Hunters of Dune - Brian Herbert [75]
Around them, the fabrication plant continued to produce the sounds and smells of vigorous industry. “I still do not like the implications of technology superceding true Navigators.” Edrik seemed trapped in his tank.
“Your loyalty is to the Spacing Guild, Edrik,” Gorus brusquely reminded him. “And we will do what we must to survive as an organization. We have little choice in the matter.”
The treatment of an injury may hurt more than the wound itself. Do not allow a sore to fester because you are unwilling to tolerate the momentary pain.
—BENE GESSERIT SUK DOCTOR FLORIANA NICUS
M
urbella walked with Janess—now Reverend Mother Janess—through the stony remnants of the dying gardens around the Keep. They stood by the rocky bed of a dry stream, all the moisture stolen by the dramatically changing climate of Chapterhouse. The polished stones were a poignant reminder of the fast-flowing water that had once rushed along this channel.
“You are my lieutenant now, no longer my daughter.” She knew her words must sound harsh to the young woman, but Janess did not flinch. Both of them understood that from now on an appropriate emotional separation had to be maintained, that Murbella must be Mother Commander, not mother. “Both the Bene Gesserits and the Honored Matres have tried to prohibit love, but they can only prohibit the expression of it, not the thought or emotion. Mother Superior Odrade was called a heretic among her Sisters because she believed in the power of love.”
“I understand, Mother . . . Commander. Each of us must give up something for the sake of the new order.”
“I shall teach you to swim by hurling you into the raging waters, a metaphor that I fear will not be relevant here much longer. I am counting on you to advance more quickly than either of our factions. It has taken six years of struggle, dragging both sides toward the center, for the women to learn to live with each other. Fundamental change may take generations, but we have made great strides.”
“Duncan Idaho called it ‘compromise by swordpoint,’ ” Janess quoted.
Murbella raised her eyebrows. “Did he?”
“I can show you the historical record, if you like.”
“An apt description. The New Sisterhood is not yet the smoothly running machine I had hoped for, but I have convinced the Sisters to stop killing each other. Most of them, at least.”
She thought quickly of Janess’s old nemesis, Caree Debrak, who had disappeared from the student bungalows only days before she’d been scheduled to undergo the Agony; Caree had renounced the conversion as brainwashing and slipped away into the night. Few of the Sisters would miss her.
“Under normal circumstances,” Murbella continued, “I could overlook the fact that some Honored Matres don’t accept my rule. Freedom of discourse and the airing of opposing philosophies. But not now.”
Janess drew herself straight, showing that she was ready for her assignment. “Renegade Honored Matres still control much of Gammu and a dozen other worlds. They have seized the soostone operations on Buzzell and gathered their most powerful forces on Tleilax.”
Over the past year, the Mother Commander had assembled a force of Sisters and vigorously trained them in the combined fighting techniques of Honored Matres and Bene Gesserits. The bond between the two factions was best forged in the crucible of personal combat. “Now it is time to give my trainees a target.”
“Stop training and start fighting,” Janess said.
“Another quote from Duncan?”
“Not that I’m aware of . . . but I think he’d agree with the sentiment.”
Murbella smiled wryly. “Yes, he probably would. If the renegades will not join us, they must be eliminated. I will not have them slip knives into our backs when we are concentrating on real battles.”
“They have had years to entrench themselves, and they will not fall without a terrific battle.”
Murbella nodded. “Of more immediate concern is the enclave of dissidents right here on Chapterhouse. It hurts me