Hunters of Dune - Brian Herbert [60]
“You asked us for sanctuary on Gammu. We rescued you from the Honored Matres.”
“Bad women.”
“But we are not bad.” Sheeana remained motionless, nonthreatening, facing the coiled danger of the Futar. As a child she had confronted a giant sandworm and shouted at it, heedless of her peril. She could do this. She made her voice as soothing as possible. “I am Sheeana.” She spoke in a lilting, hushed voice. “Do you have a name?”
The creature growled—at least she thought it was a growl. Then she realized that the confined rumble in his larynx was actually his name. “Hrrm.”
“Hrrm. Do you recall when you came to this no-ship? When you escaped from the Honored Matres? You asked us to take you away.”
“Bad women!” the Futar said again.
“Yes, and we saved you.” Sheeana edged closer. Though she wasn’t entirely sure of its efficacy, she controlled her body chemistry to increase her scent, trying to match some of the markers exuded by the Futar’s musk glands. She made sure he smelled that she was female, not a threat. Something to protect, not attack. She was also careful not to give off any odor of fear, to keep this predator from thinking of her as its prey.
“You shouldn’t have escaped from your room.”
“Want Handlers. Want home.” With a longing in his feral eyes, Hrrm glanced back at the dark storage room where the torn body of the hapless Sister lay. Sheeana wondered how long Hrrm had been feeding on the corpse.
“I need to take you back to the other Futars. You must stay together. We protect you. We are your friends. You must not hurt us.”
Hrrm grumbled. Then, taking a big chance, Sheeana reached out and touched his hairy shoulder. The Futar stiffened, but she stroked carefully, seeking pleasure centers along his vivid nerves. Though startled by her attentions, Hrrm did not draw away. Her hands drifted upward, moving with a gentle intensity. Sheeana touched Hrrm’s neck, then behind his ears. The Futar’s suspicious growl became a sound more like a purr.
“We are your friends,” she insisted, applying just a hint of Voice to reinforce it. “You should not hurt us.” She looked meaningfully into the den chamber, at the dead Sister on the floor.
Hrrm stiffened. “My kill.”
“You should not have killed. That is not an Honored Matre. She was one of my Sisters. She was one of your friends.”
“Futars should not kill friends.”
Sheeana stroked him again, and his coarse body hair bristled. She began to lead him down the corridor. “We feed you. There is no need for you to kill.”
“Kill Honored Matres.”
“There are no Honored Matres on this ship. We hate them, too.”
“Need to hunt. Need Handlers.”
“You can’t have either right now.”
“Someday?” Hrrm sounded hopeful.
“Someday.” Sheeana could make no more of a promise than that.
She took him away from the dead Bene Gesserit, hoping the two of them would encounter no one else on the way back to the brig, no other potential victims. Her hold on this creature was far too tenuous. If Hrrm was startled, he might attack.
She took side passages and service lifts that few others would use, until they arrived at the deep brig level. The Futar seemed disconsolate, reluctant to go back into his cell, and she pitied him his endless confinement. Just like the seven sandworms in the hold.
Reaching the door, she saw that a minor security circuit had failed after so many years. At first she had dreaded a systemic problem and expected to find all the Futars loose. Instead, this proved to be a minor glitch resulting from poor maintenance procedures. An accident on an old vessel.
The year before there had been another breakdown involving a water recycling reservoir, when a corroded pipe flooded a corridor. They had also experienced recurring problems with the algae vats that were used for food and oxygen production. Maintenance was growing lax. Complacent.
Sheeana controlled her anger, not wanting Hrrm to smell it on her. Though the Bene Gesserits lived in constant intangible peril, the danger no longer seemed immediate. She had to impose much stricter discipline from now on. A breakdown like this could