Hunters of Dune - Brian Herbert [40]
“What policy?” Garimi snorted, looking around at all the Sisters. “We wander through space, going nowhere, running from an invisible threat that only Duncan Idaho can see. For most of us, the real threat was the whores from the Scattering. They took over our Sisterhood, and we exiled ourselves to save the Bene Gesserit. We need to find a place where we can establish a new Chapterhouse, a new order where we can grow strong. That is why we have begun having children, cautiously expanding our numbers.”
“And thereby straining the Ithaca’s limited resources,” Sheeana said.
Garimi and many of her supporters made rude noises. “This no-ship has enough supplies to keep ten times our number alive for a century. To preserve our Sisterhood, we need to increase our number and expand our gene pool, in preparation for colonizing a planet.”
Sheeana smiled craftily. “Yet another reason to introduce the gholas.”
Garimi rolled her eyes in disgust. From behind her, Stuka called out, “The gholas will be inhuman abominations.”
Sheeana had known someone would say this. “I find it curious how superstitious some of you conservative women are. Like illiterate peasants! I have heard very little rational argument from you.”
Garimi looked back at her equally stern followers and seemed to draw strength from them. “Rational argument? I resist this proposal because it is patently dangerous. These are people we know from history. We know them, and what they are capable of doing. Do we dare unleash another Kwisatz Haderach upon the universe? We made that mistake once already. We should know better now.”
When Duncan spoke, he had only his convictions, lacking the Bene Gesserit ability of Voice or their subtle manipulations. “Paul Atreides was a good man, but the Sisterhood and other forces sent him spinning in dangerous directions. His much-maligned son was good and brave himself, until he allowed the worm of the desert to dominate him. I knew Thufir Hawat, Gurney Halleck, Stilgar, Duke Leto, and even Leto II. This time, we can protect them from the flaws in their pasts and let them achieve their potential. To help us!”
As the women shouted, Garimi raised her voice loudest of all. “Through Other Memory, we know what the Atreides did as well as you do, Duncan Idaho. Oh, the cruelties committed in the name of Muad’Dib, the billions who died in his jihad! The Corrino Empire that had lasted for thousands of years fell! But even the disasters of Emperor Muad’Dib were not enough. Then came his son the Tyrant and thousands of years of crushing terror! Have we learned nothing?”
Raising her voice, Sheeana used a hint of command, enough to silence the other Bene Gesserits. “Of course, we have learned. Until today, I thought we had learned wise caution. Now it seems that history has only taught us unreasoning fear. Would you discard our greatest advantage just because someone might be unintentionally injured? We have enemies who will do us intentional violence. There is always a risk, but the ingenuity in our cellular banks at least offers us a chance.”
She tried to calculate how many passengers Garimi had brought over to her side. Identifying and categorizing them in her mind, Sheeana found few surprises; all were traditionalists, ultraconservatives among the conservatives. At the moment, their numbers remained a minority, but that could change. This debate must end before more damage occurred.
Even once the project began in earnest, each ghola child would require a full gestation period, and then it must be raised and trained, with an eye toward the possibility of awakening its internal memories. It would take years. In the next decade or more, how many times would their no-ship fly headlong into crisis? What if they collided with the mysterious Enemy tomorrow? What if they were trapped in the shimmering net that Duncan said always followed them, always sought them out?
Long-term planning was what the Sisterhood did best.
Finally, Sheeana drew her generous mouth back in a firm line