For a woman who should have been in perfect mastery of her emotions, Stokiah allowed a hint of her anger to show. The other two Sisters seemed more confused than upset by Tessia's response, turning as pale as limestone. "Sister Tessia," Stokiah emphasized the t.i.tle, "it seems you both have forgotten a great deal. You defy the Bene Gesserit at your peril." Tessia," Stokiah emphasized the t.i.tle, "it seems you both have forgotten a great deal. You defy the Bene Gesserit at your peril."

"Nevertheless, I refuse. You have your answer. Now please leave."

Startling them all, Rhombur appeared at the door, his powerful augmented body primed for use, like a loaded weapon. "Vermillion h.e.l.ls, you are upsetting my wife, so you're no longer welcome on Ix. If the next Heighliner has no available staterooms, I'm sure we can find a cargo container to accommodate all three of you."

Stokiah slipped into a fighting stance, and the other two women stood coiled beside her. Then, unexpectedly, she gave an abbreviated bow. "As you wish. We have nothing further to discuss here."

"No, you do not."

Departing like shadows fleeing the light, Stokiah and her two companions slipped away. Jessica was left feeling angry and unsettled. "I'm sorry you had to endure that."

"The Sisterhood taught us to be strong, if nothing else." Tessia pressed herself against her husband and said in a hoa.r.s.e voice, "I love you so much, Rhombur."

He folded her within his powerful cyborg arms. "Oh, I never had any doubt of that."

As a Suk pract.i.tioner, Dr. Wellington Yueh had learned to control his feelings; he was cool and logical, sincere but not vulnerable. His personality made him a perfect match for his Bene Gesserit wife Wanna, who was equally adept at compartmentalizing her thoughts and feelings, at least in public.

Yet when he saw the three Sisters arrive at the Grand Palais-and recognized one of them as Wanna Wanna, the first time he had seen her after such a long separation-his heart lurched. The barriers almost melted away. Almost. During his diligent service as Rhombur's private physician, he often tried to forget how much he missed her, convincing himself that their relations.h.i.+p was as solid as stone, no matter how long they were separated.

And now she had arrived on Ix. Her presence with the Bene Gesserits, here and now, could not possibly be a coincidence. But he didn't reveal this to Earl Rhombur, not until he learned more about why she was here. He longed to think that she had come to see him ... but he did not dare believe it.

When Wanna appeared at the door to his private quarters that evening, Yueh simply stared at her narrow but lovely face, feeling like a complete, helpless fool. Though she stood right there, she seemed untouchable in her Bene Gesserit facade, but he could see a flicker behind her brown eyes, a spark that he knew represented much brighter flames. "I am pleased to see you, Wellington."

His response took a moment to emerge from his throat; it did not carry the weight of the real emotions he felt. "I have missed you."

Wanna smiled, and the awkward wall between them seemed to crumble. She stepped closer, her presence radiating tension and bottled feelings. "It's been much too long, my dear husband. When my Sisters announced their trip to Ix, I filed a pet.i.tion with the Mother Superior. I can't tell you how much I wanted to see you!" crumble. She stepped closer, her presence radiating tension and bottled feelings. "It's been much too long, my dear husband. When my Sisters announced their trip to Ix, I filed a pet.i.tion with the Mother Superior. I can't tell you how much I wanted to see you!"

When they embraced at last, at last at last after so many years, he thought she felt warm and comfortable in his arms. So many years, so much distance between them ... yet so much still binding them together. He didn't have to hide his feelings here. No one could see them. after so many years, he thought she felt warm and comfortable in his arms. So many years, so much distance between them ... yet so much still binding them together. He didn't have to hide his feelings here. No one could see them.

When they had married on Richese, he was a well-respected but unremarkable physician, and Wanna had been the appropriate choice for him. Before long, he'd been surprised by the depths of his feelings for her, and she seemed to share that love, although he could not be entirely certain-no one could ever be certain with one of the witches.

Yueh considered himself a solitary man, not a mooncalf romantic, yet the love he discovered inside himself had no a.n.a.lytical answer. Because they shared their thoughts and hearts, he had convinced himself that he and Wanna didn't need a close day-to-day companions.h.i.+p. When she had left him years ago to study at the Mother School, it was a sad parting, but her talents were needed on Wallach IX.

"How are your meditations progressing? Your studies?" He didn't know what else to say. He remembered times they had shared on a wooded Richesian lakesh.o.r.e, whispered promises in the dark, shared laughter at private jokes. He wondered what the Sisters had done to change her in the intervening years.

Primly, Wanna walked over to a comfortable well-lit spot near the outer wall, folding her hands in front of her. "The human psyche is complex, Wellington. Understanding it takes a long time." She had short auburn hair, a small mouth, and thin lips that could quirk into a rare but radiant smile. "I'd like to ask you about Rhombur and Tessia Vernius. Since you are the Earl's personal physician, you would know the answers."

Yueh rubbed fingers along his drooping mustache, pursed his dark lips into a faint frown. "Is this your own curiosity, Wanna, or something the Sisterhood asks? Is that why the Sisters came here?"

"Oh, Wellington, my own curiosity benefits my Sisters."

He tried not to sound defeated. "What is it you need to know?" Inside, he could already feel his walls rebuilding.

"Earl Rhombur's cyborg enhancements are functioning properly? His life is relatively normal now?"

"As normal as it can be. Considering the amount of surviving cellular material I had to work with after the accident, Rhombur's components function remarkably well."

She continued, as if she had memorized a list of questions. "And what about the Lady Tessia? Bronso was born almost a dozen years ago, well after Rhombur's accident. Can they have more children?"

"Tessia has no desire to, and Rhombur isn't capable."

"She is still fertile, but Rhombur is sterile?"

Yueh heard himself talking, the words escaping in a rush from his mouth. He longed to restore his intimate connection with her. "Bronso is not Rhombur's biological son. Genetically, the father is his half brother, Tyros Reffa-the b.a.s.t.a.r.d son of old Emperor Elrood IX and Lady Shando Balut. Rhombur and Reffa had the same mother." Unable to keep the alarm from his voice, Yueh added quickly, "The boy doesn't know. We've kept the matter private. You know the prejudice against any artificial means of conception."

Why did I reveal that to her? His expression hardened. "It's much like the prejudice against repairing damaged body parts with my cyborg components. The repairs I made to His expression hardened. "It's much like the prejudice against repairing damaged body parts with my cyborg components. The repairs I made to you you demonstrated the potential of my work." He felt the hurt growing inside him again. "You should have been able to conceive a child." demonstrated the potential of my work." He felt the hurt growing inside him again. "You should have been able to conceive a child."

Wanna sounded like a stranger as she said to him now, "Some things are not to be, Wellington. Be satisfied with what we have."

He had always wanted a family, but early in their marriage Wanna had suffered a severe accident that damaged her reproductive organs. As she healed, Yueh had succeeded in replacing her injured tissue and organs so that she was was capable of bearing children-in theory. But it had never happened.... capable of bearing children-in theory. But it had never happened....

Now, sudden questions appeared in his mind. He wasn't sure he wanted to know the answers, but he spoke before he could stop himself. "Tell me the truth. Did the Sisters instruct instruct you not to conceive?" you not to conceive?"

Wanna retained her calm demeanor for a moment longer, before it crumbled. Despite their years apart, he knew her well enough to read the subtle changes, the flickers of her expression. "Oh, I conceived conceived, Wellington. I have delivered four children-offspring that the Bene Gesserit demanded of me, important bloodlines, necessary genetic combinations." Her body shuddered, and he held her woodenly, afraid to move, startled by her revelations. He couldn't even express his disbelief ... but he knew with a sinking sensation that she was telling the truth. Gesserit demanded of me, important bloodlines, necessary genetic combinations." Her body shuddered, and he held her woodenly, afraid to move, startled by her revelations. He couldn't even express his disbelief ... but he knew with a sinking sensation that she was telling the truth.

"My replacement parts functioned perfectly ... but your bloodline, my love, did not fit into the Sisterhood's plans." She looked at him with anguished eyes. "I am so sorry. I could not ..."

He knew she wanted him to pretend that he understood and accepted the realities of being married to a Bene Gesserit. But he froze, wrestling with the shock. "You've had ... four children?"

"They were taken away from me as soon as they were born. I never stopped thinking of you, but I had to block off my feelings, s.h.i.+eld myself. That is how the Bene Gesserit trained me to handle emotions, and now ... I don't know if I even remember what I once felt for you." Leaving him speechless, stiffly trying to regain her composure, Wanna tried to pull away. "I should go."

Shaken and nervous, he clutched her tightly. "So soon?"

Wanna looked at him, and her expression melted again. "No, not just yet. I can stay with you tonight."

Of course we take substantial risks. That is how we live. Alas, that is also how we die.

-EARL DOMINIC VERNIUS OF IX

From his mother, Paul had learned how to concentrate on his body, from the tiniest muscles to his whole being, aware of every nerve, isolating the smallest sensations. He could meditate and focus his attention on a problem for as long as it took to solve it.

Bronso Vernius, though, was unable to sit still for more than a few minutes. His interest s.h.i.+fted repeatedly. He had never done well in controlled study atmospheres with filmbooks or dreary instructors; rather, the eleven-year-old preferred to learn by asking questions of his father inside the Grand Palais. In that manner he learned of poisonings and murders and artificial spice manufacturing, of the Tleilaxu takeover on Ix and Prince Rhombur seeking sanctuary on Caladan ... of his father's horrific injuries and how Dr. Yueh had rea.s.sembled him with cyborg parts.

Paul had first met the copper-haired young Bronso when the Vernius party came to attend Duke Leto's disastrous wedding to Ilesa Ecaz. The other boy was intense and interesting, and perhaps a bit odd. Though Paul had come to Ix to study, as well as to experience, a new culture, his companion had an entirely different agenda. "Are you ready to be scared, Paul? Really scared?"

"How?" He knew Gurney and Duncan would try to stop him if he exposed himself to danger. And he had only just arrived.

Bronso rose from the study table inside his quarters, pushed aside filmbooks listing summaries and statistics of the numerous planets in the Imperium. "By climbing the buildings-from the outside. Are you ready?"

"I've climbed sea cliffs on the Caladan coast." Paul paused. "Do you bother with harnesses and equipment, or should we do it freehand?"

The other boy laughed. "I like you, Paul Atreides! Sea cliffs! You'll be crying like an infant when I get done with you." From his personal equipment locker, he retrieved a set of traction pads and a suspensor harness, which he tossed to Paul. "Here, take mine. They're already broken in." He rummaged around until he found a new set for himself and unsealed the packaging.

Paul followed his friend through corridors and pa.s.sages to an open balcony so high up on the cavern ceiling that air currents whistled around them. With an extended finger, Bronso traced their route to a support beam, then to an adjacent walkway, and then onto a dangling roof. "See the line we can take, from there, to there, and if you've got the stamina for it we'll circle back to the Grand Palais."

As the other boy donned his equipment, Paul studied the traction pads that Bronso had used frequently. Some of the seams looked freshly split, as if from the delicate touch of a vibrating blade. Though unfamiliar with the equipment, his instinct told him to look more closely. "Something isn't right here." He tugged at a seam, and it easily ripped away. "Look, this would have failed as soon as I got out onto a rock face!"

Bronso scowled at the pad. "I climb with that equipment almost every day. It's always been reliable before." He poked at it. "This was tampered with."

"Is someone trying to kill you?" Though the question seemed melodramatic, Paul had been caught up in other deadly feuds and rivalries.

Bronso laughed-a bit too loudly. "The Technocrat Council would be very happy if the only Vernius heir suffered an 'accident.' They've tried to arrange something unpleasant for my father, but they've never targeted me before."

"We've got to report this." Paul remembered the careful training he had undergone from Thufir Hawat, Gurney Halleck, Duncan Idaho. Poison snoopers, personal s.h.i.+elds, guards ... it was a way of life for n.o.ble families in the Landsraad.

"I'll show this to my father, but Bolig Avati is too clever to leave any proof. Still, this is an escalation that will not make my parents happy."

Paul said with great confidence, "Thufir Hawat told me that once you're aware of a threat, you have done half the work of defeating it."

A human being can become a terrible weapon. But all weapons can backfire.

-Bene Gesserit Acolytes' Manual

Tessia often spent the darkest, quietest hours of night alone in their private chambers, because Rhombur needed little sleep, and the restless cyborg leader spent his nights walking through the ceiling tunnels of Vernii, and across the transparent walkways that connected the stalact.i.te structures.

She awoke out of a troubled sleep to a deep, foreboding darkness, and a sensation that something was wrong. As she blinked, Tessia was startled to realize that someone stood near her-an intruder! Her dark-adapted pupils widened as she opened her mouth, sucked in a breath to shout.

A command uttered with the perfect precision of Voice chopped across her consciousness like an axe blade. A female voice. "Silence!"

Tessia's larynx shut down, her vocal cords locked. Even her lungs refused to exhale. As a Bene Gesserit, she'd been taught how to resist Voice, but this aural blow had been delivered by a powerful expert, someone who had gauged Tessia, measured her, and knew her precise weak points.

As her eyes adjusted, she discerned the looming form of Reverend Mother Stokiah. Tessia felt like an insect specimen pinned to a mounting board by a long needle. She wanted badly to scream, but her voluntary muscles had shut down.

Stokiah leaned closer, her breath soft as a whisper. "You have been deluded into believing that you have freedom of choice. Stand Stand."

Tessia's body swung itself out of her bed, like a puppet. Her legs straightened, and her knees locked as she stood before the Reverend Mother.

"The Sisterhood's rules countermand the wishes of the individual. You have always accepted this. You need to be reminded of your important, yet minuscule, place in our world ... the Bene Gesserit Bene Gesserit world." world."

Tessia managed to rasp, surprising herself with her own strength, "Refuse."

"You cannot refuse. I already made that clear." The wrinkles on Stokiah's face were a map of black fissures in the gloom. "You have always had a purpose to serve, but now I have another use for you. The Sisterhood cannot allow open defiance without consequences. Therefore everyone must see your guilt, and you must feel feel it. You must it. You must know know it." Her papery lips formed a smile. "The Sisterhood has developed a new weapon, a technique that combines both psychological and Jongleur training. I am one of the first, and most powerful, Bene Gesserit guilt-casters, and you it." Her papery lips formed a smile. "The Sisterhood has developed a new weapon, a technique that combines both psychological and Jongleur training. I am one of the first, and most powerful, Bene Gesserit guilt-casters, and you will will obey." obey."

Guilt-casters ... women able to manipulate thoughts and emotions to magnify a person's own doubts and regrets and reflect them back like a lasbeam ricocheting off a mirror. Tessia had thought them only a frightening rumor leaked by the proctors in order to compel unruly acolytes.

"You must feel so sorry about what you have done." Stokiah's voice was slippery and poisonous, not at all compa.s.sionate. "So sorry, and so terribly guilty."

Tessia felt the psychic waves. Her heart hammered, and her conscience became a palpable weight. She could hardly breathe.

"How could you betray the Sisterhood, after all we have done for you? All we've taught you?" Stokiah's insidious tone unlocked flood-gates of memories and regrets in Tessia's mind. "We gave you a mission, and now you have let us down." Each word scratched across her nerves like a sharpened steel nail. "You turned your back on us. You failed us. Worst of all, you succ.u.mbed to love."

Tessia wanted to shrink away, desperate to avoid each accusation, but she couldn't move. The weight thrummed around her, made her head throb, dulled her thoughts.

"You betrayed your son, too. Does Bronso know that Rhombur is not his real father? You allowed yourself to be impregnated with another man's sperm, for love-yet you refuse to do it for us us?"

Though Stokiah's voice did not change, the volume of the words inside Tessia's head grew louder and louder. Each phrase became a scream. She closed her eyes, shuddered, tried to withdraw into a corner. Stokiah wielded her power like a Master Jongleur who could manipulate every audience member, stopping hearts with terror or wringing tears from their eyes.

The tiny rational corner that remained in Tessia's mind insisted that the words were an exaggeration, that they had no merit. She clung to her confidence, her love for Rhombur, for Bronso. And she failed miserably.

Thick oppression wrapped itself around Tessia, strangling her like a black ghost as she collapsed to the floor. She couldn't hear anymore, but the remembered words continued to echo in her mind. She couldn't move her body, couldn't run, couldn't scream. She tried to retreat, to find a zone of refuge inside her head, convinced she could survive no more of this.

But it continued ... and continued.

A flicker of respite surprised her then, and she could see again. Stokiah stood at her doorway, ready to depart. "Never forget that you belong to the Sisterhood-heart, mind, soul, and flesh. You exist to serve. Contemplate that in your personal h.e.l.l." With a dismissive gesture and an uttered syllable, Stokiah slammed the curtains of guilt back down around Tessia.

With mental screams, she fell deeper and deeper into herself, hiding inside a single black dot of consciousness. But even there, Tessia was not safe. Not even close.

When he returned to their quarters, Rhombur found his wife lying on the floor, conscious but unresponsive. Tessia's eyes were glazed and unseeing; her skin twitched and trembled as if her nerves were firing in random patterns. He shook her, called out her name, but received no response.

She had folded into herself like a dying b.u.t.terfly. Lifting her back onto the bed, Rhombur called for emergency medical help. He ordered the immediate shutdown of the Grand Palais and sent teams to look for a.s.sa.s.sins, fearing that she had been poisoned.

Dr. Yueh rushed in, used his medical kit to check her pulse and brain activity. He ran blood samples through a scanner to detect drugs or toxins. "I see no obvious cause for this, my Lord. No head injury, no telltale marks of a needle or any other known poison-delivery system."

Rhombur was like an overheated engine about to explode. "Vermillion h.e.l.ls, something caused it!"

As the alarms continued to sound, Vernius guards rushed to the royal chambers. Gurney Halleck arrived with Duncan Idaho, swiftly followed by a very concerned looking Jessica. Bronso came running into the room with Paul Atreides beside him, the two boys sagging with worry and confusion as they saw Tessia, her jaws clenched together, her eyelids twitching and trembling.

Frightened and angry, Bronso jumped to conclusions. "The technocrats couldn't kill me, so they attacked my mother instead?"

Rhombur had seen how the climbing equipment had been sabotaged, presumably by agents working for the Technocrat Council. "Is this another attempt to strike at me-through my wife?"

Yueh looked up from his portable diagnostic instrument, looked at the readings from the blood sample, shook his head, and repeated, "No detectable poison."

"What else could have put her in a state like this?" Duncan asked.

Paul spoke up. "Some kind of stunner, or neural scrambler? Does Ix have any new weapon that could account for this?"

Rhombur felt as if his artificial systems were about to collapse. "I can't know every project my scientists undertake. I see only the results when a device is ready for marketing. It's ... possible, I admit." He increased the volume of his voice until the windowplates rattled. "Summon Bolig Avati! Tell him his Earl demands his presence-it is not a request."