Chapterhouse: Dune Page 6

  Striding to the sunset window, she was in time to see the last of the day's search teams return. Their landing lights were firefly darts off to the south where a temporary flat had been established in the path of the advancing dunes. She could see from the slow way the 'thopters came down that they had found no spiceblows or other signs that sandworms were at last developing from the sandtrout planted here.

  I am shepherd to worms that may never come.

  The window gave back to her a dark reflection of her features. She could see where the Spice Agony had left its marks. The slender, brown-skinned waif of Dune had become a tall, rather austere woman. But her brown hair still insisted on escaping the tight coif at the nape of her neck. And she could see the wildness in her all-blue eyes. Others could see it, too. And that was the problem, source of some of her fears.

  There appeared to be no stopping the Missionaria in its preparations for our Sheeana.

  If the giant sandworms developed--Shai-hulud returned! And the Missionaria Protectiva of the Bene Gesserit was ready to launch her onto an unsuspecting humanity prepared for religious adoration. The myth become real... just the way she tried to make that sculpture back there a reality.

  Holy Sheeana! The God Emperor is her thrall! See how the sacred sandworms obey her! Leto is returned!

  Would it influence the Honored Matres? Probably. They gave at least lip service to the God Emperor in his name of Guldur.

  Not likely they would follow "Holy Sheeana's" lead except in the matter of sexual exploits. Sheeana knew her own sexual behavior, outrageous even by Bene Gesserit standards, was a form of protest against this role the Missionaria tried to impose on her. The excuse that she only polished the males trained in sexual bondage by Duncan Idaho was just that ... an excuse.

  Bellonda suspects.

  Mentat Bell was a constant danger to Sisters who got out of line. And that was a major reason Bell held her powerful position in the high Council of the Sisterhood.

  Sheeana turned away from the window and flung herself onto the orange and umber spread covering her cot. Directly in front of her, a large black and white drawing of a giant worm poised above a tiny human figure.

  That's the way they were and may never be again. What was I trying to say with that drawing? If I knew I might be able to complete the plaz sculpture.

  It had been perilous to develop a secret hand-talk with Duncan. But there were things the Sisterhood could not know-not yet.

  There might be a way of escape for both of us.

  But where could they go? It was a universe beset by Honored Matres and other forces. It was a universe of scattered planets peopled mostly by humans who wanted only to live out their lives in peace--accepting Bene Gesserit guidance in some places, squirming under Honored Matre suppression in many regions, mostly hoping to govern themselves as best they could, the perennial dream of democracy, and then there were always the unknowns. And always the lesson of the Honored Matres! Murbella's clues said Fish Speakers and Reverend Mothers in extremis formed the Honored Matres. Fish Speaker democracy become Honored Matre autocracy! The clues were too numerous to ignore. But why had they emphasized unconscious compulsions with their T-probes, cellular induction, and sexual prowess?

  Where is the market to accept our fugitive talents?

  This universe no longer possessed a single bourse. A species of subterranean webworks could be defined. It was extremely loose, based on old compromises and temporary agreements.

  Odrade had once said: "It resembles an old garment with frayed edges and patched holes."

  CHOAM's tightly bound trading network of the Old Empire was no more. Now, it was fearful bits and pieces held together by the loosest of ties. People treated this patched thing with contempt, longing always for the good old days.

  What kind of a universe would accept us merely as fugitives and not as the Sacred Sheeana with her consort?

  Not that Duncan was a consort. That had been the Bene Gesserit's original plan: "Bond Sheeana to Duncan. We control him and he can control her."

  Murbella cut that plan short. And a good thing for both of us. Who needs a sexual obsession? But Sheeana was forced to admit she harbored oddly confused feelings about Duncan Idaho. The hand-talks, the touching. And what could they say to Odrade when she came prying? Not if, but when.

  "We talk about ways for Duncan and Murbella to escape you, Mother Superior. We talk about other ways to restore Teg's memories. We talk about our own private rebellion against the Bene Gesserit. Yes, Darwi Odrade! Your former student has become a rebel against you."

  Sheeana admitted to mixed feelings about Murbella as well.

  She domesticated Duncan where I might have failed.

  The captive Honored Matre was a fascinating study ... and amusing at times. There was her joking doggerel posted on the wall of the ship's Acolyte dining room.

  Hey, God! I hope you're there.

  I want you to hear my prayer.

  That graven image on my shelf;

  Is it really you or just myself?

  Well, anyway, here it goes:

  Please keep me on my toes.

  Help me past my worst mistakes,

  Doing it for both our sakes,

  For an example of perfection

  To the Proctors of my section;

  Or merely for the Heaven of it,

  Like bread, for the leaven of it.

  For whatever reason may incline,

  Please act for yours and mine.

  The subsequent confrontation with Odrade, caught by the comeyes, had been a beautiful thing to watch. Odrade's voice oddly strident: "Murbella? You?"

  "I'm afraid so." No contrition in her at all.

  "Afraid so?" Still strident.

  "Why not?" Quite defiant.

  "You joke about the Missionaria! Don't protest. That was your intent."

  "They're so damned pretentious!"

  Sheeana could only sympathize as she reflected on that confrontation. Rebellious Murbella was a symptom. What ferments until you are forced to notice it?

  I fought in just that way against the everlasting discipline, "which will make you strong, child."

  What was Murbella like as a child? What pressures shaped her? Life was always a reaction to pressures. Some gave in to easy distractions and were shaped by them: pores bloated and reddened by excesses. Bacchus leering at them. Lust fixing its shape on their features. A Reverend Mother knew it by millennial observation. We are shaped by pressures whether we resist them or not. Pressures and shapings--that was life. And I create new pressures by my secret defiance.

  Given the Sisterhood's present state of alertness to all threats, the hand-talk with Duncan probably was futile.

  Sheeana tipped her head and looked at the black blob on the sculpting stand.

  But I will persist. I will create my own statement of my life. I will create my own life! Damn the Bene Gesserit!

  And I will lose the respect of my Sisters.

  There was something antique about the way respectful conformity was forced upon them. They had preserved this thing from their most ancient past, taking it out regularly to polish and make the necessary repairs that time required of all human creations. And here it was today, held in unspoken reverence.

  Thus you are a Reverend Mother and by no other judgment shall that be true.

  Sheeana knew then she would be forced to test that antique thing to its limits, probably breaking it. And that black plaz form seeking outlet from the wild place within her was only one element of what she knew she had to do. Call it rebellion, call it my any other name, the force she felt in her breast could not be denied.

  Confine yourself to observing and you always miss the point of your own life. The object can be stated this way: Live the best life you can. Life is a game whose rules you learn if you leap into it and play it to the hilt. Otherwise, you are caught off balance, continually surprised by the shifting play. Non-players often whine and complain that luck always passes them by. They re
fuse to see that they can create some of their own luck.

  --Darwi Odrade

  "Have you studied the latest comeye record of Idaho?" Bellonda asked.

  "Later! Later!" Odrade knew she was feeling peckish and it had come out in the response to Bell's pertinent question.

  Pressures confined the Mother Superior more and more these days. She had always tried to face her duties with an attitude of broad interest. The more things to interest her, the wider her scan and that was sure to bring more usable data. Using the senses improved them. Substance, that was what her questing interests desired. Substance. It was like hunting for food to assuage a deep hunger.

  But her days were becoming duplicates of this morning. Her liking for personal inspections was well known but these workroom walls held her. She must be where she could be reached. Not only reached, but able to dispatch communications and people on the instant.

  Damn! I will make the time. I must!

  It was time pressure as much as anything.

  Sheeana said: "We trundle along on borrowed days."

  Very poetic! Not much help in the face of pragmatic demands. They had to get as many Bene Gesserit cells as possible Scattered before the axe fell. Nothing else had that priority. The Bene Gesserit fabric was being torn apart, sent to destinations no one on Chapterhouse could know. Sometimes, Odrade saw this flow as rags and remnants. They went flapping away in their no-ships, a stock of sandtrout in their holds, Bene Gesserit traditions, learning and memories as guide. But the Sisterhood had done this long ago in the first Scattering and none came back or sent a message. Not one. Not one. Only Honored Matres returned. If they had ever been Bene Gesserit, they now were a terrible distortion, blindly suicidal.

  Will we ever be whole again?

  Odrade looked down at the work on her table: more selection charts. Who shall go and who shall remain? There was little time to pause and take a deep breath. Other Memory from her late predecessor, Taraza, took on an "I told you so!" character. "See what I had to go through?"

  And I once wondered if there was room at the top.

  There might be room at the top (as she was fond of telling acolytes) but there was seldom enough time.

  When she thought of the largely passive non--Bene Gesserit populace "out there," Odrade sometimes envied them. They were permitted their illusions. What a comfort. You could pretend your life was forever, that tomorrow would be better, that the gods in their heavens watched you with care.

  She recoiled from this lapse with disgust at herself. The unclouded eye was better, no matter what it saw.

  "I've studied the latest Idaho records," she said, looking across the table at the patient Bellonda.

  "He has interesting instincts," Bellonda said.

  Odrade thought about that. Comeyes throughout the no-ship missed little. The Council's theory about ghola-Idaho became daily less a theory and more a conviction. How many memories from the serial Idaho lifetimes did this ghola contain?

  "Tam is raising doubts about their children," Bellonda said. "Do they have dangerous talents?"

  That was to be expected. The three children Murbella had borne Idaho in the no-ship had been removed at birth. All were being observed with care as they developed. Did they have that uncanny reactive speed Honored Matres displayed? Too early to say. It was a thing that developed in puberty, according to Murbella.

  Their captive Honored Matre accepted the removal of her children with angry resignation. Idaho, however, showed little reaction. Odd. Did something give him a broader view of procreation? Almost a Bene Gesserit view?

  "Another Bene Gesserit breeding program," he sneered.

  Odrade let her thoughts flow. Was it really the Bene Gesserit attitude they saw in Idaho? The Sisterhood said emotional attachments were ancient detritus--important for human survival in their day but no longer required in the Bene Gesserit plan.

  Instincts.

  Things that came with egg and sperm. Often vital and loud: "This is the species talking to you, dolt!"

  Loves... offspring ... hungers ... All of those unconscious motives to compel specific behavior. It was dangerous to meddle in such matters. The Breeding Mistresses knew this even while they did it. The Council debated it periodically and ordered a careful watch on consequences.

  "You've studied the records. Is that all the answer I get?" Quite plaintive for Bellonda.

  The comeye record of such interest to Bell was of Idaho questioning Murbella about Honored Matre sexual-addiction techniques. Why? His parellel abilities came from Tleilaxu conditioning impressed on his cells in the axlotl tank. Idaho's abilities originated as an unconscious pattern akin to instincts but the result was indistinguishable from the Honored Matre effect: ecstasy amplified until it drove out all reason and bound its victims to the source of such rewards.

  Murbella went only so far in a verbal exploration of her abilities. Obvious residual fury that Idaho had addicted her with the same techniques she had been taught to use.

  "Murbella blocks up when Idaho questions motives," Bellonda said.

  Yes, I've seen that.

  "I could kill you and you know it!" Murbella had said.

  The comeye record showed them in bed in Murbella's no-ship quarters, having just satiated their mutual addiction. Sweat glistened on bare flesh. Murbella lay with a blue towel across her forehead, green eyes staring up at the comeyes. She appeared to be looking directly at the observers. Little orange flecks in her eyes. Anger flecks from her body's residual store of the spice substitute Honored Matres employed. She was on melange now--and no adverse symptoms.

  Idaho lay beside her, black hair in disarray around his face, a sharp contrast to the white pillow beneath his head. His eyes were closed but the lids flickered. Thin. He wasn't eating enough despite tempting dishes sent by Odrade's own chef. His high cheekbones were strongly defined. The face had become craggy in the years of his confinement.

  Murbella's threat was backed by physical ability, Odrade knew, but it was psychologically false. Kill her lover? Not likely!

  Bellonda was thinking along these same lines. "What was she doing when she demonstrated her physical speed? We've seen that before."

  "She knows we watch."

  The comeyes showed Murbella defying post-coital fatigue to leap from bed. Moving with blurred speed (much faster than anything the Bene Gesserit had ever achieved), she kicked out with her right foot, stopping the blow only a hair's breadth from Idaho's head.

  At her first movement, Idaho opened his eyes. He watched without fear, without flinching.

  That blow! Fatal if it struck. You had only to see such a thing once to fear it. Murbella moved with no resort to her central cortex. Insect-like, an attack triggered by nerves at the point of muscle ignition.

  "You see!" Murbella lowered her foot and glared down at him.

  Idaho smiled.

  Watching it, Odrade reminded herself that the Sisterhood had three of Murbella's children, all female. The Breeding Mistresses were excited. In time, Reverend Mothers born of this line might match that Honored Matre ability.

  In time we probably don't have.

  But Odrade shared the excitement of the Breeding Mistresses. That speed! Add that to the nerve-muscle training, the great pranabindu resources of the Sisterhood! What that might create lay wordlessly within her.

  "She did that for us, not for him," Bellonda said.

  Odrade was not sure. Murbella resented the constant watch over her but she had come to an accommodation with it. Many of her actions obviously ignored the people behind the comeyes. This record showed her returning to her place in the bed beside Idaho.

  "I have restricted access to that record," Bellonda said. "Some acolytes are becoming troubled."

  Odrade nodded. Sexual addiction. That aspect of Honored Matre abilities created disturbing ripples in the Bene Gesserit, especially among acolytes. Very suggestive. And most of the Sisters on Chapterhouse knew the Reverend Mother Sheeana, alone among them, practiced some of
these techniques in defiance of a general fear this could weaken them.

  "We must not become Honored Matres!" Bell was always saying that. But Sheeana represents a significant control factor. She teaches us something about Murbella.

  One afternoon, catching Murbella alone in her no-ship quarters and obviously relaxed, Odrade had tried a direct question. "Before Idaho, were none of you ever tempted to, let us say, 'join in the fun'?"

  Murbella had recoiled with angry pride. "He caught me by accident!"

  The same kind of anger she showed to Idaho's questions. Remembering this, Odrade leaned over her worktable and called up the original record.

  "Look at how angry she gets," Bellonda said. "A hypnotrance injunction against answering such questions. I'd stake my reputation on it."

  "That'll come out in the Spice Agony," Odrade said.

  "If she ever gets to it!"

  "Hypnotrance is supposed to be our secret."

  Bellonda chewed on the obvious inference. No Sister we sent out in the original Scattering ever returned.