Oh, stop that, Thufir. Is it defeatist or treacherous fo...octor to diagnos...isease correctly? My only intention is to cure the disease."
"The Duke gives me charge over such matters."
"But you understan...av...ertain natural concern over the progress of this disease," she said. "And perhaps you'll gran...ave certain abilities along these lines."
Wil...ave to shock him severely? she wondered. He needs shaking u...omething to break him from routine .
"There could be many interpretations for your concern," Hawat said. He shrugged.
"Then you've already convicted me?"
"Of course not, my Lady. Bu...annot afford to take any chances, the situation being what it is."
"A threat to my son got past you right here in this house," she said. "Who took that chance?"
His face darkened. "I offered my resignation to the Duke."
"Did you offer your resignation to m... . or to Paul?"
Now he was openly angry, betraying it in quickness of breathing, in dilation of nostrils...teady stare. She sa...ulse beating at his temple.
"I'm the Duke's man," he said, biting off the words.
"There is no traitor," she said. "The threat's something else. Perhaps it has to do with the lasguns. Perhaps they'll risk secretin...ew lasguns with timing mechanisms aimed at house shields. Perhaps they'l... . "
"And who could tell after the blast if the explosion wasn't atomic?" he asked. "No, my Lady. They'll not risk anything that illegal. Radiation lingers. The evidence is hard to erase. No. They'll observe most of the forms. It has to b...raitor."
"You're the Duke's man," she sneered. "Would you destroy him in the effort to save him?"
He too...eep breath, then: "If you're innocent, you'll have my most abject apologies."
"Look at you now, Thufir," she said. "Humans live best when each has his own place, when each knows where he belongs in the scheme of things. Destroy the place and destroy the person. You and I, Thufir, of all those who love the Duke, are most ideally situated to destroy the other's place. Coul...ot whisper suspicions about you into the Duke's ear at night? When would he be most susceptible to such whispering, Thufir? Mus...raw it for you more clearly?"
"You threaten me?" he growled.
"Indeed not...erely point out to you that someone is attacking us through the basic arrangement of our lives. It's clever, diabolical...ropose to negate this attack by so ordering our lives that there'll be no chinks for such barbs to enter."
"You accuse me of whispering baseless suspicions?"
"Baseless, yes."
"You'd meet this with your own whispers?"
"Your life is compounded of whispers, not mine, Thufir."
"Then you question my abilities?"
She sighed. "Thufir...ant you to examine your own emotional involvement in this. The natural human's an animal without logic. Your projections of logic onto all affairs is un natural, but suffered to continue for its usefulness. You're the embodiment of logi... Mentat. Yet, your problem solutions are concepts that, i...ery real sense, are projected outside yourself, there to be studied and rolled around, examined from all sides."
"You think now to teach me my trade?" he asked, and he did not try to hide the disdain in his voice.
"Anything outside yourself, this you can see and apply your logic to it," she said. "But it'...uman trait that when we encounter personal problems, those things most deeply personal are the most difficult to bring out for our logic to scan. We tend to flounder around, blaming everything but the actual, deep-seated thing that's really chewing on us."
"You're deliberately attempting to undermine my faith in my abilities a...entat," he rasped. "Wer...o find one of our people attempting thus to sabotage any other weapon in our arsenal...hould not hesitate to denounce and destroy him."
"The finest Mentats hav...ealthy respect for the error factor in their computations," she said.
"I've never said otherwise!"
"Then apply yourself to these symptoms we've both seen: drunkenness among the men, quarrel...hey gossip and exchange wild rumors about Arrakis; they ignore the most simpl...quot;
"Idleness, no more," he said. "Don't try to divert my attention by trying to mak...imple matter appear mysterious."
She stared at him, thinking of the Duke's men rubbing their woes together in the barracks until you could almost smell the charge there, like burnt insulation. They're becoming like the men of the pre-Guild legen...he thought: Like the men of the lost star-searcher, Ampoliro...ick at their gun...orever seeking, forever prepared and forever unready .
"Why have you never made full use of my abilities in your service to the Duke?" she asked. "Do you fea...ival for your position?"
He glared at her, the old eyes blazing. "I know some of the training they give you Bene Gesseri... . " He broke off, scowling.
"Go ahead, say it," she said. "Bene Gesserit witches ."
"I know something of the real training they give you," he said. "I've seen it come out in Paul. I'm not fooled by what your schools tell the public: you exist only to serve."
The shock must be severe and he's almost ready for i...he thought.
"You listen respectfully to me in Council," she said, "yet you seldom heed my advice. Why?"
"I don't trust your Bene Gesserit motives," he said. "You may think you can look throug...an; you may think you can mak...an do exactly what yo...quot;
"You poor foo...hufir!" she raged.
He scowled, pushing himself back in the chair.
"Whatever rumors you've heard about our schools," she said, "the truth is far greater. I...ished to destroy the Duk... . or you, or any other person within my reach, you could not stop me."
And she thought: Why d...et pride drive such words out of me? This is not the wa...as trained. This is not ho...ust shock him .
Hawat slippe...and beneath his tunic where he kep...iny projector of poison darts. She wears no shiel...e thought. Is this jus...rag she makes...ould slay her no... . but, ah-h-h-h, the consequences if I'm wrong .
Jessica saw the gesture toward his pocket, said: "Let us pray violence shall never be necessary between us."
"A worthy prayer," he agreed.
"Meanwhile, the sickness spreads among us," she said. "I must ask you again: Isn't it more reasonable to suppose the Harkonnens have planted this suspicion to pit the two of us against each other?"
"We appear to've returned to stalemate," he said.
She sighed, thinking: He's almost ready for it .
"The Duke an...re father and mother surrogates to our people," she said. "The positio...quot;
"He hasn't married you," Hawat said.
She forced herself to calmness, thinking...ood riposte, that .
"But he'll not marry anyone else," she said. "Not as long a...ive. And we are surrogates, as I've said. To break up this natural order in our affairs, to disturb, disrupt, and confuse u...hich target offers itself most enticingly to the Harkonnens?"
He sensed the direction she was taking, and his brows drew down i...owering scowl.
"The Duke?" she asked. "Attractive target, yes, but no one with the possible exception of Paul is better guarded. Me...empt them, surely, but they must know the Bene Gesserit make difficult targets. And there'...etter target, one whose duties create, necessarily...onstrous blind spot. One to whom suspicion is as natural as breathing. One who builds his entire life on innuendo and mystery." She darted her right hand toward him. "You!"
Hawat started to leap from his chair.
"I have not dismissed you, Thufir!" she flared.
The old Mentat almost fell back into the chair, so quickly did his muscles betray him.
She smiled without mirth.
"Now you know something of the real training they give us," she said.
Hawat tried to swallow i...ry throat. Her command had been regal, preemptor...ttered i...one and manner he had found completely irresistible. His body had obeyed her before he could think about it. Nothing could have prevented his respons...ot logic, not passionate ange... . nothing. To do what she had done spoke o...ensitive, intimate knowledge of the person thus commanded...epth of control he had not dreamed possible.
"I have said to you before that we should understand each other," she said. "I meant you should understand m... already understand you. An...ell you now that your loyalty to the Duke is all that guarantees your safety with me."
He stared at her, wet his lips with his tongue.
"I...esire...uppet, the Duke would marry me," she said. "He might even think he did it of his own free will."
Hawat lowered his head, looked upward through his sparse lashes. Only the most rigid control kept him from calling the guard. Contro... . and the suspicion now that woman might not permit it. His skin crawled with the memory of how she had controlled him. In the moment of hesitation, she could have draw...eapon and killed him!
Does every human have this blind spot? he wondered. Can any of us be ordered into action before he can resist? The idea staggered him. Who could sto...erson with such power?
"You've glimpsed the fist within the Bene Gesserit glove," she said. "Few glimpse it and live. And wha...id wa...elatively simple thing for us. You've not seen my entire arsenal. Think on that,"
"Why aren't you out destroying the Duke's enemies?" he asked.
"What would you have me destroy?" she asked. "Would you have me mak...eakling of our Duke, have him forever leaning on me?"
"But, with such powe... . "
"Power'...wo-edged sword, Thufir," she said; "You think: 'How easy for her to shap...uman tool to thrust into an enemy's vitals.' True, Thufir; even into your vitals. Yet, what woul...ccomplish? If enough of us Bene Gesserit did this, wouldn't it make all Bene Gesserit suspect? We don't want that, Thufir. We do not wish to destroy ourselves." She nodded. "We truly exist only to serve."
"I cannot answer you," he said. "You kno...annot answer."
"You'll say nothing about what has happened here to anyone," she said. "I know you, Thufir."
"My Lad... . " Again the old man tried to swallow i...ry throat.
And he thought: She has great powers, yes. But would these not make her an even more formidable tool for the Harkonnens?
"The Duke could be destroyed as quickly by his friends as by his enemies," she said. "I trust now you'll get to the bottom of this suspicion and remove it."
"If it proves baseless," he said.
"If, " she sneered.
"If," he said.
"You are tenacious," she said.
"Cautious," he said, "and aware of the error factor."
"Then I'll pose another question for you: What does it mean to you that you stand before another human, that you are bound and helpless and the other human hold...nife at your throa...et this other human refrains from killing you, frees you from your bonds and gives you the knife to use as you will?"
She lifted herself out of the chair, turned her back on him. "You may go now, Thufir."
The old Mentat arose, hesitated, hand creeping toward the deadly weapon beneath his tunic. He was reminded of the bull ring and of the Duke's father (who'd been brave, no matter what his other failings) and one day of the corrida long ago: The fierce black beast had stood there, head bowed, immobilized and confused. The Old Duke had turned his back on the horns, cape thrown flamboyantly over one arm, while cheers rained down from the stands.
I am the bull and she the matado...awat thought. He withdrew his hand from the weapon, glanced at the sweat glistening in his empty palm.
And he knew that whatever the facts proved to be in the end, he would never forget this moment nor lose this sense of supreme admiration for the Lady Jessica.
Quietly, he turned and left the room.
Jessica lowered her gaze from the reflection in the windows, turned, and stared at the closed door.
"Now we'll see some proper action," she whispered.
Do you wrestle with dreams?
Do you contend with shadows?
Do you move i...ind of sleep?
Time has slipped away.
Your life is stolen.
You tarried with trifles,
Victim of your folly.
- Dirge for Jamis on the Funeral Plain,
from "Songs of Muad'Dib" by the Princess Irulan
Leto stood in the foyer of his house, studyin...ote by the light o...ingle suspensor lamp. Dawn was ye...ew hours away, and he felt his tiredness...remen messenger had brought the note to the outer guard just now as the Duke arrived from his command post.
The note read: "A column of smoke by day...illar of fire by night."
There was no signature.
What does it mean? he wondered.
The messenger had gone without waiting for an answer and before he could be questioned. He had slipped into the night like some smoky shadow.
Leto pushed the paper int...unic pocket, thinking to show it to Hawat later. He brushe...ock of hair from his forehead, too...ighing breath. The anti-fatigue pills were beginning to wear thin. It had bee...ong two days since the dinner party and longer than that since he had slept.
On top of all the military problems, there'd been the disquieting session with Hawat, the report on his meeting with Jessica.
Shoul...aken Jessica? he wondered. There's no reason to play the secrecy game with her any longer. Or is there?
Blast and damn that Duncan Idaho!
He shook his head. No, not Duncan...as wrong not to take Jessica into my confidence from the first...ust do it now, before more damage is done .
The decision made him feel better, and he hurried from the foyer through the Great Hall and down the passages toward the family wing.
At the turn where the passages split to the service area, he paused...trange mewling came from somewhere down the service passage. Leto put his left hand to the switch on his shield belt, slipped his kindjal into his right hand. The knife conveye...ense of reassurance. That strange sound had sen...hill through him.
Softly, the Duke moved down the service passage, cursing the inadequate illumination. The smallest of suspensors had been spaced about eight meters apart along here and tuned to their dimmest level. The dark stone walls swallowed the light.
A dull blob stretching across the floor appeared out of the gloom ahead.
Leto hesitated, almost activated his shield, but refrained because that would limit his movements, his hearin... . and because the captured shipment of lasguns had left him filled with doubts.
Silently, he moved toward the grey blob, saw that it wa...uman figure...an face down on the stone. Leto turned him over wit...oot, knife poised, bent close in the dim light to see the face. It was the smuggler, Tuek...et stain down his chest. The dead eyes stared with empty darkness. Leto touched the stai...arm.
How could this man be dead here? Leto asked himself. Who killed him?
The mewling sound was louder here. It came from ahead and down the side passage to the central room where they had installed the main shield generator for the house.
Hand on belt switch, kindjal poised, the Duke skirted the body, slipped down the passage and peered around the corner toward the shield generator room.
Another grey blob lay stretched on the floo...ew paces away, and he saw at once this was the source of the noise. The shape crawled toward him with painful slowness, gasping, mumbling.
Leto stilled his sudden constriction of fear, darted down the passage, crouched beside the crawling figure. It was Mapes, the Fremen housekeeper, her hair tumbled around her face, clothing disarrayed...ull shininess of dark stain spread from her back along her side. He touched her shoulder and she lifted herself on her elbows, head tipped up to peer at him, the eyes black-shadowed emptiness.
"S'you," she gasped. "Kille... . guar... . sen... . ge... . Tue... . escap... . m'Lad... . yo... . yo... . her... . n... . " She flopped forward, her head thumping against the stone.
Leto felt for pulse at the temples. There was none. He looked at the stain: she'd been stabbed in the back. Who? His mind raced. Did she mean someone had kille...uard? And Tue...ad Jessica sent for him? Why?
He started to stand up...ixth sense warned him. He flashe...and toward the shield switc...oo late...umbing shock slammed his arm aside. He felt pain there, sa...art protruding from the sleeve, sensed paralysis spreading from it up his arm. It took an agonizing effort to lift his head and look down the passage.
Yueh stood in the open door of the generator room. His face reflected yellow from the light o...ingle, brighter suspensor above the door. There was stillness from the room behind hi...o sound of generators.
Yueh! Leto thought. He's sabotaged the house generators! We 're wide open!
Yueh began walking toward him, pocketin...artgun.
Leto found he could still speak, gasped: "Yueh! How?" Then the paralysis reached his legs and he slid to the floor with his back propped against the stone wall.
Yueh's face carrie...ook of sadness as he bent over, touched Leto's forehead. The Duke found he could feel the touch, but it was remot... . dull.
"The drug on the dart is selective," Yueh said "You can speak, but I'd advise against it." He glanced down the hall, and again bent over Leto, pulled out the dart, tossed it aside. The sound of the dart clattering on the stones was faint and distant to the Duke's ears.
It can't be Yue...eto thought. He's conditioned.
"How?" Leto whispered.
"I'm sorry, my dear Duke, but there are things which will make greater demands than this." He touched the diamond tattoo on his forehead. "I find it very strange, mysel...n override on my pyretic conscienc...u...ish to kil...an. Yes...ctually wish it...ill stop at nothing to do it."
He looked down at the Duke. "Oh, not you, my dear Duke. The Baron Harkonnen...ish to kill the Baron."
"Ba... . on Ha... . "
"Be quiet, please, my poor Duke. You haven't much time. That peg toot...ut in your mouth after the tumble at Narca...hat tooth must be replaced, i...oment, I'll render you unconscious and replace that tooth." He opened his hand, stared at something in it. "An exact duplicate, its core shaped most exquisitely lik...erve. It'll escape the usual detectors, eve...ast scanning. But if you bite down hard on it, the cover crushes. Then, when you expel your breath sharply, you fill the air around you wit...oison ga...ost deadly."
Leto stared up at Yueh, seeing madness in the man's eyes, the perspiration along brown and chin.
"You were dead anyway, my poor Duke," Yueh said. "But you will get close to the Baron before you die. He'll believe you're stupefied by drugs beyond any dying effort to attack him. And you will be drugge...nd tied. But attack can take strange forms. And you will remember the tooth. The toot...uke Leto Atreides. You will remember the tooth."
The old doctor leaned closer and closer until his face and drooping mustache dominated Leto's narrowing vision.
"The tooth," Yueh muttered.
"Why?" Leto whispered.
Yueh lowered himself to one knee beside the Duke. "I mad...haitan's bargain with the Baron. An...ust be certain he has fulfilled his half of it. Whe...ee him, I'll know. Whe...ook at the Baron, the...ill know. But I'll never enter his presence without the price. You're the price, my poor Duke. And I'll know whe...ee him. My poor Wanna taught me many things, and one is to see certainty of truth when the stress is great...annot do it always, but whe...ee the Baro...hen...ill know."
Leto tried to look down at the tooth in Yueh's hand. He felt this was happening i...ightmar...t could not be.
Yueh's purple lips turned up i...rimace. "I'll not get close enough to the Baron, or I'd do this myself. No. I'll be detained a...afe distance. But yo... . ah, now! You, my lovely weapon! He'll want you close to hi...o gloat over you, to boas...ittle."
Leto found himself almost hypnotized b...uscle on the left side of Yueh's jaw. The muscle twisted when the man spoke.
Yueh leaned closer. "And you, my good Duke, my precious Duke, you must remember this tooth." He held it up between thumb and forefinger. "It will be all that remains to you."
Leto's mouth moved without sound, then: "Refuse."
"Ah-h, no! You mustn't refuse. Because, in return for this small service, I'm doin...hing for you...ill save your son and your woman. No other can do it. They can be removed t...lace where no Harkonnen can reach them."
"Ho... . sav... . them?" Leto whispered.
"By making it appear they're dead, by secreting them among people who draw knife at hearing the Harkonnen name, who hate the Harkonnens so much they'll bur...hair in whic...arkonnen has sat, salt the ground over whic...arkonnen has walked." He touched Leto's jaw. "Can you feel anything in your jaw?"
The Duke found that he could not answer. He sensed distant tugging, saw Yueh's hand come up with the ducal signet ring.
"For Paul," Yueh said. "You'll be unconscious presently. Good-by, my poor Duke. When next we meet we'll have no time for conversation."
Cool remoteness spread upward from Leto's jaw, across his cheeks. The shadowy, hall narrowed t...inpoint with Yueh's purple lips centered in it.
"Remember the tooth!" Yueh hissed. "The tooth!"
There should b...cience of discontent. People need hard times and oppression to develop psychic muscles.
- from "Collected Sayings of Muad'Dib" by the Princess Irulan
Jessica awoke in the dark, feeling premonition in the stillness around her. She could not understand why her mind and body felt so sluggish. Skin raspings of fear ran along her nerves. She thought of sitting up and turning o...ight, but something stayed the decision. Her mouth fel... . strange.
Lump-lump-lump-lump!
It wa...ull sound, directionless in the dark. Somewhere.
The waiting moment was packed with time, with rustling needle-stick movements.
She began to feel her body, grew aware of bindings on wrists and ankles...ag in her mouth. She was on her side, hands tied behind her. She tested the bindings, realized they were krimskell fiber, would only claw tighter as she pulled.
And now, she remembered.
There had been movement in the darkness of her bedroom, something wet and pungent slapped against her face, filling her mouth, hands grasping for her. She had gaspe...ne indrawn breat...ensing the narcotic in the wetness. Consciousness had receded, sinking her int...lack bin of terror.
It has com...he thought. How simple it was to subdue the Bene Gesserit. All it took was treachery. Hawat was right.
She forced herself not to pull on her bindings.
This is not my bedroo...he thought. They've taken me someplace else .
Slowly, she marshaled the inner calmness.
She grew aware of the smell of her own stale sweat with its chemical infusion of fear.
Where is Paul? she asked herself. My so...hat have they done to him?
Calmness .
She forced herself to it, using the ancient routines.
But terror remained so near.
Leto? Where are you, Leto?
She sense...iminishing in the dark. It began with shadows. Dimensions separated, became new thorns of awareness. White...ine unde...oor.
I'm on the floor .
People walking. She sensed it through the floor.
Jessica squeezed back the memory of terror...ust remain calm, alert, and prepared...ay get only one chanc...gain, she forced the inner calmness.
The ungainly thumping of her heartbeats evened, shaping out time. She counted back...as unconscious about an hou...he closed her eyes, focused her awareness onto the approaching footsteps.
Four people .
She counted the differences in their steps.
I must pretend I'm still unconsciou...he relaxed against the cold floor, testing her body's readiness, hear...oor open, sensed increased light through her eyelids.
Feet approached: someone standing over her.
"You are awake," rumble...asso voice. "Do not pretend."
She opened her eyes.
The Baron Vladimir Harkonnen stood over her. Around them, she recognized the cellar room where Paul had slept, saw his cot at one sid...mpty. Suspensor lamps were brought in by guards, distributed near the open door. There wa...lare of light in the hallway beyond that hurt her eyes.
She looked up at the Baron. He wor...ellow cape that bulged over his portable suspensors. The fat cheeks were two cherubic mounds beneath spider-black eyes.
"The drug was timed," he rumbled. "We knew to the minute when you'd be coming out of it."
How could that be? she wondered. They'd have to know my exact weight, my metabolism, m... . Yueh!
"Suc...ity you must remain gagged," the Baron said. "We could have such an interesting conversation."
Yueh's the only one it could b...he thought. How?
The Baron glanced behind him at the door. "Come in, Piter."
She had never before seen the man who entered to stand beside the Baron, but the face was know...nd the man: Piter de Vries, the Mentat-Assassi...he studied hi...awk features, blue-ink eyes that suggested he wa...ative of Arrakis, but subtleties of movement and stance told her he was not. And his flesh was too well firmed with water. He was tall, though slender, and something about him suggested effeminacy.
"Suc...ity we cannot have our conversation, my dear Lady Jessica." the Baron said. "However, I'm aware of your abilities." He glanced at the Mentat. "Isn't that true, Piter?"
"As you say, Baron," the man said.
The voice was tenor. It touched her spine wit...ash of coldness. She had never heard suc...hill voice. To one with the Bene Gesserit training, the voice screamed: Killer!
"I hav...urprise for Piter," the Baron said. "He thinks he has come here to collect his rewar...ou, Lady Jessica. Bu...ish to demonstrat...hing: that he does not really want you."
"You play with me, Baron?" Piter asked, and he smiled.
Seeing that smile, Jessica wondered that the Baron did not leap to defend himself from this Piter. Then she corrected herself. The Baron could not read that smile. He did not have the Training.
"In many ways, Piter is quite naive," the Baron said. "He doesn't admit to himself wha...eadly creature you are, Lady Jessica. I'd show him, but it'd b...oolish risk." The Baron smiled at Piter, whose face had becom...aiting mask. "I know what Piter really wants. Piter wants power."
"You promise...ould have her ," Piter said. The tenor voice had lost some of its cold reserve.
Jessica heard the clue-tones in the man's voice, allowed herself an inward shudder. How could the Baron have made such an animal out o...entat?
"I give yo...hoice, Piter," the Baron said.
"What choice?"
The Baron snapped fat fingers. "This woman and exile from the Imperium, or the Duchy of Atreides on Arrakis to rule as you see fit in my name."
Jessica watched the Baron's spider eyes study Piter.
"You could be Duke here in all but name," the Baron said.
Is my Leto dead, then? Jessica asked herself. She fel...ilent wail begin somewhere in her mind.
The Baron kept his attention on the Mentat. "Understand yourself, Piter. You want her because she wa...uke's woman...ymbol of his powe...eautiful, useful, exquisitely trained for her role. But an entire duchy, Piter! That's more tha...ymbol; that's the reality. With it you could have many wome... . and more."
"You do not joke with Piter?"
The Baron turned with that dancing lightness the suspensors gave him. "Joke? I? Remembe... am giving up the boy. You heard what the traitor said about the lad's training. They are alike, this mother and so...eadly." The Baron smiled. "I must go now...ill send in the guard I've reserved for this moment. He's stone deaf. His orders will be to convey you on the first leg of your journey into exile. He will subdue this woman if he sees her gain control of you. He'll not permit you to untie her gag until you're off Arrakis. If you choose not to leav... . he has other orders."
"You don't have to leave," Piter said. "I've chosen."
"Ah, hah!" the Baron chortled. "Such quick decision can mean only one thing."
"I will take the duchy," Piter said.
And Jessica thought: Doesn't Piter know the Baron's lying to him? Bu...ow could he know? He'...wisted Mentat .
The Baron glanced down at Jessica. "Is it not wonderful tha...now Piter so well...agered with my Master at Arms that this would be Piter's choice. Hah! Well...eave now. This is much better. Ah-h, much better. You understand, Lady Jessica...old no rancor toward you. It'...ecessity. Much better this way. Yes. And I've not actually ordered you destroyed. When it's asked of me what happened to you...an shrug it off in all truth."
"You leave it to me then?" Piter asked.
"The guar...end you will take your orders," the Baron said. "Whatever's don...eave to you." He stared at Piter. "Yes. There will be no blood on my hands here. It's your decision. Yes...now nothing of it. You will wait until I've gone before doing whatever you must do. Yes. Wel... . ah, yes. Yes. Good."
He fears the questioning o...ruthsaye...essica thought. Who? Ah-h-h, the Reverend Mother Gaius Helen, of course! If he knows he must face her questions, then the Emperor is in on this for sure. Ah-h-h-h, my poor Leto .
With one last glance at Jessica, the Baron turned, went out the door. She followed him with her eyes, thinking: It's as the Reverend Mother warne...oo potent an adversary .
Two Harkonnen troopers entered. Another, his fac...carred mask, followed and stood in the doorway with drawn lasgun.
The deaf on...essica thought, studying the scarred face. The Baron know...ould use the Voice on any other man .
Scarface looked at Piter. "We've the boy o...itter outside. What are your orders?"
Piter spoke to Jessica. "I'd thought of binding you b...hreat held over your son, bu...egin to see that would not have worked...et emotion cloud reason. Bad policy fo...entat." He looked at the first pair of troopers, turning so the deaf one could read his lips: "Take them into the desert as the traitor suggested for the boy. His plan i...ood one. The worms will destroy all evidence. Their bodies must never be found."
"You don't wish to dispatch them yourself?" Scarface asked.
He reads lip...essica thought.
"I follow my Baron's example," Piter said. "Take them where the traitor said."
Jessica heard the harsh Mentat control in Piter's voice, thought: He, too, fears the Truthsayer .
Piter shrugged, turned, and went through the doorway. He hesitated there, and Jessica thought he might turn back fo...ast look at her, but he went out without turning.
"Me...ouldn't like the thought of facing that Truthsayer after this night's work," Scarface said.
"You ain't likely ever to run into that old witch," one of the other troopers said. He went around to Jessica's head, bent over her. "It ain't getting our work done standing around here chattering. Take her feet an...quot;
"Why'n't we kill 'em here?" Scarface asked.
"Too messy," the first one said. "Unless you wants to strangle'em. Me...ike...ice straightforward job. Drop 'em on the desert like that traitor said, cut 'em once or twice, leave 'the evidence for the worms. Nothing to clean up afterwards."
"Yea... . well...uess you're right," Scarface said.
Jessica listened to them, watching, registering. But the gag blocked her Voice, and there was the deaf one to consider.
Scarface holstered his lasgun, took her feet. They lifted her lik...ack of grain, maneuvered her through the door and dumped her ont...uspensor-buoyed litter with another bound figure. As they turned her, fitting her to the litter, she saw her companion's fac...aul! He was bound, but not gagged. His face was no more than ten centimeters from hers, eyes closed, his breathing even.
Is he drugged? she wondered.
......