Sandworms of Dune - Brian Herbert [117]
Debray frowned as she considered this. “Sheeana did say that every means must be used to trigger the reawakening of the gholas.”
The male guard turned to his companion. “Call Thufir Hawat and inform him first. This is highly irregular.”
Leto approached the heavy door. “I just need to go inside the hatch. I won’t stray far. The worms stay out in the center of the habitat, don’t they?” Boldly, he used the simple controls to unseal the door. “I know these worms. Thufir will understand. He hasn’t recovered his memories either.”
Before the guards could agree on stopping him, Leto darted into the hold. The sand itself seemed to give off a crackling, staticky sound. The temperature was warm, the air so dry that his throat burned. The powerful smells of flint and cinnamon seared his nostrils. At the far end of the kilometer-long hold, the large worms moved toward him.
Just standing on the sandy surface took the boy back to a place he had studied extensively in the no-ship’s library. The real Arrakis, which had changed from desert to garden during his first extended life. Now the dry heat baked his skin. He took deep, calming breaths of air redolent with the odor of melange.
Not bothering to avoid making noise, Leto strode farther out on the sand, sinking up to his ankles in the soft dunes. He ignored the shouted warnings of the guards as he trudged away from the metal wall. This was the closest thing to an open desert these worms had ever known.
Climbing the crest of a dune and gazing around to the limits of the hold, Leto imagined how magnificent Arrakis must have once been. He wished he could remember. The dune on which he stood was small compared to a real one, and the seven worms in the hold were more diminutive than their unfettered ancestors as well.
Ahead of him, the largest worm churned through sand, followed by the others. Leto felt the connection with these seven worms. It was as if the magnificent beasts sensed his mental pain and wanted to help him, even if his memories were still locked away in a ghola vault.
An unexpected release of tears flowed down Leto’s cheeks—not of anger toward Garimi but of joy and awe. Tears! He could not stem the flow of moisture. Perhaps if he perished right there on the sands, his body would be absorbed into the flesh of the worms, leaving behind all his fears and expectations.
These worms were his descendants, each with a nugget of his former awareness. We are the same. Leto beckoned them. Although his ghola cells hadn’t yet released memories of the thousands of years in his original lifetime, these sandworms possessed buried memories as well. “Are you dreaming in there? Am I in there?”
A hundred meters from him the worms stopped and dove back into the sand, one after the other. He sensed that their presence was not threatening, but . . . protective. They did know him!
From the hatch behind him, Leto heard a familiar voice calling his name. Looking back, he saw the ghola of Thufir Hawat standing on the verge, motioning him to come back to safety. “Leto, watch out. Don’t tempt the worms. You are my friend, but if one of them eats you I won’t jump down its gullet to get you back!” Thufir tried to chuckle, but looked deeply anxious.
“I just need some time alone with them.” Leto sensed something moving beneath the sands. He felt no concern for his own well-being, but did not want to endanger his friend. He picked up a strong whiff, the cinnamon odor of spice.
“Leave! Now!”
Then, wrestling with his fear, Thufir ventured closer to the young man, a few meters away. “Suicide by worm? Is that what you’re doing out here?” He glanced at the hatch behind them, apparently wondering if he could still get back to safety if necessary. Worry lines etched his features. He looked terrified for himself and for Leto, wrestling with something that ran against his instincts. Yet he still stepped forward, as if drawn to his friend.